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The Stuart Parnaby Affair
It’s been quite the busy weekend for me personally, and so it wasn’t until I’d finally returned home late on Saturday evening that I heard the news with regards to the non-signing of Stuart Parnaby. There’s been quite a lot said on the net about how the situation played out, and I thought I should add my two-pennorth for good measure.
When the news broke that Parnaby was training with us, I will confess I was quite pleased about the idea that Blues would be looking to re-sign him. Whilst it’s true that he did struggle a bit with injuries, there is no denying that Parnaby’s versatility would bring a lot more cover to the squad, and that his primary position of right-back is one of the few positions where we don’t have any real cover. It seemed like Parns wanted to come back; indeed, he agreed terms and had a medical before the rug was pulled from under the deal.
A lot’s been said about how the deal was scratched; I will say here and now I don’t know any more than anyone else, and can only assume that there was a problem with money or something similar that caused the offer to be withdrawn. It seems more than anything else this is what has upset Blues fans – here is a player that the manager wanted, that wanted to play for us, and supposedly the club is in the black yet the day Mr Pannu returns from the fragrant harbours of the Far East he allegedly immediately nixes it. There have been quite a few protestations about how that undermines Chris Hughton’s authority – and to be fair it’s easy to see why people would think that.
I have to be fair and balanced though, and the fact is that we don’t actually know the reason for the deal being scrapped. It could very well have been money – Occam’s razor says that the simplest explanation is most commonly the correct one – but we don’t know that for sure. The first news that the deal was pulled was from Stuart Parnaby’s twitter; I haven’t seen any comment from the club about it and it has to be remembered that there are two sides to every story. It could very well be that the truth will out in the next few days, but before we grab the flaming torches and the pitchforks it would probably do to make sure that the reason we think it was cancelled truly was the reason it was cancelled.
The end result is that we haven’t got the cover in I would have liked, which is disappointing. As much as I’ve admired Stephen Carr in the past, in the last few games he’s not played as well as he normally could, and it has to be said he doesn’t look happy. It might just be that his body is finally starting to slow down and that he can’t keep up with the performances as well as he might; alternatively it might be that the stories that he wanted out in the summer had basis in fact. The plain fact is that if Stephen Carr gets injured for any period of time Blues are left with the choice of either slotting in Jonathan Spector or Luke Hubbins (who is only contracted until January) at right back – and if it was financial reasons that stopped us signing Parns then would those same reasons stop Blues bringing in someone on loan? Only time will tell.
Tags: Chris Hughton, Jonathan Spector, Luke Hubbins, Peter Pannu, Stephen Carr, Stuart Parnaby
13 Responses to “The Stuart Parnaby Affair”
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If he’d agreed a contract, and passed the medical, then the club have behaved very poorly!
The more worrying thing for me is that no-one is actually running the club at the mo. Whatever the decision was on Parnaby it was obviously only going to be decided on when PP got back from HK. This means that when he’s away no decisions are being made. Barnsley at home should have been a kids for a quid or a bring a friend along for a tenner game as it was never going to sell out. For all the bad things DS and DG did, they were very good at picking up on opportunites like that. We need someone over here permanently managing the club in my opinion as that doesn’t seem to be happening at the mo.
Just picking up on your point about Steve Carr, his body language during Saturday’s game was not good although I thought it was perhaps his best game so far. Throughout the game he seemed to be getting very frustrated with certain individuals who got the sharp end of his tongue [and rightly so] and yet he still offered 100% effort and was more of an attacking threat than either winger.
Whether or not he did want to leave, I think we can still rely on maximum effort from him, but the key question remains for how long can he go on and I agree that we must sort out an adequte replacement.
I suspect he is slowing down, aged 35 he has only missed one game, not rested like many of the squad because we have no cover!
Stephen Carr – Mister 100% – was showing worrying signs of slowing down last season, it may be that he finally retires at the end of this one.
The story about Parns and Mcfadden is more worrying, one minute we’re hearing that they’re training and might be re-signed, PP returns and then they’re out. I’m not anti-Chinese and certainly not racist, but I’ve just finished a book, ‘Mr China’ about western companies attempting to do business in China, and Private Eye’s latest exposes of business malpractice amongst domestically listed Chinese companies does not make comforting reading.
I am not filled with confidence about our future.
Big worry for me is the communication – or lack thereof – from the Chinese based owners. Do not know if this is cultural or what. The only time we get Pannu to speak he is defending the owner (understandable) or threatening to take people to court. Like most Bluenoses I want Hughton to stay with us – in order for this to happen he will need more support from the owners.
Pannu the penny-pincher :-)
One moment people are saying nobody is running the club in his absence.
Four Players moved (two out and two in) in his absence, so that’s that nonsense settled.
Then, as has been said, the coicidence of his return and the stopping of a potential deal ‘must mean’ that he stopped it.
Of course he can’t use a Fax, a phone or a Blackberry can he? Parnaby’s signing must have come as a huge surprise to him, bet he didn’t know a thing about it till he got behind his desk.
Come on, you can’t have it both ways.
He is either out of touch or he is always in the know – which one ?
Could it be that Stuart or his agent did an N’Zogbia – that is, nothing signed only verbals until a last minute hike of terms, by one party?
Could it be that Stuart’s wages and signing on fee might jeopardise funding for more experienced loanees – meaning we couldn’t afford them all ?
There’s two equally unfounded ‘possibilities’ – equally simple – but what do we get?
Pannu-bashing :-)
Pannu-bashing? Not from me, squire.
I haven’t seen any comment from the club about it and it has to be remembered that there are two sides to every story. It could very well be that the truth will out in the next few days, but before we grab the flaming torches and the pitchforks it would probably do to make sure that the reason we think it was cancelled truly was the reason it was cancelled.
No-one I’ve spoken to knows the score it seems. There’s lots of speculation, some hunches and some ideas – but no one has had the truth confirmed. Yes, we’ve heard Stuart Parnaby’s side, but again as I said – there are two sides to every story. We’ve only heard 140 characters of one side.
I should have emphasised the point that I was reffering to:
“There’s been quite a lot said on the net about how the situation played out, …..
……A lot’s been said about how the deal was scratched…” etc.
Like you it was the rampant speculation we’ve all seen on forums, that is Pannu-bashing.
Just as you were using that speculation as a hook for this blog piece, I was also addressing that frivolous and perpetual knocking.
It’s one thing to sign off big player decisions and another to run a football club on a day to day basis. That’s all I’m saying.
The faiure to sign Parnaby is only the tip of the iceberg re interference from above ,,,,,,,Turner of Covenrty was another example,Dindale another,,,,, have heard rumours that Hughton resigned after the Last European game over broken promise,s regarding the signing of players and Carsons Lap Dog spent 3 hours on the phone persuading him to change his mind
I have to be honest PWB, I’ve heard nothing that corroborates that final line
So you’ve heard rumours, but no proof whatsoever, which means it could be complete rubbish. I prefer to deal in facts not rumours.