One thing about the last week of the transfer window is that you don’t get an evening off on occasions…
So, welcome to AFCW Danny Hylton. I have to say, it seems that in just about every single transfer period we’re always linked with him. I guess he finally had to join us simply to stop hearing the rumours every six months 😉
Reading around, his arrival has been a little bit lukewarm. If you type in his name in the SW19 search engine you’ll see a couple of comments that I now deny ever writing.
He raised the ire of our fans by diving a lot, and then there was an eight game ban for racism. That said, NA was clearly keen on him a lot, so much so that during the last Meet The Manager he said the following:
Erik grabbed the mike and asked NA about the three targets he regretted missing. The first was Danny Hylton, the second was Akinfenwa (a lovely guy who was very drawn to us before Martin Allen came a-calling), and thirdly Ricky Holmes.
Guess we can rule out the other two then.
One wonders if this is the 2013/14 version of the Gary Alexander signing? Namely a player our boss has wanted for ages and finally got. It’s not like we’re exactly prolific up front, and to be honest as long as he finds the net even semi-regularly, that’s all that really matters.
Forget the morality bollocks. Hylton is no longer a diver, because now he’s one of our players he’s simply a player who justifiably tries to get the best advantage for his team.
The racism thing is unfortunate, and he has paid his debt over it. It’s not like we sign players who have been in trouble with the South Wales heddlu over night club incidents, then laud them and sing their name…
Oh.
I guess NA isn’t quite so hung up whether a player has a bit of a “past”. True, there would be more than a few murmurings if we signed a convicted murderer or rapist. And especially if we signed somebody who was a bit too keen to help out with the Junior Dons party…
But Hylton is going to be judged on what he does on the field of play. If he nets a couple of goals tomorrow, he’ll be a hero and nobody would admit to being unimpressed by signing him.
This does beg a question though – what does it mean for our existing strike force? I mentioned Sheringham in the Exeter writeup, although the idea of him being an attacking midfielder could be worth a gamble. Unless he’s about to go on loan to Woking.
Will this break up Wyke and Midson? Indeed, will Wyke return to Boro at the end of this month? Or is it merely competition for places, with three strikers vying for two starting spots?
We needed to try something different, and it is a fresh face in a stagnant part of the field. Maybe it will finally give NA the impetus to have a go at teams at KM? He now has three strikers, so he has no excuse.
When you look back at this month, we’ve actually made quite a few signings – Wyke (loan), Morris, Jones and now Hylton. Could we see somebody else in midfield come in? If we did, it wouldn’t be a bad squad for now until May…