While we haven't ended up with a big name striker like we all thought, I offer this
I would rather have a chairman who trys to get the fans excited, strengthens the squad, keeps our key assets, and has tried to build a good relationship with the fans, over a distant owner who hates the fans, doesnt try to sign anything, can and WILL sell our major assets and leave us bare bones.
Is that seriously our only option? Honestly, I would rather have a Chairman who does what he SAYS he will do and otherwise keeps his mouth shut if he can't deliver.
I'm heartened by the fact that the majority seem satisfied. I do hope MS learns from this though. Hyping everyone up then signing Matt Smith isn't the end of the world, but imagime suggesting there's not much going on then signing Toney. That's how you work the crowd.
Yeh, maybe Southall could learn to tone down his excitement on social media, particularly if he didn’t manage to make the big signing announcement that he may have expected. I’m sure there’ll be plenty outraged twitterers to point out his perceived shortcomings.
Regardless though, I do think there were many with unrealistic expectations from this window.
Southall said during the big prezzer the other week that there will be marquee signings, but he didn’t say they would be this January. Indeed I seem to recall him being clear that this window was all about staying in this league.
I suspect all of today’s signings will be from further down the list than first hoped but none the less, I am confident they will do the job. There’s almost 100 international caps between McGeady and Smith with experienced Championship campaigner Davis being just the sort of combative midfielder that we need to protect our back line.
A solid start, that will get us to the wholesale rebuild in the summertime. That is when ESI can truly be judged on their progress towards achieving the 5 year game plan.
Lee Bowyer is happy and I'm happy because Lyle is still here. Matt Southall seems to have wound a few fans up who fell for his salesmanship on deadline day. In the summer he will be more experienced and may need to curb his enthusiasm.
We need Lyle to be fully focused tomorrow and the crowd need to chant Lyle's name because he has been superb since he joined from Wimbledon.
While we haven't ended up with a big name striker like we all thought, I offer this
I would rather have a chairman who trys to get the fans excited, strengthens the squad, keeps our key assets, and has tried to build a good relationship with the fans, over a distant owner who hates the fans, doesnt try to sign anything, can and WILL sell our major assets and leave us bare bones.
Is that seriously our only option? Honestly, I would rather have a Chairman who does what he SAYS he will do and otherwise keeps his mouth shut if he can't deliver.
He strengthened the squad, kept Lyle, and signed Lee. Those were his top priorities. Yes we probabaly could have gotten more, you really think he wasnt trying??? I'm sure he had something bigger up his sleeve that never came off.
Agreed, he should wind it in a little bit just so expectations dont get too high (which they did), but at the end of the day when everyone gets over the social media blunder, this squad is good enough to keep us up. That is ALL that matters
While we haven't ended up with a big name striker like we all thought, I offer this
I would rather have a chairman who trys to get the fans excited, strengthens the squad, keeps our key assets, and has tried to build a good relationship with the fans, over a distant owner who hates the fans, doesnt try to sign anything, can and WILL sell our major assets and leave us bare bones.
Is that seriously our only option? Honestly, I would rather have a Chairman who does what he SAYS he will do and otherwise keeps his mouth shut if he can't deliver.
But he did deliver. He signed three players in a day. You might have decided they're not what you wanted or not good enough - though I doubt you've ever seen Smith play, or maybe even Davis - but we did a lot of business today. Given that our squad is talented but crippled, getting bodies in, which is exactly what Bowyer insisted was key, was necessary and we've pulled it off. It's been a good day for making sure that Bowyer can field a team that's not made up of youth players who aren't ready, and you know that Davis and McGeady are players he wanted. The walk has been walked, because the promise was that business would be done to strengthen the squad.
When your "biggest piece of business" is not losing your best player, you know you are aiming too low, as a club.
Really? That's your take.
Pessimism on here lately really grinds my gears. We've got in 4 decent midfield players. We retained all our players worth selling. Gallagher was never ours.
Love Southall and all his media stuff. Take it all with a pinch of salt, bit of fun. At least we knew they were on it, and I am pleased with the result. I never expected a big signing. I think we had one on the hook. Next time, maybe? That’s football.
