For those disappointed about Torvide, watch the "behind the scenes" film about Gilbert. Watch some of the exercises he was put through...
If anybody thinks someone who could do that after 2 months out injured, they need to get their lumps felt!
Fails a medical = no insurance
No insurance means next time he get's injured, means the club have no recourse for any insurance pay out.
Which, of course, is the reason Solly could never move on. He would have never passed a medical anywhere else. Which is why, when he left, he went straight to non-league.
Can we use the money saved in transfers to give small a new contract?
Quite possibly.
But if the club came out and said that "look, we've signed Small and L Jones to new deals thanks to trimming the squad elsewhere" there would be screams of "cost cutting, why aren't the owners investing".
I have many doubts over the SMT and the running of the club but the constant "everything is shit and anything that happens is a negative" is wearisome.
Even winning games is a negative for some as we only "scraped" those wins with late goals or a one goal margin. But the other side, when we lose by the odd goal or late on aren't "narrow" or unfortunate defeats but disasters which prove everything is still shit.
I’d argue what’s wearisome is still being in L1 for so many seasons, still having an SMT that are not fit for purpose, still having a very thin squad (especially on quality) and still being expected to be overjoyed when we go on mini winning streaks against some of the lowest ranked league opposition the club has faced.
Most wearisome is that I can’t see anything other than a massive slice of good fortune getting us out of this league and all these same things being said again next year, whilst those with less popular views will be seen as negative and indeed wearisome.
At the end of the day the club employ a Manager and as fans we have to put our trust into that Manager. NJ has always said he wanted to reduce the squad size, I personally fear we are light and any injuries will cause us major issues but NJ has my faith as it stands
I'll hold my hands up here - I have never heard of McIntyre or Gilbert. They could be world class for all I know.
But on the face of it moving out 4 players - Taylor, Zak Mitchell, Edun and E-G - who are perfectly competent at this level and replacing them with a young lad of limited experience and a defender who was injured for most of last season and hasn't played since November doesn't strike me on the face of it as great business.
Still at least we never sold Small, Campbell or Leaburn. Would be interesting to know if there were any serious bids for them.
Old deadwood signed by him OUT New deadwood signed by him IN
New signings that Jones wanted and asked the club to get and Scott just done the talking and contract discussions …… been said Jones is 100% the man who says who comes and leaves the club
No idea how good or not Gilbert or Mullofkintyre will be but I’d say that one comes with little experience and the other with less than glowing reviews. They seem to me to be spot on Charlton signings that we’ve seen come and go over recent seasons. If I’m honest I’m less than impressed and certainly don’t feel these two will tip us over the edge into genuine promotion contenders. I posted many times on this thread that we shouldn’t get excited or our hopes up and took quite a few lols for the trouble. I have little hesitation in saying the summer will be rinse and repeat. No confidence that we’re moving forward. Clubs treading water and as far as I can see going nowhere.
This transfer window suggests to me that Jones knows the score with this mob and there is no money to spend, and he will suffer it and see where it takes him and us.
No idea how good or not Gilbert or Mullofkintyre will be but I’d say that one comes with little experience and the other with less than glowing reviews. They seem to me to be spot on Charlton signings that we’ve seen come and go over recent seasons. If I’m honest I’m less than impressed and certainly don’t feel these two will tip us over the edge into genuine promotion contenders. I posted many times on this thread that we shouldn’t get excited or our hopes up and took quite a few lols for the trouble. I have little hesitation in saying the summer will be rinse and repeat. No confidence that we’re moving forward. Clubs treading water and as far as I can see going nowhere.
We have quite clearly moved forward since Jones came in. We were scrapping for survival then and now we are level with 6th. In just a year that is definitely moving forward
Need to see where we finish after 46 games, mid table or below is hardly moving forward
We finished 16th last season... So anything better than that is moving forward
16th, 12th, 7th, 9th 14th - what does it actually matter ? Moving forward as far as I’m concerned is getting promoted. Nothing else moves us forward. The rest is just noise.
So if promotion is the only way to move forward, what happens if we get to the Championship next season... Is 21st failure?
