Stephens deal imminent

[dsr]

I was expecting nothing,so please forgive me while i go outside and do a few cartwheels of delight,we have signed someone who cant get in the Brighton side,but good luck Dale Stephens i hope it works out

I doubt he'll get in the Burnley side either, unless Brownhill moves to the right hand side of the midfield which he probably will. But in certain circumstances, having a reserve player is better than not having one.

[Hbclaret007]

A good signing I believe. Brownhill to move out right and Stephens can compete with Cork for the centre role.
Lots of PL experience, holds the ball up well. A very good 'stop gap' signing IMO.
In the current climate, and with larger clubs paying silly money for players, the priority for Burnley is to survive again this season, unless we're about to be taken over by billionaires?? (and I doubt it!)

[ashtonlongsider]

I'm a little surprised that Brighton are prepared to offload him. Maybe his style doesn't fit in with the more expansive football Potter is trying to nurture. If the deal comes off it will be a good bit of business and I would imagine he will fit nicely into a screening midfielder role protecting the back four.

[Steve1956]

I doubt he'll get in the Burnley side either, unless Brownhill moves to the right hand side of the midfield which he probably will. But in certain circumstances, having a reserve player is better than not having one.

Of course it is,i was just underwhelmed by this signing,and to be fair to Stephens,having watched Brighton destroy Newcastle the other day he was looking at sitting on the bench all season and hes got a chance of playing every game this season for us i wish him well i really do ....i,m allowed to be a little dissapointed arn,t i?

[BenWickes]

Good signing in the circumstances. Still would hope for a right winger/right midfielder. Brownhill has performed ok there but need someone who can cross consistently and has pace. Bit of competition in midfield is only good.

[IWOODLOVETT]

Excellent bit of business.

The signing has split opinion but it is similar to the recruitment of Bardsley, Lennon, Cork and Pieters. The frenzy of posters questioning the wisdom of this signing should reflect on how those players immediately settled in and brought stability and confidence both on the pitch and to the dressing room. It’s no secret that the spirit and never say die attitude has played a big part in the club’s success. This has largely been down to these sort of players fitting into the side when required and Stephens is in the same mould.

The signs are that the Club are now concentrating on recruiting younger players for development through Gawthorpe and the Academy 1 status. It may take a couple of seasons for this to fully bear fruit but in the meantime the squad that we have (especially if we hold on to our big names and our manager) will keep us in the top flight.

[Spijed]

In terms of imminent is it likely to be done in time for the Southampton game?

[Buxtonclaret]

I can hear John McEnroe in the distance.

Really?
You cannot be serious!

[claretandy]

In terms of imminent is it likely to be done in time for the Southampton game?

Reports of a medical in London today, so yes.

[FactualFrank]

Really?
You cannot be serious!

That's the one.

[KRBFC]

Not a bad deal this, gives us bodies in midfield, cheap, the only problem is it papers over cracks. Hopefully we have funds to sign a first choice right winger.

[ClaretTony]

I was expecting nothing,so please forgive me while i go outside and do a few cartwheels of delight,we have signed someone who cant get in the Brighton side,but good luck Dale Stephens i hope it works out

99 appearances in the last three seasons suggests he can very much get into the Brighton team. Very good, experienced midfielder, just one game short of 100 in this league. You don't need to do cartwheels, just be pleased we are close to getting a very good signing over the line.

[Quicknick]

I'm pleased he's signing. Strong, competitive player.

[Steve1956]

99 appearances in the last three seasons suggests he can very much get into the Brighton team. Very good, experienced midfielder, just one game short of 100 in this league. You don't need to do cartwheels, just be pleased we are close to getting a very good signing over the line.

I was thinking more of him not getting in the current team not whats gone,Brighton look to have changed the way they play and Stephens has become surplus to their requirements,im not knocking him i hope he does well,like i said i'm underwhelmed,i can be a little dissapointed by this signing....Can't i?

[Bosscat]

I was thinking more of him not getting in the current team not whats gone,Brighton look to have changed the way they play and Stephens has become surplus to their requirements,im not knocking him i hope he does well,like i said i'm underwhelmed,i can be a little dissapointed by this signing....Can't i?

