To be fair listening to his interview he sounds pretty switched on, which is something I’ve noticed about the type of player Clarke seems to go for. He seems genuinely pleased to be at a club that he now belongs to having had a couple of binnings last season for disciplinary issues, we could be just what he needs. Although I’m not a great sympathiser with footballers who bemoan the pitfalls of the profession I doubt it can be easy being a young man repeatedly farmed out on loan to different clubs, especially if things go against you for whatever reason. Last season he went to Swindon, they then changed the manager while he was there, a public dressing down followed by a loan move to Stevenage, sent off in his first game for what was a typical 6.4 lad jumping with eyes on the ball “clumsy elbow” in a game where his team had already had one player sent-off and the crowd were up shouting at anything. Everybody he’s played for says he’s got loads of ability, and 5 goals in 20 games for Swindon, (several of which were quality), it could have gone the other way for him maybe ending up with double figures and 40 games under his belt. Let’s hope that happens with us next season.
I like the Kyle Lightbourne analogy further up the thread. I remember bumping into Ivan Ash on a train, he covered Scarborough for the BBC at the time and he was scathing of Killer, whom we had just signed at the time. I think they played him half the time as a winger! Also his first season with us under Hibbit he was no more that ok, not really the player we all remember until Nichol took over.
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… That doesn’t add up @geordiesaddler …
I remember Ivan Ash too…he was a colleague of mine until he headed North. He never rated Lightbourne and when he came down to Walsall to cover a Scarborough game I remember having a similar conversation with him.
The new lad could be just what we need but the inherent pessimism of folk on here sees him written off already. I am prepared to back the Manager’s judgement until proved otherwise.
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I think I heard Ivan retired last season, after several more years covering Hartlepool on BBC Smog FM.
Thanks for telling me that…I often wondered what happened to him. It must be over 20 years since I last saw him.
Unfortunately strikers that come into squads and aren’t scoring a goal a game tend to get criticism off fans of their club. When that stat drops below 1 goal in every 2 the amount of criticism rises and very rarely do people look at the bigger picture and simply state he is a striker and doesn’t score enough or he is 6’4" and doesn’t win aerial challenges.
Deeney was hammered a lot at Walsall but he was a raw talent and played wide for a large portion of his time here. Bradshaw was criticised by a lot of Shrews fans and came good here. Peter Crouch has had criticisms of his ability in the air and teams still played hoof ball to him, when arguably he was brilliant with his feet and went on to have a decent career.
As with all signings of this type it is a risk but to be on the books of Fulham he must have some raw talent, the real question now is can his attitude and application reach that potential.
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It should help him settle in a bit more now we have got a reserve team again,if he scores a few goals in the reserves,it puts pressure on the main strikers.He may come in the team and find that he has a brilliant understanding with Gordon or Ferrier.
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Who’s to say he isn’t the main striker?
Unless he is outstanding during pre-season,I can’t see a 21yr old hitting the ground running.
He played 34 times for Cheltenham last season, trust me he will be a starter
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How many goals did he get?
I think this bloke has also had the curse of being stuck on the out wide because he is quick.
Even when player with proven quality is signed, it can always be a bad signing. Russell Martin for example. On paper he was player well above league level, playing recently one or two leagues above. In reality it wasn’t so rosy. Back to younger players, every has that ability to play well, but can be flop too. But club has to try younger players, rejected in other clubs. That’s why I don’t see it as a risk. In budget should be a separate position ‘for players who could be good’. Ten can be non league levels, but eleventh will be sold later for bigger money.
Hold your horses, we haven’t got a first team yet
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Looking at this
8 goals in 15 starts before season was up in arms
Gutted for the lad - began to get a rhythm
Gordon 12 goals overall too
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Hopefully they both stay huge improvement second half of the season from both.
Yes more to come next season from both. You could see Josh’s confidence shoot up at last after xmas although I still wouldn’t bank on him as a player to fire you into the top 7. Would still like an experienced targetman up there for both to learn off (that was the thinking with Gaffney I assume) but if budget dosen’t allow in these times fair enough. Should be plenty available though.
Experienced striker is always nice and I’m guessing there will be some, wanting to sign a deal somewhere. Consequence of this pandemic could be reduced playing staff and academies and that could mean mass releasing of players. Only to catch good one, that’s the problem.
