In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:38 pm

Well, he won't be captain for the next two games. That will presumably be George Johnston, which is fine by me. The armband has been a bit of a poisoned chalice recently, so it might do Tomo a favour not to be that guy, as to an extent it did for Rico.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Bertie Wooster » Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:42 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:38 pm
Well, he won't be captain for the next two games. That will presumably be George Johnston, which is fine by me. The armband has been a bit of a poisoned chalice recently, so it might do Tomo a favour not to be that guy, as to an extent it did for Rico.
I'd give the captaincy to Toal full time.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by BWFC_Insane » Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:43 pm

The_Gun wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:29 pm
Abdoulaye's Twin wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 1:50 pm
The_Gun wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 12:49 pm
I’m somewhat disappointed not to see SSA go out on loan. My assumption is that he’s been earmarked as Arfield’s replacement, but there wouldn’t appear to be many minutes available, unless someone gets injured.
We mighty need him to cover for Thomason's lunging tackle suspensions...
You joke, but this is actually quite a big problem for someone who’s meant to be our leader.

Last season Thomo had the joint most yellows in the division (tied on 14 with a certain J. Vela).

This season he again has the joint most yellows in the division (this time tied on 10 with Baily Cargill).

Even when he was regularly turning in MotM performances last season his discipline was barely excusable, but now his form has fallen off a cliff, his place in the team must be under severe threat.
And who is going to do the running in his place?

The problem Thomason has had in the last two years is he’s had to do the work of three men. I find it a little ridiculous that he’s been put in that position and been asked to be captain. But the rest of the midfield either can’t or won’t do that work. And frankly we need two in there at least doing it.

The other problem is that the midfield is massively unbalanced. You want a big shield for the back four then two hard runners and workers in front. Ideally one who is a bit more combative the other who can bag some goals. IMHO. We have a bunch of attacking mids who need to play behind a pair of very mobile 8’s or a bunch of small not strong defensively 6’s who need the aforementioned runners in front. And we are stuck in between the two.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:47 pm

Bertie Wooster wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:42 pm
Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:38 pm
Well, he won't be captain for the next two games. That will presumably be George Johnston, which is fine by me. The armband has been a bit of a poisoned chalice recently, so it might do Tomo a favour not to be that guy, as to an extent it did for Rico.
I'd give the captaincy to Toal full time.
Yeah, I can imagine that, too.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by BWFC_Insane » Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:59 pm

Hard to disagree with any of this from Marc Iles.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... er-window/

Especially the last bit.
Whether Schumacher successfully inspires a dash for the line or he uses the remaining 17 games to assess which players stay with him for next season’s tilt, a major summer rebuild looks inevitable, and won’t come cheaply.
I guess a worry I have is what money there will be. I think the summer is going to be an extremely challenging period regardless of what happens this season as we do need a big overhaul and a lot of new signings. One feels Sharon was mainly committed to keeping Evatt here so money was freed up to stop him skulking off. There is now a very significant challenge of propelling the club forwards again and with a rebuild and the new management team directing it. Is the appetite there both financially and in spirit? Remains to be seen.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by The_Gun » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:01 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote:
And who is going to do the running in his place?

The problem Thomason has had in the last two years is he’s had to do the work of three men. I find it a little ridiculous that he’s been put in that position and been asked to be captain. But the rest of the midfield either can’t or won’t do that work. And frankly we need two in there at least doing it.

The other problem is that the midfield is massively unbalanced. You want a big shield for the back four then two hard runners and workers in front. Ideally one who is a bit more combative the other who can bag some goals. IMHO. We have a bunch of attacking mids who need to play behind a pair of very mobile 8’s or a bunch of small not strong defensively 6’s who need the aforementioned runners in front. And we are stuck in between the two.
Well the short answer to your question is Matete, who’s a much more mobile player than Thomason.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by BWFC_Insane » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:03 pm

The_Gun wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:01 pm
BWFC_Insane wrote:
And who is going to do the running in his place?

The problem Thomason has had in the last two years is he’s had to do the work of three men. I find it a little ridiculous that he’s been put in that position and been asked to be captain. But the rest of the midfield either can’t or won’t do that work. And frankly we need two in there at least doing it.

