Charlie Austin

[Batch]

I'd say its somewhat academic as Fitton would never let him go in January for £250k -

Yes academic in that we wouldn't sell him right now, but can you really see a club bidding £250k for an unproven risk anyway. I can see these clubs tracking him, but not bidding.

Anyway, I'm sure Austin himself will realise he needs a season or two to adapt to league 1 before moving up, or risk doing a Fleetwood.

That thread links to this one too. Weird.

All roads lead to Austin.

[Summerof69]

I'd say its somewhat academic as Fitton would never let him go in January for £250k - I doubt he'd even bother returning phone calls unless they were talking 7 figures, which of course is not going to happen.

If Austin keeps scoring and keeps improving he'll end up going for more than we got for Cox.

Fully agree on that. It's funny reading their comments about Charlie's goals. This kid is  natural goalscorer, and he wins his fair share of headers despite the central defenders being taller than him.

As we know there are players who are with Premier sides that don't have that knack (Odabeyi, Hutchinson), who cannot even score that regular in League 1.

[Spencer_White]

Any talk of him being more valuable than Cox or even potentially more valuable than Cox is just stupid.

[pride_of_wilts]

Any talk of him being more valuable than Cox or even potentially more valuable than Cox is just stupid.

Sorry but i think you're wrong, Austin's all round play is better than Cox's and i can really see Austin being better than Cox even if that sounds stupid i do think he will be a great player.

[Spencer_White]

No fucking chance.

He could be as good for us as Sam Parkin, but on ability he isnt going to come close to Simon Cox.

[Weasel]

No fucking chance.

He could be as good for us as Sam Parkin, but on ability he isnt going to come close to Simon Cox.

Different type of player - different type of ability.

And he's scored more than Cox did in his first 7 games for us. What more do you want from a striker?

[timmyg]

No fucking chance.

He could be as good for us as Sam Parkin, but on ability he isnt going to come close to Simon Cox.

This is what I think.  Charlie is playing well, and scoring goals which will obviously make him very valuable to teams, but compared to Cox right now he's nowhere near the same level, and wouldn't attract bids of anywhere near the £1m that Cox was getting.

[Spencer_White]

Simon Cox scored unbelievable goals.

I love Austin, hes everything a league 1 striker should be.

If he keeps on as he has been he might be worth £600k to someone one day. But hes not going to score any miracle goals like Cox did vs Walsall, or all those other sublime chips from outside the box.

Cox was scoring the same sort of goals in League 1 that Jermaine Defoe was scoring for Bournemouth 8 years ago. I think he'll get an England call up one day.

[Weasel]

Cox was scoring the same sort of goals in League 1 that Jermaine Defoe was scoring for Bournemouth 8 years ago. I think he'll get an England call up one day.

Defoe was 19 then. Cox should settle for the ROI instead. He's good, but he's no Defoe.

Austin, on the other hand, hasn't played nearly enough to be written off as just a league one striker... I don't care where the goals are scored from - his current record is better than Cox's was for us.

[Spencer_White]

He wont score many outside the 6 yard box. Theres nothing wrong with that. But you look over the years there have been lots of league 1 players who have scored 30 goals in a season and then dissapeared from league football 3 years later.

Englands strength is depth is very weak, especially up front. If Cox scores a few next season for WBA in the Premiership then Capello will be watching. Cox scored better goals for Swindon than Defoe did at this level.

[Arriba]

i reckon parkin was better than cox for us.was the most complete striker we've had since shearer.
austin is more like chalkie.

[Spencer_White]

Thats why I think Austin could be a great player for Swindon, because he wont be as attractive to other teams as Cox.

Cox had far too much ability to be at Swindon and we were never going to able to keep on to him for more than a year. Austin could stay for 3 or 4 years and be a legend.

[Arriba]

not in todays game he wont be.if he scores goals regularly he'll be gone.(unless we gain promotion)

[DiV]

we kept Parkin for 3 years, no reason why Austin wont be here that long.

[jonny72]

Its far too early to be making long term predictions as to the player Austin will become.

Austin has been playing part time for the last 2 or 3 seasons and has played the equivalent of under 7 full games.

Cox had already played in 31 games (18 starts, 13 sub) when he came here and had been full time since turning 16.

Sure there are some question marks over parts of Austin's game; lack of pace, lack of strength, questionable movement, shooting from distance. But these are things that can be worked on and possibly sorted out, some will come naturally with more games and fitness work.

On the plus side he obviously has a lot of the right natural skills which can't be taught - a knack of being in the right place, excellent ball control and passing and very strong challenging for headers.

Bottom line is that Austin is scoring far more goals and playing far better than he should be given his background.