By Admin
March 25 2005

Mick Halsall came to the rescue as Paul Merson was up in Leeds tying up the loose ends of the Joachim deal. We report on the evenings events...

^{Mick couldn’t answer all the questions and just gave his honest opinion. Mick was later joined by Bill Jones. Both men helped salvage what could have been a damp squid of evening. Here is a rough account covering most of the issues that Mick and Bill touched throughout  the evenings proceedings.} 

 

^{On Expectations}

^{Mick says that he and the “Gaffer” come from different footballing backgrounds. Mick admitted that he is a lot more guarded when it comes to making pre-season predictions. One of the problems he noted is that some of the players just didn’t believe what Merse was saying. When asked about what could be achieved next season he said it depended on what happened in the transfer market this summer.} 

 

^{On the value of loan signings}

^{They are just one of the things we have to accept as short-term measures. Mick rates Oakes very highly and gave him a glowing reference. He says that both he and Bill Jones have seen a lot of Anthony Gerrard and believe he will be the perfect replacement for Julian Bennett. Bennett is out for the rest of the season. He also defended the signing of Perpetuini. Halsall was quick to point out he had a good footballing pedigree and that he was now playing for a contract at the end of the season. He has not been signed on loan as we have merely taken over his Wycombe contract until the end of the season.}

 

^{On the Youngsters}

^{Halsall says that he has been impressed with the new policy. He singled out Sean Platt and Dave McDermott as two to watch for the future. Mick thinks that everyone (including him) got a bit carried away with what Williams and Daryl Taylor could deliver this season.  He went on to say that Hereford will be a good experience for them and stressed that they were in no way big headed or cocky characters.}

 

^{On senior players}

^{Mick wasted no time in saying that some Senior Professionals had not done as well as he had expected. He singled out the free kick incident at Port Vale as being a prime example (The player in question was Zigor Aranalde) , He also said that a fair few of the more Senior Players should be doing more to help the younger members of the squad. He wondered if it was just that these players weren’t from his generation.}

 

^{On Merson}

^{Halsall thinks Merse is on a steep learning curve. He is developing his style of management all the while. The Player-Manager role is demanding. He thinks that Merson’s style of football is much better than the cagey football being played under Colin Lee. Mick handled one to two of the hagglers very well.}

 

^{On the Man United agreement}

^{There is a great deal that goes on behind the scenes that we don’t see. We enquired about 2 of the United players a couple of weeks back. United are down to the bare bones and couldn’t let anyone out. They have told the Club that if they identify players they would like for the new season then arrangements might be made to sort something out. He was pretty keen to tell us that the agreement is making the Club more attractive to potential young players.} 

 

^{On away form}

^{He can’t put his finger on the problem.}

 

^{On Zigor}

^{The departure was via mutual consent. Mick didn’t really want to say much about it to be honest}

 

^{The Press a& Motivation}

^{When asked about how the players might react to Merson telling them that half of them won’t be here, Mick gave a very good answer. He said that with the game the way it is they are all playing for contracts. Plus he reckons there are about 14-15 different scouts at each game at the moment and they know who is going to be out of contract in the summer so they are all playing for something.} 

 

^{On Matt Fryatt}

^{Halsall was full of praise. He isn’t aware of any clubs interested in snapping him up. Halsall says the Club have to persuade him to have time off from training because he is such a workaholic. Halsall insisted that certain aspects of his game still need to improve (Heading and Left hand workrate)} 

 

^{On Mark Wright}

^{Halsall called him the best athlete at the Club. Halsall thinks he is far better suited to an attacking rather than defensive role. Dave Merrington once told him that he would recommend Wright to any Premiership Club. Mick believes the best is yet to come from Wrighty. Mick reckons that Wright could weigh in with his fair share of goals given a chace. The arrival Pead could mean a positional move...} 

 

^{On Mick’s future role}

^{He reiterated the fact he wanted to continue with his  Youth Development role. He used to manage Peterborough and doesn’t fancy managing again at this stage of his life . Mick is going to wait until he is well in to his 40’s (cue laughter). He is still the number two because Merson doesn’t want to disrupt the season by bringing in someone totally new at this stage of the season.}

 

^{On new signings}

^{Bill Jones, Paul Merson and Mick Halsall have been making dozens of phone calls with regards to around 20 new players this deadline day. They stressed how this is the first deadline day experience for the Gaffer, an experience he will have certainly learned from. They seemed chuffed with the Joachim deal. They thought they’d lost him at one stage today.  They insisted that this was a victory for Merson and his connections in the game.} 

 

^{It turned out to be a rewarding evening that shed some light on issues we didn't know much about. It was a shame we didn't get any more information on the Aranalde transfer. The disappointment with Senior Professionals is something that Mick and Merse see eye to eye about. Although Mick also added the young players could also be a bit more perceptive on the training ground.}