The other problem is that the midfield is massively unbalanced. You want a big shield for the back four then two hard runners and workers in front. Ideally one who is a bit more combative the other who can bag some goals. IMHO. We have a bunch of attacking mids who need to play behind a pair of very mobile 8’s or a bunch of small not strong defensively 6’s who need the aforementioned runners in front. And we are stuck in between the two.
Well the short answer to your question is Matete, who’s a much more mobile player than Thomason.
He’s not though. At least not what I’ve seen of him. I agree with Hill on Matete. He is a sitter. A 6. Who can make the odd run forwards. But he’s most effective in front of the defence. Does he look comfortable as a rangy 8 - not to me. It doesn’t look like his game to me at all.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:04 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:59 pm
Hard to disagree with any of this from Marc Iles.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... er-window/

Especially the last bit.
Whether Schumacher successfully inspires a dash for the line or he uses the remaining 17 games to assess which players stay with him for next season’s tilt, a major summer rebuild looks inevitable, and won’t come cheaply.
I guess a worry I have is what money there will be. I think the summer is going to be an extremely challenging period regardless of what happens this season as we do need a big overhaul and a lot of new signings. One feels Sharon was mainly committed to keeping Evatt here so money was freed up to stop him skulking off. There is now a very significant challenge of propelling the club forwards again and with a rebuild and the new management team directing it. Is the appetite there both financially and in spirit? Remains to be seen.
Meh, I don't particularly share that fear. If we give it a good go for the next four months, whether we go up or not we will be in a good position to attract players. It's not like I look round many other squads and think I wish we had half a dozen of these lads.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by BWFC_Insane » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:12 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:04 pm
BWFC_Insane wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:59 pm
Hard to disagree with any of this from Marc Iles.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... er-window/

Especially the last bit.
Whether Schumacher successfully inspires a dash for the line or he uses the remaining 17 games to assess which players stay with him for next season’s tilt, a major summer rebuild looks inevitable, and won’t come cheaply.
I guess a worry I have is what money there will be. I think the summer is going to be an extremely challenging period regardless of what happens this season as we do need a big overhaul and a lot of new signings. One feels Sharon was mainly committed to keeping Evatt here so money was freed up to stop him skulking off. There is now a very significant challenge of propelling the club forwards again and with a rebuild and the new management team directing it. Is the appetite there both financially and in spirit? Remains to be seen.
Meh, I don't particularly share that fear. If we give it a good go for the next four months, whether we go up or not we will be in a good position to attract players. It's not like I look round many other squads and think I wish we had half a dozen of these lads.
I’m thinking in the summer should we still be a league one side that the following probably go:

Santos
Sheehan
Collins (likely not our choice if he continues to do well)
Maybe one or two of Johnston, Toal, Morley, Thomason.
Baxter

Then I’m think we’d probably want Geth, Dempsey, CMG to be found other homes.

Mcatee, Lolos, Vic, Cogley as it stands right now today would be ones you’d want to improve on to get out of this league.

Couple of loanees go too.

That is an awfully big rebuild with new management team who no doubt have new ideas. And in one summer to shape it into a promotion winning squad is going to take a big financial commitment I think. If you really want a squad capable of promotion next season and this one hasn’t done it again you are probably looking at the most expensive summer for the club since its premiership days and by some distance.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:16 pm

For the record, I'm not sure an argument will ever be strengthened by saying it's in alignment with Keith Hill :mrgreen:

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:18 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:12 pm
I’m thinking in the summer should we still be a league one side that the following probably go:

Santos
Sheehan
Collins (likely not our choice if he continues to do well)
Maybe one or two of Johnston, Toal, Morley, Thomason.
Baxter

Then I’m think we’d probably want Geth, Dempsey, CMG to be found other homes.

Mcatee, Lolos, Vic, Cogley as it stands right now today would be ones you’d want to improve on to get out of this league.

Couple of loanees go too.

That is an awfully big rebuild with new management team who no doubt have new ideas. And in one summer to shape it into a promotion winning squad is going to take a big financial commitment I think. If you really want a squad capable of promotion next season and this one hasn’t done it again you are probably looking at the most expensive summer for the club since its premiership days and by some distance.
...and I'm thinking, after decades of conversations like this, that I suspect you may be over-worrying about things, mate.

Let's see how it goes under the new manager for a bit.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by GhostoftheBok » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:18 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:16 pm
For the record, I'm not sure an argument will ever be strengthened by saying it's in alignment with Keith Hill :mrgreen:
Uhu.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by TonyDomingos » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:24 pm

Abdoulaye's Twin wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 1:52 pm
TonyDomingos wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 1:37 pm
Do I have the honour of having started the worst transfer thread EVER?!
Consider yourself lengthily banned from starting these threads. We might need a Pru special for summer :D

I am Evatt to Pru's Schumacher (Prumacher, if you will).
Às armas, às armas!
Sobre a terra, sobre o mar,
Às armas, às armas!
Pela Pátria lutar!
Contra os canhões marchar, marchar!

