Ian Holloway is to sign Ben Davies on a player contract in addition to his #gtfc coaching role

I was thinking of Ben taking the Hess role until the end of the season. Great minds think alike.

Bet Cleethorpes wish they did not release him so quickly now...

Quoted from pizzzza

Bet Cleethorpes wish they did not release him so quickly now...

They'd have come across as proper twits if they didn't though.

Fair play to them in not standing in his way to take up the position he did.

I hope we don't see him playing in central midfield for us. If we haven't got any other bodies available, then fair enough, but I seem to recall he was too slow in the role on the couple of occasions he played there for us. And that was when he was younger!

If we assume Hessenthaler is likely to be out for most of the rest of the season, getting Robson back in would be very useful.

Yes he was pretty dreadful for us there I recall 🤔

Not forgetting he can play left and right back too - where we are light in numbers.

I highly doubt he’s been brought in as a starter - just handy to bulk up the numbers for the rest of the season when called upon. Can play in a number of positions etc.

Good move I say.

It is obvious really. The home bench is too short for all the staff plus the subs so it makes sense for one of them to double up jobs and make more room.



  ;)

Good decision particuarly with Hendrie playing through the pain barrier!

Sensible !

Holloway hasn't kept quiet about his intention to get Davies back involved.  

Thought he could still do a decent job for us at right-back when he was released but like others shared concerns about a midfield slot.  I guess it depends on the actual role.  If he was asked, in the twilight of his career, to dash about like a 22-year-old in there he was always going to be exposed.  But in a more of a sitter role he could be well suited, especially with the improvement we've now got in midfield in terms of energy.  It's an area we lack experience too.

Quoted from Maringer

I hope we don't see him playing in central midfield for us. If we haven't got any other bodies available, then fair enough, but I seem to recall he was too slow in the role on the couple of occasions he played there for us. And that was when he was younger!

If we assume Hessenthaler is likely to be out for most of the rest of the season, getting Robson back in would be very useful.

But that’s exactly where IH wants him to play just in front of the back four if required.

Quoted from acko338

Sensible !

Will he be the Captain?  ;)

Quoted from cmackenzie4

Will he be the Captain?  ;)

Only if he talks happy.

Quoted from Maringer

I hope we don't see him playing in central midfield for us. If we haven't got any other bodies available, then fair enough, but I seem to recall he was too slow in the role on the couple of occasions he played there for us. And that was when he was younger!

If we assume Hessenthaler is likely to be out for most of the rest of the season, getting Robson back in would be very useful.

He "retired" for a reason as far as i was concerned too, he struggled in that last season going forward and was close to woeful in the central role, steady enough as a full back but Holloway likes his defence to get up the pitch which i think he would struggle with based on the end of his last season with us.
Holloway does see the value in his talking and communication and maybe as someone to organise the back line and maybe seems him as ideal for the man to play out from the back with but i think his other potential shortcomings outweigh those benefits.

I trust Holloway's judgement on this one. He passed this comment very early on (after only a couple of training sessions, I think).

Only in emergency situations with ridiculous amount of injuries stacking up and us being well short please.

Absolutely ridiculous when Hewitt can't get a look in. He left because he was deemed not good enough. Only drink and cheese get better with age and it appears to me that too much drink has been consumed and we are now scraping the barrel

Bollocks. He's not signing to play 90 minutes every week.

Quoted from golfer

Absolutely ridiculous when Hewitt can't get a look in. He left because he was deemed not good enough. Only drink and cheese get better with age and it appears to me that too much drink has been consumed and we are now scraping the barrel

really , just cheese and wine? hehe

Quoted from golfer

Absolutely ridiculous when Hewitt can't get a look in. He left because he was deemed not good enough. Only drink and cheese get better with age and it appears to me that too much drink has been consumed and we are now scraping the barrel

Sometimes golfer, you do talk some crud...he didn't leave, he wasn't offered a new contract and at the time most fans were surprised as he'd had a good season at left back for us...
Holloway hasn't signed him on as a player to give him 90 minutes each week, he's signed him to be a strong voice in the dressing room, to be a leader and get the boys jee'd up on a match day...I'd be surprised, as long as we keep Glennon and Hewitt fit, if he actually gets much game time apart from the odd substitute appearance...

Quoted from Abdul19

Bollocks. He's not signing to play 90 minutes every week.

Bolllox to you as well pal -if we have resorted to this we have sunk to new depths.

Is this really much different from Sam Russel being a player/coach?

Quoted from Oly1987

Is this really much different from Sam Russel being a player/coach?

Only that playing outfield is physically more demanding...still think it's actually a really shrewd move by Holloway, he's got another player signed on for nothing, who adds something to the squad, not as a player but as mentor to the younger lads .

We've had plenty of coaches double up over the years, just named as a player in case of an absolute emergency. Doig was the same in  his final year with us as a player, he was like 5th choice centre back.

Quoted from golfer

Bolllox to you as well pal -if we have resorted to this we have sunk to new depths.

Aye, registering a coach as a player is worse than losing to Chasetown  ;D

watching the away games in Jolley's first few months were always fraught, tight affairs and Davies was the one calming influence on the pitch, which was very important. Our team is very young generally, and i could easily see him coming on for final few minutes in a tight game to calm things down and make good choices