Columnist Aldersbrook Blue assesses why Town are about to sell Jordan Rhodes to Huddersfield.
When I read the reports this morning about Jordan Rhodes possible move to Huddersfield, I was immensely disappointed - and also worried, for the first time, that Keane was on the wrong track with this one. I like to see players come through the ranks and Rhodes has long been singled out as a bright hope.
But, the more I think about it, the more I wonder whether my hope for Rhodes is based on my emotional attachment to the idea that we are a youth-oriented club, which brings youngsters through - rather than a cool, calm assessment of our needs at this point. It is our tradition, after all.
Who knows how good Rhodes is? Some of the managers he has played for on loan reckon he is class, but I'm sure Roy cares a lot about their view. Not! He has also scored lots of goals in the reserves, but in a terrible league which is no comparison to what we face in the Championship.
So, I don't know. None of us genuinely do. And those fans who suggest Rhodes is our future should ask themselves what first hand experience/evidence they have to base their judgement on. What we do know is that Danny Haynes and Billy Clarke were given a first team chance by Jim by Rhodes's age and look what has happened to them.
Jim didn't give Jordan the same chance. Were Billy and Danny better at the same age, I wonder, or did they simply benefit because Jim had no money and had to try the youngsters? I certainly wonder whether Jim would have accepted an offer for JR, had he still been here. If it is £850,000 (as TWTD suggest) then he would probably have been sorely tempted.
My other concern is whether this will spark the beginning of a backlash against Keane. The fans' flouncing is predictable. We don't want a repeat of the ‘anti-Jims' of last season. And already some fans seem desperate to see Roy prove them right and fail. But ultimately he has been brought in to get promotion in two years, which leaves only limited room for promising youngsters - and Wickham now seems to have taken on that mantle up front.
There has been a lot of talk about whether we should trust Keane more than some fans trusted Jim. In the case of Rhodes, I reckon there is a good reason to trust Keane's judgement. In his time at Old Trafford, Keane will have seen dozens of young strikers coming through the ranks, many of which would have looked promising at a certain level, but failed to make the grade at Man U - before then failing to make the grade at Premiership level generally. That experience should mean that he knows a promising player when he sees one, or at least recognise a player who flatters to deceive.
Many of us think Rhodes is quality because of his performances in a very poor reserve league - and because he stands out among our other youngsters. Perhaps, the reality is that the quality we bring through isn't high enough? Perhaps we are deluding ourselves about the quality generated by our youth set-up.
The other reason I am, on balance, inclined to trust Roy is that he seems to be doing what we have been crying out for him to do. Martin, Healy, Delaney and (even) Priskin (who my Watford fan workmate rates very highly) have one thing in common, in that they are specialists in areas we have been crying out to improve - left wing, left fullback, midfield enforcer, up front.
The striker debate is a good example, it is no good having Pablo, Lisbie, Haynes, Rhodes, Walters and Stead playing one way, if your aim as a coach is to play another. It seems to me that Keane has seen one of our weaknesses, decided how he wants to play and is looking to assemble the personnel to do just that - the same seems to be the case with his move for Martin and Healy.
All this sounds as if I am certain about what Keane is trying to do, and wholly comfortable with it. I am far from that. But I do think it is possible to find a logic in what he is doing, however uneasy I may instinctively be with it.
I am sure the gut instinct of many of us is to regret the departure of promising young players (and we have seen a few leave this summer) and their replacement with hired hands with no immediate loyalty to the club we love. Of course, there is no guarantee in all this that Rhodes won't go to Huddersfield and pull up trees. The same is possible with Clarke at Blackpool and Haynes at Bristol City.
If any of them do, good luck to them. But there is no guarantee that anything they achieve elsewhere would have been achieved at Portman Road. Sometimes, a move can gee up a complacent player or bring better performances because of different expectations.
We are playing in different times. Keane has different priorities (to get us promoted), and if he does that, there will be few who will question his judgement.