Snog, Marry, Avoid: Summer 2023 Transfer Window

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm intrigued by Ilesy's (repeated) use of "due diligence" in regards to the Kane Wilson back-off. What could he mean?

It could mean simply that as we looked into the full cost of the deal we decided it wasn’t right.

Or that following his medical and tests we felt the cost was too high.

[GhostoftheBok]

Their records on the face of it wouldn’t have worried me in the same way as a kid who you literally know nothing about how they will cope with it across a season.

I'm fine with wanting quality in, but we've seen with Traf and Bradley that "unproven kids" can offer a lot in that area. We can point to Beck and say "look what loaning kids gets you", but we could do the same with Sadlier and permanent deals for experienced pros.

One big issue we have is that we may not have enough squad places left to do all the work we need. I think we have 3 senior places left, as things stand. I don't think many people believe we'd have done enough to win the league if we'd signed Baccus, Flick and Kane and called it a day - but that's the squad full.

We may get rid of Sadlier, but even then we'll likely need at least one or two U21s in.

[BWFC_Insane]

Flick turned up for training in Germany on crutches wearing a boot. I mean…are we the curse?

[truewhite15]

Fankaty Dabo still available?

[GhostoftheBok]

Flick turned up for training in Germany on crutches wearing a boot. I mean…are we the curse?

He had surgery at the end of last season on a broken foot. He wasn't expected to be in full training until August regardless. Surprised he's still in a boot and on crutches, though.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Fankaty Dabo still available?

Seems so. Derby have been linked.

[GhostoftheBok]

Fankaty Dabo still available?

Seems so. Derby have been linked.

Another with a lengthy injury record.

[Bertie Wooster]

So how much of the £4.5M bond do we think the club will spend on new players ?

After the way the bond was marketed i.e. to be used for recruitment, (as well as the academy, big screen, pitch etc.), it would surely have to be at least around £2.5M (fee's & wages ?)

[BWFC_Insane]

Flick turned up for training in Germany on crutches wearing a boot. I mean…are we the curse?

He had surgery at the end of last season on a broken foot. He wasn't expected to be in full training until August regardless. Surprised he's still in a boot and on crutches, though.

Yeah. There was a report that many dismissed that he wouldn’t be fit till September to resume training but those pictures would suggest that might be the case!

[The_Gun]

We need to be offering clubs money now so they feel they have the time to replace and their options aren’t exhausted. Cos I don’t think we are blowing anyone out of the water or backing anyone into corners late in the window.

We are offering clubs money now, though, right? It's just that the deals haven't gone through.

We're early in the window (you're talking about waiting until August when it's not even July) and we've put cash on the table for three players. We got one and two look to have medical issues, so we've moved on (or that's Iles' reporting, which seems really out of whack this season).

We absolutely need to get the quality right, if we don't do that part why both spending money?

There's a difference between sitting back and saying "It'll be reet, we got some in" and knowing you have a safety net so you don't need to make iffy calls. We don't know what went on with Wilson, but perhaps if we didn't have Cogley in we'd have taken a risk there. Those are the margins.

I mean we have a list of players we want. I’m not sure why we’d not be pushing on and trying to sign them now. Everything we do has to be geared to maximising our chances of winning the league. I’m not really sure on the advantage of waiting. Someone might become available but equally we might find like last summer they don’t and we are then in a position of Evatt having to change in order to get better results out of the group we have.

I’m not convinced waiting will help us in the situation we are in. I think we have identified what we need so we now have to go and get those players. If we are unable to do so then it needs a considerable rethink.

Didn’t you recently say that you were suspicious of early signings?

[GhostoftheBok]

Yeah. There was a report that many dismissed that he wouldn’t be fit till September to resume training but those pictures would suggest that might be the case!

Certainly not in a state where you'd sign him at this stage and just assume he'd get fit. That might be a case of wait and see.

If he's able to do light work in August someone might pick him up before September 1st. Otherwise we might get lucky and get a precontract or cheap deal in the winter.

