Garner has worked with Leko before as well… I know most would be annoyed if we signed him but I still think in a 4-3-3 he’s a good player and still young. Was probably our best player in Adkins 4-3-3 with 2 goals 2 assists in 8 games, I think in a much better set up 4-3-3 he could be really good again
Garner has worked with Leko before as well… I know most would be annoyed if we signed him but I still think in a 4-3-3 he’s a good player and still young. Was probably our best player in Adkins 4-3-3 with 2 goals 2 assists in 8 games, I think in a much better set up 4-3-3 he could be really good again
Not sure signing half of a team that couldn't get promoted from league two will get us promoted out of league one
No your probably right but we aren't going to sign first team players from the 9 league 1 clubs that finished above us, or the 3 that came down. Someone like Ipswich might have 1 or 2 that are out of favour we might want but that's about it.
If we sign out of favour championship players people will complain that they are on the way down and aren't hungry or some other buzz word.
That realistically leaves the best of the bottom half of league 1 and the top half of league 2, the best of which will get championship interest.
I think the pool we are fishing in is a lot smaller than some like to think.
I genuinely believe that the biggest glaring hole in our squad is the midfield.
Control of the middle of the pitch is vital if you want to be successful over a 46 game season. Look at the midfielders at Wigan, Rotherham and Sunderland and compare them to Morgan, Gilbey, Lee...
I would feel confident about Dobson, Forster-Caskey and Fraser playing a part in any of those squads. However if we are going to compete we need three more of equal or ideally better calibre.
There are plenty of other holes: fresh legs and pace for the wide areas, left sided defenders, a couple of strikers... but firmly believe without a top tier group of midfielders who can tackle, pass and shoot, the rest of the team will struggle to make an impact.
This conundrum is likely to be a tricky call as there are promising midfielders coming through. It would however be nice to have a genuine eff off talisman in that area. Not sure what string pulling, order barking, effective midfielders are out there we could go for. Maybe @Leuth would suggest Gilbey for that role😜
In light of our pending new manager, what do we make of the Swindon full backs? Seen as that’s what we desperately need. I know nothing about either anyone shed some light?
One is from London (Egbo, right back), the other Chatham (Landolo, left back). Both fairly young with a bit of experience under their belts, I think the right back was at palace when Garner was there so obviously someone he likes.
Just to add, seen a lot of comments from Swindon Twitter saying “That’s Egbo gone then”. Clearly highly rated. I’m convinced if he goes in for any of his former players it’ll be him.
Was he any good for us? - generally can’t remember. Which probably means he wasn’t.
He was okay but not brilliant.I think it is too his credit as a loanee that he returned during lockdown rather than sit at home with his family taking his money. If his shot at Birmingham had sneaked in rather than hit a post thus keeping us up I suspect he would have been more fondly remembered.
This is a academic because I suspect he will move back to Scotland.
Was he any good for us? - generally can’t remember. Which probably means he wasn’t.
Okish in the Championship for us, really good in L1 back with Sunderland but at 36 his best days are past him now. Alex Pritchard seemed to take his place in the team as the creative playmaker
Was he any good for us? - generally can’t remember. Which probably means he wasn’t.
Okish in the Championship for us, really good in L1 back with Sunderland but at 36 his best days are past him now. Alex Pritchard seemed to take his place in the team as the creative playmaker
Was he any good for us? - generally can’t remember. Which probably means he wasn’t.
He was okay but not brilliant.I think it is too his credit as a loanee that he returned during lockdown rather than sit at home with his family taking his money. If his shot at Birmingham had sneaked in rather than hit a post thus keeping us up I suspect he would have been more fondly remembered.
This is a academic because I suspect he will move back to Scotland.
Okay is being polite in my opinion. I remember one decent cross and that's it.
Not a rumour but I feel we may be shopping in league 2/non league or for league1 cast offs. Every good league 1 player or promoted league 2 player that’s been mentioned on this thread as a player we would like to sign or another thread is linked with teams in the league above, top of my head
Kane Wilson: Watford and Bristol City Will Boyle: Huddersfield and Hull Jack Tucker: Swansea, Blackpool, Hibs Cole Stockton: Hibs, Sunderland, Rotherham Panutche Camara: Wigan, Stoke, Blackpool
Seems like players make a jump of 1-2 leagues now rather than do a move in the same league unless they’re surplus to requirements.
Not a rumour but I feel we may be shopping in league 2/non league or for league1 cast offs. Every good league 1 player or promoted league 2 player that’s been mentioned on this thread as a player we would like to sign or another thread is linked with teams in the league above, top of my head
Kane Wilson: Watford and Bristol City Will Boyle: Huddersfield and Hull Jack Tucker: Swansea, Blackpool, Hibs Cole Stockton: Hibs, Sunderland, Rotherham Panutche Camara: Wigan, Stoke, Blackpool
Seems like players make a jump of 1-2 leagues now rather than do a move in the same league unless they’re surplus to requirements.
