Houghton

[phil old leake]

Anyone heard any rumours about whether he will sign

[steve@dcfd]

For me we have other priorities first if we have a small squad.
Them first the let’s see. But I would rather have him than McCullough in midfield but we are stuck with that.

[Jonathan]

Last official line was that talks won’t resume until the summer, so I guess they can start any time now. I’m hopeful he’ll stay. For me he should be first choice in the holding role and McCullough should be back up for him.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Agreed he's better than Luke hopefully he signs or we get another to replace him as i'm not that convinced about Luke playing midfield long term

[keith79]

If we would have signed him in January then that would have been out of this season budget.

[roversdude]

Agreed guys, LM is a decent squad player

[scawsby steve]

He refused terms before, and I doubt that the club would offer him a better deal; personally I hope they don't; I don't think he's worth a shed load of money.

[graingrover]

He gets married in a few weeks time anx has a nice pad in London Potential employers south of Watford may apply via agent.

Envoyé de mon EVA-L09 en utilisant Tapatalk

[GazLaz]

He will likely have to take a pay cut, that’s the issue. Our top end pay will be 4K ish you would imagine. He’s probably on more than that at Chelsea.

[Brian Young]

Grant M2

[scawsby steve]

He will likely have to take a pay cut, that’s the issue. Our top end pay will be 4K ish you would imagine. He’s probably on more than that at Chelsea.

I was told by a good source that Marquis is on way more than that, Gaz, but then again that might be wrong.

[Donnybax]

I don’t think he will want to move this far North.

[selby]

  I have been told a couple of teams nearer London are interested, but you never know, he maybe happy to come to us, but wages will be an issue, plus a signing on fee.
  He does what he does well, but is limited in his play when going forward, but has been our best player sitting in front of the back four centrally.
  I would think that  he will not be short of options when it comes to getting a club for next season, and we will not be the only ones after his services.

[5minstogo]

He's gone. Won't be back

[Jonathan]

I don’t think we should write off the prospect of him coming back. He’s gained plenty of game time in his time here, more than at any other time in his career, and you’d hope that counts for something.

He may have more attractive options down south and maybe that will be a deciding factor, I don’t think any of us really know that for sure. He seems to have settled okay up here in the two year stint so we can’t assume he’d rule out coming back.

I just hope the last few months of being played out of position on the right wing don’t ruin our chances of securing a very good central midfield player.

[GazLaz]

I don’t think we should write off the prospect of him coming back. He’s gained plenty of game time in his time here, more than at any other time in his career, and you’d hope that counts for something.

He may have more attractive options down south and maybe that will be a deciding factor, I don’t think any of us really know that for sure. He seems to have settled okay up here in the two year stint so we can’t assume he’d rule out coming back.

I just hope the last few months of being played out of position on the right wing don’t ruin our chances of securing a very good central midfield player.

He was not being played in his favoured position but he wasn’t really a right winger either. In some ways the right/left side of the diamond is harder than being a winger or a conventional centre midfielder. I don’t think it’s an easy position for a young player to play. Whiteman, Houghton and Kongolo have all looked out of sorts playing there. Blair plays the roll in a disciplined way but that often negates his attacking threat.

[steve@dcfd]

I don’t think we should write off the prospect of him coming back. He’s gained plenty of game time in his time here, more than at any other time in his career, and you’d hope that counts for something.

He may have more attractive options down south and maybe that will be a deciding factor, I don’t think any of us really know that for sure. He seems to have settled okay up here in the two year stint so we can’t assume he’d rule out coming back.

I just hope the last few months of being played out of position on the right wing don’t ruin our chances of securing a very good central midfield player.

He was not being played in his favoured position but he wasn’t really a right winger either. In some ways the right/left side of the diamond is harder than being a winger or a conventional centre midfielder. I don’t think it’s an easy position for a young player to play. Whiteman, Houghton and Kongolo have all looked out of sorts playing there. Blair plays the roll in a disciplined way but that often negates his attacking threat.

We need two players to play those positions then Rowe can share point of diamond with Coppinger if he signs. Houghton if he can be signed or Whiteman can play at the back.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Or we can just drop the diamond to suit the players we have?

[RedJ]

What, you mean play players where they're actually able to play? Nah, it'll never catch on.

[Brian Young]

I hope he finds a club that suits his abilities.

[keith79]

Brentford

[steve@dcfd]

Or we can just drop the diamond to suit the players we have?

Yes we can but we haven’t got the quality of midfield players without signing at least two if we want to progress with any system

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Not been that impressed with him since his return in any position. We know he's got quality but seems to have gained the habit of dithering on the ball and  ot moving into space off the ball as well as he used to. He's not alone which highlights where our weakness has been this season.

I don't think I'd lose any sleep if he didn't sign on a permanent deal as long as DF persues the quality ball player/general we need.

[scawsby steve]

As I've said in other posts, Anthony Grant; better in that position than either Houghton or McCullough.

[GazLaz]

As I've said in other posts, Anthony Grant; better in that position than either Houghton or McCullough.

He is at the minute. He doesn’t fit our supposed business model of developing players though does he. In 2 years JH could be worth a lot more than what we have invested in him.

[ravenrover]

If the only options of the 3 are McCullough or Whiteman as defensive mid then there is no alternative to Houghton.
Having said that I don't think we will see Houghton back in the wonky hoops of DRFC next season

[scawsby steve]

As I've said in other posts, Anthony Grant; better in that position than either Houghton or McCullough.

He is at the minute. He doesn’t fit our supposed business model of developing players though does he. In 2 years JH could be worth a lot more than what we have invested in him.

I take your point, Gaz; the only trouble is, we're entering the 3rd year of the 5 year plan, and that's not just to go up to the Championship, it's to be sustainable there; I personally think we need some experience added to the squad to aim for the play-offs next season, otherwise we're going to be running out of time, as far as the plan is concerned.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Obviously he's no way near as good yet but i think he can become a Stock like player for us if he improves on his passing/control of games. He already gets in good positions in front of the back four so if he keeps progressing i think he could get close to that level.

Stock was more the finished article when we got him so theres an obvious quality gap if comparing what we remember but given time i think he'll get there. Hopefully thats with rovers of course