" FOR EARNSHAW - READ KOUMAS???? "

Earnie is NOT going to be one of our main strikers this season.
Pretty soon people are going to realise he does not offer enough to
the team, either in build up play or defensively. I love him to bits but
people are doing the same old shit that they did last year over Koumas.

He has not kicked a ball for Cardiff City for SIX years, in that time he
has struggled to keep his place for any team he's played for bar Norwich
and even that season was ravaged by injuries.

He was TOTALLY ineffective in the first leg of the play-off semi against
the Jacks, so he was a big part of the reason they had it all to do at the
Liberty. He comes on, plays GREAT.. and everyone is chopsing how "he
had a great end to the season and hit form just at the right time!"...

Bollocks!!!

I truly hope Mr Earnshaw will prove me to be a know-nothing tw*t and
score bagfuls of goals, of course I do. AND i think he could well be still
capable of one last big season, i have my doubts. Yes he will be very
motivated, but that motivation can soon go out the window when your
substituted and left out of the team.

The reason i'm writing this is because it all smells a bit like the Koumas
saga to me, where far too many saw it as some kind of 'second coming'...
when in fact, JK was hopeless. Sorry, but he was!!

Earnie is a different kettle of fish, and there is far more chance of him
doing well... BUT DONT PUT HIM ON A PEDESTAL

Cos if he doesnt get the goals, a lot of the people on these boards will start slagging him
off...and that would leave a bad taste for me.

GO ON EARNESTO - SCORE 30 SON AND PROVE ME WRONG

I believe he will, I believe he will. Maybe not 30, but certainly 20+ I reckon.

Ian Rush, Jason Koumas, Ultimate Warrior. Terrible comebacks.

At least the crowd will go nuts when Earnie comes on as sub. Or he could blast in 25 goals this season.
Earnies going to get youuuuuuuuuuu

I believe Earnie is a 20 goal a year striker in the Championship if he plays regular and stays injury free.

For Forest Earnie scored 38 goals in 102 appearances. Earnie did have a slow start last season but the reason people say Earnie hit form at the end of the season is because Earnie scored 6 goals in his last 12 matches for Forest. So we are signing a player who hit a bit of form at the end of last season and is capable of scoring goals.

When we signed Koumas last season, he had hardly kicked a ball since playing for us in 2005/06. I had a feeling he would be washed up and out of sorts. I also had a feeling it was DJ signing a player he had a connection with.

To compare the two players is unfair. Earnie has a good chance of doing well if he stays injury free, Koumas was a massive gamble and was also probably on a lot more money.

what a stupid comparison, they are totally different,
Koumas hadnt played for a full season before,his head was all over the place
whereas Earnie is a natural goals scorer, still hungry to play, will get his 10-15 goals, and off the pitch is no problem at all.
So glad we have him in our squad.

Earnie is NOT going to be one of our main strikers this season.
Pretty soon people are going to realise he does not offer enough to
the team, either in build up play or defensively. I love him to bits but
people are doing the same old shit that they did last year over Koumas.

He has not kicked a ball for Cardiff City for SIX years, in that time he
has struggled to keep his place for any team he's played for bar Norwich
and even that season was ravaged by injuries.

He was TOTALLY ineffective in the first leg of the play-off semi against
the Jacks, so he was a big part of the reason they had it all to do at the
Liberty. He comes on, plays GREAT.. and everyone is chopsing how "he
had a great end to the season and hit form just at the right time!"...

Bollocks!!!

I truly hope Mr Earnshaw will prove me to be a know-nothing tw*t and
score bagfuls of goals, of course I do. AND i think he could well be still
capable of one last big season, i have my doubts. Yes he will be very
motivated, but that motivation can soon go out the window when your
substituted and left out of the team.

The reason i'm writing this is because it all smells a bit like the Koumas
saga to me, where far too many saw it as some kind of 'second coming'...
when in fact, JK was hopeless. Sorry, but he was!!

Earnie is a different kettle of fish, and there is far more chance of him
doing well... BUT DONT PUT HIM ON A PEDESTAL

Cos if he doesnt get the goals, a lot of the people on these boards will start slagging him
off...and that would leave a bad taste for me.

GO ON EARNESTO - SCORE 30 SON AND PROVE ME WRONG

Completely agree with you.

JK was hopeless last season when & most people including me thought he would be the same player that left a few years back.

