City interested? Luton contract up in a few weeks.
Printable View
City interested? Luton contract up in a few weeks.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...ready-20607915
Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock is reportedly ready to deny former club Cardiff City in the race for Luton Town striker James Collins.
You've wooshed yourself here!
This one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_...er,_born_1990)
Not this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_...er,_born_1983)
Or is it these pair of Collins ( Lewis Collins of Newport ) or older brother Aaron at Forest Green , there bloody everywhere are these Collins's especially in Newport the Town is littered with them
He is highly regarded at Shrewsbury where he scored 42 goals in two spells for them including 22 in one season. I have always thought of him as a really good lower division scorer but he has managed 14 and 10 for Luton in the championship. Would not want him as our main striker but as a back up for Moore or someone to bring on when we are behind in a game might not be to bad. Good in the air can hold up the ball and puts himself about a bit. Can see why he would be a Warnock MM type player. Never gets injured either played 46 and 40 games in the last two seasons.
Teeside media saying this morning that Collins to Cardiff is a done deal!
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sp...-join-cardiff/
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/...rough-20613312
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_...er,_born_1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7OR...wnFootballClub
Twenty nine goals in the last two seasons is pretty impressive - 31 in December though.
His age is an issue meaning there can never be a sell on fee or lowering the average age of the squad which I thought was the new aim of the Board. The intention seems to be to play Collins alongside, and not instead of, Keifer Moore.
I have concerns
He’s a free, Mick has worked with him before, he scores at Championship level and he’s a similar style backup to Moore. If he signs a 2 year deal I’d be pretty happy with this.
Thought we were focusing on youth?
According to Glen Williams we may be signing Antoine Semenyo's brother as well.
https://twitter.com/GlenWilliams12/s...195488770?s=19
on its own it isn't a bad deal I agree, but we really could do with more youth. hopefully whoever else we bring in will give us more of a clue about the direction we are going in.
if we've signed a striker we need to be moving one or two on, which might not be easy.
there are three things this signing could be :
1: a replacement for Moore
2: a backup for Moore
3: we plan to play him and Moore up front
2 is the most palatable option.
1 is clearly a step back, but might be unavoidable, and better to have a ready made replacement I suppose.
3 might be effective, but it would almost certainly mean that any hopes of transitioning to a more progressive style of football are over.
We have to sign somebody to back up Moore, and everyone at the club has said this. If Moore goes, we need to replace him as well. Collins is here to back up Moore, and if Moore goes I fully expect us to sign a replacement.
While we need more youth, I don't think we should be turning our noses up at a fairly proven goalscorer at this level in a pretty ordinary Luton side.
I thought the policy was more about not spending transfer fees on older players with no resale value and instead paying transfer fees for younger players who can improve and gain value.
We can't just go out signing young players, it seems like a good idea to me to bring in Collins as back up to Moore it's a key position.
Think he is very good as a back up for Moore. He has scored goals everywhere he has been and lots in the lower leagues. Has proven he can score in the championship if not as prolifically for a
not very good Luton side. He is yet another who is good in the air. We will be a bit of a nightmare for other teams next season. Not sure about his long throw.
Walesonline state he scored 13 goals this term but 3 of those were in the first round of the League Cup against a Norwich side missing 15 first team players: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53955731
Since last summer City have signed 2 of 9 over age of 25 but Mick reportedly wants to bring in experience so that ratio is going to increase. I'm not concerned with singing some players over age of 25 but we've got two young strikers in Watters and Harris waiting for a chance and now being pushed down the pecking order - it feels as if Mick's ready to discard them as not fitting the system he wants to play which is more of a concern.
Regarding Collins: he most naturally fits role of Moore's backup, has scored 10+ goals in this league over last two seasons as well as goals at international level at home to Bulgaria and away to Serbia, and has been coached by Graeme Jones and Nathan Jones so probably is tactically smart - plenty to like about him on paper.
We're unlikely to play much more attractive football next year and unlikely to challenge for promotion until 2022-20223. Collins on a 2 year deal looks like a smart move but Collins on a 4 year suggests we're going in the wrong direction.
I'm a bit concerned about the players we've signed/been linked with since Mick came in. The squad's got plenty of "experience", the starting 11 against Rotherham on the final day had 1,298 Championship appearances between them, despite the absences of Morrison & Bennett as well as the inclusion of youngsters
Collins is ok as a backup and one off, but being linked with the likes of Rhodes hardly fills me with confidence