Site Poll #17

This time last week we asked “Who Was The Best January Signing of 2006?”

This time last week we asked “Who Was The Best January Signing of 2006?”

The results are as follows:
Marcus Bean – 13%
Marc Joseph – 10%
Najzi Kuqi – 11%
Neil Wood – 13%
David Fox – 53%

The clear winner from the poll was former Manchester United midfielder, David Fox -who managed over half of the votes polling 53%. The young creator has cemented a place down in Blackpool`s starting eleven alongside long term Seasider, Keith Southern and seems to be fitting in quite nicely – although in my opinion his dead ball delivery needs looking at. Fox, who originally found it difficult to break into Simon Grayson`s squad, is currently keeping former international player, Claus Jorgensen out of the team, along with Marcus Bean who proved to be a big hit last season. However, Bean is a defensive midfielder and wouldn`t be directly competing for places with Fox, and surprisingly only scored 13% in the poll, considering many fans wanted him in the team instead of Southern (which for me would be ludicrous).

Defender Marc Joseph came last in the poll with 10%, which again was a bit surprising as he was well thought of among a large section of the Blackpool online community. I believe that partly why Marc polled so badly was due to the fact that many fans have said he looked unfit after his summer holiday – along with his numerous injuries. Also, he hasn`t looked as interested as last seasons relegation dogfight for me.

Then there are the two lads brought in over January 2006 who didn`t stay at the seaside. Najzi Kuqi caught a very respectable 11% of the votes considering he was only at Bloomers a matter of weeks. The main reason for Kuqi`s inclusion to the poll was the impact he had on the striking pairing at the time, Keigan Parker and John Murphy, as they immediately upped their respective games through the “Premiership influence” of Kuqi – brother of Shefki, who spent a time at Blackburn Rovers. I never thought Najzi showed his real potential whilst here (striked me as a bit of a Zarko Graborvac!), but inadvertently pushed Parker and Big John Murphy, which was good for the clubs results.
Neil Wood was another who never really got going here, and at the end of the season moved to Oldham where he has been limited to only 3 starting appearances. In his seven games here at Blackpool, Wood showed the required quality with the ball to succeed at this level and especially at home to Yeovil bossed the midfield and spread the Seasiders` attack (something that hadn`t been seen since a certain Richie Wellens donned the tangerine jersey, and ironically it is he who keeps Wood from the Oldham starting eleven). Neil however was shown a red card for a shocking tackle on Hartlepool`s Gavin Strachan at Victoria Park and his Blackpool career never kicked off after that. 13% of the vote does show that some fans saw him as a good technical player and I for one certainly believed he had earned a contract at Bloomfield Road – before he was later released.

This week we ask: ‘Who would you like to see back at Bloomers?
Trevor Sinclair
Richie Wellens
Brett Ormerod
Scott Taylor
Alan Wright

We ask for you to vote not on what the player was, but what he is now.