Will Harewood Swim in the ‘Pool?

By: Max | August 12th, 2010

‘It seems to me that the club doesn’t need to invest in a new player at all. The only thing the chairman needs to do is to plough all our money into buying Marlon Harewood a new brain…‘

The sentiments of this very astute football speculator may have been echoed around Upton, or Villa, or any of the parks that Big Marlon has charged around so far in his 12 career, but despite his obvious weaknesses as a player, he is always very well loved by the fans.

Putting the big Barbadian in the side is going to require an altogether different composition from midfield orchestrator Charlie Adam. Previously he has not had so much aerial presence in the form of lil DJ Campbell, Michael Chopra and Brett Omerod, although with the ball at feet, or played slightly in front, they are capable players. Enter Marlon…

Adam will (probably literally at some point) not know what has hit him. Marlon will quickly become a favourite at Bloomfield Road: once he gets the shirt on they will simply see a tangerine line compusivley sacrificing itself toward and for the goal, without a thought for much else. He’ll make diagonal runs, square runs, and strange runs. He’ll battle in the corners, battle in midfield, and battle with himself in front of 40,000 fans. He’ll get in at the front post, hassle the keeper, and then peel off the last man while the rest of the squad go about playing the quality of football that has earned the respect of romantics and purists alike.

This is not to say Alf is a bad catch. He’s a quality player, with a lot of experience and a lot of goals in the top flight, and people forget that. But he’s a confidence player, and needs to bag a few before he can bag a few more. To do this, he needs to integrate himself into the side quickly. This challenge, faced by Holloway and the rest of the coaches and squad, could be the one to keep Blackpool up, if they can overcome it.