I think the recruitment team get a 9/10. We had a tiny budget compared to the rest of the division and betting on young L1 talent who could improve, is a smart move, compared to recruiting declining, aging pros with plenty of Championship experience. We did that in L1 and it didn’t work.
The owners get a 7/10. We spent solidly compared to our turnover, nothing like Wrexham but they have a huge turnover.
If we manage to stay up the recruitment strategy will work to make us a more stable club. We will be able to sell some of those improving players and bring our net spend right down. This graph (inexplicably doesn’t include Charlton, thanks Sky Sports!) shows how the new clubs must have a huge net spend just to get a foothold in the division. Stay up and the money starts to filter down from the PL and relegated sides when they recruit.
Don’t be too hard on our new recruits, remember £7-8m just gets you an average striker. Kelman is bargain bucket compared to the rest of the division.
Been staring at that graph for best part of a couple of minutes before finally realising we're not even on it.
I think we should've invested more into central midfield. I know NJ wanted Gailbraith, but it feels like there was no Plan B for another midfielder. Unless Costello comes in and shines, or Doch and Coventry really step up, we may have dropped a clanger there. The balance isn't quite right: we've not got enough strength, guile or someone to knit it together.
Everywhere else I'm pretty happy. I thought we'd drop a few mil this season, but didn't expect us to spend around £10 million. Credit to the owners for backing Jones. On paper, we've strengthened depth and competition in most areas, which hasn't been the case for years. But I do expect our midfield weakness to become more apparent as the season goes on.
I thought it was very clear that Costello was the plan B in midfield after we didn’t get Galbraith. The system with Apter at wing back means a central midfielder comfortable defending out wide was a target, Galbraith was first choice, we didn’t get him as it wasn’t realistic so we moved on to Costello.
Maybe. Costello has played at this level, yet he's still on the bench even while Docherty struggles (Leicester aside). If he was genuinely the Gailbraith Plan B (and not C or D), you'd expect him to be straight into the starting eleven. Then again, that might just be fitness or NJ being too loyal to Doch.
I don't see Rankin-Costello as a straight Plan B once we didn't get Galbraith, as Costello feels more of a squad player, whereas I'm sure Galbraith would have been straight in the team.
At the risk of sounding naive or stupid, I think the window should be judged in isolation from early results and performances. From that perspective I'd say it has been a great window, in respect of getting almost all our business done early, getting cover in the areas we needed it and getting players in that are a qualititive improvement on what we had. I got the impression that this was the general consensus, but it seems that some people have looked at the early performances and gone into panic mode. It remains to be seen how things will pan out integrating all these new players, but the initial impression is that we can compete and I don't doubt we will improve as players settle and become familiar with systems, teammates and what is expected of them. We are competing against sides, many with more money, with gamechanging star quality players or with longstanding experience in this league. Our primary aim is to remain in this league at the end of the season and I think we have given ourselves the best shot we can. And if nothing else, the first few games have reminded me how refershing it is to watch better quality football than we have been used to of late
Overall a good window. Lots of early deals. We just need to find a style to bring the forwards into play.
That's the area we are weak. Forward wise we're not creating enough. This needs to change, that and our set pieces. To stay up we have to utilise our dead ball situations.
I think the recruitment team get a 9/10. We had a tiny budget compared to the rest of the division and betting on young L1 talent who could improve, is a smart move, compared to recruiting declining, aging pros with plenty of Championship experience. We did that in L1 and it didn’t work.
The owners get a 7/10. We spent solidly compared to our turnover, nothing like Wrexham but they have a huge turnover.
If we manage to stay up the recruitment strategy will work to make us a more stable club. We will be able to sell some of those improving players and bring our net spend right down. This graph (inexplicably doesn’t include Charlton, thanks Sky Sports!) shows how the new clubs must have a huge net spend just to get a foothold in the division. Stay up and the money starts to filter down from the PL and relegated sides when they recruit.
Don’t be too hard on our new recruits, remember £7-8m just gets you an average striker. Kelman is bargain bucket compared to the rest of the division.
Been staring at that graph for best part of a couple of minutes before finally realising we're not even on it.
I don’t know if it’s because it doesn’t include undisclosed fees (which all of ours were and does make the graph a bit meaningless) or we are not Wrexham and therefore not important to Sky Sports.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the transfer window. Both the planning and execution following our play-off final win. My only concerns are:
- Set-piece delivery: We lack a player capable of consistently whipping balls in with a low trajectory.
- Physical profile: We're aware that the Championship demands a huge step up in physicality and athleticism, but haven't added those types of (fully fit) players to the midfield or defensive line. Against Leicester, everybody was at it and looked excellent. Against QPR, we were outmuscled quite frequently and looked timid and surprised at times.
Basically, we have been sh*t for years and were an average league one club with a decent ground we don’t own. Soul ripped out the club. You could fill page after page of negatives related to us over the last ten years.
Whatever happens, the club seems to be in a much better place after the last 18 months.