Course you can Steve as long as you say "I was wrong" if he turns out to be a good signing

Joking apart ... I think he might be a good fit in our midfield but hey ho what do I know

[ClaretTony]

I was thinking more of him not getting in the current team not whats gone,Brighton look to have changed the way they play and Stephens has become surplus to their requirements,im not knocking him i hope he does well,like i said i'm underwhelmed,i can be a little dissapointed by this signing....Can't i?

This current team he doesn't get into. Just thought it might be worth pointing out that of the nine games Brighton played in Project Restart, he featured nine times.

[Zlatan]

I'm pleased with this. I was always concerned that we had so much reliance upon Cork and Westwood for the CM spots. Brownhill has already demonstrated that he's up to this, but it is looking increasingly likely that Cork will be out for some time longer than we wanted. Dale Stephens is an established Premier League midfielder who would quickly slot into our ethos, lets just get this done before we get too excited.

[Wile E Coyote]

should be good for us, he is a tough nut, and bags of experience. wolves have just splashed out £37 million on a player, so those hoping we will acquire players with such price tags are deluding themselves.

[Steve1956]

This current team he doesn't get into. Just thought it might be worth pointing out that of the nine games Brighton played in Project Restart, he featured nine times.

Ok im not arguing...i mean this new season.

[ClaretTony]

Ok im not arguing...i mean this new season.

Only two games gone and he was unavailable for one of them in any case and I wonder why he wasn't included for the second.

[Steve1956]

Course you can Steve as long as you say "I was wrong" if he turns out to be a good signing

Joking apart ... I think he might be a good fit in our midfield but hey ho what do I know

I will always hold my hand up if i wrong,its not a problem.

[Steve1956]

Only two games gone and he was unavailable for one of them in any case and I wonder why he wasn't included for the second.

I think you have proved the point your trying to make,mine is he wouldnt have got in Brighton's team this season!

[Bosscat]

I will always hold my hand up if i wrong,its not a problem.

Don't we all m8 ... well most of us anyway

[TVC15]

Ok im not arguing...i mean this new season.

He picked up a muscle injury at the start of the season apparently - he was on bench first game though and played in the cup so don't think its anything serious.

But as said he has been a regular for the last few years for Brighton.

I know its not the kind of signing to get the heart racing but it sounds like a good deal financially and in an area of the pitch we need cover and players who can just walk into the side if needed and Stephens record seems to suggest he can do that. Similar signing to Westwood and Cork really in terms of their experience.

With our current financial position and squad numbers I think most fans are pleased at this signing and understand where we are at the moment.

[rufus lumley]

Don'r need to make up a song for him already one mabe by Lost Ragus.
First line Don't want to die in this hotel I want to fly so high.
At least the Kirby has closed down you would not want to die in there.

[dibraidio]

At least the lad has made it easy for people on here with an s on the end of his name. Could have spelt it with a v though.

[the_fat_shearer]

2 year deal? Does that mean that in about 9 months we're going to worry about tying him to a new contract so he can't leave on a free the following summer?!?!?!?

Joking aside, I think this is a good, solid signing for us. Reminds me of Bardsley in a way. He's not the biggest headline, he's not the youngest but that doesn't mean that he can't put a good shift in for the team and be an asset for us.

[BurnleyFC]

He’s a solid enough signing for us, although I’m not sure he’ll be a starter if Cork and Westwood are fit, but I do wish we’d start looking at getting the age of the squad down.

[Clarets4me]

To be fair, football history is littered with players that were deemed " too old ", " past their best " or " not good enough " and who went on to do great things, or at least, more than do a job !
Graham Alexander was 35, Mitchell Thomas 34, Phil Bardsley 32 when they signed for us .... Dave MacKay was written off by Spurs at 33, went to Derby and led them to promotion, and helped build the side that won the title in 1972 ...

[Long Time Lurker]

We are short of players including one in central midfield. We are getting a player with good Premier League experience. We have young players in that position who might just be the replacements eventually.

A waste? Costing a minimal amount and could prove to be an outstanding signing.

Yes, a waste.

We let Hendrick walk away, losing a £10m+ asset off our balance sheet. Then we spend £2.5m to replace him with a player who is 3 years older, not as good and who offers less positional flexibility.

On top of that we give Stephens a 2 year ( probably with a plus one year ) contract which could mean that either Cork or Westwood will miss out on being offered a new contract, should our next move be to add a younger player to our central midfield - which it should be.

So we will have spent the balance sheet equivalent of £12.5m to bring in a player who is worse than Hendrick ( with no resale value ) who will be soaking up wages for 2 years and possibly result in the loss of Cork or Westwood who are better players.

