Andy Carroll - He's back

[Ascotexgunner]

Good signing. No brainer really.... What it means is Joao and Meite ain't Coming back for a long time.
I'm pleased. I'm certain he will stay fit.

[CountryRoyal]

I'm certain he will stay fit.

Why the oxf*rd did you go do something silly that like!

[Nameless]

Not impossible that he has been training with us for a while ….

[hughsies no.1]

Why mid-January? Just guessing that:

He will know if he can handle the "football-family life" balance ok (in an interview he said he didn't want to spend time away from his children in Essex and ideally wanted a club he could commute to)
He will know if bigger clubs (like Bournemouth) are willing to offer a better deal if he impresses
He will know if he wants to keep playing or retire and start up a plumbing business
We will know if Puscas is going or if his form has improved
We will know if Joao is fit
We will know if Carroll is any good/has stayed fit
We could see if anyone better is available to us in the transfer window
We should know what the EFL will allow us to do regarding transfers

I guess we will have the option to extend if he is any good and he is happy to stay.

I wouldn’t be surprised that we only were allowed a two-month deal from the EFL because of the injury situation, basically meaning Clarke is now out. Basically an emergency signing.

Absolute no brainier of a signing for us, nothing to lose and a fair bit to gain…

Sod’s law, he plays well for us and scores a few goals, we get him up to decent fitness level then a team going for promotion signs him in Jan until end of season to get them over the promotion line.

[Royal Ginger]

Indeed, there is a very slim margin whereby he extends to the summer.

Too good he’ll get cherry picked by someone with the ability to spend, too bad and he’s off to the knackers yard.

Still, let’s hope it’s more Jason Roberts than Les Ferdinand or Yakubu.

[Snowflake Royal]

Interesting* and will be happy if it is confirmed today/tomorrow - would imagine he may even be stuck on the bench against Forest on Saturday.

.

More likely 3-4 weeks of decent training first. Can't see them wanting to risk breaking him the first time he steps on the pitch. Mind you, given how many of our players seem to be made from fine bone china he might, by comparison, look like he's made of Titanium!

Given the length of the initial deal, will be very surprised if he is not at least on the bench come Saturday.

Signed Andy Carroll on Monday,
He was starting training by Tuesday
Got him injured by Wednesday
He took up a treatment table on Thursday and Friday and Saturday
We put him out of his misery on Sunday.

[From Despair To Where?]

I think its a well structured signing. It will cost us about £70,000, we get a player who could potentially tear up this league, he gets a shop window ahead of the transfer window.

[Stranded]

I think its a well structured signing. It will cost us about £70,000, we get a player who could potentially tear up this league, he gets a shop window ahead of the transfer window.

I'm just looking at it as an old school loan deal (I know it is a bit different clearly but has a similar feel) - where he gets to work himself back to fitness and show he can still cut it - wouldn't even surprise me if he has taken less money than the max we can pay just to get playing.

10 to 12 games, maybe score 3 or 4 goals but generally play well and he may get a few offers from higher up the food chain as we get Joao back fit or if it all works here, we may be able to extend to at least the end of the year. There are options for all parties so a good deal.

[Stranded]

More likely 3-4 weeks of decent training first. Can't see them wanting to risk breaking him the first time he steps on the pitch. Mind you, given how many of our players seem to be made from fine bone china he might, by comparison, look like he's made of Titanium!

Given the length of the initial deal, will be very surprised if he is not at least on the bench come Saturday.

Signed Andy Carroll on Monday,
He was starting training by Tuesday
Got him injured by Wednesday
He took up a treatment table on Thursday and Friday and Saturday
We put him out of his misery on Sunday.

To be fair to him, his issues were generally ankle related - he had an operation on that and last season was not injured at all bar 1 game (according to Transfermarkt at least). He just wasn't picked very often, came off the bench mainly.

It could well be the worst of his injuries are behind him and now he just wants to show he still has 2 or 3 seasons left in him. Don't really see a negative to such a short term deal.

[Hound]

I think its a well structured signing. It will cost us about £70,000, we get a player who could potentially tear up this league, he gets a shop window ahead of the transfer window.

