Player on the way? McCready signs (bloody ANCIENT thread!)

[AJC]

I think a major argument currently ignored in the Chris McCready vs Dave Artell discussion is the adaptability of each to play in various positions. Apparently McCready can play pretty much in any defensive position you can throw at him, including defensive midfield, which is a huge attribute to have as a lower league footballers. It also could improve the longevity of his career, as he may lose the pace to play one position, but still be able to adequate fill another role. However Artell is very much a centre back, although his goal stats would suggest he's a bit of a striker too! I think this may have counted against him, as it limits what changes can be made during the game as well, especially during the early stages when the manager will be reluctant to make substitutions.

[Shropshire-Shrimp]

There are 2 views on Chris McCready near here at Crewe, where he spent two spells, having come through the Academy (and where he was known to fans as Sicknote ....). The ungenerous one was that he personified the club's Centre Half problems (which Dave Artell has been signed to counter), and was never fit for more than a month at a time either. His friends would say a decent defender, who reads the game well, NOT in any sense a dominant centre half but a good marker, whose career has been spoiled by recurrent niggling injuries. Crewe boards wish him well, but expect him to be a fixture on the Globe Arena physio's table. Hope they're wrong.

[Posh]

There are 2 views on Chris McCready near here at Crewe, where he spent two spells, having come through the Academy (and where he was known to fans as Sicknote ....). The ungenerous one was that he personified the club's Centre Half problems (which Dave Artell has been signed to counter), and was never fit for more than a month at a time either. His friends would say a decent defender, who reads the game well, NOT in any sense a dominant centre half but a good marker, whose career has been spoiled by recurrent niggling injuries. Crewe boards wish him well, but expect him to be a fixture on the Globe Arena physio's table. Hope they're wrong.

His injuries was one of the things I highlighted earlier. His playing record since 03/04 is as follows:

23 games 03/04
21 games 04/05
26 games 05/06
42 games 06/07
36 games 07/08
6 games 08/09
26 games 09/10

I'm not trying to have a downer on the bloke, just highlighting a few facts. Sammy know best and will get the best out of him I'm sure.

[AJC]

Not having his medical history to hand, obviously I can't argue either for or against McCready's injury record with too much conviction, but it would be interesting to know whether he was regarded as a first team regular between 03/04 and 05/06, at the age of 22 to 24 during this period. He wasn't a first team regular in his last season at Northampton, which may partly explain his lack of appearances during that season (although he was loaned out to Tranmere in January, where he played 8 games.... before getting injured).

So maybe the only really worrying season would be 08/09, and having an injury that ruled him out most of that year may explain why he wasn't on top form and unfavoured last season. However, if he had a reputation of being a sick-note at Crewe then maybe there is an injury explanation behind his lack of appearances. Again though, without going through Crewe's squad injury records, you can't know whether this is down to the individual, training facilities (presumably not at Crewe) or training methods. For example, Graeme Souness had a habit of "inheriting" injury prone squads wherever he managed, which was apparently caused by the rigorous training sessions rather than how injury prone the players were.

I assume he has passed a rigorous medical before he joined though, it doesn't appear that this deal has been rushed through so I think I'll wait to see how frequently he is available to play for us before jumping to any conclusion on his susceptibility to injury.

[Up_The_Cobblers]

I think McCready suffered from being part of an entirely new-look defence who struggled to gel and shipped a lot of goals in the first few months of last season. He had very few really bad games but by the same note he didn't have any good ones either. The game away at Aldershot pretty much spelled the end for him here- we were 1-0 up after about 80 minutes but he made two horrendous mistakes to gift them two late goals and all three points. Shifting him out in January was an important part of restructuring a defence that let us down in the first half of the season.

All in all I think he's a solid defender when on form and confident BUT needs a settled and, importantly, a confident and competent group of defenders around him, to get the best out of him. He's prone to the odd lapse of concentration so ideally wants a pacy CB alongside him to hoover up anyhing he lets go. Best of luck to him and you this season.

Also, hate to nag (as I know I already made an article on this) but I'm still looking for a Shrimps fan to do a little season preview write-up for me to put on a site I run; if anyone fancies just putting a paragraph or two up on this thread discussing pre-season preparation and hopes for the season I'd be grateful as I'm running out of time to get everything sorted.

Thanks.

