Worse time to read a thread on here is after a defeat. The alarmists come out in full force. The realists try to talk some sense but it just falls on deaf👂!
Is it time to get a posse together ride into town whooping and a hooping and have a lynching?
Didn’t we always suspect that the first six games was all about hanging in there until we complete our business ? I’m sure we’ll look very strong once the window has shut. Ideally we would have had our striker in but Smith chose elsewhere and we did bid for Nombe but Exeter want stupid money. We have tried and are now trying elsewhere. I’m convinced it’ll happen. Weren’t we a failed medical away from a RWB too ? The injury to Miles has made things much more difficult but thems the breaks. Peterborough away was always a difficult game and Port Vale had seven put past them last weekend. Four points from those two and I think we should be very happy.
Surely Smith and Nombe aren't the only Strikers we've considered? Leaburn has been injured for a month now, so we've known that we'd be REALLY light up front for a long time now.
Being interested in a player is some way from getting them signed. Especially strikers I’d say. You’d think we’re in the market for a very decent striker for our level and apart from the fact there aren’t that many in the first place, their respective clubs won’t be keen to lose them and will want a replacement in before releasing them.
Didn’t we always suspect that the first six games was all about hanging in there until we complete our business ? I’m sure we’ll look very strong once the window has shut. Ideally we would have had our striker in but Smith chose elsewhere and we did bid for Nombe but Exeter want stupid money. We have tried and are now trying elsewhere. I’m convinced it’ll happen. Weren’t we a failed medical away from a RWB too ? The injury to Miles has made things much more difficult but thems the breaks. Peterborough away was always a difficult game and Port Vale had seven put past them last weekend. Four points from those two and I think we should be very happy.
Surely Smith and Nombe aren't the only Strikers we've considered? Leaburn has been injured for a month now, so we've known that we'd be REALLY light up front for a long time now.
Probably they are not. But outside of those 2 and JCH (who fails the dickhead test apparently) there's very little in the way of "proven and available" at this level.
They would be prime targets for us and anyone else with aspirations of promotion but once you rule them out your moving into unknown "gamble" territory which will mean more work needing to be done scouting wise and in negotiations and therefore longer to complete as well.
RedHenry is always a poster I look out for and generally pretty balanced. And I hope he doesn’t have more reasons to be worried than what has been suggested. But for me, It is unfair to make any judgement on the new owners until we see where we’re at at the end of the window. We know they’re not coming here and spending mega millions getting us up, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be smart.
If, and of course it’s an if, they know who they want and they need to wait to the end of the window so be it. As fans we can be greedy and want ‘Insert striker here’ now, but realistically we may just have to be a bit patient. All the players brought in suggest an improvement so far.
Fingers crossed we’re all feeling enthused in a couple of months. 👍🤞
I'm just dealing with the facts so far. As I said before, I really hope I am wrong. Lots of negatives so far for me.
LOTS?
1. We only have one fit striker & have a severe lack of goals in us across the whole team (we don’t have any CMs who will get double figures or a CB that is a threat from corners etc).
2. Last night highlighted our weak squad depth.
3. Without CBT we create little (JRS has not been replaced).
4. Our GK department has weakened since Wollacott left and Isted replaced him
5. A number of our new signings are not fit (Camara, Taylor, Jones all still recovering from significant injuries). You can add Edun to that too (due to lack of match fitness)
6. Concerningly some retained players also seem of the pace I.e Hector & Ness etc
7. We often look defensively all over the place when playing 352
8. Impossible to get a beer at half time 😉
In all seriousness I think @Redhenry has a point. We’re fortunate that a couple of youngsters have stepped up to help cover over the cracks as it’s debatable whether the squad is stronger than last season if they hadn’t happened.
Yesterday defeat will have no bearing on Saturday game at all .. in fact defeat won’t do us any harm after the fan over reaction to us winning on Saturday
Didn’t we always suspect that the first six games was all about hanging in there until we complete our business ? I’m sure we’ll look very strong once the window has shut. Ideally we would have had our striker in but Smith chose elsewhere and we did bid for Nombe but Exeter want stupid money. We have tried and are now trying elsewhere. I’m convinced it’ll happen. Weren’t we a failed medical away from a RWB too ? The injury to Miles has made things much more difficult but thems the breaks. Peterborough away was always a difficult game and Port Vale had seven put past them last weekend. Four points from those two and I think we should be very happy.
Surely Smith and Nombe aren't the only Strikers we've considered? Leaburn has been injured for a month now, so we've known that we'd be REALLY light up front for a long time now.
At the time it was said (on here) that we went back in for May BECAUSE of the injury to Leaburn. It reads to me that if he hadn't had got injured we'd still be waiting for deadline day to bring in a striker (or 2).
Didn’t we always suspect that the first six games was all about hanging in there until we complete our business ? I’m sure we’ll look very strong once the window has shut.
But why wait 5 matches before being "very strong" ? We could be 5-6 points behind the leaders by that point.
