Bijou Bob's Bargain Basement Buys - Jan transfer thread

[TFF]

Alain Traoré is known in France for having blistering starts to the season, then spending the rest of the time not being bothered and/or injured, so he might not be the man to propel us into the play-offs. He's a top long-distance shooter and free-kick taker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1g0xpdWl_k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

according to the MailOnline - Stoke and Fiorentina are interested in Chungy - Fiorentina could "swoop" IF one of their players buggers off to chelsea...

He being Colombian flanker Juan Cuadrado. Chelsea have offered £20.6m plus Mo Salah on loan (for a seven-figure fee); la Viola have quite rightly turned down the unwanted Egyptian and are holding out for Cuadrado's release clause-triggering £26.8m. Which irks Chelsea, who have kept a tight financial ship since FFP (mainly by selling youngsters for a profit, but occasionally by selling a Mata), but Mourinho appears to be determined and latest reports this morning are that Chelsea might cut the crap and agree to the fee.... which would in turn help LCY toward the door. If one potential Chungy-suitor (Fiorentina) sell a key player just after another (Stoke) lose one to injury, it can't help but grease the wheels.

[thebish]

according to the MailOnline - Stoke and Fiorentina are interested in Chungy - Fiorentina could "swoop" IF one of their players buggers off to chelsea...

He being Colombian flanker Juan Cuadrado. Chelsea have offered £20.6m plus Mo Salah on loan (for a seven-figure fee); la Viola have quite rightly turned down the unwanted Egyptian and are holding out for Cuadrado's release clause-triggering £26.8m. Which irks Chelsea, who have kept a tight financial ship since FFP (mainly by selling youngsters for a profit, but occasionally by selling a Mata), but Mourinho appears to be determined and latest reports this morning are that Chelsea might cut the crap and agree to the fee.... which would in turn help LCY toward the door. If one potential Chungy-suitor (Fiorentina) sell a key player just after another (Stoke) lose one to injury, it can't help but grease the wheels.

is there actually ever such a thing as a "bidding war"? People sometimes say there is - but I'm not sure that's how it usually works, is it??

[StaffsTrotter]

Alain Traoré is known in France for having blistering starts to the season, then spending the rest of the time not being bothered and/or injured, so he might not be the man to propel us into the play-offs. He's a top long-distance shooter and free-kick taker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1g0xpdWl_k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

good left foot. that free kick at 2.50 ish is JayJay esque

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

is there actually ever such a thing as a "bidding war"? People sometimes say there is - but I'm not sure that's how it usually works, is it??

Not like an auction, but the agents will try to make it so. It is, after all, a marketplace.

No apologies for pointing again at this feature that we did about transfers. It's really rather fascinating.

Agents love an auction for a player but they don'™t happen as often as the papers would have you think. There are what I call '˜rule of three'™ stories, where there are three clubs claimed to be involved. Those stories have almost always come from agents and of the clubs mentioned, one will be really interested, one would be the club the agent and player want to be interested and the other one would be, in most cases, pure fantasy.

There are instances I know of where a story appears linking a player to a club, which he eventually signs for, when I know another club is offering him more wages. That bit didn'™t get into the papers. The suspicion has to be that the agent was getting a bigger fee from the first club and didn'™t let the player know about the second. The game is littered with instances where agents didn'™t represent the best interest of their player; they represented the best interest of themselves.

[Hoboh]

I ignored it because I try to avoid pointless, time consuming internet debates that never resolve.

They tend to be provoked by generalisation.

signing Feeney and Danns doesn't redeem DF at all, they're not the special players in that midfield.

So now half the midfield isn't special? Only, you said:

did he inherit an exceptional/good midfield?
2, yes, the one that is playing now -which is very good for this division

Seems peculiar to wriggle sideways out of that one. Your subsequent assertions on what he inherited and bought ignore the most pertinent real-world consideration of the last two years - finance. For instance, it became clear that under FFP we couldn't afford the wages Coyle had pledged to (unemployed thirtysomething) Keith Andrews, so we needed to get at least a percentage of them off the bill.

Freedman was forced by finance to shop at the cheap end of the market. As noted by Worthy, he chopped 60% off the wage bill. Had he had more money to spend (on, say, Craig Dawson at the back and Lukas Jutkiewicz up front) we might have had more chance. Not much more, because he's still not a good manager, but he was definitely working under restrictions. That's all I'm saying: that circumstance has to be considered. Was John McGovern terrible at transfers?

Being balanced isn't always the height of intellectual discourse, some issues are black and white. DF was a poor manager tactically and in the transfer market.

