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George Dobson - Gone to Wrexham p136, farewell message p142

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  • I think Dobson will have been very aware that it was unlikely that Fehervar were going to last long in Europe, and even if they did, it wouldn’t be very glamorous.

    He took the security of the guaranteed money while it was on the table in front of him.
  • Better than Wales 
  • So what did Dobbo miss by not going to Fehervar? "The chance to play in Europe", some of you said. I pointed out at the time that this part of his season might be all over by September. I also questioned how exciting he might find the Hungarian League. So last night while watching Viktoria make a right pigs ear of what should have been an easy first leg against Hearts, I took a look to see how the Hungarian teams are making an impact in Europe.

    Fehervar were always only destined for the Conference League. That destiny came to an abrupt end when they lost at home to the giants of Omonia Nicosia, in front of 3,840 fans, which may or may not have included Viktor Orban, allegedly their no.1 fan. That happened on August 14, four days after Charlton's season started. 

    Well we heard that Fehervar have problems, which led to George receiving a get-out card. What of the others? Ferencvaros, the champions, went into the UCL qualifiers and were immediately kicked out by Midtylland, the Danish team the Brentford owner Benham has (? still) a stake in.  In the Europa League last night they could only draw 0-0 at home with Banja Luka of Serbia - although I'd really expect them to turn that around. 13,167 turned out the see the champions play in Europe, some 2,000 less than at the Valley last Saturday. 

    Paksi SE went into the Europa League. They also didn't last long after losing 4-0 at home to Corvinul Hunedoara. No, me neither, but they are from Romania. A crowd of 4,182 watched that, which in fact is near capacity. The town is called Paks. i have no idea where it is, and sadly Dobbo will never find out. Anyway they dropped into the Conference and last night were up this way and drew 2-2 at Mlada Boleslav, a bang average team from the home town of Skoda Auto. Should be a thriller next week in Paks.

    And last but not least, Puskas Academy. This is the ultimate plastic club, the one that happens to be the club in the village Viktor Orban comes from, and who play in a stadium built and paid for by the Hungarian taxpayer the "football mad" Orban. Before he took an interest they were in the 4th regional tier, last year they finished 3rd in the top tier, a point ahead of Fehervar. What a heart-warming fairy-tale story. 😉. Well to be fair, they got the best HU result of the night, getting a 3-3 draw away at Fiorentina. They also lead the league with a 100% record after four games. Looks like Vik has fixed it, eh?

    And the morale of this story? Pre-contracts are the tools of the Devil.  

    And that Dobson should sack his agent for the whole Hungary fiasco!
    But he got him the move to Wrexham!
  • I think Dobson will have been very aware that it was unlikely that Fehervar were going to last long in Europe, and even if they did, it wouldn’t be very glamorous.

    He took the security of the guaranteed money while it was on the table in front of him.
    Well I wonder whether he had time to figure that out, during a difficult time at Charlton with Apples on the way out, a full game
    programme, and the possibility of other offers. Two weeks wasn’t it? That was always my worry. I reckon he gradually worked all this out in the months that followed -
    and his wife probably worked out a few things too. 

    A few weeks ago I tried to pitch the Dobbo saga as a “story” to my contact at the The Athletic. He took a look at it and decided “nothing to see here”, but he did look into Dobbo and gave this insightful summary “Bright boy, comes from money”. Maybe it was just the money, but a “bright boy” might have been genuinely interested in a “European” gig. After all he did a season at Sparta Rotterdam when he was younger. My point was always that Europe isnt a homogenous entity in the way the USA is. Not for football, not for life. I like everything I know about Dobbo, so I’m glad he was able to dodge the bullet, but part of me is sorry I didnt get to see how he coped with that “European” move.

  • I have a few friends who are Wrexham fans and I’m pleased to report that George is already establishing himself as a fans favourite just by doing the stuff George does ! 
  • AndyG said:
    I have a few friends who are Wrexham fans and I’m pleased to report that George is already establishing himself as a fans favourite just by doing the stuff George does !