I said 20th/21st at the start of the summer, haven’t changed my mind. I still think we will finish 20th/21st and I’ll be extremely happy with that. NJ needs time, we need patience, summer has been better than I expected, but it was a very low starting level.
I think we did as well as we could have dreamed of. There were a lot of negative comments about the board backing us at the begining of the window but they have. The problem is others in this league have established squads and others deeper pockets, so we rely on Jones to bring out the potential of players. Overall it was a good window but is the first in a series that will build the team
Overall a great window! On paper it all looks great. We just need the new strikers to poach us a few goals and help us beat the drop, then nobody will be scrutinised too hard.
Glad the owners showed more support than are many previous owners, but concerned we have opted to hope a lot of league1 players can make the step up, also we seem to have a couple of big misses in not finding a strong midfield player who can win hold and hold up the ball, also short on new wing backs with real pace.
I think the recruitment team get a 9/10. We had a tiny budget compared to the rest of the division and betting on young L1 talent who could improve, is a smart move, compared to recruiting declining, aging pros with plenty of Championship experience. We did that in L1 and it didn’t work.
The owners get a 7/10. We spent solidly compared to our turnover, nothing like Wrexham but they have a huge turnover.
If we manage to stay up the recruitment strategy will work to make us a more stable club. We will be able to sell some of those improving players and bring our net spend right down. This graph (inexplicably doesn’t include Charlton, thanks Sky Sports!) shows how the new clubs must have a huge net spend just to get a foothold in the division. Stay up and the money starts to filter down from the PL and relegated sides when they recruit.
Don’t be too hard on our new recruits, remember £7-8m just gets you an average striker. Kelman is bargain bucket compared to the rest of the division.
Maybe Sky Sports don't realise we got promoted yet
I think the recruitment team get a 9/10. We had a tiny budget compared to the rest of the division and betting on young L1 talent who could improve, is a smart move, compared to recruiting declining, aging pros with plenty of Championship experience. We did that in L1 and it didn’t work.
The owners get a 7/10. We spent solidly compared to our turnover, nothing like Wrexham but they have a huge turnover.
If we manage to stay up the recruitment strategy will work to make us a more stable club. We will be able to sell some of those improving players and bring our net spend right down. This graph (inexplicably doesn’t include Charlton, thanks Sky Sports!) shows how the new clubs must have a huge net spend just to get a foothold in the division. Stay up and the money starts to filter down from the PL and relegated sides when they recruit.
Don’t be too hard on our new recruits, remember £7-8m just gets you an average striker. Kelman is bargain bucket compared to the rest of the division.
Maybe Sky Sports don't realise we got promoted yet
I think it is because the Sky pundits offend that Fofana wanted to go to Charlton not Celtic.
I think we should've invested more into central midfield. I know NJ wanted Gailbraith, but it feels like there was no Plan B for another midfielder. Unless Costello comes in and shines, or Doch and Coventry really step up, we may have dropped a clanger there. The balance isn't quite right: we've not got enough strength, guile or someone to knit it together.
Everywhere else I'm pretty happy. I thought we'd drop a few mil this season, but didn't expect us to spend around £10 million. Credit to the owners for backing Jones. On paper, we've strengthened depth and competition in most areas, which hasn't been the case for years. But I do expect our midfield weakness to become more apparent as the season goes on.
I thought it was very clear that Costello was the plan B in midfield after we didn’t get Galbraith. The system with Apter at wing back means a central midfielder comfortable defending out wide was a target, Galbraith was first choice, we didn’t get him as it wasn’t realistic so we moved on to Costello.
Maybe. Costello has played at this level, yet he's still on the bench even while Docherty struggles (Leicester aside). If he was genuinely the Gailbraith Plan B (and not C or D), you'd expect him to be straight into the starting eleven. Then again, that might just be fitness or NJ being too loyal to Doch.
Is it harder dropping a captain? Shouldn't make a difference if someone isn't performing but wonder if it does.
As I've also said a few times, a lot of Docherty's work is the unseen stuff, the shape he tries to hold in midfield, showing for the ball, endlessly tracking and pressing his man, engaging with players off the ball at set pieces, organising and leading the team. Most of these things don't show up on Opta stats and sofa score
As I've also said a few times, a lot of Docherty's work is the unseen stuff, the shape he tries to hold in midfield, showing for the ball, endlessly tracking and pressing his man, engaging with players off the ball at set pieces, organising and leading the team. Most of these things don't show up on Opta stats and sofa score
As I've also said a few times, a lot of Docherty's work is the unseen stuff, the shape he tries to hold in midfield, showing for the ball, endlessly tracking and pressing his man, engaging with players off the ball at set pieces, organising and leading the team. Most of these things don't show up on Opta stats and sofa score
I expect a lot of teams have a player that does all that but can also use the ball a bit. He works very hard, I'm just not sure it'll be enough over the course of a season in this league.
