The 20 year old West Ham United defender Reece Burke joined Wigan Athletic last week on a season long loan. The 6 ft 2 1⁄2 in Burke is essentially a central defender but can also play right back.
Latics manager Gary Caldwell clearly has a high opinion of Burke, commenting that:
“As soon as we were made aware of Reece’s availability, we worked hard to get him here as we knew there was interest from a number of Championship clubs. He’s about to turn 20 and the experience he has already is impressive, having played in the Premier League for West Ham and also his successful spell with Bradford last season.
The fact West Ham have signed him up to a four-year-deal tells you how highly they rate him and we are pleased that they believe the best place for him to develop now is with us here at Wigan Athletic. He brings good quality on the ball, but most importantly he’s a solid defender who can deal with big crowds and the league environment, as he proved at Bradford.”
Reece Burke was born in Newham and joined West Ham when he was nine years old. He has represented England at under 18, under 19 and under 20 levels. He made his senior debut for the Hammers in January 2014, in an FA Cup match at Nottingham Forest. His next appearance came the following August in a League Cup tie at home to Sheffield United. He had to wait until April 2015 to make his Premier League debut in a goalless draw at Queens Park Rangers. This season he played for the Hammers in their ill-fated Europa League match up with Astra Giurgiu at the London Stadium.
Last season Burke was loaned out to Bradford City, where he made a major impact, winning the Player of the Year award.
In order to learn more about Burke’s time at Bradford we contacted Bantams’ fan Stuart Black through Twitter (@blackmeister).
Here’s over to Stuart:
We made a poor start to last season. Late player recruitment had damaged our summer plans, caused by the protracted and ultimately failed takeover of Bradford City by Gianni Paladini. The alarm bells were ringing amongst the fans after a weak pre-season, a poor start to the League and being dumped out of the Capital One Cup by York City.
Reece made his debut in the Yorkshire Derby away at Barnsley on 25th August 2015 where City drew 0-0 gaining us only our second point of the season. From then on he played in 34 fixtures at Centre half and was named as our Player of the season.
Reece settled in well next to experienced Rory McArdle and as the season progressed and as our performances improved he certainly gained confidence.
He has a fantastic coolness about him on the ball that not many centre halves have and on many occasions he would take the ball forward skilfully beating opponents reminding us of a Bobby Moore/ Rio Ferdinand type. The last player I can remember being so cool in possession from that position for Bradford was the late Dean Richards who ended up at Spurs. His modern day comparison would be John Stones.
He is fairly quick and athletic but strong for his age. With further improvement in his heading and tackling ability he will be playing Premier League football within 1-2 years without a doubt.
It was widely suggested by City fans that we will one day see Reece Burke in an England Shirt as a full international as he has all the ability in the world to do so. Let’s hope his career continues to blossom at Wigan and he becomes as much of a favourite with your fans as he is endeared by ours.
“In my head this season only starts from tonight onwards”.
So said David Sharpe at the end of the transfer deadline day. The chairman went on to say that the transfer window should finish on the 31st of July, rather than the 31st of August.
Much has been said by many people about the date of closure of the summer transfer window. Sharpe is one of many club chairmen unhappy with the current arrangement. The Championship season started on August 6th and the clubs had played five league games before the transfer window closed. Sadly for Sharpe, Wigan Athletic only gathered four points from those matches, three less than last season’s League 1 runners-up Burton Albion and five less than playoff winners Barnsley.
Latics have once again made a poor start to a season, not only in terms of results, but also in terms of performances. Granted, the defeats at both Bristol and Nottingham came in time added on, but in neither match did Latics truly merit a point. The home games against Birmingham and QPR saw Latics play against teams with well organised and uncompromising defences, something they will have to get used to this season. There are few easy games in the Championship.
Some fans will attribute the disappointing start to the season to bringing in too many new players into a team that had won the League 1 title just three months before. The starting lineup for the first game of the season at Bristol contained just six players who started in last season’s finale against Barnsley. Moreover with the transfer window still open for another 25 days there were surely going to be more new players coming in. The slow start of last season’s team in the league was put down largely to the sheer number of new players brought in. It was bound to take time for them to cohere into a unit in which the whole at least approached the sum of its parts. It looks like it will be happening again.
In fact Caldwell had already brought in seven new players to his squad by the end of July. Since then he has added another seven. Fans are now wondering how long it is going to take for a squad with fourteen new players to gel into a cohesive unit. Is there such a gulf between League 1 and the Championship that Caldwell had to bring in so much new blood? Did the other promoted clubs feel the same need?
In fact, Barnsley, like Latics, fielded six players in their starting lineup on August 6th who had started in the last game of the 2015-16 season. Burton started with only five. Barnsley brought in nine new players during the month of August, Burton acquiring six during that same period.
