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Baird back as CB


pele

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Had the chance to play in the prem and it hasn't worked out for him, he was a fantastic championship player so HCDAJFU in league one, his wifeee is from here and never settled up there so there may be some legs to this one.

 

I'm sure he would be welcomed back but most on here, why not he had the chance to secure his future etc etc 99.9% would take that

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He would be ok but not long term I think.

 

Long term does not matter at the moment, our first objective this season has to be to avoid relegation.

May sound pessimistic but starting on -10 that has to be our first target.

There will not have been many seasons in the last ten or even 20 years when saints have finished 10 points above the relegation zone so it will be a new feeling for all of us if we win that number of games and the task should not be underestimated.

Once we have achieved that we can then start building for better things which may have to start next season.

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Chris spoke the other day of his love of Saints and unfinished business.....I wonder?

 

He was our most consistent player for a season but I don't think he'd be tall enough to cope with being a centre back in L1. The lower down the leagues you go, the more emphasis is placed on scoring from set pieces. His lack of height was seldom exposed in open play because he was usually well positioned and could get off the ground well when running to meet the ball. He was exposed at free kicks and corners though where he had to get off the ground without the momentum of running forwards.

 

At the time, it wasn't so much of an issue because we had Kenwyne Jones who is rarely beaten to a header. Rasiak often did a good job at set pieces as well. I could never understand why Burley always seemed to replace Jones with Wright-Phillips with 20 minutes to go. We never defended as well with him off the pitch.

 

As it stands, our squad is not blessed with height. For that reason alone. Paul Wotton will be playing a lot of games in midfield unless Pardew can get in some big lumps at centre back. Chris Baird would not even be on his signing radar in that regard.

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He was our most consistent player for a season but I don't think he'd be tall enough to cope with being a centre back in L1. The lower down the leagues you go, the more emphasis is placed on scoring from set pieces. His lack of height was seldom exposed in open play because he was usually well positioned and could get off the ground well when running to meet the ball. He was exposed at free kicks and corners though where he had to get off the ground without the momentum of running forwards.

 

At the time, it wasn't so much of an issue because we had Kenwyne Jones who is rarely beaten to a header. Rasiak often did a good job at set pieces as well. I could never understand why Burley always seemed to replace Jones with Wright-Phillips with 20 minutes to go. We never defended as well with him off the pitch.

 

As it stands, our squad is not blessed with height. For that reason alone. Paul Wotton will be playing a lot of games in midfield unless Pardew can get in some big lumps at centre back. Chris Baird would not even be on his signing radar in that regard.

 

 

Agreed, good post.

 

Would probably prefer Baird as RB over Murty tbh, but it's unlikely he'd come anyway.

 

We need to sign a couple of 6ft5inch brutes and a couple of quick players with a bit of quality. All of our players seem to be slow and lightweight.

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If he loved us that much why did he leave?

 

I suspect his love of money outweighs his love of saints.

Was about to post pretty much the same thing, I wish people wouldn't come out with this ****. If he "loved saints" he wouldn't have left Saints for ****ing Fulham, it was hardly Barcelona. Same goes for Drew Surman.

Not that I wouldn't welcome him back with open opens, he is a top notch defender, especially for league one.

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Shocked and stunned that you say that........he became an international playing at right back....what games have you been watching!!!

 

Every single one he played for us at right back! He only really came into his own and estbalished himself as a first team player when we moved to CB where he excelled - no better than Llloyd James at right back, possibly not as good.

 

Ask Fulham fans what they think of him? Problem is that Fulham have only played him at RB.

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just because a player okays for his country does not make him THAT good..

Christ I know you like to disagree and argue down to the stupidest point but come on. A player making a decent go at international level does make him good. He only disagreed with him being terrible, didn't say he was world class or anything.

Stop arguing you fanny.

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Every single one he played for us at right back! He only really came into his own and estbalished himself as a first team player when we moved to CB where he excelled - no better than Llloyd James at right back, possibly not as good.

 

Ask Fulham fans what they think of him? Problem is that Fulham have only played him at RB.

 

I agree he excelled as CB.............but he was never tosh as a right back, he was OK, and once established, made a good showing in that position.

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That a fair point Gingeletiss so I will temper my "terrible" assessment to mediocre/very average! The point I was making is that if we were to re-sign him I would hope that this would be on the basis of playing him at CB not RB.

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Christ I know you like to disagree and argue down to the stupidest point but come on. A player making a decent go at international level does make him good. He only disagreed with him being terrible, didn't say he was world class or anything.

Stop arguing you fanny.

would you say mikeal nilson was a "good" player..?

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Christ I know you like to disagree and argue down to the stupidest point but come on. A player making a decent go at international level does make him good. He only disagreed with him being terrible, didn't say he was world class or anything.

Stop arguing you fanny.

 

That's OK....it's DD, he like's to have this stance in most threads....;)

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That a fair point Gingeletiss so I will temper my "terrible" assessment to mediocre/very average! The point I was making is that if we were to re-sign him I would hope that this would be on the basis of playing him at CB not RB.

 

No arguments there.........but I'd have him back in either position.

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I dont want to go back to players who leave and fail elsewhere.We need a big lump of a CB not another small centre back, and he is not good enough as a rb IMO

Completely agree nickh. What's the point of a fresh start if we're going to bring back all those who played a part in where we ended up. In playing a part I consider players who left us in the lerch when the odds were down shouldn't ever be reconsidered.

