The Yak

[AirRaidSiren]

Statistically, Yakubu looks a better signing than Roberts was and a far smaller risk

Yakubu's minutes per Premiership goal is more than twice as good as Roberts

Here is the comparison at the point of signing

Age 34 484 Appearances Overall 148 Goals (35 Premiership Goals) 6 Apps for Grenada (3 Goals) ROBERTS
Age 32 468 Appearances Overall 198 Goals (95 Premiership Goals) 57 Apps for Nigeria (21 Goals) YAKUBU

Premiership Details (Includes Reading)

221 Appearances 36 Goals at 403 Minutes per Goal ROBERTS
252 Appearances 95 Goals at 199 Minutes per Goal YAKUBU

This.

Chuffed with this signing.

[blueroyals]

He's at least 35. There have been questions about his age all the way through his career. Even Moyes admitted he wasn't sure.

[Winston Smith]

He's 32

[RoyalBlue]

But the source would almost certainly be a Nigerian passport or birth certificate. So if he's fiddled that at source, everything else is child's play.

And if my auntie had bollocks she'd be my uncle

Fiddling with passports and birth certificates really isn't that easy in the first place, and if he was 37 I'm pretty sure it would be showing in the incredibly scientific medicals they put players through these days

You've not seen some of the documentation that comes out of some of the African countries then? And presumably the reputation that Nigeria has for scams etc. is completely unfounded.

Even if a passport itself is completely above board, the issuers can only work on the basis of the best information available to them and sometimes documentation relating to dates of birth is not that great. To be honest, when it comes to a passport, the actual date of birth is probably regarded as being far less important than the identity of the individual.

[Cletus Van Damme]

My main concern is he's spent the last 4 years it seems living the life; earning big money; playing at a very poor standard. All the talk of Prem goal scoring records are a long time ago and he's clearly been on big money abroad, so I doubt he's half a cheap as people are making out.

At least unlike Ferdinand, he actually played some games of football before we signed him.

Clearly neither Hammond signings, like Pog and Drenthe I'd rather have owners who pay the tax bill than sign players. Yak must have a good agent.

[Norfolk Royal]

I've changed my mind about this signing. I now see it for the stroke of genius it undoubtedly is.

[linkenholtroyal]

He is 43. FACT! He was in my class at school in Benin City, Nigeria, and I had the occasional kick about with him and his brother. Good player. Well hung too.

well if he is a big yak he must have a nice big set of antlers, that must make him a Big Horny Yak

[Nameless]

His true age is pretty irrelevant. Players can be burnt out in their late twenties or still going strong at 40. If he's fit and keen then 32 or 35 makes very little difference.
We're not looking for him to play 50 games, he will probably start 10 games.
The key thing is whether he is match fit now, if it takes him a month to get up to speed then that is a big chunk of his contract used up.
If he just plays as an impact sub he could be a huge signing, we shall see how Clark uses him.

[Cletus Van Damme]

Thing is we've got 2 centre forwards who don't really fit our system. Signing a striker to play the odd game here or there isn't really the answer. Better off keeping Samuel and saving the cub some money. Instead we have another Pog/Drenthe/Ferdinand type signing, clearly made by people who don't know what we need.

[From Despair To Where?]

Taking everything into account, I think it's a good signing.

For whatever reason, we didn't have buckets of cash available in this window so it's a low risk, low cost signing to see us safe for this season and he offers something different to our existing forwards, He's a better forward than Blackman and HRK so clearly the squad is improved by him being here. Couldn't give a shit how old he is, if he's fit enough, he's young enough.

Exactly the sort of player we needed last Tuesday to come off the bench, creat havoc and nick a goal against 10 men at Millwall.

[Vision]

Thing is we've got 2 centre forwards who don't really fit our system. Signing a striker to play the odd game here or there isn't really the answer. Better off keeping Samuel and saving the cub some money. Instead we have another Pog/Drenthe/Ferdinand type signing, clearly made by people who don't know what we need.

I tend to agree with regards to Samuel but I suppose Clarke was looking nervously at a possible relegation scrap and decided it wasn't the best environment to throw him in and he will still gain vital experience at Coventry. Had we been comfortably mid table it may have been different.

I think it's too simple to lump Pog/Drenthe/Ferdinand altogether as one and the same. Pog was signed as a statement of intent in the Premier League. We got him ahead of established Premier league clubs who wanted him. Obviously the fact that we were paying him a fortune helped but it's not something we'd done before. Drenthe was a vanity signing, a punt that might have come off but obviously didn't. Ferdinand, assuming we're talking about Les was, along with Keown, signed to add experience and nous to a young side pushing for the play-offs none of whom had any top flight experience. Again it didn't work out although if you talked to certain members of the 05/06 team (James Harper in particular) they will credit those 2 (particularly Keown) as having an influence on the players which carried forward to our best two seasons ever.