Considering that he is approaching the end of his career and he only has one year left on his contract with Brighton he isn't worth 2.5m. No other team is remotely interested in buying him because they won't cover his wages or give him a two year contract with playing opportunities, especially not in the EPL. He represents another fading back up option with an expensive up keep cost.

The only reason we are signing a player like Stephens is because we failed to bring in a younger central midfielder when we had the perfect opportunity to do so. Rigg is mates with Dan Ashworth and this allows Brighton to shift a player who is hardly going to feature for them this season off their wage bill and add to their bank account.

In respect to what it means for any other transfers, the addition of Stephens will no doubt appease the old school pre-Rigg contingent of our recruitment team, based on our prior interest. That might free up Rigg to spend the bulk of our transfer funds on an expensive addition that is more in line with his own vision for us, somebody like Harry Wilson. Unfortunately, in my own opinion, unless we are looking to replace Dwight with an inferior option in this window, Harry Wilson is completely the wrong type of player for us.

It isn't a million miles away from the Vokes deal in that regard. Vokes had only just signed a new deal with us and he hadn't voiced any desire to leave. Stoke made us an unexpected offer, which brought with it the opportunity to add some money to our transfer kitty. Naturally, more money in the pot meant more options for our recruitment team. Dyche, an admirer Crouch from afar for many a year, supported the deal and helped to push it through.

In respect to Stephens, we add another fading star to our ranks, the old school contingent are appeased with a cheap carrot ( or Crouch ) and the new recruitment team have more options and support for what they want to do.

Stephens will probably do well for us and he is certainly better than nothing. However, paying out transfer money to add another high wage depreciating asset to our ranks is a failure in my books. The only reason that we are in a position that requires us to do this is because we failed to convince Hendrick to stay and we failed to find and sign a younger Central Midfielder in a market awash with opportunities to bring in players cheaply.

Maybe that is our Grand Strategy, depreciate expectations to an all time low and when people are faced with a " this or nothing " player addition they celebrate a signing they would have frowned upon earlier in the window.

Summary, not impressed. Stephens is a last gasp signing designed to limit damage from a failed transfer strategy that could carry future implications for proven members of our squad. Neither will it do anything to improve the development of our financial outlook.

However, that assessment is conditional on what we do next. Hopefully it won't see us putting all of our financial eggs in the basket of a single incoming. That strikes me as a poorer investment than bringing in three young £5m players would have been.

[Tall Paul]

...snip...

Hendrick had no value on our balance sheet.

[leelad]

I am pleased with the signing. A proven Premiership midfielder who will add extra competition to midfield. A small step forward for a change. Let's be positive. And he started his career up in this part of the world, so that could help him in settling into the club.

[The Enclosure]

Have I missed where he has signed?

[levraiclaret]

Yes, a waste.

We let Hendrick walk away, losing a £10m+ asset off our balance sheet. Then we spend £2.5m to replace him with a player who is 3 years older, not as good and who offers less positional flexibility.

On top of that we give Stephens a 2 year ( probably with a plus one year ) contract which could mean that either Cork or Westwood will miss out on being offered a new contract, should our next move be to add a younger player to our central midfield - which it should be.

So we will have spent the balance sheet equivalent of £12.5m to bring in a player who is worse than Hendrick ( with no resale value ) who will be soaking up wages for 2 years and possibly result in the loss of Cork or Westwood who are better players.

Considering that he is approaching the end of his career and he only has one year left on his contract with Brighton he isn't worth 2.5m. No other team is remotely interested in buying him because they won't cover his wages or give him a two year contract with playing opportunities, especially not in the EPL. He represents another fading back up option with an expensive up keep cost.

The only reason we are signing a player like Stephens is because we failed to bring in a younger central midfielder when we had the perfect opportunity to do so. Rigg is mates with Dan Ashworth and this allows Brighton to shift a player who is hardly going to feature for them this season off their wage bill and add to their bank account.

In respect to what it means for any other transfers, the addition of Stephens will no doubt appease the old school pre-Rigg contingent of our recruitment team, based on our prior interest. That might free up Rigg to spend the bulk of our transfer funds on an expensive addition that is more in line with his own vision for us, somebody like Harry Wilson. Unfortunately, in my own opinion, unless we are looking to replace Dwight with an inferior option in this window, Harry Wilson is completely the wrong type of player for us.

