Tranmere Rovers
Rovers Add Black To Squad
By Matthew Jones
July 5 2012
Left-back joins on one-year contract
Tranmere Rovers have today completed the signing of 22-year old left-back Paul Black on a one-year deal. Black joins the club following his release by Rovers' League One rivals Oldham Athletic and will report for first team training with the rest of the squad on Tuesday.
Rochdale born Black is a product of the Oldham Athletic youth system and was at the club whilst Ronnie Moore was the Latics' manager. He captained the club at junior level whilst also being named on standby for England U18 in November 2007, though in the end he didn't play for the team.
He went on to make his debut for the Latics at the age of 17, appearing at the end of the 2007/08 season against firstly Huddersfield and later against Cheltenham as a substitute.
Over the next couple of years, Black was made to bide his time as he looked to cement a place in the Oldham first team, and spent the first half of the 2008/09 season out on loan with Non-League outfit Barrow. He appeared sporadically for the Boundary Park club up until the 2010/11 season, when he made the left-back spot his own and appeared 32 times for Oldham, including twice against Tranmere.
However, the 2011/12 campaign was a frustrating one for Black, as injuries in August and February meant he would only make 20 appearances, picking up two yellow cards in the process.
Black was released by Oldham having made 70 appearances for the club, scoring just once, and joins Tranmere as competition for the left-back spot with Zoumana Bakayogo following the departure of David Buchanan to Preston North End.
The 22-year old is Tranmere's fifth summer signing, following in the footsteps of Ben Burgess, Danny Harrison, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and James Wallace who have all been recruited by manager Ronnie Moore for next season.
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05/07/2012 15:02
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:07:12:00:50:15 by Deadly Submarine.
06/07/2012 09:16
I agree in some ways he can be a good midfielder to some extent - but more when used as an impact sub because of his pace.
He's a solid Lb though imo!
Although using a sense of perspective for a minute, Tranmere are paying league 2 wages to players in league 1, so if you end up signing one or two Accrington standasd players, it has to be expected.
Robbo, Fon Williams, McChrystal, Holmes and Buchanan have been top notch signings for the money paid, but maybe this season there will be a lesser percentage of cost effective league players around, but with any luck Tranmere have bagged some of them and yes that could include Burgess and Harrison, so time will tell.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
Mcrystal has not been a top notch signing because he has been injured 4 a long time an Ian Goodison at the age of 39 can get in the team line up before Mchrystal
Goodison is still a great player though, which can't be denied. You could almost believe, he might still be a sneaky pick when he's 45, but it's obvious he won't be.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
And other players would feel the benefit of having a such a experienced player 2 b captain as well.
Wallace is young but got an a experienced player because he has been at a premier league club but that's nothing compared 2 Goodison who has played over 100 times 4 his national country.
We are paying div 2 rates but more and more clubs seem to be in that position so we may be able to compete in the avoiding relegation contest
I think the best type of person if you can do it, is either Goalkeeper or a Centre Back, because they are in the middle of the pitch and at the back, where observing the game would be more easy I feel, but that's not to say midfielders or even strikers can't be good captains, but it may even be the case Goodison had the idea put to him and baulked it, I guess we'll never know.
Goodison is still a great player though and despite starting his career when Wallace was learning to count I'm sure he'll respect whatever Wallace has to give.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
Tranmere are paying players div 2 rates 4 players contracts usually wen a club pay div 2 rates 4 a player they are scrapping 4 survival but now more and more teams r playing div 2 rates so tranmere can compete 2 buy better players so maybe next season we can HOPEFULLY finish around the play-off spots.
I agree with Matt34 that a captain should always be a CB or a GK because their in the middle of the pitch and at the back, that's another reason why I think they shud of appointed Goodison as captain.If the reason RM didnt pick Goodison as captain because of his age and because hes going 2 b a cover CB, they shud of picked Ash Taylor because he's young and plays every game + he's Wales U21 captain.
I realistically you had a back 5 who were all incapable of commmunicating properly and sometimes had defeatist body language, like Gallas did at Arsenal, when he sat on the pitch and sulked I'd pick someone in the middle or front ranks if that were me, because I'd rather have someone who sees 80% of a match, but expresses things clearly and well, than someone who sees more of the game, but expresses it properly less than 50% or 60% of the time.
I don't doubt Goodison garners huge respect of the squad, but many on here before now have expressed his communication skills to be not whay they would consider suitable.
Having said that though, there was a comment here some time back in Les Parry's time, indicating if Parry had been relieved of his position, Goodison at least for a temporary time, would consider stepping up as some kind of player / manager, but how true that was I am not sure, as nobody else seemed to echo the sentiment, regards this supposed inside track.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
