Parsons on the way

"...an undisclosed fee on a permanent contract until the end of the season."

That'll be no fee at all, or a token amount for some weird contractual reason, and he's on a "permanent" contract lasting only 6 months, then. I don't blame the club for putting a positive slant on announcements but this strikes me as desperate beyond belief!

This signing also seems rather harsh on Purrington who has done, as has the team, really well since he started playing but we've been after Parsons for a while so Sheridan must rate him and competition for places can only be good.

Can we have a RB too, please?

Purrington has done well, particularly with his attacking intent, but let's be honest - a better left back with a bit of anticipation would have been on their toes for the Southend goal. He got skinned and bullied all over the shop v Port Vale too. A League Two defence of a play off chasing team is no place for a 17 year old fresh out of school really. These young lads are more inclined to work well up front than at the back, where physicality and acute defensive judgement are an absolute must.

We got a bit excited too quickly. I mean if he makes a mistake like against Southend, Sheridan can hardly give him the hairdryer treatment can he? Cut him down to size in front of his first team peers? He'd probably cry. Parsons, you'd think, can take a bit of responsibility for mistakes - would channel his anger and frustrations from a mistake into a 9/10 performance.

22 is a lot older, physically and mentally, than 17.

Purrington needs to be a rotation option and a replacement for an emerging senior pro like Parsons - not the other way around. Great move by Sheridan - hopefully he doesn't take too long in putting Parsons in.

Hugh Watt wrote:

Parson's Green.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Who says they dont read us.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Seems well rated, the consensus being that Parsons need a season or two playing regular football and will quickly become Championship standard.

Sounds like we got a very decent prospect at League Two level, at a fantastic age.

Hopefully Argyle can develop as a club, to match the footballing development of Reid, Hourihane, Nelson, Berry, Banton and Parsons - who in my opinion (with the exception of Parsons, who I haven't seen) are close to outgrowing the division. Young looked like he was improving dramatically when he was last in the side, too.

This will hopefully help Purrington who can continue to improve and mature physically while having less pressure placed on his young shoulders. He seems to be a great prospect for the future but at 17 playing too many games can backfire, ease him in gently(ooh matron) when Parsons is injured or suspended and if he continues to progress he could well end up as the number one left back at the club. Hopefully a right back and a striker can be brought in before the end of the window and we could be on course for a promotion push.
Greeeeeeeen Arrrrrmmmyyyyyyyyyy.       

Sheridan's been after Parsons for ages, so he must have something about him. And I'm glad he's in on a permanent deal - that'll free up space for a loan player or three if needs be.

Purrington actually didn't impress me all that much on my one viewing, against Torquay. Looked hesitant and nervous, as you'd expect, although he didn't look too off the pace for a 17 year old and as someone who's provided an assist and scored in just a few games so far is certainly someone that I'd like to see used as a squad player for the rest of the season.

A decent striker would top off a reasonably successful window. Will Appiah make it a trio of Palace signings?

The positive in this is that we now know that Purrington is up to it if Parsons ain't. There seems to be an automatic assumption that the Palace lad's going to be a shoe-in. Don't forget he's played barely any football and has had a serious illness to overcome so it wouldn't surprise me if Purrington still gets game-time to some degree.

The negative, is that if Parsons really is a wee nugget, then a six-month contract could merely be shop window time for a bigger club to pluck him away. Time will tell.

Welcome matt but FFS why do our fans go Over the top with every signing its so cringing and small time.
Matt has hardly played first team football since turning pro so he will need some time to get up to scratch hence why i believe the deal is until the end of the season we dont want another Blackman fiasco on our hands.

Angry wrote:

Welcome matt but FFS why do our fans go Over the top with every signing its so cringing and small time.
Matt has hardly played first team football since turning pro so he will need some time to get up to scratch hence why i believe the deal is until the end of the season we dont want another Blackman fiasco on our hands.

