[SIGNED perm] Andre Gray signs for club record fee

This is The Sixth Sense - Watford editiin

 

Oh feck!

Although Sinclair did have ghost like qualities today what I meant to post was:

Isn't Sinclair under 21, therefore doesn't take up a squad place?

 

That is really not saying much. He is awful. We have him and Sinclair available, just because he's the best out of those 2, doesn't make him anywhere near good enough. I thought he wasn't up to it last season but thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. But he's just poor 9 times out of 10. I'm convinced now we need 2 new strikers.

Not even good enough for that role.

 

I agree that big Stef is the best of the two (by far). I'm in two minds about him, at times he is an absolute donkey but he is a donkey who causes problems, holds the ball and score goals. He made a difference today and last week. Sinclair was completely ineffective.

We need very good strikers more than any other position. Trouble is who and how much?

In the tradition of Watford fans pining for ex-players, I'm starting to think that we should've kept Ig*al*. Silva might just be the coach to revive him

 

Not one to argue but what difference did he make today? We cannot afford to give game time to a striker who is, on average no more than a 5 out of 10 every time he plays. I agree the question of who we buy is a tough one. Ings? Remy? Perez? All would be a marked improvement on Okaka.

 

He gave an option to play the ball to a centre forward, he held it up, he gave their defence a problem to think about which Sinclair didn't. He also put his first chance away with a good header from a good cross, unfortunately it was offside but it showed his confidence. Deeney is out injured and I don't know when he'll be back. Richard Lee's Son may or may not get a passport and Sinclair hasn't performed well in the last two friendies. I feel that I am arguing for a guy that I don't fully believe in but he is all we have at the moment and I think that we agree that we need to sign somebody. The season starts next week and I think we're going with the squad we've got which means Okaka upfront.

 

I too think that Okaka is probably the best we have. He does cause a defence problems and puts himself about a bit.

I am not sure that he is such a "donkey" though, as he can really run leaving defenders floundering - he just take a bit longer to get up to speed!

 

I just wish Stef would wear better fitting kit

 

I just wish he would wear someone else's kit.

 

As discussed on here recently, Okaka's goals per minutes played ratio for last season (excluding penalties) was far better than TD's.

 

Forgive me for pointing it out bit you really seem to hate the bloke. It shines through quite clearly in every post you make discussing the squad or our forward options recently. I don't think he's anywhere near as bad as you make out and ultimately he proved he can contribute something last season, which was a marked difference over someone like Amrabat for example. There are several players I'd be shot of sooner before Okaka.

 

Hate is far too strong a word. I can appreciate the effort he gives. I only hate players who don't try. That isn't him. But he is just nowhere near the level we should be aiming for. It's my opinion, I appreciate it isn't everyone's. And yes, if I'm making a post where I am discussing our squad or strikers, clearly I'm going to express that. Like any player in our squad, I really hope I am proved wrong but if we are playing one up front this season, I'd like 2 options before we get to playing Okaka.

 

Just read this, so excuse late reply.
Yes, I think it is controversial:-

1) the fact that his (somewhat historical) mindset is out in the dreaded primordial soup of social media just means he's the one (?) who's put it out there. I imagine he's far from unique in holding/ having held it, sadly.

2) possible mitigation of background; education, or rather lack of; choice of friends etc.

3) he didn't nearly kill someone. We'd all be a lot less tolerant of TD, impressive as his subsequent progress has been, if he was plying his trade elsewhere.

If we are giving TD the chance to demonstrate 'he's not really like that', then we should do the same for Gray.

 

There's nothing quite like getting behind the team eh Burnsy?

 

Burnsy is weird.

 

Okay? Explain?

 

I agree that my post was a bit strong. I just don't think he's PL standard. Beyond the odd bit of skill that is good for a man his size, all I see is a bit of huffing and puffing and falling over. I understand I was harsh and beyond blunt in my assessment but I've given my reasons on subsequent posts afterwards.

I'm by no means a guy who would boo our own players and I'll support any player that pulls on a yellow shirt - unless they clearly don't try. Okaka does try but I just don't think he's up to the task of leading our line, or even being a guy you'd turn to off the bench. So henceforth I will state as such on here when it comes into conversation. But I accept I didn't do it eloquently in the post you draw attention to.

Still waiting.....

 

Fresh links from the Mirror...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/watford-leading-chase-burnleys-andre-10952197

I certainly hope he is a reformed character as I think he gives us something different

 

Even if we don't sign him it's a step in the right direction; looking to sign an absolutely rapid striker!
Lacked one since we lost Vydra

 

If this happens all of a sudden we have some pace going forward. I may have missed something but why would Burnley be willing to sell him? Edit: I decided to actually read the rest of the article that Grrwood posted and he is in the last year of his contract if we could get him for a decent price he would be an excellent addition to the side.

 

Only 1 year left on his current deal apparently

 

Last year of contract - perhaps he's after a change and playing hard to get!

 

People talking about him hopefully being "reformed", have a day off. He posted a stupid tweet as a youngster, it was wrong but not the end of the world. A lot of people do and say a lot of stupid things when they're young and misinformed, doesn't mean they're bad people or grow up to be bad people.

To my knowledge he has done nothing to be considered a bad apple other than that one tweet, and were that never dug up no one would actually have a bad word to say about him?

 

We should hold his contract signing on a float at Watford Pride. We'd soon find out if he'd changed.

 

Or print his contract on pink paper & see if he's willing to sign it.

 

His arrival is why Berghaus left in protest ... expect an announcement soon

 

Burnley really don't give their better players long enough contracts. Two previous bids suggest we are very interested.

Pro
One year left on his contract suggests we can get him for cheap
Con
80k a week wages seems a lot for us to pay, even if we can get him for a discount

Pro
Considering Silva likes to play on the counter, he would give us good pace.
Con
Despite having pace to burn, he was caught offside more times than all but 3 players in the league. You'd have to question his intelligence.

Pro
We're desperate and he's willing
Con
He sounds like a right (Luton)

 

Do Skumtown get a cut of our loot if we sign him? I know Burney signed him from Brentford, who signed him from L***n, but if both deals had a sell-on clause they might get a cut of the cut?

 

I would be happy with this.
Deeney could teach him how to use social media properly.

 

Did someone just say Deeney-Vydra 2.0

 

Fixed

 

I actually get the feeling this will be done sooner rather than later, my prediction is SSN piece tomorrow evening and an announcement Thursday.

The odds fell too dramatically for there to be nothing in it, he's currently shorter to be here than at Burnley - someone put a TON of money on that across bookies for the market to react like that.

Moreover, Mike Walters is a Watford fan and generally pretty ITK - he wouldn't have been allowed to post that article unless we were pretty confident of not being gazumped at this stage. Two bids implies we're pretty certain he wants to be here, and pretty certain we can get him. 14 mil and add ons is my guess, Thursday 2pm.

 

If this happens then it's bye bye someone. Hopefully Okaka and not a Deeney deal in the pending tray.