rooster wrote:Do you honestly think a player of his age and experience would want to hang around at Torquay and delay moving on if he could because of an injury and extend it it f**k me you lot are more deluded than I thought....
Billy has been in professional football for 5 years.
He made his debut for Wales U21 against Bosnia in 2009.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He played 5 times in 2010 for Swindon in the league including 2 full games, no goals and no assists. Also he played 72 minutes in a 1-0 win for Wales U21 against Austria (boooooooooo! :Oops: ).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2011/2012 he had what you could fairly describe as his best and first full season. In 21 starts for us, he scored 5 times and made 2 assists. In 8 games for Swindon he scored 3 times with 1 assist and he ended the season at Crewe on loan making 8 starts and a sub appearance in the play off away leg at Southend. He failed to score for Crewe and made just 1 assist.
For Wales U21 he made 9 appearances including 6 starts and 3 sub appearances and scored twice in the 4-0 home win over Andorra. He made no assists.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/2013 supplied Billy with a lot of game time, starting 40 of our 46 league games and playing to full time in a large part of them too. He also made 3 sub appearances in the league. He scored 5 times including 1 penalty and made 4 assists. So a goal every 8 starts and setting someone up once every 10 starts.
He also started against Yeovil in the JPT and Harrogate in the FA Cup where he neither scored nor assisted.
He made one start for Wales U21 in a 3-0 home win over Iceland but failed to score or assist.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This year he has made 23 league starts for us and played for most of the 90 in most and he has scored just one goal. The winner at Pompey which for most will probably be the highlight of his Gulls career. He has made just 3 assists and also made 6 league appearances as sub.
He also played the entire game in our league cup defeat at Swindon.
For his country he made 6 starts against European powerhouses Moldova (x2) San Marino (x2) and also Lithuania at home. The other game was a 5-1 home hammering against Finland. He did at least manage 1 goal at home in the 4-0 rout of San Marino but was also part of the team who gave the men from inside Italy their first ever U21 win when the minnows won 1-0 in the return fixture.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So they are all the stats I could find on Billy and other than the one season playing for 3 clubs who all were successful (Swindon walking the league, Crewe going up via the play offs and us reaching the play offs too) and doing ok. Not great but ok I think it is very, very safe to assume that Billy is a huge confidence player who only turns up when the wins are flowing.
I'm sorry but that's not good enough.
Given we're unlikely to be running away with the conference next season whilst playing like Brazil I think it wise if we said goodbye. The evidence is there to see. He just isn't good enough or nowhere near consistent enough for us. It's easy to play in winning teams.
Look at his international record too. Mainly against appalling opposition he has a woeful record.
I respect your view Rooster but I have to disagree with the point about us being deluded. Bodin needs to work out that there is a lot more to being a pro than what he has delivered during his career so far. He is only 22 but the signs aren't good. He is a poor luxury player.
I would still back CH if he wants to give Bodin another year if the injury will be rectified under 6 months but I expect a lot more of the same. The only hope is if we have settled into a rhythm as a team and are playing good footy and being fairly successful. Then he can slot in and maybe be a success. On all known evidence Billy needs to be in a side attacking and winning. Begs the question why we have been playing him so much the last 2 years then really.
IMO it really should be Billy begging US for a deal and not the other way around because I honestly cannot see any decent league 2 team taking a punt, especially now he is injured.