If I wanted to witness the height of intellectual discourse, I'd look elsewhere, but I'm glad you've upgraded him from "terrible" to "poor". I'd still argue he deserves better than that - and that his tactics were far poorer than his transfers - but it'll do for me.

Seems the chairmen of clubs don't hold your better than mind blowing shite DSB if they did he'd be in gainful employment just waiting the call from Old Trafford!

[Enoch]

I understand he's turned down more than one offer of a return to club management.

Maybe he doesn't hold club chairmen in too high regard.

[thebish]

I understand he's turned down more than one offer of a return to club management.

Maybe he doesn't hold club chairmen in too high regard.

and he does have another lucrative career on the go... (doesn't he?)

[Bruce Rioja]

I understand he's turned down more than one offer of a return to club management.

Maybe he doesn't hold club chairmen in too high regard.

and he does have another lucrative career on the go... (doesn't he?)

Providing 'Shoes For All The Family Since 1875'?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Seems the chairmen of clubs don't hold your better than mind blowing shite DSB if they did he'd be in gainful employment just waiting the call from Old Trafford!

I recognise them individually as words, and I think I can piece together a drift.

I'll say again, in line with the theory that repetition can help with the understanding of an idea, that I think overall Freedman was a poor manager, particularly with regard to tactics and man-management. He also undeniably made some bad bottom-shelf signings - but overall, considering he almost halved our wage bill, I don't think his transfer record was terrible.

Now, that doesn't mean he's going to be the next Manchester United manager. (It's someone else's job to spend £28m on Ander Herrera and not play him, or £27m on a teenage left-back who can't really tackle.) Nor does it surprise me that he hasn't been helicoptered into the Premier League, or immediately taken a Championship job – the last one ended very badly. But it wouldn't surprise me to see him back in employment soon. For what it's worth, he might even succeed.

[LeverEnd]

In other less exciting news, Kaiyne Woolery has gone to Notts County on loan. Good luck to him.

[truewhite15]

Seems the chairmen of clubs don't hold your better than mind blowing shite DSB if they did he'd be in gainful employment just waiting the call from Old Trafford!

I recognise them individually as words, and I think I can piece together a drift.

I'll say again, in line with the theory that repetition can help with the understanding of an idea, that I think overall Freedman was a poor manager, particularly with regard to tactics and man-management. He also undeniably made some bad bottom-shelf signings - but overall, considering he almost halved our wage bill, I don't think his transfer record was terrible.

Now, that doesn't mean he's going to be the next Manchester United manager. (It's someone else's job to spend £28m on Ander Herrera and not play him, or £27m on a teenage left-back who can't really tackle.) Nor does it surprise me that he hasn't been helicoptered into the Premier League, or immediately taken a Championship job – the last one ended very badly. But it wouldn't surprise me to see him back in employment soon. For what it's worth, he might even succeed.

For what it's worth (probably very little, but you seem a bit outnumbered here...), I agree with you, DSB

[malcd1]

Looks like Spearing going out on loan to Blackburn. Can this thread get any worse?

Alain Traore is supposed to be arriving for talks tomorrow.

Both story's for Nixon.

[ChrisC]

Odelusi close to joining Oldham permanently.

[LeverEnd]

Odelusi close to joining Oldham permanently.

He was training at Coventry, clearly not going to be good enough to make the breakthrough here. Hope he does well, I remember freedman being very complimentary about his attitude.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Odelusi close to joining Oldham permanently.

Loan, or permanent? If the latter, it says a lot for Lenny's restricted options that he was on the bench the other night.

Here's hoping we get some bodies in over the weekend.

[thebish]

when does the window slam shut? is it midnight, Saturday - or earlier? is there then a loan-window to follow?

[Worthy4England]

when does the window slam shut? is it midnight, Saturday - or earlier? is there then a loan-window to follow?

Monday @ 11:00 I think - don't think they shut it on a weekend.

Yes there is a loan window to follow iirc.

Edit: 23:00 not 11:00.

Edit 2: Loan window is 8th Feb to 24th March...

[thebish]

when does the window slam shut? is it midnight, Saturday - or earlier? is there then a loan-window to follow?

Monday @ 11:00 I think - don't think they shut it on a weekend.

Yes there is a loan window to follow iirc.

Edit: 23:00 not 11:00.

ahh - cheers! so this thread will drag on past January!!! joy!

[Worthy4England]

when does the window slam shut? is it midnight, Saturday - or earlier? is there then a loan-window to follow?

Monday @ 11:00 I think - don't think they shut it on a weekend.

Yes there is a loan window to follow iirc.

Edit: 23:00 not 11:00.

ahh - cheers! so this thread will drag on past January!!! joy!

It gives Bob a little extra time to clear out some more players.