The managers at all three clubs clearly felt a need to seriously strengthen their squads in moving to a higher division.
The League 1 winners of 2014-15, Bristol City struggled to come to grips with the Championship last season. They lost their first three games, but drew the next at home to Leeds and won the following one at Middlesbrough. They therefore had four points from their first five games, as Latics have right now.
But things got worse for City before they got better. After losing 4-0 at Burnley at the end of December they finished the calendar year in 22nd place. In the end City managed 18th place. City had not brought in a swathe of new players over summer, but made use of the loan system through the course of the season to effect. Of the other promoted teams, MK Dons were relegated and Preston NE finished 11th.
So, given the poor start what can we expect from Caldwell’s Wigan Athletic this season? Moreover what are the expectations of the chairman and can Caldwell meet them?
Last season Caldwell built a quality squad with strength in depth compared with other clubs in League 1. His bench was the envy of the division and he employed it to effect. When things were not going to the game plan Caldwell was able to bring players off the bench who would have a significant impact on the proceedings.
However, the bench that Caldwell had for the game at Bristol was less impressive. Not only had the stakes been raised by moving up to a higher division, but injuries in the pre-season had further reduced his options. When a partially fit Will Grigg finally left the pitch after 70 minutes there was no central striker available to replace him.
A month later there are still injuries but the squad is so much stronger. Adam le Fondre has come in, ready to challenge Grigg for a starting position, with Craig Davies now fit again and Nick Powell capable of playing a central striking role too. Nathan Byrne has been signed for the troublesome right wing back position, with Luke Burke as an alternative. Apart from Yanic Wildschut the squad was lacking players of genuine pace. Byrne can provide that as can Kaiyne Woolery, a rough diamond that Caldwell will seek to polish.
Reece Burke will add quality to the centre of defence, with the ability to play in the orthodox right back position if Caldwell opts for a back four. Jordi Gomez is a fine player at Championship level when played in a central midfield role.
The squad currently consists of:
Goalkeepers – Adam Bogdan (28), Jussi Jaaskelainen (41), Dan Lavercombe (21).
Full backs/wing backs – Nathan Byrne (24), Kyle Knoyle (19), Luke Burke (18), Reece James (22), Stephen Warnock (34), Luke Garbutt (23).
Centre backs – Reece Burke (20), Dan Burn (24), Donervon Daniels (22), Craig Morgan (31), Jake Buxton (31).
Midfielders – Alex Gilbey (21), Max Power (23), David Perkins (34), Andy Kellett (22), Nick Powell (22), Jordan Flores (20), Michael Jacobs (24), Shaun MacDonald (28), Jordi Gomez (31).
Forwards – Will Grigg (25), Craig Davies (30), Yanic Wildschut (24), Kaiyne Woolery (21), Adam le Fondre (29).
The squad is now well balanced, although Daniels, James and Knoyle remain on the long term injured list. It appears to have sufficient quality to ensure a mid-table position, although results over the coming weeks might not show much improvement as new players “bed in” with their teammates and Caldwell’s preferred style of play. Put simply, results are likely to get worse before they get better.
Only Preston of last season’s promoted teams could reach a mid-table position last season. Should Caldwell’s team manage that it will be seen as a success by most supporters, consolidation in the first season back in the Championship providing a base upon which to build.
However, the ambitions within the club could well be higher. This is the last season of parachute payments and the Whelan family’s policy running of the club over the past few years has seen money invested, but at least as much recouped. It remains to be seen if they would be willing to front the cash needed to mount a promotion push a year from now without the parachute subsidy.
It is not publicly known what Sharpe’s aspirations are for the current season. He will certainly have learned from his “smash the league with 100 points” comment just over a year ago, but would he be happy with consolidation this season? Or does he see this as the season that Latics can conceivably regain their Premier League status? It would be a tall order, unlikely, but by no means impossible.
In the meantime Caldwell will be hoping that his new players can ‘gel’ in as soon as possible. It inevitably took time for the process to happen last season but the depth and quality of the squad ultimately proved to be the determining factor for success. His current squad is much stronger than it was a month ago, but is it good enough to challenge the best teams in the championship?
Last season taught us to be patient. We knew that the new squad was going to take time to gel into a cohesive unit. Patience will also be required this season, although the going is much tougher in a highly competitive Championship division with so many clubs having spent serious money on new players over the summer.
Given the situation a mid-table position would be an achievement: anything higher an added bonus. The bottom line is to avoid relegation, but Caldwell’s squad is so much stronger than that of the hapless Malky Mackay a couple of seasons ago.
For the moment patience would seem to be the order of the day.
The 21 year old Kaiyne Woolery has signed for Wigan Athletic from Bolton Wanderers for a fee of around £200,000. The pacey forward, who is 5 ft 11 in tall, has signed a three year contract.
