Reed an employment agency and Johnson, air fresheners...
So it's happening. A breath of fresh air in recruitment! Anyone who can't see that this is a clear message being sent by our owners is blind or mad or both.
If we only sign 7 players (including loanees) then I'll be throwing in the towel.
That would be deeply troubling given that in an ideal world we'd sign 6 defenders without even looking further up the pitch. I don't think we're likely to end up with 2 quality players in every position though. In the 2011/12 season we signed loads of players in a time when it was easier to do that on a smaller budget and we still didn't really cover ourselves that well. Hughes was signed as a backup RB but never played there and ended up being the cover for Stephens at CM because Pritchard was signed as a punt, Alonso was a practical joke and there wasn't any depth there. Francis was technically there as backup but he played 2 league cup games, was terrible in both and I reckon Powell would have put Keith Peacock in there before he played Francis in a league game. Solly played 44 league games that season and the only games he didn't play we used Morrison and Wiggins at RB where they were both very bad. We only had one proper left-sided midfielder in Jackson, who had just recovered from an achilles injury recently. We started the season with two first choice strikers and Paul Benson who Powell clearly didn't fancy. We added Yann at the end of September and then Haynes and Clarke in January but we spent the first half of the season short up front in terms of depth. Part of the situation was that the loan market was different then; when Jackson got injured we brought in Ephraim and then Lee Cook, Darel Russell came in to cover Stephens and N'Guessan was brought in to add a bit of life to the attack. The ability to make those signings in November and March meant you didn't have to worry so much about building the squad out fully but we were so lucky with injuries that season. 44 league games out of Solly! 45 out of Morrison and Wiggins with them only missing a dead rubber where we rotated the full 11 at the end of the season, no injuries to Taylor or Cort. Hamer, Hollands and BWP all playing over 40 league games, with Jackson only missing 9 games across the whole season despite some knocks and only missing games in small groups instead of large chunks. I think Yann missed one game through being unavailable.
That's the key for us this season to be honest, stop having these ridiculous injury lay-offs for our players. We had a fantastic back four in 11/12 and there was honestly one game where we were unable to field it by choice (we drew, it was awful. Green on the left, Pritch on the right, Wiggins at right back. Horrible use of my Tuesday). That was the basis of our success. In front of that we had one long-ish injury absence and nothing else. We were really lucky that season but it does go to show that you can get away with a lot in terms of squad building if you can keep your players fit.
I love how people are loosing their shit because of a month old rumour that Marquis had passed a medical and was going to sign and that is a signal of our intent.
Is there a single credible source of it?
Nobody (hardly anybody) is losing their shit. This again is what I'm saying. Anybody that has reservations about things becomes a subject of ridicule or mirth.
WHEN things change and the club SHOWS it's learnt from its mistakes, rather than just saying it has, I'll be on board.
Your posts over the last page or two don’t come across as just having reservations. Closer to actively campaigning against the club and it’s recruitment process.
What about Callum Johnson has provoked such a strong reaction? You say it’s only having reservations but your posts do not read that way. You or I have absolutely no idea how good he may or may not be unless he pulls on the shirt. Why not reserve judgement until then?
What are you expecting and what would realistically satisfy your expectations?
Even though I say I remain unconvinced that we haven't learnt from our mistakes and nothing shows me we have yet.
And that when we do, I'll be on board?
We are 14 players less than last season We had a list of active targets when Garner joined We started pre season last week We go to Spain this week
I repeat. Until the club actually SHOWS it has learnt from previous mistakes, I remain unconvinced.
Callum Johnson may well be a decent addition. He'd be better than what currently we have as a natural right back - nothing.
We are told we have a top 3 wage bill. I haven't seen that replicated on the pitch.
I hope this year is different.
Right now I don't believe it will be.
What is so hard to understand? You don't need to agree with me, but I fail to see why anybody blindly thinks it is going to change.
You can believe/hope it does.
Right now, NOTHING has.
That is all.
Give this man a promote. Says what I've been thinking & holding my tongue from saying it on here.
Not sure I agree with this though:
‘We started pre season last week We go to Spain this week’
Pre season was delayed to this week.
We go to Spain at the end of this week.
I wanted signings made last week, I’d now hope we’re bringing in bodies in time to get the new manager’s philosophy across to the squad, and work on a few things, before they head off to Spain. Let’s hope they don’t get stuck in giant queues, or that Spain has a serious heatwave. 😩
If we only sign 7 players (including loanees) then I'll be throwing in the towel.
How many players do you think a L1 club should have??
We need about 10 new players but only need a net increase of 6 or 7.
As an example we have three wide forwards so only really have room for one more but one plus Kirk, DJ and CBT might not be enough, or the right balance. So one or two might have to be moved on.
We can't bring in another striker unless we move one on. We might have to give up a midfielder to sign another defender.
This squad was put together under different managers playing different systems and now we have another manager playing another one. It shows. It needs but an upgrade in quality and rebalanced else we will end up with square pegs in round holes, again.
Like the sound of Callum Johnson - seems from comments online that both Portsmouth and Fleetwood fans rated him, position we need, reasonably young, on a free.
I would like to sign Lou Reed because the Velvets lyrics are a fantastic source. Gone would be the fish puns, and in would come better creative writing. C’mon Lou, you’ve got the works, give us sweet taste (but not by sucking on the ding dong!).
Comments
Will these two be ex-Charlton, or ex-Swindon, or both?
‘We started pre season last week
We go to Spain this week’
Pre season was delayed to this week.
I wanted signings made last week, I’d now hope we’re bringing in bodies in time to get the new manager’s philosophy across to the squad, and work on a few things, before they head off to Spain.
Let’s hope they don’t get stuck in giant queues, or that Spain has a serious heatwave. 😩
cfgs said: Signings due to be made today, not sure if announced.
As an example we have three wide forwards so only really have room for one more but one plus Kirk, DJ and CBT might not be enough, or the right balance. So one or two might have to be moved on.
We can't bring in another striker unless we move one on. We might have to give up a midfielder to sign another defender.
This squad was put together under different managers playing different systems and now we have another manager playing another one. It shows. It needs but an upgrade in quality and rebalanced else we will end up with square pegs in round holes, again.
Fingers crossed.
Gone would be the fish puns, and in would come better creative writing.
C’mon Lou, you’ve got the works, give us sweet taste (but not by sucking on the ding dong!).
When we aim to sign 3, we sign 1.
2 will do for me.