Not going to quote your post to not clog the thread up @PragueAddick but a couple of comments
- Why wasn't family an issue moving to CAFC? It was, he partly moved here to be near his family as I believe his wife had been in Yorkshire while he was in the SW so CAFC was to help with that but I believe she found it hard being here (totally fair enough!)
- Mullin is a great example of the family thing. If the doc is to be believed, yes he's earning more than when he was at Cambridge but the figures were inflated in the media. One big thing was that Wrexham is near his family near Merseyside. The episode about autism and his son is particularly touching and well worth a watch even if you skip the rest of the episodes
- Parky building from the front is partly about how he wants to play. I suspect if you ask NJ how he likes to build teams he would say from the back. Not to say either are right or wrong, that's what makes football so interesting.
- Signing Mullin and Palmer to Wrexham is relatively easy as Wrexham could blow L1/2 teams out the water wages wise. We can't sign players from divisions above and offer them higher wages, a problem Wrexham will have now too.
Not going to quote your post to not clog the thread up @PragueAddick but a couple of comments
- Why wasn't family an issue moving to CAFC? It was, he partly moved here to be near his family as I believe his wife had been in Yorkshire while he was in the SW so CAFC was to help with that but I believe she found it hard being here (totally fair enough!)
- Mullin is a great example of the family thing. If the doc is to be believed, yes he's earning more than when he was at Cambridge but the figures were inflated in the media. One big thing was that Wrexham is near his family near Merseyside. The episode about autism and his son is particularly touching and well worth a watch even if you skip the rest of the episodes
- Parky building from the front is partly about how he wants to play. I suspect if you ask NJ how he likes to build teams he would say from the back. Not to say either are right or wrong, that's what makes football so interesting.
- Signing Mullin and Palmer to Wrexham is relatively easy as Wrexham could blow L1/2 teams out the water wages wise. We can't sign players from divisions above and offer them higher wages, a problem Wrexham will have now too.
These are fair points, however just re Mullin: Given his stellar scoring record since he went there, it's impossible to believe other clubs were not interested in prising him away. Yet here he is. We, on the other hand, seem congenitally unable to hang on to a player who starts to out-perform. On the contrary, first glimmer of performance (e.g Karlan Grant for one) off he goes, for a relative pittance. When did we even try to keep one? I cannot readily think of a good example since Scott Parker. Yet Mullin shows it is certainly possible. In fact have Wrexham had to sell a single player who has featured strongly in their rise up the leagues?
Not going to quote your post to not clog the thread up @PragueAddick but a couple of comments
- Why wasn't family an issue moving to CAFC? It was, he partly moved here to be near his family as I believe his wife had been in Yorkshire while he was in the SW so CAFC was to help with that but I believe she found it hard being here (totally fair enough!)
- Mullin is a great example of the family thing. If the doc is to be believed, yes he's earning more than when he was at Cambridge but the figures were inflated in the media. One big thing was that Wrexham is near his family near Merseyside. The episode about autism and his son is particularly touching and well worth a watch even if you skip the rest of the episodes
- Parky building from the front is partly about how he wants to play. I suspect if you ask NJ how he likes to build teams he would say from the back. Not to say either are right or wrong, that's what makes football so interesting.
- Signing Mullin and Palmer to Wrexham is relatively easy as Wrexham could blow L1/2 teams out the water wages wise. We can't sign players from divisions above and offer them higher wages, a problem Wrexham will have now too.
These are fair points, however just re Mullin: Given his stellar scoring record since he went there, it's impossible to believe other clubs were not interested in prising him away. Yet here he is. We, on the other hand, seem congenitally unable to hang on to a player who starts to out-perform. On the contrary, first glimmer of performance (e.g Karlan Grant for one) off he goes, for a relative pittance. When did we even try to keep one? I cannot readily think of a good example since Scott Parker. Yet Mullin shows it is certainly possible. In fact have Wrexham had to sell a single player who has featured strongly in their rise up the leagues?
