Thanks to everyone for reading and for voicing your opinions. The purpose of the blog was not to defend Chopra's character - I've never met him but from the outside he seems a little "lost". As a footballer however he has a 1 in 3 golascoring record and is now reaching the so-called peak age for a striker, so I re-iterate that I believe he could still do a good job at this level and I firmly believe that MM's decision to offload him is partly due to his high wages and not solely based on his footballing ability. What I wanted to highlight though (perhaps I didn't make it obvious) is that in hindsight his misdemeanours and off-field troubles may well have been a blessing in disguise for us as it provided much distraction away from the other players, thus relieving the pressure on them which - perhaps - contributed towards our end of season climb up the table. It's just a theory and hopefully provided some food for thought.
Not really saying it's ok Reuser, just that he doesn't deserve the huge amount of abuse he gets. Nobody does, unless they're a murderer. Regarding his ability, form is temporary and class is permanent. He still has it in him to be a prolific goalscorer. Thanks for your comments :-)
Sorry, forgot to mention that there's also the question over the 25 man squad rule. Why don't Man Utd/Stoke now have to declare their new signings? Technically Zaha/Butland are playing professional football whilst being contracted to these clubs and yet they go under the radar. Perhaps a different argument again but food for thought.
Thanks all for your comments. With regards to the loan system, of course it is important for the young talent in the country to be loaned out, this is necessary not only for their own development but to improve the quality that filters down through each division. My argument is against loaning a player back to the club from which he was purchased. Breaking this down to a very simplistic level, doing this essentally means that a 'bigger' and certainly richer club is providing financial backing for several months. If you read BREAKING NEWS: MAN UTD LEND CRYSTAL PALACE £15M, would you think "oh that's jolly nice of them" or would you question the integrity of that deal? That is what has/is taking place in football at the moment. Richer clubs are providing short-term (6 month)monetary loans. If we start allowing this then clubs like us and certainly smaller ones will eventually lose their identity altogether as we'll just become subsidiaries of the richer clubs. I don't want to support 'Ipswich Town, a part of the Manchester Group of Clubs'. I want to suuport Ipswich Town Football Club - a club, company and franchise in their own right.
"He’s done wonderfully well compared to what I was told when I came in"
That one quote by MM sums up everything we needed to know about why we were struggling in the way we were before he arrived. Big G has been solid for us and fundamental to everything good about us in recent months.
I completely agree with daniel9624 and it's kind of teh direction my blog was aimed at. Other clubs seem to benefit from loaning players out, whether that be by getting an improved player back or simply having increased his value to sell on. We've never achieved either, even when we have sent players out on loan we've had them back too early from a developmental point of view. Murray being the prime example.
Olimar - an interesting view regarding McGoldrick but I would counter your argument by stating that MM himself said in a recent interview that McGoldrick was a done deal and he wouldn't be leaving. That implies that we at least have a pre-contract agreement in place with him. Signing for a minimal fee now would have made no sense when we need pay no fee in July when he's a free agent.
Everyone would be moaning if we released 3 Strikers first, so MM is bringing in the replacements BEFORE releasing the "dead wood". Scotland (average), Ellington (poor) and Murray (poor + inexperienced) are not what we need to get out of this league. They will be released/sold now and we also don't know what's going to happen with Chopra with his Court case pending.......
Can't really blame ITFC for only committing to 2,900 initially as if we'd have to write off £50k due to a lack of sales I'm sure Clegg would have received his fair share of critisicism. However, i'm very disappointed in Villa to be honest. Why not offer the full 15% allocation on a sale or return basis? For me there's now a lot of pressure on Villa to sell out to justify their initial stance over their ticketing policy.
ITFC1958 - I'm all for giving Managers time to build but there comes a time when it has to be realised that a change is needed. I don't think anybody can accuse ME of not giving his Managers "the chance they deserve". Lest we forget that based on recent media interviews it was PJ's choice to leave. Regarding MM not being the right man for the job, I'm not sure what else people want? 16 points from a possible 24, losing only to Leicester & Palace - both of which are flying high and will probably win promotion. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that I'm afraid. Fact.
