11 replies to this topic

[duffymoon]

Signed for Oldham accoring to one or two of the other forums.

[Shizonamy]

I knew this would happen with the limited game time. I know he has not been too effective but not really given much of a chance.

[Furryenzo]

To be honest I dont think he will be missed, in the 3 games I saw him play he made little to no impact, I think there will be good amateur player who could fill his gap should, god forbid, we get more injuries.

People may say, he didnt get a chance, but if you dont play well in the 3 games you get, and obviously he wasnt impressing in training, what more can be done.

[wayne_r]

To be honest I dont think he will be missed, in the 3 games I saw him play he made little to no impact, I think there will be good amateur player who could fill his gap should, god forbid, we get more injuries.

People may say, he didnt get a chance, but if you dont play well in the 3 games you get, and obviously he wasnt impressing in training, what more can be done.

Regardless of whether we rate players or not the problem with a squad system is retaining the squad members that are not first choice - it is a concern and of course harking back to the good old days when there was an A team such concerns did not exist. Only thing is that there will also be squad members from other clubs that are unhappy and we could benefit from them joining us - as we have all seen, players on the fringe may not necessarily be there because of their ability (or lack of it) and a change of club is usually a good thing. I know I would not be happy being on the sidelines week in and week out...........

[PhillH]

The only suprising thing about this news is that Forber has hung on this long. It is the established pattern of the last several years that a good proportion of the squad drifts away after 7-10 matches and it becomes clear they are not going to play much. In many cases we don't even hear about it, particularly when players don't move to another club but instead go down the amateur route, or just give up the game (will Tony Stewart's latest spell with the Lions run beyond one apperance as a substitute, I wonder).

A player with Forber's track record will only have joined Swinton Lions with the intention of being part of the starting line up regularly. It may have worked out, had Martin Ainscough been used at centre as he was at Blackpool (where Forber was the regular stand off), or if Ian Watson had decided to concentrate on coaching. But it hasn't gone that way and Forber clearly has not performed anywhere near his best on the odd occasion he has been put in the side. It strikes me that he is a confidence player and not suited to a fringe role with only a sporadic chance to play.

Oldham have been struggling at half back, Forber is a proven performer at 6 and/or 7 at this level, it is crystal clear Steve McCormack doesn't rate Forber as being in his first choice line up at the Lions - the logical outcome is for the player to move on. In the bygone era the player would have been banished to the sidelines until the clubs could agree a transfer fee etc, player power has come a long way since then!

The immediate impact is a lack of cover should Ainscough and/or Watson be absent for any reason and lessens the competition for places. Lee Patterson playing at 6 appears to be the new "Plan B". Patterson's big advantage over Forber is that he can play in the three quarters or back row, so can still get game time even if Ainscough & Watson still dominate at 6 and 7. I do worry slightly over what happens next season in the likely event Watson retires.

In terms of "what can be done" - the preferrable thing would be to run a reserve side, with an emphasis on youth and based at Agecroft.

Edited by PhillH, 15 April 2011 - 08:44 AM.

[Keith T]

Weren't Watson and Hemingway the half-backs at Blackpool with Forber as back-up?

[PhillH]

Weren't Watson and Hemingway the half-backs at Blackpool with Forber as back-up?

Ian Watson has had the proverbial "more clubs than Jack Nicklaus", but Blackpool is not among them. Yes to Swinton, Salford, Halifax, Workington, Leigh, Widnes, Rochdale and Oldham.

Martin Crompton generally went with Martin Ainscough in the centre, Carl Forber at 6 and Tom Hemmingway at 7.

Edited by PhillH, 15 April 2011 - 01:56 PM.

[PhillH]

Seems like it has fallen through at the last minute!

http://www.roughyeds...anks/#more-4213


Two new faces in the ranks
OLDHAM RL Club’s plans to go into the London Skolars game at Whitebank on Sunday with two new faces in the ranks suffered a setback last night.

Prop Luke Stenchion will make his debut, but the Roughyeds’ bid to bring in another new boy on loan fell victim to an 11th-hour about-turn by his club.

Oldham will not identify their target, but club officials have revealed that he trained with Roughyeds last night with the approval of his club and on the understanding that formalities would be completed today.

Negotiations were so well advanced that the player was involved in the Roughyeds’ match preparations and was fully expected to play against Skolars.

“We then got a phone call from his club to say they had changed their mind because they couldn’t risk losing him for a month at a time when they have injuries of their own to worry about,” said Oldham chairman Chris Hamilton.

“Under RFL rules a player can’t move on loan for less than one month and that seems to be the problem with the player’s club. The lad wants to come, and it was all going to be sorted today, but we keep being frustrated in our efforts to bring in at least one more new signing to add to that of Luke Stenchion.

“Needless to say, this won’t be the end of our endeavours. We are continuing to work at it today and we still remain hopeful of having another new face in the side on Sunday.”

[beacs]

Have you released Forber or not Swinton Lionesses

[PhillH]

Deal finally done, for a month at least.

http://www.swintonli...am-on-loan.html

[beacs]

Thank you Thank you for Forber what a player simple

[lions4eva]

Glad he played well to be fair. We will have him back soon to bolster the squad.