I said the same thing on the earnie signed post a few days back. i just hope earnie can show every1 he hasnt lost it and be 1 of our main players next season

cant agree to be honest ..earnie knows what its like to play for this club and also yes he played well at norwich cos he was allowed to play...its a known fact that bryan robson didnt like him and neither did billy davies and he had him twice ...so u cant compare him not playing when 2 managers didnt really give him a chance ....under someone who wants him he,ll be a different player

what a stupid comparison, they are totally different,
Koumas hadnt played for a full season before,his head was all over the place
whereas Earnie is a natural goals scorer, still hungry to play, will get his 10-15 goals, and off the pitch is no problem at all.
So glad we have him in our squad.

Spot on.

The only comparison between Koumas and Earnshaw was they both came back to us. Thats where the similarity ends.

Different players, different histories, different characters.

Chalk and cheese.

Look at the pics in the papers of him in training - the rest of the lads LOVE HIM.

I think I'd cry if Earnie took us up -it would be true 'Roy of the Rovers'.

Welcome back kid - take the last step to becoming one of the greatest players to play for this fanastic club.

Bedwas & Caerphilly Legend

Return of the prodigal sons is about the only similarity there is between Earnshaw and Koumas.

Koumas came to us as an injured player, a badly injured payer as we are now finding out. As mentioned he had not played for nearly years so it was an uphill battle for him to make the grade. I watched him carefully when we played Peterborough in the Carling cup and it did not take an expert to realise he was well off the mark and his level was league 2. It was just none of us wanted ot admit it at the time.

Earnshaw comes to us with less than inspiring spells at some of the clubs he has played for since leaving us. At West Brom he failed to impress the manager Robson although his goals saved them from relegation., a hit and miss spell there. At Norwich he was still young enough to compete for this league and did ok. At Derby he was ravaged by injury but was still was good enough to follow the manager he was under there and who brought him in to that managers new club Forest. At Forest Earnie git himself fit again but was up against strong opposition for a place. He was a crowd favourite at the City Ground and he started to be the old Earnie as last season came to an end. All together though his spells at all those clubs were average but had strong reasons to believe it could have all been different.

Earnie started to regain his best form as last season came to an end. He started to do what he does best and that is score goals. He wont be as good as he was when we had him. That was when he was at his prime. Now he is 6 years older and has just recovered from his injuries. However I do believe we have got him at his best under the circumstances.

Dave(Taffy), I personally believe he has still got what it takes to start in our first 11, Also his passion will drive him on much more than at Forest

I agree with your post, however, don't forget that JK had played far less football than Earnie. I think JK hadnt played a full 90 for his last club in about 2 seasons through injury and selection etc JK role was more demanding as we had a shocking midfield last season. Whereas give earnie the ball in the same positions as chopra had last year and missed and he would put those away. My main concern over earnie though are his injuries.

I disagree with almost all of this except the word Bollocks.


Everyone is entitled to an opinion but I really don't think comparing Earnie to JK is a good comparison mainly because of the injury situation with JK. No one can argue that we didn't see the best of JK last season but in fairness he was coming back from a long period out injured and he was given little or no time on the field to develop match sharpness. Could he have given more if we had a reserve team to help him? well we will never know but sadly his return last year was not want many of us hoped for.

Earnie on the other hand was the highest goalscoring forward at Forest last season, McGugan being the highest goalscorer, but he did average a goal every 252 minutes he was on the field. Chopra average a goal every 241 minutes he was on the field, Bellamy every 289 minutes and Jay every 226 minutes.

Most people thought we had a very powerful forward line last season but Earnie at least matched our "Star" forwards in a team who generally struggled to score goals. A situation more to do with the way BD sent Forest out to play football than the ineffectiveness of their players.

Earnie is still as good as any forward in this division when it comes to scoring goals but like any other forward he will only be as good as the service he receives.

Just my opinion but Earnie is far from washed up.

i believe he still has what it takes, he looks sharp and has stated he's in the best shape of his career

I disagree.

Koumas is an individual who has a reputation of being lazy and not very determined, it's obvious he still had the class e.e Doncaster, mentally, Earnie's a lot better.

Injuries wise, Earnie is in a far better situation.

Passion for the club, Earnie would love to play well and work his socks off for us, Koumas wouldn't.

Previous experience, Earnie has been in the Championship for the last 5-6 years, he knows the league inside out, also Koumas was barely match fit throughout the season, Earnie has played a lot last season, start preseason fresh, miles better situation.