    ---

    Let's all hope you're still that pleased come the end of the season.
  • AndyG said:
    I have a few friends who are Wrexham fans and I’m pleased to report that George is already establishing himself as a fans favourite just by doing the stuff George does ! 
    He’s a good player who works his socks off. Good luck to him, I loved watching him in a couple of dreadful seasons and thank him for his efforts. Any player deserves to maximise their earnings potential in a short and for most volatile career. Who knows if he’d be better or worse than any of our current midfielders so much depends on the system and the other players around you. In my mind there’s no doubt he could be part of a team that gets promoted and plays in the Championship but we have to trust NJ to build a team of players that blend together to achieve that here.
  • So what did Dobbo miss by not going to Fehervar? "The chance to play in Europe", some of you said. I pointed out at the time that this part of his season might be all over by September. I also questioned how exciting he might find the Hungarian League. So last night while watching Viktoria make a right pigs ear of what should have been an easy first leg against Hearts, I took a look to see how the Hungarian teams are making an impact in Europe.

    Fehervar were always only destined for the Conference League. That destiny came to an abrupt end when they lost at home to the giants of Omonia Nicosia, in front of 3,840 fans, which may or may not have included Viktor Orban, allegedly their no.1 fan. That happened on August 14, four days after Charlton's season started. 

    Well we heard that Fehervar have problems, which led to George receiving a get-out card. What of the others? Ferencvaros, the champions, went into the UCL qualifiers and were immediately kicked out by Midtylland, the Danish team the Brentford owner Benham has (? still) a stake in.  In the Europa League last night they could only draw 0-0 at home with Banja Luka of Serbia - although I'd really expect them to turn that around. 13,167 turned out the see the champions play in Europe, some 2,000 less than at the Valley last Saturday. 

    Paksi SE went into the Europa League. They also didn't last long after losing 4-0 at home to Corvinul Hunedoara. No, me neither, but they are from Romania. A crowd of 4,182 watched that, which in fact is near capacity. The town is called Paks. i have no idea where it is, and sadly Dobbo will never find out. Anyway they dropped into the Conference and last night were up this way and drew 2-2 at Mlada Boleslav, a bang average team from the home town of Skoda Auto. Should be a thriller next week in Paks.

    And last but not least, Puskas Academy. This is the ultimate plastic club, the one that happens to be the club in the village Viktor Orban comes from, and who play in a stadium built and paid for by the Hungarian taxpayer the "football mad" Orban. Before he took an interest they were in the 4th regional tier, last year they finished 3rd in the top tier, a point ahead of Fehervar. What a heart-warming fairy-tale story. 😉. Well to be fair, they got the best HU result of the night, getting a 3-3 draw away at Fiorentina. They also lead the league with a 100% record after four games. Looks like Vik has fixed it, eh?

    And the morale of this story? Pre-contracts are the tools of the Devil.  

    And that Dobson should sack his agent for the whole Hungary fiasco!
    Should he? Got him out of Charlton, never had to kick a ball in Hungary and now he’s playing for team Hollywood. 
  • I think Dobson will have been very aware that it was unlikely that Fehervar were going to last long in Europe, and even if they did, it wouldn’t be very glamorous.

    He took the security of the guaranteed money while it was on the table in front of him.
    Well I wonder whether he had time to figure that out, during a difficult time at Charlton with Apples on the way out, a full game
    programme, and the possibility of other offers. Two weeks wasn’t it? That was always my worry. I reckon he gradually worked all this out in the months that followed -
    and his wife probably worked out a few things too. 

    A few weeks ago I tried to pitch the Dobbo saga as a “story” to my contact at the The Athletic. He took a look at it and decided “nothing to see here”, but he did look into Dobbo and gave this insightful summary “Bright boy, comes from money”. Maybe it was just the money, but a “bright boy” might have been genuinely interested in a “European” gig. After all he did a season at Sparta Rotterdam when he was younger. My point was always that Europe isnt a homogenous entity in the way the USA is. Not for football, not for life. I like everything I know about Dobbo, so I’m glad he was able to dodge the bullet, but part of me is sorry I didnt get to see how he coped with that “European” move.

