Cue a plethora of shit puns based on the word “happy” for the next six months…
At last, a new signing. And a striker to boot – welcome (back) to AFCW Kwesi Appiah.
I have to be honest, this re-signing came a bit out of the blue, although the rumour mill was suggesting that we would be getting another forward in sooner rather than later. Though the additional bits of gossip about it being a “known” player were pretty much ignored.
First things first – we’ve made the first move in restructuring our forward line. The longer we left getting in even just one player, the more likely we would have signed an expensive duffer. And we all know what happens when we do that.
Appiah isn’t crap, as we all know. From memory, he was probably the best loanee striker we’ve had in the AFCW era, even better than Tubbs was. And unlike the mercenary, our signing today didn’t leave under a cloud.
OK, SW19 doesn’t really like re-signing old players. More often than not, our fans want it for nostalgia/sentimental reasons, and when they do return they never were as good as they were when they were first here.
There is that danger with Appiah, as there is with every returning player. Already, I note that some people already have questioned whether his injuries will scupper him – it turns out that Southend turned him down in January because of them.
But as that article says, he’s starting afresh in the summer, which is now. And that’s the kind of player you do want with us – he’s got a lot to prove, both in terms of fitness and playing ability, and he’s finally got a permanent deal to settle down with.
A cursory glance at his stats suggests he’s gone on loan a lot from Palace. And I mean, a lot – eight times since going to SE25 in 2012, and eleven times overall in his career. And he’s only 26 years old.
I guess he would have been a Palace regular if they’d remained in the Championship, and they’ve never quite known what to do with him since then.
So this might be the best move for all parties concerned. Appiah gets to relaunch his career, we get a player in a vital area, and Palace get I presume a little bit of wonga from us. And I don’t doubt us being a L1 side has helped us here.
He’s been on loan at Viking in Norway, where he’s netted once in eight games. Which doesn’t sound a lot, but would make him our top scorer since the Franchise game in March.
It’s true that we need to make more additions up front before the first PSF game, but this is a good start. He clearly wants to be here, and his attitude was never found wanting. I just wonder if he’ll take another former AFCW player back with him from Stavanger…?