Well Wrexham did the prising from Cambridge. I think you have to look at them in the NL in the same way to Birmingham. Them buying Mullin was equivalent to Birmingham buying Stansfield, albeit they got him on a free. Mullin is a L1 striker and the wages & proximity to home mean it's hard for him to now be prised out of their hands. Our really good players often tend to come through the academy which makes it more complex. I'd say we're currently trying to keep Miles but the circus of our ownership has always meant we'll cash in when a big offer is made. Sometimes that works out for us in the case of Bonne & (arguably) Burstow but sometimes it looks like we've had our trousers down. Wrexham have been very good at offloading players when they aren't good enough and replacing them, we often haven't been
In the case of Mullin, I think the documentary itself has to be considered as a factor in him staying put. It brings him a level of international fame and recognition that a lower league striker could never have previously dreamed of. Maybe that appeals to him.
Can you please think of a single example of a player we clearly wanted to keep, but didnt because someone else wanted to buy him, fair price(Lookman) or otherwise ( nearly everyone else) ?
There is this received wisdom that nowadays its impossible. It is always difficult but its not impossible as Wrexham show us. Of course it helps if the manager can manage top talent with an ego ( which is a feature of top talent)
Can you please think of a single example of a player we clearly wanted to keep, but didnt because someone else wanted to buy him, fair price(Lookman) or otherwise ( nearly everyone else) ?
There is this received wisdom that nowadays its impossible. It is always difficult but its not impossible as Wrexham show us. Of course it helps if the manager can manage top talent with an ego ( which is a feature of top talent)
I agreed with you that beyond Miles we haven't done that. I've also explained why Wrexham are an almost unique scenario. I share similar frustrations but it all comes down to how much your owners are willing to fund from their own pockets OR if they're able to bring in incredibly lucrative sponsorship deals as at Wrexham
Can you please think of a single example of a player we clearly wanted to keep, but didnt because someone else wanted to buy him, fair price(Lookman) or otherwise ( nearly everyone else) ?
There is this received wisdom that nowadays its impossible. It is always difficult but its not impossible as Wrexham show us. Of course it helps if the manager can manage top talent with an ego ( which is a feature of top talent)
I agreed with you that beyond Miles we haven't done that. I've also explained why Wrexham are an almost unique scenario. I share similar frustrations but it all comes down to how much your owners are willing to fund from their own pockets OR if they're able to bring in incredibly lucrative sponsorship deals as at Wrexham
Hang on, you also said earlier that Mullin wasnt on anything like the money some people asserted. Our budget is set to be 4th biggest in the league, and I am not sure they expected Wrexham to be one of the 3 bigger ones. They splashed the cash to get out of the NL, but general feeling seems to be that they havent done so this season. Why didnt Huddersfield or Bolton, to name two in the area, grab him. And unfortunately I dont think we have proved anything yet with Miles. He’s been injured, thats why he is still here.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
It's just not that simple. May wanted to move further north, Godden wanted to move further south. It was clear May was available, it wasn't clear Godden was available. Taking May away weakens a L1 rival, Godden is coming from the Championship. I'm not saying Birmingham would have wanted Godden, but it's not a binary thing.
I didn't mean to make it sound like a binary choice between the two, although re-reading my post I can see why it reads that way.
Do we think if Brum could go back in time and choose between the two, they would ever pick Godden? He's 33 and last season he scored 9 in 41. Meanwhile, Alfie was challenging Haaland last year and has been scoring for fun in this league for three seasons running.
I can't summon the energy to get too revisionist with this stuff. I don't remember anyone doubting Alfie's ability while he was here.
Birmingham’s owner made a right cock up of things last season. He had to spend money and make a splash to keep the locals happy. Signing a league’s top goalscorer will help do that.
Would Birmingham specifically take Godden over May? Probably not for the reasons I shared above. But I do think any other reasonable club would’ve done it our way.
I do believe selling 31 year old Alfie May who’s never played in the Championship and spending half or less of that fee on a 32 (now 33) year old Matt Godden who’s made 100+ Championship appearances and scored 30+ Championship goals is smart business. Especially if Godden ends up beating him in the goalscoring charts this season which is entirely possible.
I'll be honest, mate. I don't understand why so much value is placed on Championship appearances. Chris Gunter had a career's worth before joining us at 32. Coventry has Championship experience while Dobson doesn't, but Dobson is the more rounded footballer. We signed Tayo Edun from the Championship, who can't even make the first team. Docherty spent the last three seasons there and is now struggling to make an impact against L1 midfielders. Conor Washington has played in the Champ several times and we all know he is very limited. You could write a book on this, there are so many examples.
Alfie May has been the top scorer in L1 over X many seasons - what difference does it make if he's never played in the Championship when we're in L1?
