Unless there is more investment from the owners we are stuck here for the foreseeable future. IMHO
Of course, but is January investment wise? I think in January you are better off looking at a couple of short term deals to cover gaps in your squad. If the right player is available then sure, but it is quite difficult to make good permanent signings in January (as we found last year)
We need to build on this season with investment but I think that investment should probably come in the summer
Yes, yes our summer transfer dealings are so spectacular over the last 3 years.....
out May, Dobson, in Godden, Ahadme, Doherty, Campbell, Berry
I'd argue our January dealings last year - Ramsey, Small etc were better than our Summer dealings !!!!!!
Very selective. Last January we also signed Ladapo, Fiorini, Bakinson, Gillesphey, REG and then Wickham and Ladapo. This summer we also signed Mitchell, Mannion, Edwards. I think all windows under the SMT have been mixed
I would say this shows that you shouldn't do LOANS in January ......or we shouldn't as we are fcuking terrible at them! Gillesphey is a regular starter and REG is an ok squad player - the loan players were shockingly bad choices!
Mitchell, Edwards and Mannion all good in my opinion.
Gillesphey being a regular starter is an issue though as he isn't good enough. Agree about REG
Neither Gillesphey nor REG have really convinced though, and both were given 2.5 year deals. At least the loan players went back at the end of the season.
The directors meeting on Thursday could be interesting.
Investment hasn't really been the problem (at this level), it's the lack is quality that the investment actually bought. We had a dreadful last season based on the season ending position, BUT, we had the golden boot striker and his counterpart in midfield. Take those two away and last season would have been far, far worse, I think most of us would agree.
This season without those two, was always going to be tough. That we are currently in a 'slightly' higher league position, even allowing for them having left, means that we are in a 'slightly' better overall team state, than might have been feared. BUT, we are still way off competing for the promotion spots. So despite Jones and SMT talking about long term this and that, the reality is the investment (signing players and Manager) were i expect, viewed as what was needed to provide the resources for a promotion push, but, they haven't actually made much of a difference.
Club Report Grade League position: D Attendance: D Quality of work: C- Effort: C Overall Grade : D+
Recommendations: Improvement needs to be shown for the rest of the term.
Owners Report Grade for SMT: ??
Lack of investment required to get us out of this League is the main issue but also wasting what little we have had.
Unless there is more investment from the owners we are stuck here for the foreseeable future. IMHO
Of course, but is January investment wise? I think in January you are better off looking at a couple of short term deals to cover gaps in your squad. If the right player is available then sure, but it is quite difficult to make good permanent signings in January (as we found last year)
We need to build on this season with investment but I think that investment should probably come in the summer
Yes, yes our summer transfer dealings are so spectacular over the last 3 years.....
out May, Dobson, in Godden, Ahadme, Doherty, Campbell, Berry
I'd argue our January dealings last year - Ramsey, Small etc were better than our Summer dealings !!!!!!
Very selective. Last January we also signed Ladapo, Fiorini, Bakinson, Gillesphey, REG and then Wickham and Ladapo. This summer we also signed Mitchell, Mannion, Edwards. I think all windows under the SMT have been mixed
I would say this shows that you shouldn't do LOANS in January ......or we shouldn't as we are fcuking terrible at them! Gillesphey is a regular starter and REG is an ok squad player - the loan players were shockingly bad choices!
Mitchell, Edwards and Mannion all good in my opinion.
Gillesphey being a regular starter is an issue though as he isn't good enough. Agree about REG
Neither Gillesphey nor REG have really convinced though, and both were given 2.5 year deals. At least the loan players went back at the end of the season.
That’s my main point. If you try and buy players permanently in January it quite often does you more damage long term than good.
As we have repeatedly shown, signing the right players is not easy. January is the hardest time to do it well. So a smart club will use January on lower risk or short term signings and do the bulk of their main business in the summer windows
We still have a huge squad for this level, and one of the highest wage bills. People expecting or demanding us to go out and spend big money this month are just not realistic
The directors meeting on Thursday could be interesting.
Investment hasn't really been the problem (at this level), it's the lack is quality that the investment actually bought. We had a dreadful last season based on the season ending position, BUT, we had the golden boot striker and his counterpart in midfield. Take those two away and last season would have been far, far worse, I think most of us would agree.
