Mario Pedro

[Bridgtown Buck]

Noticed this rumour started on the Nuneaton forum by 'Wandering Pitman' that Nuneaton and ourselves are interested in Mario Pedro. I take it he is still with you at present?

http://www.boro-chat.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1509&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Anyone heard anything about this?

[Rocco]

We haven't heard anything about him this close season so far! I for one would like to know what the situation is with him as I think he is a fantastic player and will be once again gutted about losing one of our star players to local rivals!!!

[Bridgtown Buck]

To be fair I would be surprised if we signed him as I don't really think he's the type of player we need, but you never know. I suppose the question is who is 'Wandering Pitman' and what is the source of his information?

Don't you just love pre-season, all these rumours and nobody ever has a clue what to believe! :)

[SteveW]

I am Marios number one fan, bags of skill and a top bloke aswell. However even I would have to admit that he was really disappointing last season and never got even close to fulfilling the potential he showed in pre-season. I'm afraid there's no way I could describe him as a "star player" last season when he seemed to just go missing for most of it.

I asked about him earlier this week. Apparently he is being touted around any number of clubs by his agent and even spent some time up at Leeds United but was last heard of at Walsall. I think these clubs were looking at him purely on his CV as a former under 21 international rather than anything he's done since arriving here. No idea about the interest reported on this thread but it woudn't surprise me if Nuneaton and Telford have been included on Marios tour.

To be honest I would be very surprised to see Mario back at Hednesford for the coming season unless he wants a contract that ends in September and starts again in April but that's just my opinion.

[rodh]

Rocco, I am afraid you will have to be gutted because Mario is not being retained by the Manager. He is free to sign for any club. We are aware that his agent is pushing him at a number of clubs and that he was going to join in our pre season training in an attempt to gain fitness but I am not aware if he turned up. I personally do not think he is suitable for the needs of the Unibond and that his performances were patchy to say the least. On a good day he was brilliant but unfortunately I can only remember a few good days.

[MikeM]

Have to agree that Mario is not suitable for Unibond, particularly as interpreted by our current management; he's way too good for it; he brings the ball under instant control, does the unexpected, plays accurate passes beyond the obvious and seems to know where other players are on the field. Sadly in a contest to place a long ball into the stratosphere there are many Unibond players who would beat him. If he was so awful last season why was there an almighty rush to give him one of the few contracts available?

[Glyn]

Game of opinions. But in mine, rose-tinted specs there Mike - I agree with others who say he flattered to deceive, very impressive pre-season (which might explain the contract?) but then frequently disappeared in the games I saw.

Don't think you can afford a luxury player at this level - sure, if we were Man Ure and had 10 other superstars on the field we may have been able to allow him time to flourish as they did with C Ronaldo, but we don't/didn't.

[Hallo]

Allow him time to flourish? I'm sure he's at least 28.

[Glyn]

:doh:

[Hallo]

If the boys who run Champ Manager (Now footy manager) are correct then he is 30 in a couple of weeks time.

[MikeM]

No idea of his age but it was his name the fans sang more than any other last season, and I do clearly remember that when he didn't start away at Telford everyone assumed this was because of an injury.No one in that packed stand imagined he was left out for reasons of ability or form; a shame that we've lost the archives of the old forum, where people were panic-stricken as late as November (scarcely pe-season) that we'd lose him to a higher league if he wasn't put on a contract. His season of course went downhill from the slight of being benched for the two big matches against Telford on, which is unsurprising, but it didn't go downhill as fast as our season did when he ceased to be first choice.