Cedric Baseya

[ZacNaloen]

assuming he's on the equivalent of £25-30K a year basic that's alright by me. With his record in any other industry he'd be working for free aa an intern.

what happened to that Bulgarian Vasilev btw - I never saw him play.

damaged his knee ligaments iirc, was released about a year later

obviously never materialised into the player we hoped.

[Hoop Blah]

obviously never materialised into the player we hoped.

That was just a one off though....

[Terminal Boardom]

Give the bloke a chance. Let BMcD work on him in training. If he comes good then great, if not, then no harm done.

[Madstad to Nadderud]

Or we could look at a positive from this signing that RFC could be the first club to get a goal from Cedric Baseya in his professional career to date...no pressure though! Just waiting for the usual about cutting our cloth and needing to reduce the playing squad, etc, now we have signed a new player.

[Ian Royal]

obviously never materialised into the player we hoped.

That was just a one off though....

I think there's a big difference between taking a punt on a youngster, say 19 or under and putting them into the academy where we all know the hit rate is going to be something low like 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 odd. Nothing wrong with that.

It's the older punts like Sodje, Bennett, Mooney, Antonio, Baseya etc where a lot of the early development's been done already and they still aren't that good yet. They tend to cost more, have less chance of progressing significantly and tend to be more difficult to ship out, costing more in wages too.

In fact, off the top of my head I can't think of many of these sorts of punts that have worked... Federici, Sonko & Hunt maybe? And Federici wasn't so much of a punt by us as just hung around until we gave in and kept him.

[M-U-R-T-Y]

It's the older pcunts like Sodje, Bennett, Mooney, Antonio, Baseya.

Fixed

[Svlad Cjelli]

obviously never materialised into the player we hoped.

That was just a one off though....

I think there's a big difference between taking a punt on a youngster, say 19 or under and putting them into the academy where we all know the hit rate is going to be something low like 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 odd. Nothing wrong with that.

It's the older punts like Sodje, Bennett, Mooney, Antonio, Baseya etc where a lot of the early development's been done already and they still aren't that good yet. They tend to cost more, have less chance of progressing significantly and tend to be more difficult to ship out, costing more in wages too.

In fact, off the top of my head I can't think of many of these sorts of punts that have worked... Federici, Sonko & Hunt maybe? And Federici wasn't so much of a punt by us as just hung around until we gave in and kept him.

But that assumed that "worked" means they're a regular first-team starter. What if we want a specific type of player for a specific type of role, to be used occasionally, in certain circumstances or against certain types of teams? That makes it much more easy to cost-justify.

Think of BMc as a workman - he wants as many different types of tools as possible in his tool-kit. He'll use his main tools on just about very job, but now and again he'll see the need for a great big mallet - now he's picked one up cheap.

Time will tell how effective the new tool is - but if it gives us something we didn't have before and costs virtually nothing then what's the problem?

[Ian Royal]

That all assumes he gives us something positive.

And I'm sorry, but I don't really agree with your central premise of having all your bases covered in the squad on the off chance you might want a specific type of player in the odd games. Your core squad should be flexible enough and good enough not to have to resort to dropping a regular for someone on the absolute edge to give you something specific for one game.

[Svlad Cjelli]

If the special thing he brings is physical presence then that's something it's difficult to put into your core squad or for them to be flexible enough to have anyway.

[RepressedRoyal]

obviously never materialised into the player we hoped.

That was just a one off though....

I think there's a big difference between taking a punt on a youngster, say 19 or under and putting them into the academy where we all know the hit rate is going to be something low like 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 odd. Nothing wrong with that.

It's the older punts like Sodje, Bennett, Mooney, Antonio, Baseya etc where a lot of the early development's been done already and they still aren't that good yet. They tend to cost more, have less chance of progressing significantly and tend to be more difficult to ship out, costing more in wages too.

In fact, off the top of my head I can't think of many of these sorts of punts that have worked... Federici, Sonko & Hunt maybe? And Federici wasn't so much of a punt by us as just hung around until we gave in and kept him.

Alan Bennett....now that's the guy I was trying to remember!!! A tough centre back who was the "right fit" for this football club as I recall.........does anyone know where on earth did he end up......Clacton Athletic perhaps?

[Hoop Blah]

My previous post was a bit tongue in cheek...I don't expect them all to work out.

As for Bennett, he's currently at Cheltenham in League Two and I think playing every week. He spent time at both Wycombe and Brentford after leaving us. He seems to end up with a lot of free transfers and loan deals.

[Barry the bird boggler]

The club are going to work with Baseya on his fitness and getting to know the way we play, therefore I wouldn't expect to see him involved for at least a month or two. Perhaps he may make the bench for the FA Cup.

[Terminal Boardom]

Anyone remember Jimmy Kebe's first touch when he came on as a sub in the Prem? First touch rocketted the ball about twenty miles away. My first reaction, along with thousands of others, was to pmsl. Now, if Cedric can bring this sort of entertainment, I might just have to pop down and have a bloody good laugh

[roadrunner]

I'm getting sick of comments like these. Who gives a toss what colour he is? I don't want a big white guy with no technique either.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcs4kk_le-controle-de-baseya_fun

JESUS

Was not a brother!

[RoyalBlue]

How does Spacey know someone's French? Being deaf (no disrespect) he can't hear them when they speak, so maybe his lip reading skills are very good.

Presumably he's developed a keen eye for bicycles, berets and strings of onions!

[Ian Royal]

If the special thing he brings is physical presence then that's something it's difficult to put into your core squad or for them to be flexible enough to have anyway.

Not really Dirk, you can have a player in your core squad who has physixal presence, Manset has it in a different way afterall. The point is there's no point in having a 5th or 6th choice striker on your books for teh sake of having someone with physical presence in case you want them in the odd game. Fair enough if you're third or fourth choice striker offers you something different, but lets face it, this guy is behind at least Hunt, Le Fondre, Church, & Manset, possibly HRK as well.

It's perfectly reasonable and valid given our squad to view this signing as totally meh.

[Svlad Cjelli]

It's perfectly reasonable and valid given our squad to view this signing as totally meh.

IMHO it's perfectly reasonable to withhold judgement on the signing until we've seen the bloke play.

[Ian Royal]

It's perfectly reasonable and valid given our squad to view this signing as totally meh.

IMHO it's perfectly reasonable to withhold judgement on the signing until we've seen the bloke play.

I don't think many people are saying he's definitely shit. The attitude is that given his uninspiring record, age and our current squad, there doesn't seem to be a lot of point to this long shot punt. He'll get exactly the same chance every player gets from me if he actually steps on the pitch for us ever.

There's nothing wrong with making a judgment on the available evidence, as long as you're open minded about changing it.

[Svlad Cjelli]

I think the mistake people are making is thinking of this "signing" as a "signing" just like any other - I think it's safer to think of this as an "extended trial" and then it should be a lot easier for everyone to accept and get their head around.

[Ian Royal]

only morons said Kebe wasn't a footballer, he was always obviously very talented, and he quite clearly had pedigree. It was a question of whether he could produce an end product and perform consistently or not.

D- must do better with comparisons.