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hogesar

When Lakey told me we had an excellent january..

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I said excellent would have involved getting another striker, defensive mid and CB.

We got a good replacement LB in but I don''t see what else we gained other than profit.

Hopefully Wildshut comes good but is clearly a huge distance away from bradys ability.

And with Oliveira out I hate the fact our second choice is a lanky streak of p*ss who offers nothing.

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[quote user="hogesar"]I said excellent would have involved getting another striker, defensive mid and CB.

We got a good replacement LB in but I don''t see what else we gained other than profit.

Hopefully Wildshut comes good but is clearly a huge distance away from bradys ability.

And with Oliveira out I hate the fact our second choice is a lanky streak of p*ss who offers nothing.[/quote]

Excellent may have been overstating it, but it was pretty good.   However, your wish list for in getting a striker, a defensive midfielder and a CB that could fit straight in to the team, would have needed a miracle

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Wildshut was better today but wanted too much time on the ball. Having said that there was so little movement from the other players that might be somewhat harsh. Lafferty as a third striker becomes more incredible match by match.

However, The fundamental problem, as has been for some 18 months now, is in the dugout not on the pitch.

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Excellent was overstating it.

I agree with ''pretty good''. But particularly in the striking department we are significantly weaker when we only have Jerome as a realistic option.

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This goes back to recruitment over a long period. Certain areas such as striker and centre back have needed strengthening for at least three or four windows, and they haven''t.

Since Jan 15, we''ve bought in just Mbokani, Branford and Oliveria. Nelson has proven to be a good buy and Mbokani was a loan, but 2 years on we are weaker here, with Grabban and Hooper no longer at the club.

At centre back, Timm Klose is the only ''new'' centre back at the club since Bassong way back in 2012.

Either our recruitment is a shambles, we are going in for players who don''t want to come or are too expensive or AN is turning some players down. Maybe a mixture of all three.

Many signings in the Neil era haven''t worked out for whatever reason and we''re left with a squad not too dissimilar to when he took over. AN successes? Nelson, you''d say yes, Pinto has been good, but then you''re struggling. Dorrans is decent, Pritchard has been good in spells, Klose is up and down. Dijks is a loan.

The squad needs a whole new spine, many of our long servers have been here too long and are getting used to failure or are simply lesser players.

The players I''d keep are Pinto, Wes, Thompson, Howson, Jerome, the Murphy''s and Oliveria. I can''t see Pritchard and Klose doing another season in this division.

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Not that Klose nor Pritchard have particularly shown themselves to be better than this level.

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Agree. Klose is highly overrated and has become a cult figure because of his interesting personality and social media presence.

We need to inject new blood into the centre of defence, some youth and hunger would be a start.

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I didn''t think we really did enough in january, we sold Two left sided and brought two in but when we had Brady he could cover at left back, now we just have one left back with no cover, if Dyjks gets injured we are royaly f.cked left side.

From what Moxey had said I was expecting us to be busier and maybe one of the reasons he left.

If Lafferty is a problem then we should''ve just paid him up and shown him the door, its not like his contract has years left to run.

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Lafferty must be laughing his head off. He''s earning good money to be nothing short of a bench warmer. He wouldn''t go anywhere if it involved a pay cut. Players that genuinely want to play football will usually take a pay cut if they want more minutes on the pitch. Our very own Darren Huckerby wanted to play football and to do so took a pay cut to join us. Not every player is the same but Lafferty I don''t think has any ambition.

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I had the same argument yesterday with someone Hogesar. We are short of quality cover at left back, striker and defensive midfield and he chose not to address it. Cannot now complain about tiredness or injuries.

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[quote user="Bagster"]I didn''t think we really did enough in january, we sold Two left sided and brought two in but when we had Brady he could cover at left back, now we just have one left back with no cover, if Dyjks gets injured we are royaly f.cked left side.

From what Moxey had said I was expecting us to be busier and maybe one of the reasons he left.

If Lafferty is a problem then we should''ve just paid him up and shown him the door, its not like his contract has years left to run.[/quote]The reality of our situation in January - financial and footballing - was that we had to spend less than we received and to get high-earners off the wage bill. We did that and managed to get in positional replacements for those who left.We could not take the risk of another high-spending splurge (such as that the previous winter, on Klose and Naismith) to try to buy our way into the play-offs. Under the circumstances this winter window was as well-handled as one could have hoped for given the financial imperatives. It still gave us a chance of the top six without threatening to ruin us.As it happens that chance has effectively gone. The points gap is theoretically bridgeable, but not for a team with our lamentable form against the best sides, and pretty anybody away from home. But we won''t go down, and it looks as if there will be some decent managers available in the summer.