I'm just looking at it as an old school loan deal (I know it is a bit different clearly but has a similar feel) - where he gets to work himself back to fitness and show he can still cut it - wouldn't even surprise me if he has taken less money than the max we can pay just to get playing.

10 to 12 games, maybe score 3 or 4 goals but generally play well and he may get a few offers from higher up the food chain as we get Joao back fit or if it all works here, we may be able to extend to at least the end of the year. There are options for all parties so a good deal.

I'm a little disappointed it wasn't for an extra month or so (though may be grateful for it only being to Jan if he is rubbish)

Don't think Joao will be fully firing by mid Jan. I do hope that we can tie him down for longer if it is working out rather than him solely using us to get in the shop window as it were

[Stranded]

I think its a well structured signing. It will cost us about £70,000, we get a player who could potentially tear up this league, he gets a shop window ahead of the transfer window.

I'm just looking at it as an old school loan deal (I know it is a bit different clearly but has a similar feel) - where he gets to work himself back to fitness and show he can still cut it - wouldn't even surprise me if he has taken less money than the max we can pay just to get playing.

10 to 12 games, maybe score 3 or 4 goals but generally play well and he may get a few offers from higher up the food chain as we get Joao back fit or if it all works here, we may be able to extend to at least the end of the year. There are options for all parties so a good deal.

I'm a little disappointed it wasn't for an extra month or so (though may be grateful for it only being to Jan if he is rubbish)

Don't think Joao will be fully firing by mid Jan. I do hope that we can tie him down for longer if it is working out rather than him solely using us to get in the shop window as it were

I would imagine mid Jan has been fixed as it a) gives us a good couple of months to see if he is fit enough and fits into the club so we can offer a deal to the end of the season if so and b) if it doesn't work out Carroll returns to being a free agent within a transfer window. If he left the club on say 2nd Feb he would be unable to sign for another club until the summer as he was registered to us after the window closed. Not a big deal if he were say 27/28 but when you turn 33 in January, you don't want to waste any more time esp having been without a club for the first 3 months of the season.

Only option for him then would be going to play non-league esp. as he has already written off playing abroad as his family are settled and he doesn't want to be apart from them.

[Hound]

I'm just looking at it as an old school loan deal (I know it is a bit different clearly but has a similar feel) - where he gets to work himself back to fitness and show he can still cut it - wouldn't even surprise me if he has taken less money than the max we can pay just to get playing.

10 to 12 games, maybe score 3 or 4 goals but generally play well and he may get a few offers from higher up the food chain as we get Joao back fit or if it all works here, we may be able to extend to at least the end of the year. There are options for all parties so a good deal.

I'm a little disappointed it wasn't for an extra month or so (though may be grateful for it only being to Jan if he is rubbish)

Don't think Joao will be fully firing by mid Jan. I do hope that we can tie him down for longer if it is working out rather than him solely using us to get in the shop window as it were

I would imagine mid Jan has been fixed as it a) gives us a good couple of months to see if he is fit enough and fits into the club so we can offer a deal to the end of the season if so and b) if it doesn't work out Carroll returns to being a free agent within a transfer window. If he left the club on say 2nd Feb he would be unable to sign for another club until the summer as he was registered to us after the window closed. Not a big deal if he were say 27/28 but when you turn 33 in January, you don't want to waste any more time esp having been without a club for the first 3 months of the season.

Only option for him then would be going to play non-league esp. as he has already written off playing abroad as his family are settled and he doesn't want to be apart from them.

yep fair point on the transfer window, didn't think of that

[blythspartan]

Seems a no brainier, sensible signing. Hopefully, he can help the young strikers at the club with all his experience.

Also, I think if is doing well and enjoying being at the club he’d most likely want to stay until the end of the season. Anyone, putting their family first doesn’t strike me as being a mercenary.

[Hound]

he is minted - not sure finance will be top of his priority list tbh. Convenience and challenge prob a lot more so

[South Coast Royal]

oxf*rd me we're a desperate shambles aren't we.

