January 2022 Transfer Thread

[GhostoftheBok]

This is getting silly.

The only silly thing here is comparing real world players to the platonic form of Eoin Doyle.

[Worthy4England]

This is getting silly.

Well, see how the new bloke does. If we sign another three strikers, we're still only playing one at once, don't see him going to a Sutton and Shearer anytime soon.

[brommers95]

I think it’ll be reet. We’ll sign another centre forward - this mystery man and Charles will get the goals to lead us to a safe mid-table finish.

[GhostoftheBok]

I think it’ll be reet. We’ll sign another centre forward - this mystery man and Charles will get the goals to lead us to a safe mid-table finish.

At least a striker, a 10 and a proper mid.

[Prufrock]

I wouldn't mind but I don't think there's a huge disagreement . Pretty much everyone has another forward as at least "nice to have".

But it's bonkers to me to think it's a bigger priority than at least two midfielders.

And bordering on the tendentious to use Doyle's 8 goals as evidence to say we're losing a major goal threat when 5 were penalties. We're still going to get to take them even without him.

But yeah, can't wait to see what happens if Charles misses one

In an attempt to move things on, Charles looked quick on Tuesday, and pace was something he's said to bring. Allied to this attempt to get the front three higher up the pitch I hope that helps with the press. We won the ball a lot in good areas in the first half of the season but Doyle's touch, lack of pace, and inability to pick the right pass meant the chance went. I'm hoping Charles' pace and technical ability off both feet will convert some of those into goals for him and others. Let's hope so!

[Worthy4England]

Don't get too comfy, I still want another CD...

[GhostoftheBok]

Don't get too comfy, I still want another CD...

Again, think we'd all take one, but it'd mean one out first you'd imagine.

I wouldn't turn down quality anywhere on the pitch at the moment.

[Worthy4England]

Don't get too comfy, I still want another CD...

Again, think we'd all take one, but it'd mean one out first you'd imagine.

I wouldn't turn down quality anywhere on the pitch at the moment.

Well at CD, I can think of a few...

[GhostoftheBok]

Well at CD, I can think of a few...

We've probably done this to death, but I imagine that if Evatt could move a couple on and fetch in some improvements he'd happily do so.

This is the issue with having lads under contract now and also the danger of January as a window. One of the benefits of loans (for all their down sides) is that errors don't stay with you for years. If we go in and offer some long contracts because we're a bit panicky in this window we can be stuck with players we don't really want for a good while.

If our long term centre back targets are not available in this window it might be as well to wait. There are plenty of ways we can improve enough to stay up.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Don't get too comfy, I still want another CD...

Again, think we'd all take one, but it'd mean one out first you'd imagine.

I wouldn't turn down quality anywhere on the pitch at the moment.

Well at CD, I can think of a few...

Think I saw Nixon say that Morecambe wanted an experienced CD and I immediately thought “wonder if they’d take Baps?”

He could probably still do a good organising job in a low-block defence - it’s just when there’s space behind him that I start laying creme eggs

[Worthy4England]

Well at CD, I can think of a few...

We've probably done this to death, but I imagine that if Evatt could move a couple on and fetch in some improvements he'd happily do so.

This is the issue with having lads under contract now and also the danger of January as a window. One of the benefits of loans (for all their down sides) is that errors don't stay with you for years. If we go in and offer some long contracts because we're a bit panicky in this window we can be stuck with players we don't really want for a good while.

If our long term centre back targets are not available in this window it might be as well to wait. There are plenty of ways we can improve enough to stay up.

CD on loan would be fine.

[GhostoftheBok]

CD on loan would be fine.

Again, I don't disagree. If someone wants Baps and we can loan in someone better then do it. Baps is off in the summer regardless, bar being offered a coaching role (I don't think that's what he wants), so it's short term both ways.

Fossey looks like he might be a decent stopgap. Another would work.

My suspicion, though, is that we will see Johnston a lot. There's an investment there that we won't give up on lightly.