I do hope we don't have to go back to Posh for Norburn. Not only is he another crock, but every time we hit a wall somewhere else Barry will be mentally adding another 100k to the price.

[GhostoftheBok]

Didn’t you recently say that you were suspicious of early signings?

You're surely not suggesting that Insane will always take the worst possible outlook on any set of circumstances? Perish the thought.

[BWFC_Insane]

We need to be offering clubs money now so they feel they have the time to replace and their options aren’t exhausted. Cos I don’t think we are blowing anyone out of the water or backing anyone into corners late in the window.

We are offering clubs money now, though, right? It's just that the deals haven't gone through.

We're early in the window (you're talking about waiting until August when it's not even July) and we've put cash on the table for three players. We got one and two look to have medical issues, so we've moved on (or that's Iles' reporting, which seems really out of whack this season).

We absolutely need to get the quality right, if we don't do that part why both spending money?

There's a difference between sitting back and saying "It'll be reet, we got some in" and knowing you have a safety net so you don't need to make iffy calls. We don't know what went on with Wilson, but perhaps if we didn't have Cogley in we'd have taken a risk there. Those are the margins.

I mean we have a list of players we want. I’m not sure why we’d not be pushing on and trying to sign them now. Everything we do has to be geared to maximising our chances of winning the league. I’m not really sure on the advantage of waiting. Someone might become available but equally we might find like last summer they don’t and we are then in a position of Evatt having to change in order to get better results out of the group we have.

I’m not convinced waiting will help us in the situation we are in. I think we have identified what we need so we now have to go and get those players. If we are unable to do so then it needs a considerable rethink.

Didn’t you recently say that you were suspicious of early signings?

Early frees that you sign in May sometime yes. Feels a bit too easy. I’m not talking about frees though now and we are heading into July.

[GhostoftheBok]

Whilst we're all down in the dumps, a fun story about dealing with Barry Fry that I was told years ago.

Back in the 90s he was manager of (I think) Birmingham and someone called him up about a player. Barry told them they valued him at £500k and they were shocked, thinking he'd cost less than half that.

"Well", said Barry, "It's not that much when the lad you asked about at Celtic was £800k."
"Ha", says the idiot on the other end, "They thought they could do us for a million. We're not idiots and we don't overpay!"
"A million, was it? Well then, £700k for our guy is a bargain then."
"You said £500k."
"The market changed."

[GhostoftheBok]

Marc Iles' latest piece has the following quotes from Evatt:

We are in a difficult scenario where we have moved past the free agent market and we are looking to improve by taking players from other clubs – and that means fees are involved and negotiations, not only with the players but the selling club too. It takes time so we need an air of patience and we are working really hard.

We are in a really good place and the ones we have done so far I am delighted with because they have started well and settled really well, especially over here in Portugal.

Pre-season is a real key block of time for Dan – and not just him but for some of the January recruits as well. Some of them, and they will be the first to admit this, but have not hit the heights we know they can get to yet.

Not that they have under-performed but not to the level I know they can be. And this block of time to coach them, ingrain the philosophy and what we want from them, it is really hard to do in-season when you are playing Saturday-Tuesday because time on the grass is really limited.

It is this time now that we can get tactical and technical detail into the players.

Dan needs to be fitter but he has so many tools and he is an exciting talent. He needs a home and Bolton is now his home, so hopefully we can now improve him and unlock all that untapped potential.

As expected, he's talking up the natural improvement we can expect from the January recruits and will be relying on that to get us where we need to go.

So where a lot of fans are saying, "This player only did this last time, so that's what we can expect" that isn't what Evatt is basing his plans on.

He has, in the past, got that call wrong. Viewing some players as capable of a lot more than they were because "his teams" do 'x'.

He's also got most calls right.

[BWFC_Insane]

Marc Iles' latest piece has the following quotes from Evatt:

We are in a difficult scenario where we have moved past the free agent market and we are looking to improve by taking players from other clubs – and that means fees are involved and negotiations, not only with the players but the selling club too. It takes time so we need an air of patience and we are working really hard.