Can you please think of a single example of a player we clearly wanted to keep, but didnt because someone else wanted to buy him, fair price(Lookman) or otherwise ( nearly everyone else) ?
There is this received wisdom that nowadays its impossible. It is always difficult but its not impossible as Wrexham show us. Of course it helps if the manager can manage top talent with an ego ( which is a feature of top talent)
I agreed with you that beyond Miles we haven't done that. I've also explained why Wrexham are an almost unique scenario. I share similar frustrations but it all comes down to how much your owners are willing to fund from their own pockets OR if they're able to bring in incredibly lucrative sponsorship deals as at Wrexham
Hang on, you also said earlier that Mullin wasnt on anything like the money some people asserted. Our budget is set to be 4th biggest in the league, and I am not sure they expected Wrexham to be one of the 3 bigger ones. They splashed the cash to get out of the NL, but general feeling seems to be that they havent done so this season. Why didnt Huddersfield or Bolton, to name two in the area, grab him. And unfortunately I dont think we have proved anything yet with Miles. He’s been injured, thats why he is still here.
He can be on less than asserted and still be on a lot of money. I also didn't say "anything like", you've just changed what I said to try and prove your point. I was referring to when he moved a few years ago too, I'm sure he's had a pay rise since then and the Disney exposure probably means he has some sponsorship opportunities than your average L1 player. I also didn't say we had proved anything with Miles but it's been said we've offered him a deal which suggests we certainly are trying which was your question. Think it's also worthwhile noting we've got better at offering young players deals before we reach a point where they might be poached. Kanu, Anderson, Asiimwe, Mitchell, TC & AMB all given contracts based on potential and cutting off potential of them leaving cheaply/freely.
OK @fenaddick neither of us know what Mullin earns and we may not know for a while where Wrexham are this season in the wages league table. I mentioned him as an example of a strong player asset whom Parky inherited, and then decided to build the team around. The contrast with NJ and May is my point. I dont suggest Parky overall is a better manager than NJ, and I have no problem with NJ strategy of building from the back rather than the front. But then if you are going to do that, why complicate things by tampering with the front? Yeah, I know, the high press..:well until it’s clear that we have a game plan for scoring goals, as Wrexham do, this thread will continue to be relevant.
OK @fenaddick neither of us know what Mullin earns and we may not know for a while where Wrexham are this season in the wages league table. I mentioned him as an example of a strong player asset whom Parky inherited, and then decided to build the team around. The contrast with NJ and May is my point. I dont suggest Parky overall is a better manager than NJ, and I have no problem with NJ strategy of building from the back rather than the front. But then if you are going to do that, why complicate things by tampering with the front? Yeah, I know, the high press..:well until it’s clear that we have a game plan for scoring goals, as Wrexham do, this thread will continue to be relevant.
Parky signed Mullin rather than inheriting him didn't he? Anyway, that's getting bogged down in detail and not relevant to AM. Think we agree on more than we disagree here!
I seriously struggle to understand how anyone can watch the past 13 games and believe Matt Godden is at the same level as Alfie May - and I really like Godden.
Alfie May could score any type of goal from anywhere on the pitch, not only that, but was quite the talisman for us last season. Selling him seemed stupid at the time, it seems stupid now, and I think it will seem stupid at the end of the season.
Hopefully this whole debate becomes increasingly moot as the season progresses and we somehow claw our way up to the Championship.
Disagree on this point. From what he showed in his season here, all but one of his goals was scored from inside the penalty area. Everything points to him being a traditional poacher. Godden is the exact same type of player.
Having said that I agree he was talismanic - he scored goals, worked hard and was easy to like as a local lad.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
It's just not that simple. May wanted to move further north, Godden wanted to move further south. It was clear May was available, it wasn't clear Godden was available. Taking May away weakens a L1 rival, Godden is coming from the Championship. I'm not saying Birmingham would have wanted Godden, but it's not a binary thing.
I didn't mean to make it sound like a binary choice between the two, although re-reading my post I can see why it reads that way.
Do we think if Brum could go back in time and choose between the two, they would ever pick Godden? He's 33 and last season he scored 9 in 41. Meanwhile, Alfie was challenging Haaland last year and has been scoring for fun in this league for three seasons running.
I can't summon the energy to get too revisionist with this stuff. I don't remember anyone doubting Alfie's ability while he was here.
