by CP Gull » 16 Jun 2017, 13:47
Ausgull wrote: 16 Jun 2017, 05:13
Now that we know that Brendan Moore has left for Rochdale, Pokey would be a good no 2 keeper as
[highlight=yellow]you have to ask why did Woking release him.[/highlight]
I just hope that Torquay do sign two keepers this coming season and preferably someone new to the club.
Not for the reason you might think, I would suggest. All the reports are that Poke had a fine season for Woking, and so I would suggest that the main reason for not offering him a new deal was probably a financial one rather than based on his ability. When you look at his career, Poke has I would imagine done very well financially, being signed to the likes of Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton and yes even us (when as we know, he was one of the top earners in the "Bristow" years). But, as a consequence of securing a good financial deal for himself and his family, he has not really had much of a career, so to speak, with the highlight almost certainly being our Conference Play Off final success at Wembley against Cambridge all those years ago.
For the vast majority of his career in football, he has satisfied himself with being second, even third, choice at big clubs - the likes of Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton - without ever getting anywhere near a starting berth. His choice, but the stark reality is that in a career that has spanned THIRTEEN seasons he has made only 175 appearances and a fair chunk of those - 119 by my reckoning - were made in the three seasons and a bit, he spent wth us - take away the 35 he made last season for Woking and you see that he has only ever been a regular starter for anyone in just FOUR of those THIRTEEN seasons!
Now, we don't know for certain whether Nicho is in talks with him, or not, but it is reasonable to assume that we might be given that 1/ He is a free agent and is available 2/ We need a goalkeeper and 3/ Nicho knows him well and knows his ability. But ultimately, it will probably come down to what we can reasonably afford to pay him within our wage structure and would Poke be prepared to play for the sort of money we could offer? On past form, you would say that Poke would probably go wherever the highest offer is, even if that meant he was a number two. But, that said, he may just have reached the stage of his career where being a number 1 at a club he knows well, playing for a Manager he knows well too, and living in (I am led to believe) an area that he likes ..... may just be more important to him than "chasing the money". Only Michael Poke knows the answer to that one!
Ultimately, if he was to sign for us, I think he would be a great addition and his experience could be used to great effect perhaps working with a young (and cheap) number two keeper (with potential) which is what I hope Nicho is looking at putting in place for next season.
[quote=Ausgull post_id=206791 time=1497589980 user_id=7233]
Now that we know that Brendan Moore has left for Rochdale, Pokey would be a good no 2 keeper as [b][highlight=yellow]you have to ask why did Woking release him.[/highlight][/b]
I just hope that Torquay do sign two keepers this coming season and preferably someone new to the club.
[/quote]
Not for the reason you might think, I would suggest. All the reports are that Poke had a fine season for Woking, and so I would suggest that the main reason for not offering him a new deal was probably a financial one rather than based on his ability. When you look at his career, Poke has I would imagine done very well financially, being signed to the likes of Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton and yes even us (when as we know, he was one of the top earners in the "Bristow" years). But, as a consequence of securing a good financial deal for himself and his family, he has not really had much of a career, so to speak, with the highlight almost certainly being our Conference Play Off final success at Wembley against Cambridge all those years ago.
For the vast majority of his career in football, he has satisfied himself with being second, even third, choice at big clubs - the likes of Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton - without ever getting anywhere near a starting berth. His choice, but the stark reality is that in a career that has spanned THIRTEEN seasons he has made only 175 appearances and a fair chunk of those - 119 by my reckoning - were made in the three seasons and a bit, he spent wth us - take away the 35 he made last season for Woking and you see that he has only ever been a regular starter for anyone in just FOUR of those THIRTEEN seasons!
Now, we don't know for certain whether Nicho is in talks with him, or not, but it is reasonable to assume that we might be given that 1/ He is a free agent and is available 2/ We need a goalkeeper and 3/ Nicho knows him well and knows his ability. But ultimately, it will probably come down to what we can reasonably afford to pay him within our wage structure and would Poke be prepared to play for the sort of money we could offer? On past form, you would say that Poke would probably go wherever the highest offer is, even if that meant he was a number two. But, that said, he may just have reached the stage of his career where being a number 1 at a club he knows well, playing for a Manager he knows well too, and living in (I am led to believe) an area that he likes ..... may just be more important to him than "chasing the money". Only Michael Poke knows the answer to that one!
Ultimately, if he was to sign for us, I think he would be a great addition and his experience could be used to great effect perhaps working with a young (and cheap) number two keeper (with potential) which is what I hope Nicho is looking at putting in place for next season.
