What’s happened to Harvey Knibbs?

Croydon

I found it odd that the media team was sharing clips of him scoring goals in training last week, when he hasn't played a minute of league football.

ForeverAddickted

fenaddick said:

Looks like he was on Sky Sports News earlier, no idea what he said though

You sure they werent interviewing Jude Bellingham?

Crispywood

YannTheMann said:

fenaddick said:

YannTheMann said:

A real shame we've not even seen him get a go, he must look shocking in training given our issues at #10. Strange we gave him a new squad number that would indicate he's part of the plan 

The longer it goes on the more it seems like we wanted to shift him but there were no takers

Yeah got to agree, also pretty strange how he was the player with the most minutes in pre season, almost like our entire pre season was a shop window exercise 

Alternatively it gave Jones a proper chance to have a look if Knibbs was someone he could see working in this team and it didn’t turn out well.

Have to give him credit still looks incredibly positive in training videos and at games. Definitely doesn’t look like he’s stropping or throwing his toys out when he’s probably had a fair reason to 

Fanny Fanackapan

Played in the 3-1 Under 21 match v Sheff Utd today & scored directly from a free kick just outside the box. 

Hardly heard his name in the 1st half but more involved in the 2nd.  

Radostanradical

He has got same treatment as TK and Doc for same reasons but gettingbrid is a much harder task for NJ

Crusty54

Scored with a free kick for the under 21s this afternoon.

Played 65 minutes.

Chunes

Heard that something happened a while back between someone and someone else, involving a certain scenario, and said scenario lead to an outcome. There was a resolution pending but the situation is said to be ongoing.

Can't reveal any more I'm afraid. 

CharltonManor1966

Complete guess but is it possible that NJ tried to offload him in the window an offer came in and Knibbs declined to move?
Don't cross NJ is the motto.....

Starinnaddick

CharltonManor1966 said:

Complete guess but is it possible that NJ tried to offload him in the window an offer came in and Knibbs declined to move?
Don't cross NJ is the motto.....

Possible I  suppose punishing him by including him on the bench and then not using him. Bit ruthless if true. 

Weegie Addick

Can someone tell Preston he’s the best ever, exactly what they need and we’d be so sad to see him go? 

wolfgang

Crispywood said:

Have to give him credit still looks incredibly positive in training videos and at games. Definitely doesn’t look like he’s stropping or throwing his toys out when he’s probably had a fair reason to 

I have never been a Knibbs supporter, but I have noticed in games when he is stuck on the bench, he seems genuinely happy when we score, and is the first to congratulate the scorer.

soapboxsam

Chunes said:

Heard that something happened a while back between someone and someone else, involving a certain scenario, and said scenario lead to an outcome. There was a resolution pending but the situation is said to be ongoing.

Can't reveal any more I'm afraid. 

The Jury are deciding whether you can join the ranks of ITK's Chunes. It's an exclusive club but I'm impressed with your probing so far; the devil's in the detail. 👏🏻

Crispywood

CharltonManor1966 said:

Complete guess but is it possible that NJ tried to offload him in the window an offer came in and Knibbs declined to move?
Don't cross NJ is the motto.....

I’d be surprised if Knibbs declined to move, any offer would have been a loan he still gets paid the same and would have the opportunity to play regular football and he’s in his prime years. 

He really gets nothing just sitting on the bench every game 

CharltonManor1966

Crispywood said:

CharltonManor1966 said:

Complete guess but is it possible that NJ tried to offload him in the window an offer came in and Knibbs declined to move?
Don't cross NJ is the motto.....

I’d be surprised if Knibbs declined to move, any offer would have been a loan he still gets paid the same and would have the opportunity to play regular football and he’s in his prime years. 

He really gets nothing just sitting on the bench every game 

Agree but supposing it was a L1 club and Knibbs didn't fancy it and said he would stay and fight for his place. Jones could be upset as it was a squad place not freed up.

SouthoftheThames

I noticed after the last subs were made on Saturday, Knibbs walked straight back to the bench and looked utterly despondent. Hope it works out for him this season.

ElfsborgAddick

CharltonManor1966 said:

Complete guess but is it possible that NJ tried to offload him in the window an offer came in and Knibbs declined to move?
Don't cross NJ is the motto.....

It is very strange how things have panned out for him.

From memory we made a great deal of effort to bring him in and the move almost fell through.

Knibbs is another in a growing list where players have very quickly been given limited starts after being bought for considerable money on a long contract.

Something seems to be very wrong behind the scenes.

killerandflash

SouthoftheThames said:

I noticed after the last subs were made on Saturday, Knibbs walked straight back to the bench and looked utterly despondent. Hope it works out for him this season.