Of course we ALL want to be promoted every season (Until its no longer possible), but equally have to be realistic
If we were to get promoted to the championship the 1st couple of seasons would be trying to stabilise the club and not come back down. So any positions above relegation would be acceptable.
But thats not the case in League One and below, after a couple of rocky seasons with bad signings?
Can we use the money saved in transfers to give small a new contract?
Quite possibly.
But if the club came out and said that "look, we've signed Small and L Jones to new deals thanks to trimming the squad elsewhere" there would be screams of "cost cutting, why aren't the owners investing".
I have many doubts over the SMT and the running of the club but the constant "everything is shit and anything that happens is a negative" is wearisome.
Even winning games is a negative for some as we only "scraped" those wins with late goals or a one goal margin. But the other side, when we lose by the odd goal or late on aren't "narrow" or unfortunate defeats but disasters which prove everything is still shit.
Wasnt the best window. Like others, underwhelmed by the two who came in but let's wait and see. Cannot afford injuries to key players so we are rolling the dice now. We can definitely get into the top six but equally we could end up mid table again if we lose some players to injury. The midfield really concerns me. Some big games coming up this month and really from now until May.
For those disappointed about Torvide, watch the "behind the scenes" film about Gilbert. Watch some of the exercises he was put through...
If anybody thinks someone who could do that after 2 months out injured, they need to get their lumps felt!
Fails a medical = no insurance
No insurance means next time he get's injured, means the club have no recourse for any insurance pay out.
Which, of course, is the reason Solly could never move on. He would have never passed a medical anywhere else. Which is why, when he left, he went straight to non-league.
A medical is not a pass/fail procedure, it’s a risk assessment. Not every medical will be the same, so if we had a bid accepted for Tovide, his would have likely been different. An injured player can do one and sign for a club. They would do some similar tests to gauge the injury, like they do regularly for any injured player.
At around 1:09:50 on this podcast a former Arsenal and England physio explains medicals, it’s a common misconception in football
I actually don’t think a lot of what we saw Gilbert doing was his medical. More likely to be tests they do on all players to find out their “usual” level for various muscle strength exercises that they will monitor on an ongoing basis so that they know when a player is at a higher risk or in the “red zone” so they might need a rest if they are not near their usual levels
We will almost certainly have injuries in key positions and if we do, there will have to be promotions from the under 21s. Enslinn, Mbick, Dixon and others will be called up I guess.
I would agree that it seemed to simply be a cost-cutting exercise. Yes, there was a lot of weak players that didn't fit in our squad but to bring in 2 loans is madness.
I noticed "fee-costing loan" being leaked to people (DOUCHER?) in an attempt to appease but Jesus, that was clutching at straws. Once again, the merry go round has restarted and we rebuild again in the summer.
We know Jones hates loans and we know Jones wanted 2 attacking players - his wishes were ignored by SMT.
Seems a real shame because Jones had really turned it round but now he's been let down (and I was firmly in the 'Jones is struggling' camp in November and thought it couldn't be turned round) after putting us back in touching distance of playoffs.
At least part of the issue if indeed it is an issue with this window was that Jones wasn’t pressing the owners for reinforcements. He wanted the squad reduced in size and got rid of players he knew he wasn’t going to use but on the whole was content with what he had left. I think Gilbert being the exception, in a role that even the doziest of fans could see we’re were in need of. I’m sadly confident that we’ll lose Small in the summer and he’ll definitely be hard to replace. Just like every summer we’ll need to rebuild in order to go for it next season but how many times have we all said that.
Can we use the money saved in transfers to give small a new contract?
Quite possibly.
But if the club came out and said that "look, we've signed Small and L Jones to new deals thanks to trimming the squad elsewhere" there would be screams of "cost cutting, why aren't the owners investing".
I have many doubts over the SMT and the running of the club but the constant "everything is shit and anything that happens is a negative" is wearisome.
Even winning games is a negative for some as we only "scraped" those wins with late goals or a one goal margin. But the other side, when we lose by the odd goal or late on aren't "narrow" or unfortunate defeats but disasters which prove everything is still shit.