The alternative is silence. Bugger that.
That said, not losing Taylor is massive. Signing up Bows for three years is massive. Getting rid of Roland is massive. Getting our Charlton back is massive.
Shrugged off Fulham trying to nick our youngsters. Long may that attitude continue. Not getting mugged off by other clubs. Long may that continue.
No, silence is not the alternative. Silence would be an alternative. Another alternative would have been not to big-up possible super-duper signings and just say that we're looking to bring in a few solid players on loan.
He didn't say marquee signings this window and I wasn't expecting any. I would of liked some balance. A mixture of loans and permanents across a variety of positions.
Still cant believe we spent no money either and it was just loans
Loans aren't free.
Not free but not necessarily much more expensive then the three who have left in our breakeven budget, now swollen by a Fosu sell-on. Clearly we have signed who we could get rather than our preferred targets, which doesn’t mean they won’t do a job.
Makes you wonder when Davis came in after Fosu signed for Brentford.
Still cant believe we spent no money either and it was just loans
Loans aren't free.
Not free but not necessarily much more expensive then the three who have left in our breakeven budget, now swollen by a Fosu sell-on. Clearly we have signed who we could get rather than our preferred targets, which doesn’t mean they won’t do a job.
You say clearly, Green was done very early so we clearly wanted him.
Bow has always spoken of how much he rates McGeady, so we clearly wanted him.
Sure Smith and Davis were unexpected but I believe we wanted those first two for sure.
I'm not convinced that any of us know what any of threse 4 signings are capable of with the possible exception of McGeady, even less when they play together and in a team with the likes of Taylor and Williams, Field and Cullen.
I look forward to some good partnerships forming there.
We aren't going to get promoted this season but now I really don't think we are going to be relegated and we could be in for some entertaining football.
And that will do me.
David Davis has played going on for 200 Championship games for Birmingham since 2014 and has captained the side at times. I think we know a bit about him
Fair enough. I'm not convinced that many of us know...then read the rest.
I assume we are all super happy that ESI decided that this transfer window was sooooo important that they decided not to actually buy the ground or Sparrows Lane at the moment but to concentrate on strengthening the squad.
RIght-o.
You are soooo good at this! The window was massive. Bows would have left before the sale if our Chairman had not intervened IMO. Taylor would have buggered off. Fans would not be so engaged. Roland would still own us Docherty would have gone IMO We would be going down.
The new owners will own it all lock stock and barrel in a couple of months. The training ground will be built to the highest specifications, the squad will be improved, fans will return.
Still cant believe we spent no money either and it was just loans
Loans aren't free.
Not free but not necessarily much more expensive then the three who have left in our breakeven budget, now swollen by a Fosu sell-on. Clearly we have signed who we could get rather than our preferred targets, which doesn’t mean they won’t do a job.
Makes you wonder when Davis came in after Fosu signed for Brentford.
When your "biggest piece of business" is not losing your best player, you know you are aiming too low, as a club.
Really? That's your take.
Pessimism on here lately really grinds my gears. We've got in 4 decent midfield players. We retained all our players worth selling. Gallagher was never ours.
How is not losing your best player aiming low? Surely its the complete opposite and shows ambition. There's so many variables when you buy players in, that keeping hold of your best players and youth who are already proven to do well at your club is so so valuable.
While we haven't ended up with a big name striker like we all thought, I offer this
I would rather have a chairman who trys to get the fans excited, strengthens the squad, keeps our key assets, and has tried to build a good relationship with the fans, over a distant owner who hates the fans, doesnt try to sign anything, can and WILL sell our major assets and leave us bare bones.
Is that seriously our only option? Honestly, I would rather have a Chairman who does what he SAYS he will do and otherwise keeps his mouth shut if he can't deliver.
