Roughly this time last week, administration greeted the team like a taxi-driver with a bad news name-card at Newcastle Airport, Moses was forbidden to play and a freak own goal was just the kick in the nuts (elbow in the breast for all you female readers) that we didn’t deserve. All aboard the doom bus- let the exodus begin!
Fast forward 6 days and we’ve “only” lost Moses, Danns and Clyne opted well and truly IN for ‘Operation Administration’, we’ve seen the team put in two outstanding performances, booked a much needed 5th Round tie and unleashed the goal machine that is Danny Butterfield! And by the looks of it, the team spirit has never been better. Stemming from Warnock, and immersing players and fans alike.
The 10-point deduction is but a mere scratch on this weeks patch-up paint job.
The Peterborough game suddenly became a great deal more significant. A game that we, as play-off hopefuls, expected to win suddenly turned into a relegation 6 pointer. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one whose gut was alternating between floppy nerve-churning somersaults and bonafide tension right up until 3pm Saturday.
Well, one thing’s for sure- the players certainly didn’t feel the same. They played with a calm, assured patience, which ultimately saw us beat the Posh comfortably. Butterfield up front deserved a goal or two (a warning of things to come) and Danns finished two classy efforts.
A great advert for all of our squad just after entering administration, but before the end of January- uh-oh. That doom bus was still waiting to depart after all. However…
In a move that was about as surprising as another John Terry scandal- Victor Moses left the club for the promised land of the Premier League with Wigan signing him up on a 3 and half-year deal, for an undisclosed fee. The amount doing the rounds on the various messageboards seems to be £2.5million, however, seeing as it’s announced as ‘undisclosed’ it may have been a fraction more than that, or even included a cheeky little sell on percentage.
As much as we need cash now, a part of me prefers the latter option. Wigan may not have been the lofty heights that we hoped Victor would leave us for, but based on their recent history of buying for little, selling for loads (Baines, Chimbonda, Palacios, Valencia,) even a 10% sell-on clause could see us earn another £1million - £1.5mill depending on his progress. If his brilliance continues to emerge in the way that we’ve witnessed over the past few months, expect the bigger fish in the Premier League and maybe even the Spanish giants to do what they should’ve done this January, but for what will be a significantly greater amount.
All the best to Vic- with the world at his feet, don’t be surprised if he does an overhead kick with it.
Two players that didn’t depart, much against the administrators' wishes, were Nathaniel Clyne and Neil Danns, who I shall now both refer to in full name- out of sheer, utter respect.
Both had opportunities to jump ship, not that I hold anything against VicMo or Jose Fonte for doing so, far from it! But after Neil Danns’ recent form and his fantastic brace at the weekend, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that thought he wouldn’t be here come Feb 1st. As it stands, he turned down the Saints and stayed put. Whose to say he would’ve done the same were it another Championship club, but that’s ultimately irrelevant! Neil Danns is a Crystal Palace player, and what’s even better; you can tell he wants to be a Crystal Palace player.
The same applies to Nathaniel ‘more refreshing than a KFC lemon wipe’ Clyne.
I remember seeing an interview with him after a televised Southampton match (08/09), which was both one of his and Warnock’s early matches. He’d had a blinder all game, set up a great Kuqi goal and shown an abundance of confidence. Yet when put between the interview camera and advertising backdrop, he came across as one of the quietest, withdrawn and humblest of people, let alone professional footballers, I’d ever seen. Head down, barely looking at the interviewer and softly spoken, you’d have been forgiven for thinking he was a guilty schoolboy being told off for something!
Natahniel Clyne has never given us any Bostock-esque “My dream is to be here” hot air so if he had gone on deadline day, yes we would have been sad, but in no way let down! But as Warnock pointed out that same night against Southampton, Nathaniel Clyne speaks very few words- he’s a man of actions. His latest actions culminating in a preference to beat Wolves rather than speak to them, and helping us earn the cash that we would’ve got for selling him anyway. Calculated risk 1- Administration 0 .
I’m going to try and talk about last night as briefly as possible. a] because it pretty much spoke for itself and b] I might cry (again!) As mentioned on the Twitter, I was confident of a win. But a comprehensive victory, via a Danny Butterfield hat-trick? I’d never have guessed that and still find it difficult to believe. Although on Sky Sports News today, they keep showing Paul Merson’s in-studio reaction to the second and third going in. If a straight-laced, sobre Mers is getting excited about it, then it must have happened right?!
One departure, two (great) victories, three goals for Butts, four points from safety and a 5th round tie. Just a standard week at Selhurst Park eh?
Now, onwards to Scunthorpe.
PTTP
P.S- shame on those that read this and didn't spot the intentional (ahem) error in the original title ;)
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