John Stead - should have kept Nolan

[SwalePie]

And not a word about that old demon.

Indeed.

[Big Bob]

Maybe it was made knowing he wouldn't be.
Who knows? And soon enough, who cares?

All these players have a last shot at redemption. Contribute to getting 6 pts that might just keep us up and they can say what they like

I agree

[countygump]

https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport...ountys-2803427

[them0uf]

I don't agree that Stead has been a waste of space. Good player and like many tall players was assumed to be a target man, which he isn't.

Mind you, he has embarrassed himself with that twaddle about the ruddy cheeked former manager. I can only assume it is an early pitch for disability benefit for the hard of thinking.

[Mark_Ross]

Steady:

We were 5hit under Nolan. Okay, so we were 5hit under HK & 5**** under NA, but that doesn't change the fact that it was Nolan who got us into this ****** mess in the first place.

[jackal2]

His contract was extended after playing a certain amount of games, (ala Elliott Ward), nothing to do with being Nolan's mate unless you mean the season before but considering before this season Stead gave us 17, 19 and 18 goals (including assists) I think he was a good signing for those seasons.

Blimey Delroy, if that argument was a hamstring it wouldn't be so much strained as snapped.

"Including assists" and, lest we forget, numerous penalties, which yes need to be scored, but are cheap goals for strikers who should primarily be measured on their goals from open play. He's no Lee Hughes or Mark Stallard in the talisman stakes, put it that way. The reality is that we picked him up and paid him very well after he was junked by Bradford, and his overall contribution has been diminishing with age, season by season. I'd never accuse him of not being a trier, unlike some players, but for at least two seasons now he's been surviving on reputation rather than outcomes.

You're right about his contract, and Nolan gave him enough games to trigger the extension. You can chalk that up either as an old pals act or a lack of any decent alternative (other than a similarly ancient Ameobi), but for the past two years at least he has been neither a prolific scorer in free play, nor an effective centre-forward. The likes of Ameobi and Jimmy Spencer stood firm and tried to hold the ball up, whereas Stead usually takes the cheap option of crumpling under challenges and trying to win cheap free kicks, and wins less than his fair share of headers for his size.

Clearly, he enjoys some kind of status amongst players and the media as a dressing room leader, but I think that owes more to his willingness to do interviews and provide quotes than his remaining playing ability.

There was more than a whiff of suspicion that he was a key figure behind the player power that got rid of Harry Kewell in a matter of weeks. Was Kewell a bad manager, or a shrewd judge of character and/or ability who saw Stead as part of the problem rather than the solution if the fortunes of the club were going to change?