    I know he's older now and it's a different country but he didn't seem to cope very well in the Netherlands before, only lasted half a season
  • I wonder if the pre-contract is a bit of a red herring in his story of last season........ say there was no pre-contract he'd have gathered in all his offers and taken the one he preferred........ and I assume that's what happened after the pre-contract was nulled.
    At that stage I guess there was no championship interest, or at least none he thought worth listening to and that being the case he ended up at Wrexham given they've pretty deep pockets and offered him more than we were willing to........ more than Brum or any other 'decent' L1 team too I guess?
    Would he have been skipper with us this year? Maybe not? Would he be a shoe-in in the starting 11? Perhaps not? If so, were these part of his decision to go to Wales?
    I think he's ended up with his preferred contract and team and good luck to him. Defensively I don't think he's left a big hole in our side.
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  • Redhenry said:
    So what did Dobbo miss by not going to Fehervar? "The chance to play in Europe", some of you said. I pointed out at the time that this part of his season might be all over by September. I also questioned how exciting he might find the Hungarian League. So last night while watching Viktoria make a right pigs ear of what should have been an easy first leg against Hearts, I took a look to see how the Hungarian teams are making an impact in Europe.

    Fehervar were always only destined for the Conference League. That destiny came to an abrupt end when they lost at home to the giants of Omonia Nicosia, in front of 3,840 fans, which may or may not have included Viktor Orban, allegedly their no.1 fan. That happened on August 14, four days after Charlton's season started. 

    Well we heard that Fehervar have problems, which led to George receiving a get-out card. What of the others? Ferencvaros, the champions, went into the UCL qualifiers and were immediately kicked out by Midtylland, the Danish team the Brentford owner Benham has (? still) a stake in.  In the Europa League last night they could only draw 0-0 at home with Banja Luka of Serbia - although I'd really expect them to turn that around. 13,167 turned out the see the champions play in Europe, some 2,000 less than at the Valley last Saturday. 

    Paksi SE went into the Europa League. They also didn't last long after losing 4-0 at home to Corvinul Hunedoara. No, me neither, but they are from Romania. A crowd of 4,182 watched that, which in fact is near capacity. The town is called Paks. i have no idea where it is, and sadly Dobbo will never find out. Anyway they dropped into the Conference and last night were up this way and drew 2-2 at Mlada Boleslav, a bang average team from the home town of Skoda Auto. Should be a thriller next week in Paks.

    And last but not least, Puskas Academy. This is the ultimate plastic club, the one that happens to be the club in the village Viktor Orban comes from, and who play in a stadium built and paid for by the Hungarian taxpayer the "football mad" Orban. Before he took an interest they were in the 4th regional tier, last year they finished 3rd in the top tier, a point ahead of Fehervar. What a heart-warming fairy-tale story. 😉. Well to be fair, they got the best HU result of the night, getting a 3-3 draw away at Fiorentina. They also lead the league with a 100% record after four games. Looks like Vik has fixed it, eh?

    And the morale of this story? Pre-contracts are the tools of the Devil.  

    And that Dobson should sack his agent for the whole Hungary fiasco!
    But he got him the move to Wrexham!
    If Dobson had just waited until the end of the season, he could have still got a move to Wrexham, with none of the farcical events before he finally moved there.
  • Redhenry said:
    So what did Dobbo miss by not going to Fehervar? "The chance to play in Europe", some of you said. I pointed out at the time that this part of his season might be all over by September. I also questioned how exciting he might find the Hungarian League. So last night while watching Viktoria make a right pigs ear of what should have been an easy first leg against Hearts, I took a look to see how the Hungarian teams are making an impact in Europe.

    Fehervar were always only destined for the Conference League. That destiny came to an abrupt end when they lost at home to the giants of Omonia Nicosia, in front of 3,840 fans, which may or may not have included Viktor Orban, allegedly their no.1 fan. That happened on August 14, four days after Charlton's season started. 

