Was - Phoenix Transfer Speculation

Occam's Razor would suggest that Aussietarfan is Phoenix4u's friend. However, that doesn't mean it's not true. Ricki said he was going after a Euro player who'd just been playing in the top flight of a good league, remember?

Trial different to signing!

So if this is true, its a toss up between him and Billy? Or could we just be like "f**k it" and sign both depending on how they do? Just those Foreign spots which I am thinking about, 2 are left?Azevo2011-08-18 17:47:34

No doubt Ricki will get a good look at both of them against the Roar.

What a change for these blokes though, from Europe to little ol' New Zealand..

Would be disappointed if we did sign him on reputation. Rovers were trying to get rid of him for years, but no one thought he was good enough, and/or was able sort out personal terms.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for coming out on trial, but I am not going to get too excited.

great that we are only trialling him, years ago we would be signing these guys without looking at them

Toto was signed on the strength of his DVDs, wasn't he? Ricki has learned his lesson, esp. since Terry has no doubt impressed to him the importance of Value For Money in the current circumstances.

No, Toto was signed after a trial. And there were people on this board giving their thumbs up.

Although I seem to recall we were closing in on 31 August (or whenever the deadline day for squads was).

It's probably a case of seeing if we like him, and he likes us. S

Now you are talking, Ricki.Pace and skill in the midfield to link up with Iffy & co.I hope we like him etc

Sorry but Ritgers has just been on trial at Aberdeen, and he did not cut the mustard.

David Carney could hardly get a game for Hamilton Academicals and then played 11 games last year in the Premiership for Blackpool and starts regularly for the Australian national team.

I'll wait until we see him before declaring himaflop.

I am worried about Rigters overall scoring record, but I don't think you should take too much from his rejection at Aberdeen. It sounds like he and Mohammed Chalali ended up fighting for a single spot in the slot; both had trial periods that were then extended; and Chalali was the one to win out.

Interesting quote here from Aberdeen boss Craig Brown though:

"...we have had to work hard on his fitness to enable him to show his true potential."                     

That.

A little digging on the Aberdeen forums reveals that the club is up the financial sh*tter - and that their fans are even bigger doom merchants than some of the people around here. Reading between the lines it seems Craig Brown wanted to sign Rigters, but didn't have the funds:

http://www.afc-chat.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=26514&st=0

the longer time goes by, the more i start questioning warner's signing. Not sure how much hes costing us, but i hope it doesnt prevent us from signing strikers.

Ahhh well, its done, and I need to forget bout it.

I really hope we can find a creative midfielder, would love to hear more about those players we are looking at and would hope we could get some on trial.

Im happy with having these two experienced strikers trialling, and think they could both offer us some great options. A dutch striker would be rad! My only issue with Rigters is that from what I've seen, he likes to drop back and drift wide a lot to get more ball, and we need someone who can hold the line up top. With the current system of only ever passing to the wingers, I could see him often moving out of position to get the ball, and leaving no one up top

Maybe they need a loan? ;)

Exactly.

Shane Smeltz didn't exactly have a stellar record before he arrived at the Nix did he?

And Sergio Van Dijk had never kicked a ball outside of the Dutch Second Division before he went to Brisbane.

Let's wait and see. It's exciting though...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maceo_Rigters

Erm, not quite. 14 minutes actually (in Prem that is). Subbed on twice - at 80 and 86 minutes.

Although also made a couple of appearances in UEFA Cup.

On the other side of the coin was the golden boot when Netherlands won Euro U21 in mid noughties.

Who knows? Very hard tell.

hard to imagine him being anything except a useful addition

wonder if he and Mehmet would make a good smash and grab combo

but if we did sign both - we would have no import space for the rumoured/mythical Portuguese creative midfield player

hhmm, so very hard to tell

and really it's so long since I've seen an a-League game I can't remember what players do during a match

I'd take the risk, we clearly don't have much else and we need someone and the seasons getting pretty close.

I'm going to go against the grain and say that all of this is a good thing.

People say Tony Warner is a waste of an import slot because of his age. On face value, probably a fair call but I'm going to put a different spin on it:

We have a club where the captain was 'attempted to be poached' by Sydney FC and stayed. We have a quality import in Ifill whom talks good things about the club. We have a veteran striker in Greenacre whom did time at the lower levels and enjoys it here. He have had various players in for trials and the names (well not so much names but the level of the players and where they have played) are getting better. Tony Warner might be a wasted spot but from the outside, it gives the impression that good solid footballers want to play for our club and that will no doubt create momentum for better players to want to come play here. Redux that 5 years where we had Sean Devine and Josh Rose...  I like that fact the 'better than the usual' players want to play/trial at our club and the standard of those is increasing. Contrast that with Johnny Chen, Toto, Diego, George.... I think I like the direction the club is heading in terms of player personnel. Sure there will be ones we don't win like Rojas and Kosta but not everyone has the golden ticket to the lottery. We've unearthed Manny, we've signed two decent fullbacks... I think there is a bit to be positive about. We may not finish in the top 4 this year but clubs need planning to build to the top.

Cue doom merchants to spin this in a negative light about how we have gone backwards in terms of players in 5.4.3....

I think this is one where we just have to let the coaching staff do their job.  No point looking at his track record - clearly it didn't work out for him at Blackburn and he wasn't good enough for the premiership. 

I'm prepared to give him a chance if he signs, no doubt of that and obviously I HOPE he is good.

Very interesting article about the failure of the champion Dutch U21 side from 2007 which included Rigters james dean2011-08-18 21:17:22

I do think that some posters on this thread have talked themselves into the dead end of "Our club sucks and therefore anyone who would actually sign for our club must suck". 

Would it be fair to deduce based on trainings etc that Greenacre is going to slip into a midfield role this year of sorts, behind the strikers? Objectively, IF we sign Mehmut and Rigters then were does the creativity come from? It would need to come from a free agent Australian attacking midfielder that have been lying around in bundles that we seemed to have overlooked the last two years.

Agree.

The one thing I have noticed is that while el Tel seems to be in a whole quagmire of doo-doo, the club seems to be continuing as per normal...

Anyone who shares a name a name with this dude is all right with me.

No, JD, the point I'm making is that when anyone who does get talked up as a triallist actually looks like he's getting signed, then all the negativity comes out.

Further to that, I may be wrong but I can't think of anyone who has been signed based on a trial and has been a success.  All of our succesful signings have been signed  straight away without a trial period (apart from Marco)...

To be fair, I'm struggling to think of someone who trialled and was actually signed (Marco excepted).

And obviously not counting this season.el grapadura2011-08-18 21:50:58

Johnny Chen? Although it was more about how he played against us so kind of a trial...

Do I have that right?

james dean2011-08-18 21:57:51