United sign Jordan shocker !

[Frank]

United have completed the signing of seventeen year old striker Jordan Rhodes on a month's loan.

Jordan has been a regular scorer for Ipswich Town's youth and reserve sides and is highly rated by Town's former United boss Jim Magilton, who believes that a move to Oxford will give Jordan valuable experience


Jerome Anderson Anyone!!!

[SmileyMan]

...Jim Magilton, who believes that a move to Oxford will give Jordan valuable experience

Probably &quotvaluable experience&quot of being a right wing-back

[Shoobedoo]

Hurrah - another striker for us not to give the ball to.

My missus just said, on reading the happy news, &quotGive the lad a chance&quot.

Well put some bloody wingers in the team then.

Good luck lad. You ain't half gonna need it!

[Jimski]

Jim seems to believe in youngsters as long as they are not our own. I hope this guy does well though, obviously, though as said above chance creation will be at a premium until something is done about the formation/midfield.

[Mooro]

Let's not knock it - Arthur out, Jordan in - a striker for a centre-back can only be a good thing.

Rhodes has apparently been prolific for their reserves as well as the youths, so that seems to bode well.

While there is certainly an element of truth in the sentiment of Smith being happy with any youngsters except our own, I'm not sure Jerome Anderson is necessarily the best case.

Jury was out on Anderson last year, he scored a lot for the U18s as they won the league, but was frankly anonymous in our reserve team last year. He made 10 starts but did not score once, whereas winger Andrew Younie got 2 from 15 and first years Alex Fisher and Ben Spilman both scored despite only 3 and 2 starts apiece.

For the record, if anyone was hard done by, it was the lad with the true footballers name, Billy Beechers, who got 7 of the 14 goals the side managed all season and generally posed far more of a threat than Anderson (or indeed any of the senior strikers that appeared), but got himself into Smiths bad books early season and never stood a chance after that...

If anyone is interested, a quick search has shown:

Anderson - signed for Stevenage in the summer, but sits about 6th in their pecking order. He went out on loan to St Albans (bottom of BS South) but barely featured, starting only once amidst comments from their boss about &quothaving to play kids&quot.
Now back at Borough, he is generally on their bench and has only featured in a few cameo sub appearances in the last few minutes of games.

Beechers - Scored 3 goals in 14 games at Abingdon Utd.

Rhodes - Still at ipswich academy this season, scored 12 for them last time and four in the last three reserve games of last season (all I could find reports for).

[Mally]

Sorry but this signing sounds completely ridiculous. A 17 year old who's only ever played in front of a handful of people. I know our crowds aren't that great at the moment but it's a very big step up to play in front of 5000 fans who are not in a forgiving mood at the moment. If the lad gets on the pitch it could set his development back years.

A striker is better than yet another defender but its creative midfield players we need. If we had a player confident on the ball who could play the right balls for Yemi or Twigg we'd double the chances we've been getting. If we were playing 4-4-2 then a winger would do the trick, as we are unlikely to line up like that then somebody who can create chances from the middle of the pitch is what we need.

[Ancient Colin]

Whatever happened to Tom Winters?

[Ascension Ox]

Sorry but this signing sounds completely ridiculous. A 17 year old who's only ever played in front of a handful of people. I know our crowds aren't that great at the moment but it's a very big step up to play in front of 5000 fans who are not in a forgiving mood at the moment. If the lad gets on the pitch it could set his development back years.

A striker is better than yet another defender but its creative midfield players we need. If we had a player confident on the ball who could play the right balls for Yemi or Twigg we'd double the chances we've been getting. If we were playing 4-4-2 then a winger would do the trick, as we are unlikely to line up like that then somebody who can create chances from the middle of the pitch is what we need.

Usually respect your postings Mally but not this time.

Let the kid play for a few minutes before consigning him to dustbin.

5,000 gate tomorrow? You'll be lucky.

[YF Dan]

Tom Winters was released in the week prior to last season. Presumably when Jim discovered he was a winger.

It just seems a shame to me that we have signed another centre forward. At present we have 3 fit strikers. We don't need another. All this will do is further undermine the confidence of those we have.

Jim's current line is that we haven't got the players to play 4-4-2. Well, why doesn't he sign a winger?

[Geoff]

Sorry but this signing sounds completely ridiculous. A 17 year old who's only ever played in front of a handful of people. I know our crowds aren't that great at the moment but it's a very big step up to play in front of 5000 fans who are not in a forgiving mood at the moment. If the lad gets on the pitch it could set his development back years.

A striker is better than yet another defender but its creative midfield players we need. If we had a player confident on the ball who could play the right balls for Yemi or Twigg we'd double the chances we've been getting. If we were playing 4-4-2 then a winger would do the trick, as we are unlikely to line up like that then somebody who can create chances from the middle of the pitch is what we need.

Totally agree Mally!

I don't think Mally was 'consigning him to the dustbin' Ascension Ox (correct me if I'm wrong Mally) rather bemoaning the fact he's being put in an untenable situation.

[Mally]

Sorry but this signing sounds completely ridiculous. A 17 year old who's only ever played in front of a handful of people. I know our crowds aren't that great at the moment but it's a very big step up to play in front of 5000 fans who are not in a forgiving mood at the moment. If the lad gets on the pitch it could set his development back years.

A striker is better than yet another defender but its creative midfield players we need. If we had a player confident on the ball who could play the right balls for Yemi or Twigg we'd double the chances we've been getting. If we were playing 4-4-2 then a winger would do the trick, as we are unlikely to line up like that then somebody who can create chances from the middle of the pitch is what we need.

Totally agree Mally!

I don't think Mally was 'consigning him to the dustbin' Ascension Ox (correct me if I'm wrong Mally) rather bemoaning the fact he's being put in an untenable situation.

Correct. He may be a brilliant young player but dropping him in the deep end (if he is dropped in) smacks of desperation from Smith.

[Paul Cooper]

Well on the basis that we are going to play with wing backs (I assume), surely a replacement for Anaclet would have been a betetr move? Playing Day or Quinn there really does make us even more defensive.

[Baboo]

A striker is better than yet another defender but its creative midfield players we need. If we had a player confident on the ball who could play the right balls for Yemi or Twigg we'd double the chances we've been getting.

Isn't Michael Standing a creative midfielder?
And more attacking than his usual picks - Hutch &amp Trainer.

[Ascension Ox]

Sorry but this signing sounds completely ridiculous. A 17 year old who's only ever played in front of a handful of people. I know our crowds aren't that great at the moment but it's a very big step up to play in front of 5000 fans who are not in a forgiving mood at the moment. If the lad gets on the pitch it could set his development back years.

A striker is better than yet another defender but its creative midfield players we need. If we had a player confident on the ball who could play the right balls for Yemi or Twigg we'd double the chances we've been getting. If we were playing 4-4-2 then a winger would do the trick, as we are unlikely to line up like that then somebody who can create chances from the middle of the pitch is what we need.

Totally agree Mally!

I don't think Mally was 'consigning him to the dustbin' Ascension Ox (correct me if I'm wrong Mally) rather bemoaning the fact he's being put in an untenable situation.

Correct. He may be a brilliant young player but dropping him in the deep end (if he is dropped in) smacks of desperation from Smith.

If he's a brilliant young player then it won't be a ridiculous signing willl it?
You can fault Smith for plenty but not this one as well! We need someone to stick the ball in the net don't we ?

[Mally]

He may be a brilliant young player but at 17 in front of (for him) a big crowd it could all go horribly wrong. What is ridiculous about it is expecting such a young player to be able to perform with that sort of pressure.