Entirely understandable.  Players can accept not being used when the team is playing well,  but we were awful on Saturday,  both individually and as a team. Just as we were at Stoke. 

Obviously I don't know what happens in training, but I think it would have been good man management to send him on, and challenge Knibbs to change the manager's mind.

AberystwythAddick

We don’t know what’s gone on, but I am disappointed with how the club have treated both Knibbs and Apter. 

They were likely bought here on the presumption that they would be important to us and told how they would contribute. Both now have been seemingly bombed out. 

The Knibbs one is especially strange considering how long he was chased 

ElfsborgAddick

AberystwythAddick said:

We don’t know what’s gone on, but I am disappointed with how the club have treated both Knibbs and Apter. 

They were likely bought here on the presumption that they would be important to us and told how they would contribute. Both now have been seemingly bombed out. 

The Knibbs one is especially strange considering how long he was chased 

Olaofe back to Stockport on loan as well.  He went back out in the January window after being bought in the summer.

Raith_C_Chattonell

I asked AI to write a short story entitled, 'Whatever happened to Harvey Knibbs'.  I gave no background or guidance.

The rain in Cambridge always seemed to fall sideways, blurring the edges of the Abbey Stadium until it looked less like a football ground and more like a faded postcard. For the fans huddled under the main stand, however, the damp didn't matter. They were arguing about the ghost of 2023.

"I’m telling you, he went abroad," Mick said, taking a short drag from a cigarette that was losing its battle with the wind. "A lad with that kind of spatial awareness? Some second-tier Italian side snapped him up. You don't just score a brace against Newcastle in the cup and then vanish off the face of the footballing earth."

"He didn't vanish, Mick, he went to Reading," Dave replied, not looking up from his soggy program. "Everyone knows that. Then the trail goes cold. Financial issues, point deductions... the whole club went through a blender. I reckon he got sick of the chaos and opened a bakery in Gloucestershire."

The debate was an old one, a local ritual played out every few months whenever a striker missed a sitter or the midfield lacked a bit of creative spark. Whatever happened to Harvey Knibbs? It was a question whispered with the kind of reverence usually reserved for lottery winners who chose to keep their day jobs.

A few miles away, in a quiet, brick-fronted pub just off the river, the man in the corner booth took a slow sip of his bitter. He wore a heavy woollen coat, the collar turned up just enough to frame a sharp jawline, and a flat cap pulled low over eyes that still scanned the room with the quick, instinctive micro-movements of a professional attacker.

Harvey Knibbs liked the rain. It kept people’s heads down.

On the table in front of him sat a sports diary, its pages filled not with tactical diagrams or training schedules, but with architectural sketches. When the knees start to ache at twenty-six, and the boardroom politics of lower-league football begin to feel more like a soap opera than a sport, a man has to look at the space around him differently. He had always been good at finding space where others saw a crowd. Now, he was designing it.

His phone buzzed on the wood. A text from his agent: Got an offer from a National League side. Guaranteed starter. Match fit by October?

Harvey looked out the window. A group of students was laughing under a shared umbrella, completely unaware of the former League One talisman sitting three feet away. He thought of the roar of the crowd, the smell of deep heat, and the specific, unmatched adrenaline of a ball hitting the back of the net. It was a beautiful life. But it was a loud one.

He picked up the phone, his thumb hovering over the screen. He didn't type a refusal. He just closed the app, flipped the phone face down, and opened his sketchbook to a fresh, quiet page.

Outside, the wind howled, carrying the faint, distant cheers from the stadium across the water. Let them wonder. The mystery was always better than the reality anyway.

2121

The strange thing is he warms up every game all game. Yet jones isnt interested. There seems to be something amiss there, but then why would he warm up all game? Its confusing.

maybe we did try to move him on and no interest? But then why did he play pre-season? Maybe jones just hasnt felt he was right for the games?
who knows

MarcusH26

It's one I can't really make sense of. Chased him for basically the whole summer , didn't sign him until late because of injury, scores a 90th min winner on his debut and then never really gets a chance with Carey's red hot form but still pops up with a couple of well taken goals off the bench. Then gets a horror tackle when he does get a chance and misses most of the season.... 

I do think there's got to be some legs in that we looked to offload him and didn't find a deal that worked for us , or he was ultimately someone that if it wasn't for the CB injury crisis at back end of the window would have gone and we had to pull the plug on signing another attacking midfielder. 

Think he goes in January ultimately, bit of a shame really.