Our scouting team has some serious work to do
Certainly last season one of the problems seems to have been underestimating the amount of competition we'd have for our first choices and ended up going for option D or E.
Not to say we should aim low and be happy about it but there needs to be some pragmatism involved if we don't want another last week/day/minute scramble.
I guess this is partly the impact of the change in work permit rules increasing the difficulty of bringing in players from abroad (not intending to start a debate on Brexit).
Another place I hope we look are those that stepped up to the Championship last season but didn’t get the game time they were after. Carlos Mendes Gomes at Luton for example. Went from Morecambe in L2, early 20s and one of the many names some hoped we would sign last summer.
Of course I have doubts about our scouting setup like the majority do but we should at least be looking at a wider pool of players than we have in the last few years. Gallen was on his own before TS came in and it sounded like he was at times signing players suggested by agents. Names like Watson, Gunter, Souare, Arter etc coming in didn’t suggest we had a solid list of potential signings and some of those were only last summer.
The big question is can we pick out the right players, not just ability but personality. With older players including Pearce and Watson going we probably need a few more experienced leaders in the squad.
I hope they don’t push the finding value and potential too far and leave us lacking players like that in the squad. We did that in 15/16 under RD, leaving us with too many younger players who needed time we didn’t have to develop, some from our academy and others from abroad. We might not have got relegated had we had more proven Championship players and fewer young players - the danger is overrating what the latter are capable of when several of them play together.
Not a rumour but I feel we may be shopping in league 2/non league or for league1 cast offs. Every good league 1 player or promoted league 2 player that’s been mentioned on this thread as a player we would like to sign or another thread is linked with teams in the league above, top of my head
Kane Wilson: Watford and Bristol City Will Boyle: Huddersfield and Hull Jack Tucker: Swansea, Blackpool, Hibs Cole Stockton: Hibs, Sunderland, Rotherham Panutche Camara: Wigan, Stoke, Blackpool
Seems like players make a jump of 1-2 leagues now rather than do a move in the same league unless they’re surplus to requirements.
Our scouting team has some serious work to do
Same as last year players in league one thinking their better then they are all holding out for championship club .. but like last year lot of them had to rethink and ended up staying in league one .. most of it is down to agents …… all this does it make it more difficult for league one sides to bring players in and have to be patient in getting their targets … sure SG and his team have their targets lined up and will know already if they will have to wait for them and have a deadline when we move on to other targets …. Let’s not forget players will hold out till end of June before making their minds up and the window don’t shut till end of Aug .. so no club will ever finishing their shopping early it’s impossible now days to do so … there still be lots of deals done on last day of window when players are desperate to move plus the price might be lower as well as clubs want to get rid ……one word sums up this time of the year calm … you have to keep your calm.
Comments
Just No
If we sign out of favour championship players people will complain that they are on the way down and aren't hungry or some other buzz word.
That realistically leaves the best of the bottom half of league 1 and the top half of league 2, the best of which will get championship interest.
I think the pool we are fishing in is a lot smaller than some like to think.
It would however be nice to have a genuine eff off talisman in that area.
Not sure what string pulling, order barking, effective midfielders are out there we could go for.
Maybe @Leuth would suggest Gilbey for that role😜
This is a academic because I suspect he will move back to Scotland.
Kane Wilson: Watford and Bristol City
Will Boyle: Huddersfield and Hull
Jack Tucker: Swansea, Blackpool, Hibs
Cole Stockton: Hibs, Sunderland, Rotherham
Panutche Camara: Wigan, Stoke, Blackpool
Seems like players make a jump of 1-2 leagues now rather than do a move in the same league unless they’re surplus to requirements.
Not to say we should aim low and be happy about it but there needs to be some pragmatism involved if we don't want another last week/day/minute scramble.
Of course I have doubts about our scouting setup like the majority do but we should at least be looking at a wider pool of players than we have in the last few years. Gallen was on his own before TS came in and it sounded like he was at times signing players suggested by agents. Names like Watson, Gunter, Souare, Arter etc coming in didn’t suggest we had a solid list of potential signings and some of those were only last summer.
The big question is can we pick out the right players, not just ability but personality. With older players including Pearce and Watson going we probably need a few more experienced leaders in the squad.
I hope they don’t push the finding value and potential too far and leave us lacking players like that in the squad. We did that in 15/16 under RD, leaving us with too many younger players who needed time we didn’t have to develop, some from our academy and others from abroad. We might not have got relegated had we had more proven Championship players and fewer young players - the danger is overrating what the latter are capable of when several of them play together.