Not sure you quite have your ducks in a row there DTLW, the first of his two seasons with Howe only began with a January loan move. And this season he missed most of the first few months with injury and then was unlikely to slide back into a team with the best defensive record, not just 'moved aside for a CB' . He's played in 116 of 152 PL games since leaving us and missed about 25 through injury. If I recall correctly one of his Villa seasons he was their player of the year, and 'binned' seems harsh for a player who fetched a £15m fee. Not gonna set anyone's hair on fire but he's a decent PL player and has had two more than handy spells at different clubs after leaving us. Would have done us a world of good with all the grief we had at leftback post-Bertie.
Matty was a cracking crosser of the ball and a more than capable LB although he lacked the pace to play LWB when he was with us. He never fitted in with Ralph's demands (but then again not many FBs have with us) but he has gone on to be a very solid PL player. My guess is that his opportunities here were limited and that he left at the right time for his own ambition's sake.
Would take him back in a heartbeat right now. The above posts are correct in that his lack of pace stops him going to the very top. But he is certainly a solid lower half PL level full back, and great back up for a top half side.
Don’t think there is much difference between him and Perraud and I’d prefer Perraud for his athleticism. If Livramento was fit I’d have KWP at LB over both Perraud and Targett. It was the right move for him to move on when he did for regular playing time so fair play to him. Don’t think we really missed out on much with him moving on
There are definitely similarities between Targett and Perraud. Targett's crossing is a bit better, Perraud's better in the vicinity of the opposition box, both lack recovery pace and have a tendency to get exposed as a result.
Fair enough on the correction re: NUFC and falling out of the team, must admit I was unaware of that - my bad. I still don’t think he is/was particularly impressive and we did the right thing in the moment by banking the £15m and reinvesting in buying Ché Adams and loaning in Danny Ings. Bertrand may have been on the downslope (and he definitely was) but I don’t think there was ever a time where Matt was better than him during his time with us. Will be interesting to see where he pops up next.
No question, Bertie was a gulf above. Was unfortunate but perhaps unavoidable to lose both of them in the space of a couple years.
https://www.efl.com/clubs-and-competitions/sky-bet-championship/clubs/ It's now completely official. No more VAR
Oh my mistake, I thought the 49ers had owned them for awhile but turns out its them buying them now. The way my Leeds mates talk was as if they had been the owners for ages. I assume they must’ve been minority owners who now have taken full control
That’s it. My understanding is that they bought shares a couple of years ago. It was reported they had an agreement to take over fully in 2023 if the club remained in the PL, hence their desperation to survive. Obviously they decided to go through with it anyway.