NabySarr

He’s not really showed on the pitch why he should be playing, so I’d imagine it’s the same story in training. Maybe he just isn’t that good 

fenaddick

2121 said:

The strange thing is he warms up every game all game. Yet jones isnt interested. There seems to be something amiss there, but then why would he warm up all game? Its confusing.

maybe we did try to move him on and no interest? But then why did he play pre-season? Maybe jones just hasnt felt he was right for the games?
who knows

Tanto played a lot of pre season too to be fair. Some of it was just necessity

Crispywood

AberystwythAddick said:

We don’t know what’s gone on, but I am disappointed with how the club have treated both Knibbs and Apter. 

They were likely bought here on the presumption that they would be important to us and told how they would contribute. Both now have been seemingly bombed out. 

The Knibbs one is especially strange considering how long he was chased 

With Apter Jones said he wanted to keep him but he wanted to go on loan and he didn’t do himself any favours flopping in the division below. 

Also whilst Knibbs has been unlucky there was no chance he was getting in over Carey last year and when Carey did have his fall off it was when Knibbs was injured. Also Knibbs hasn’t exactly set the world alight when he has started. 

It’s harsh but not unfair treatment given the circumstances, If players aren’t good enough then thwy’ll get replaced 

AberystwythAddick

Crispywood said:

AberystwythAddick said:

We don’t know what’s gone on, but I am disappointed with how the club have treated both Knibbs and Apter. 

They were likely bought here on the presumption that they would be important to us and told how they would contribute. Both now have been seemingly bombed out. 

The Knibbs one is especially strange considering how long he was chased 

With Apter Jones said he wanted to keep him but he wanted to go on loan and he didn’t do himself any favours flopping in the division below. 

Also whilst Knibbs has been unlucky there was no chance he was getting in over Carey last year and when Carey did have his fall off it was when Knibbs was injured. Also Knibbs hasn’t exactly set the world alight when he has started. 

It’s harsh but not unfair treatment given the circumstances, If players aren’t good enough then thwy’ll get replaced 

They’ve been bombed out by the same manager who signed them in less than too seasons. 

If they aren’t good enough why were they signed in the first place. It’s not like we’ve parted with a couple of million to just see if they can make the step up.

Its neither right or sustainable.

letthegoodtimesroll

NabySarr said:

He’s not really showed on the pitch why he should be playing, so I’d imagine it’s the same story in training. Maybe he just isn’t that good 

Personally, I think it’s more to do with the scenarios on the pitch that have unfolded so far  which Nathan is probably seeing as not suitable for Knibb’s to come on and join in to. 

Cardiff would have been a waste of time when we were trying to claw back from a 2 goal deficit. Had Karlan looked up and seen TC on his own with the goal open or Charlie Kelman had scored from that unlikely position and we had got back to level terms at 2-2 then I suspect we may well have seen Knibbs come on to nick the winning goal and wind up the opposition to waste time.

2121

Tbh from what ive seen he either isnt good enough for the level or not trying. 

EugenesAxe

AberystwythAddick said:

Crispywood said:

AberystwythAddick said:

We don’t know what’s gone on, but I am disappointed with how the club have treated both Knibbs and Apter. 

They were likely bought here on the presumption that they would be important to us and told how they would contribute. Both now have been seemingly bombed out. 

The Knibbs one is especially strange considering how long he was chased 

With Apter Jones said he wanted to keep him but he wanted to go on loan and he didn’t do himself any favours flopping in the division below. 

Also whilst Knibbs has been unlucky there was no chance he was getting in over Carey last year and when Carey did have his fall off it was when Knibbs was injured. Also Knibbs hasn’t exactly set the world alight when he has started. 

It’s harsh but not unfair treatment given the circumstances, If players aren’t good enough then thwy’ll get replaced 

They’ve been bombed out by the same manager who signed them in less than too seasons. 

too or free??

killerandflash

letthegoodtimesroll said:

NabySarr said:

He’s not really showed on the pitch why he should be playing, so I’d imagine it’s the same story in training. Maybe he just isn’t that good 

Personally, I think it’s more to do with the scenarios on the pitch that have unfolded so far  which Nathan is probably seeing as not suitable for Knibb’s to come on and join in to. 

Cardiff would have been a waste of time when we were trying to claw back from a 2 goal deficit. Had Karlan looked up and seen TC on his own with the goal open or Charlie Kelman had scored from that unlikely position and we had got back to level terms at 2-2 then I suspect we may well have seen Knibbs come on to nick the winning goal and wind up the opposition to waste time.

3-1 is hardly a "write the game off scoreline" especially with 30 minutes left. Both Kelman and Carey came on after Cardiff got their 3rd goal, and Knibbs could have been brought on instead. 

He can't come on at 3-1 down, he can't come on when we're 1-0 up, he can't come on when it's 0-0...

I'm not even a big fan of Knibbs, but we signed him 13 months ago for nearly £2m and on reasonable wages too. We can't afford to just write that sort of investment off, especially when our other attacking options are hardly delivering a goal fest.