Luke Summerfield

Quoted from Bigdog

Agree with you Ginny. I don't think anyone has criticised Summers as such on this thread at all. Some like me have measured his abilities against the ambition of getting out of this league that's all. What speaks volumes is that Macca was offered a three year deal by MJ and Summers was offered a one year deal. If MJ signs up Summers to a two year contract then I'll be a bit more convinced that our manager has the faith in him to drive us out of this league. And if that happens and we do get promoted with Summers playing a pivotal role, I'll be the first to hold my hands up and say I was wrong in my assessment of the player..

How do you know this?

Quoted from Cloudy

How do you know this?

I'm sure I read it somewhere that Summers was offered a one year and was holding out for two. Apologies if I've got it wrong.. All will come out in the wash anyway if he signs or leaves and if he stays what sort of role he has within the squad next season. As with all of us, I'm only quoting supposition and speculation I suppose..

for my tuppence ha'penny ...

standout player last season, played at a consistent standard throughout , superior fitness wise to any other player IMO , decent corner delivery.  Broke up so much of the opposition play last season and seemed to be everywhere at times....many games he was the one player who had tracked runners and put in vital tackles to save our centre halves blushes....

having said all that....zero goals, minimal assists in open play and limited in possession .....

came back from the dead really and deserves huge credit for that given he was just about every bodies boo boy the previous season.

If he could replicate last seasons form then i think there would be a place for him for his work rate, disruption and forward drive alone...but we need additional on the ball quality in there, whether that means he does all the running for someone like Woolford or A.N Other and just gives the ball to them when he wins it back or MJ has a cunning formation to utilise his abilities then we shall see.

People seem to think he lacks ability. Last season he was the only player that could regularly ping a pass 20 to 30 yards acurately and also the only one who could receive the ball and already know where he was going to pass it to before it arrived, often not even needing a touch before laying it off. He is by far the best midfielder at the club currently, looking at last seasons performances.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Throwing another "much-maligned" name into the mix.....Tommy Widdrington.

Took plenty of stick in his time here but sitting at the top of The Findus Stand (or whatever it was called then) I didn't think he was that bad a player and a lot of the stick he got was undeserved.

I think the Widdrington stick was down to a number of factors.  He was a replacement for Paul Groves but was a completely different type of player altogether so already onto a hiding to nothing.  We paid a relatively large fee for him so expectations were already heightened by then.  When he arrived Brian Laws was already disliked by a fair section of the crowd after the Bonetti incident.  As the side struggled he was boo-boy target probably as a result of a combination of all reasons listed above.

I actually thought he was ok, nothing special but half-decent.  Not sure he was worth the money we paid for him, but that's probably because we had got used to paying £5.40 and half a worn training bib for quality players that had somehow gone completely under the radar.

Back to Summerfield, the criticism seems to centre around that he doesn't score or create enough chances.  If our strikers had been remotely competent for large parts of the season just gone, he would probably have had double figures of assists.  Nevertheless, I couldn't care less if individuals score X or set up Y amounts of goals.  The collective is always stronger than the individual and if Summerfield allows others to set up chances/score goals, then that's his contribution.  To paraphrase an overused expression about Didier Deschamps, every side needs a water carrier.  

I really, really didn't rate Widdrington. Apt to disappear from games and with an annoying habit of pointing to space which I think was probably intended to get his teammates to cover it, but generally gave the opposition an indiciation of where they should be passing the ball! Not a patch on Groves, of course, so perhaps I was expecting too much from him, especially considering the hefty transfer fee.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Michael Leary is one of the worst players ever to pull on the famous black and white shirt so your comparison is ludicrous.

A good player is Summerfield; in a better team he would be very useful. I hope he signs but what will be will be.

And this statement is rubbish! In 50 years of watching GTFC I have seen a considerable number of town players who were considerably worse then Michael Leary. Fans forget some of the absolute dunnage we have had that have pulled on the famous black and white shirt over the years.

This time last year, I’d of been more than happy for someone to take summers off our hands, a year on and I’m hoping he signs an extension which is a huge credit to him. Without doubt he’s been one of our best players this season and he’s definately shown he’s a good player at this level. I see no reason why he couldn’t be a part of a team in the top 7.

I think too many of us wrote him off last year just simply for the face that he was a part of the York city relegation squad the previous season and a few of their fans slagged him off on social media. The facts are this season he has been very good and his career in fotball speaks for itself. Played most of his football in the championship and league one and has had a promotion out of league two. He plays with energy,passion and desire and he’s a good footballer. I see his role next year to protect the back 4. To take the ball from the back players and start our build up play. So the argument of that he doesn’t score any is quite ridiculous. It’s not his role to score 10-15 a season, it’s to break up play, help us keep shape, start the build up from the back.

Having said that, he does add to our attacking play...maybe some are forgetting the good set piece play (set up matt away at Barnet and also the winner against Notts county) and is a very good passer of the ball long and short. Perhaps people also forget the superb spot and execution to assist demebele at port vale. He’s of a good age and always seem to be available. A good pro.

Hes also an experienced player and one who can help the younger lads (there’ll be plenty of them this year) and id be very disappointed if he doesn’t sign

I wouldnt be surprised if his agent can find him a deal closer to his home in Bolton

Quoted from Cloudy

I wouldnt be surprised if his agent can find him a deal closer to his home in Bolton

He was born in Devon!

Is he living in Bolton now then as I can't understand why going by his former clubs.