On signing Woolery, Gary Caldwell commented that: ”Kaiyne is someone we are really excited to bring to the club. We have been looking at him for some time and been impressed by what we have seen. He is still young but has great potential. He has pace, an eye for goal and we are looking forward to being able to see him develop in a Wigan Athletic shirt.”
Woolery was born in the London borough of Hackney and began his career at Maidstone United, playing in the Isthmian League South as a youth. In the summer of 2013, as an 18 year old, he moved to the midlands, signing for Conference Premier League club Tamworth. He was loaned out to Stafford Rangers of the Northern Premier League for the first half of the 2013-14 season, then back to Maidstone in January 2014.
In the summer of 2014 he signed for Bolton for a fee of £10,000. The following January he was sent on loan to Notts County, where he made 5 appearances, before making his debut for Bolton in late April. He had come on for Adam Le Fondre as a 79th minute substitute in a defeat at Bournemouth.
Last season saw Woolery make 20 appearances for Bolton. He scored two goals including a last minute winner against Rotherham in February. He has made three appearances for Bolton this season, scoring a stoppage time goal against Blackpool in the League Cup to put the game into extra time.
To learn more about Woolery’s time at Bolton we contacted Chris Mann of the Burnden Aces fan site http://www.burndenaces.co.uk (Twitter @BurndenAces ).
Here’s over to Chris:
Kaiyne Woolery’s departure came as a surprise, with the general attitude surrounding the move a little mixed.
A £10,000 arrival from Tamworth in 2014, Woolery was a low-risk signing by Dougie Freedman and got his break as a late substitute in defeat at Bournemouth in April 2015, before getting more regular opportunities during our struggles of last season.
Woolery is lightning quick and has undoubted potential, but there are major flaws that need working on.
First of all, somebody, whether it be he or the Wigan coaching staff, need to decide on his best position. He was billed as a winger upon his arrival, but was utilised in a more forward role as his time at Macron Stadium progressed.
Woolery is still somewhat raw and desperately needs playing time. He would probably have received that at Bolton this season, which is why his deadline day move to the DW Stadium raised a few eyebrows.
I’m not so sure he’s Championship standard right now. Sure, he could be in the future, but he’s reached the critical stage where he needs to impress and avoid becoming another false dawn. Fingers crossed he gets that time with Latics, but I do fear it’s the wrong move at this moment in time.
Wigan Athletic yesterday announced the loan signing of 29 year old striker Adam Le Fondre from Cardiff City. The loan is until the end of the season, when the player’s contract at Cardiff is due to expire.
The 5 ft 9 in tall Le Fondre is a proven goalscorer with a tally of 175 in his professional career, including 14 for Reading in the Premier League in the 2012-13 season. Although he has been through some lean times in the last couple of seasons he is eager to get back to his best. On signing for Latics he said:
“This move is going to give me a platform to perform again and consistently play football. There is a lot of hard work in front of me and a lot of goals to score, but that’s what I am here to do.”
Le Fondre was born in Stockport and joined his local club. He made his debut for County in September 2004 as an 18 year old, scoring a goal in a 3-1 League Cup win over Bury. He went on to make 63 appearances, scoring 18 goals in three seasons there. In January 2007 he went on loan to Rochdale, the move becoming permanent that summer. He went on to spend two more seasons at Rochdale making a total of 96 appearances and scoring 34 goals.
Rotherham United paid an undisclosed transfer fee for Le Fondre in the summer of 2009. He stayed there two seasons with a goal tally of 54 in 96 games. In late August 2011 he joined Reading, then in the Championship, for a fee of £350,000. Reading were promoted that season , with Le Fondre scoring 16 goals in 38 league appearances. The 2012-13 season saw him break the Premier League record for goals as a substitute, also being voted Reading’s Player of the Season. The 2014-15 season saw Reading back in the Championship, Le Fondre scoring back to back home hat tricks in January 2014 against Bolton Wanderers and Blackpool.
Le Fondre left Reading in the summer of 2014 having scored 42 goals in 110 appearances in all competitions, signing for Cardiff City for an undisclosed fee. In January 2015 he joined Bolton Wanderers on loan, finishing their top scorer for the 2014-15 season with 8 goals. Le Fondre spent the 2015-16 season on loan at Wolves where he made 26 appearances, scoring three goals. He had made a total of 23 appearances for Cardiff, scoring three goals.
In order to learn more about Le Fondre’s time at Cardiff we contacted Ben James of the View from the Ninian site.
Here’s over to Ben:
The signing of Adam Le Fondre promised so much and delivered very little. A shaky start under Ole meant ALF was either played out of position or not given enough game time. While fans were expecting goals, he couldn’t deliver and was quickly shipped out on loan around Christmas of that first season.