[George Dawes]

I think McCready suffered from being part of an entirely new-look defence who struggled to gel and shipped a lot of goals in the first few months of last season. He had very few really bad games but by the same note he didn't have any good ones either. The game away at Aldershot pretty much spelled the end for him here- we were 1-0 up after about 80 minutes but he made two horrendous mistakes to gift them two late goals and all three points. Shifting him out in January was an important part of restructuring a defence that let us down in the first half of the season.

All in all I think he's a solid defender when on form and confident BUT needs a settled and, importantly, a confident and competent group of defenders around him, to get the best out of him. He's prone to the odd lapse of concentration so ideally wants a pacy CB alongside him to hoover up anyhing he lets go. Best of luck to him and you this season.

Also, hate to nag (as I know I already made an article on this) but I'm still looking for a Shrimps fan to do a little season preview write-up for me to put on a site I run; if anyone fancies just putting a paragraph or two up on this thread discussing pre-season preparation and hopes for the season I'd be grateful as I'm running out of time to get everything sorted.

Thanks.

cheers for the feedback

[Christies Child]

Find it hard to understand the logic of giving our new lad a 2 year contract when we wouldn't give one to Arts. Certainly not the most cultured of players, but at least with Arts you knew exactly what you were getting including an appreciable number of goals per season.

Strange, but then again this close season has been very strange in a number of areas.

Maybe Sammy thought that our defensive problems of last season could be put down, in part, to Arts?

I think it's unfair to say our defensive problems lay on the shoulders of one man. I think he did the best he could and I will always be grateful to Dave for his time at the club.

How about you look at the situation this way:

McCready was playing League One football last season at Tranmere. So, if we were to progress this season and get promotion, McCready would still be in the frame for a first team place. However, I don't think Artell would have been. Therefore, offer Arts a 1year deal, with him then being able to find a move to a L2 club if we got promoted, or sign a player with higher level experience who can contribute should we be lucky enough to go up a league.

I just think it was logical thinking about a team that has come on a lot in the last few years and is still looking to progress!

That's not what I said. Read my post again and note the words 'in part' which is perfectly correct. Arts was not responsible on his own for the poor defensive record.

[marky]

Ntini and AJC do a pretty good job of summing up my thoughts on the Artell situation. Why offer a player a 2 year deal who would definitely be unable to cut it in a higher league when we're aiming to match if not better last season's result? If we'd have got promoted last season we'd have needed at least 10 players of better quality to just survive and the same will possibly be true if it happens this time round. Artell's would be a wasted wage for a Morecambe in League 1 so it was prudent for both financial and footballing reasons to only offer a 1 year deal. McCready has played at a higher level with both Crewe and Tranmere so is clearly capable. He'd probably be to League 1 what Artell is to League 2 i.e. good enough to help us survive and start to grow, but ultimately not good enough to help take us to the next level.

Back to Artell, I note a few members have alluded to our good spell at the back end of 2009 with regard to Artell's virtues. Whilst he captained us through that period, I seem to recall a good few posters attributing his better play to the fact he was playing alongside Haining (he was getting the best out of Artell, etc). Just like it would be wrong to blame Artell solely for our defensive problems last season, it would also be equally wrong to single him out as the major reason we went on that great run.

[Posh]

Interesting post Marky and tend to agree with general points regarding Dave Artell but doesn't weigh up his ability to get us to promotion rather than his perceived value in League 1. However agree with point he'd struggle at a higher level. If so then the replacement has to be better and we'll find out soon enough. You talk about him playing at a higher level, including a season in the Championship, but omit to mention he was deemed not good enough by a team who finished below us in League 2 and whose defensive record and League position improved dramatically on his departure. Crewe also plummeted two leagues while he was at the club. I hope he works out but your determination to rubbish Dave Artell's record has required some rose tinted glasses (there is a first time for everything) to justify your point.

[George Dawes]

the only thing what concerns me is the "sick note tag" all be it niggling injuries, so then when you get back into the team in takes you a good few games to get match fit etc etc


but it's all good if he's been brought up through the ranks at Crewe with Dario Gradi, he will be a footballing center-half comfortable on the ball


fingers crossed no injury's, the Lad is due some good luck

[durianmuncher]

The 'Sicknote' tag is mildly concerning, but I'm sure it has been taken into consideration, and wasn't recent anyway.

Personally, I find this signing very exciting indeed and am really looking forward to the first match he is involved in. His position versatility is ideal.