[GhostoftheBok]

On that Johnston note, I think people (not just talking on here, I'm also going off Twitter and talking to mates) need to temper their expectations in some ways when it comes to new signings.

There's a tendency to look at players in simple terms as "good" or "bad" depending on form, rather than as assets the club is investing in. You obviously need players to play well, but the manager won't radically change his plans if a player has a bad few weeks.

There are people calling for John's head at the moment. But we are talking about a 26 year old we gave a three year deal to. He's out of form, but Evatt will be expected to stick with him and turn that around.

There are a lot of players in this squad who are on relatively good money and who Evatt and the recruitment lot made cases for.

There's latitude with Doyle, for example, because Evatt will have sold him to the board as man to get us out of League Two - which was done - and he wanted to go. Players like John, Johnston, Dapo, Kachunga, Bakayoko - these are guys Evatt will have pinned his flag to in a way. A recruitment team and a manager are obviously judged by success on the pitch, but questions are also asked when individual players don't deliver as expected. "Why did we put £'X' there?"

You might be able to get rid of a player's wages after 6 months or a year, but you have paid out fees of various kinds and quite often have to pay more if you sell a player who doesn't want to go. What looks like a straight swap wages wise can actually cost a club at this level tens or even hundreds of thousands. That includes loans, which often have fees attached. So if you dish out 50k in fees in the summer, bin the lad off in January (paying him another 20k to do it) and then pay more fees to replace him, it adds up fast.

With Doyle there were probably no loyalty bonuses or relocation payments, but if we wanted to move someone else on there could be.

When we're all here considering who to shift on and how to use our money that stuff should probably factor in.

[BWFC_Insane]

I wouldn't mind but I don't think there's a huge disagreement . Pretty much everyone has another forward as at least "nice to have".

But it's bonkers to me to think it's a bigger priority than at least two midfielders.

And bordering on the tendentious to use Doyle's 8 goals as evidence to say we're losing a major goal threat when 5 were penalties. We're still going to get to take them even without him.

But yeah, can't wait to see what happens if Charles misses one

In an attempt to move things on, Charles looked quick on Tuesday, and pace was something he's said to bring. Allied to this attempt to get the front three higher up the pitch I hope that helps with the press. We won the ball a lot in good areas in the first half of the season but Doyle's touch, lack of pace, and inability to pick the right pass meant the chance went. I'm hoping Charles' pace and technical ability off both feet will convert some of those into goals for him and others. Let's hope so!

The point is if Doyle on 8 isn’t enough then apart from Dapo we clearly lack any other goalscorers.

We need to rebuild the back 4 and midfield too.

But adding scorers across the team has to be a priority too.

[The_Gun]

I can understand letting Doyler go, as he has dropped off quite significantly this year, but he definitely played a big role in turning us round at a difficult time, so will be fondly remembered by me at least.

Replacing the current incarnation of Doyle in a pure footballing sense might not be too hard, but he seems like a good bloke and a leader for us on an off the pitch, so perhaps we might miss him in that regard.

[Worthy4England]

I wouldn't mind but I don't think there's a huge disagreement . Pretty much everyone has another forward as at least "nice to have".

But it's bonkers to me to think it's a bigger priority than at least two midfielders.

And bordering on the tendentious to use Doyle's 8 goals as evidence to say we're losing a major goal threat when 5 were penalties. We're still going to get to take them even without him.

But yeah, can't wait to see what happens if Charles misses one

In an attempt to move things on, Charles looked quick on Tuesday, and pace was something he's said to bring. Allied to this attempt to get the front three higher up the pitch I hope that helps with the press. We won the ball a lot in good areas in the first half of the season but Doyle's touch, lack of pace, and inability to pick the right pass meant the chance went. I'm hoping Charles' pace and technical ability off both feet will convert some of those into goals for him and others. Let's hope so!

The point is if Doyle on 8 isn’t enough then apart from Dapo we clearly lack any other goalscorers.

We need to rebuild the back 4 and midfield too.