But he did deliver. He signed three players in a day. You might have decided they're not what you wanted or not good enough - though I doubt you've ever seen Smith play, or maybe even Davis - but we did a lot of business today. Given that our squad is talented but crippled, getting bodies in, which is exactly what Bowyer insisted was key, was necessary and we've pulled it off. It's been a good day for making sure that Bowyer can field a team that's not made up of youth players who aren't ready, and you know that Davis and McGeady are players he wanted. The walk has been walked, because the promise was that business would be done to strengthen the squad.
If we were just after "bodies" then surely we could have brought in players earlier in the window? Waiting until the 31st January to sign 3 loan signings isn't great when Bowyer was crying out for players weeks ago.
When your "biggest piece of business" is not losing your best player, you know you are aiming too low, as a club.
Really?
Let's see in the summer.
Lot of good that will do if next summer we are back in League One.
Why would we be back in L1? We've got 4 talented midfielders in and have Taylor Field, Williams, Cullen back in and can look forward to Bonne back soon. I don't think we are going to go down now.
While we haven't ended up with a big name striker like we all thought, I offer this
I would rather have a chairman who trys to get the fans excited, strengthens the squad, keeps our key assets, and has tried to build a good relationship with the fans, over a distant owner who hates the fans, doesnt try to sign anything, can and WILL sell our major assets and leave us bare bones.
Is that seriously our only option? Honestly, I would rather have a Chairman who does what he SAYS he will do and otherwise keeps his mouth shut if he can't deliver.
But he did deliver. He signed three players in a day. You might have decided they're not what you wanted or not good enough - though I doubt you've ever seen Smith play, or maybe even Davis - but we did a lot of business today. Given that our squad is talented but crippled, getting bodies in, which is exactly what Bowyer insisted was key, was necessary and we've pulled it off. It's been a good day for making sure that Bowyer can field a team that's not made up of youth players who aren't ready, and you know that Davis and McGeady are players he wanted. The walk has been walked, because the promise was that business would be done to strengthen the squad.
If we were just after "bodies" then surely we could have brought in players earlier in the window? Waiting until the 31st January to sign 3 loan signings isn't great when Bowyer was crying out for players weeks ago.
Maybe people didn't want to release them until they were sure they had cover themselves.
I'm really happy with this window. Looking at it objectively, we've:
- Replaced Leko with Green - Replaced Gallagher with Smith - Replaced Kayal with Davies - Added McGeady in a role we've struggled to fill, as someone with an x-factor - Kept Taylor
It's all very well including Morgan, Lapslie, Doherty and Dempsey as midfielders available to us, but Bowyer hasn't felt they're ready at the start of the season and arguably only Doherty has done enough to change that view. They've all got potential but we've had to ask too much of them in the last few months, and it's shown in the results.
Given the injuries we've had across the midfield and they're only just coming back, I think it's a decent window and smart to prioritise midfield. We have Cullen, Pratley, Field, Williams and Otzumer to complement the new guys.
I'd have liked another CB or LB, but our defense was a lot tighter earlier in the season with a decent midfield in front of it. I'd have liked another forward, but Green replaces Leko and with Taylor staying it's more valuable than most new signings available in Jan. I expect Aneke will be used up front more off the bench given the other options in midfield - I've not been impressed by him yet but time will tell. Hemed will hopefully stay fit and with Bonne back soon we have enough options again. Hopefully Davison and some of the other youngsters will get a loan.
Ultimately Bowyer, Gallen and Southall seem to have balanced the squad (bearing in mind we often play 6 midfielders over 90 minutes) replaced those leaving / long term injured and have addressed the major weaknesses in the squad. It won't get us promoted this year and you can find things to remain concerned about, but challenging for promotion wasn't the aim and save for a second worst-in-the-country injury crisis should be more than enough to see us stay up. Davies and McGeady are superb signings that add genuine quality to the squad.
Bowyer needs to get them integrated into the squad asap and taking some of the weight. With the returning players, the extra support and the added bonus of McGeady we should start picking up wins and moving towards safety. Bring on Barnsley.
While we haven't ended up with a big name striker like we all thought, I offer this
I would rather have a chairman who trys to get the fans excited, strengthens the squad, keeps our key assets, and has tried to build a good relationship with the fans, over a distant owner who hates the fans, doesnt try to sign anything, can and WILL sell our major assets and leave us bare bones.