And after that, he’s never really been back. I had very high hopes for him but he’s not fulfilled any of the promise and I think it’s more the clubs fault than his.
I hope he can turn it around at Wigan because he’s talented, no doubt. It just feels like a case of right player, wrong time for Cardiff.
To learn more about Le Fondre’s time at Bolton we contacted Chris Mann of the Burnden Aces fan site http://www.burndenaces.co.uk (Twitter @BurndenAces ).
So, Adam Le Fondre joins the ever-growing list of former Bolton players to pitch up at the DW Stadium.
Le Fondre – Alfie as he became to be known – has a record that speaks for itself. He’s scored goals at every level, including the Premier League, but appears to have hit a sticky patch in his career.
Wanderers fans were first introduced to Le Fondre when he netted a first-half hat-trick in our dismal 7-1 defeat at Reading in January 2014. Luckily for you, Adam Bogdan avoids embarrassment due to being an unused substitute that day, as was Craig Davies. Sanmi Odelusi got 25 minutes though…
He joined Cardiff City at the end of that season but struggled to hit top form for the Bluebirds, before finding success once again during a loan spell at Macron Stadium – netting eight times in 17 games and claiming the Golden Boot award, despite signing midway through the campaign.
Le Fondre struck up a superb partnership with the emerging Zach Clough at the time and hopes were high that a permanent deal could be struck, before the full extent of our financial problems became public knowledge.
Clearly, Le Fondre was out of our price range, as was pretty much every professional footballer on the planet, and he instead spent last season on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Again, he failed to impress, but any player would struggle to score goals when restricted to the substitute role he was largely given.
For whatever reason, his time at Cardiff hasn’t worked out. Le Fondre is too good to be rotting away in the reserves of any Championship club.
If his time at Bolton is anything to go by, Alfie may take a couple of games to get into his stride. If so, stick with him and once that first goal arrives and the confidence begins to return, Latics should have one of the division’s top goalscorers on their books and, if you play your cards right, a man who will be available for free next summer.
Wigan Athletic have announced the signing of Nathan Byrne from Wolves for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be in the region of £400,000. The 24 year old usually plays as either a wing back or a winger.
On signing for Latics the 5 ft 10 in tall Byrne commented that “I’m energetic, I want to attack and run at people, provide crosses and have shots but overall I’m about energy and my pace.”
Nathan Byrne was born in St Albans and played for his home town club until joining Tottenham, signing professional forms for them as an 18 year old in June 2010. Byrne never went on to play for Spurs, but was sent on a series of loan moves. In February 2011 he went to Brentford where he was to make 11 appearances. In July 2011 he went to Bournemouth on a season-long loan which was cut short by an ankle injury in September which kept him out until January. Byrne went back to Tottenham in February 2012 after making 9 appearances for the Cherries.
Byrne spent the first half of the 2012-13 season at Crawley Town, making 12 appearances. In March 2013 he went on loan to Swindon for the remainder of the season, making 7 appearances. In summer 2013 he left Tottenham on a free transfer, signing for Swindon.
2014-15 was particularly successful for him, Swindon making the playoffs and Byrne making 43 appearances, scoring 3 goals and making 9 assists over the course of the season. He appeared in the League 1 team of the year. Byrne scored a hat trick against Bradford City in the first league game of the 2015-16 season in early August, but in early September he signed for Wolves for an undisclosed fee. In his time at Swindon he had made 83 league appearances, scoring 10 goals.
Byrne made 24 appearances for Wolves last season, scoring 2 goals.
In order to find out more about his performances at Wolverhampton we contacted Thomas Baugh at the Wolves Blog (http://www.wolvesblog.com).
Here’s over to Thomas:
We only signed Nathan Byrne a year ago (almost exactly) for a decent chunk of money, so in one sense it’s surprising to see him moving on.
But he always struggled to get near the team and when he did make an appearance he was usually back on the sidelines again a week later, leaving many to rightly ask ‘why did we bother getting him in the first place?’.
Kenny Jackett certainly didn’t seem too keen, choosing to ignore him even when we were crying out for width and pace. I suspect his diminutive stature is what ultimately counted against him, as he always seemed a decent player on the rare occasions he was selected.
I remember being particularly impressed in a derby victory at Birmingham last season. He got into pockets of space in between midfield and attack and looked a threat. In sporadic appearances he showed quick feet, a decent (but not lightning) turn of pace and an eye for a goal. He scored a nice one against Leeds last season and hit the bar with a free kick so he has a few tools in his armory.
I suspect in a more free flowing team with good technical players around him (e.g. Jacobs) he could be a good Championship player. He came highly rated from Swindon but we never truly got a decent enough look to make a fair judgment.
LOS THREE AMIGOS 