january 13th
13.25 – “Matthew has all you dream of if you play at centre-back. He has all the attributes any centre-half in the world could possibly wish for. He has pace, power and his technique in the air is extremely good. People describe him as not having established himself. But don’t forget he has already won two championship medals with us. He is looking really sharp and fit and all the reports I had while he was on loan at Reading recently say he did very well for them. I was responsible for bringing Matthew here when he was at Luton. Now I believe Matthew is back to his best and I want to give him a go.”
AW said this less than a week ago. Then what the fuck is this about? If you want to give him a go, why not just refuse to sell? Why give cheapo foreign imports like Cygan a better chance to prove themselves? If he has all those qualities, why are we even entertaining Steve Bruce’s offers?
It’s very hard to criticise AW for his transfer dealings, but this is very disappointing news. We need a core of good, English players. Upson has shown himself worthy in the past of a first team place, some of his performances last season were top class, until he got injured. The jury is still well and truly out on Cygan, Stepanovs is simply not good enough, and after that we have Oleg, who does a fine job as a full back, but is NOT a central defender. Should anything happen to Sol and Keown at the same time, …well, I shudder to think.
Upson should stay. Selling him would be a mistake. Sadly, it looks like the mistake has been made.