Of course there are question marks over Yakubu but fundamentally it's a low risk outlay which could pay off handsomely if he's even around 70% of his heyday. And in a position where we know we lack but is the hardest to recruit for, especially in the January transfer window.

[Snowball]

Rednapp was after Yak for QPR and 63% of QPR voters thought it a good move

[Cletus Van Damme]

Thing is we've got 2 centre forwards who don't really fit our system. Signing a striker to play the odd game here or there isn't really the answer. Better off keeping Samuel and saving the cub some money. Instead we have another Pog/Drenthe/Ferdinand type signing, clearly made by people who don't know what we need.

I tend to agree with regards to Samuel but I suppose Clarke was looking nervously at a possible relegation scrap and decided it wasn't the best environment to throw him in and he will still gain vital experience at Coventry. Had we been comfortably mid table it may have been different.

I think it's too simple to lump Pog/Drenthe/Ferdinand altogether as one and the same. Pog was signed as a statement of intent in the Premier League. We got him ahead of established Premier league clubs who wanted him. Obviously the fact that we were paying him a fortune helped but it's not something we'd done before. Drenthe was a vanity signing, a punt that might have come off but obviously didn't. Ferdinand, assuming we're talking about Les was, along with Keown, signed to add experience and nous to a young side pushing for the play-offs none of whom had any top flight experience. Again it didn't work out although if you talked to certain members of the 05/06 team (James Harper in particular) they will credit those 2 (particularly Keown) as having an influence on the players which carried forward to our best two seasons ever.

Of course there are question marks over Yakubu but fundamentally it's a low risk outlay which could pay off handsomely if he's even around 70% of his heyday. And in a position where we know we lack but is the hardest to recruit for, especially in the January transfer window.

Was talking about Anton, not Les. Was pretty excited when we signed Big Les!

So by that theory Yak should have 15 goals by April

I'm just not so sure I agree that Yakubu will be coming here on the cheap. Though it is just 6 months.

Agents are the scum of this game

[Hoop Blah]

Thing is we've got 2 centre forwards who don't really fit our system. Signing a striker to play the odd game here or there isn't really the answer. Better off keeping Samuel and saving the cub some money. Instead we have another Pog/Drenthe/Ferdinand type signing, clearly made by people who don't know what we need.

Yakubu should fit Clarke's requirements more than the others and as a result fit our system better moving forward. My guess is that he'll be used in a similar way that we used Le Fondre in the past but also to add a variation to our attacking play as he can play off the shoulder of the last man which isn't what Cox or Pogrebnyak do.

Would keeping Samuel have saved the club money? That all depends on how much Coventry might've paid for his loan and how much of his wages they're picking up. For the long term development of the player, and therefore his worth to us in the future, I think the loan move is probably the right thing for all parties. Admittedly it's unlikely we're saving more on Samuels wages than we're paying Yakubu but you never know.

I'd rather have seen one of our own used than an aging Yakubu but it looks like Samuel hasn't done enough to convince anyone at the club he's a Championship standard forward as yet so there's not point keeping here when he can learn his trade playing at a lower level.

[Rollerbob]

Not sure why people are so concerned with how much he is costing..

Free transfer fee, just wages to pay out.

We got rid of Drenthe who would have been on more than the Yak is, and Cummings - so there is a hole where those funds weren't being spent.

We also reportedly offered around 1 - 1.5 mil for Vibe?.. or at least, had that money around. Yakubu's short contract will not exceed the 1 million or so that we have to spend - so there is no risk at all. With Drenthe out, I'm sure we are still saving money.

[leon]

What a joke signing.

[Snowball]

NOTED

[melonhead]

Agree with most. Very decent player at this level, regardless of age. Although he has being playing at a "lower" level recently, he still put up good stats & by all accounts should be match fit.

One major disagreement was after reading a Tilehurst article today that Yak and Pog could not play together. This just baffled me. Amazingly poor piece of reporting which basically concluded that two players like this, with no real "pace", could not be effective together. What they failed to consider or review was what type of player is Yakubu? We just need to look back to his days with Mark Viduka to see he can play with a "unit" and successfully produce the goods (albeit he was a slightly younger fella at that point!) The obsession with needing pace is beyond me, this is not Fifa 15! Look at the top 5-10 strikers in the Championship and I don't think you can say any of them are lightning quick. If someone could explain why we need a pacey forward so badly in the Championship, please enlighten me.

.

its easy to set a team up with two big lumps up front, if you have the pace in the team supplying them from the wings or midfield

[Extended-Phenotype]

Yak's age stats look pretty impressive. He has aged 1 year every year on average.

[floyd__streete]

Yak's age stats look pretty impressive. He has aged 1 year every year on average.

Pog > 37 year old Yak > Cox > Blackman <> HRK.

We needed a striker, we got a striker.

I honestly think some of you lot actually enjoy moaning