It isn't a million miles away from the Vokes deal in that regard. Vokes had only just signed a new deal with us and he hadn't voiced any desire to leave. Stoke made us an unexpected offer, which brought with it the opportunity to add some money to our transfer kitty. Naturally, more money in the pot meant more options for our recruitment team. Dyche, an admirer Crouch from afar for many a year, supported the deal and helped to push it through.

In respect to Stephens, we add another fading star to our ranks, the old school contingent are appeased with a cheap carrot ( or Crouch ) and the new recruitment team have more options and support for what they want to do.

Stephens will probably do well for us and he is certainly better than nothing. However, paying out transfer money to add another high wage depreciating asset to our ranks is a failure in my books. The only reason that we are in a position that requires us to do this is because we failed to convince Hendrick to stay and we failed to find and sign a younger Central Midfielder in a market awash with opportunities to bring in players cheaply.

Maybe that is our Grand Strategy, depreciate expectations to an all time low and when people are faced with a " this or nothing " player addition they celebrate a signing they would have frowned upon earlier in the window.

Summary, not impressed. Stephens is a last gasp signing designed to limit damage from a failed transfer strategy that could carry future implications for proven members of our squad. Neither will it do anything to improve the development of our financial outlook.

However, that assessment is conditional on what we do next. Hopefully it won't see us putting all of our financial eggs in the basket of a single incoming. That strikes me as a poorer investment than bringing in three young £5m players would have been.

You should be watching the game instead of bitchin.

[jtv]

Any excuse to criticise Rigg. Why have you never presented your credentials to Mike Garlick? We would be European Champions by now so you have done a great disservice to the Club you support.

[cblantfanclub]

LTL. "Rigg is mates with Dan Ashworth and this allows Brighton to shift a player who is hardly going to feature for them this season off their wage bill and add to their bank account".

Your clear implication that Rigg does favours for his mates ahead of working for his employer is frankly ridiculous. You can be as verbose as you like but it would be better if you typed less content and more sense.

[Jimscho]

LTL i usually skip past your loooooooong diatribes but decided to read your last one.What a load of crap.Will carry on ignoring in future.

[Braindead]

Yes, a waste.

We let Hendrick walk away, losing a £10m+ asset off our balance sheet. Then we spend £2.5m to replace him with a player who is 3 years older, not as good and who offers less positional flexibility.

On top of that we give Stephens a 2 year ( probably with a plus one year ) contract which could mean that either Cork or Westwood will miss out on being offered a new contract, should our next move be to add a younger player to our central midfield - which it should be.

So we will have spent the balance sheet equivalent of £12.5m to bring in a player who is worse than Hendrick ( with no resale value ) who will be soaking up wages for 2 years and possibly result in the loss of Cork or Westwood who are better players.

Blah blah

We didn't let Hendrick walk away. He was offered a contact months ago, decided not to sign it and ended up at Newcastle on more money for a longer deal than we were (rightly) prepared to offer.

So it completely negates your butthurt rant about totally irrelevant 'blance sheet equivalent ' horseshit.

[Long Time Lurker]

LTL. "Rigg is mates with Dan Ashworth and this allows Brighton to shift a player who is hardly going to feature for them this season off their wage bill and add to their bank account".

Your clear implication that Rigg does favours for his mates ahead of working for his employer is frankly ridiculous. You can be as verbose as you like but it would be better if you typed less content and more sense.

I think you are stretching a point to suggest that I am guilty of clearly implying that Rigg is doing a favour for his mate.

I definitely wasn't implying that this was an under handed favour for a mate at our expense. I was merely highlighting that Riggs previous association with Dan Ashworth could explain how this potential deal came about - along with our previous interest.

The idea of existing connections leading to transfers isn't indicative of " Skullduggery ", lots of transfer happen in that way. And my opinion that this will financially benefit Brighton is only directed towards the notion that this would be a good deal for them.

[simonclaret]

Chris Boden: "Sean Dyche confirms that Brighton midfielder Dale Stephens should join the club later tonight, or tomorrow."

[Pearcey]

Dyche has confirmed Stephens will be signed tonight or tomorrow. Excellent.

[bfcmik]

We let Hendrick walk away, losing a £10m+ asset off our balance sheet.

