Zat Knight - New Club Captain?

Boggersbelief wrote:Baptiste and wheater will be our cb pair with tierney at lb.

We still need to buy a quality RB and a striker imo

Baptiste was signed primarily as a RB with the view to signing Dawson for CB

Boggersbelief wrote:Baptiste and wheater will be our cb pair with tierney at lb.

We still need to buy a quality RB and a striker imo

Baptiste, will be playing right back. Tierney left back and hopefully Dawson and Wheater as the central defenders.

Knight gets bolloxed for the mistakes he makes - but he is at least in the right area to challenge - unlike others who go missing altogether. He isn't a great player but he's a lot better than many of the fans on here think - the same fans who don't give him credit for all the good stuff he does. He ain't that bad overall but he makes himself an easy target by trying harder than most.
Dawson was a brilliant loan (as was Spearing) but both players are out of our league financially and I'd be amazed as well as delighted if either returned.
Some of the "wish list" stuff I've read is highly optimistic. Have you forgotten that we are not a premiership team and we don't have much money? Or are we in denial?

wanderlust wrote:Knight gets bolloxed for the mistakes he makes - but he is at least in the right area to challenge - unlike others who go missing altogether. He isn't a great player but he's a lot better than many of the fans on here think - the same fans who don't give him credit for all the good stuff he does. He ain't that bad overall but he makes himself an easy target by trying harder than most.
Dawson was a brilliant loan (as was Spearing) but both players are out of our league financially and I'd be amazed as well as delighted if either returned.
Some of the "wish list" stuff I've read is highly optimistic. Have you forgotten that we are not a premiership team and we don't have much money? Or are we in denial?

Wanderlust, I think you might be pleasantly surprised. Dougie is looking for a central defender and YES! Dawson is his preference. We are also in the market for a defensive midfielder, possibly Jedinak? We are also after an attacking midfielder, a winger and two strikers and yes, we do have money to spend.

I love the twitter thing, it makes me so much more optimistic for next season.

This isn't a 'Is Knight crap or not' issue. He clearly is. His deficiency are many i.e getting on the wrong side of his man (in front not behind) dithering and panicking, an inability to head the ball, which for a midfielder doesn't matter but for a centre-half is crucial.

Some previous poster attempted to blame Coyle for ZKs crapness on the football-field but Jimmy P banished him, not even in the squad. Freedman not only brought him back from the wilderness but made him captain. Just one of the many ludicrous decision by the manager.

I have criticised Dougie Freedman many times last season.
Come August, it's a clean sheet, a fresh start. I hope very much that I have been wrong in my assessment of the manager and will be the first to admit that.

In the meantime, let's hope for some good weather in the summer and look forward to the fixtures coming out and the start of a new season.

Ah - the speculation has begun in earnest.
OK I'm open-minded about it and am hopeful, nay optimistic, that Dougie will put together a competitive squad for next season.
However the debt and the profligacy of Megson indicate to me that we won't be spending a lot.
When I think of the hatchet man job Coyle was given followed by Dougie whose signings to date have been kids and freebies (albeit apparently good ones) either they are saving the transfer money for a big deal or there isn't any to speak of.
If we do spend, it will be wisely (for a change) so maybe there's hope that we might get Dawson or someone else that will cost a few million, but I'm yet to be convinced - it would be a U-turn on the spending policy of the last 2 years. And if we do buy 1 maybe 2 at a push players that cost over say £2.5 million, they will be the exceptions as I fully expect Dougie to be focussing on rebuilding with bargains and kids.
If our outgoings over the summer exceed £5 million in total, I'd be very surprised.
That said, I like surprises.

wanderlust wrote:Ah - the speculation has begun in earnest.
OK I'm open-minded about it and am hopeful, nay optimistic, that Dougie will put together a competitive squad for next season.
However the debt and the profligacy of Megson indicate to me that we won't be spending a lot.
When I think of the hatchet man job Coyle was given followed by Dougie whose signings to date have been kids and freebies (albeit apparently good ones) either they are saving the transfer money for a big deal or there isn't any to speak of.
If we do spend, it will be wisely (for a change) so maybe there's hope that we might get Dawson or someone else that will cost a few million, but I'm yet to be convinced - it would be a U-turn on the spending policy of the last 2 years. And if we do buy 1 maybe 2 at a push players that cost over say £2.5 million, they will be the exceptions as I fully expect Dougie to be focussing on rebuilding with bargains and kids.
If our outgoings over the summer exceed £5 million in total, I'd be very surprised.
That said, I like surprises.

We'll see. I think Eddie might want to splash some cash this season, so we can hopefully, get back to the Prem, where the real money is.

I am optimistic that we'll bring in some decent players this season, to have a team that will challenge for a promotion spot in the Championship.

We have already pretty much concluded deals for Baptiste and Tierney. Baptiste turned down Hull for us, so he knows we mean business.

If we don't sign any more decent players this season, for a realistic promotion challenge for the Prem, I'll be the first to admit, that I was wrong.

Culcheth_White wrote:

wanderlust wrote:Ah - the speculation has begun in earnest.
OK I'm open-minded about it and am hopeful, nay optimistic, that Dougie will put together a competitive squad for next season.
However the debt and the profligacy of Megson indicate to me that we won't be spending a lot.
When I think of the hatchet man job Coyle was given followed by Dougie whose signings to date have been kids and freebies (albeit apparently good ones) either they are saving the transfer money for a big deal or there isn't any to speak of.
If we do spend, it will be wisely (for a change) so maybe there's hope that we might get Dawson or someone else that will cost a few million, but I'm yet to be convinced - it would be a U-turn on the spending policy of the last 2 years. And if we do buy 1 maybe 2 at a push players that cost over say £2.5 million, they will be the exceptions as I fully expect Dougie to be focussing on rebuilding with bargains and kids.
If our outgoings over the summer exceed £5 million in total, I'd be very surprised.
That said, I like surprises.

We'll see. I think Eddie might want to splash some cash this season, so we can hopefully, get back to the Prem, where the real money is.

I am optimistic that we'll bring in some decent players this season, to have a team that will challenge for a promotion spot in the Championship.

We have already pretty much concluded deals for Baptiste and Tierney. Baptiste turned down Hull for us, so he knows we mean business.

If we don't sign any more decent players this season, for a realistic promotion challenge for the Prem, I'll be the first to admit, that I was wrong.

I hope you're right amigo, but as you say "we'll see". So much speculation at this time of the year it's impossible to sort rumour from reality.

Dawson will likely play Prem footy ....but I feel that Spearing will be back. At best he will be a bench player at Liverpool and maybe not even that if they sign a couple of players in the summer.

terenceanne wrote:Dawson will likely play Prem footy ....but I feel that Spearing will be back. At best he will be a bench player at Liverpool and maybe not even that if they sign a couple of players in the summer.

Spearing deal not likely according to Nixon

Sunderland and Newcastle are interested in Spearing apparently.

terenceanne wrote:Dawson will likely play Prem footy ....but I feel that Spearing will be back. At best he will be a bench player at Liverpool and maybe not even that if they sign a couple of players in the summer.

Spearing as another year of his contract left and is on Premier wages.

Bolton simply can't afford to buy him and match his wages whilst in the Championship.

For Spearing to come back Liverpool would have to loan him to us - thus miss out on a possible sale to another club plus Spearing would have to take a significant wage cut too.

It possible Liverpool will loan him and pay a chunk of his wages but unlikely.

They probably did so last season on the agreement that we would buy him at a pre-agreed price if we got promoted.

He would be out of contract at the end of next season so there is nothing much in it for Liverpool for them to oblige us.