Who opened the door? My money is on Janus! 2024 January transfer thread.

[officer_dibble]

I suspect that Mr Nixon is taking in IE's comments re progress being made and putting two and two together which lets face it is not rocket science ( but what is except rocket science itself).
Until I see the famous PSG ...........

I think Nixon has a good link at roverrrrs, as opposed to us. Long gone is Coyles brother in law, bribed with a Carrs or three.

[GhostoftheBok]

You have to feel like Ennis is a step in the right direction. At the very least he would give us pace off the bench. Or at least pace compared to what we currently have, rather than "He was here a second ago, how'd he get over there?" pace.

What he should do is make the ball stick, which we really missed after the subs came on against Luton. His fundamentals are sound and he can protect the ball.

If the Rovers fans saying he's lost a yard due to the niggles he's had are right then it'll be that touch and retention we'll benefit from most. Hopefully as he plays that pace comes back, once he trusts his body again.

Assuming he rocks up, obviously.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Spent an idle while nosing through Champo squads for potential RWB borrows. None of the following is based on insider knowledge – or, as you might quickly deduce, outside knowledge. There will doubtless be better options, but I was bored (and so can you be).

One option might be Birmingham’s Marcel Oakley. The 21-year-old Brummie came through Blues’ academy and spent last season on loan to two Scottish second-tier clubs - first Arbroath, then (Owen Coyle’s) Queen’s Park. He’s played variously at RWB, RB and RCB, which could be useful flexibility, and although he was expected to fight for a first-team spot this season he’s been somewhat blocked by (1) other options, such as Loads loanee Cody Drameh, Yoonited loanee Ethan Laird and relocated midfielders like Juninho Bacuna, and (2) that club’s managerial upheavals. He’s played only 27 league minutes and Mowbray might want him to get EFL experience somewhere that plays good football.

A more experienced option might be Mahlon Romeo. Formerly best known for being the son of Soul II Soul chief Jazzie B, he’s played 189 Champo games (plus 85 in L1) as an attacking right-back, or RWB, or sometimes right midfielder for Millwall, Pompey and recently Cardiff, but their gaffer doesn’t seem to like the look of him (8 league appearances, none of them consecutive, totalling 343 minutes). Contracted to 2025 so Cardiff may want a loan to shop-window him. He’s 28.

At QPR there’s a name that may ring a vague bell: Stephen Duke-McKenna. The Guyanese Scouser (a bit like Neil Danns, then), he was on our books in his late teens after leaving Everton’s academy. QPR signed him in 2019 and have loaned him up through non-league and, last season, fourth-tier Orient. He’s another that has played right midfield, central midfield and right-back – some also describing him as an attacker. He’s 23 and out of contract in summer.

Finally, one other name mentioned before - D’Margio Wright-Phillips, son of Shaun and thus grandson of Ian. Now 22, the ex-City graduate is still in Stoke’s U23 team (and still getting good numbers). Was loaned to fourth-tier Northampton last spring. More of an outside forward than a wingback but he can play on either side and up top, so again there’s potential flexibility there.

[GhostoftheBok]

Shaun Wright-Phillip's son is 22? Jesus...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Shaun Wright-Phillip's son is 22? Jesus...

SWP's 42. They grow up... or in this case, old.

SWP always reminds me of covering the Sweden-England friendly in Gothenburg just before Euro 2004 - Alan Thompson's only England cap. Ian W was there to watch his uncapped lad's last big chance to get in the Euros squad. SWP was on the bench but Sven never beckoned him on – although others who appeared that night included Anthony Gardner, Jermaine Jenas and Alan Smith (the Leeds one who six weeks later would cry in a Wanderers top and then defect to Leeds' biggest rivals).

Anyway, as the game went on and the call never came, Ian became ever more visibly and demostrably upset, flinging his arms round and hollering at the uncaring head of Eriksson. He was still raging hours later in the bar – I have a misty memory of Alvin Martin trying to calm him down, although that may be a conflation of events.

[Worthy4England]

A lot of words on this thread, but I think we should be due a picture (shirt, grin)...

[GhostoftheBok]

Shaun Wright-Phillip's son is 22? Jesus...

SWP's 42. They grow up... or in this case, old.

SWP always reminds me of covering the Sweden-England friendly in Gothenburg just before Euro 2004 - Alan Thompson's only England cap. Ian W was there to watch his uncapped lad's last big chance to get in the Euros squad. SWP was on the bench but Sven never beckoned him on – although others who appeared that night included Anthony Gardner, Jermaine Jenas and Alan Smith (the Leeds one who six weeks later would cry in a Wanderers top and then defect to Leeds' biggest rivals).

Anyway, as the game went on and the call never came, Ian became ever more visibly and demostrably upset, flinging his arms round and hollering at the uncaring head of Eriksson. He was still raging hours later in the bar – I have a misty memory of Alvin Martin trying to calm him down, although that may be a conflation of events.

Wrighty still doesn't like Sven, though I would imagine Sven's diagnosis might see some conciliatory stuff happen there. The bad-boy side of Ian's personality has had some work done on it over the years.

Sven went back to City for some kind of event (it may have been the first Prem Win) where there were a load of former managers. Wrighty was also about (possibly for a broadcast thing, I'm not sure) and there was genuine tension. It didn't twig for me that it would have been about Shaun. Though I think Wrighty later claimed that Shaun not getting picked was because he'd fallen out with Sven and his son was being punished for it.