    Well we heard that Fehervar have problems, which led to George receiving a get-out card. What of the others? Ferencvaros, the champions, went into the UCL qualifiers and were immediately kicked out by Midtylland, the Danish team the Brentford owner Benham has (? still) a stake in.  In the Europa League last night they could only draw 0-0 at home with Banja Luka of Serbia - although I'd really expect them to turn that around. 13,167 turned out the see the champions play in Europe, some 2,000 less than at the Valley last Saturday. 

    Paksi SE went into the Europa League. They also didn't last long after losing 4-0 at home to Corvinul Hunedoara. No, me neither, but they are from Romania. A crowd of 4,182 watched that, which in fact is near capacity. The town is called Paks. i have no idea where it is, and sadly Dobbo will never find out. Anyway they dropped into the Conference and last night were up this way and drew 2-2 at Mlada Boleslav, a bang average team from the home town of Skoda Auto. Should be a thriller next week in Paks.

    And last but not least, Puskas Academy. This is the ultimate plastic club, the one that happens to be the club in the village Viktor Orban comes from, and who play in a stadium built and paid for by the Hungarian taxpayer the "football mad" Orban. Before he took an interest they were in the 4th regional tier, last year they finished 3rd in the top tier, a point ahead of Fehervar. What a heart-warming fairy-tale story. 😉. Well to be fair, they got the best HU result of the night, getting a 3-3 draw away at Fiorentina. They also lead the league with a 100% record after four games. Looks like Vik has fixed it, eh?

    And the morale of this story? Pre-contracts are the tools of the Devil.  

    And that Dobson should sack his agent for the whole Hungary fiasco!
    But he got him the move to Wrexham!
    If Dobson had just waited until the end of the season, he could have still got a move to Wrexham, with none of the farcical events before he finally moved there.
    Just as Conor Gallagher could have stayed to the end of the season and kept us up, instead of wasting his time in a pointless move to Swansea. But his agent had other ideas, and Conor had to do as he was told by Chelsea.
  • Chelsea had a vested interest in getting their player out of a hellish situation where he was basically one of two(?) fit midfielders. He moved from a team that was clearly struggling and he had already outgrown, to a team that got into the playoffs in the same league. He continued his education. Bad for us but Chelsea’s hand was very much forced, or they might have had a ruined teenager on their hands by the end of the season.

    Not sure why the agent vendetta & you’re constantly pushing this - I’m not surprised your contact at the Athletic said there wasn’t a story. Because there isn’t. Clubs do have to deal with agents but agents aren’t the secret masterminds behind every player’s move.

    As in all professions, there is some good and there is some bad. Overall I think players having agents is a net positive - I dread to think how many professional footballers would’ve been screwed by dodgy contracts without the presence of an agent working on their behalf. 
    I thought it was because Southall wouldn’t pay an increased loan fee ? 
  • Chelsea had a vested interest in getting their player out of a hellish situation where he was basically one of two(?) fit midfielders. He moved from a team that was clearly struggling and he had already outgrown, to a team that got into the playoffs in the same league. He continued his education. Bad for us but Chelsea’s hand was very much forced, or they might have had a ruined teenager on their hands by the end of the season.

    Not sure why the agent vendetta & you’re constantly pushing this - I’m not surprised your contact at the Athletic said there wasn’t a story. Because there isn’t. Clubs do have to deal with agents but agents aren’t the secret masterminds behind every player’s move.

    As in all professions, there is some good and there is some bad. Overall I think players having agents is a net positive - I dread to think how many professional footballers would’ve been screwed by dodgy contracts without the presence of an agent working on their behalf. 
    Vendetta? I'm sure they are quaking in their £1,000 boots. The reason I go on about it is because they get a completely free pass from most media, because they are also a wonderful source of transfer gossip for them., so we in turn tend to ignore their role when pondering why this or that player is leaving. But I also do have a grudge in that I had a recruitment business, and football agents are like a Frankenstein's monster version of that business. Working for both sides, and any other entities in between, minimal qualifications needed, and party to or initiator of some of the worst financial practices in football such as third-party player ownership - which Duchatelet among others was accused of in Belgium although never proven. Yes, the same Duchatelet who sounded off about agents more than I do -until he met Dudu Duhan. There are some good ones, but I fear they are a minority.

