Ex Player Jack Stevens

[werthersoriginal]

Comfortably number one now, his speed and athleticism have shown up what a plodding, doddery liability Eastwood had become. Hard not to think that we would be quite a few million quid richer had he been in goal at Wembley. Wasn’t to be though and no point looking back, it’s a pleasure to watch him and the young defence we have in front of him grow as a unit.

He is certainly a good example of what giving younger players a chance (belatedly) can do rather than just sticking with what you know.

Hes not that young is he, isn’t he 23? Young for a keeper but not a kid.

 

[LeftSideBoy]

Hes not that young is he, isn’t he 23? Young for a keeper but not a kid.

I think despite him being only 23, he is also ‘young’ in terms of league experience. I think he’s done excellently. Should have been played earlier (said captain hindsight)

 

[RgYellows]

All academic now but you do wonder where we would be if we had started Jack Stevens last year when Easty got injured instead of bringing Archer in on loan. Stevens had played against Charlton (was it?) in the summer and done very well, and many on here were suggesting he be given a chance, so it's not like he was a totally untried commodity. And maybe the coaching staff thought it was too early for him, but less than a year later he's slotted right into a team struggling in the relegation places and made the #1 shirt his own. Didn't Eastwood make some howlers on his return against Rotherham, too? In a game which, had the result gone the other way, would have seen us up automatically.

All sliding doors moments, and perhaps it was too early and we'd all have been furious about KR putting in a totally green goalkeeper in a promotion chase, but definitely an interesting one.

It is certainly a coincidence that after being at the club for six years, Jack Stevens reached a level of ability that meant he was trusted to step in and perform as a starter just 13 league games after new rules came in making it harder to make frivolous signings.

I believe there's a word for that sort of coincidence. It's called 'suspicious'.

 

[Eaststanding]

He’s been watching and learning from Eastwood, a very good keeper, for years now. Given that keepers tend to peak in their mid 20’s early 30’s we should have a good few years of his best yet to come.

 

[Peterdev]

Surely the question is do we keep Eastwood as back up or loan him out and get a young keeper in. I’ve always liked Eastwood but we’ve stuck with him too long when he hasn’t performed. Will he ever get a chance to play here again as it looks like Jack Stevens is head and shoulders above in terms of performances

 

[Big Ronaldo]

Well if RyanioBirdio fancies him then that is good enough for me!

 

[Sarge]

Surely the question is do we keep Eastwood as back up or loan him out and get a young keeper in. I’ve always liked Eastwood but we’ve stuck with him too long when he hasn’t performed. Will he ever get a chance to play here again as it looks like Jack Stevens is head and shoulders above in terms of performances

Easty will get the call for the PJT quarter final V Wombles

 

[Peterdev]

Just checked and Stevens has played ten games in a row now

 

[OxfordNondie]

Whilst I agree he's been really good, I'm not sure id go that far. When we play other teams easty is the first player they know and are in awe of (i am speaking from experience I work in the industry). Appreciate reputation doesn't equal performance

Thats was exactly the problem, we keep Eastwood in on the side on reputation.
Sorry not the player of old and eventually replaced

 

[mooro]

Surely the question is do we keep Eastwood as back up or loan him out and get a young keeper in. I’ve always liked Eastwood but we’ve stuck with him too long when he hasn’t performed. Will he ever get a chance to play here again as it looks like Jack Stevens is head and shoulders above in terms of performances

Keep him for rest of season as backup and mentor to avoid disruption for Stevens.
Change things in the summer perhaps, but no need to mess with things now

 

[Foley]

I think despite him being only 23, he is also ‘young’ in terms of league experience. I think he’s done excellently. Should have been played earlier (said captain hindsight)

Who knows how he would have done last year?
Maybe the timing was spot on maybe not
Regardless, as somebody said a goalkeeper normally peaks late 20's and early 30's. So if we get him signed up on a new long term contract, the best may still to come.

