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new arrivals... | | Transfer deadline day reaction...
By Gareth Cooper
Date: 28/3/2003
With the transfer deadline now over for another season we take a look back at Thursday's main events and also a more detailed look at our two new signings - Ade Akinbiyi and Paul Warhurst |
Name
Deadline Day round up...
As predicted the transfer deadline has
passed with very few major deals unfolding around the country. The only
big money move being Herman Hreidarsson's £900,000 switch from Ipswich to
Premiership side Charlton Athletic, although this deal was only allowed to
go through due to the current financial problems at Portman Road and the
Icelandic International will not be allowed to feature for Athletic this
season.
Onto the Nationwide League and it's hard to pick out any real transfers to get
excited about. Our own captures of Ade Akinbiyi and Paul Warhurst are
perhaps two of the more interesting signings of the day (more so out of
general curiosity than anything!)
Dean Holdsworth making a switch to Rushden and Diamonds appears to have ruffled a
few feathers although for a player who hasn't really been too prolific in
the top tier of English football as of late a drop to the lower Divisions looks the next logical
step for him.
Reading appear to have secured two of the more exciting signings of the
day in not only renewing Luke Chadwick's loan at the
Madjeski Stadium but also bringing in Burnley's much sought after winger
Glenn Little in a similar deal.
Other than that it really is hard to pick out any deal that you could class as any
better than our own two signings. Relegation rivals Walsall have moved to
snap up Jamie Lawrence on a free. We ourselves were
linked with the Jamaican at the turn of the year but general opinion from
the Bradford supporters seemed to deem him as a bit of a headless chicken
so it'll be
interesting to see how things work out at the Bescot Stadium.
Elsewhere at the bottom of Division One Grimsby failed to secure the services of
John Oster (above) on loan again but the Mariners have bought in Preston North End's Republic of Ireland
U21 midfielder Michael Keane although a deal for Cardiff City's
Des Hamilton has since fallen through after Grimsby remembered they didn't
have enough spare loans left to bring him in to Blundell Park!
Meanwhile Sheffield Wednesday have signed up two players although they both appear
to be more long term prospects for the Owls rather than immediate impact
makers. 19 year old winger Richard
Evans has signed on a free from Birmingham City while striker Grant Holt
has also been signed from non-league Barrow after impressing manager Chris
Turner last week.
Finally Derby County look like they have made a shrewd move by bringing in
defender Paul Richie from Manchester City on loan, especially following
the loss of both Danny Higginbotham and Chris Riggott back in January.
Richie should go some way to shoring up their incredibly shaky
defence.
Last but not least ex Stokies on the move include Tony
Scully, who had a spell at the
Britannia Stadium five years ago. He makes the short journey from Cambridge
United to Peterborough, while John Miles (on Stoke's books 12 months ago)
has been loaned out by Crewe Alexandra to neighbors Macclesfield Town.
departing...
Stoke keeper Neil Cutler has extending his stay at
Third Division Swansea
City until the end of the season although he is on a 24 hour recall. It's
hard to see Stoke needing him back at the moment unless
Middlesborough feel the need to recall Mark Crossley. So far Cutler has
kept four clean sheets in six games since moving to the Vetch at the start
of the month.
Another goalkeeper to depart yesterday was Jani Viander
who
has signed on loan for Danish club FC
Midtjylland until the end of the season. Jani surpasses even Jan Dirk
Schreuder when it comes to being one of the most pointless Stoke signings
in recent times. The Finnish International joined Stoke for a nominal fee
at the start of last year but has yet to play a single minute of first
team football for the Potters.
Some have commented that his form in the Reserves in the past two seasons
perhaps shows that he just isn't good enough for the first team and if this is
the case we could do with him off the books as quickly as possible,
especially with young Ben Foster signing a new contract last week. We did try and offload
Viander to
Luton Town earlier this year but he got sent off in a Reserve game
for the Hatters and Joe Kinnear soon sent him packing back to the
Potteries. Maybe this time his loan outing will lead to a more permanent
departure from the Britannia Stadium?
arriving...
Ade Akinbiyi
It had been reported heavily in the past few days and also on Radio Stoke
yesterday morning that Tony Pulis had been attempting to to bring in both Ade Akinbiyi
and Sunderland winger John Oster into the squad before the 5pm
deadline.
Despite these rumors the Oster deal failed to materialize with him
staying put at Sunderland in spite of alleged interest from both ourselves and
also Cardiff City.
In wake of the Oster no show Stoke have still managed to secure a loan deal
for long time transfer target Ade Akinbiyi.
The Akinbiyi / Stoke saga has stretched on for well over a month now and at one
stage last week the deal looked dead with the Nigerian International
seeming like he was suffering with a long term knee injury. Stoke however
now appear confident that the injury isn't as serious as first thought
although we mustn't kid ourselves that he is coming here well short of match
practice!
