Sutton (sorry last time)

I was on here last night I think presenting a very strong case for his signing. I think I almost had Winged Eel Creosote convinced, although he simply will not have his mind changed on the matter. Anyhow, for those of you in the skeptical camp (and those complaining that "a lot crap posted about Sutton today") can I ask you to come with intelligent defences against the following arguments? Because as far as I can tell, excluding the "we should just play the youngsters" argument, there is pretty much no come back against them.

1. He is not as injury plauged as you all like to think. If you check his career stats, he averages 36 games a season over a 15 year career - which in my opinion is not the record of a crocked player. And besides - if you consider him injury prone - what are we doing wasting our time with Safri, who only plays 20 games a season?!

2. His goal scoring record is second to none. He scored 86 goals in 198 games for Celtic in 5 and a half seasons. A fantastic return for someone who didn't play as an out and out centre forward the whole time he was there. And before you all say he can't cut it in the Premiership because he flunked at Chelsea and Birmingham or quote his goal to game ratio from his time at these clubs - his record at Celtic is much more relevant to what he might be able to achieve in the Championship - as they're the same sort of level.

3. A few weeks ago Derby spent ?1 million on Howard. He's a middling Championship level striker at best, and at 30 has NO SELL ON VALUE either. But that is the going rate for useful target men. So how can we sit here and whinge and moan when we desperately need a target man that Sutton is not the answer, when he's unattached, would not cost a penny in a transfer fee?!

4. We DO need a target man. Away from home, a target man is an excellent way of releiving pressure off the defence. Even when we played brilliant football back in the late 80s early 90s, we always had a target man (Rosario and Sutton).

We should at least talk to him to find out what he wants. If his wage demands are too high, and we can't negotiate a reduction in the financial risk for ourselves (such as a pay as you play deal) then fair enough - we walk away. But why we won't even entertain the idea, if only for a 1 year contract is simply beyond me, and has seriously angered me.

I can't understand why some of you so fervently want to 'beleive the myths' like he's injury prone, or point to the fact he's old - these are not solid reasons for not signing him. Some older players are huge successes. Others are not. But the fact remains - we need a target man - do you know anyone else better we could get?

Posted By: Poirot, Aug 3, 20:33:23