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Me , I'd Say Sign him up if poss. A much better defender at either RB or CH to anything we have at the club at the moment. Coming back for a second spell at a club is sometimes a very good thing especially if it is really where your heart is ,Ask Micky Channon for one.

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I'm in 2 minds about this actually. Part of me would welcome him back with open arms because of how well he played at CB for the couple of seasons in the Championship. I take the point that height is a necessity at this level, but I think intelligence can make up for the lack of height so Baird might be ok with regards that.

 

However after we sold Baird I was talking to a friend of mine. He was asking me what do we need to do to improve, my reaction was to get rid of Lundekvam. This club had a losing mentality in the past. One that the long serving players seemed to be steeped in and Claus was the last link to that mentality. I felt there was too much of a risk of that seeping into new young players and staying around this club for longer. It was a mentality of "Ah, we're only Southampton, we're not supposed to do well". Almost a comfort zone for not performing. Would bringing Baird back allow that attitude back into the club?

 

I know what people are going to say, "Did you not see how bad we were last year?" etc. But the majority of players we will keep haven't been here that long and can put the experience down to a bad season and move on. AP can reinstill the confidence and build a new Southampton FC.

 

So yeah, leave the past in the past. There's plenty of center backs out there that have equal or better ability than Baird that we have as much of a chance of signing as we have him.

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Would he be as good now as when he left us? Didn't his confidence dip?

 

And didn't he have issues with Kelvin?

Plus he isn't tall enough for league 1 imo.

 

But miles better than Perry or Lancashire and an overweight Murty imo.

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Would he be as good now as when he left us? Didn't his confidence dip?

 

And didn't he have issues with Kelvin?

Plus he isn't tall enough for league 1 imo.

 

But miles better than Perry or Lancashire and an overweight Murty imo.

 

And there we have it, the ultimate question: Is he better than those already here? In other words, will he improve the team?

 

And the answer is a simple YES. Therefore I would be happy for him to come back, although I do believe it to very unlikely that he will.

 

Oh, and if memory serves me correctly, he also had a fair few decent games as a holding CM. So he really offers a 3-in-1: RB, CB and CM.

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Looks like John Terry may be leaving Chelsea, why don't we put a bid in for him as well?

 

He's at a prem club that has just qualified for European competition and he is probably on wages of around £15-20k p/w. Why would he want to come and play in League 1?

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Looks like John Terry may be leaving Chelsea, why don't we put a bid in for him as well?

 

He's at a prem club that has just qualified for European competition and he is probably on wages of around £15-20k p/w. Why would he want to come and play in League 1?

 

I think you'll find its based on his alledged comments saying he loves Saints and has unfinished business there? Whenever we've heard something like that before its basically been a come and get me plea.

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Shocked and stunned that you say that........he became an international playing at right back....what games have you been watching!!!

 

The ones for Saints where he was really good at centre back for an entire season and was never much better than alright at right back ? He played loads of games for Northern Ireland in defensive midfield as well.

 

And getting into the N.I. team is a piece of cake if you happen to be a professional footballer in England and Northern Irish, same as almost anyone Welsh playing in the Football League gets a call up at some point.

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Every single one he played for us at right back! He only really came into his own and estbalished himself as a first team player when we moved to CB where he excelled - no better than Llloyd James at right back, possibly not as good.

 

Ask Fulham fans what they think of him? Problem is that Fulham have only played him at RB.

 

Hardly a "problem" for Fulham, they had one of the best defences in the Premier League last season, and he wasn't in it.

 

If we got him back it would be a massive signal of intent, as his wages would probably be higher than practically anyone in the division. I can't see it happening myself, but at least we don't have to worry about whether we can afford it any more, just whether we're going to be investing in the squad in that manner.

 

Baird saying "unfinished business" would imply to me that he'd like another few games for us when he's 34.

Edited by The9
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And there we have it, the ultimate question: Is he better than those already here? In other words, will he improve the team?

 

And the answer is a simple YES. Therefore I would be happy for him to come back, although I do believe it to very unlikely that he will.

 

Oh, and if memory serves me correctly, he also had a fair few decent games as a holding CM. So he really offers a 3-in-1: RB, CB and CM.

 

Completely agree here mate, probably the best reply on this thread. We are a league 1 team guys and Baird excelled at CB in a CCC team, i understand the need for big brutes at the back although the championship is also very much reliant of a cavalier approach involving big lumps up front. He performed very admirambly at the back.

 

IMO i would have him back in an instant if i had to, and those spouting about players leaving saints for the prem ?? Honestly ask yourself, as much as you love the club if you got an offer from a premiership club whilst saints languish in the 2nd tier would you honestly turn it down ??

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Bairdy left because of masses of money and dreams of even more. All of us would be tempted to leave for £10K a week, or even more. I know I would, whether I "love the club" or not.

 

We will not be matching his pay, so he would have to come down a long, long way. He also hasn't improved by sitting on Fulham's bench for the last couple of years, so I doubt that he is the player we once saw, and I for one gave him 10/10 for effort and fighting spirit, although I wasn't as generous in the skills department. As RB he was no more than average.

 

I think that there are plenty of CBs out there and "homecomings" have a tendency to go sour, not least with all the expectations we would have on him. Time to move on for all of us, me thinks.

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Originally Posted by Katalinic viewpost.gif

He is terrible at right back, much better at centre back.

Shocked and stunned that you say that........he became an international playing at right back....what games have you been watching!!!

 

The ones where he has been playing as defensive midfield in front of the back four.

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