And (as usually happens) any players we sign don't generally start the next game. The window closes on Friday1st Sept & my best guess is that anyone signed late that week wont be playing on the Saturday. That's 6 games gone.
Didn’t we always suspect that the first six games was all about hanging in there until we complete our business ? I’m sure we’ll look very strong once the window has shut. Ideally we would have had our striker in but Smith chose elsewhere and we did bid for Nombe but Exeter want stupid money. We have tried and are now trying elsewhere. I’m convinced it’ll happen. Weren’t we a failed medical away from a RWB too ? The injury to Miles has made things much more difficult but thems the breaks. Peterborough away was always a difficult game and Port Vale had seven put past them last weekend. Four points from those two and I think we should be very happy.
Surely Smith and Nombe aren't the only Strikers we've considered? Leaburn has been injured for a month now, so we've known that we'd be REALLY light up front for a long time now.
At the time it was said (on here) that we went back in for May BECAUSE of the injury to Leaburn. It reads to me that if he hadn't had got injured we'd still be waiting for deadline day to bring in a striker (or 2).
Didn’t we always suspect that the first six games was all about hanging in there until we complete our business ? I’m sure we’ll look very strong once the window has shut.
But why wait 5 matches before being "very strong" ? We could be 5-6 points behind the leaders by that point.
And (as usually happens) any players we sign don't generally start the next game. The window closes on Friday1st Sept & my best guess is that anyone signed late that week wont be playing on the Saturday. That's 6 games gone.
I think there’s an obvious answer in that the players we want / can afford are not available on a timescale that suits only us. I’m guessing we’re still in for a decent striker and RWB on perms and will bring in four loans from PL. unless you’re a club that can offer fees and contracts with ease I think it’s actually a lot lot harder to do business than many of us think it is. Do you really think that the new SMT and Holden wouldn’t prefer it to have every piece of the jigsaw already in place ?
More often than not, our permanent signings aren't fit enough to start their first available game. May is the only one who appears to have been able to in some time.... unless I'm mistaken?
Didn’t we always suspect that the first six games was all about hanging in there until we complete our business ? I’m sure we’ll look very strong once the window has shut.
But why wait 5 matches before being "very strong" ? We could be 5-6 points behind the leaders by that point.
And (as usually happens) any players we sign don't generally start the next game. The window closes on Friday1st Sept & my best guess is that anyone signed late that week wont be playing on the Saturday. That's 6 games gone.
Because we can't just go to another club, slap money on the table and walk off with a new player. That club is going to be wanting to have a replacement lined up themselves before they let them go. They're going to be negotiating for the best deal they can get.
Scott and the SMT aren't sitting around twiddling their thumbs and waiting until the 31st to do anything. Transfers can take weeks before you even get to speak to a player, especially given everyone knows how desperate we are for another striker.
@Redhenry what exactly is your concern with the ownership? I know you used to have some ITK links is the dislike driven from there or is this just a hunch on the lack of signings?
The fact is, they have been overseeing things since Jan, I am highlighting a lack of progress so far. But still hope things will get better. You say anything negative on here and lots jump on you. I don't think I have said anything to offend anybody
They haven't though. They have been IN NEGOTIATIONS since January. They were not in a position to actually spend money until 2 weeks ago.
You're not "jumped on" for offending anyone. People are just pointing out that you are (factually) incorrect.
Who was behind the hiring of Holden? I thought it was the new ownership even though weren’t actually in charge yet.
Yeah, they bought the curtains long before they bought the house.
Don't know why people are attributing Alfie May to the new owners. According to Reams, May wasn't one they were keen on particularly because of his age and sell on, and his transfer was more led by the previous recruitment team.
Don't know why people are attributing Alfie May to the new owners. According to Reams, May wasn't one they were keen on particularly because of his age and sell on, and his transfer was more led by the previous recruitment team.
Then why was it still pushed through, if we didn't want him (Charlton and Holden) we would not have signed him.
@Redhenry what exactly is your concern with the ownership? I know you used to have some ITK links is the dislike driven from there or is this just a hunch on the lack of signings?
The lack of signings. Also the signings made in Jan, they were under Andy Scotts watch, some seem to have forgotten those. Most new owners at other clubs will have raised the money to buy the club and enough to invest in the squad to at least have a crack at promotion. I'm hoping they will invest in the playing squad, but I am a little disappointed so far...
@Redhenry what exactly is your concern with the ownership? I know you used to have some ITK links is the dislike driven from there or is this just a hunch on the lack of signings?
The lack of signings. Also the signings made in Jan, they were under Andy Scotts watch, some seem to have forgotten those. Most new owners at other clubs will have raised the money to buy the club and enough to invest in the squad to at least have a crack at promotion. I'm hoping they will invest in the playing squad, but I am a little disappointed so far...
Yeah that's fair to a degree, Scott would still have been limited by the Black Box Bad Boys as the Sandgaard's were still in charge.
It's a weird situation for sure but there's a split of fault for January... It was not a Bonne annee.
