Would you want Sidwell back?

[juanpablo]

Sidwell and Marek would be a brilliant pairing in the middle imo

[East Stand Royal 500]

Trying to turn the clock back rarely works. Much as I regretted his going, I would not specially want him back. If neither he nor the club was indulging in nostalgia, it could work. If we tempted him back because we thought we could get him cheap because it hadn't worked out at Chelsea, or if he came crawling back with his tail between his legs to ask for his old job back it would be a disaster.

[Royal Rother]

Can someone explain to me why Sidwell has looked so poor when he's played for Chelsea this season?

Shouldn't playing with a bunch of top class players have made him look better?

It would be foolish to argue that he hasn't been missed for his defensive work and box-to-box energy but he really didn't have a particularly effective season for us last year and has looked pretty much out of his depth at Chelsea, so he hasn't really shown much to convince me he's a Premier League player worth £5m.

I would have him back at £3m but I'd pay £6m for another player with Matejovsky's class.

The £5m valuation of Hunt was a bit false brought on by Sunderland's burning desire / desperation. No-one will offer that for him again.

[weybridgewanderer]

Can someone explain to me why Sidwell has looked so poor when he's played for Chelsea this season?

Before he left a number of us commented that Sidwell was the type of player that needs to play every week

he doesn't get that opportunity at chelsea

[Y25]

YES

[2.8 lita injection]

No for me, for the money and the wages i think Sir Steve is capable of finding are better player somewhere.

Mareks defensive twin brother would do.

[seahawk10]

Were there any rumours of us selling him last January? I was wondering what he would have fetched in transfer fees a year ago January? We would not have finished 8th but I think it would be safe to assume we would have stayed up whether he was here or not from Feb forward. Hindsight is 20/20, but if we knew we could not afford him I wonder if the club had any discussions of cashing in.

Players on a Bosman generally don't leave clubs the january before their contract runs out

It is not in the buying clubs interest, why pay for a player when yoou can get him for free in the summer

It is not in the player or the agents interest - under a Bosman you can start taking to clubs after the January window closes so why give the selling club a couple of million that could be shared between within a few weeks of the close of the transfer window.

Thanks for explaining that. The Bosman contract was something I hadn't heard of before. I doubt there is any chance of him returning but I would love to see it happen.

[Dirk Gently]

Were there any rumours of us selling him last January? I was wondering what he would have fetched in transfer fees a year ago January? We would not have finished 8th but I think it would be safe to assume we would have stayed up whether he was here or not from Feb forward. Hindsight is 20/20, but if we knew we could not afford him I wonder if the club had any discussions of cashing in.

Players on a Bosman generally don't leave clubs the january before their contract runs out

It is not in the buying clubs interest, why pay for a player when yoou can get him for free in the summer

It is not in the player or the agents interest - under a Bosman you can start taking to clubs after the January window closes so why give the selling club a couple of million that could be shared between within a few weeks of the close of the transfer window.

But usually players who will be leaving on a Bosman spent their last season (or at least last half-season) rattling around in the reserves or not really achieving much. It was an absolute masterstroke of Steve Coppell to not let that happen, but instead to challenge Sidwell to give us a season of inspired performances and to put himself in the shop-window for a big-money opportunity, which he did.

Don't forget that SC could have cashed in and sold him the previous summer - but as it turned out his performances for us were worth more than the transfer fee at the start of last season would have been. Even more so when you consider that because Sidwell didn't accept the new contract he was the lowest paid first-teamer all last season. For SC to get the season out of him that he did shows his genius.

[Royal Rother]

I agree with most of what you say, but "a season of inspired performances" is pushing it a bit!

[Dirk Gently]

I agree with most of what you say, but "a season of inspired performances" is pushing it a bit!

I'd say just about everyone in the first-team last season gave "a season of inspired performances" - 8th place in the PL for a newly-proted team is not to be sniffed at, and Sidwell was as responsible for anyone else as that achievement. I agree he wasn't 100% perfect in every match, but realistically no-one can ever be.

[Royal Rother]

After our somewhat insipid midfield performances in the 1st half of this season I suppose it really has been a case of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" with Sidwell but I thought he was pretty average last season and see no strong reason to radically change my view with hindsight.

[seahawk10]

After our somewhat insipid midfield performances in the 1st half of this season I suppose it really has been a case of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" with Sidwell but I thought he was pretty average last season and see no strong reason to radically change my view with hindsight.

RR, you take a lot of stick at times, but as a fellow RTG I usually agree with your positions. But i think you are dead wrong here. Just take a look at many of the highlight videos that are up on youtube. A good many of our best goals are from perfect through passes by Sidwell. Lita's two away at Man City come to mind. Until Marek showed up that was a key part of our game that was missing. I know you won't radically change your position, as you have stated, but can you at least give consideration to stating he was 'above average'?

[Royal Rother]

Over the entire season he did of course have some excellent moments - that beautiful one-two with Kitson goal against Villa (?) will long live in the memory but my end of season assessment was that he had not had a particularly good season overall. (Not hugely relevant but IIRC there was a stat that illustrated his shooting was the worst in the entire league...)

But I have acknowledged that we missed him badly in the 1st half of the season which is something of a climbdown!!

[Ian Royal]

After our somewhat insipid midfield performances in the 1st half of this season I suppose it really has been a case of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" with Sidwell but I thought he was pretty average last season and see no strong reason to radically change my view with hindsight.

RR, you take a lot of stick at times, but as a fellow RTG I usually agree with your positions. But i think you are dead wrong here. Just take a look at many of the highlight videos that are up on youtube. A good many of our best goals are from perfect through passes by Sidwell. Lita's two away at Man City come to mind. Until Marek showed up that was a key part of our game that was missing. I know you won't radically change your position, as you have stated, but can you at least give consideration to stating he was 'above average'?

top post.

[Thaumagurist*]

.

[papereyes]

Over the entire season he did of course have some excellent moments - that beautiful one-two with Kitson goal against Villa (?) will long live in the memory but my end of season assessment was that he had not had a particularly good season overall. (Not hugely relevant but IIRC there was a stat that illustrated his shooting was the worst in the entire league...)

But I have acknowledged that we missed him badly in the 1st half of the season which is something of a climbdown!!

It was Villa. He also scored from a header at a corner that game.

What we've missed is his drive and tenacity. Its fantastically difficult to quantify but our midfield had a certain porosity to it that it didn't have last season (can easily check number of shots taken against us, and compare that to last season). I get the feeling that random stats used badly, as they were over the summer, don't paint the full picture of what he offered us.

[madreadingfan]

NO
MATEJOVSKYS BETTER

[weybridgewanderer]

we have missed a "box to box" midfield player. I think we hoped that Bryn could deliver but it just didn't really happen for him

The closest we have come to havingthat this seasons was when bryn got sent off v west ham and hunt moved into that role.

until i saw his performance for the reserves last night i was hoping we might see

oster/kebe marek hunt convey

as the midfield at some point

[Howser17]

YES. Although for the money and wages, we may be able to find a better player somewher, but personally, i can't be arsed waiting x amount of months for a new player to settle in a possibly turn out to be a lemon. Sids would slot back in nicely, and after next season it would be like he never left. If we are able to bring him back, it would be silly to say no.

[Slacky]

You can't blame him for wanting to better himself. Think he has been a little bit of a victim of the manager change there. Would have him back, but wouldn't want to be paying 50k a week for him.