The Ronnie says that the word is that Griffin is wanted by Blackburn. They add this, in that weirdly off-the point way of theirs, to the end of the story about Freddy going to Australia.

Anyway, I suppose that if he's not getting a game and is making noises about it, he will get chatted up by other clubs. If he does go, though, it'll make the acquisition of a right back something of a priority....

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Answers

Souness watching resorves last night, Griffin playing. 2+2=7.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Well, obviously the manager of another team watching his reserves playing would suggest that he was scouting the opposition fullback. I do think there may a small grain of truth in this, though.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

I'd be sorry to see him go. We are not strong at FB, and I still think Griffin would improve our first team - if he could stay fit, that is.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

All in all, he has played quite a number of games but not really set the world alight.

A strong run in the team would help to buld confidence going forward, as he can tackle well. Unfortunately for him, the present time is so vital to our future that we can't afford to experiment with players. If Griff looks long term then he may feel like staying.

However, my last memory of him was that awful Brentford game.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

You shouldn't judge him on that one performance Paul where he may simply have been trying too hard to impress - he's played some very good games for us. Imo he is a genuine talent, and our best natural FB.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

What about the semi-final against Spurs when he didn't give Ginola a kick? The lad has talent. He played a lot of his games at Stoke on the left hand side - I wonder if he's one of these blokes who hasn't yet found his best position? Unlike you lot - where it appears to be proping up the bar in the Strawberry!!

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Don't get me wrong I think he's worth having here, every season I say to myself, "Griffin is going to be a dark horse this year"

Unfortunately that usually means he's such a dark horse that he disappears into the shadows and YBR can't see him.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Nearly forgot...

I wasn't attempting to judge him on that game, it was just the last time I remember him playing. His bad performance stood out. He also played against the Scousers I think but didn't stand out.

We definitely want to hold onto him though, maybe he could replace Elliott?

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

I think he's ace although I'd have to say that there is a tendency to judge him on his games against Ginola (one of which he did wonderfully well, the other of which his strategy was to kick lumps out of Ginola). He admits he was skinned by Giggs (not a criticism as he will skin world class fullbacks) and he had a mare against Liverpool and Brentford (along with about 10 other players as I recall). If he'd get fit and get a run, we would assess him properly after a good long run in the team - until then, it's all mixed (and very limited) memories of ace games and crap ones.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002