Jordan Rhodes

[SCIAG]

Shite example from Siege, but his point is correct. Lower league strikers did get gambled on in the old First Division, and some went on to be big names. Ian Rush is probably the best example, Kevin Keegan too.

[royalp-we]

Jordan Rhodes could well be the new David Nugent.

Let's be clear here, if a player makes the step up, then great. If its a gamble and no one can be sure they can make the step up, don't spend £6m on them.

Le Fondre, a goalscorer at a lower level for £300k unproven at a high level is my kind of signing.

Rhodes, a goalscorer at a lower level for £6m unproven at a high level, is not.

[Ian Royal]

Shite example from Siege, but his point is correct. Lower league strikers did get gambled on in the old First Division, and some went on to be big names. Ian Rush is probably the best example, Kevin Keegan too.

The Premier League may have had the odd striker plucked from the lower leagues, but it has not "lived" on it. And it's hardly something we need to start looking at trying to do, we're well aware of the lower league players out there.

Where does he think we got Le Fondre from? Rhodes, who we've shown interest in, was playing last year?

[peterroyal76]

We should get into this market. The Prem (and the old 1st Div) have lived on strikers pulled from the lower divisions. It's always a question of 'who has the bottle to sign them'. e.g. Absolutely untried striker from the lower divisions - Ian Wright (RFC wouldn't want another him would they?).

Which top flight club took a risk in buying Ian Wright from a lower league team?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Palace got Wright from a Sunday League team and he proved to be so good Arsenal went on to buy him.

Palace signed Wright from Dulwich Hamlet and they're hardly Sunday league.

[SCIAG]

Jordan Rhodes could well be the new David Nugent.

Let's be clear here, if a player makes the step up, then great. If its a gamble and no one can be sure they can make the step up, don't spend £6m on them.

Le Fondre, a goalscorer at a lower level for £300k unproven at a high level is my kind of signing.

Rhodes, a goalscorer at a lower level for £6m unproven at a high level, is not.

I agree with this. We don't have £6m to gamble with.

There are more extreme examples than David Nugent or Leroy Lita. Look where Freddy Eastwood is now, or Jermaine Easter.

[Dare to Dr£am]

And Palace were an old Division Two side, or Championship in current money. He then had about 5 or 6 seasons wih Palace before Arsenal took him.

TheSiege showing the massive chips on his shoulders and his total lack of knowledge at the same time.

Sorry not to respond quicker, I've been watching the Olympics. The point I was making was that a huge amount of lower division (including semi-professional and even amateur players) have ended in the top division over the years. I thought Ian Wright was a good example but it depends how you look at it. He was in non-league, was picked up by a lower div team and ended up at Arsenal scoring brilliant goals. There may be better examples and probably are. Other contributers seem to accept the point I was making but, if you want to be pedantic, simply provide a better example - it will still prove my case!

You forget that we have a track record for gambling on those signings, Brett Williams, Karl Sheppard, Adam Le Fondre, etc.
Only one of them came good.

You may as well add Long and Doyle to that list.. dreadful.

[AJ_urz9]

You forget that we have a track record for gambling on those signings, Brett Williams, Karl Sheppard, Adam Le Fondre, etc.
Only one of them came good.

And which of those three had scored 40 goals in a season and got their side promoted?

And Kevin Doyle turned out so bad you wouldn't mention him...

[RoyallyFcuked]

We should have seriously thought about trying to bring this guy in. I just hope Pogrebnyak does well because I would have rather had Rhodes. He and Alfie upfront would have been a demon partnership.

[Za Vas]

Signing a lower league player for peanuts and seeing him come good, i.e. Doyle/Long (alright they were from Ireland, not lower league) in a relatively low risk strategy is nothing like demolishing our record transfer fee for someone without any PL experience. They want silly money for a lad with no proven track record at the highest level, yes gambles should be taken every now and again, but not for 6-8 million or whatever they want for him.

[Cypry]

Signing a lower league player for peanuts and seeing him come good, i.e. Doyle/Long (alright they were from Ireland, not lower league) in a relatively low risk strategy is nothing like demolishing our record transfer fee for someone without any PL experience. They want silly money for a lad with no proven track record at the highest level, yes gambles should be taken every now and again, but not for 6-8 million or whatever they want for him.

^this - you're comparing apples with oranges if you use Long, Doyle or even ALF (who all cost from tens to a few hundred thousand) to justify why we should gamble on Rhodes (for supposedly up to £6M)....

We have a long list of players signed for peanuts, ALF, Long, Doyle, Sheppard, Manset, Williams etc etc - even if 50% come good, that's an affordable risk at the level of spend that we made on those players, but to take a 50/50 gamble with £6M - I'd rather have three £2M players who are comparatively proven for that money....

[who are ya?]

Sorry not to respond quicker, I've been watching the Olympics.

lol

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Signing a lower league player for peanuts and seeing him come good, i.e. Doyle/Long (alright they were from Ireland, not lower league) in a relatively low risk strategy is nothing like demolishing our record transfer fee for someone without any PL experience. They want silly money for a lad with no proven track record at the highest level, yes gambles should be taken every now and again, but not for 6-8 million or whatever they want for him.

^this - you're comparing apples with oranges if you use Long, Doyle or even ALF (who all cost from tens to a few hundred thousand) to justify why we should gamble on Rhodes (for supposedly up to £6M)....

We have a long list of players signed for peanuts, ALF, Long, Doyle, Sheppard, Manset, Williams etc etc - even if 50% come good, that's an affordable risk at the level of spend that we made on those players, but to take a 50/50 gamble with £6M - I'd rather have three £2M players who are comparatively proven for that money....

...just as well , DoF never goes above 2 ..except for when he's selling

[Seal]

The more I look at our squad the more I think £6m on Rhodes is a gamble worth taking.

With the money from the new TV deal kicking in next season, this is arguably the most important year in Premier League history to stay up. It can cement us as a top 20 club.

[loyalroyal4life]

he is not worth £6m, rather go elsewhere for that sort of money

[Seal]

Go on then. Who else would you buy for £6m?

[leww_rfc]

Dame N'Doye?

(Before his moscow move)

[Ian Royal]

As for Pog vs Rhodes.

I'll take the guy who (trying to factor in wages) will cost half as much and has PL experience, over the guy who's scoring record doesn't even include the Championship.

If Rhodes scores >10 goals by Xmas he might be worth £6m. If he doesn't, there's every chance we won't want him and rightly so, or he'll go for less than £6m.

[leww_rfc]

Rhodes is too similar to Le Fondre it would appear.

Pog and Le Fondre up front, I am very happy with

[Girdler_Massive]

I sense we're definitely not going to take a chance on Rhodes. Think we definitely need another striker with top level experience though. I'd be happy for us to sign someone like Ivan Klasnic, and he's also a free agent which helps his cause.

[LightwaterRoyal]

The more I look at our squad the more I think £6m on Rhodes is a gamble worth taking.

With the money from the new TV deal kicking in next season, this is arguably the most important year in Premier League history to stay up. It can cement us as a top 20 club.

Three top 20 clubs get relegated every year though