Have to disagree sorry

he hasnt kicked a ball yet what a rediculous comparision koumas was a joke earnie will give it all and he looks after himself off the pitch spurred on by a better manager and passionet fans

No comparison - big difference between the two can be summed up in one word : ATTITUDE

Dave(Taffy), I personally believe he has still got what it takes to start in our first 11, Also his passion will drive him on much more than at Forest

Agreed.

Taffy Apple - Im not too sure you thought that deeply before making the post. That is your opinion though, and you are entitled to it.

But I too, Like the majority disagree with you. Earnie has only lost a tad of pace as he's gotten older, You don't get worse as you get older, you just start thinking differently and improving they way you play in your head, The technique & skill will still be there, He just needs a few games (starting maybe) to get that feeling back that he is wanted, and needed to help us move forward.

He's said he feels fit & sharp, he's looking good in this mornings training photo's from the Echo too...

For a free transfer, and allegedly on less than £8k a week, a return of 10-15 goals will still go along way to helping us! Yes I want 20-25 goals from him, but personally I would not put any extra expectation on him, NOT because I dont think he's capable of doing it, but because 1. I think Malky will look to use the squad alot more than Jones did, and 2. The fans need to help Earnie relax again into the club, at the end of the day it's like signing for a new team, he only knows one or two of the staff behind the scenes, all new players, new stadium, new training facilities etc etc He needs time to settle in, once he has - I'm sure he'll be firing on all cylinders!

So good Luck Earnie, Have a cracking season pal.

Right, comparisons as PLAYERS between Earnie and Koumas are ridiculous!

Thats not what I was doing. Koumas was all washed up, end of, stupid signing.
Earnie definitely ISNT

My comparisons are between the amount of people who thought Koumas was
going to come here and be the bees knees and get us out of the division, and
with the amount of people who are raving in exactly the same way about Earnie coming back!!!

My concerns about Earnie not starting for so many managers are not unfounded.
There has to be a reason. Is that fair comment? Billy Davies bought him twice
remember!!!

I am and always have been one of Earnies biggest fans, i even had my teeth
sharpened to look like him ... But Im also a realist.

Id be disgusted if he gets slaughtered on here in a few months because people
suddenly realise he's NOT the Messiah after all

As long as the ball is kept on the ground there is always a chance of Earnie scoring,none of this long ball shit.

As long as the ball is kept on the ground there is always a chance of Earnie scoring,none of this long ball shit.

A good portion of Earnies goals for us came from long balls up to Thorney and flick-ons

[The only comparison between Koumas and Earnshaw was they both came back to us. Thats where the similarity ends.

Different players, different histories, different characters.

Chalk and cheese.

Look at the pics in the papers of him in training - the rest of the lads LOVE HIM.

I think I'd cry if Earnie took us up -it would be true 'Roy of the Rovers'.

Welcome back kid - take the last step to becoming one of the greatest players to play for this fanastic club.

Bedwas & Caerphilly Legend

totally agree

earnie will give 100% and if he scores more that chopra did last season ill be over the moon

Earnie is NOT going to be one of our main strikers this season.
Pretty soon people are going to realise he does not offer enough to
the team, either in build up play or defensively. I love him to bits but
people are doing the same old shit that they did last year over Koumas.

He has not kicked a ball for Cardiff City for SIX years, in that time he
has struggled to keep his place for any team he's played for bar Norwich
and even that season was ravaged by injuries.

He was TOTALLY ineffective in the first leg of the play-off semi against
the Jacks, so he was a big part of the reason they had it all to do at the
Liberty. He comes on, plays GREAT.. and everyone is chopsing how "he
had a great end to the season and hit form just at the right time!"...

Bollocks!!!

I truly hope Mr Earnshaw will prove me to be a know-nothing tw*t and
score bagfuls of goals, of course I do. AND i think he could well be still
capable of one last big season, i have my doubts. Yes he will be very
motivated, but that motivation can soon go out the window when your
substituted and left out of the team.

The reason i'm writing this is because it all smells a bit like the Koumas
saga to me, where far too many saw it as some kind of 'second coming'...
when in fact, JK was hopeless. Sorry, but he was!!

Earnie is a different kettle of fish, and there is far more chance of him
doing well... BUT DONT PUT HIM ON A PEDESTAL

Cos if he doesnt get the goals, a lot of the people on these boards will start slagging him
off...and that would leave a bad taste for me.