A (slight) saving grace is that Akinbiyi will now have 8 days to
at least get some time with the squad before the Gillingham game. In
hindsight it's a shame that we couldn't bring him in a couple of days ago with the
two home Reserve games this week although
if his fitness really is off the boil there's always a possibility that Stoke
could set up a practice match before next weekend (just to speculate)
Many will remember Akinbiyi from recent years for his spectacular array of
misses with Leicester City in the Premiership while since then struggling to
make an impact at Crystal Palace due to injuries and lack of form. This is
perhaps unfair when you consider his past record with other clubs. A more
realistic assessment could be that he reached the heights of the Premier League with
Leicester City and it proved to be a step too far for him to take in terms
of class at the time.
Over the years his goalscoring form in the Nationwide League has been as
good as anything else around. After starting out in the early 1990's at
Norwich City (making his Canaries debut against Bayern Munich in the UEFA
Cup) he was signed for £250,000 in
the Autumn of 1996 by then Gillingham manager Tony Pulis. Ade scored 7 goals in 19 games in his first half
season with the Kent club before netting a further 22 goals the following
year in Division 2.
Such form sparked newly promoted Bristol City to pay out £1.2 million for
the player in the summer of 1998. Despite being relegated in their first
year back in Division One Akinbiyi still managed to find the net 23 times in
what was a doomed side.
The following summer he was transferred in a £3.5 million deal to
Wolverhampton Wanderers where he netted 16 goals in just 36 games before
going on the move again the following summer, this time to Premiership
outfit Leicester City for £5 million. Despite struggling in the top
flight Ade still netted 10 goals in his first Premiership season with the
Foxes.
Akinbiyi's form at the start of the 2001/02 season dipped dramatically,
combined with plenty of managerial unrest as Dave Bassett came in to replace
Peter Taylor. In September 2001 Wolves once again came in with a £3.2
million bid to take the player back to Molineux although the deal was
rejected by Leicester. This was perhaps unwise at the time as five months later Ade
was shipped off to First Division Crystal Palace for a lesser figure of
£2.5 million. Since joining the Eagles he has been hit by injury and has
been out of favour with Palace boss Trevor Francis, maybe an indication of
why his squad number at Selhurst Park this season has been 55! Palace have
since been keen to offload the player in a quest to bring in new
blood.
He now joins Stoke in attempt to get match fit and possibly win a move to
another club next season. Akinbiyi's official website states his
admiration of Tony Pulis as a manager who has got the best out of him as a
player in the past so we can only hope this works in our favour this time
round. In truth
Akinbiyi's arrival at the Britannia Stadium looks a decent enough signing
if it wasn't for the fact that we are currently struggling for a quick
fire answer up front, and given his current match fitness and form it still remains
to be seen what he can actually do for us in his current condition?
Other than that I can't really see the reasoning behind some supporters
views that Akinbiyi would be a complete walking disaster in the long term for Stoke
City. In our current climate we are nothing more than a Division 1 / Division
2 yo-yo team until we prove ourselves otherwise. We also know for a fact that
we have been turned down by better 'Premiership' players in the last couple of
months who Tony Pulis has been trying to bring in (Noel Whelan an example
a couple of weeks ago) so we're hardly in the position to pick and
chose who we bring in right now.
Hand on heart can anyone honestly say that a big name player (Matt Janssen, Andy Cole, Carlton Cole -
all pie in the sky suggestions on the message board in recent weeks)
is really going to come to Stoke right now when they have far more
attractive offers coming from better and more established teams who are
higher in the First
Division table than ourselves.
Akinbiyi presents an interesting possibility for us if we can get him to
join in the long term AND get his career back on track. Comparisons have already been drawn with
a certain ex
Scottish manager plucking "Miss it Mike" from out of Norwich
City Reserves (much to the laughter of Canaries supporters back then) while the Steino analogy will forever be one raised in such
a scenario like this one.
As with all gambles there is every chance that the signing of Ade Akinbiyi could work out
for the benefit of Stoke City, while on the
other hand he could just as easily melt away into a complete disaster like
some are predicting.
Whatever the case he does seem just about the best we could hope for in our current
condition and I for one am glad we've got him in the squad, if only for the
fact that the deal has just as good a chance in working as it has failing!
Paul Warhurst
Onto our second signing, and somewhat of an arrival that came right out of the
blue - Bolton Wanderers midfielder Paul Warhurst.
Stockport born Warhurst began his career at Manchester City as a trainee
before making a £10,000 move to Oldham Athletic in 1988. A versatile
player he joined Sheffield Wednesday in 1991 for £750,000 to play
predominantly as a central defender. A crisis with the forward line at
Hillsborough saw Trevor Francis convert Warhurst to a striker in the
1991/92. The switch heralded great success as Warhurst's goals helped Wednesday
reach both the League and FA Cup Finals that season (losing to Arsenal on
both occasions)
After a disagreement with Owls boss Trevor Francis Warhurst was soon on
his way out of Yorkshire and he was snapped up by Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn in a £2.7 million deal.
