Thetownend.com

Seeing as there isnt much action going on, Joe Mason.

We had a bid accepted of £300k, which is at least positive we were prepared to pay that sort of cash, and positive Plymouth accepted the bid. But alas he said, thanks but no thanks.

Had anyone seen him play?

Nope, but 300K is significantly more than I thought we'd bid.

Still I can see his point of view, why leave your home town club for a sideways move?

No. But from what I can recall in my reading around, some Plymouth fans think he's amazing and others (according to comments on here) think he's shit. He sounds like the sort of player that, had we signed him, would have had many, many, many fans truly happy for being ours and would be willing to wait patiently if he didn't score on his debut.

i'd be mightily pissed off if we were in the same position as plymouth and a young player, who by some reports isn't that good, turned down a move when there was a 300k offer which would have held off the taxman for a while.

i also don't think we're that much of a sideways move, we have a good board and good finances and are (at some point in the future) going to be on the up

It makes me wonder what we're prepared to pay for Benyon or another.

But back to Mason, seems a bit out of the blue. Could it be one of Byrne's old recommendations? Are we starting to scrape the barrel a bit? Or was he a genuine target in our sights who we thought we could get on the cheap (though £300k isn't tbh)?

I think he has had a lot of interest from Championship clubs so is waiting to see what happens in the summer rather than risk it in this league.

Yeah, the thisisDevon website thinks it would have been enough for them to pay off their tax debt.

To be honest, Id say he's made the right decision for himself.

i agree Spence but as a Plymouth fan i'd be pissed off.

In my experience, if you have a young player that divides the fans like that then he's probably shit. Because the fans who think he is brilliant are making too many allowances for his age.

300k was a generous bid from us. I ber Plymouths board are a bit pissed off he didnt agree to a move. I'd have thought his hands may have been tied but obviously not.

how bad is plymouths situation, will they just keep finding the money everytime they have a winding up order, or are they truly in the shit and have no money at all? is there a realistic chance they could be liquidated?

edit: id just like to celebrate my century of posts by raising my TEF bat  :beers:

Think the immediate problem is not paying the wages yet again which could bring points deductions

Exactly. Someone who's truly good is liked unanimously. Look at Charlie, everyone thought he was EDIT: the bollocks a total cunt.

Plymouth fan I know reckons he will make it at club in Championship/Premier League level in a few years. Very highly rated.

I guess this is the player Wilson was on about after the match when he said he was waiting on a yes or no over the weekend. Lets hope he has someone else lined up now. We need two forwards but that is never going to happen.

They are absolutely broke. To put it in context, Peter Reid paid the heating bill last month and he still had to wear Paul Mariner's coat. They're avoiding spending on absolutely everything, which is why a bid of 300k up front from us for Mason must have been very attractive.

Reminds me of George Ndahs Departure to Wolves

There is a youtube video "dedicated" to Joe Mason, but its just a load of moody stills..... with some Argyle-orientated tune droning on in the background. Its all a bit weird really.

From the wifes family in Salcombe who are season ticket holders they seem to think he has some good touches but it ultimately pretty shit, skillful close control let down by his final ball or shot usually.

Some fans do rave about him and a some just dont rate the lad, as stated above that is usually because of a lads young age they give him some leeway when it comes to consitancy.

I think £300k is a huge amount of money for a youngster of his (probable) potential but Danny (or our scouting network) must have seen something in him that they were impressed by.

Irrelivant now anyway as he wont move up North to join us.

We've made a pretty penny from Plymouth players in recent years. It would have been swell to give something back  :toocool:

I think you are much better paying big money for a 21 year old than a 19 year old.

The difference between Charlie Austin and Franck Nouble when they both started at Hartlepool last season was quite incredible.

Here was Frank Nouble, an England under 19 international on £8,000 a week who couldnt control the ball, couldnt head the ball, wasnt working particularly hard and generally was letting the game pass him by. Against Charlie Austin, on £1500 a week who was winning every single header, completing every single pass, running his lungs out and generally destroying their defence single handedly.

And of course scored the winner that gained us another 3 points.

You could argue the difference was down to a player who thought they had it made (financially at least) compared to a player that had it all to prove having recently having been a brickie.

Nah. Its because Nouble is a teenager and West Ham think he's good because he's only 19 and he can run fast and thats all he is.

After about half an hour of embaressing himself, he started trying after about 25 minutes. He tried until he was subbed on about 60 minutes. In that time I honestly think I could see him panicking about how much easier Austin was carving apart their defence.

It put a great big smile on my face driving home (that and winning 1 nil). That this was one of West Hams most highly rated youngsters and he wasnt a patch on Austin. After that game he permanently became our 5th choice striker, and remained so until he went back to West Ham, an event that went almost completely unnoticed by Swindon fans.

He is shit. You can make excuses for him if you want? Barnsley will find out next. Then maybe another loan club. And then eventually West Ham. Their days of being an Academy powerhouse look over. That Wilshere lad at Arsenal was/is a West Ham fan and he slipped right under their noses.

I was well excited when we got Nouble on loan, that quickly evaporated. I really hope we don't end up with another untried premier league striker and no one else, even Ward took a month or so to get really going - and we can't really afford that kinda bedding in period.

I'm not making excuses for him. He was shit. My point is it looked to me that whenever he played he couldn't give a fuck. And I totally made a leap from there that it was possibly down to a 'big time' attitude. Though granted I may be wrong and it may have been down to lack of ability.

Compare that with Danny Ward. Couldn't have worked harder for us despite being played 'out of position'. Ward was only 17 when he joined us wasn't he?

Just spoke to byrne who reckons he is probably the best young prospect he has worked with. Problem is that bristol city norwich southampton and another team want him. Obviously holding out for another move.

Like I said, Frank Nouble started that game pacing himself, not wanting to tire himself out before the later stages of the game.

But after about 20 minutes, and a few helpful shouts from Swindon supporters on his general performance (I like Victoria Park like that, its tiny and the players hear everything you say!) I think he was at least clever enough to realise he might not make half time, let alone 90 minutes. So he did start trying, hard, and it made absolutely no difference whatsoever, and he was lucky to make it onto the pitch again 2nd half.

Lazyness and lack of ability quite often go hand in hand. I think some players think they can hide their lack of ability by not giving 100% effort. If you are not busting your lungs out it is a lot easier to make sure you control the ball properly, and look within your comfort zone. The most notorious example of this type of player is Ben Hutchinson, who's performances sometimes made me feel physically sick.

Danny Ward is an absolutely fantastic player. I remmember thinking, wow, look at this kid go after 5 minutes. I think his first touch he lost the ball, but instead of moping he chased the bloke down, won it back, and sprinted back up the field. Brilliant. Class.

Chaps...hes had a double hernia op since the good ol days....takes a lot of getting over.

He's over it if the reserve game reviews are anything to go by

Going back to Nouble, was over at the Swansea forum to see if I could see a LJF rumour and came across this thread

http://forum.planetswans.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=92129

Seems they rate him as highly as we do.

Fair enough Sie...would love him back....but just feel a relegation dogfight in LG 1 isn't what Bolton will want for him....

That 'Pintado' has a good avatar doesnt he/she?

Could you find any guff on LJF? I only one mention on the "Swansea City Mad" site

Nope.

'Its like comparing shit from two different animals.'

Pure class, fair play.

Ace! What a great quote!

(un)Surprisingly hypnotic.

A bit like yours!