Joe Cole

[Chris Jameson]

Can't believe we've signed a donkey like Withe, he's the sort who shins it into the net off the post.

Not good enough, Saunders out.

[malckennedy]

Halfwit? You're a paid up MENSA member then?

Is "he weighed in with his fair share of goals" a euphemism for "I haven't a clue what the number is"?

[Pat McMahon]

What were those records? He wasn't even at Forest for their second European Cup win.

You may need a few minutes to look them up, especially as you didn't know he played for Newcastle!

IIRC he wasn't at Forest for their first European Cup win either. I think he left after they won the league - Newcastle offered him more money than Clough would give him.

Withe had been a good solid player, but from memory had never been seen as a star, nor close to an England call up. I would say that Saunders got more out of him than any other manager did, and few of us saw the impact he would have when he arrived.

Cole has been a wonderful player, but has been on a downward slide for a couple of years. If fit, he can be a good player as he is skilful and intelligent, and pace was never part of his game (sadly, neither was scoring goals). On the downside, we have a physically frail midfield and I can't see him being of use when we don't have the ball.

[nigel]

I know he's here, I am not looking to find faults, I am just expressing an opinion that his best years are worryingly behind him. It's what we do on here, talk about football and footballers, good and bad. The point about his age and the two year contract was about the fact that it's a mistake we've made in the past, it would be nuts to repeat it again.

Anyway, he's here, so we'll see who else we sign. I just hope that it's not going to be limited to this sort of signing. That way trouble lies.

Which brings us nicely back to:
What if we'd had the internet when we sold Andy Gray... 

We'd still have bought him. it's a discussion forum, not an advisory panel to the club ;-)

And by the same definition, what if the internet had been around all the other times we bought older players who had done nothing for years, and did nothing for us either in the intervening 35 years?

FFS, for an intelligent person you really are an easy catch.
 

[KevinGage]

Halfwit? You're a paid up MENSA member then?

Is "he weighed in with his fair share of goals" a euphemism for "I haven't a clue what the number is"?

28 for Forest in two years and 25 for Newcastle.

I gave up my Mensa membership when they started letting riff-raff like Brendan O'Carroll in.

[class-of-82]

At the end of the day lets just give joe cole the loudest welcome he has ever received louder than west ham Chelsea and liverpool put together.
He has signed for us and that is good enough for me even if you think he is over the hill.

[SamTheMouse]

Joe Cole used to be a good player. He might still be, but nobody knows, because hardly anyone has seen him play more than half an hour or so since 2011 (yes, I know this is an exaggeration, but it's not a huge one). He's also always been injury prone, and unless he defies the laws of human anatomy that quality is not likely to have improved with the passing of time.
Sure, he's experienced, but he hardly strikes me as much of a leader, either on the pitch or off it.

I have nothing against signing a player like him, quite the contrary, as we desperately need some creativity in the final third. But given our very limited resources, I'd rather Lambert had gone for someone who was more likely to be earning his money out on the pitch rather than sitting in the stands.

Of course, he might turn out to be a very successful signing, but the evidence suggests that would be a surprise. A nice one, but still a surprise.

[malckennedy]

Halfwit? You're a paid up MENSA member then?

Is "he weighed in with his fair share of goals" a euphemism for "I haven't a clue what the number is"?

28 for Forest in two years and 25 for Newcastle.

I gave up my Mensa membership when they started letting riff-raff like Brendan O'Carroll in.

Yes,I've looked them up now too. Goals for Newcastle were in Division 2.

[saunders_heroes]

Halfwit? You're a paid up MENSA member then?

Is "he weighed in with his fair share of goals" a euphemism for "I haven't a clue what the number is"?

28 for Forest in two years and 25 for Newcastle.

I gave up my Mensa membership when they started letting riff-raff like Brendan O'Carroll in.

Yes,I've looked them up now too. Goals for Newcastle were in Division 2.

Look we broke our transfer record to get him. He was clearly well thought of and still a top player.

[KevinGage]

Halfwit? You're a paid up MENSA member then?

Is "he weighed in with his fair share of goals" a euphemism for "I haven't a clue what the number is"?

28 for Forest in two years and 25 for Newcastle.

I gave up my Mensa membership when they started letting riff-raff like Brendan O'Carroll in.

Yes,I've looked them up now too. Goals for Newcastle were in Division 2.

Great. So we're agreed that signing a player who played that amount of games and scoring that amount of goals in his four years prior to joining us is really nothing like the Joe Cole deal at all? 

This deal is more like the kind of thing West Ham (ironically) used to do, namely signing  ex international players like Stuart Pearce, Nigel Winterburn and Ian Wright when their careers were well on the slide.

[malckennedy]

To both previous posters, I well remember as a ST holder at the time that the signing was met with a widespread feeling of disappointment. This was particularly so in light of the fact that Andy Gray had been sold for twice the cost of Withe a year previously. In fact Doug Ellis lost his place on the board in the aftermath of the Gray sale because he wanted Saunders sacked.

I don't believe anyone ever claimed that the signings of Withe, McGrath and Merson were an exact mirror of the Cole signing. They were only pointing out that there are successful precedents for signings working out when fans don't get them. This is better than being so miserable that, admittedly limited good news, but good news nonetheless has to be whinged over because we haven't signed someone else.

[KevinGage]

On the Gray comparison I'd agree, it would have seemed like losing a fiver and finding a quid.

On the wider point about fan reaction to this deal, I'd be more concerned if there was widespread approval of this.

Concern or criticism of this deal expressed on a messageboard doesn't mean he won't get a chance, though. 

Even McLeish was given a chance by the vast majority of Villa fans.

[old man villa fan]

At the time I was one of those wondering what Saunders was doing signing Withe.  As proved after, Saunders saw something in a player that many thought was average at best, that would benefit the team and bring out the best in the players around him.

Rather than looking at what Cole has done in the past, I hope that Lambert has seen something in Cole that he thinks can improve the team/squad or help to bring on some of the young talent.  The latter point being something that we have failed miserably at over the last 5 to 10 years.  Too many of our youngster have got to 19 and stopped developing.

[dave.woodhall]

Withe and Merson were also last pieces of the jigsaw and McGrath was going to be a mainstay of the team. Cole will, hopefully, be a squad player.

[dave shelley]

I couldn't believe it when we signed Peter Withe.  I considered him just a useless lump.  What did I know eh?  I saw him training at BMH and he was everybit as full- blooded in training as he was during matches.  Consummate professional .