GO ON EARNESTO - SCORE 30 SON AND PROVE ME WRONG

totally disagree, earnie will be one of our main strikers this season & will score 15-20 without a doubt!! Even though I believe we need another 2 strikers in, such as goodwillie and perhaps a player with a similar style to bothroyd (who doesnt fall over)!!

Yes totally agree with the original post .. too many i'm afraid are thinking of the past when he used to bang goals in for fun in the lower divisions .. Again, hope im wrong.

I have always believed that to get the best out of Earnie you have to accept him for what he is, a natural goal scorer and nothing else. You can forget all this 'holding the ball up' rubbish and 'defending from the front' etc. it's goals and not much else with Earnie.

So if I was MM I would do a deal with Earnie along the lines of 25 goals this season and your job is done.

I have always believed that to get the best out of Earnie you have to accept him for what he is, a natural goal scorer and nothing else. You can forget all this 'holding the ball up' rubbish and 'defending from the front' etc. it's goals and not much else with Earnie.

So if I was MM I would do a deal with Earnie along the lines of 25 goals this season and your job is done.

I would totally agree with that.

Thing is, for that kind of return he'll be scoring almost a goal a game.

If Earnie is scoring as many as that, then he'll be first name on the teamsheet, the
problems start if he's NOT scoring. The manager will then look to see if hes contributing
in other ways, and if he isnt.......

Its a fine balance. Chopra gave us a lot more work. He was our first line of defence.
He was brilliant when we didnt have the ball. But just didnt score enough for me.

Completely wrong.

Sparked a good little debate though, good work you cheeky little wind up merchant you

Earnie - regular player, regular scorer, been shat on by deluded and useless managers in Billy Davies and Bryan Robson - that much is fact.

Koumas - frozen out at Wigan and hadn't played competitive football for over a year before joining us.

That's all I need to say really.

EARNIE WAS NOT WANTED BY TOSHACK OR BILLY DAVIES - AND AS A RESULT HIS CONFIDENCE AND FORM WOULD HAVE SUFFERRED.
FOREST BOSS BILLY DAVIES WAS A BIT OLD FASHIONED LIKE OUR DJ AND LIKED TO MOSTLY PLAY ALL FOREST AWAY GAMES WITH A TARGET MAN UP FRONT TO KNOCK BALLS UP TO - A LOT LIKE TOSHACK.

EARNIE IS NOT THAT TYPE OF STRIKER AND MOST OF HIS APPEARANCES FOR FOREST WERE OFF THE BENCH. Forest fans are completely mixed about him, say like we are with Bothroyd (i personally rate Both as ok not brilliant).

MM seems shrewd and knows Earnie too - would appear that we will play a style that suite Earnie better. Same as Gary Speed.

I feel Earnie will get over 15 goals this season, he will either need a Parkin at his brilliant best or another as a foil for him OR we intend to play with an intensive midfield playing pace and pressure football.

Taff, I understand ur concerns - thought JK was one of the best ever footballers i've seen in a City shirt and what a dissapointment when he came back. This is, i think, quite different mate

WE WILL ALSO BE PLAYING WITH A SQUAD HOPEFULLY THIS SEASON. NOT AN AUTOMATIC 11 LIKE LAST SEASON WHERE U WERE GUARANTEED TO PLAY NO MATTER HOW SHIT U WERE THE WEEK BEFORE. COMPETITION I HOPE, WILL STOP COMPLACENCY - IF EARNIE, OR ANYONE DIPS FORM - THEY WILL BE RESTED AND SUPPORTED TO GET BACK ON FORM - NOT THROWN AWAY LIKE ADAM MATHEWS ETC

I believe Earnie is a 20 goal a year striker in the Championship if he plays regular and stays injury free.

For Forest Earnie scored 38 goals in 102 appearances. Earnie did have a slow start last season but the reason people say Earnie hit form at the end of the season is because Earnie scored 6 goals in his last 12 matches for Forest. So we are signing a player who hit a bit of form at the end of last season and is capable of scoring goals.

When we signed Koumas last season, he had hardly kicked a ball since playing for us in 2005/06. I had a feeling he would be washed up and out of sorts. I also had a feeling it was DJ signing a player he had a connection with.

To compare the two players is unfair. Earnie has a good chance of doing well if he stays injury free, Koumas was a massive gamble and was also probably on a lot more money.

earnshaw is not fit enough or geneticly athletic enough to perform for 46 games at his best.
thats why he doesn't play full seasons and comes off the bench