IT HAS been confirmed, everyone’s worst nightmare *cough* has become a reality, Jade North is heading to err… Korea?
North, despite denying it earlier in the week is off to seventh placed Incheon United, where he will reportedly earn double what NQ had signed him for. Personally I don’t blame him; he’s been desperate to head overseas for some time now (even if it is Korea) so good luck to him in a league that is about the same standard as ours...What was worrying was not Don Matheson’s comments after Jade’s move had been announced but the earlier comment, "knowing the sort of person Jade is, a high quality person, I imagine he'd be on the phone to talk to me if there was an issue to discuss.”
Only two days later North signed for Incheon United. Does Matheson have any clue what’s going on at his club?
After confirmation of North’s move to Incheon many forums were ripe with the suggestion that this was a blessing in disguise for NQ, saying we could now get a quality marquee. So is it really a blessing? Will his move be a positive or negative for us?
The answer is unclear. Why? Because there are both positive and negatives from this. Yes, we have the chance to search for a new and possibly better marquee, but Jade’s move has the potential to mess up any plans the club has of indigenous development programs. Not only that but it also has the potential to damage what was looking like the club's strong point, our defence.
Anyhow, it’s done and dusted now and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. So that brings me to the search for the next marquee. Through the week Matheson claimed that not only Chipperfield was on the clubs radar, but also a player in the SPL and a striker from Brazil.
My guess would be that the player from Scotland would be either Danny Invincible or a Rangers player (going on Ferguson’s links with the club) while the striker from Brazil could well be anyone, except Jardel of course (and all of those other duds that have left).
Scott Chipperfield would be everyone’s first guess for our next marquee but I thought I’d make a shortlist of players that are not necessarily being considered for the marquee spot, but players that I wouldn’t mind being signed or atleast considered for marquee.
Edgar Davids
A fantastic player even at the age of 35, he has played for Barcelona, Ajax, Tottenham, and AC Milan and recently appeared in the match between LA Galaxy and Oceania XI.
Dwight Yorke
‘All night Dwight’ may now be 37-years-old but he is no doubt still a quality player. Newcastle Jets were unable to sign him as he would have been unable to compete in the ACL because of international commitments, but would have no such trouble with us.
Danny Invincible
As I mentioned before he’s possibly one of the players the club’s looking at, the 29-year-old currently plays for Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League where he has been performing well. We possibly could have fitted him under the cap if we didn’t waste money on the likes of Ufuk Talay and James Robinson (who is about as useless as David Basheer’s commentary), but would be a good choice for our marquee none the less.
Socceroo Scott Chipperfield is definitely the most likely player to be chosen (not that I would be would be unhappy with that) but I wouldn’t be too disappointed if any of the above list were chosen either.
Anyway back to this weeks headline act, Jade North.
Time will tell whether or not North’s move to Incheon United turns out to be a blessing in disguise for us, and for our sake I hope it is.
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If rumours are to be believed we have won the race for former Adelaide player Jason Spagnuolo.
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Senior Suncorp Stadium administrator Dean Hassall has been announced as our inaugural CEO.
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You can find the NQ forum at http://forums.northqldfc.com.au/
