Stussy, I'm not so sure that it's true he'll accept regular rotation. If you take Tommo's interjection as true, then he'll be a valuable squad member as number 2 to Carroll, with (according to fairly informed rumour) Wickham as number 3. I think in some big games you'll see Dirk back on the right. BUT - if the rotation means sitting out a fair few, I'm not at all sure he'll be content with it. Obviously this is uncharted territory(!) but looking at the man's personality - his desire to contribute may be more direct than by smiling cheerfully from the bench. We'll have to see.
Having said that, personally, I'd love the above scenario to be true and for your character assessment to be the right one. It would use his strengths and minimise his weaknesses.
But it also strikes me that the Dirk cult on here wants it both ways in terms of criticising other posters. Yorky and Rossi get it in the neck when Dirk has a good game and they stay out of here, posting no criticism of him. But if Roy and others attempt a gentle critique of his good and bad points - expressing the wish for a purer footballer - they are accused of coming on here and 'moaning.'
It's this sort of defensiveness that verges on the ridiculous.
I don't know anything about the politics of this thread, this is the first time I've participated in a conversation about Dirk since I can remember. I don't think 'Dirk cult' is a helpful phrase though.
As to him accepting rotation - he'll have to. If not, he can put in a transfer request at the end of next season. Should we qualify for Europe we'll have four competitions to participate in and he'll get games. And he'll get games in the league, regardless, because of injury, suspension, and he'll get starts because of his qualities for various formations we want to play, to say nothing of being a sub. Dirk doesn't seem the kind that will shirk a challenge, and I feel sure that the competition for a place will make him raise his game.
The current squad contains keepers and losers, we'll keep some, we'll lose some.
The keepers we all know who they are, and we know who the losers are. There may be some in a grey area. But generally speaking we know who sits in which part of the Venn diagram.
Amongst the keepers, you can make another differentiation. The ones who will fit into our 'Utopia' team, the ideal first team that we are looking to create now. Would Dirk make the Utopia team? The team we would select to win the title needing three points in the last game of the season? Maybe, maybe not. But thats where a usefulness test comes into play. Will Dirk be useful to our aspirations over the long haul of a season? Undoubtedly so. He's the archetyple useful player, in that definition.