Is that seriously our only option? Honestly, I would rather have a Chairman who does what he SAYS he will do and otherwise keeps his mouth shut if he can't deliver.
But he did deliver. He signed three players in a day. You might have decided they're not what you wanted or not good enough - though I doubt you've ever seen Smith play, or maybe even Davis - but we did a lot of business today. Given that our squad is talented but crippled, getting bodies in, which is exactly what Bowyer insisted was key, was necessary and we've pulled it off. It's been a good day for making sure that Bowyer can field a team that's not made up of youth players who aren't ready, and you know that Davis and McGeady are players he wanted. The walk has been walked, because the promise was that business would be done to strengthen the squad.
If we were just after "bodies" then surely we could have brought in players earlier in the window? Waiting until the 31st January to sign 3 loan signings isn't great when Bowyer was crying out for players weeks ago.
It's not just bodies though. Bowyer wanted Green in the summer, he's always liked McGeady, Davis is a classic Bowyer player and apparently we even looked at Smith in the summer. That's the way this window works, teams are willing to let players go on the final day once they've figured out what their squad will look like. Villa let Green go early, but every other team moved players around on the final day. There's likely a middle ground between what was available and what we could get but they've not just signed players randomly on the last day for lols.
A slow burn this one. Initially disappointed at the lack of big names, but with good management these will help create a stronger team, rather than be Charlie Big-Potatoes, lots of fancy runs but no goals.
The nearest thing to a marquee signing was going to be Bostock, and tbh he is now 28 and never did come good after his promise as a 16 yr old.
Can I just say I'm looking forward to my loan transfer to the "Chill out" team from the " Centre ground" there was no way I would sign until I knew Lyle was here to the Summer. Bizarrely some of the "Chill out" guys have joined the "bed wetters". I don't regret putting questions to Matt Southall and wondering why they didn't react to the emergency quicker, but we move on and we need to unite tomorrow because we have one hell of a battle.
If the incomings were McGeady, Davis, a recognizable striker and we kept Lyle, everybody would be buzzing right now. No insider information but my guess is that the plan/wishlist was to get either Maddison or McGeady, Davis or equivalent and a striker. We were probably close to signing our striker of choice which is why MS went on the tweet storm) but weren’t able to get it across the line which is not unusual in January when only a limited number of strikers are available and a lot of competition. My guess is that Smith may have come available unexpectedly and Gallen and Lee said yes just for depth given our injury woes and it appears they rated him back in the summer.
I am generally pleased - my only concern is we are putting a lot of faith in two strikers coming off injury to score because while the likes of Williams, McGeady and Cullen can certainly create opportunities, I dont see a lot of goals coming from the midfield.
Still cant believe we spent no money either and it was just loans
Loans aren't free.
Not free but not necessarily much more expensive then the three who have left in our breakeven budget, now swollen by a Fosu sell-on. Clearly we have signed who we could get rather than our preferred targets, which doesn’t mean they won’t do a job.
You say clearly, Green was done very early so we clearly wanted him.
Bow has always spoken of how much he rates McGeady, so we clearly wanted him.
Sure Smith and Davis were unexpected but I believe we wanted those first two for sure.
Green, I’ll concede. The rest, I don’t think so. But let’s see how they get on. I don’t buy the “we were fine in August so we’d have been in the top half but for injuries” line because you can find plenty of other examples of promoted teams starting well and fading as opponents work them out. This season was always going to be a struggle because we are trying to operate as Burton Albion, which is hard to do in the Championship. Hopefully the quality of Bowyer and Taylor (and a few others) sees us through.
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Is that seriously our only option? Honestly, I would rather have a Chairman who does what he SAYS he will do and otherwise keeps his mouth shut if he can't deliver.
Lot of good that will do if next summer we are back in League One.
Wait for the summer, if it's free agents and loans then I will not be "Appy"
Southall said during the big prezzer the other week that there will be marquee signings, but he didn’t say they would be this January. Indeed I seem to recall him being clear that this window was all about staying in this league.