As I've also said a few times, a lot of Docherty's work is the unseen stuff, the shape he tries to hold in midfield, showing for the ball, endlessly tracking and pressing his man, engaging with players off the ball at set pieces, organising and leading the team. Most of these things don't show up on Opta stats and sofa score
We're in the Championship, that alone is not gonna cut it sadly. I appreciate his leadership but needs to be so much better on the ball. League 1 player
As I've also said a few times, a lot of Docherty's work is the unseen stuff, the shape he tries to hold in midfield, showing for the ball, endlessly tracking and pressing his man, engaging with players off the ball at set pieces, organising and leading the team. Most of these things don't show up on Opta stats and sofa score
Respectfully there will be League 2 players that can do that, you need more.
He doesn't get into a single other Championship starting XI, and even a fair few sides wouldn't have him on their bench. It's the harsh truth.
No one can deny his commitment, but to not bring in a Championship quality 8 has been disappointing.
The Fofana failure, if it was ever on, is troubling. For weeks NJ implied/said we only need a RWB. The late Fofana effort suggests that NJ has not been impressed by his strikers, none of whom bar the injured Godden, have scored above League One.
It was a good window but this is a sting in the tail.
I genuinely think it was a case of at the last minute someone became available who they genuinely thought was above the level previously available and it was too good an opportunity not to pursue. The guy went for £10millon a couple of years ago. Seems like he didn’t become available quite in time though, especially if he was choosing between 4 clubs.
I think this too. No slight on the existing players at all. All about the quality of Fofana
A decent window overall. We've added to all areas of the team and I think we have decent cover all over the pitch (not too concerned about Coventry, unless he is out for a long period as Docherty or Rankin Costello can cover that role if needed). I'm sure that Knibbs, Kelman and Olaofe will get better with more games and improved match fitness, I don't think the team we saw against QPR will be the same starting 11 we have in October.
On the downside, others have spent huge amounts of money on more established championship players and foreign players that may or may not work out. Even with the money we've spent, we'll be punching above our weight if we stay up. My main concern is we haven't really got a flair option to come on and run with the ball or seek a forward pass, other than maybe young Fullah. Somebody like Gilbert (but not him, as he seemed very league one for me) would have been a great option to have.
At the back end of last season we had a starting eleven that picked itself + Chuks + Leaburn to come back. Plus fringe players. I feel we now have perhaps 18-20 players I wouldn't be unhappy to see any of in a starting line-up. Squad depth is much better.
We've not sold any first teamers, which is a good window. Small the one that got away. Whether we've had to turn down any offers, I don't know.
The learning curve for me has been that a £10m net spend has been enough to get us to the start line, no more. That reality only hit home at QPR.
Ultimately, the window will be as good as NJ can extract from what is now 'his' squad - there can't be many of our 'main' players who were not brought in, or contracts extended, during his tenure? I guess contract renewals will be the next key 'signings'.
Comments
From that perspective I'd say it has been a great window, in respect of getting almost all our business done early, getting cover in the areas we needed it and getting players in that are a qualititive improvement on what we had.
I got the impression that this was the general consensus, but it seems that some people have looked at the early performances and gone into panic mode.
It remains to be seen how things will pan out integrating all these new players, but the initial impression is that we can compete and I don't doubt we will improve as players settle and become familiar with systems, teammates and what is expected of them.
We are competing against sides, many with more money, with gamechanging star quality players or with longstanding experience in this league.
Our primary aim is to remain in this league at the end of the season and I think we have given ourselves the best shot we can.
And if nothing else, the first few games have reminded me how refershing it is to watch better quality football than we have been used to of late
You could fill page after page of negatives related to us over the last ten years.
Whatever happens, the club seems to be in a much better place after the last 18 months.
He doesn't get into a single other Championship starting XI, and even a fair few sides wouldn't have him on their bench. It's the harsh truth.
No one can deny his commitment, but to not bring in a Championship quality 8 has been disappointing.
On the downside, others have spent huge amounts of money on more established championship players and foreign players that may or may not work out. Even with the money we've spent, we'll be punching above our weight if we stay up. My main concern is we haven't really got a flair option to come on and run with the ball or seek a forward pass, other than maybe young Fullah. Somebody like Gilbert (but not him, as he seemed very league one for me) would have been a great option to have.
At the back end of last season we had a starting eleven that picked itself + Chuks + Leaburn to come back. Plus fringe players. I feel we now have perhaps 18-20 players I wouldn't be unhappy to see any of in a starting line-up. Squad depth is much better.
We've not sold any first teamers, which is a good window. Small the one that got away. Whether we've had to turn down any offers, I don't know.
The learning curve for me has been that a £10m net spend has been enough to get us to the start line, no more. That reality only hit home at QPR.
Ultimately, the window will be as good as NJ can extract from what is now 'his' squad - there can't be many of our 'main' players who were not brought in, or contracts extended, during his tenure? I guess contract renewals will be the next key 'signings'.