Returning Hero

[tidus_mi2]

About Antonio, mistakes get made, in hindsight, yeah we could have given him more time but we didn't.

At least we're not the team who let Charlie Austin go for being too small.

[Nameless]

Player had talent. Giving him 10 mins here 10 mins there was doing him no good particularly as there was shit ahead of him. McDermott oxf*rd him up.

The fact WBA and Norwich are bidding up to £7 million for him would tell me an error has been made.

Or, we took a player out of non league football for a small fee and ended up making well over a million for him. No one was shouting about how he was going to be a Premier League player, there was no outcry when he moved. Now, 2 clubs and several years later he's developed and clubs a re looking to pay more for him. We've made our cut, and done exactly what many posters have been suggesting - taking a punt and selling at a profit.

[paultheroyal]

Player had talent. Giving him 10 mins here 10 mins there was doing him no good particularly as there was shit ahead of him. McDermott oxf*rd him up.

The fact WBA and Norwich are bidding up to £7 million for him would tell me an error has been made.

Or, we took a player out of non league football for a small fee and ended up making well over a million for him. No one was shouting about how he was going to be a Premier League player, there was no outcry when he moved. Now, 2 clubs and several years later he's developed and clubs a re looking to pay more for him. We've made our cut, and done exactly what many posters have been suggesting - taking a punt and selling at a profit.

We sold him for £700k and yes some were shouting including me.

£7 million >>>>> £700k

[Nameless]

So 3 years ago you pointed out that he would be worth 7 million at some point in the future ? I applaud your insight. In reality we can't hang on to every player in case one day they appreciate in value, there's an obvious logistical issue there. Some times we'll look back in hindsight and think 'if only' but for every time we do that we can look at all the players we have got for nothing and then made a fortune on, or got ridiculous service from (Doyle and Long on the one hand, Hahnemann and Little on the other. Total fee ?)
It's football, and when you factor in players and agents pressuring clubs to move players on for their own financial reasons it's not surprising sometimes hindsight makes a decision look like it was the wrong one, even if it wasn't obviously wrong at the time. 700k for a player out of non league with raw potential was not shabby....

[under the tin]

Jimmy Quinn.
Dariusz.
Simon Osborn.

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

So 3 years ago you pointed out that he would be worth 7 million at some point in the future ? I applaud your insight. In reality we can't hang on to every player in case one day they appreciate in value, there's an obvious logistical issue there. Some times we'll look back in hindsight and think 'if only' but for every time we do that we can look at all the players we have got for nothing and then made a fortune on, or got ridiculous service from (Doyle and Long on the one hand, Hahnemann and Little on the other. Total fee ?)
It's football, and when you factor in players and agents pressuring clubs to move players on for their own financial reasons it's not surprising sometimes hindsight makes a decision look like it was the wrong one, even if it wasn't obviously wrong at the time. 700k for a player out of non league with raw potential was not shabby....

Well put. And not forgetting the ridiculous inflation factor that seems inherent in modern football, even more so for homegrown players.

[maffff]

Made sense for Antonio to go when he did. He was raw but had potential. Good on him for fulfilling a lot of it. What's to say he would have done that if he stayed?

[Royal Badgeman]

There have been many 'what if's' and 'why did we let him go's ' over the years, but Antonio's departure was a big ricket.
A lot of these failures to keep players has also coincided with our 'financial fluttering', money is often the cause, or lack of it in our case.
At least we seem to be giving raw youngsters time now. (Hector,Obita etc).
A lot of other ex-heroes mentioned are getting to their sell by date, so lets develop with a blend of youth and buy in some new experience.

[CountryRoyal]

IIRC the general consensus about Antonio going was that of understanding, I certainly don't remember too many people getting that upset about it. Was loaned out to league 1 for most of our championship winning campaign in 11/12 because at the time he wasn't good enough to displace kebe or mcanuff and needed regular game time for his development. He liked his time at Wednesday and was in turn liked there, we got promoted to the prem and had our sights set higher (suppose we got GMac) and Wednesday were back in the champ and wanted to keep him. He only had a year left on his contract so at the time it was best for all parties to sell him. The fact that clubs are interested in him now for £7m is completely irrelevant.

[Forbury Lion]

I'd welcome Glenn Murray back - hopefully he'll be stuck on the bench at Palace until Christmas and we can sign him in the January window.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I'd welcome Glenn Murray back - hopefully he'll be stuck on the bench at Palace until Christmas and we can sign him in the January window.