Birmingham’s owner made a right cock up of things last season. He had to spend money and make a splash to keep the locals happy. Signing a league’s top goalscorer will help do that.
Would Birmingham specifically take Godden over May? Probably not for the reasons I shared above. But I do think any other reasonable club would’ve done it our way.
I do believe selling 31 year old Alfie May who’s never played in the Championship and spending half or less of that fee on a 32 (now 33) year old Matt Godden who’s made 100+ Championship appearances and scored 30+ Championship goals is smart business. Especially if Godden ends up beating him in the goalscoring charts this season which is entirely possible.
I'll be honest, mate. I don't understand why so much value is placed on Championship appearances. Chris Gunter had a career's worth before joining us at 32. Coventry has Championship experience while Dobson doesn't, but Dobson is the more rounded footballer. We signed Tayo Edun from the Championship, who can't even make the first team. Docherty spent the last three seasons there and is now struggling to make an impact against L1 midfielders. Conor Washington has played in the Champ several times and we all know he is very limited. You could write a book on this, there are so many examples.
Alfie May has been the top scorer in L1 over X many seasons - what difference does it make if he's never played in the Championship when we're in L1?
Your last point is fair - I’m not saying Alfie wouldn’t do a good job for us now, he would.
But Godden is equally capable. Not only does he have experience at a higher level, he’s also scored at a rate near or better than Alfie when playing at this level himself. That was the simple point I was trying to make.
(Warrning: Grapevine-length response, but not specifically to Grapevine😀)
I don't really mind @Grapevine49 dishing out corporate bollockings to us. He's actually being polite because his style is to studiously avoid responding to an individual comment, thus avoiding the keyboard conflicts which can make social medai so unpleasant - and the reward for this tactic is, he is getting a shed-load of personal abuse back. To him, I respectfully say that he's swerved an aspect of the May issue which others do too, who tell us to move on. For me, and several others, the issue is not so much about May per se, and moving on from him. It's about trying to understand where we are moving to, and hoping desperately that it's a better place.
Whether done ironically or not, the pro Alfie May crowd are equally as guilty of this.
No one seems to enjoy when I provide my updates if he hasn’t scored and I get told to move on because it’s another weekend gone by where people can’t point and say “look at what Alfie did this weekend”…
The like for like replacement here is Godden and so far Matty is doing a stellar job. In isolation, I think the club did some smart transfer business here which left them with additional cash.
How they went and spent that cash is up for (a separate) but taking poacher for poacher in isolation, the club handled this pretty well IMO.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
It's just not that simple. May wanted to move further north, Godden wanted to move further south. It was clear May was available, it wasn't clear Godden was available. Taking May away weakens a L1 rival, Godden is coming from the Championship. I'm not saying Birmingham would have wanted Godden, but it's not a binary thing.
I didn't mean to make it sound like a binary choice between the two, although re-reading my post I can see why it reads that way.
Do we think if Brum could go back in time and choose between the two, they would ever pick Godden? He's 33 and last season he scored 9 in 41. Meanwhile, Alfie was challenging Haaland last year and has been scoring for fun in this league for three seasons running.
I can't summon the energy to get too revisionist with this stuff. I don't remember anyone doubting Alfie's ability while he was here.
Birmingham’s owner made a right cock up of things last season. He had to spend money and make a splash to keep the locals happy. Signing a league’s top goalscorer will help do that.
Would Birmingham specifically take Godden over May? Probably not for the reasons I shared above. But I do think any other reasonable club would’ve done it our way.
I do believe selling 31 year old Alfie May who’s never played in the Championship and spending half or less of that fee on a 32 (now 33) year old Matt Godden who’s made 100+ Championship appearances and scored 30+ Championship goals is smart business. Especially if Godden ends up beating him in the goalscoring charts this season which is entirely possible.
I'll be honest, mate. I don't understand why so much value is placed on Championship appearances. Chris Gunter had a career's worth before joining us at 32. Coventry has Championship experience while Dobson doesn't, but Dobson is the more rounded footballer. We signed Tayo Edun from the Championship, who can't even make the first team. Docherty spent the last three seasons there and is now struggling to make an impact against L1 midfielders. Conor Washington has played in the Champ several times and we all know he is very limited. You could write a book on this, there are so many examples.
