When David James arrived at Pompey Dean Kiely was not best pleased – and he made his feelings know.
After clocking up his 228th clean sheet at the weekend for West Brom in his 700th match – which is some record – he has taken a swipe at his Pompey replacement in the Mirror, ‘a lot has been made of David James getting 141 in the Premiership but I’ve got 228 in all forms of football and not stood leaning against the post for so many years at Liverpool.
‘I’m fiercely proud of it and not too many people know about it. It’s a by-product of being successful because I’ve been selected by my chosen employers week in week out for over 17 years’.
Congratulations to Kiely, that is some achievement and some record.
I had nothing against the fella when he was here – admittedly he did not overly convince me – but I know without doubt who I would rather have now.
I do not know off the top of my head the stats, nor can I really be that bothered to find out to be honest, but James has also played some football outside of the top flight for Watford and West Ham, so I am sure that his clean sheet record overall would be higher than his Premiership record alone, but still not as good as Kiely’s though.
Whilst on the topic of West Brom – being Kiely’s current employers – they are being linked with what the papers call ‘a cheeky loan’ bid to sign David Nugent, with the promise to sign him for £4m in January.
I had hoped that the topic of Nugent leaving would disappear now that the transfer window has shut, but Championship sides can still make loan moves for the time being, so the ‘claims’ are that with Harry Redknapp deciding ‘he has seen enough of him’ and had been ‘offering him to other clubs’, West Brom see this as a chance to get their man.
To be honest I have had more than enough of the Nugent talks, the fella does not go from being the next big thing – for club and country – to a nobody over night, the fella has fantastic ability and will be a success for Pompey.
He does not want to leave, so if Pompey let him leave it would not only have seen Redknapp waste good money, but also the club making a huge mistake, not in signing him, in letting him leave again!
My thinking – and hoping – is this is nothing more than pure paper garbage and nothing will come of it, the fella needs the support he deserves as he will be a hit here – I just hope that he is given the chance to prove this.
PLAY UP POMPEY!
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