I suspect all of today’s signings will be from further down the list than first hoped but none the less, I am confident they will do the job. There’s almost 100 international caps between McGeady and Smith with experienced Championship campaigner Davis being just the sort of combative midfielder that we need to protect our back line.
A solid start, that will get us to the wholesale rebuild in the summertime. That is when ESI can truly be judged on their progress towards achieving the 5 year game plan.
Lee Bowyer is happy and I'm happy because Lyle is still here. Matt Southall seems to have wound a few fans up who fell for his salesmanship on deadline day.
In the summer he will be more experienced and may need to curb his enthusiasm.
We need Lyle to be fully focused tomorrow and the crowd need to chant Lyle's name because he has been superb since he joined from Wimbledon.
Agreed, he should wind it in a little bit just so expectations dont get too high (which they did), but at the end of the day when everyone gets over the social media blunder, this squad is good enough to keep us up. That is ALL that matters
Pessimism on here lately really grinds my gears. We've got in 4 decent midfield players. We retained all our players worth selling. Gallagher was never ours.
That would have been more honest.
I would of liked some balance. A mixture of loans and permanents across a variety of positions.
Instead we got 4 midfielders. All on loan!
Bow has always spoken of how much he rates McGeady, so we clearly wanted him.
Sure Smith and Davis were unexpected but I believe we wanted those first two for sure.
The window was massive.
Bows would have left before the sale if our Chairman had not intervened IMO.
Taylor would have buggered off.
Fans would not be so engaged.
Roland would still own us
Docherty would have gone IMO
We would be going down.
The new owners will own it all lock stock and barrel in a couple of months. The training ground will be built to the highest specifications, the squad will be improved, fans will return.
Hold my hand, I will help you through this.
COYR “ the only way is up, baby”.
- Replaced Leko with Green
- Replaced Gallagher with Smith
- Replaced Kayal with Davies
- Added McGeady in a role we've struggled to fill, as someone with an x-factor
- Kept Taylor
It's all very well including Morgan, Lapslie, Doherty and Dempsey as midfielders available to us, but Bowyer hasn't felt they're ready at the start of the season and arguably only Doherty has done enough to change that view. They've all got potential but we've had to ask too much of them in the last few months, and it's shown in the results.
Given the injuries we've had across the midfield and they're only just coming back, I think it's a decent window and smart to prioritise midfield. We have Cullen, Pratley, Field, Williams and Otzumer to complement the new guys.
I'd have liked another CB or LB, but our defense was a lot tighter earlier in the season with a decent midfield in front of it. I'd have liked another forward, but Green replaces Leko and with Taylor staying it's more valuable than most new signings available in Jan. I expect Aneke will be used up front more off the bench given the other options in midfield - I've not been impressed by him yet but time will tell. Hemed will hopefully stay fit and with Bonne back soon we have enough options again. Hopefully Davison and some of the other youngsters will get a loan.
Ultimately Bowyer, Gallen and Southall seem to have balanced the squad (bearing in mind we often play 6 midfielders over 90 minutes) replaced those leaving / long term injured and have addressed the major weaknesses in the squad. It won't get us promoted this year and you can find things to remain concerned about, but challenging for promotion wasn't the aim and save for a second worst-in-the-country injury crisis should be more than enough to see us stay up. Davies and McGeady are superb signings that add genuine quality to the squad.
Bowyer needs to get them integrated into the squad asap and taking some of the weight. With the returning players, the extra support and the added bonus of McGeady we should start picking up wins and moving towards safety. Bring on Barnsley.
Lyle Taylor is still here
That was huge
The nearest thing to a marquee signing was going to be Bostock, and tbh he is now 28 and never did come good after his promise as a 16 yr old.
Starting to feel quite optimistic.
Whelmed.
Bizarrely some of the "Chill out" guys have joined the "bed wetters".
I don't regret putting questions to Matt Southall and wondering why they didn't react to the emergency quicker, but we move on and we need to unite tomorrow because we have one hell of a battle.