South to East (London, that is) Leyton Orient away Sat 20th Jan 3-0'clock..

[GhostoftheBok]

Well, if we haven’t got money this season we’re fecked next year in this league.

We have money to mount a promotion challenge, because we're doing it. We've built our way to this position by making long term investments that we have to get the most out of through good coaching.

What we don't have is "quick fix" money. We also can't compete directly with other sides when the selling club gets to set the terms.

We only got Vic because he had a release clause. We got Charles because we bought in January rather than waiting until summer and Accy had to deal. On a free we'd not have got him. On an accountancy ledger the fee we paid actually saved/made us money.

Sheehan was an injury risk, as was Iredale. Bod was a tough get, despite there being little other interest. Baxter took a massive wage hit to come here. Toal came from Ireland for next to nothing. Forrester is a long term investment. Williams another crock we've taken a risk on. CMG counts as an expensive, big signing by our standards and he cost less than Alfie May's loyalty bonus will amount to.

We've increased our squad depth this season, which is where the additional investment has gone; but we're still miles off others at this level in terms of football spending.

We still have to pay these lads who are out injured. So the sudden need to put more money into the striking and defensive departments will be stretching us a lot. We've saved 6 months on the RWB we didn't get in, so that may offset the CB cover. Strikers are expensive, though.

If we don't go up we will probably have to sell a couple of players to make the finances work and fans will throw a wobbler when that money doesn't go back into quick fixes. We then have to rebuild having lost key players. Let's go up, shall we?

[GhostoftheBok]

It's actually a good topic, that.

Have we won a single "transfer battle" against a rival recently?

Was George Johnston the last one? Does he count given Wigan's other priorities? Wigan couldn't find the money for Vic, so he came here. Pompey and Derby have beaten us to a few. Have to actually knicked anyone that had a contract on the table from a rival?

[BWFC_Insane]

The thing is. We have the resources to go up. And should have done more in the summer but absolutely should have gone into January sprinting into the market.

But if we are so financially tight we have to do it on the cheap - and let’s be clear the resources we have dwarf most bar Derby and Pompey in this league but even if we are up to the wall…the fact remains that we should have been resting more key players in competitions that don’t matter.

Stretching ourselves as we have without a way to recruit would be incredibly poor management. You have to do stuff according to the circumstances. We should have been playing some b team types much more in the cups.

You're talking about theoretical money.

The money the football department has to spend appears to be nowhere near what you're expecting us to spend.

You can do your own assessment as to what you think the club "could" afford to spend. The reality is we're not offering anywhere near the wages some other clubs are and we're pulling back when told what fees are expected, which other clubs then pay. This has been the case since we came up.

The Cheltenham performance came off the back of resting players against Accy.

Today wasn't about that.

There is a pattern in that every window you tell us everything’s great we have a superb squad and Evatt doesn’t need to do much and we will get what we need in. The as things get late tell us we’ve no money and it’s impossible for Evatt.

The way I see it we’ve spent a fair bit on three players and all three have significant question marks against them.

Vic has been better this season but his touch still awful and I never see him scoring the goals we’d need regularly.

Dan - a big gamble - can’t do anything about the injury but certainly wasn’t close to winning promotion for us.

CMG - hadn’t settled and we don’t have a role that suits him.

I think Evatt could do with some extra resource but the recruitment hasn’t been that stellar since the Charles, Bod window imho!

[officer_dibble]

Re-signing Bod was the wrong decision IMO as well… two strikers off the bench, nil league goals. “Finishers”

[BWFC_Insane]

Re-signing Bod was the wrong decision IMO as well… two strikers off the bench, nil league goals. “Finishers”

Yeah. I mean I’d argue Vic, Jerome, Bod and Dan for the money we have invested is poor recruitment. I mean Vic does a job - he was better than Dion for me today. But he’s never going to score a bagful for us and I don’t think we get the best out of him nor he us.

Maghoma is ok but again I don’t think he’s convinced me totally but is just a loan.

Cogley has done really well so lots of credit on that one.

Williams is a good player when fit but when not flying and 100% he struggles a lot.

Our frees and loans have generally been ok. The cash signings I don’t think have been right. And the summer is catching up with us. The frustration for me is that we got away with it till January and therefore had the chance to keep the momentum.

Even now we really shouldn’t be failing to go up. It would be a disaster - and there is still the time in January to recruit and hopefully the desire within the squad to stop these sorts of games and stamp them out of our repetoire.

Still for me what someone said to me a few months ago stands out. We are the best team in this division on our day. But of all the teams up the top we have the biggest drop off when we aren’t performing. And it’s averages that count.

[GhostoftheBok]

There is a pattern in that every window you tell us everything’s great we have a superb squad and Evatt doesn’t need to do much and we will get what we need in. The as things get late tell us we’ve no money and it’s impossible for Evatt.

The way I see it we’ve spent a fair bit on three players and all three have significant question marks against them.

Vic has been better this season but his touch still awful and I never see him scoring the goals we’d need regularly.

Dan - a big gamble - can’t do anything about the injury but certainly wasn’t close to winning promotion for us.

CMG - hadn’t settled and we don’t have a role that suits him.

I think Evatt could do with some extra resource but the recruitment hasn’t been that stellar since the Charles, Bod window imho!

I can't be arsed.

You're bullshitting. Regardless what I say you will continue to bullshit. It's who you are. I don't care enough about your opinion to talk about it anymore.

