Should we Buy Dean Ashton? Forgeddaboutit!

[indi]

Panic! Panic! Panic! Panic! Panic!

 

FYP.

 

Sorry, that's what I meant to say.

[afar]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

[Alberto2005]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

Nice post, exactly how I see it.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

Are you hoping that Dean Ashton would have his injury spells when Viduka was fit and vice versa?

 

I'd rather we took the chance on a cheaper (initial fee and wages) foreign or lower league player than risk a big money transfer on a player with a poor injury record.

[Guest Kenton Magpie]

I’d take a gamble at £10m, I don’t think he is any better or worse than Martins, yet again Viduka is never going to complete a full season for you now especially at his age and going by his past playing record. We have boasted for a while the MA has a lot of money so surely £10m is nothing but loose change to him or was all this talk of him being minted all a big myth!? I’m yet to make up my mind on that one but the fact he has paid off major debts suggests he may have something up his sleeve.

[Guest Can]

i dont think he is really worth buying as he wouldnt improve the squad and should be bought only if viduka is sold i think and should not be offered more then £5million , newcastle should go for a younger striker like Emilio Nsue how looked very talented in u19 euros.

[indi]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

 

Or we could all stop living in the past, get over this "We absolutely must have a big target-man up front" thing, stop relying on the "tactic" of booting the ball up the pitch in the general direction of some big lump and praying for a miracle that is him getting the better of the opposition's defenders considering the vast majority of premiership centre-halves can deal with that all day long, get the team playing some decent passing football and try and move away from being the one-dimensional bottom-half cloggers we seem to have become over the last few years.

 

Dean Ashton is a big step backwards in my view.

[Cronky]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

 

Or we could all stop living in the past, get over this "We absolutely must have a big target-man up front" thing, stop relying on the "tactic" of booting the ball up the pitch in the general direction of some big lump and praying for a miracle that is him getting the better of the opposition's defenders considering the vast majority of premiership centre-halves can deal with that all day long, get the team playing some decent passing football and try and move away from being the one-dimensional bottom-half cloggers we seem to have become over the last few years.

 

Dean Ashton is a big step backwards in my view.

 

I think you're seriously under-estimating Ashton there. Yes, he plays as a target man, but his touch on the ball is absolutely superb, and he's very comfortable when the ball is played on the deck.

[indi]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

 

Or we could all stop living in the past, get over this "We absolutely must have a big target-man up front" thing, stop relying on the "tactic" of booting the ball up the pitch in the general direction of some big lump and praying for a miracle that is him getting the better of the opposition's defenders considering the vast majority of premiership centre-halves can deal with that all day long, get the team playing some decent passing football and try and move away from being the one-dimensional bottom-half cloggers we seem to have become over the last few years.

 

Dean Ashton is a big step backwards in my view.

 

I think you're seriously under-estimating Ashton there. Yes, he plays as a target man, but his touch on the ball is absolutely superb, and he's very comfortable when the ball is played on the deck.

 

You're right I don't rate him much, at all. But even if I did, for the kind of money we'd be talking about to get him we could get players who are much better at that kind of stuff than he is. Ashton's value gets inflated for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: "he's English", and; "he's the new Shearer", neither of which are relevant and one of which isn't even close to being true!!

[afar]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

 

Or we could all stop living in the past, get over this "We absolutely must have a big target-man up front" thing, stop relying on the "tactic" of booting the ball up the pitch in the general direction of some big lump and praying for a miracle that is him getting the better of the opposition's defenders considering the vast majority of premiership centre-halves can deal with that all day long, get the team playing some decent passing football and try and move away from being the one-dimensional bottom-half cloggers we seem to have become over the last few years.

 

Dean Ashton is a big step backwards in my view.

 

I think you're seriously under-estimating Ashton there. Yes, he plays as a target man, but his touch on the ball is absolutely superb, and he's very comfortable when the ball is played on the deck.

 

You're right I don't rate him much, at all. But even if I did, for the kind of money we'd be talking about to get him we could get players who are much better at that kind of stuff than he is. Ashton's value gets inflated for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: "he's English", and; "he's the new Shearer", neither of which are relevant and one of which isn't even close to being true!!

