Chris Killen (Unattached)

+1

November 14th.  I can't give you much else unless he was good for Hibs, but November 14th he ws excellent. 

He was decent in that game but he hardly terrorised them.  Think he only had one shot on target

No, but his work rate was excellent.  He chased and fought for everything and his pressure on them in their half was excellent.  I watched a replay recently and it really stood out.

you'd just hope that was't his best game in the last 4 seasons is what I'm getting at

Yeah, come to think of it that's a good point. I think my opinion is based on reputation and on the basis that he was consistently picked in the AWs and picked up top level contracts in the UK for ten years. I can't really recall him being THAT good at all. Always okay but if you think in terms of the AWs, before Smeltz started scoring goals there wasn't much else around for us (including Rory).

I think he did sit on the bench for Man City in the prem league a couple of times, but never made it on the pitch. Keegan gave him good reviews- but not sure if that is a recommendation or not . . . 

I think he's an A-League style player.  The kiwi Allsopp if you will.

I have a feeling the A-League would make him look good also.

Dylan MacAllsop.

Here is Killen's last goal for the season in Shenzhen's 1-2 loss to Changchun @ 1:10.

The v.sina and youku sites were geoblocked this time so it took me until today to find this site. A shame that I didn't stumble on to it sooner as it also has the whole games for all of the CSL matches.

If any keen bean wants to watch Killen's games in entirety PM me and I'll send you the links (and a crash course in Mandarin).

Nice to have an update

Latest Nothing really more from the herald, but doesn't back up the comments elsewhere.

Thinking about this a bit more - perhaps the reason he wants out is that Troussier (quelle muppet!) is staying on as coach.�




Junior822011-12-11 22:15:51

It sucks that the A-League cannot compete money wise with other lower leagues.

Blame the politicians on both sides of the ditch for not putting in place an environment to attract investment and grow the economies (mining being the exception).
Junior822011-12-11 22:18:50

I blame overly strict immigration policies. There's a reason we can't give him a maid and a driver!

Surely if you can get a tiler who can drive that's half the problem solved?

Shenzhen can only have three foreign players in the 2nd Div so Killen may be looking at other CSL teams for other options.

Interesting article about Chinese football. Not specifically about Killen but this seemed like the best thread to post it in. It seems the amount of money sloshing around the Chinese league at the moment has done nothing to help its credibility...
BarryZuckerkorn2011-12-22 09:18:47

Probably better in the Asian football thread?

Oops, Asian football thread it probably should have been!

I will admit I'm not very knowledgeable on this subject with only this article and a couple of others to go on, but it seems to me that the barriers towards Chinese football becoming credible, especially within China, run far too deep for a few overpaid foriegners to change. If anything the investment by the ultra-rich into top flight clubs has the potential to make the CSL seem like a plaything for gazillionaires rather than a competitive league.

I think one of the big steps towards raising the game in China would be a Chinese player becoming a geniune star at a major European club - like Yao Ming in the NBA - so that Chinese youth could see a role model and have a hero to emulate.I often think the appeal to population is a logical fallacy too - a country is as good as its best 11 players (or maybe 20 or so to cover injuries etc)  and having a billion people to choose from might increase the odds of getting a freak of nature but a strong footballing culture is much more important. Uruguay is a great case in point. What this means for China is that they need something to get young kids playing and watching football everyday. Can the CSL do this? Its a formerly corrupt competition filled with overpaid sulks like Anelka which may just collapse when China's property bubble bursts and/or it finally experiences some economic hardship due the excessive uneven growth. If this happens it will just make Chinese football seem like more of a joke to the locals.

Of course, if that money is also spent hiring top quality coaches, building world class facilities, and promoting the game it may be that the CSL could be a pathway to Europe for Chinese youngsters. But if you're a gazillionaire looking for a status symbol a big name star is much better than good facilities and a solid youth development programme.

Am I being overly critical and negative? Probably! Like I said, I'm not well-informed on this subject but these are my general impressions of the situation. I would be interested to know what actual Chinese football fans think of it

The CSL is a plaything for gazillionaires but it is also a competitive league.  It can be both. It is not however a business model for making money.

transfer window? Guest stint with a look to next year? Short term marquee with option to renew or fit under the cap next year?

Short term marquee to the end of the season would be awesome, but I don't think WelNix would pony up the cash, they've already said they're not out to win the league that way. ashby2012-01-10 10:39:56

the other way to look at it would be as a half-season trial. if we don't sign him now we might miss out on him later, but a short-term contract could be a good way to judge how he'd do in the a-league. If he bangs them in then keep him, if not cut him loose

Or to put it another way- how would we go if we kept our attacking line up with Daniel, Ifill and Sanchez, but swapped Killen for Greenie?

I think we'd win a lot more in the air and maybe finish off a few of those high crosses perhaps?

changed killen's status to free agent

Really?

I thought he was still contracted to Shenzhen. While other players have left the club he is still on the books. The last Chinese news article a couple of days ago mentioned that he was linked to be loaned out to Chongqing, but this was then denied by the Chairman.

He missed the first training run of the new year, but was expected to turn up soon...

Edit: Article also said that a loan elsewhere was possible.




Junior822012-01-12 19:53:40

if you're more than 60% sure i'll change it back. my sources say he has terminated the remainder of his contract, but this is not official, so i am happy to take your word for it

cheers

Well, it is Chinese media - which is not the most reliable (i.e full of rumour and hype).

I'm just translating what was written - so I'm 80% sure of my translation, but 50% sure of the accuracy of the actual information!

let's call that 65%!

i'll change it back until we are sure

my source is reliable, but not official, so let's play it safe

Fair enough!

I wouldn't be surprised if your source was right however, as while there has been talk from the club, there is nothing from Killen himself (or agent).

cool, let's keep an eye on this.

i just went to check his agent's website and it's been hacked!reg222012-01-12 20:03:04

Any news on this?

News report yesterday said that Killen had not returned to Shenzhen and wasn't part of a friendly game against Guizhou.

Hmmm interesting. Wouldn't mind seeing him back here for a bit that is for sure.