I’d argue what’s wearisome is still being in L1 for so many seasons, still having an SMT that are not fit for purpose, still having a very thin squad (especially on quality) and still being expected to be overjoyed when we go on mini winning streaks against some of the lowest ranked league opposition the club has faced.
Most wearisome is that I can’t see anything other than a massive slice of good fortune getting us out of this league and all these same things being said again next year, whilst those with less popular views will be seen as negative and indeed wearisome.
Would you allow a modicum of pleasure in our record against the top six teams: 11 pts from six games?
Can we use the money saved in transfers to give small a new contract?
Although he is supposedly very happy at the club I have come to the conclusion that he is hanging on to see if we can get promoted. I think he wants to play in the Championship.
I’d rather have not known about the Sunderland lad tbh.
If we’d identified for a month window we needed a cover wide player and the best option we could do is at 10.55 try and get a lad who since March 2023 has seen just 9 mins of league football and 79 mins of EFL cup action, then that seems pretty disastrous to me.
Taking a wild guess, I doubt we wanted another winger but had something in place in case we lost one of ours at the last minute and needed to replace him asap.
At least part of the issue if indeed it is an issue with this window was that Jones wasn’t pressing the owners for reinforcements. He wanted the squad reduced in size and got rid of players he knew he wasn’t going to use but on the whole was content with what he had left. I think Gilbert being the exception, in a role that even the doziest of fans could see we’re were in need of. I’m sadly confident that we’ll lose Small in the summer and he’ll definitely be hard to replace. Just like every summer we’ll need to rebuild in order to go for it next season but how many times have we all said that.
I agree with your post but I'm not sure I'd call the summer another 'rebuild'. The only players out of contract in the summer are:
Tennai Watson Chuks Aneke Thierry Small Aaron Henry
For those disappointed about Torvide, watch the "behind the scenes" film about Gilbert. Watch some of the exercises he was put through...
If anybody thinks someone who could do that after 2 months out injured, they need to get their lumps felt!
Fails a medical = no insurance
No insurance means next time he get's injured, means the club have no recourse for any insurance pay out.
Which, of course, is the reason Solly could never move on. He would have never passed a medical anywhere else. Which is why, when he left, he went straight to non-league.
I was astonished to hear that Solly's doing the London Marathon!
Comments
If anybody thinks someone who could do that after 2 months out injured, they need to get their lumps felt!
Fails a medical = no insurance
No insurance means next time he get's injured, means the club have no recourse for any insurance pay out.
Which, of course, is the reason Solly could never move on. He would have never passed a medical anywhere else. Which is why, when he left, he went straight to non-league.
Old deadwood signed by him OUT
New deadwood signed by him IN
I'm guessing there was zero interest for Ahadme.
This transfer window suggests to me that Jones knows the score with this mob and there is no money to spend, and he will suffer it and see where it takes him and us.
This is our 5th season in this s*** division.
https://youtu.be/_dexioc0MOw?si=C7L8NUGjtpc7LucA
I actually don’t think a lot of what we saw Gilbert doing was his medical. More likely to be tests they do on all players to find out their “usual” level for various muscle strength exercises that they will monitor on an ongoing basis so that they know when a player is at a higher risk or in the “red zone” so they might need a rest if they are not near their usual levels
Enslinn, Mbick, Dixon and others will be called up I guess.
I noticed "fee-costing loan" being leaked to people (DOUCHER?) in an attempt to appease but Jesus, that was clutching at straws. Once again, the merry go round has restarted and we rebuild again in the summer.
We know Jones hates loans and we know Jones wanted 2 attacking players - his wishes were ignored by SMT.
Seems a real shame because Jones had really turned it round but now he's been let down (and I was firmly in the 'Jones is struggling' camp in November and thought it couldn't be turned round) after putting us back in touching distance of playoffs.
Fair enough, SMT obviously happy to stay in L1!
Tennai Watson
Chuks Aneke
Thierry Small
Aaron Henry