 

We'll never play route 1 football under KK, I honestly don't know what you are going on about. He signed 2 big target men in the past for us, Sir Les and Big Al, and at no point did we play the long ball game.

 

You need diversity in your attack to open up defences, Ashton offers us something different to Martins and Owen. KK values that, his best partnership as a player was when he played for Liverpool with John Toshack (sp?), the big man little man combo worked so well and they won 2 European Cups with it.

 

Bottom line is he's a damn good player, he's proven that in the PL, it's nothing to do with him being English or in the same mould as Shearer, it's to do with his ability and he fills one of our needs.

[tmonkey]

Cant make my mind up about him. Looks good in certain situations, dogshit in others. Thought he was woeful against Trinidad, slow and immobile with plenty of bad touches/layoffs. Shearer seems to love him though, and although Shearer might be a bit biased given that we're talking about similar types of forwards (huge gap in calibre though), I think he knows his stuff.

 

I would take Peter Crouch over Ashton at this point in time though, purely because hes more likely to stay fit, which means Ameobi and Smith are far less likely to be playing regularly. If those two start 20 odd games, you can guarantee that we wont be in the top half of the Premiership, and I think that alone is worth £10m in terms of preventing.

[afar]

Oh and who are these strikers we could get. Because I don't see any other realistic options who have proved themselves. As much as 10 million is a risk for Ashton because of his injury record, so to is 10 million for any player out in the lesser leagues that hasn't played in England before.

 

For every Berbatov there's Rebrov as Spurs found out.

 

At the end of the day with any player you are taking a risk, I just hope the club backs a winner this time, we've put our money on black and it came out red too many times now.

[johnnypd]

Cant make my mind up about him. Looks good in certain situations, dogshit in others. Thought he was woeful against Trinidad, slow and immobile with plenty of bad touches/layoffs. Shearer seems to love him though, and although Shearer might be a bit biased given that we're talking about similar types of forwards (huge gap in calibre though), I think he knows his stuff.

 

I would take Peter Crouch over Ashton at this point in time though, purely because hes more likely to stay fit, which means Ameobi and Smith are far less likely to be playing regularly. If those two start 20 odd games, you can guarantee that we wont be in the top half of the Premiership, and I think that alone is worth £10m in terms of preventing.

 

Ashton is similar only to the 30+ version of Alan Shearer, and even then a poor copy. totally different to the world-class shearer we saw before the big injuries took their toll.

 

i don't think it would be worth spending big on Ashton. He has the same flaws as Viduka, poor fitness and poor mobility. he is a bit stronger than the aussie and a bit less skilful and a bit less creative. so on balance i think he wouldn't really be an improvement at all, other than he is younger so could play for longer whereas Viduka will retire sooner.

 

Crouch is another who would perhaps not be a huge improvement over Viduka but i'd much prefer him to Ashton, far better player imo. he has the same problems with movement, he's bloody awful when he has to chase down loose balls out wide trying to provide a bit of width. but he has far less fitness concerns and i think he is better on the ball than Ashton.

[Guest Can]

"proven in the PL" does not minimise the risks it gives you a false idea of the player, it just shows that he is proven in a system in a certain club if the player goes to a "lesser league" that does not mean he is going to be a star nor the other way round. you just need to pick up the best players that would fit in the system of the club. players from lesser leagues need time to adjust not because of the physical nature of the premier league which most people think as they call certian players light weight, but the conditioning these players need to handle the scheduling of the premiership as in the lesser leagues players can have breaks in some matches which can be easy to rest for the next match which they cant afford in the premiership and this can take a month or two.

[Guest Heneage]

Under 15m

[Guest pont-toon]

nufc.com reporting that we've made 2 recent enquiries to the Hammers for Ashton

 

canny player, dodgy fitness though but

[indi]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

 

Or we could all stop living in the past, get over this "We absolutely must have a big target-man up front" thing, stop relying on the "tactic" of booting the ball up the pitch in the general direction of some big lump and praying for a miracle that is him getting the better of the opposition's defenders considering the vast majority of premiership centre-halves can deal with that all day long, get the team playing some decent passing football and try and move away from being the one-dimensional bottom-half cloggers we seem to have become over the last few years.

 

Dean Ashton is a big step backwards in my view.