Agreed. The guy could be utter horsesh*t for all we know and we get the old "welcome aboard the goodship Mayflower" nonsense. Let's praise the lad when he has done something good ffs

PS. Strange fact of the day - seems I am following a parody Cobi Budge Twitter account  

LondonGreen wrote:

Angry wrote:

Welcome matt but FFS why do our fans go Over the top with every signing its so cringing and small time.
Matt has hardly played first team football since turning pro so he will need some time to get up to scratch hence why i believe the deal is until the end of the season we dont want another Blackman fiasco on our hands.

Agreed. The guy could be utter horsesh*t for all we know and we get the old "welcome aboard the goodship Mayflower" nonsense. Let's praise the lad when he has done something good ffs

PS. Strange fact of the day - seems I am following a parody Cobi Budge Twitter account  

which one he has several for all his political alliances

Angry wrote:

LondonGreen wrote:

Angry wrote:

Welcome matt but FFS why do our fans go Over the top with every signing its so cringing and small time.
Matt has hardly played first team football since turning pro so he will need some time to get up to scratch hence why i believe the deal is until the end of the season we dont want another Blackman fiasco on our hands.

Agreed. The guy could be utter horsesh*t for all we know and we get the old "welcome aboard the goodship Mayflower" nonsense. Let's praise the lad when he has done something good ffs

PS. Strange fact of the day - seems I am following a parody Cobi Budge Twitter account  

which one he has several for all his political alliances

Seems you are right. At least four accounts (I am following the second one)   

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hats off to you Mr Budge  

LondonGreen wrote:

Angry wrote:

LondonGreen wrote:

Angry wrote:

Welcome matt but FFS why do our fans go Over the top with every signing its so cringing and small time.
Matt has hardly played first team football since turning pro so he will need some time to get up to scratch hence why i believe the deal is until the end of the season we dont want another Blackman fiasco on our hands.

Agreed. The guy could be utter horsesh*t for all we know and we get the old "welcome aboard the goodship Mayflower" nonsense. Let's praise the lad when he has done something good ffs

PS. Strange fact of the day - seems I am following a parody Cobi Budge Twitter account  

which one he has several for all his political alliances

Seems you are right. At least four accounts (I am following the second one)   

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hats off to you Mr Budge  

the second one makes no sense seeing as he campaigned for labour last year :S

Seems on the face of it a very good signing. Competition for Purrington who I'd hope will still get a few games, starting tomorrow as I can't imagine Parsons is ready to go right into the team. If we can get through this tough run of the next three games with little damage (4 or 5 points) then get Banton and Parsons fit, sign this Appiah lad who we're linked with then I can't see why the play-offs aren't out of the question.

Automatic should be the target. Aim for the stars - and we can do it! These signings are a sign of strong intent.

Appiah would he the icing on the cake.

We are 10 points away from an automatic promotion spot. That's 4 wins in a row. But the last automatically promoted team will probably gain 7 points in 4 games, so we need another 2 wins. Which gives them more chance to gain points so we really need 7 wins in a row and then we need to win one/draw one for the rest of the season. Not impossible but extremely tough. I'd go as far as to say very unlikely.

We are 5 points off a play-off spot. That's 2 wins in a row. But the last play-off team will probably have gained 3 points so we're still two points behind. That means 3 wins in a row. And they would have another game and, probably, another point so we need 4 wins in a row. Just to catch up. From that point win one/lose one would probably do.  Then we have to win the play-offs. Definitely possible, definitely tough and I'd say unlikely.

If we get promoted this season will stand up there with '86 when we won 11, drew 1, lost 1 of our last 13 games and '75 when we also made a late run after a dodgy start (I can't remember the stats but I think we were bottom half of the table until after Christmas).

Just looked it up.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

We had played 22 league games to this stage of the season and had won 10, drawn 5 and lost 7. That'd be 35 points in today's terms. We have currently played 25 games for, coincidentally, the same point total.

So we're 3 defeats behind Tony Waiters's team at this stage who started the season much better than I remembered and who finished with the equivalent of 83 points (78 points would have been enough).

So we need 43 points from our remaining 21 games to match the '75 promotion requirement. That's WDWD etc unbeaten for the remainder of the season. I'm sorry but I just can't see it.

