Won't quote that all on here, but the last bit stands out.
Flying winger Jerome Thomas has returned early to pre-season training in a bid to regain full fitness. The former Charlton and Portsmouth man missed the final six games of last season with the troublesome back injury which saw him miss the whole of the previous campaign at Pompey.
Thomas is no stranger to working alone during the summer after his release from Fratton Park last year and now believes his injury problems are behind him as he hopes to have an added edge when the rest of the first team squad report back for training at the start of July.
"I want to hit the ground running," said the 27-year-old.
...
"When you're younger you don't really think about it but as you get older you learn
certainly be interesting to see how he gets on in the Prem this year, he has the ability, if he has developed the motivation from maturing he could be quite a player.
I'll tell you exactly how he'll do. If they're in a relegation dog fight he'll do absolutely nothing. If they just about keep their heads above water, he'll play well against the bottom 4-5 teams and be dog shitee against the rest.
Perhaps he realises he is in the last chance saloon.
A player endowed with natural gifts whom has not made the most of them for much of his career. Whether that be down to poor management or poor attitude on his part who knows. Still Curbishley got more than his £100k's worth out of him in the Premiership regardless of what Dowie and Pardew subsequently did or didn't do with him.
A shame that for all the good things he did (his goal when we beat Spurs 2-0 at The Valley and his two goals against West Ham to name but two) my abiding memory of him will be his slouching around during that disgraceful league cup debacle against Wycombe.
[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]don't mention the C word len
Sorry! :-)
Actually the two Thomas got against West Ham were under Pardew rather than Curbishley so you could argue that Pards got more out of Thomas than Curbs ever did ?
[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]don't mention the C word len
Sorry! :-)
Actually the two Thomas got against West Ham were under Pardew rather than Curbishley so you could argue that Pards got more out of Thomas than Curbs ever did ?
I was making two separate points.
One about the demeanour of a talented player wasting his ability for whatever reason and that being the enduring memory despite the good things.
The other being Curbishley's ability to buy a Premiership standard player for only £100k and that in reality, despite the perception of him described above, we had our moneys worth.
Thomas's away debut at 3-Point Lane .......... when he made the first and scored the third (a bit jammily), Bartlett scored 2, including a great diving header to finish off a qualty Charlton move. Bartlett was of course later sent off, for a quality keeper impression after Dean Kiely charged into no-mans land and flapped at the cross. Linky:John Thomas' first Charlton goal
Ah, those were the days .........when we were plucky little Charlton, and punched above our weight and spectacular end-of-season collapse right on cue for the first fixture in March.
But at least we always got the final 30 second goals slot on MOTD,
after yawning our way through half hour of the muppet pundits mindlessly droning on about Manure or Chel$ki.
Would much rather complain about a 30 second showing on MOTD and how we are ignored than have to listen to Lizzy Greenwood Hughes tell us how Dave from Rochdale thinks Charlton were lucky to leave Spotland with a point.
That 3-2 Spurs game involved possibly one of the most nervous 10mins ever, I really thought we had blown it after being 3 up.
[cite]Posted By: cafcdan18[/cite]That 3-2 Spurs game involved possibly one of the most nervous 10mins ever, I really thought we had blown it after being 3 up.
Bit like Wycombe at home, first match of last season?
Whilst we did get our money's worth from £100,000, the error always was not to sell him as by his first full season he'd proved he'd only ever do it against wounded teams or out of sort teams. Was never a factor when we were under pressure.
Finally the transfer fee is irrelevant as time went on as his wages far outweighed any of the pittance we paid for him. Whether he earnt 10 or 20 grand, unlike someone like HH or Holland he never justified premier league wages for an occasional performance.
As for the Spurs game I won 650 quid on that, so I was most happy that evening. I believe we were 10-3 for the win, against Santini leaving a mess.
[cite]Posted By: ColinTat[/cite]Maybe Steve Sidwell for 150,000?
Or Michael Carrick, or Tom Huddlestone, or Tim Cahill?
Still he did get Mhyre, Perry and Thomas for next to nothing and swerved Djimi and Amdy for a small fortune.
He virtually had Cahill and let him go! Just imagine! Flamini was close to signing as well.
As for Ljunberg and Boa Morte at West Ham he bought what he could in the short term to keep them up and they did the job. He bought for the long term with us because he knew he would have time to build decent teams.
[cite]Posted By: ColinTat[/cite]Maybe Steve Sidwell for 150,000?
Or Michael Carrick, or Tom Huddlestone, or Tim Cahill?
Still he did get Mhyre, Perry and Thomas for next to nothing and swerved Djimi and Amdy for a small fortune.
He virtually had Cahill and let him go! Just imagine! Flamini was close to signing as well.
As for Ljunberg and Boa Morte at West Ham he bought what he could in the short term to keep them up and they did the job. He bought for the long term with us because he knew he would have time to build decent teams.
Is that why he offered them long-term contracts? They were horrendous signings. Don't know how you could defend any of them.
Thomas on the other hand, was a very good signing.
Ljunberg was inexcusable. I thought Boa Morte might still have had legs, and just before getting injured he'd preoved at the Whammies he still had a lot to offer...... albeit his first few seasons were woeful.