 

I think you're seriously under-estimating Ashton there. Yes, he plays as a target man, but his touch on the ball is absolutely superb, and he's very comfortable when the ball is played on the deck.

 

You're right I don't rate him much, at all. But even if I did, for the kind of money we'd be talking about to get him we could get players who are much better at that kind of stuff than he is. Ashton's value gets inflated for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: "he's English", and; "he's the new Shearer", neither of which are relevant and one of which isn't even close to being true!!

 

We'll never play route 1 football under KK, I honestly don't know what you are going on about. He signed 2 big target men in the past for us, Sir Les and Big Al, and at no point did we play the long ball game.

 

You need diversity in your attack to open up defences, Ashton offers us something different to Martins and Owen. KK values that, his best partnership as a player was when he played for Liverpool with John Toshack (sp?), the big man little man combo worked so well and they won 2 European Cups with it.

 

Bottom line is he's a damn good player, he's proven that in the PL, it's nothing to do with him being English or in the same mould as Shearer, it's to do with his ability and he fills one of our needs.

 

If we're never going to play route one, why is it such a desperate need to have a "strong target man"? As for the 2 big target men he signed for us in the past, both Sir Les and Big Al were so much more than that, they were light years ahead of Ashton. They were great players that also happened to be target men, I'm not so sure that applies to Ashton, he's not what I'd call prolific when it comes to top flight football, unlike those two.

 

Hopefully Keegan realises that football's moved on a bit since the 70s and what worked well then, isn't so good now, big-man/little-man who cares!?! Let's have good-man/good-man, over average-big-man/good-man any day.

 

My bottom line is that I don't think he's that good a player, I don't think he's proven in the Premiership and I think this whole proven in the Premiership thing is bollocks anyway. Yeah, there are different demands playing here than some of the other leagues, but that doesn't mean players from those leagues can't shine here, you just need to have a half decent scouting network and a manager that knows what he's on about to pick them out. Fair enough, we haven't had that in the past, but I reckon we might now, so parochial attitudes about who we should and shouldn't sign, will only hold us back.

[afar]

"proven in the PL" does not minimise the risks it gives you a false idea of the player, it just shows that he is proven in a system in a certain club if the player goes to a "lesser league" that does not mean he is going to be a star nor the other way round. you just need to pick up the best players that would fit in the system of the club. players from lesser leagues need time to adjust not because of the physical nature of the premier league which most people think as they call certian players light weight, but the conditioning these players need to handle the scheduling of the premiership as in the lesser leagues players can have breaks in some matches which can be easy to rest for the next match which they cant afford in the premiership and this can take a month or two.

 

Of course it bloody reduces the risk, he doesn't need to adapt, he's proven he can adapt. I really don't get some people's logic.

 

For every player they have a list of risks associated with them, you can check off Ashton's "Ability to play in the PL" risk, because he's proven he can. Player XYZ however from the French first division hasn't played here so you can't. honestly that's not rocket science.

 

Ashton's list has other risks on it, that player xyz might not have, that's my point, there's a risk in buying any player, it's the job of the club to determine which gamble is best, which horse to put our money on.

[afar]

We won't do much better than Ashton. Even with his injury record, we won't be able to attract better. Paying upto 10 mill for him is a risk we have to take. It might very well not come off, but we have little choice but to take the risk.

 

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

 

I know I haven't really explained myself there. I'll try make some sense for once.

 

I rate Dean Ashton, he's a quality player, he could very well be a huge player for this club, but he's got an injury record, this makes him a risk.

 

I don't see anyone out there, with a proven ability in the PL, who can have as big an impact in the role of CF and that we realistically could attract, than Ashton.

 

A strong target man is just what we need, since we really can't rely on Viduka, and Ashton fits the bill completely.

 

It's a risk and at 10 mill a huge risk, but a risk I think we must take if we want to progress.

 

But as I said earlier, I think we are being used here to bump up his contract offer.

 

Or we could all stop living in the past, get over this "We absolutely must have a big target-man up front" thing, stop relying on the "tactic" of booting the ball up the pitch in the general direction of some big lump and praying for a miracle that is him getting the better of the opposition's defenders considering the vast majority of premiership centre-halves can deal with that all day long, get the team playing some decent passing football and try and move away from being the one-dimensional bottom-half cloggers we seem to have become over the last few years.