Alfie May has been the top scorer in L1 over X many seasons - what difference does it make if he's never played in the Championship when we're in L1?
Your last point is fair - I’m not saying Alfie wouldn’t do a good job for us now, he would.
But Godden is equally capable. Not only does he have experience at a higher level, he’s also scored at a rate near or better than Alfie when playing at this level himself. That was the simple point I was trying to make.
Alfie May will be on serious wedge in the Championship next season. Matty Godden won't be. Birmingham could have signed Godden, but they didn't.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
It's just not that simple. May wanted to move further north, Godden wanted to move further south. It was clear May was available, it wasn't clear Godden was available. Taking May away weakens a L1 rival, Godden is coming from the Championship. I'm not saying Birmingham would have wanted Godden, but it's not a binary thing.
I didn't mean to make it sound like a binary choice between the two, although re-reading my post I can see why it reads that way.
Do we think if Brum could go back in time and choose between the two, they would ever pick Godden? He's 33 and last season he scored 9 in 41. Meanwhile, Alfie was challenging Haaland last year and has been scoring for fun in this league for three seasons running.
I can't summon the energy to get too revisionist with this stuff. I don't remember anyone doubting Alfie's ability while he was here.
Birmingham’s owner made a right cock up of things last season. He had to spend money and make a splash to keep the locals happy. Signing a league’s top goalscorer will help do that.
Would Birmingham specifically take Godden over May? Probably not for the reasons I shared above. But I do think any other reasonable club would’ve done it our way.
I do believe selling 31 year old Alfie May who’s never played in the Championship and spending half or less of that fee on a 32 (now 33) year old Matt Godden who’s made 100+ Championship appearances and scored 30+ Championship goals is smart business. Especially if Godden ends up beating him in the goalscoring charts this season which is entirely possible.
I'll be honest, mate. I don't understand why so much value is placed on Championship appearances. Chris Gunter had a career's worth before joining us at 32. Coventry has Championship experience while Dobson doesn't, but Dobson is the more rounded footballer. We signed Tayo Edun from the Championship, who can't even make the first team. Docherty spent the last three seasons there and is now struggling to make an impact against L1 midfielders. Conor Washington has played in the Champ several times and we all know he is very limited. You could write a book on this, there are so many examples.
Alfie May has been the top scorer in L1 over X many seasons - what difference does it make if he's never played in the Championship when we're in L1?
Your last point is fair - I’m not saying Alfie wouldn’t do a good job for us now, he would.
But Godden is equally capable. Not only does he have experience at a higher level, he’s also scored at a rate near or better than Alfie when playing at this level himself. That was the simple point I was trying to make.
Alfie May will be on serious wedge in the Championship next season. Matty Godden won't be. Birmingham could have signed Godden, but they didn't.
You're a Benidorm dog. #woof
Would not be surprised to see him loaned back to L1 next year
I seriously struggle to understand how anyone can watch the past 13 games and believe Matt Godden is at the same level as Alfie May - and I really like Godden.
Alfie May could score any type of goal from anywhere on the pitch, not only that, but was quite the talisman for us last season. Selling him seemed stupid at the time, it seems stupid now, and I think it will seem stupid at the end of the season.
Hopefully this whole debate becomes increasingly moot as the season progresses and we somehow claw our way up to the Championship.
Disagree on this point. From what he showed in his season here, all but one of his goals was scored from inside the penalty area. Everything points to him being a traditional poacher. Godden is the exact same type of player.
Having said that I agree he was talismanic - he scored goals, worked hard and was easy to like as a local lad.
I don’t know how many goals he exactly scored from outside the box, but it was certainly more than 1 - off the top of my head I can remember him scoring from outside the box at Wigan away and again from a free-kick towards the end of the season.
Not only that, he regularly scored screamers for Cheltenham, once even a volley from the half-way line. He may not have done it as much for us as his role was different, but he had it in his locker - which Godden doesn’t.
Just to say, and this is a routine footie argument, I think it is over-egging it to say Godden's performance has been "stellar". Decent, yes. But I often think he disappears for large parts of games. Alfie May hardly ever did that. Now it's just my opinion, and when it comes to on-field matters, I've got a pretty low opinion of my opinions, but Louis Mendez for one agrees. He said it on the Wrexham post match show. Now I'm not holding up Louis as an oracle, nor would he want anyone to, but he's also in a position where he has to measure his comments. He wouldn't say that if he didn't think he was on solid ground with that. He said that we have to find ways to get MG into games more.
