The transfer window so far....

[Alex Harvey-Jones 0]

So 20 days into the January transfer window and the position is that we have signed: Luke Chadwick permanently, but he is still a fair way off being fit, Chris Brown from Sunderland who is ordinary at best and David Marshall from Sunderland who in my opinion is the only really good capture. In that same time period we have loaned out Andrew Fisk and Andrew Cave-Brown to Kings Lynn, Ian Henderson to Rotherham and Craig Fleming to Wolves. Additionally we have lost Robert Earnshaw to an injury which may well rob us of his services for the rest of the season.

Yes the transfer window still has 11 days to run but as it stands I believe that we are in a much worse position than before it opened. For all of the fans who were relying on the transfer window to really turn our season around, I no longer think it''s a realistic goal to hope for. Yes Hayter would be a good addition to the squad but we desperately need two quality central midfielders, a new centre back and a striker who can replace Earnie to stand any chance of seeing the changes we want to see! I have seen no evidence to suggest that we will achieve those signings in the next 11 days!

What has happened to our club - our already paper thin squad has got smaller, our leading striker and one truly exceptional player is out for the season and two thirds of the way through the transfer window we are in a worse position than when it started....relegation is beginning to look like a real certainty.

[Branston Pickle 4,149]

I can''t agree with you re: the loans.  We haven''t ''lost'' any of them as players, and our squad has increased by 3 in Chadwick, Marshall and Brown.  

In loaning players out all we''ve done is to let out some of our bit-part players who otherwise wouldn''t be playing at all, who we can recall whenever we want, and whom we are presumably saving wages on at the same time - that all sounds pretty sensible to me.

I''m relatively happy with the signings so far but we certainly do need more.  It was annoying if it was Spring that we missed out on, as he is decent, but for me it does signal that the players we are closely looking at so far are pretty decent and in positions I thought we needed to look at.  Other than defence, that is, where there hasn''t been much news - I just hope that PG is on the case for that, as IMO it is where we need the most shoring up.

[Infamy, Infamy 1]

[quote user="Alex Harvey-Jones"]

Yes the transfer window still has 11 days to run

[/quote]That''s correct! That makes the rest of your post fairly irrelevant, doesn''t it?

[nutty nigel 7,902]

[quote user="Alex Harvey-Jones"]

Chris Brown from Sunderland who is ordinary at best 

[/quote]

How do you know Chris Brown is ordinary at best, you could be right and I''m not disputing your call, just wondered how you arrived at that conclusion.

I was hoping for good things from Brown, in my opinion he''s a type of player that we have needed for sometime now. I didn''t see enough of him last week to form much of an opinion.

 

[Alex Harvey-Jones 0]

[quote user="Im not mr potato head"][quote user="Alex Harvey-Jones"]

Yes the transfer window still has 11 days to run

[/quote]

Thats correct! That makes the rest of your post fairly irrelevant, doesnt it?
[/quote] Maybe - if so I''ll be quite happy to hold my hands up and admit I was wrong....I have my doubts though!

[Alex Harvey-Jones 0]

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]

I can''t agree with you re: the loans.  We haven''t ''lost'' any of them as players, and our squad has increased by 3 in Chadwick, Marshall and Brown.  

In loaning players out all we''ve done is to let out some of our bit-part players who otherwise wouldn''t be playing at all, who we can recall whenever we want, and whom we are presumably saving wages on at the same time - that all sounds pretty sensible to me.

[/quote] Yes I see your point and agree with you. I still think that even disregarding those players that have left on loan, despite making three signings, we are worse off having lost Earnie to injury than when the transfer window opened. I know that''s not the clubs fault .....we''ll see what they do over the next 10 days to rectify the situation and demonstrate their ambition or lack of it!

[Stevie Wonder 0]

Most of us have been saying for sometime that our younger players should be out on loan. Cave-Brown & Fisk may not have featured unless we had some serious injury problems at the back. I would have preferred that they were playing at a higher level (particularly Cave-Brown). As for Hendo, he should have been loaned out at least 2 years ago to gain more experience. Hopefully the like of Rossi J, Spillane & Eagle may also get a month out in the lower league.

Why does everyone seem to welcome the potential signing of Hayter who is 26 and averages around 1 goal in 4 in the bottom 2 leagues but slate Brown who is 22 and averages one goal in 6 at this level (with half those appearances beings subs)?

[Stevie Wonder 0]

Most of us have been saying for sometime that our younger players should be out on loan. Cave-Brown & Fisk may not have featured unless we had some serious injury problems at the back. I would have preferred that they were playing at a higher level (particularly Cave-Brown). As for Hendo, he should have been loaned out at least 2 years ago to gain more experience. Hopefully the like of Rossi J, Spillane & Eagle may also get a month out in the lower league.

Why does everyone seem to welcome the potential signing of Hayter who is 26 and averages around 1 goal in 4 in the bottom 2 leagues but slate Brown who is 22 and averages one goal in 6 at this level (with half those appearances beings subs)? I am not saying we should get Hayter but just thing some of our fans may have double standards!!

[Infamy, Infamy 1]

[quote user="Alex Harvey-Jones"] Yes I see your point and agree with you. I still think that even disregarding those players that have left on loan, despite making three signings, we are worse off having lost Earnie to injury than when the transfer window opened. I know that''s not the clubs fault .....we''ll see what they do over the next 10 days to rectify the situation and demonstrate their ambition or lack of it![/quote]I think any team in this division would be worse off without Earnie, or any 5million+ rated striker. Common sense tells us we won''t be able to replace him like for like. But as you say, at the end of the transfer window we will have a very clear picture of what the board are prepared to do. If it doesn''t look good then, I''m sure there will be plenty of opinions put forward on this forum. Just keep your powder dry!

[Alex Harvey-Jones 0]

[quote user="Stevie Wonder"]

Why does everyone seem to welcome the potential signing of Hayter who is 26 and averages around 1 goal in 4 in the bottom 2 leagues but slate Brown who is 22 and averages one goal in 6 at this level (with half those appearances beings subs)? I am not saying we should get Hayter but just thing some of our fans may have double standards!!

[/quote] I guess because Hayter is playing and scoring in the league below and over the past couple of seasons has had a great return - Brown was signed from a club in this league yet is struggling to get a game which would suggest he isn''t good enough for this level at the moment. I''m prepared to give him time but I believe Hayter will be a more natural goal scorer!