I am sure many others of us will come round to your way of thinking if we're still understaffed on the pitch at the end of the window.
We've all seen too many 'promises' and "We had x lined up but couldn't get them over the line in time".
I will not accept that this window. Or any window anymore tbh.
@Redhenry what exactly is your concern with the ownership? I know you used to have some ITK links is the dislike driven from there or is this just a hunch on the lack of signings?
The lack of signings. Also the signings made in Jan, they were under Andy Scotts watch, some seem to have forgotten those. Most new owners at other clubs will have raised the money to buy the club and enough to invest in the squad to at least have a crack at promotion. I'm hoping they will invest in the playing squad, but I am a little disappointed so far...
It can't all be like when sandgaard took over and you reported that 7 players were going to sign on day 1!
@Redhenry what exactly is your concern with the ownership? I know you used to have some ITK links is the dislike driven from there or is this just a hunch on the lack of signings?
The lack of signings. Also the signings made in Jan, they were under Andy Scotts watch, some seem to have forgotten those. Most new owners at other clubs will have raised the money to buy the club and enough to invest in the squad to at least have a crack at promotion. I'm hoping they will invest in the playing squad, but I am a little disappointed so far...
It can't all be like when sandgaard took over and you reported that 7 players were going to sign on day 1!
In defence of Sandgaard we missed out on a lot of key targets and still signed a number of players that should have been able to do a job. It seems they had the wrong manager to achieve that.
Now every window after that was a let down, Dobson and JRS aside.
Don't know why people are attributing Alfie May to the new owners. According to Reams, May wasn't one they were keen on particularly because of his age and sell on, and his transfer was more led by the previous recruitment team.
Then why was it still pushed through, if we didn't want him (Charlton and Holden) we would not have signed him.
Apparently Holden wanted him so the new owners relented, which is fair enough.
As for the new owners in general, I'm hopeful and not in Red Henry's camp just yet. Have never been happy with Methven and the way the PR machine was working while they were trying to wrestle control - especially trying to rebrand it as the 'Friedman consortium' (where is he again?) and how the PR kept talking about his billions, and yet after the takeover its become 'never said they were spending millions'. It was a real bait and switch job.
However, it's good to see professional people in positions and the transfer activity thus far seems good on the face of it.
Comments
Is it time to get a posse together ride into town whooping and a hooping and have a lynching?
They would be prime targets for us and anyone else with aspirations of promotion but once you rule them out your moving into unknown "gamble" territory which will mean more work needing to be done scouting wise and in negotiations and therefore longer to complete as well.
If, and of course it’s an if, they know who they want and they need to wait to the end of the window so be it. As fans we can be greedy and want ‘Insert striker here’ now, but realistically we may just have to be a bit patient. All the players brought in suggest an improvement so far.
2. Last night highlighted our weak squad depth.
3. Without CBT we create little (JRS has not been replaced).
4. Our GK department has weakened since Wollacott left and Isted replaced him
5. A number of our new signings are not fit (Camara, Taylor, Jones all still recovering from significant injuries). You can add Edun to that too (due to lack of match fitness)
6. Concerningly some retained players also seem of the pace I.e Hector & Ness etc
7. We often look defensively all over the place when playing 352
8. Impossible to get a beer at half time 😉
In all seriousness I think @Redhenry has a point. We’re fortunate that a couple of youngsters have stepped up to help cover over the cracks as it’s debatable whether the squad is stronger than last season if they hadn’t happened.
Be prepared to be underwhelmed in 3 weeks time.
And (as usually happens) any players we sign don't generally start the next game. The window closes on Friday1st Sept & my best guess is that anyone signed late that week wont be playing on the Saturday. That's 6 games gone.
Scott and the SMT aren't sitting around twiddling their thumbs and waiting until the 31st to do anything. Transfers can take weeks before you even get to speak to a player, especially given everyone knows how desperate we are for another striker.
what exactly is your concern with the ownership? I know you used to have some ITK links is the dislike driven from there or is this just a hunch on the lack of signings?
Most new owners at other clubs will have raised the money to buy the club and enough to invest in the squad to at least have a crack at promotion. I'm hoping they will invest in the playing squad, but I am a little disappointed so far...
It's a weird situation for sure but there's a split of fault for January... It was not a Bonne annee.
I am sure many others of us will come round to your way of thinking if we're still understaffed on the pitch at the end of the window.
We've all seen too many 'promises' and "We had x lined up but couldn't get them over the line in time".
I will not accept that this window. Or any window anymore tbh.
Now every window after that was a let down, Dobson and JRS aside.
As for the new owners in general, I'm hopeful and not in Red Henry's camp just yet. Have never been happy with Methven and the way the PR machine was working while they were trying to wrestle control - especially trying to rebrand it as the 'Friedman consortium' (where is he again?) and how the PR kept talking about his billions, and yet after the takeover its become 'never said they were spending millions'. It was a real bait and switch job.
However, it's good to see professional people in positions and the transfer activity thus far seems good on the face of it.