Sliding doors
I know football is always going to throw up many "what-ifs" by the very nature of transfers and the timing of success and failure, but our quick and unexpected rise has really produced some interesting ones. Seeing Luke O'Nien injured for a (yet again) underperforming Sunderland side made me wonder how he looks at our rise. I don't for a minute think he regrets the move - he is on more money than he would ever be here (even with the promotion, I would think?) and Sunderland will always be a much bigger club. But there must be a bittersweet emotion when he thinks of us going up to the second tier before Sunderland, when he has still not managed to get there (and may never, for all we know).
In a similar vein, I think of some of those players we had to release before RC topped up our funds, who might not have been released otherwise. Michael Harriman has done well, getting back in the third tier with Northampton (and we might not have targeted Grimmer had he stayed). But I think especially of someone like Paris Cowan-Hall, who might well be playing in the second tier with us right now, instead of labouring to get into a Colchester side in League Two.
On the positive side, I can barely think of better timing than that of Alex Pattison. He came to us after a loan to an ultimately relegated Yeovil side, moving not long before we received those RC funds, and his signing was clearly born out of our poverty. Instead of perhaps struggling to find a home, he ultimately saw plenty of action in our most legendary season, including playing the second half of the Playoff Final and being on the pitch when that sweet whistle sounded. He has now seen action at Championship level with us, and though I don't expect us to keep him next season, the trajectory of his career has still been drastically altered, and for all we know, he will be playing for a League One club next season instead of perhaps a much lower division had we not come in after Yeovil.
Again, it is the reality of football, but it is especially interesting in our unique situation to think that a slightly altered timeline could see PCH scoring for us against Stoke after a through-ball from Luke O'Nien, while the likes of Alex Pattison and Alex Samuel toil in lower league obscurity.
Comments
Inclined to agree on Harriman-Grimmer, but PCH wouldn't have stayed with us for the Championship.
@chairboyscentral - very possibly, and especially possible that he would not be receiving significant minutes if so. But when you think Pattison and Freeman are still with us and have played at this level (I am still a fan of Freeman, but he has not made the jump to my mind), it's not odd to think PCH could have been called upon, though obviously not the same role.
On the drive down to Torquay there was no way I would have even contemplated being where we are now.
I'm glad the door slid our way that day.
It's to Samuel's massive credit that when he arrived it looked hard to see how he'd even get on the bench, and then started a lot of games last year.
Pattison surprisingly played in 24 games last season. But I'd like to see the starts in that. Suspicion is that most of the starts were at the start of the season or in the Checkatrade?
O Nien must be a bit baffled by how things have changed. No doubt he's pleased to see us do well, but him moving to Sunderland was meant to be a move to the semi big time, leaving us behind.
Crazy that Pattison is playing in the championship, while O’Nien and Scowen are in League 1.
It does so often come down to circumstance though. It was mad that Ivan Toney was still playing in League One last season.
Was thinking the same thing this evening. Wonder if they both wish they were at Wycombe now? And would both be welcomed back I would think.
To be fair, Peterborough were going to be a PL team within two years and sell him for 20 million, so it's a unique case.
How many goals do you think Scott Kashket would score with the service Toney gets at Brentford?
I think I've said before I've not seen Toney sparkle in a game yet. Was very impressed with the Stoke centre forward in the week
Hard to say as they're very different players - Toney is much more physical for starters. The way he's going, he'll be in the Premier League next season even if Brentford aren't. Him and Adam Armstrong - and arguably Lucas João - are a cut above this season.
The Stoke Centre forward made life very difficult for Stewart, he positioned himself so that Anthony struggled to get a clear jump at aerial balls. I can remember a time when Stewart has lost so many aerial duals.
If fit, I could see Tafizoli brought in for when we play Stoke away.
Only just realised Armstrong and Toney both left Newcastle in the same year. So little patience at some top level clubs, who don't seem to realise that players develop in stages that aren't all the same length. I wouldn't be surprised if Norwich find themselves regretting letting Mehmeti go in a couple of years.
Anis Mehmeti does look to have the potential to be pretty special. His determination to shoot in one recent game when nearly 30 yards from goal suggests that he has the potential to become our first goal-scoring midfielder since Matt Bloomfield!!
Are we talking about Vokes? The Stoke fans seem to hate the Welsh international and thought he was crap.
I was actually thinking about this the other day, specifically relating to Pierre and Stewart. Pierre is capable of being a reliable Championship defender with the right coaching but sadly I don’t see him playing in the second tier again. Stewart on the other hand, who knows where his career would have ended up had he not returned to Wycombe.
The coaching (professionally and personally) from Gaz, Dobbo and the team is exactly why we have a midfielder proving he is Championship quality when just a few years ago, he was told he wasn’t good enough for a L2 side now no longer in the football league!
I hope Gaz and Dobbo write a book one day, would be fascinated to hear the inner workings of their coaching methods. They're wizards as far as I'm concerned.
Maybe the way you wrote that - but Pierre hasn't ever played in the second tier has he? So not a question of "again".
Back when we had both, I always preferred Pierre. But watching Stewart now, I can't imagine Pierre dealing with this level as well. For brute strength balls into the box I'd still take him, but not overall.
I'm sure Stewart thanks his lucky stars Gareth was so single minded for the good of Wycombe. I dare say a lot of other managers would have looked elsewhere after he in effect wasted 6months of everyone's time and then played a handful of games at Crewe for that season.
He could have dropped into non league and may not have been picked up again if fate had truly conspired against him
I’ve not heard Stewart described as a midfielder before but, with his good control of the ball and those occasional surging forward runs, I bet he could do a good job there. Who knows, if Tafazolli gets fit before two of the three key midfielders, he just might get the opportunity. Tongue firmly in cheek but never say never.
Had to read back to see what you'd meant.
But you've misread what the chap meant. Probably understandable because he was talking about Stewart, then suddenly veered into a second paragraph about another player (Thompson) that he didn't mention by name!
Sorry, was writing whilst walking the dog. Second paragraph was indeed in reference to Thompson. Correct re Pierre too, wasn’t sure if he had made any appearances for Brentford.
Apologies @Gary but it led me to make what to me at least was an interesting possibility!
Apologies partially withdrawn after re-reading your post @Gary !! It was ambiguous to the extent that Thompson’s background has remarkable similarities to Stewart’s.
Let’s get back to more pressing matters!
COYB.
Although Crewe - the club Stewart had his brief liaison with are clearly still in the football league!
Let's get our fingers crossed for some sort of error to let Kashket score a goal...that seems to be how we've scored half of our goals this season!
Stewart had one of his forward surges only for Fred to balls it up. He (Fred) is surely overdue to show us a bit of magic.
@Malone : dare we call it a goalkeeping error?!
All I know is that we're only a third of the way through the league program and we already have a competitive list of soul destroying moments to debate which was worst.
This one gets high up the list.
Under the late goals against Norwich and Rotherham.
And under the disallowed JJ goal.
But quite high up.
Sliding doors
McCarthy’s clearance hits Allsopp and is cleared
Home defeat to Wycombe gets Alex Neil the sack
Gareth has a tough decision to make
Beyond parody
Don’t be silly @eric_plant. I thought it was quite funny in the context of the thread.
Not sure about the timeline but that was in response to the following:
@Malone said:
“ Let's get our fingers crossed for some sort of error to let Kashket score a goal...that seems to be how we've scored half of our goals this season!”
The “error” (tongue in cheek) was the Preston ‘keeper diverting JJ’s free kick on to the post!!