 

Dean Ashton is a big step backwards in my view.

 

I think you're seriously under-estimating Ashton there. Yes, he plays as a target man, but his touch on the ball is absolutely superb, and he's very comfortable when the ball is played on the deck.

 

You're right I don't rate him much, at all. But even if I did, for the kind of money we'd be talking about to get him we could get players who are much better at that kind of stuff than he is. Ashton's value gets inflated for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: "he's English", and; "he's the new Shearer", neither of which are relevant and one of which isn't even close to being true!!

 

We'll never play route 1 football under KK, I honestly don't know what you are going on about. He signed 2 big target men in the past for us, Sir Les and Big Al, and at no point did we play the long ball game.

 

You need diversity in your attack to open up defences, Ashton offers us something different to Martins and Owen. KK values that, his best partnership as a player was when he played for Liverpool with John Toshack (sp?), the big man little man combo worked so well and they won 2 European Cups with it.

 

Bottom line is he's a damn good player, he's proven that in the PL, it's nothing to do with him being English or in the same mould as Shearer, it's to do with his ability and he fills one of our needs.

 

If we're never going to play route one, why is it such a desperate need to have a "strong target man"? As for the 2 big target men he signed for us in the past, both Sir Les and Big Al were so much more than that, they were light years ahead of Ashton. They were great players that also happened to be target men, I'm not so sure that applies to Ashton, he's not what I'd call prolific when it comes to top flight football, unlike those two.

 

Hopefully Keegan realises that football's moved on a bit since the 70s and what worked well then, isn't so good now, big-man/little-man who cares!?! Let's have good-man/good-man, over average-big-man/good-man any day.

 

My bottom line is that I don't think he's that good a player, I don't think he's proven in the Premiership and I think this whole proven in the Premiership thing is bollocks anyway. Yeah, there are different demands playing here than some of the other leagues, but that doesn't mean players from those leagues can't shine here, you just need to have a half decent scouting network and a manager that knows what he's on about to pick them out. Fair enough, we haven't had that in the past, but I reckon we might now, so parochial attitudes about who we should and shouldn't sign, will only hold us back.

 

Then go ahead suggest a better option, that is obtainable by NUFC. Who out there fills our need, or do you think we don't have one? You think Owen and Martins as a paring will work ? I have huge doubts and I don't think for one minute KK has faith in that either. He want's a bigger presence in there.

 

Playing with a big man doesn't mean you have play "70's style football" or route 1 stuff. Labour the point once more please. Arsenal play with a reasonably tall chap up front and are reguarded as perhaps the best footballing side in the land. As someone else pointed out Ashton's game is not just about being the target man, he's good on the deck and goals per game record is pretty decent, just doesn't play enough.

 

I never said he was as good as either Sir Les or Big Al, because he quite clearly isn't but your response was predictable. Sigh. My point, which you chose to ignore was that you can still play pretty "modern" football with a big man or even two in your team.

 

This is not a "oh let's buy him cos he's English" thing, why do you keep bleeting on about that ? 

[Offshore]

My pecking order of strikers in the EPL that 'could' be available from the pool that we could reasonably attract from.....Bent, Crouch then Ashton.

 

 

[afar]

My pecking order of strikers in the EPL that 'could' be available from the pool that we could reasonably attract from.....Bent, Crouch then Ashton.

 

 

 

At last someone quoting alternatives. Bent, I'm not so sure about, got to say. He can look awful sometimes, but I guess every player can, I haven't seen the game but from what's been said Ashton most certainly did against T&T.

 

Crouch, maybe, I think he could be a success, think he'll end up at Villa though in the Barry deal.

[Guest Heneage]

Surely the fact NUFC.com have reported it gives it more weight, as they tend to be quiet until he's played his first game pretty much.

[Dave]

Surely the fact NUFC.com have reported it gives it more weight, as they tend to be quiet until he's played his first game pretty much.

 

They're not infallable though, they've reported things incorrectly in the past.

[Alberto2005]

Also, there are quotes from a "source" in the article that was posted earlier where they may have take that information from and claimed it as an enquiry.

[Ikon]

Ashton? Would rather look elsewhere...