But adding scorers across the team has to be a priority too.

Charles isn't going to be playing any Cup games to score in, so 8 from his remaining league games would be a step up from Doyles 5. But still only 2 from open play. We might get no penalties in second half if season - would you be happy with Doyler adding another 2 in the rest of the season? There's no point comparing apples and oranges.

Also, think Doyler managed 1 assist, so improvement there would help...

But I agree, there needs to be more goals elsewhere too.

[Worthy4England]

On that Johnston note, I think people (not just talking on here, I'm also going off Twitter and talking to mates) need to temper their expectations in some ways when it comes to new signings.

There's a tendency to look at players in simple terms as "good" or "bad" depending on form, rather than as assets the club is investing in. You obviously need players to play well, but the manager won't radically change his plans if a player has a bad few weeks.

There are people calling for John's head at the moment. But we are talking about a 26 year old we gave a three year deal to. He's out of form, but Evatt will be expected to stick with him and turn that around.

There are a lot of players in this squad who are on relatively good money and who Evatt and the recruitment lot made cases for.

There's latitude with Doyle, for example, because Evatt will have sold him to the board as man to get us out of League Two - which was done - and he wanted to go. Players like John, Johnston, Dapo, Kachunga, Bakayoko - these are guys Evatt will have pinned his flag to in a way. A recruitment team and a manager are obviously judged by success on the pitch, but questions are also asked when individual players don't deliver as expected. "Why did we put £'X' there?"

You might be able to get rid of a player's wages after 6 months or a year, but you have paid out fees of various kinds and quite often have to pay more if you sell a player who doesn't want to go. What looks like a straight swap wages wise can actually cost a club at this level tens or even hundreds of thousands. That includes loans, which often have fees attached. So if you dish out 50k in fees in the summer, bin the lad off in January (paying him another 20k to do it) and then pay more fees to replace him, it adds up fast.

With Doyle there were probably no loyalty bonuses or relocation payments, but if we wanted to move someone else on there could be.

When we're all here considering who to shift on and how to use our money that stuff should probably factor in.

Insightful, Ghosty, but I would say little different than many clubs for the most part (there's obviously some better able to cope with running costs).

I doubt too many would look at Dixon's Tuesday cock-up and rationalise it with his asset value. I suspect quite a few mighta started with "He's shit and the problem with this system is..."

I understand what you're saying about CD's. Evatt's placed his bet(s). It's a longer bet than the last game I watched (or even the last season) yadda yadda and in five years we'll be reaping the benefits of a whole conveyer belt of assets...but if we can't suggest that "x" or "y" are currently good/bad/need replacing, there's going to be some mighty thin match snd transfer threads whilst we wait for the project to deliver...

[TANGODANCER]

Speaking with nothing but pure instinct and the amount of work he apparently did up front an off the ball in addition to his goals and work off the ball ....(can we really afford to get rid of a goalscorer or are we just fooling ourselves? ) I'd say keep Doyle.

[Worthy4England]

Speaking with nothing but pure instinct and the amount of work he apparently did up front an off the ball in addition to his goals and work off the ball ....(can we really afford to get rid of a goalscorer or are we just fooling ourselves? ) I'd say keep Doyle.

Bit late for that TD - he's already gone...

[GhostoftheBok]

Insightful, Ghosty, but I would say little different than many clubs for the most part (there's obviously some better able to cope with running costs).

I doubt too many would look at Dixon's Tuesday cock-up and rationalise it with his asset value. I suspect quite a few mighta started with "He's shit and the problem with this system is..."

I understand what you're saying about CD's. Evatt's placed his bet(s). It's a longer bet than the last game I watched (or even the last season) yadda yadda and in five years we'll be reaping the benefits of a whole conveyer belt of assets...but if we can't suggest that "x" or "y" are currently good/bad/need replacing, there's going to be some mighty thin match snd transfer threads whilst we wait for the project to deliver...

We absolutely can and I often do. Transfer speculation is one of the fun things about forums.