By which time he'll be in his late 40s.

[CountryRoyal]

If we are going on players we've only loaned in as well I'd take Bertrand and Afobe.

[blueroyals]

Fcuk you all

[glass half full]

My most vivid memories of Antonio are of his miscontrol of the ball by the touchline.

[SCIAG]

At least we're not the team who let Charlie Austin go for being too small.

We're not - we let him go for not being as good as Church, and having a bad attitude.

"You're too small" is what you say to footballers who aren't good enough to let them down gently. It's the equivalent of saying "it's not you, it's me", instead of "you're too small".

[SCIAG]

And yeah selling Antonio was 100% the right move. Same with Cox.

Austin was a bad decision. Wickham was out of our control.

[paultheroyal]

And yeah selling Antonio was 100% the right move. Same with Cox.

Austin was a bad decision. Wickham was out of our control.

If selling someone with obvious talent that no-one in the club could spot but others could then yep right move. I said £700k earlier, since found out we had sold him for £300k.

£7 million later and regarded as one of the most sort after players... Yep, great call.

[Vision]

If selling someone with obvious talent that no-one in the club could spot but others could then yep right move. I said £700k earlier, since found out we had sold him for £300k.

£7 million later and regarded as one of the most sort after players... Yep, great call.

You'd assume that given we were the club that took him from non-league football then there was at least one person at the club who spotted his talent.

There are many reasons why a player might be sold apart from "nobody thought he was any good". In fact it's highly likely that the manager that moved him on was also the scout that spotted his talent in the first place.

Good luck to Antonio for progressing his career (and to Sheffield Wednesday and Forest for improving him) but we were a top flight team when he moved on and despite an alleged £7m price tag he has yet to show he can cut it at that level despite his obvious development in recent seasons.

In that respect I'm not sure he's that much better (if at all) than MacCleary who's signing effectively led to his departure.

[Nameless]

And I think the 700k price is probably the right one as we had a significant sell on clause.
Still not really addressed the issue of how we hang on to players for several years to see if they fulfil their potential. Lots of players have potential (that's why they are professional footballers) and don't ever get close to fulfilling it. If only we'd flogged James Lambert, or Peter Castle, or Lawson D'ath, or Abdullai Bell-Baggie for £700 k....

In the case of Antonio I suspect we're arguing from the same stand point. It would obviously have been great if we'd hung on to him for 3 years, he'd forced himself into the first team, played 100 games and now be a 7 million player. But the circumstances just didn't lend themselves to that, we too the cash that was there at the time and let someone else take the risk on him. Mistake or pragmatism ? There is no knowing if we had kept him whether he would have developed in the same way or ended up just another makeweight in a lower division squad.

As for Austin, I heard the story about him slightly differently. I heard we signed Church who at that time had a better record than Austin and looked a better prospect, we offered Austin a deal but he decided that we were going to give Church more chances so he said no thanks and left. Not sure that one worked out well, but presumably 10 years ago they didn't know how the two,players would develop. Mistake or Sod's law ? At least we didn't sign Freddie Adu or John Bostick...

[blueroyals]

And I think the 700k price is probably the right one as we had a significant sell on clause.
Still not really addressed the issue of how we hang on to players for several years to see if they fulfil their potential. Lots of players have potential (that's why they are professional footballers) and don't ever get close to fulfilling it. If only we'd flogged James Lambert, or Peter Castle, or Lawson D'ath, or Abdullai Bell-Baggie for £700 k....

In the case of Antonio I suspect we're arguing from the same stand point. It would obviously have been great if we'd hung on to him for 3 years, he'd forced himself into the first team, played 100 games and now be a 7 million player. But the circumstances just didn't lend themselves to that, we too the cash that was there at the time and let someone else take the risk on him. Mistake or pragmatism ? There is no knowing if we had kept him whether he would have developed in the same way or ended up just another makeweight in a lower division squad.

As for Austin, I heard the story about him slightly differently. I heard we signed Church who at that time had a better record than Austin and looked a better prospect, we offered Austin a deal but he decided that we were going to give Church more chances so he said no thanks and left. Not sure that one worked out well, but presumably 10 years ago they didn't know how the two,players would develop. Mistake or Sod's law ? At least we didn't sign Freddie Adu or John Bostick...

No, somebody made the decision that HRK was a better option