This season without those two, was always going to be tough. That we are currently in a 'slightly' higher league position, even allowing for them having left, means that we are in a 'slightly' better overall team state, than might have been feared. BUT, we are still way off competing for the promotion spots. So despite Jones and SMT talking about long term this and that, the reality is the investment (signing players and Manager) were i expect, viewed as what was needed to provide the resources for a promotion push, but, they haven't actually made much of a difference.
Club Report Grade League position: D Attendance: D Quality of work: C- Effort: C Overall Grade : D+
Recommendations: Improvement needs to be shown for the rest of the term.
Owners Report Grade for SMT: ??
Lack of investment required to get us out of this League is the main issue but also wasting what little we have had.
How many teams in league 1 have a higher wage bill than us? How many teams have spent more money on players than us? How many teams are losing as much money as we do a year?
I would guess the answer to all of the above is not many teams
We’ve recruited poorly, Andy Scott should have been long gone from his role, but the budget is fine for what we are trying to do
What level of investment are you expecting? At our current level of having one of the higher budgets in the league we are probably losing around £10m a year.
So you want millions of transfer fees on top of that, plus a higher wage bill. This ownership group just isn’t going to want to lose than kind of money, in fact no ownership group is going to. It’s just not realistic to demand it in our current state
Scott should have gone for the Appleton debacle , if he wasn't mates with the rest of the SMT he'd be long gone. Hopefully there's a thorough reviewing of the recruiting strategy in the summer and some fresh thinking brought in.
Scott should have gone for the Appleton debacle , if he wasn't mates with the rest of the SMT he'd be long gone. Hopefully there's a thorough reviewing of the recruiting strategy in the summer and some fresh thinking brought in.
The summer preparation will begin after this window. He needs to be removed straight after this window
Scott should have gone for the Appleton debacle , if he wasn't mates with the rest of the SMT he'd be long gone. Hopefully there's a thorough reviewing of the recruiting strategy in the summer and some fresh thinking brought in.
The summer preparation will begin after this window. He needs to be removed straight after this window
Yeah I'd get this window out the way and get someone new in. Feels like the rest of the top clubs in this league are leaving us behind and signing players from all over Europe.
Unless there is more investment from the owners we are stuck here for the foreseeable future. IMHO
Of course, but is January investment wise? I think in January you are better off looking at a couple of short term deals to cover gaps in your squad. If the right player is available then sure, but it is quite difficult to make good permanent signings in January (as we found last year)
We need to build on this season with investment but I think that investment should probably come in the summer
Yes, yes our summer transfer dealings are so spectacular over the last 3 years.....
out May, Dobson, in Godden, Ahadme, Doherty, Campbell, Berry
I'd argue our January dealings last year - Ramsey, Small etc were better than our Summer dealings !!!!!!
Very selective. Last January we also signed Ladapo, Fiorini, Bakinson, Gillesphey, REG and then Wickham and Ladapo. This summer we also signed Mitchell, Mannion, Edwards. I think all windows under the SMT have been mixed
I would say this shows that you shouldn't do LOANS in January ......or we shouldn't as we are fcuking terrible at them! Gillesphey is a regular starter and REG is an ok squad player - the loan players were shockingly bad choices!
Mitchell, Edwards and Mannion all good in my opinion.
Gillesphey being a regular starter is an issue though as he isn't good enough. Agree about REG
Neither Gillesphey nor REG have really convinced though, and both were given 2.5 year deals. At least the loan players went back at the end of the season.
That’s my main point. If you try and buy players permanently in January it quite often does you more damage long term than good.
As we have repeatedly shown, signing the right players is not easy. January is the hardest time to do it well. So a smart club will use January on lower risk or short term signings and do the bulk of their main business in the summer windows
We still have a huge squad for this level, and one of the highest wage bills. People expecting or demanding us to go out and spend big money this month are just not realistic
Gillesphey and REG are better value than many of our summer signings - you are just trying to get the points to fit your point - which I don't believe is valid. We STILL have a (VERY, VERY) slim chance of making the play offs, so we should get rid of as many as possible as we can and sign 2 or 3 players that are automatic starters - if available.
We are closer to the play offs this year than last and there is no definite chance that we'll be as close this time next year - especially if we lose Jones, Small and Leaburn...
We need to sign players now, not wait till deadline day as our season will be officially over by then.
Jones likes to get his business done early so it might mean we aren’t signing anyone
I’ve said it before but Jones is basically happy with what he’s got. If the right player at the right price becomes available then I think there’s money but Jones is quite content.