As for the Flamini thing that has to be paper hyperbole. Why would a young midfielder playing for one of the richest and biggest clubs in Europe sign for us? He'd had an awesome finish to the season for Marseille, and they were utterly browned off at him leaving for Arsenal. There's no way we could have competed with wages against Marseille's offer. When did Curbs sign a promising 20 year old, on top top wages? Just wasn't his mo. Players sign for Arsenal because they pay more wages than virtually anyone for emerging talent; they only refuse to compete when they're mature and Wenger sees them over-valued.
Interestingly Boa Morte has just signed a new deal at West Ham today, that means he signed a 3 year deal in 2007- hardly short term.
Not sure of all the facts at West Ham, from the outside there seemed to be a lot of un Curb like signings which would suggest they were not all his decisions. The fact players were being sold without Curbs imput shows he was not in complete control.
Sure when he goes to his next job- someone like Fulham, Ipswich, Brum perhaps we will see Curbs go back to his Charlton type methods.
[cite]Posted By: ColinTat[/cite]
As for the Flamini thing that has to be paper hyperbole. Why would a young midfielder playing for one of the richest and biggest clubs in Europe sign for us? He'd had an awesome finish to the season for Marseille, and they were utterly browned off at him leaving for Arsenal. There's no way we could have competed with wages against Marseille's offer. When did Curbs sign a promising 20 year old, on top top wages? Just wasn't his mo. Players sign for Arsenal because they pay more wages than virtually anyone for emerging talent; they only refuse to compete when they're mature and Wenger sees them over-valued.
Detailed in Curbishley's autobiography. Was at the Valley about to sign after everything was agreed but then Arsenal came in for him.
Comments
Won't quote that all on here, but the last bit stands out.
He couldn't see over the steering wheel!
Young players should be banned from a Bentley as well as coloured boots.
As ex-Arsenal, John Thomas always played well and often scored against Tottingham.
A player endowed with natural gifts whom has not made the most of them for much of his career. Whether that be down to poor management or poor attitude on his part who knows. Still Curbishley got more than his £100k's worth out of him in the Premiership regardless of what Dowie and Pardew subsequently did or didn't do with him.
A shame that for all the good things he did (his goal when we beat Spurs 2-0 at The Valley and his two goals against West Ham to name but two) my abiding memory of him will be his slouching around during that disgraceful league cup debacle against Wycombe.
Sorry! :-)
:-)
Be fair justified in this instance.
:-)
OohAah's got one up on you now, Len.
He's taken things to the next level.
Actually the two Thomas got against West Ham were under Pardew rather than Curbishley so you could argue that Pards got more out of Thomas than Curbs ever did ?
I had my parents over from France they were 10 rows behind me... Fantastic... what its all about...
I was making two separate points.
One about the demeanour of a talented player wasting his ability for whatever reason and that being the enduring memory despite the good things.
The other being Curbishley's ability to buy a Premiership standard player for only £100k and that in reality, despite the perception of him described above, we had our moneys worth.
Linky: John Thomas' first Charlton goal
Ah, those were the days .........when we were plucky little Charlton, and punched above our weight and spectacular end-of-season collapse right on cue for the first fixture in March.
But at least we always got the final 30 second goals slot on MOTD,
after yawning our way through half hour of the muppet pundits mindlessly droning on about Manure or Chel$ki.
That 3-2 Spurs game involved possibly one of the most nervous 10mins ever, I really thought we had blown it after being 3 up.
Bit like Wycombe at home, first match of last season?
Finally the transfer fee is irrelevant as time went on as his wages far outweighed any of the pittance we paid for him. Whether he earnt 10 or 20 grand, unlike someone like HH or Holland he never justified premier league wages for an occasional performance.
As for the Spurs game I won 650 quid on that, so I was most happy that evening. I believe we were 10-3 for the win, against Santini leaving a mess.
Sort of like West Ham did..........
Or Michael Carrick, or Tom Huddlestone, or Tim Cahill?
Still he did get Mhyre, Perry and Thomas for next to nothing and swerved Djimi and Amdy for a small fortune.
Ironic that he would go on to pay Lucas Neill per week what he paid to buy Jerome Thomas whole.
He virtually had Cahill and let him go! Just imagine! Flamini was close to signing as well.
As for Ljunberg and Boa Morte at West Ham he bought what he could in the short term to keep them up and they did the job. He bought for the long term with us because he knew he would have time to build decent teams.
Is that why he offered them long-term contracts? They were horrendous signings. Don't know how you could defend any of them.
Thomas on the other hand, was a very good signing.
As for the Flamini thing that has to be paper hyperbole. Why would a young midfielder playing for one of the richest and biggest clubs in Europe sign for us? He'd had an awesome finish to the season for Marseille, and they were utterly browned off at him leaving for Arsenal. There's no way we could have competed with wages against Marseille's offer. When did Curbs sign a promising 20 year old, on top top wages? Just wasn't his mo. Players sign for Arsenal because they pay more wages than virtually anyone for emerging talent; they only refuse to compete when they're mature and Wenger sees them over-valued.
Not sure of all the facts at West Ham, from the outside there seemed to be a lot of un Curb like signings which would suggest they were not all his decisions. The fact players were being sold without Curbs imput shows he was not in complete control.
Sure when he goes to his next job- someone like Fulham, Ipswich, Brum perhaps we will see Curbs go back to his Charlton type methods.
Detailed in Curbishley's autobiography. Was at the Valley about to sign after everything was agreed but then Arsenal came in for him.
How bad is Manuel Almunia?!!