Grant Holt - confirmed on loan

[Ron Manager]

I don't think you appreciate the subtle nuances of being a dirty niggly player winning free-kicks and the like and how this differs from being an outright liability/thug.

Am I right Ads you actually would be happy if we signed Holt? It certainly looks that way.

And for that matter what is your view on the competence of our manager? Just to remind you he dropped Holt more than a few times at Norwich and thats when Holt was scoring goals. I can't imagine Holt forming a partnership with Benteke. Can you?

[Ads]

He is a horrible, horrible bastard of a player and that aspect, together with some exprience, I welcome.

sure if we wanted a horrible horrible bastard of an experienced player to come in, why not get hutton to start earning some of his wages?

Because I think the way some of us are hoping that what will happen is if we need someone on to break up play towards the end of the game while retaining eleven players on the pitch, Holt is potentially one option.

If the objective is to start the 90 minutes just waiting until we lose a penalty and end up playing with 10 men then Hutton is the man.

That's the difference I think Ads is meaning

You have it. Kevin Davies used to be the same. He would wind me up a treat.

[olaftab]

If Holt comes it will be punishment sent down for us from Gods of Weight Watchers for calling Dunne fat.

[Ads]

I don't think you appreciate the subtle nuances of being a dirty niggly player winning free-kicks and the like and how this differs from being an outright liability/thug.

Am I right Ads you actually would be happy if we signed Holt? It certainly looks that way.

And for that matter what is your view on the competence of our manager? Just to remind you he dropped Holt more than a few times at Norwich and thats when Holt was scoring goals. I can't imagine Holt forming a partnership with Benteke. Can you?

I think we needed a striker in the short term, I am not sure Holt is who I would have chosen (as I don't know who I would have chosen), but he has a few qualities our nice and quiet team lack, which I hope brushes off on them.

I don't think Holt has been brought in to be a starter, I think the manager has two strikers he can trust at the moment as unfortunately the third is out for the season. Benteke and Gabby have missed a number of games this season, so further cover makes sense.

I think our manager made a mistake in the summer by not signing a few more players who are ready now, rather than ready in the next year or so and I think he will address it in the short term now, with a view to doing something more permanent in the summer.

The football, at home at least has been poor, but we're exactly where I thought we would be and I think we're exactly where we will finish this season too.

[dekko]

This^^^^

I don't have a problem with this if it is a 6 month loan AND we make other signings. PL said "he is a man". From that I take it he feels our squad is too immature and needs some leadership. If you look at the Man U game and the start last night we looked as if we were in awe of being on the same pitch as them instead of getting into their faces.
Holt was his captain at Norwich so he obviously knows what his leadership qualities are and feels that he can make a difference. It might be that he never kicks a ball for us but if he can change the mindset of the young players and improve their performances then he will be worth it.
Also, perhaps PL was thinking CB needed to see there is an alternative to him now Kozak is out. Perhaps PL thinks CB needed a bit of a kick up his arris to get him firing like last season. There have been posters on here saying CB needs a rocket, perhaps this is part of the plan.
Anyway I will wait till Jan 31st before condemning the lack of vision by the club but this may be a small step in the right direction.

Also this

[Brend'Watkins]

I don't have too much of a problem with this as a loan deal.  The positive I get out of this is that should we need to bring on a forward for 15 mins to try and get us a goal who would you prefer to see coming on Bowery or Holt?

[paul_e]

How I see it is you have to consider how many experienced strikers are available for cover until the end of the season on loan.  Lambert clearly feels he needs someone in to replace Kozak and has gone for someone who he's worked with before and is available on a short term loan.  Seems reasonable if uninspiring.

[Richard E]

The positive I get out of this is that should we need to bring on a forward for 15 mins to try and get us a goal who would you prefer to see coming on Bowery or Holt?

Helenius

[supertom]

The refs in the Prem are a lot stricter than they were 5 years ago. It's been picked up on quite a lot this season. A player like Kevin Davies, of which Holt is the poor mans version of, would not get away with half the shit he did when he was in his pomp at Bolton in the top flight. By the same token if we're expecting Holt to come in and be a niggly dirty bastard, winning us free kicks all the time, that just isn't going to happen.
And before we compare him to Davies, you also have to consider that Kevin Davies had a hell of an engine on him. He could run all day. Grant Holt is 32 stone and years in age. If he started a game, he'd be out of breath before he's got out the bloody tunnel.

Just an awful, awful signing. There's just no possible way that this can be spun round as anything positive. We're gonna have people laughing their bollocks off at us over this.

[supertom]

The positive I get out of this is that should we need to bring on a forward for 15 mins to try and get us a goal who would you prefer to see coming on Bowery or Holt?

Helenius

Yep. And I'd still play JB over Holt too. He's actually in the condition expected of a Premiership forward.

[PeterWithe]

In patches we played decent football in the Arsenal game and at those times looked at our most dangerous before resorting to booting it long again, my nagging doubt is that Lambert thinks that the reason booting it doesn't work is that we have a shortage of immobile stumps up front and by addressing that we'll improve.

[walsall villain]

How I see it is you have to consider how many experienced strikers are available for cover until the end of the season on loan.  Lambert clearly feels he needs someone in to replace Kozak and has gone for someone who he's worked with before and is available on a short term loan.  Seems reasonable if uninspiring.

That's how I see it, uninspiring but needed just in case Benteke gets injured again. Especially as we so frequently launch it for a flick on from Benteke.
All the transfer rumours on here and in the media and yet again this happens. We never seem to get the players the media links us with, I must just stop reading them.

[Clampy]

How I see it is you have to consider how many experienced strikers are available for cover until the end of the season on loan.  Lambert clearly feels he needs someone in to replace Kozak and has gone for someone who he's worked with before and is available on a short term loan.  Seems reasonable if uninspiring.

That's how I see it, uninspiring but needed just in case Benteke gets injured again. Especially as we so frequently launch it for a flick on from Benteke.

That annoyed me last night for the first time. The amount of times Guzan launched it forward in the direction of Benteke was ridiculous. Last season what Guzan did well was bowl it out quickly to our full backs to launch an attack. I'm not sure why he's stopped doing it.

[CJ]

Maybe holt will be the holte end hero .

And maybe pigs will fly (although Holt would probably catch them and eat them). Seriously - if Lambert thinks someone who's scored 2 goals in 21 games in the Championship is the answer to any of our problems he's clearly asking the wrong questions. Maybe he's lost the dressing room and he just wants his old friend 'Holtey' in there to talk to. We've got more pressing problems in midfield and defence, and if Lambert can't see that then he's a fool. Signing Holt smacks of Lambert's approach to the Bradford game - just get more and more strikers on and hope for the best.

[oldhill_avfc]

I don't have too much of a problem with this as a loan deal.  The positive I get out of this is that should we need to bring on a forward for 15 mins to try and get us a goal who would you prefer to see coming on Bowery or Holt?

The answer is surely *neither*.