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We did not need a spending splurge Purple, just either not sending out players on loan who are capable back up or a couple of sensible loans to tide us over. We also did not need to spend so big on Wilschutt

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It''s easy to say in hindsight. But we did need another striker, a different type, nippy sort. We clearly needed a midfielder with Dorrans & Thompson out long term, Mulumbu at ACON and with his record of playing a couple of games then missing a load more through injury. We needed a centre back but with 4/5 already on books was always going to be tricky.

The clear out that needed to happen last summer must and will happen this summer. Out of contract, high earners will be moved on.

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We''re seemingly in year two of the owners'' ten year plan of having the same manager in charge. With a natural turnover of less than £30m that implies a player wage bill of around £15m as our parachute payments dwindle to zero in 18 months time. Unfortunately, if our business model is to break even we cannot afford a model even as generous as that of 1p5wich where the owner injects £5m each year simply to maintain championship mediocrity. So, it seems that 17/18 will be the year of dismantling the first team squad and academy. If we manage to stay up in 17/18, or indeed 18/19 with a player wage bill of £15m and year four of the current management team, that will be a footballing miracle.

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@purple Its not about spending more, it''s about spending better. I said at the time I didn''t think we needed to replace Brady as the midfield had functioned fine without him in our best form.

The money spent on Wildschut would have been much better invested in strengthening the back line that has been our obvious weakness all season.

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That''s a fair point Purple and I agree we coudn''t go on a spending splurge but letting Toffolo go I think was a mistake given our lack of cover.

Do you think that this maybe an indication that the board have given up on this season and are looking at replacing Alex in the summer because tbh with all the contracts up at the end of the season this would be an ideal time to bring in a new man.

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[quote user="Bagster"]That''s a fair point Purple and I agree we coudn''t go on a spending splurge but letting Toffolo go I think was a mistake given our lack of cover.

Do you think that this maybe an indication that the board have given up on this season and are looking at replacing Alex in the summer because tbh with all the contracts up at the end of the season this would be an ideal time to bring in a new man.[/quote]I don''t believe the winter window showed the board had given up on the season. On the contrary, I think they took a very sensible middle course which gave us a chance of the play-offs without crippling us by way of extra spending and an unsustainable wage bill. I have no idea whether they will stick with Neil. I believe they should not (this is assuming we don''t make the play-offs), not least because I think there will be some credible alternatives available. But predicting what will happen it a mug''s game. In part because we haven''t filled the role of CEO. That appointment - steady as she goes internal choice or McNally-style new brrom from outside - could have a marked bearing on the mood in the boardroom and on whether Neil stays or goes.

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[quote user="Hoola Han Solo"]Lafferty must be laughing his head off. He''s earning good money to be nothing short of a bench warmer. He wouldn''t go anywhere if it involved a pay cut. Players that genuinely want to play football will usually take a pay cut if they want more minutes on the pitch. Our very own Darren Huckerby wanted to play football and to do so took a pay cut to join us. Not every player is the same but Lafferty I don''t think has any ambition.[/quote]

Any ambition Lafferty may have when he came here has undoubtably been drained out of him by AN who has made it clear that he doesn''t rate him and never has. Of course the irony is that should anything happen to Jerome then AN might have to rely on Lafferty who might see the situation as pay back time.

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Oh come on, I know you can drag a negative out of pretty much anything, but blaming Kyle Lafferty''s shartness of Alex Neil is stretching things somewhat.

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Lafferty is naff regardless of who is manager but we''re probably getting even less than that and part of it can be pointed at AN for publicly saying he''s not good enough.

It''s not that AN is wrong in that statement it''s the lack of experience to realise he may have to rely on him at some point. Which has ended up being the case.

Wilbraham was a nothing player in reality but we got a decent amount out of him purely by making him feel involved and part of the group I suspect

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[quote user="hogesar"]Haha I don''t give a toss about kyle but having a reasonable backup striker I do.[/quote]It will be mildly interesting to see where he ends up in the summer, as he''ll be a free agent.

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40 miles down the road maybe, he would suit agrihoofball nicely. He''d be right up Micks street (ie free)and would probably relish the chance to play against us. providing of course that Lakey is incorrect and we are still in the Champs next season.

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I''d argue with Wilbraham being a nothing player.

He worked hard, got his head down and waited for his chance and when he got it had a positive contribution on games.

He wasn''t prolific but did a job when needed as part of the team.

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