No harm in trying though.

The position we really need to fill next is right full back as Blanchard isn't quick enough to play there, offers littke going forward and Berry seems to be getting injury prone. Sheridan went three at the back for a while and Blanchard wasn't quite as exposed but a lot of teams exploit the right side when we go 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1. Blanchard, for me, is a centre half.
We did this with Doumbe and, to a lesser extent, Seip - I don't like seeing a player struggling out of position and it's going to cost us goals.
This looks a good signing though on paper.

I just peeked at the January transfers on the BBC - not much happening in League 2.

One year on from signing part time firemen and 39 year old strikers we are bringing in 21yr olds from premiership clubs and getting good performances out of the likes of Ben.P so clearly there is tangible progress.
Hope Parsons makes a positive impact for himself and the team - win today and we have earned our credentials as a promotion chasing team.
  on.

Will need a CH, the one's we have can jump but can not run or can run but can not jump. Vale worked that out.

ejh wrote:

Automatic should be the target. Aim for the stars - and we can do it! These signings are a sign of strong intent.

Appiah would he the icing on the cake.

Nothing like going over the top is there lol

Fighting for a playoff place is a realistic aim or be just outside them come may if we dont make them. Anything more than that is a bonus .

akagreengull wrote:

One year on from signing part time firemen and 39 year old strikers we are bringing in 21yr olds from premiership clubs and getting good performances out of the likes of Ben.P so clearly there is tangible progress.
Hope Parsons makes a positive impact for himself and the team - win today and we have earned our credentials as a promotion chasing team.
  on.

The fireman, fletchers finest signing! those were the good old days when under fletch we knocked it about like Brazil, according to xthrobber!  we were just really really unlucky.   

GreenSam wrote:

Seems on the face of it a very good signing. Competition for Purrington who I'd hope will still get a few games, starting tomorrow as I can't imagine Parsons is ready to go right into the team. If we can get through this tough run of the next three games with little damage (4 or 5 points) then get Banton and Parsons fit, sign this Appiah lad who we're linked with then I can't see why the play-offs aren't out of the question.

Yeah because that's exactly what a young lad needs to be told that he isn't trusted.

Sufferedsince68 wrote:

akagreengull wrote:

One year on from signing part time firemen and 39 year old strikers we are bringing in 21yr olds from premiership clubs and getting good performances out of the likes of Ben.P so clearly there is tangible progress.
Hope Parsons makes a positive impact for himself and the team - win today and we have earned our credentials as a promotion chasing team.
  on.

The fireman, fletchers finest signing! those were the good old days when under fletch we knocked it about like Brazil, according to xthrobber!  we were just really really unlucky.   

But they put a firemans hat where he got changed, focking hilarious I tell e  

Hugh Watt wrote:

GreenSam wrote:

Seems on the face of it a very good signing. Competition for Purrington who I'd hope will still get a few games, starting tomorrow as I can't imagine Parsons is ready to go right into the team. If we can get through this tough run of the next three games with little damage (4 or 5 points) then get Banton and Parsons fit, sign this Appiah lad who we're linked with then I can't see why the play-offs aren't out of the question.

Yeah because that's exactly what a young lad needs to be told that he isn't trusted.

Young lads don't play every game though. They're always eased in and out of the team.

Hugh Watt wrote:

GreenSam wrote:

Seems on the face of it a very good signing. Competition for Purrington who I'd hope will still get a few games, starting tomorrow as I can't imagine Parsons is ready to go right into the team. If we can get through this tough run of the next three games with little damage (4 or 5 points) then get Banton and Parsons fit, sign this Appiah lad who we're linked with then I can't see why the play-offs aren't out of the question.

Yeah be caused that's exactly what a young lad needs to be told that he isn't trusted.

Ben will know himself when he is making costly mistakes. Like v Southend, caught napping. It's no good for his confidence to feel like he is letting the team down, even with the support of the dressing room.

If Sheridan can see that Parsons is the faster, stronger, better defender, he should waste no time in making the switch.