Just to say, and this is a routine footie argument, I think it is over-egging it to say Godden's performance has been "stellar". Decent, yes. But I often think he disappears for large parts of games. Alfie May hardly ever did that. Now it's just my opinion, and when it comes to on-field matters, I've got a pretty low opinion of my opinions, but Louis Mendez for one agrees. He said it on the Wrexham post match show. Now I'm not holding up Louis as an oracle, nor would he want anyone to, but he's also in a position where he has to measure his comments. He wouldn't say that if he didn't think he was on solid ground with that. He said that we have to find ways to get MG into games more.
On the contrary, May had patches of being anonymous just as much as he had periods where he looked unstoppable.
Godden is almost exactly the same mold, relative quality aside - a goalscorer who doesn't add much else when NOT scoring.
May probably is the better of the two but it's not as wide a gap as some are portraying.
I rate Godden as a finisher more than May but May has a better engine work ethic , which bizarrely is what the Nut Job wants , he didn’t like AM from day one fucking weirdo
Wonder is it possible Alfie went back nearer home to save his marriage? Plus the bonus of a much high wage packet. Pointless trying to keep an unhappy player. Was it a case of when the Cats away the Mice will play?
Just to say, and this is a routine footie argument, I think it is over-egging it to say Godden's performance has been "stellar". Decent, yes. But I often think he disappears for large parts of games. Alfie May hardly ever did that. Now it's just my opinion, and when it comes to on-field matters, I've got a pretty low opinion of my opinions, but Louis Mendez for one agrees. He said it on the Wrexham post match show. Now I'm not holding up Louis as an oracle, nor would he want anyone to, but he's also in a position where he has to measure his comments. He wouldn't say that if he didn't think he was on solid ground with that. He said that we have to find ways to get MG into games more.
May’s 1 goal in 13 games last season was a bit disappeary
Wonder is it possible Alfie went back nearer home to save his marriage? Plus the bonus of a much high wage packet. Pointless trying to keep an unhappy player. Was it a case of when the Cats away the Mice will play?
He was very emotional in his leaving video, it’s feasible. That may have been the embarrassment of not tidying his house though.
I seriously struggle to understand how anyone can watch the past 13 games and believe Matt Godden is at the same level as Alfie May - and I really like Godden.
Alfie May could score any type of goal from anywhere on the pitch, not only that, but was quite the talisman for us last season. Selling him seemed stupid at the time, it seems stupid now, and I think it will seem stupid at the end of the season.
Hopefully this whole debate becomes increasingly moot as the season progresses and we somehow claw our way up to the Championship.
Disagree on this point. From what he showed in his season here, all but one of his goals was scored from inside the penalty area. Everything points to him being a traditional poacher. Godden is the exact same type of player.
Having said that I agree he was talismanic - he scored goals, worked hard and was easy to like as a local lad.
I don’t know how many goals he exactly scored from outside the box, but it was certainly more than 1 - off the top of my head I can remember him scoring from outside the box at Wigan away and again from a free-kick towards the end of the season.
Not only that, he regularly scored screamers for Cheltenham, once even a volley from the half-way line. He may not have done it as much for us as his role was different, but he had it in his locker - which Godden doesn’t.
Location of all of last season’s goals. One from outside the area which is the Barnsley free kick you mentioned - 22 others all from inside the area, which is still great but yes, he’s a poacher first and foremost.
The one against Wigan was counted as inside the area by Opta.
Wonder is it possible Alfie went back nearer home to save his marriage? Plus the bonus of a much high wage packet. Pointless trying to keep an unhappy player. Was it a case of when the Cats away the Mice will play?
Just to say, and this is a routine footie argument, I think it is over-egging it to say Godden's performance has been "stellar". Decent, yes. But I often think he disappears for large parts of games. Alfie May hardly ever did that. Now it's just my opinion, and when it comes to on-field matters, I've got a pretty low opinion of my opinions, but Louis Mendez for one agrees. He said it on the Wrexham post match show. Now I'm not holding up Louis as an oracle, nor would he want anyone to, but he's also in a position where he has to measure his comments. He wouldn't say that if he didn't think he was on solid ground with that. He said that we have to find ways to get MG into games more.
