January 2023 Transfer Window

[Bruce Rioja]

True, but I'm getting the woooooooooords........... Dedryck Boyata

The guy with 8 trophies and 30 international appearances? Yes, please. I'll take two.

I'm only interested in the player City loaned us, who was abysmal.

I also think your use of numbers there is 'generous' in the extreme.

[GhostoftheBok]

I'm only interested in the player City loaned us, who was abysmal.

I also think your use of numbers there is 'generous' in the extreme.

Think he's one of those who proves that having a terrible loan experience doesn't mean you can't do well elsewhere and have a good career.

I didn't include his FA Cup in the 8 trophies. 4 Scottish League Titles and 4 Cups there. Scottish team of the year one season too. Played at the World Cup.

Clearly a decent player.

[Bruce Rioja]

I'm only interested in the player City loaned us, who was abysmal.

I also think your use of numbers there is 'generous' in the extreme.

Think he's one of those who proves that having a terrible loan experience doesn't mean you can't do well elsewhere and have a good career.

I didn't include his FA Cup in the 8 trophies. 4 Scottish League Titles and 4 Cups there. Scottish team of the year one season too. Played at the World Cup.

Clearly a decent player.

I'm sure he went on to become a better player than he showed with us, however, I think for a player to have only played 200 league games (90 of those being in a Scottish one horse race) at the age of 32 is probably a fairer reflection of him as a player, rather than pointing out the trophies that teams he's been involved with have won. Anyway....

[GhostoftheBok]

Anyone care to remind me what the current prognosis is regarding Thomason?

I'm trying to figure out exactly where we stand now.

[jmjhb]

Anyone care to remind me what the current prognosis is regarding Thomason?

I'm trying to figure out exactly where we stand now.

Back by the end of March if I'm not mistaken

[Worthy4England]

Anyone care to remind me what the current prognosis is regarding Thomason?

I'm trying to figure out exactly where we stand now.

I thought I recalled running on grass not yet in full training...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Anyone care to remind me what the current prognosis is regarding Thomason?

I'm trying to figure out exactly where we stand now.

Back by the end of March if I'm not mistaken

might be even better than that depending on what Evatt meant by “I would think by early March he will be back in.”

[GhostoftheBok]

might be even better than that depending on what Evatt meant by “I would think by early March he will be back in.”

11 games between the start of March and end of the season. Let's hope he's available for most of them.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

might be even better than that depending on what Evatt meant by “I would think by early March he will be back in.”

11 games between the start of March and end of the season. Let's hope he's available for most of them.

Yeah, although the first three - Morecambe A, Ipswich H, Sheff Wed H - are up to and including March 17, which might be a touch early. We then have no scheduled match until Good Friday (April 7), starting a bonkers month of 7 games in 24 days. That’s when we will need him.

[GhostoftheBok]

Yeah, although the first three - Morecambe A, Ipswich H, Sheff Wed H - are up to and including March 17, which might be a touch early. We then have no scheduled match until Good Friday (April 7), starting a bonkers month of 7 games in 24 days. That’s when we will need him.

Generally we need legs in the middle. I like Thomason a lot. He's a better footballer than people give him credit for, but ultimately what we need from him most is his ability to cover huge amounts of ground over long periods.

Shoretire's work rate helps there, but then he could be out for a bit too.

Hopefully everything holds up. There's plenty to like if it does.

[BWFC_Insane]

Huddersfield fans trying a bit too hard here. I suspect the young lad was a bit ropey there. But he will likely find us a closer fit and we are not struggling like Huddersfield are.

[GhostoftheBok]

Out of interest, in terms of various opinions on here: We've made 6 signings this window. How many get in our "best 11"?

[officer_dibble]

The theoretical team for the play of final?
Trafford
Toal
Santos
Johnston
Bradley
Randy….but it’s up for grabs if Dec John is back on it.
Morley
Dempsey
Lee
Charles
Victor (or Nlundulu, whoever starts hitting the back of the net)

So no Shoretire, who has impressed.
Cameron Jerome is my impact sub.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Out of interest, in terms of various opinions on here: We've made 6 signings this window. How many get in our "best 11"?

I cannot answer this question until I've seen more of them in action.

[BWFC_Insane]

Out of interest, in terms of various opinions on here: We've made 6 signings this window. How many get in our "best 11"?

I cannot answer this question until I've seen more of them in action.

Yep this. We’ve seen nothing of most of them. And Williams getting up to speed still.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

So then. January business:
Outgoing permanent transfers: Bakayoko, Afolayan, Aimson
Loan ended: Beck
Outgoing loan: Sadlier
Incoming loans: Nlundulu, Shoretire, Mbete
Incoming permanent transfers: R Williams, Jerome, Adeboyejo

Roughly comparing:
Bakayoko ->Jerome
Afolayan -> Adeboyejo
Aimson -> Mbete
Beck -> Williams
Sadlier -> Shoretire
nobody really -> Nlundulu

Reasonable? Guess we'll find out...

[GhostoftheBok]

We're up on numbers but the squad is de facto smaller due to injuries.

They look generally more suited to what we need to do to win football matches. Looks like we've put more of our budget into the forward areas (as you'd usually expect) and are much stronger there, but we've sacrificed a bit of cover at the back.

John coming back in is a huge deal in the squad now and hopefully that holds. I'd suggest neither party can afford for it not to.

It's interesting that on paper, until we know about Johnston, we're only 1 short of Big Sam's hypothetical (usually with his squads) ideal of 2 outfield players for every spot and 2 utility players. It 'feels' a lot lighter than that, probably because we're not sure about Izzy.

Probably too much money in those middle 3 positions and not enough at the back, but not something we could solve this window.

All in all, very good January on paper. On thread-bare, high-impact pitches? As you say, we'll find out.

[Worthy4England]

Think we've tried to address the most glaring holes and realistically, "solving" all holes in a window is going to be tricky...pretty decent job and hopefully enough to get us a Wembley gig but possibly not 2 Wembley gigs....

I'm not sure we've ever been as "doomed" making transfers as this thread, every out and many ins seemed to hit cataclysmic levels of disaster...

Dice rolled, let's see what we have.

[GhostoftheBok]

I'm not sure we've ever been as "doomed" making transfers as this thread, every out and many ins seemed to hit cataclysmic levels of disaster...

Some of that is probably just the fact we've had so many take knocks recently. We've signed well, but we can still just about fill a bench for Saturday.

With everyone fit I think there'd be a lot more buoyancy in the camp.

We did everything I wanted us to do in the summer, bar the mid - plus a bit more. Can't complain. Very happy.

[GhostoftheBok]

Also worth noting that, whilst we don't know the exact figures in any case, it remains possible we've actually made a profit this window.