[GhostoftheBok]

Re-signing Bod was the wrong decision IMO as well… two strikers off the bench, nil league goals. “Finishers”

Depends what the alternative was. Bringing strikers off the bench has definitely helped over all and a lot of it is forward pressure, not just goals.

We tried to upgrade in the summer, but couldn't. So Bod was offered a wage cut and took it.

It's not a case of "we could just have used kids", because Bod and Jerome do a lot of experienced stuff kids couldn't do.

The hope was clearly that Bod would be back quicker and better than he has been. We'd also have hoped Dan would stay fit and continued to build into the second half of the season. I don't think Bod has looked bad recently and I'm still hopeful he'll kick on. His shortcomings are starting to be glaring, though, whereas before he did so much of his positive stuff they didn't matter as much.

Whatever the rationale of the previous window, we need someone in who can have an impact in these latter stages and it's absolutely the hardest thing to do in football recruitment.

Good strikers are hard to get. January is the hardest time to get them. We have an established front two and we can't guarantee the new guy regular starts, he has to shift one of Vic or Dion. The player we get also has to be able to play with both.

That's not something you can do with a snap of the fingers on a stretched budget. Suddenly we also need a new centre half, because one decided he was Australian again and another did his hamstring - which adds more pressure to the budget.

[BWFC_Insane]

There is a pattern in that every window you tell us everything’s great we have a superb squad and Evatt doesn’t need to do much and we will get what we need in. The as things get late tell us we’ve no money and it’s impossible for Evatt.

The way I see it we’ve spent a fair bit on three players and all three have significant question marks against them.

Vic has been better this season but his touch still awful and I never see him scoring the goals we’d need regularly.

Dan - a big gamble - can’t do anything about the injury but certainly wasn’t close to winning promotion for us.

CMG - hadn’t settled and we don’t have a role that suits him.

I think Evatt could do with some extra resource but the recruitment hasn’t been that stellar since the Charles, Bod window imho!

I can't be arsed.

You're bullshitting. Regardless what I say you will continue to bullshit. It's who you are. I don't care enough about your opinion to talk about it anymore.

That’s a shame. I was on tenterhooks for the next ‘snippet from inside the game’. Ah well, back to Nixon it is I guess.

[GhostoftheBok]

That’s a shame. I was on tenterhooks for the next ‘snippet from inside the game’. Ah well, back to Nixon it is I guess.

Aye, there's a couple on here have said similar. Run with it, lad.

I hope promotion doesn't ruin your summer

[Harry Genshaw]

Christ, that were bad and made the long drive home (cheers BP!) even worse.

Wing backs aren't functioning like they were earlier in the season, midfield were bypassed by the direct stuff. Toal and Santos are having more than the odd bad game now, strikers can't hit a barn door.

Still fancy us at home in all our remaining fixtures but I can't see a win at any of the tough aways to come - Barnsley, Derby, Blackpool, Wigan or Peterborough. Looks like Play offs, at best now.

[officer_dibble]

We never recovered from being battered by them in the second half at our place. They have been better than us for three halves of football out of 4 - about time some of our players woke up to it. Those games in hand are not points in the bag - and as HG says above we’ve got to win at some decent places to make up for awful defeats in a couple of home games and at Reading.

[GhostoftheBok]

Have we lost a game this season where we've played well?

We drew at Oxford and most felt we'd dropped 2 points. Have we had a game this term that's felt like we dropped 3 rather than just being shite?

If we only lose when we're arse then that makes life simple. Don't be arse. Sorted.

[officer_dibble]

We were ok at Pompey until Dion lost use of his eyes; same thing happened yesterday but we were arguably biz before that as well. I thought we’d cracked awkward opposition / tough conditions at Fleetwood.

[GhostoftheBok]

We were ok at Pompey until Dion lost use of his eyes

I don't think anyone felt we deserved to win that game and "woz robbed", as it were.

[officer_dibble]

Agreed. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, Carlisle, Wigan and Reading is what I think I was saying. Or not arse, to answer your post!

[GhostoftheBok]

Agreed. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, Carlisle, Wigan and Reading is what I think I was saying. Or not arse, to answer your post!

That's fair. I think the second half was arse, but we weren't total arse throughout.

[TANGODANCER]

We were ok at Pompey until Dion lost use of his eyes

I don't think anyone felt we deserved to win that game and "woz robbed", as it were.

To be fair, Orient played some good football throughout and defended well. We were never really in it as winners, but Dion could have actually gained us three points nevertheless.

[Worthy4England]

^^ Yeah, they looked tidy enough. It was only one game prior, that they gubbed the League leaders 3-0 away...

I do think we're accumulating too many losses which is in part offset by not drawing many. I think we'd now have to win both our "spares" to get back in the top 2. But as others said, less understandable were losses to Carlisle and Reading...

[GhostoftheBok]

^^ Yeah, they looked tidy enough. It was only one game prior, that they gubbed the League leaders 3-0 away...

I do think we're accumulating too many losses which is in part offset by not drawing many. I think we'd now have to win both our "spares" to get back in the top 2. But as others said, less understandable were losses to Carlisle and Reading...

We can lose one of our games in hand, relative to the other sides, and still be in the top 2.

We have 3 in hand over Pompey and need to win 2 to go above them. 2 in hand over Derby and need to win 1 to go above them.

The only side where we can't lose one to get above them is Posh.

[Worthy4England]

Yeah, it was Posh I had in mind, hadn't spotted we had a spare, spare against Pompey, so assumed we could catch neither, my bad!