May’s 1 goal in 13 games last season was a bit disappeary
i'm talking about his presence within the game. I really don't recall many games (if any) where I forgot he was even playing. Against Wrexham, Godden stepped up to smash home that penalty, and I don't under-estimate the way he took that under pressure, but for probably 80 minutes I hardly noticed him. You may say, that's because we were crap, and that's fair enough. But last season were crap nearly all the time, and still Alfie May bagged 27 goals.
I seriously struggle to understand how anyone can watch the past 13 games and believe Matt Godden is at the same level as Alfie May - and I really like Godden.
Alfie May could score any type of goal from anywhere on the pitch, not only that, but was quite the talisman for us last season. Selling him seemed stupid at the time, it seems stupid now, and I think it will seem stupid at the end of the season.
Hopefully this whole debate becomes increasingly moot as the season progresses and we somehow claw our way up to the Championship.
Disagree on this point. From what he showed in his season here, all but one of his goals was scored from inside the penalty area. Everything points to him being a traditional poacher. Godden is the exact same type of player.
Having said that I agree he was talismanic - he scored goals, worked hard and was easy to like as a local lad.
I don’t know how many goals he exactly scored from outside the box, but it was certainly more than 1 - off the top of my head I can remember him scoring from outside the box at Wigan away and again from a free-kick towards the end of the season.
Not only that, he regularly scored screamers for Cheltenham, once even a volley from the half-way line. He may not have done it as much for us as his role was different, but he had it in his locker - which Godden doesn’t.
Location of all of last season’s goals. One from outside the area which is the Barnsley free kick you mentioned - 22 others all from inside the area, which is still great but yes, he’s a poacher first and foremost.
The one against Wigan was counted as inside the area by Opta.
Totally different levels, but Haaland scores loads of goals in the box. Does it not count then? You want strikers to score in the box.
Comments
- Why wasn't family an issue moving to CAFC? It was, he partly moved here to be near his family as I believe his wife had been in Yorkshire while he was in the SW so CAFC was to help with that but I believe she found it hard being here (totally fair enough!)
- Mullin is a great example of the family thing. If the doc is to be believed, yes he's earning more than when he was at Cambridge but the figures were inflated in the media. One big thing was that Wrexham is near his family near Merseyside. The episode about autism and his son is particularly touching and well worth a watch even if you skip the rest of the episodes
- Parky building from the front is partly about how he wants to play. I suspect if you ask NJ how he likes to build teams he would say from the back. Not to say either are right or wrong, that's what makes football so interesting.
- Signing Mullin and Palmer to Wrexham is relatively easy as Wrexham could blow L1/2 teams out the water wages wise. We can't sign players from divisions above and offer them higher wages, a problem Wrexham will have now too.
Can you please think of a single example of a player we clearly wanted to keep, but didnt because someone else wanted to buy him, fair price(Lookman) or otherwise ( nearly everyone else) ?
its impossible. It is always difficult but its not
impossible as Wrexham show us. Of course it helps if the manager can manage top talent with an ego ( which is a feature of top talent)
Alfie May has been the top scorer in L1 over X many seasons - what difference does it make if he's never played in the Championship when we're in L1?
But Godden is equally capable. Not only does he have experience at a higher level, he’s also scored at a rate near or better than Alfie when playing at this level himself. That was the simple point I was trying to make.
The like for like replacement here is Godden and so far Matty is doing a stellar job. In isolation, I think the club did some smart transfer business here which left them with additional cash.
How they went and spent that cash is up for (a separate) but taking poacher for poacher in isolation, the club handled this pretty well IMO.
You're a Benidorm dog. #woof
Just to say, and this is a routine footie argument, I think it is over-egging it to say Godden's performance has been "stellar". Decent, yes. But I often think he disappears for large parts of games. Alfie May hardly ever did that. Now it's just my opinion, and when it comes to on-field matters, I've got a pretty low opinion of my opinions, but Louis Mendez for one agrees. He said it on the Wrexham post match show. Now I'm not holding up Louis as an oracle, nor would he want anyone to, but he's also in a position where he has to measure his comments. He wouldn't say that if he didn't think he was on solid ground with that. He said that we have to find ways to get MG into games more.
Godden is almost exactly the same mold, relative quality aside - a goalscorer who doesn't add much else when NOT scoring.
May probably is the better of the two but it's not as wide a gap as some are portraying.