    I've been through all this before about Gallagher's agent but he has since tragically taken his own life so perhaps it would be inappropriate to dredge up all the details again. But I would remind you that when Chelsea sent Gallagher to us we were bookies favourite to go down. And a few months later after this supposed "hellish situation", and before the Sandgaard takeover was 100% secure, they were happy to lend us Iain Maadsen for the season.
  • AndyG said:
    I have a few friends who are Wrexham fans and I’m pleased to report that George is already establishing himself as a fans favourite just by doing the stuff George does ! 
    He's a good player and one that will always be a fan favourite because of the effort he puts in. But we're not missing him at all and i'd argue the midfielders we've brought in are actually better.
    Certainly seems to be the case … and I’m a big Dobbo fan 
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  • AndyG said:
    I have a few friends who are Wrexham fans and I’m pleased to report that George is already establishing himself as a fans favourite just by doing the stuff George does ! 
    He's a good player and one that will always be a fan favourite because of the effort he puts in. But we're not missing him at all and i'd argue the midfielders we've brought in are actually better.
    I'm not a Dobson super fan but I would argue that two games into the season is probably too early to be saying that the new players are better. I think that they probably will be, and the midfield looks much more balanced at the moment at least, but part of Dobson's popularity was that even when the team was playing badly his own levels remained high, and we don't know if that will be true of the new guys (though I can't imagine Jones willingly signing quitters or bottlers to be fair.)
  • thenewbie said:
    AndyG said:
    I have a few friends who are Wrexham fans and I’m pleased to report that George is already establishing himself as a fans favourite just by doing the stuff George does ! 
    He's a good player and one that will always be a fan favourite because of the effort he puts in. But we're not missing him at all and i'd argue the midfielders we've brought in are actually better.
    I'm not a Dobson super fan but I would argue that two games into the season is probably too early to be saying that the new players are better. I think that they probably will be, and the midfield looks much more balanced at the moment at least, but part of Dobson's popularity was that even when the team was playing badly his own levels remained high, and we don't know if that will be true of the new guys (though I can't imagine Jones willingly signing quitters or bottlers to be fair.)
    It's entirely possible these players will collapse and we'll achieve nothing but I would say that between Berry, Docherty, Coventry and Campbell their combined 291 Championship appearances are slightly higher than Dobson's 0 and indicative of a higher ceiling. Dobson always did well for us excluding his period under Adkins but we achieved our worst ever finishes in that time and he was still a part of that even if he was the least worst part.
    Exactly, I agree entirely and I'm fully expecting that Dobson is going to be nothing more than a bright spot in a dark period, by all measures and past records we've upgraded considerably.

    But then again we signed a Championship experienced Welsh international who turned out to be utter shit in a Charlton shirt so it doesn't automatically follow they will PLAY better.

    Though for clarity I fully expect that they will be much better and was being a bit facetious.
  • I can't resist sharing an update on Hungarian clubs in Europe after the 2nd legs last night. Feel free to ignore, but It makes me smile.

    Ferencvaros, the only club with any recent pedigree in Europe, are through to the league stage of the Europa League. They scraped through on penalties against Banja Luka of Serbia. And that will be the sole HU presence.

    In the Conference, Paksi SE, the team who finished above Fehervar, I really expected to see off Mlada Boleslav, a very middling Czech team, the first leg having finished 2-2 in Czechia. But Paksi imploded on home ground, MB winning 3-0. Dear me. 

    And then we come to "Puskas Academy" the team playing in Felcsut, a village of 1,500 citizens, one of whom just happens to be "football mad" Viktor Orban. TBF, they had drawn 3-3 away with Fiorentina in the first leg, which I thought was pretty impressive. However at the village,  Fiorentina scored on 59. Then it went to added on time and the "fun" started. on 90+4 Fiorentina were down to 10 men after a second yellow. On 90+7 PA equalised so it went to extra time. 7 mins into extra time Fiorentina were down to 9 men. For good measure at the same time the ref dished out a straight red to their Argentinian defender who had already been substituted, probably for enquiring whether  the 4th official was Viktor Orban. However Fiorentina held on and won the penalty shoot out. Deary, deary me.

