Great news this evening that Dean Ashton has signed a five year deal. This could hardly get our new campaign off to a better start. A front six of Ashton, Bellamy, Dyer, Etherington, Noble and Parker is surely something to get excited about.
Great news this evening that Dean Ashton has signed a five year deal. This could hardly get our new campaign off to a better start. A front six of Ashton, Bellamy, Dyer, Etherington, Noble and Parker is surely something to get excited about.
haha – thats what I thought last year!
On a serious note this is great news – we have managed to keep hold of a player!
Hopefully this is a sigh that the bad old days of being a feeder club ( sometimes selling at a stupidly low amount – joe cole, michael carrick) are over!
Come on you irons!!
This is exactly the news we need to underline the commitment to keeping our best players. Although it might have been a foregone conclusion, had we sold Ashton, the message sent would have had a corrosive effect on potential singings and the current squad. On the whole, I would have kept Solano but if in attack we have Bellamy, Dyer, Faubert, Ashton, Noble and if a steady defensive core of Parker (future captain I hope) Ferdinand, Pantsil, Upson, McCartney and (I suppose) Mullins and Neill can keep fit ; then add in Sears, Collison pushing for places and Green obviously supreme, then we should be able to fight for a top 6 place. And Lundberg, Cole, Zamora, Bowyer, Etherington, Gabbidon, Collins, Cole are experienced players available if required.
You wouldn’t want to be a Blackburn supporter today, would you?
I really really really really really hope that Deano has a lot more to offer, he looked sluggish last season, probably due to getting back to fitness and stuff. Looked good toward end of season though.
Now that he has the England badge he may well come thru – I hope
Iain,
Ignoring the fact that your list of players reads like a physio’s wet dream, I would say it is missing a creative, attacking midfielder – someone who can unlock decent defences and help us increase the number of goals scored. Not sure your front six is quite good enough to push us into the European places.
Of course, it’s brilliant news that Ashton has signed on for the long term – hopefully that will also send a positive message to any potential recruits considering an offer from us in the summer.
GREAT!!!
I agree it is good news but what about Faubert instead of Etherington, a better player i feel
Fantastic news about Deano, hopefully we’ll see the best of him next season and if we do we could certainly be pushing for Europe.
I’m with Derek on our best front six, Faubert would get in my team before Etherington.
BTW Iain – Nice pic in GQ magazine this month – very smoooooooooth!
)
phew ! tfft.
That is something off the stomach, well the Bellamy-Ashton duo is on next seoson ,now for a couple new faces and we`re all set.Come on you IRONS it`s next march in the east stand ,see you then.
yeah signed after the england game thou.
C’mon, guys… get real. Top 6?
I reckon we’ll have a slow start, during which time Curbs will survive the press conjecture about him being the first sacking of the season, there’ll be a good little run to raise our hopes, we’ll slip into mid-table mediocrity, leading to fears of getting sucked into relegation dog-fight, but then ease clear. Twas ever thus.
Give me a full-on battle against relegation any day. Much more exciting (as long as we survive).
Might be a Bellamy-Ashton-Gudjohnson strike force!
I have nagging doubts about whether Ashton is fully over his injury problems, and wonder whether he signed his new contract because he wasn’t confident of passing a medical and/or doubted if a.n other club would take the risk of forking out a large transfer fee. I thought his general play and application was poor last season. Some of his preformances were well below par – lucklustre. He certainly seems to be carrying a lot of weight and is about as mobile as an oil tanker. I thought his performance against trinidad and Tobago was as bad an England debut as I have seen, especially when considering the quality of the opposition. Having said that he did score a few goals. Wouldn’t like to be behind him and Lucas Neal in the canteen queue. I am not a Curbishly fan but I did understand his reluctance to play Ashton at times. His lack of workrate and lack of pace make him a difficult palyer to integrate in to the team -esespecially away from home. The odds of him and Belamy playing regularly as a pairing must be pretty long. The chances of them both playing 25 + league games together would be about 20 to 1, I suspect. I wonder if any bookmaker would give odds?