I agree with you that Jones appears to be happy with what he's got. God knows why as we are so far away from being good enough it’s a joke. We need a better keeper than what we have for starters. We need a batter left sided centre half. A free kick specialist An attacking midfielder who can score and create A decent winger who can deliver a good cross. And a striker to replace a couple of our duds. For him to basically say he's happy with what he's got is as deluded as him saying we are strong enough to compete in the championship.
A 4.5 years contract suggests he'll suffer things.
We need to sign players now, not wait till deadline day as our season will be officially over by then.
It's over now mate
No it’s not there talking about Rotherham getting in the play offs and their still below us … no season over till it’s mathematically impossible , mind you our season will restart after Bolton as we never won there
Heard that he’s a Millwall fan, so he might be right with that one to be fair.
Obviously isn’t Charlton though, as we’ve definitely won there.
Dear directors, what are the factors that might help us escape relegation this season?
Am I missing something here? We are also bang average and mid table. Why would we get relegated?
we finished 16th last season, we have won two less than the whole of last season and already beat last years clean sheets. We’ve just lost our first game in 5?
I am not claiming that any of the above is a reason to get excited but relegation????
Dear directors, what are the factors that might help us escape relegation this season?
Am I missing something here? We are also bang average and mid table. Why would we get relegated?
we finished 16th last season, we have won two less than the whole of last season and already beat last years clean sheets. We’ve just lost our first game in 5?
I am not claiming that any of the above is a reason to get excited but relegation????
We'll finish 10th-14th, comfortably safe from relegation but at least 10 points off playoffs unless we can pull a few rabbits out of hats in the next 10 days.
Dear directors, what are the factors that might help us escape relegation this season?
I am seen as one of the most negative posters on here but even I will say that we wont get relegated this season. Not even a chance.
Edit.
But we wont get promoted or even close to the play offs. We will flatter to deceive & will have weeks being just a few points / a win away from the top 6 or 7, but will then put in a few performances of Rotherham & Crawley proportions & end up finishing 10th.
Dear directors, what are the factors that might help us escape relegation this season?
Am I missing something here? We are also bang average and mid table. Why would we get relegated?
we finished 16th last season, we have won two less than the whole of last season and already beat last years clean sheets. We’ve just lost our first game in 5?
I am not claiming that any of the above is a reason to get excited but relegation????
We'll finish 10th-14th, comfortably safe from relegation but at least 10 points off playoffs unless we can pull a few rabbits out of hats in the next 10 days.
I think we'll be top half, between 6th and 10th, so a small chance of the final playoff place, but probably missing out.
Bonkers billionnaire owners coming in and taking a massive punt! It happens and works wonders lower down the leagues it looks like.
Unless we are the beneficiaries of such unlikely largess, I firmly believe we are now where we belong. How long we survive here as a club is another matter.
What level of investment are you expecting? At our current level of having one of the higher budgets in the league we are probably losing around £10m a year.
So you want millions of transfer fees on top of that, plus a higher wage bill. This ownership group just isn’t going to want to lose than kind of money, in fact no ownership group is going to. It’s just not realistic to demand it in our current state
But if you look at it another way, if they don't spend much to buy anyone decent then they're going to keep on losing 8-9m a year as we'll likely be stuck in this league with our attendances dwindling year on year.
Currently they're burning a lot of money to stand still.
Comments
We still have a huge squad for this level, and one of the highest wage bills. People expecting or demanding us to go out and spend big money this month are just not realistic
We’ve recruited poorly, Andy Scott should have been long gone from his role, but the budget is fine for what we are trying to do
Yeah I'd get this window out the way and get someone new in. Feels like the rest of the top clubs in this league are leaving us behind and signing players from all over Europe.
We are closer to the play offs this year than last and there is no definite chance that we'll be as close this time next year - especially if we lose Jones, Small and Leaburn...
we finished 16th last season, we have won two less than the whole of last season and already beat last years clean sheets. We’ve just lost our first game in 5?
I am not claiming that any of the above is a reason to get excited but relegation????
Edit.
But we wont get promoted or even close to the play offs. We will flatter to deceive & will have weeks being just a few points / a win away from the top 6 or 7, but will then put in a few performances of Rotherham & Crawley proportions & end up finishing 10th.
Hope not , would be a bigger waste of time than Potts
So probably at Sparrows Lane now.
Unless we are the beneficiaries of such unlikely largess, I firmly believe we are now where we belong. How long we survive here as a club is another matter.
Currently they're burning a lot of money to stand still.