how long till Ma actually arrives to join the team? we can't even assess how he looks on a training pitch at the moment, he didn't exactly feature prominently in any of the snippets from the tour, has he even got a highlights package???
it's gonna be interesting to see what he brings, as far as I can tell from Transfermarkt he hasn't even played in Portugal http://www.transfermarkt.com/leilei-...spieler/187992, he signed 1 July 2016 from a Chinese team where he appears to have not been playing much football, whether through injury or not being picked can't tell, but there's not a lot to get excited about at present, may need a minor miracle from him to show up all the sceptics and actually show he isn't just some gimmick from the boss...
Life isn't the same without Con... but it can only improve without Tinks...
This is exactly the point a lot of people seem to be missing. I don't care if Lee wants a Chinese players in the squad for financial/business purposes. But the guy sounds like an utter nobody, and has come into a team full of utter nobodies who will be lucky to make the top half of the table. Why on earth would the Chinese public care? Why watch games when he's not even likely to get on the pitch? Considering some of the players that are trotting around in the CSL at the moment, what appeal does the A-league have?
How many Aussies have tuned in to the CSL over the last decade to watch Cahill, Griffiths (all 4 of them), McBreen, Santalab, Vidosic, Ibini, Paartalu, McKay, Milligan, Sterjovski, Djite, Troisi, Leijer, Thwaite, Sainsbury, Spiranovic.....? Some of these players were/are good enough for our national side, and appear miles ahead of our Chinese guy, yet did they attract any widespread interest from here? I'm guessing no. I've certainly never seen one single person wearing a CSL shirt with an Aussie name on the back (or even just a CSL shirt) I know our population is miniscule compared to the Chinese, but the point remains.
Lee can do what he wants, but this move still baffles the hell out of me. Worse still, unless I'm mistaken, Jones hasn't even seen him play, so let's hope it doesn't blow up once Jones inevitably resigns him to the bench, or leaves him out of the matchday squad altogether.
So how is everyone doing chasing those refunds on their Jets memberships ?
Speaking of the fat fk, yeah he went all out throwing $700k/season on Heskey, yeah the crowds and memberships spiked the first season but in the end what did we gain from it .....8th and 7th positions. I know it's kind off a little off topic but it's showing the other side of the coin; Heskey cost a lot of money for really no gain in the end....but no one is complaining, now we have a Chinese no-name who will probably be taking up bugger all of the salary cap but every is up in arms..."how dare Martin Lee do this" blah blah blah....if he contributes on the field=great, that's a bonus. If he doesn't, who cares, move on as probably 80% of our visa players are failures anyway.
Storm in a tea-cup.
The only problem I can envisage is If and I mean IF Martin Lee were to try to influence the coaching staffs decisions i.e pushing for Lei Lei to play if the coaching staff feel he is not worthy of playing....but hey lets worry about that IF it eventuates, no use beating ourselves up about it.
Peace brothers
But that's exactly what he did in Portugal. He wanted teams to guarantee in writing - starting positions to Chinese players regardless of their ability.
Heskey was great for the Jets. He did here what he does everywhere he brings out the best in the team mates around him. Let's see how well Taggart does at Perth without Heskey's support.
Our new Chinese signing has absolutely no legitimate footballing pedigree. He's not even a bloke who used to be good but had a few bad years and is rebuilding. No, this blokes totally ****ing useless and would struggle to make the bench at Edgeworth.
A visa spot is for a player who has skill and ability not available within local talent pools - otherwise it is a waste of money.
Last edited by The Dunster; 30-09-2016 at 02:58 PM.
That's rubbish Dunster as Taggart scored many If not the majority of his goals (would be good if someone could verify this) when Heskey was out injured for much of the season!
Heskey was a waste of money and anyone who denies this is plainly delusional or just a fan boi.
Hello
They played together 32 times. They started 16 matches together. They scored 11 goals in those 16 matches.
I've not got the time to go through and determine whether they scoed when the other was on the ptich etc.
Also, 9 of those goals came in the last 9 matches of the 2nd season Heskey was here, funnily enough under Clayton Zane. It leads me to think Zane found a way to play the two of them together effectively.
Oh, and 8 of Taggart's 18 goals were scored when Heskey wasn't on the pitch - and I went through and worked out the subs with that.
Last edited by Jeterpool; 30-09-2016 at 04:17 PM.
The Championship Chronicles - The Jetstream's review of the 2007/08 season. www.newcastlefootball.net/chronicles
So assuming he's close to minimum wage the $64,000 question is can Lei Lei play play?
I'm more concerned about Kokko and his boo boo from training when the gaffer said no no.
I'll get my hat.
The Championship Chronicles - The Jetstream's review of the 2007/08 season. www.newcastlefootball.net/chronicles
I agree mate, Heskey looked most effective playing deeper in behind Taggz when Zane took over
You have come up with some interesting stats but to break it down if Taggz scored 8 goals from 18 games without Heskey, that's a strike-rate of 0.44,
with Heskey he scored 10 goals from 26 games....which gives a strike-rate of 0.38. Pretty sure that would indicate that he had a slighltly better strike-rate without "Heskey's support"....as Dunster would put it.
Fact is, Taggz had a great breakout season that year, winning the golden boot in a team that came 7th, in my opinion Heskey's influence was minimal in this feat.
Thing with Taggz is he could just be a one season wonder. Did nothing before or since. Will be very interesting to see how he goes this season.
I said at the time another season here would be of benefit but like Beard had a manager promosing riches.