    Part of me doesn't like to make fun as (we've seen) Hungary is full of passionate fans who are also very decent people. But they deserve better, and it shows what happens when politicians use football as a blatant tool of power. Hungary and Czechia ought to be equals in Europe. But today Sparta Prague are in the UCL league stage, Slavia and Viktoria are both in the Europa League stage, and even Mlada Boleslav still fly the flag in the Conference. 

    Epic fail, Vik.
  • So what did Dobbo miss by not going to Fehervar? "The chance to play in Europe", some of you said. I pointed out at the time that this part of his season might be all over by September. I also questioned how exciting he might find the Hungarian League. So last night while watching Viktoria make a right pigs ear of what should have been an easy first leg against Hearts, I took a look to see how the Hungarian teams are making an impact in Europe.

    Fehervar were always only destined for the Conference League. That destiny came to an abrupt end when they lost at home to the giants of Omonia Nicosia, in front of 3,840 fans, which may or may not have included Viktor Orban, allegedly their no.1 fan. That happened on August 14, four days after Charlton's season started. 

    Well we heard that Fehervar have problems, which led to George receiving a get-out card. What of the others? Ferencvaros, the champions, went into the UCL qualifiers and were immediately kicked out by Midtylland, the Danish team the Brentford owner Benham has (? still) a stake in.  In the Europa League last night they could only draw 0-0 at home with Banja Luka of Serbia - although I'd really expect them to turn that around. 13,167 turned out the see the champions play in Europe, some 2,000 less than at the Valley last Saturday. 

    Paksi SE went into the Europa League. They also didn't last long after losing 4-0 at home to Corvinul Hunedoara. No, me neither, but they are from Romania. A crowd of 4,182 watched that, which in fact is near capacity. The town is called Paks. i have no idea where it is, and sadly Dobbo will never find out. Anyway they dropped into the Conference and last night were up this way and drew 2-2 at Mlada Boleslav, a bang average team from the home town of Skoda Auto. Should be a thriller next week in Paks.

    And last but not least, Puskas Academy. This is the ultimate plastic club, the one that happens to be the club in the village Viktor Orban comes from, and who play in a stadium built and paid for by the Hungarian taxpayer the "football mad" Orban. Before he took an interest they were in the 4th regional tier, last year they finished 3rd in the top tier, a point ahead of Fehervar. What a heart-warming fairy-tale story. 😉. Well to be fair, they got the best HU result of the night, getting a 3-3 draw away at Fiorentina. They also lead the league with a 100% record after four games. Looks like Vik has fixed it, eh?

    And the moral of this story? Pre-contracts are the tools of the Devil.  

    Worked out alright for Dobbo... signed for more money in Hungary and then his agent probably approached Wrexham and said that he is on X and if you can beat it, there is a good chance we can get out of the contract. Can imagine he is on a wedge and his agent has fell in shit and come up smelling of roses
  • edited September 1
    Got an assist today and Wrexham fans love him already. One on there fans forum already calling him a cheat code.  Wrexham sit 2nd. 
    Good luck to him. Great servant of ours, gave everything for the club whilst here. 

    This can't be true. Dobson is a bang average mid table league 1 player. Source Charlton Life experts.

    I know there were quite a few people criticising him early on, but I haven't seen much negativity towards him as a player recently**. Personally, I liked him from the moment he first arrived and would have gladly welcomed him back after the Hungarygate. However, since that didn't happen, I'm still fairly content with what we have now.

    **Up until he posed with their top at Christmas time
  • Got an assist today and Wrexham fans love him already. One on there fans forum already calling him a cheat code.  Wrexham sit 2nd. 
    Good luck to him. Great servant of ours, gave everything for the club whilst here. 

    This can't be true. Dobson is a bang average mid table league 1 player. Source Charlton Life experts.
    Very true, along with Elliot Lee and Eoghan O'Connell.
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