Gilchrist joins!

22 March 2001

Talk about leaving it to the last minute.... Leicester City defender Phil Gilchrist has joined West Brom for a fee of £500,000 - the figure we were trying to buy him for a month or so back but gave up on (publicly, at least) because Leicester were sticking to their demands for a million. Technically, however, the agreement came too late in the day to make it permanent straight away - but thanks to the quirks of our transfer system, we could sign him on loan (a much quicker process) and convert the loan into a permanent signing on Friday morning after the standard medical.

The deal means a further vindication of the transfer policy of patience and perseverance employed by the Albion Board and Gary Megson. Once again they have been able to purchase a player at their valuation, rather than paying what they consider to be over the odds, so hats off to all involved for pulling this deal off. It's a clear sign of the club's intent to maintain the play-off place it currently has, and a statement that Albion are doing all they possibly can at this point in time to get into the Premiership.

As recently as this morning, however, media reports had been quoting Albion as saying that there would be no more signings before today's 5pm deadline, and that we had been unable to find anyone available that would be an improvement on the players we already had - and that the panick buying of players because of Sunday's dismal showing at Molineux is something the Club did not wish to get into. A smokescreen for what was going on behind the scenes...?

Gilchrist is far from a panick buy, however - reports have been linking him with Albion for months, and he has always been reported as being keen to join, having watched a number of recent Albion games. The move has seen him agree a three year contract with Albion, and looks good value for a player who has been anything but sat on the sidelines at Filbert Street.

Gilchrist signed for Leicester from Oxford Utd for £500,000 in 1999, having been voted Oxford's Supporters Players of the Year the previous season. He made 36 appearances in hist first season at Filbert Street, but has been restricted to 15 appearances this season. He did, however, play the entire 90 minutes at Old Trafford last weekend, putting in a performance described by the official Leicester website as "outstanding".

The following comments on Gilchrist have been collected from a variety of websites:

"He possesses great pace and an excellent long throw"

"A player known for his long throw, Phil is an excellent all round central defender, frequently the last line of the defence before the goalkeeper"

"Gilchrist was named as the Supporters' Player of the Year in the 98-99 season after a string of impressive performances in the U's defence, where he earned a reputation as a tough-tackling, no-nonsense defender"

"Blessed with a long throw-in that can cause havoc in the opposition's penalty area, Gilchrist is also able to weight in with the odd goal or two himself - often getting his head to corners or free kicks"

Information on Gilchrist from Soccernet:

Date of Birth: August 28, 1973 Birthplace:    Stockton-onTees  Height:        6' 1''  Weight:        13.3 stone  Profile:   Commanding centre half snapped up from Oxford for £500,000 who has steadily gained Premiership experience ever since. While at Oxford, he was a team-mate of City stalwart Matt Elliott and was hoping to follow him as a first-team regular at Leicester.   Shows some of Elliott's talent for popping up in the opposition box to chip in vital goals, grabbing one as the Foxes beat Liverpool at Anfield in 99/00.   But, after Peter Taylor took over the reigns at the start of the 2000/01 season, Gilchrist struggled to get a look in and moved to West Bromwich Albion for £500,000 on transfer deadline day in March 2001.
   

A black mark for Teletext, however - they reported us as buying some bloke called "G Megson" from them instead...

Previous Stories:

  21 March 2001:  Albion target Cummings for loan

  20 March 2001:  More televised Baggies games

  20 March 2001:  Loan signings likely?

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