Josh Key is not in Exeter's squad for their friendly today EDIT - apparently its mostly youth players though EDIT AGAIN - indeed its their U23s. Nothing to see here lads...
Sorry, I was being a bit flippant. Still, I was pointing out that when signing journeymen we did get some successes and some, like Steve Bould and Tony Coton who were looking like good signings but got terribly injured. Then there were the likes of Altidore who did well before and after his stint with us but failed here. There have been so many of these over the years that it really puzzles me as to why they flop here.
Altidore has only been a success in America. He couldn't do the business in Spain or England. He failed with Hull and Sunderland over here.
He did but without doing anything special. It's also a big step down from the likes of the English and Spanish leagues.
Vincent Janssen scored practically a goal per game in Holland and then completely flopped over here. I was in Arnhem for a game when they were playing Alkmaar. Janssen played that day and he scored and had an assist. Alkmaar won 2-0. He looked a great player but he was just another one from over there who couldn't step up to the English standard.
Coton played 10 games conceding zero goals and had his leg broken in 5 places when we were playing Southampton.
People panicking that we haven't signed enough players just be glad that you're not a Derby fan! Not enough that they don't have enough players to put a team out, Rooney then goes and injures another one! 'Rooney injures Knight, Derby down to eight senior players' http://www.skysports.com/share/12365188
Altidore was a fantastic signing for us - ok he was absolutely useless on the pitch, but if we hadn't bought him then we would not have been able to swap him for Defoe, which must rank as the greatest swap deal ever done!!!
Doesn't help us though. They are league above so can't take points off them. Ipswich signed their 9th player a cenyre half wed been inkef with last year from rangers. They may all be crap but to say the area is dead is wrong. Derby also have the excuse of a transfer embargo.
But who's to say that all the players that Ipswich have signed will gel from the first kick of the ball and they'll storm the league? Yes I'll admit I would prefer a few more players in, especially in defense but getting quality players in takes time and you have to trust the club to get it right on the pitch. Good players know that they will be in demand and can probably wait to see what options they have before the window shuts whereas the not as good quality players will sign for the club who's prepared to pay them what they want straight away. Whichever way, it's a risk - as a club do you wait around for the player you seriously want or do you go further down the line to get a player that's not as good but will sign now? For me, we've been down the road to get seemingly half decent players in and we came up short.
No probs. We may have stayed up had he and Quinn stayed fit. Mind we'd never have had the next 3-4 years in the same way
No worries mate and you're right about Altidore. He should have been a success at the SOL, but it just didn't work out. Defoe was an amazing replacement