Nothing changes. Well done lads. How old is Joe Gray?

Nothing changes. Well done lads. How old is Joe Gray?

Has Monkeybutt seen this Grey play?

He'll be gone soon according to Football Rumours:

05 Feb 2020 16:13:01
Hartlepool's prolific teen striker Joe Grey is attracting lots of interest. Last night scouts from several Premier League clubs, including neighbours Newcastle, watched him bag a hat-trick in the youth team match against derby rivals Darlington. Sources close to the club suggest that a six figuire bid is expected from the soon to be rich geordie/ Saudi giants.

https://football-rumours.co.uk/

Don't they just take kids of his age off of us? Like Luca Murphy?

We'll take a nominal fee and nothing more thank you very much.

They'll insist on paying us as part of their sportwashing initiative. Boost the region's economy by buying all the young footballers, good or bad. Lovely blokes unless you're a journalist or a Syrian in which case they can be a bit aggressive.

We scored 7 in the final 27 minutes of the game so it was a pretty poor performance for the first hour.

Sort it out McGuckin.

I have, he is no Jack Blackford

He has the potential to be the next Josh Scott!


Who is josh Scott?

Here you go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6nqG3adtE8

Josh Scott signed for Mansfield.

Didn't Sheffield sign him first though? Maybe moved him on once they got promoted?

Maybe they thought they had their fingers burnt giving us £300K for Nathan Thomas.

Hardly!

Plus I think it was 400k as Boro bid that because Steve Gibson basically wanted to donate the money as a return for 86 but he chose Sheffield.

They have gone in one direction since that type of money is small fry it’s probably less than a months wages for the lad they signed for 27 million snots last week.

What ever it was it was a good deal for Pools for a player who is just a decent low league player. Never got a sniff ant Sheffield who loaned him out four times before giving him a free transfer.

I suggest he was a bit better than "decent". It would be interesting to hear from the likes of Thomas, James & Baldwin about their big money moves, whether in hindsight they made wrong choices &, if they could turn back the clock, would they do anything different.

Pools number 8 in that match looked a bit of a giant

I think the records of these players show that they are only lower league players. Non have made it past league one and whilst James has done well at Pools he just never done it at any of the league clubs he played for.

Or did they join the wrong clubs, & could they have chosen another one which would have spent time on helping them to develop further ?

Thomas has had 11 clubs, James 5 clubs and Baldwin 4 clubs surely all cannot be wrong.

I’m not sure a list of clubs tells you much to honest. I am struggling to see your point.

Jack Baldwin for example was captain of Peterborough and was being linked to clubs like Liverpool then did his his ACL. It’s not always black and white. We have seen with James Brown a player who had the ability to play at a high level the impact that injury can have.

Well if you are only 25 and been to 11 clubs there’s something wrong somewhere.

I wouldn’t say wrong it’s a very meaningless and misleading figure. He was unsettled before coming to Pools but since the move he’s not really done much ‘wrong’.

He’s not going to get a game at Sheffield United they are a Premier League club and he’s not going to get a contract on the money he is there elsewhere so it makes sense from a financial viewpoint that he will see out his contract. So that figure is inflated by loan spells he’s had two permanent clubs since he signed for Pools four years ago and I’m sure he’ll get another club on a decent length contract at the conclusion of his Sheffield United deal.

All I said was he was only a decent lower league player and his record shows that.

By the way I believe he was given a free transfer from Sheffield.

You need to tell everyone involved then as you are the only person who believes this. It would be particularly careless of Sheffield United to keep paying his wages.....

You implied that Sheffield United might have nabbed a kid off us to get us back for the appalling error of signing Nathan Thomas, which is actually far too silly to waste the amount of time I have replying to it.

You stated the wrong fee.

Now you are bizarrely saying he’s no longer contracted to Sheffield United.

Any other stuff you ‘believe?’

Thomas has real ability I have seen few players go past someone one on one with such regularity, during the first few months of 2016/17 he was unplayable and despite all other shite him getting injured at 2-0 up Barnet was probably a huge turning point for everything else that unfolded at least on the field in the relegation season. You can see why on that form why a fee higher level clubs were interested when he was available in modern terms for peanuts after we went down. In hindsight he might have been better going to the Boro but the feeling was that bud was the chairman wanting to return us a favour and a move to South Yorkshire would see more realistic prospects of first team involvement. I doubt many saw Sheffield’s United rise being so rapid.

Thomas is a decent lower league player full stop. Never played above and I doubt he will.

PJ - when I said I believed Thomas was a free transfer he did in fact have one year left on his contract but was told he could leave. However as he was on good money at Sheffield he joined Carlisle on a one year loan where I suspect Sheffield are making up his wage. So yes he is still on Sheffield’s books but technically he was given a free transfer.
Did I get the transfer fee wrong? I’m only quoting what the newspapers stated. Maybe you read different reports to me. One thing for sure you never know what fees we get with Pools they keep it close to their chests it’s always undisclosed.

You could just say you got it wrong!?

Most contracts will have an increase on promotion built into them so with Sheffield United getting into the Premier League it's highly likely his wage for the last year of his contract has increased significantly. I know a lad who was at a Championship club who were in the play off final a few years ago and his wages were set to double overnight if they won even though he'd never played a first team game at that stage. So someone like Thomas was never going leave on a free transfer without seeing out his contract, why would you unless it was for an equivalent deal?

Anyway my wider point is things aren't as straight forward as you make out, football can sometimes be about being at the right place at the right time and getting an an opportunity at the right club rather than players being miles better than others. Look at people like Aaron Wilbraham, Grant Holt, Rickie Lambert as a few examples who were good lower league players for years before getting a chance at a higher level. I'm not sure you can totally right off someone who's 25, as I say he's probably been a victim of Sheffield United's extraordinary success as much as everything else if he'd gone to say Boro he'd have probably got an opportunity at Championship level.

Arguing over fuck all again?

Not really arguing on my part, I'm adding context and reasoning behind the points I'm making it's how forums are meant to work.

Or do you think its likely that Josh Scott was taken on trial by Sheffield United as bitter revenge for us burning their fingers when they signed Nathan Thomas?

It will be interesting to see where Thomas ends up after this season as he seems to be doing alright in a crap Carlisle team, he must have double figure or close enough to that in terms of goals.

Tree you are right arguing about nothing. All I said was Thomas is just a decent lower league player but you know PJ goes round picking it to bits without saying if Thomas is better than that or not.

You suggested purely on the back of listing the amount of clubs three players have played for that they will never play higher. All of I have said, and have added reasoning behind my points is I think Thomas still might and that Baldwin would have if if wasn't for his ACL. It's a conversation not an argument.

Won 2-0 this afternoon against York ....up in Gods country, sunny Blackhall Welfare.