 

[Foley]

Surely the question is do we keep Eastwood as back up or loan him out and get a young keeper in. I’ve always liked Eastwood but we’ve stuck with him too long when he hasn’t performed. Will he ever get a chance to play here again as it looks like Jack Stevens is head and shoulders above in terms of performances

I assume that Eastwood will leave at the end if the seasonvm when his contract runs out.
Will we sign a good young keeper for next season, or a more experienced keeper?

 

[unification]

Just checked and Stevens has played ten games in a row now

In his 18 matches with us now, Stevens has been on the losing side only once.

#winner

 

[nige01ox]

I assume that Eastwood will leave at the end if the seasonvm when his contract runs out.
Will we sign a good young keeper for next season, or a more experienced keeper?

With the squad limit dropping to 20 overage players, I don't personally think you can carry 2 keepers among those. So if I was making the decision based on right now, it would be Stevens as no.1 and a young loanee as backup (or our best youth keeper if the coaches believe him good enough).

 

[tonyw]

I assume that Eastwood will leave at the end if the seasonvm when his contract runs out.
Will we sign a good young keeper for next season, or a more experienced keeper?

I think it depends how Stevens performs over the next 25 games.

If he plays at, or close to, the level he has done over his first 10, then the gloves are his next year and we just need to bring in someone younger as backup.

If he falters, then goalkeeper becomes one of the key positions for recruitment over the summer.

 

[38yearsofpain]

I think it depends how Stevens performs over the next 25 games.

If he plays at, or close to, the level he has done over his first 10, then the gloves are his next year and we just need to bring in someone younger as backup.

If he falters, then goalkeeper becomes one of the key positions for recruitment over the summer.

If he has a very good second half to the season, he will join both Moore and Atkinson as players we could potentially be losing to big money moves. The acid test will be how he deals with making a mistake or 2.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

If he has a very good second half to the season, he will join both Moore and Atkinson as players we could potentially be losing to big money moves. The acid test will be how he deals with making a mistake or 2.

He strikes me as a pretty confident chap who backs himself. By all accounts he’s quite vocal which is promising and shows a decent level of self-assurance. If Eastwood got 18 months of largely poor form and multiple, positively catastrophic mistakes before people finally ran out of patience with him, I like to think that Stevens will get sufficient leeway to put things right if he drops a couple of clangers. It’ll happen sooner or later, but I just have a hunch that he’s made of the right stuff to at least have a decent shot at nailing down the spot.

Isn’t he still only on a deal until the end of the season? If so then surely a fresh one can’t be far away. Probably waiting until after January because any new deal would see his new (increased) salary applied to the cap at full whack.

 

[arthurturner]

He strikes me as a pretty confident chap who backs himself. By all accounts he’s quite vocal which is promising and shows a decent level of self-assurance. If Eastwood got 18 months of largely poor form and multiple, positively catastrophic mistakes before people finally ran out of patience with him, I like to think that Stevens will get sufficient leeway to put things right if he drops a couple of clangers. It’ll happen sooner or later, but I just have a hunch that he’s made of the right stuff to at least have a decent shot at nailing down the spot.

Isn’t he still only on a deal until the end of the season? If so then surely a fresh one can’t be far away. Probably waiting until after January because any new deal would see his new (increased) salary applied to the cap at full whack.

He signed a 1 year contract last March. I assume until the end of this season. He's proved himself as far as I'm concerned. I would have thought a 2/3 year contract should be offered asap.

 

[arthurturner]

Good keeper lots of potential but if we are talking fit or not he has nowhere near enough funbags for me.

Funbags?

 

[tonyw]

He signed a 1 year contract last March. I assume until the end of this season. He's proved himself as far as I'm concerned. I would have thought a 2/3 year contract should be offered asap.

I'd agree - even if he does falter a little over the rest of the season, he's certainly shown already that he's good enough to be a strong backup. And if he keeps up his current form, he could be first choice for years.

Plus, the longer you wait, and the more clean sheets he keeps, the bigger his wage demands are going to get!