We had no realistic choice but to let him walk away. He would not accept an extension to his deal (which he again refused to do before the restart) nor negotiate a new contract and refused to be transferred. You force a player to put his autograph on the bottom of a legal document, our only choice would have been to pay him for doing nowt and still see him leave for free.

[TVC15]

LTL`s diatribes and vendetta against Rigg are cringeworthy to say the least....

Not only are his posts excruciatingly long and tedious they are often full of sh-ite which evidence he really does not have a clue what he is talking about. He repeats the same nonsense across several threads too. One example of many is stating by losing Hendrick we lose a £10m asset off our balance sheet as LTL does not have the first clue how to the club amortise our assets.

It really does make you wonder why someone with this much hate for the club and the way it goes about its business bothers to support them. Football is there to enjoy not to spend your life criticising or trying to convince people that you think you can do a better job than the professionals employed by the club - its embarrassing

[boatshed bill]

LTL`s diatribes and vendetta against Rigg are cringeworthy to say the least....

Not only are his posts excruciatingly long and tedious they are often full of sh-ite which evidence he really does not have a clue what he is talking about. He repeats the same nonsense across several threads too. One example of many is stating by losing Hendrick we lose a £10m asset off our balance sheet as LTL does not have the first clue how to the club amortise our assets.

It really does make you wonder why someone with this much hate for the club and the way it goes about its business bothers to support them. Football is there to enjoy not to spend your life criticising or trying to convince people that you think you can do a better job than the professionals employed by the club - its embarrassing

That is so true.
Sometimes we forget that it's meant to be (our) entertainment.

[arise_sir_charge]

Anyone else else think that LTL and Gordaleman might be alter egos of the same person.

Both spout an equal amount of ********.

[tiger76]

Decent signing this, especially with Cork out in the medium to long term, we need players who are ready to step into the starting XI, and with PL experience, Stephens ticks both those boxes, and the fee is nominal in the grand scheme of things.

[Long Time Lurker]

LTL`s diatribes and vendetta against Rigg are cringeworthy to say the least....

Not only are his posts excruciatingly long and tedious they are often full of sh-ite which evidence he really does not have a clue what he is talking about. He repeats the same nonsense across several threads too. One example of many is stating by losing Hendrick we lose a £10m asset off our balance sheet as LTL does not have the first clue how to the club amortise our assets.

It really does make you wonder why someone with this much hate for the club and the way it goes about its business bothers to support them. Football is there to enjoy not to spend your life criticising or trying to convince people that you think you can do a better job than the professionals employed by the club - its embarrassing

Regular as clockwork, thanks for commenting.

I've already responded to you previously about player amortisation on another thread in which I demonstrated that I know perfectly well how it works. Had Hendrick signed a new contract, which wasn't entirely out of the question, his value on the balance sheet would have been refreshed ( so to speak ). However, I should also point out that the amortised value of a player doesn't fully reflect their real world value.

I genuinely don't know where you get the idea that I hate the club or Rigg from. As I pointed out previously a person can disagree with the effectiveness of a person in their professional capacity without bearing them any personal ill will.

If that wasn't the case then any criticism of any aspect of our club, management or players, would represent a direct personal attack instead of the expression of an opinion in relation to work done. The snowflakes of the world might disagree with that.

This board is a vehicle for the expression of opinions, which others can choose to agree with or disagree with. On the basis of all the posts that you have previously directed towards me, I now take it that you will jump to disagree with any and every opinion I express. That is perfectly fine, but I would like to believe that it doesn't also mean you have a personal vendetta against me or that you wish me any personal ill will.

[TVC15]

We didn't let Hendrick walk away. He was offered a contact months ago, decided not to sign it and ended up at Newcastle on more money for a longer deal than we were (rightly) prepared to offer.

So it completely negates your butthurt rant about totally irrelevant 'blance sheet equivalent ' horseshit.

Don’t let the facts get in the way of his most recent chapter of his new fictional novel “How I Plotted the Downfall of Mike Rigg”

[Tall Paul]

I've already responded to you previously about player amortisation on another thread in which I demonstrated that I know perfectly well how it works. Had Hendrick signed a new contract, which wasn't entirely out of the question, his value on the balance sheet would have been refreshed ( so to speak ).

No it wouldn't.

[Duffer_]

Had Hendrick signed a new contract, which wasn't entirely out of the question, his value on the balance sheet would have been refreshed ( so to speak ).

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