Archived News from April 2002
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KINNEAR CLAIMS GREENACRE WILL SIGN FOR BRADFORD
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Bantams win Greenacre race - Kinnear
Teamtalk Luton boss Joe Kinnear has revealed that he was unable to sign Chris Greenacre because the Stags striker had already agreed to join Bradford. Kinnear was keen to sign the highly-rated Greenacre, who has netted 27 goals for Mansfield already this season, to bolster his newly-promoted squad as they prepare for Second Division football next term. But the former Spurs player's plans have been scuppered as Greenacre appears to be heading for the First Division and Valley Parade. "He is already joining Bradford as far as I know," said Kinnear, backing up recent unconfirmed reports by TEAMtalk. "His agents tell me that he is joining Bradford so he is out of the equation. We'll be looking in other directions." Greenacre's future has been the subject of speculation for much of this season. A number of clubs expressed an interest in signing the 24-year-old mid-season but he decided to let his contract at Field Mill expire and move for free in the summer. Stuart Watkiss has always said he wants to keep Greenacre at the club but told TEAMtalk last month: "I think you have to be realistic and the chances of keeping Chris have got to be very slim. "We are doing all we can to keep him, but by sheer volume of goals that he scored for us he has attracted the interest of bigger clubs. "We'll have to say that Chris will be playing at a higher standard next year. The speculation has died down a bit lately. "But just after I arrived Chris came to me and said he would see out the season with us and hopefully help us to promotion and then he would consider his future at the end of the season. "And that's still the way it is and I'm planning to have Chris with us until the end of the season." Luton, Bradford and their First Division rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham have been at the forefront of the chase since then - a chase Bantams boss Nicky Law appears to have won. Boss praise for Greenacre Teamtalk Stuart Watkiss has paid tribute to striker Chris Greenacre for his attitude this week after being dropped for the first time this season. Greenacre, likely to leave the club on a Bosman in the summer, had struck 21 goals before Christmas. But they had dried up recently and he was stuck on 26 for seven games before coming on as substitute at Luton on Monday. "I was delighted to get a positive reaction out of Chris at Luton," said Watkiss. "I decided to leave him out and change things round and he came on, hit the post, scored a goal and gave what was probably his best performance since I took over. "I have never had any qualms about his effort and commitment but we just needed a bit of a shake-up. "Full marks to Chris, for the hour he was on the pitch he was excellent, and let's hope he can build on that for the remaining games and get back among the goals again." |
Latest | April 2002