http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/august/28/fulham-sign-kiraly

[Beamer]

Seriously, Magath going on about the signing he was hoping to unveil by today was a 38 year old, past his sell by date, keeper. What actual hope is there that anyone else worthwhile is on the way in. Please let me be wrong.

[Forever Fulham]

First time I read about this, and saw his age, I was quite upset.  But now I don't feel that way.  There are reports that he is a good keeper.  Keepers can play to 40 and not see a significant diminishment of reflexes.  He's not the best looking guy in the world, in fact, he's a little homely.  But you can't let that affect your view of him as a goalkeeper.  He might be one tough animal of a goalkeeper, unafraid to leave his line when need be, unafraid to mix it up with contact.  I like Stockdale a lot.  But he's gone.  And our other current goalies don't inspire much confidence.  The club didn't have to pay that much for Kiraly, so I can't get all bent out of shape over this one.  Maybe he starts for a while, and, well, we'll see.  I assume he's Lithuanian or some other low country native, yes?  Kiraly...  There was a great American volleyball player named Karch Kiraly.  He pronounced his last name Kur-eye, with the accent on the second syllable. 

[blingo]

Large donner chilli sauce Hold the salad please...

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[jmh]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

Because he isn't very good?

[fulhamben]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

Because he isn't very good?

or, because he was worth some money. No matter how you look at it, we have considerably weakened our goal keeping options.

[jmh]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

Because he isn't very good?

or, because he was worth some money. No matter how you look at it, we have considerably weakened our goal keeping options.

Is that necessarily the case?  Maybe the way the team looks at it is, we already know Stockdale is OK but nothing special, and maybe one of the younger guys could turn out to be better, so we've weakened ourselves a bit in the near term in order to have a chance at strengthening ourselves in the long term?

[fulhamben]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

Because he isn't very good?

or, because he was worth some money. No matter how you look at it, we have considerably weakened our goal keeping options.

Is that necessarily the case?  Maybe the way the team looks at it is, we already know Stockdale is OK but nothing special, and maybe one of the younger guys could turn out to be better, so we've weakened ourselves a bit in the near term in order to have a chance at strengthening ourselves in the long term?

how though, the two boys were already here. And Stockdale was more than OK in this division as he had already won promotion from it.

[Roberty]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

If he'd stayed we would have run out of pies.

I fail to see how someone who never made it can be so badly missed - we have had a merry-go-round of managers - none bothered to pick him

[Roberty]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

If he'd stayed we would have run out of pies.

I fail to see how someone who never made it can so badly missed - we have had a merry-go-round of managers - none bothered to pick him

The truth of the pudding is - Steve Bruce was not prepared to pay to keep him

[kiwiwaka]

I have no issue as long as hes number two. If he rotates, fine - loan out one of Bettinelli/Joronen.

[fulhamben]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

If he'd stayed we would have run out of pies.

I fail to see how someone who never made it can so badly missed - we have had a merry-go-round of managers - none bothered to pick him

The truth of the pudding is - Steve Bruce was not prepared to pay to keep him

he was on a long contract, and maybe they couldn't afford him. The truth of it is, none of the English teams wanted to keep our new keeper, even when they had him

[Roberty]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

If he'd stayed we would have run out of pies.

I fail to see how someone who never made it can so badly missed - we have had a merry-go-round of managers - none bothered to pick him

The truth of the pudding is - Steve Bruce was not prepared to pay to keep him

he was on a long contract, and maybe they couldn't afford him. The truth of it is, none of the English teams wanted to keep our new keeper, even when they had him

Brighton didn't find it difficult to tempt him away.

Who says we want to keep him - he has a one year contract - I don't see that as a vote of confidence but it would let us loan one of the others out to get experience.

[fulhamben]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

If he'd stayed we would have run out of pies.

I fail to see how someone who never made it can so badly missed - we have had a merry-go-round of managers - none bothered to pick him

The truth of the pudding is - Steve Bruce was not prepared to pay to keep him

he was on a long contract, and maybe they couldn't afford him. The truth of it is, none of the English teams wanted to keep our new keeper, even when they had him

Brighton didn't find it difficult to tempt him away.

Who says we want to keep him - he has a one year contract - I don't see that as a vote of confidence but it would let us loan one of the others out to get experience.

that's what we did with Stockdale. Loaned him to the championship where he excelled, recalled him where he did a job and when we got relegated we sold him when he could of excelled for us. Are there any 3rd or 4th tier teams without a keeper then that will guarantee a kid game time?

[jmh]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

Because he isn't very good?

or, because he was worth some money. No matter how you look at it, we have considerably weakened our goal keeping options.

Is that necessarily the case?  Maybe the way the team looks at it is, we already know Stockdale is OK but nothing special, and maybe one of the younger guys could turn out to be better, so we've weakened ourselves a bit in the near term in order to have a chance at strengthening ourselves in the long term?

how though, the two boys were already here. And Stockdale was more than OK in this division as he had already won promotion from it.

Are you asking how we're stronger long-term without Stockdale?  We're stronger long-term because the young goalkeepers only get the playing time to develop into better players without Stockdale here.  And, as Magath has said more than once, it's not just about being good enough *in this division*, it's about developing a team that's good enough to compete in the Premier League.  Will Joronen or Bettinelli ever be that good?  Well, I have no idea, but at this point it seems a fair bet that Stockdale won't ever be, given that nobody better than Brighton wanted to sign him.

[Andy S]

Shwarzer played some of his best games at 38

[FortCollinsFulham]

Kasey Keller did a commendable job for us in his late 30s as well. Just stating a positive.

More importantly, I want the official Kiraly pants sold in the team store.

[ron]

But don't forget this guy can also double up as a groundsman.

...as the heavy roller...?

[fulhamben]

Another statement of intent by the club. Why oh why did we let Stockdale go  fp.gif

Because he isn't very good?

or, because he was worth some money. No matter how you look at it, we have considerably weakened our goal keeping options.

Is that necessarily the case?  Maybe the way the team looks at it is, we already know Stockdale is OK but nothing special, and maybe one of the younger guys could turn out to be better, so we've weakened ourselves a bit in the near term in order to have a chance at strengthening ourselves in the long term?

how though, the two boys were already here. And Stockdale was more than OK in this division as he had already won promotion from it.

Are you asking how we're stronger long-term without Stockdale?  We're stronger long-term because the young goalkeepers only get the playing time to develop into better players without Stockdale here.  And, as Magath has said more than once, it's not just about being good enough *in this division*, it's about developing a team that's good enough to compete in the Premier League.  Will Joronen or Bettinelli ever be that good?  Well, I have no idea, but at this point it seems a fair bet that Stockdale won't ever be, given that nobody better than Brighton wanted to sign him.

that's providing this new bloke doesn't take up there game time.

[kiwiwaka]

He's a very experienced backup (as confirmed by Magath) - I don't see the issue personally. Pointless having a 21yo sitting on the bench doing nothing IMO.

[cmg]

Magath's latest communication makes the situation regarding Kiraly's signing quite clear:

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/august/28/thoughts-from-the-manager

I think it fair to warn that it is a sensible and rather impressive piece, and therefore may not be to everyone's taste.