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January Transfer Window Rumours


El Hombre

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Thought I'd start a topic on this. It would make it easier to keep all the rumours in one place, I figure. If mods want to remove, then feel free.

Hopefully there'll be some action.

First one involves Simeon Jackson. Clubs are interested but the manager does not want to let him go. Read about it here.

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quote:Originally posted by highburygooner

i, too, saw rumours in the paper this weekend about simeon jackson. the interested club...ipswich town.

Funny, James Sharman mentioned on The Footy Show over the weekend that there seems to be a real "Canadian connection" at Ipswich in the last 15 years: Forrest, Yallop, de Vos, Peters... now Jackson?

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The Score is so good to Canadians that they replayed the Man U v. Ispwich match from the mid-90s where United got 7 past Craig Forrest, with Yallop "playing" at right back. I'm not sure how many of those guys could play in the Premier League today (I guessing Giggs, Cole, and Ince, as Steve Bruce looked almost as fat as he does today -though to be fair he was about 53 years old) but Yallop defintely isn't one of them. Man, he was awful.

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quote:Originally posted by squizz

Funny, James Sharman mentioned on The Footy Show over the weekend that there seems to be a real "Canadian connection" at Ipswich in the last 15 years: Forrest, Yallop, de Vos, Peters... now Jackson?

The Canadian connection with Ipswich was exposed when Frank Yallop used his position as Men's Coach to play an untried, and unqualified 17 year old, unnattached Jamie Peters. Peters didn't have a club for all 6 WCQ games in 2004, yet managed to play in 5 of the games. He then went on to sign for Ipswich, Frank's old club.

Funny how four years later, and with a club, Peters isn't good enough for Canada. I wonder what Frank Yallop got from Ipswich in exchange for this abuse of a role?

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quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

^Interesting theory, Oliver Stone. How does Ipswich benefit by creating more exposure for a player before they sign him? They have to pay him more to keep him from Man U and Chelsea? If anything, Yallop should be paying Ipswich to deny Canadian TV rights to his past performances.

The theory is not that the exposure benefitted Ipswich but that it benefitted Yallop in driving up the kickback fee he would have got whoever Peters signed with. There is certainly little concrete evidence for this theory though it would provide some explanation for the numerous inexplicable decisions that occured during Yallop's tenure. I would not say that I believe in this theory but I do have a strong suspicion that there were a lot of fishy things going on during the Yallop era whether they were instances of corruption or merely nepotism. That is why I still view Yallop as a worse national team coach than Mitchell.

Despite the many failings of Mitchell it seems they were caused by honest incompetence while it always seemed to me that Yallop made some bad decisions that were inexplicable by any logical train of thought. Most of Mitchell's decisions, whether I agreed with them or not, I can see some logic or strategic point of view behind them and with Yallop I can not. Mitchell was simply a bad coach at the international level while Yallop seemed to willfully manipulate the team in some odd ways. I am not saying Yallop fixed games or anything (though this is CONCACAF so who knows, if Archundia, who proved he could be a good ref at the World Cup, was on the Honduran payroll who knows who else may have been) but he certainly seemed willing to take decisions that did not seem to be in the best interest of us having a good run in WCQ. Again I don't know if this was for corrupt reasons or simply that he wanted a team of his buddies and players who were absolutely compliant to his will. With Mitchell I always felt he was trying to do everything possible for us to win but lacked the skill to do so but I can't say the same about Yallop. In my opinion, Yallop still has a lot to answer for in regards to how he ran the team.

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^That's a different theory. Clearly there would be no benefit to Ipswich in creating a bidding war for a player with the large English clubs. Therefore, Frank's connection to Ipswich is irrelevant.

I'm not disageeing with your post, or trying to justify Yallop's selection, but I do think it's important to remember that JP seems to have left Kaiserslautern due to personal problems and not lack of talent. If he had remained in K-Town, it would not have been that odd to call a 17 year-old to WCQ. Many weaker football nations move top prospects through to their top side quickly. Gareth Bale was about 6 years old when he got his first senior cap or Wales. (Okay 16, whatever). He was playing Euro Q matches shortly thereafter. One could argue that Peters had as much pedigree at K-Town as Bale did at Southampton. One could also argue that if Peters had a British passport he would have played significantly more matches and may be farther ahead today. Finally, we must remember that with no British passport, a huge attitude problem, and little to no results on the pitch, he remains in club with a very respected academy that was winning titles not long after Brasilians were still Portuguese. Why? The only logically answer is that the kid has a lot of talent. Talent will make managers do crazy things. In football, one could argue that skill is much more valuable that money.

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His connection would not be irrelevant because anyone selling or exposing a player needs connections to various clubs. Just like Niendorf has connections to various German clubs and managed to get players signed by them, anyone doing likewise in England would need similar connections to English clubs. However, this is really irrelevant at the moment since we do not have any proof that Yallop was selling players on commission to English clubs other than he was making strange decisions.

However, your comparison to Gareth Bale is not accurate. Bale had already played for Southampton's first team when he got his first cap while Peters was only a member of Kaiserslautern's U-19 youth team. As far as I recall I don't think he ever even played for their reserve team though I may be wrong about that. I think that was part of the reason he left Kaiserslautern is that he felt he was ready to join their reserve team and their coaching staff did not agree. Yet Yallop somehow felt he was ready for our senior national team? I don't think anyone would question that Peters has talent but I think it is highly, highly unusual and suspect for a national team manager of any half-decent side to start a youth player who has never even played a professional game. Incidentally the Kaiserslautern reserve team played in the German 3rd tier that year which is roughly about USL level and were in fact the worst team and relegated. Yet the Kaiserslautern staff didn't think he was good enough to play on the worst team in the German 3rd division while Yallop thought he was good enough to play WCQ.