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by GhostoftheBok » Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:25 pm

Contracted past the summer, or with an option to extend past the summer we have:

Baxter, Southwood.
Forrester, Forino, Johnston, Toal.
Morley, Thomason, Sheehan, Dempsey.
Tutu, Schon, Conway.
McAtee, Randall, Lolos, CMG, Collins.
Vic, Nlundulu

I may have missed some out?

Everyone agrees Evatt has made terrible use of the group this season and we're still in the play-off mix.

That is the core of a side that can be up the top end in this division. We will likely want to move some on and we obviously have to bring some in.

Let's see what the new manager can do with them. He absolutely doesn't need a new 11.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Abdoulaye's Twin » Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:10 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:12 pm

I’m thinking in the summer should we still be a league one side that the following probably go:

Santos
Sheehan
Collins (likely not our choice if he continues to do well)
Maybe one or two of Johnston, Toal, Morley, Thomason.
Baxter

Then I’m think we’d probably want Geth, Dempsey, CMG to be found other homes.

Mcatee, Lolos, Vic, Cogley as it stands right now today would be ones you’d want to improve on to get out of this league.

Couple of loanees go too.

That is an awfully big rebuild with new management team who no doubt have new ideas. And in one summer to shape it into a promotion winning squad is going to take a big financial commitment I think. If you really want a squad capable of promotion next season and this one hasn’t done it again you are probably looking at the most expensive summer for the club since its premiership days and by some distance.
Santos I think will go. I don't think he's been happy for a while and short of a spring love-in with Schumacher...
Sheehan is good for this level. The real issue is who we put around him and how we play.
Collins might attract admirers, but a decent step up from us is probably going to need more consistency.
All of Johnston, Toal, Thomason and the Morley that came back from Wycombe are fine
Baxter I think will go. Southwood seems good enough, so as long as we're not relying on the other fella for back up we're fine.
McAtee used right is fine. I don't think we've seen the real him yet.
Lolos I'm not bothered about so far from what I've seen.
Unless we're going to play to Vic's strengths then he might as well go.
Cogley from last season is fine, but I'd like an upgrade. As more as a backup he's ok for me.

It all depends what Schumacher wants to do, but a handful of missing pieces is all we need. I'd not be ripping everything up unless we're radically changing how we setup.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:16 pm

GhostoftheBok wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:25 pm
Contracted past the summer, or with an option to extend past the summer we have:

Baxter, Southwood.
Forrester, Forino, Johnston, Toal.
Morley, Thomason, Sheehan, Dempsey.
Tutu, Schon, Conway.
McAtee, Randall, Lolos, CMG, Collins.
Vic, Nlundulu

I may have missed some out?
I've updated the contract expiry thread: viewtopic.php?p=1194639#p1194639
I don't think you've missed anyone, bar kids. Baxter's initial contract is up this summer and I'm not aware of us having an extension option, though I'd rather be wrong and happy than right and sad.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by GhostoftheBok » Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:44 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:16 pm
Baxter's initial contract is up this summer and I'm not aware of us having an extension option, though I'd rather be wrong and happy than right and sad.
Our mole may know definitively.

All I know is that a couple of other clubs in the league think we have an option.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Feb 04, 2025 6:52 pm

GhostoftheBok wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:44 pm
Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:16 pm
Baxter's initial contract is up this summer and I'm not aware of us having an extension option, though I'd rather be wrong and happy than right and sad.
Our mole may know definitively.

All I know is that a couple of other clubs in the league think we have an option.
I'd be very glad if we do. The reports when he signed said "an initial two-year contract" which perhaps implies options, but they wren't stated, and it could just be a word thrown in there.

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by Worthy4England » Tue Feb 04, 2025 7:07 pm

There's been a few iffy windows for me. We didn't push on from last Jan, we fell back. We didn't improve over the summer, we fell further back. Doesn't feel like we improved this window either, but maybe Schumaker will work better with what we have...

If I look at our target of 2 points per game over a season in relation to the windows, once out of 7 we've bettered 2 ppg.

We improved 1/1/22 to end of season, 1/1/23 to end of season, and 1/8/24 to Christmas 2024, so far this year, we're about first half of 2022/23 season level...

Whether that's more manager or players or both, maybe the next few games will help us work that out...

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Re: In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

Post by GhostoftheBok » Tue Feb 04, 2025 7:36 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 6:52 pm
I'd be very glad if we do. The reports when he signed said "an initial two-year contract" which perhaps implies options, but they wren't stated, and it could just be a word thrown in there.
May not matter. If he isn't #1 under Schumacher we may look to save money in that area and not renew his deal. He's one of our top earners.

I'll enjoy having two good 'keepers whilst it lasts, but I do think Baxter is the better player.

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