We are in a really good place and the ones we have done so far I am delighted with because they have started well and settled really well, especially over here in Portugal.

Pre-season is a real key block of time for Dan – and not just him but for some of the January recruits as well. Some of them, and they will be the first to admit this, but have not hit the heights we know they can get to yet.

Not that they have under-performed but not to the level I know they can be. And this block of time to coach them, ingrain the philosophy and what we want from them, it is really hard to do in-season when you are playing Saturday-Tuesday because time on the grass is really limited.

It is this time now that we can get tactical and technical detail into the players.

Dan needs to be fitter but he has so many tools and he is an exciting talent. He needs a home and Bolton is now his home, so hopefully we can now improve him and unlock all that untapped potential.

As expected, he's talking up the natural improvement we can expect from the January recruits and will be relying on that to get us where we need to go.

So where a lot of fans are saying, "This player only did this last time, so that's what we can expect" that isn't what Evatt is basing his plans on.

He has, in the past, got that call wrong. Viewing some players as capable of a lot more than they were because "his teams" do 'x'.

He's also got most calls right.

He’s basically admitted they’ve been rubbish, so that’s interesting.

He’s also talking about signing players for money - so isn’t entirely relying on what we have and also sounds like no more younger loans on the horizon thankfully.

If Evatt can turn the strikers into a strike force that takes and creates their own chances regularly and hit the sort of conversion rates Ipswich had January onwards then great. I think it’s a big ask. But if they can start committing defenders one touch and then shot away and bagging them it will be a great piece of coaching.

[officer_dibble]

Bit gutted about Wilson - had him down as someone who would replace if not improve on Bradley given his age. Trust Evatt and Markham to get sorted this summer, in budget!

[GhostoftheBok]

But if they can start committing defenders one touch and then shot away and bagging them it will be a great piece of coaching.

I think that describes two of Ladapo's goals last season. Most were just finishes from within 12 yards and most from within the 6 yard box.

Chaplin scored 5 from starting positions outside the 18 yard box "cone of death." One was a direct free kick and one was where the keeper wasn't in his net. So 3 that were more than your usual "hit it first time or get it out of your feet and bury it" 18-yard-box chances and two oddities.

Ipswich's general play created simple chances for their forwards. That's where we need to get to. That's why they scored so many. Not because their forwards created their own goals, but because they found their forwards in key positions in the box with a greater regularity than any other team in the division. That's where our gap to Ipswich is.

[BWFC_Insane]

But if they can start committing defenders one touch and then shot away and bagging them it will be a great piece of coaching.

I think that describes two of Ladapo's goals last season. Most were just finishes from within 12 yards and most from within the 6 yard box.

Chaplin scored 5 from starting positions outside the 18 yard box "cone of death." One was a direct free kick and one was where the keeper wasn't in his net. So 3 that were more than your usual "hit it first time or get it out of your feet and bury it" 18-yard-box chances and two oddities.

Ipswich's general play created simple chances for their forwards. That's where we need to get to. That's why they scored so many. Not because their forwards created their own goals, but because they found their forwards in key positions in the box with a greater regularity than any other team in the division. That's where our gap to Ipswich is.

The first goal they scored at ours. That’s the sort of goal I’m not convinced any of our strikers score.

And an ability to create something for themselves is important.

If we want to focus on delivery we need much better delivery from wing backs which means finding at least one really tremendous attacking wing back that I don’t think we yet have.

[GhostoftheBok]

If we want to focus on delivery we need much better delivery from wing backs which means finding at least one really tremendous attacking wing back that I don’t think we yet have.

That's how Ipswich did it. Most of their goals came from crosses or cut-backs from the flanks. They also had players who could play through-balls to runners.

The Wilson "transfer saga" (as it would have been called were we still in the Prem) at least shows we want the type of player who can put it on a plate. Just as signing Shoretire show we want a lad who can create through the middle, even if he didn't have to impact Evatt thought he would.

On the left? Your guess is as good as mine as to whether one of Williams, John or Iredale is going to turn into Leif Davis with his 14 assists. I suspect not, but hope springs eternal.