A broken leg marred much of his early years at Ewood Park although he did
return to action to assist Rovers in winning the 1995 Premiership
Championship.
Warhurst left Blackburn in the summer of 1997 when he joined Crystal Palace in a
£1.2 million deal although after only 18 months at Selhurst Park he was
sent out on loan the Bolton Wanderers in November 1998 before the cash
strapped Eagles sold him permanently to the Trotters for £800,000 after
the new year.
Initially used as a central defender by Colin Todd the arrival of new
manager Sam Allardyce saw Warhurst converted into a central midfielder
where he has been playing a holding role in front of the defence for much
of his time at the Reebok Stadium.
 If
one problem has blighted his progess with Wanderers in the last couple of
years it has been his injury record, although like Akinbiyi Stoke
must be happy with his current level of fitness for us to bring him in for
the remainder of the season.
Being a utility player it is of yet unclear what position Tony Pulis will consider playing him
in, although with James O'Connor suspended for both the Gillingham and
Rotherham United games it's possible that Warhurst could be plunged straight
into midfield.
Warhurst's arrival signals another vastly experienced campaigner that Pulis
has added to the ranks following on from the likes of Mark Williams and
Mark Crossley. By all accounts he is another natural leader out on the pitch which is really what we need at the
moment. Despite being considering a holding midfielder Bolton fans also say
that he does have a good shot on him and his attacking attributes from
playing up front in years gone by could class him to be more of a box to
box player.
Both new arrivals look set to feature in next Saturday's home fixture
against Gillingham although right now it's anybody's guess to what side Pulis will be moulding
together for the final seven games of the season...
Full run down of yesterday's deals...
| Name |
From |
To |
Fee |
| Jamie
Lawrence |
Bradford |
Walsall |
Free |
| Lee
Beevers |
Ipswich |
Boston |
Loan |
| Robert
Dickinson |
Ipswich |
Boston |
Loan |
| Stephen
Kelly |
Tottenham |
QPR |
Loan |
| Andy
Rammell |
Wycombe |
Bristol
Rovers |
Loan |
| Glyn
Thompson |
Fulham |
Northampton |
Free |
| Keith
Graydon |
Sunderland |
York |
Loan |
| Dean
Holdsworth |
Coventry |
Rushden
& Diamonds |
Free |
| Glen
Little |
Burnley |
Reading |
Loan |
| Paul
Warhurst |
Bolton
Wanderers |
Stoke
City |
Loan |
| Paul
Ritchie |
Manchester
City |
Derby |
Loan |
| Sammy
Igoe |
Reading |
Luton
Town |
Loan |
| Frazer
McHugh |
Halesowen
Town |
Bradford
City |
Free |
| John
Miles |
Crewe
A |
Macclesfield
Town |
Loan |
| Andre
Boucaud |
Reading |
Peterborough |
Loan |
| Laurens
Ten Heuvel |
Sheffield
United |
Bradford
City |
Loan |
| Colin
Little |
Crewe
A |
Macclesfield
Town |
Loan |
| Ade
Akinbiyi |
Crystal
Palace |
Stoke
City |
Loan |
| Jani
Viander |
Stoke
City |
FC
Midtjylland |
Loan |
| Gavin
Strachan |
Peterborough |
Southend
United |
Free |
| Hermann
Hreidarsson |
Ipswich
Town |
Charlton
Athletic |
£900k |
| Richard
Evans |
Birmingham
City |
Sheffield
Wednesday |
Free |
| Grant
Holt |
Barrow |
Sheffield
Wednesday |
Free |
| Ben
May |
Millwall |
Colchester |
Loan |
| Neil
Bennett |
Bradford
City |
Rochdale |
Free |
| Paul
McCarthy |
Wycombe
W |
Oxford
Utd |
Loan |
| Darren
Hockenhull |
Blackburn
Rovers |
Rochdale |
Loan |
| Iain
Anderson |
Preston
NE |
Tranmere
Rovers |
Loan |
| Mark
Rankine |
Preston
NE |
Sheffield
United |
Loan |
| Michael
Keane |
Preston
NE |
Grimsby
Town |
Loan |
| Luke
Chadwick |
Manchester
United |
Reading |
Loan |
| Tony
Scully |
Cambridge
United |
Peterborough
United |
Loan |
| Mark
McCammon |
Brentford |
Millwall |
Free |
| Scott
McDonald |
Southampton |
Bournmouth |
Free |
| Gary
Kelly |
Northwich
Victoria |
Sheffield
United |
Free |
| Michael
Turner |
Charlton
Athletic |
Leyton
Orient |
Loan |
| Jim
Corbett |
Blackburn
Rovers |
Darlington |
Loan |
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