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^In England, non-UK players can't play for the first team before they are 18. I'm assuming this must not be the case in Germany, because Hoilett went to there from Blackburn for this very reason. However, it would be much easier for Bale to get first team action for Southampton because they are a club in huge financial distress and had to showcase Bale and Walcott at an early age to sell them on. I don't believe this is the case at Kaiserslautern. However, I'm not trying to directly compare Bale and Peters, rather to show that teenagers play for weak sides all the time. I believe there was a 16 year old who started for Montenegro in a recent WCQ match. Can't recall his name at the moment.

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I have to disagree once again. I think it is relatively rare for teenagers to play for mid-level (I would use weak for the minnows) national team sides although there are certainly examples of players who have done so. I think it is especially rare for teenagers who have never played a game of professional soccer to play for their national teams regardless of the reason. In fact I think the comparison between Bale and Peters is actually pretty good in that there are so many differences in their situation. Bale was hyped for a long time before he made his first team debut with Southhampton, Peters was not (good enough to get a spot in a good academy but one of hundreds to do so), Bale was starting for a mid-table 2nd tier English team, Peters was not able to get a spot on the reserve team of his club which was the worst team in the German 3rd division, Bale makes his debut in a friendly match, Peters makes his debut in a crucial World Cup qualifier, Bale is an immediate success with Wales and continues to play, Peters does not look like he belongs on our national team and continues to play.

Kaiserslautern did not hype Peters, they saw him as a young player with speed who had to learn how to play football (which is more or less what he still remains today). I am sure they had several players like him in their academy. It was Yallop who hyped Peters and nothing that Peters did before this, during the WCQ or afterwards has justified this hype or him having a spot on our WCQ team. If we had a young player who had accomplished as much as Bale did and he was given his first cap in a friendly and somewhat proven himself, I could accept that Yallop was justified calling him. Calling a 17 year old without one professional game under his belt is not only inexcusable but highly suspect especially when he later signs with the coach's former team.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

I have to disagree once again. I think it is relatively rare for teenagers to play for mid-level (I would use weak for the minnows) national team sides although there are certainly examples of players who have done so. I think it is especially rare for teenagers who have never played a game of professional soccer to play for their national teams regardless of the reason.

The exceptions prove the rule, you are right. Gai Assulin is a Barça B player, perhaps now 17, never has played an official match for the first team, but has been called up and played for Israel.

I think your argument about some of Yallop's suspect moves is quite interesting. I have to say though, that the one chance I saw a Yallop-coached team, vs. Spain in Santander, Peters stayed on the bench and it came out that was because the coach saw he had a chance to get a result late. So it would not be fair to say he was gratuitously showcasing him. But if Yallop really wanted Jamie to be the star he discovered he would have convinced him to go for Chelsea you and he would have gone a lot further in his now mediocre career.

To get back on topic, the player I most want to see transfer is Lars, he needs a new team desperately. Any mid to good-level side in Holland, Belgium, France, would be fine by me.

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I agree Jeffrey, I continue to be impressed with Lars almost every time I see him in action. He needs to move on from Cluj, and I don't imagine they will be doing too much to keep him there as they have publicly critized him in the past and have given him hardly a minute of action.

On the Jackson rhumour front, I think a club like Gillingham will be quite ready to sell him should he garner any kind of legitimate financial interest.

I saw him play a couple months ago and he is definitely making good progress. I worry that a move to a Championship club might prove too much of a physical challenege as he is only 5'9" and not the most built guy either. The Championship is a brutally physical league, probably to the detriment of developing good youth. I think a move to a top League One team like Leeds, Leicester or someone like that would be the most appropriate step for him right now. He needs quality coaching and surroundings to take the next step(s).

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Lars needs to move out of Romania but the #1 at Cluj is injured at the moment and Lars is being used as the back up at the moment. If the injured #1 is out for a while Cluj might not be ready to sell him. I also doubt he can find a starting job in France L1 or Holland, the most likely scenario is to get a #2 job and work his way up if he can.

Begovic and Edgar are both in need of a loan deal for January to help their development. I think League One would be the perfect place for both of them, maybe CCC for Edgar but it's not like Newcastle looks like they'll send him on loan....Also in England, D'Agostino hasn't played for Blackpool but did well last year in L1, so another loan deal for him please!

Hainault is another youngster who should find a new club. Czech D2 isn't good enough for him.

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quote:Originally posted by halfnhalf89

interesting rumor from soccer365 ---Spox claims Borussia Moenchengladbach are after Tottenham's Canada flank man Paul Staltieri.

Love that - and if you're Diesel, why not return to the country where you had most of your success?

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quote:Originally posted by halfnhalf89

interesting rumor from soccer365 ---Spox claims Borussia Moenchengladbach are after Tottenham's Canada flank man Paul Staltieri.

Really hope Stalteri join Friend in Germany, he's wasting away with the Spurs.

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quote:Originally posted by SouthAfricaOrBust

Because he loves the high life in London, and he has a few spare moments these days to enjoy it.

I pick-up some sarcasm right?

It's almost like a personal dilemma at this point. Stay in England, be paid well, live well in London, and never play a proper match of football again, or make a few sacrifices and get back to earning a proper paycheque. Knowing how intense Stalteri can be on the field and in interviews, I have trouble believing that this situation isn't driving him absolutely wild nearly every waking minute. At this point, I wonder if he regrets the Spurs move altogether.

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