Medical team on some sort of pay per treatment deal?

Pointless. He's not mobile. He's always unfit and he hasn't scored goals regularly in years.

We don't play long ball, he can't run the channels and when we do rarely bother crossing its usually over hit and rubbish. He's not going to be passing it through the eye of a needle or beating players often even if he does make it on the pitch occasionally.

Clarke just score 2 goals. Why not save a wedge, a bed and give Ehibhatiomhan a game or three first.

Similar comments were made when we signed Jimmy Quinn and Jason Roberts and of course an even older Les Ferdinand.
The 2 major successes outweigh the one failure IMHO.
We are desperate and this surely is better than nothing?

[Hound]

oxf*rd me we're a desperate shambles aren't we.

Medical team on some sort of pay per treatment deal?

Pointless. He's not mobile. He's always unfit and he hasn't scored goals regularly in years.

We don't play long ball, he can't run the channels and when we do rarely bother crossing its usually over hit and rubbish. He's not going to be passing it through the eye of a needle or beating players often even if he does make it on the pitch occasionally.

Clarke just score 2 goals. Why not save a wedge, a bed and give Ehibhatiomhan a game or three first.

Similar comments were made when we signed Jimmy Quinn and Jason Roberts and of course an even older Les Ferdinand.
The 2 major successes outweigh the one failure IMHO.
We are desperate and this surely is better than nothing?

Doubt Clarke will play til mid Jan. Ehib is 17/18 and unlikely to make any sort of impact, meaning we are solely relying on a horrifically out of form Puscas and a not really a false 9 Hoilett

Sensible signing all round

[Millsy]

I can't knock Pauno's signings, undere very tough circumstances too. It's what has swung me from Pauno Out to Pauno In. EVen though we don't cross much (Carroll's preferred way of playing) I'm sure Pauno knows what he's doing.

Absolute no-brainer that we need someone and a big guy with bags of experience seems a good choice.

Ok I know he's injury prone, but he's joining a club with an impeccable record for preventing injuries.

[linkenholtroyal]

As a striker it is almost not as much about scoring goals chipping in 2 or 3 would be brilliant but he is more use holding the ball up and playing in the swifts and Ejarias of the team to bomb it forward. That is what Joao does (and scores aswell but we cant win them all). Puscas needs someone to play off and he cant hold the ball up at all which is why he doesn't work. he could be a very shrewd signing and a threat at corners (finally).

Really do hope this works out.

[URZZZZ]

oxf*rd me we're a desperate shambles aren't we.

Medical team on some sort of pay per treatment deal?

Pointless. He's not mobile. He's always unfit and he hasn't scored goals regularly in years.

We don't play long ball, he can't run the channels and when we do rarely bother crossing its usually over hit and rubbish. He's not going to be passing it through the eye of a needle or beating players often even if he does make it on the pitch occasionally.

Clarke just score 2 goals. Why not save a wedge, a bed and give Ehibhatiomhan a game or three first.

Similar comments were made when we signed Jimmy Quinn and Jason Roberts and of course an even older Les Ferdinand.
The 2 major successes outweigh the one failure IMHO.
We are desperate and this surely is better than nothing?

Yep, we can’t knock Paunovic for doing nothing to halt the slide (which he has been doing on a regular basis this past month) and then complain when he tries to fix the situation

Without beating around the bush, Puscas ain’t up to it in the 4-2-3-1 formation deployed and he’s pretty much the only option. Carroll may not work out but but at least we’re trying something a little different

[paultheroyal]

More likely 3-4 weeks of decent training first. Can't see them wanting to risk breaking him the first time he steps on the pitch. Mind you, given how many of our players seem to be made from fine bone china he might, by comparison, look like he's made of Titanium!

Given the length of the initial deal, will be very surprised if he is not at least on the bench come Saturday.

Signed Andy Carroll on Monday,
He was starting training by Tuesday
Got him injured by Wednesday
He took up a treatment table on Thursday and Friday and Saturday
We put him out of his misery on Sunday.

To the tune of chitty chitty bang bang?