Entirely possible they were both shagging the same bird at some point, given their reputations and overlapping geographical locations...though my lawyer would probably want me to state that I'm not actually claiming they did overlap such a specific geographical location.

[GhostoftheBok]

It seems that CMG has gone to Africa to watch GNB get hammered for an hour, then come on when it's too late.

Looks like he will be available again sooner rather than later.

Geth will be gone for a good while yet.

[Worthy4England]

It seems that CMG has gone to Africa to watch GNB get hammered for an hour, then come on when it's too late.

Looks like he will be available again sooner rather than later.

Geth will be gone for a good while yet.

Bizzarely enough, I was contemplating why Australia were in the African Cup of Nations, until pretty recently, when I twigged he wasn't...

[GhostoftheBok]

Bizzarely enough, I was contemplating why Australia were in the African Cup of Nations, until pretty recently, when I twigged he wasn't...

"South Africa South"

[Mar]

It seems that CMG has gone to Africa to watch GNB get hammered for an hour, then come on when it's too late.

Looks like he will be available again sooner rather than later.

Geth will be gone for a good while yet.

It'll be interesting to see how much game time he gets given they will be unable to qualify for the next round. Today's match which has seen them lose by 4-1 (as it stands) was supposedly their easiest of the group, with the others being Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Was always going to be a tough ask for Guinea-Bissau.

[GhostoftheBok]

It'll be interesting to see how much game time he gets given they will be unable to qualify for the next round. Today's match which has seen them lose by 4-1 (as it stands) was supposedly their easiest of the group, with the others being Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Was always going to be a tough ask for Guinea-Bissau.

Thrown it away with an awful 20 minutes.

CMG hasn't had a good cameo. Alright pressing, but ball-watching at key moments and making the wrong runs.

Lots of work for Evatt et al to do to turn the clear talent into a proper player.

Here's to him scoring a hattrick off the bench at Carlisle.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Bizzarely enough, I was contemplating why Australia were in the African Cup of Nations, until pretty recently, when I twigged he wasn't...

They qualified via Eurovision.

[BWFC_Insane]

It'll be interesting to see how much game time he gets given they will be unable to qualify for the next round. Today's match which has seen them lose by 4-1 (as it stands) was supposedly their easiest of the group, with the others being Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Was always going to be a tough ask for Guinea-Bissau.

Thrown it away with an awful 20 minutes.

CMG hasn't had a good cameo. Alright pressing, but ball-watching at key moments and making the wrong runs.

Lots of work for Evatt et al to do to turn the clear talent into a proper player.

Here's to him scoring a hattrick off the bench at Carlisle.

Everything I’ve seen of him screams winger in a front three.

I don’t see him as a number 10 or a midfield player. He needs to play high up the pitch and get the ball in dangerous areas to isolate players.

Like Dapo we won’t see the best of him unless we play him where his skills and abilities dictate he needs to play.

[The_Gun]

I mentioned him in the summer, but Reuell Walters at Arsenal sounds perfect for our needs. Pacey, technical right back/centre back who is around the first team at Arsenal but not getting any game time.

Don't know if we have any relationship with Arsenal at present, but I'd be having a look at this kid if it's at all possible.

@chrismarkham

[GhostoftheBok]

I mentioned him in the summer, but Reuell Walters at Arsenal sounds perfect for our needs. Pacey, technical right back/centre back who is around the first team at Arsenal but not getting any game time.

Don't know if we have any relationship with Arsenal at present, but I'd be having a look at this kid if it's at all possible.

@chrismarkham

Hang a banner off Lostock's gate.

[sonicthewhite]

Well seeing as Will is out for the next few weeks and with the shortage of defenders we now have I can see both Matheson and Ashworth getting quite a few minutes under their belts.

[GhostoftheBok]

Interesting comments from Evatt that we're at a stalemate over valuations on targets, but we have a value in mind and won't budge. He remains "confident we'll be stronger" come the end of the month.

All fairly typical language, but at least tells us we have nailed down precisely who we want at this stage and those deals are still live. If they were dead and we'd started scrambling at this stage I'd be concerned.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... er-course/
Evatt, asked if Forrester’s injury will change transfer plans:

Probably. We haven’t made a final decision on that but I'll have a conversation with Chris (Markham) and then come up with the plan.

Obviously being in the middle of this window helps but it was also the one where Gethin would be away. Our biggest fear was losing either Cogs or Will during this period because we don’t really have the cover. It would be very risky to continue without having that.

We'll see what is available, we will go through our target list, which we have for every position, and then make a call. It may change things and it's something we need to have deep discussions on.

[GhostoftheBok]

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... er-course/
Evatt, asked if Forrester’s injury will change transfer plans:

Probably. We haven’t made a final decision on that but I'll have a conversation with Chris (Markham) and then come up with the plan.

Obviously being in the middle of this window helps but it was also the one where Gethin would be away. Our biggest fear was losing either Cogs or Will during this period because we don’t really have the cover. It would be very risky to continue without having that.

We'll see what is available, we will go through our target list, which we have for every position, and then make a call. It may change things and it's something we need to have deep discussions on.

Good.

There's no guarantee Will comes back as hoped from a hammy. We need someone in.

Hopefully it's not an either/or situation financially.

If it's "Well, we need to shift finance to centre half now, so we can't get that striker in" that's arse.

If the debate is around what we potentially lose in the summer by acting now (assuming the loan market doesn't offer up a gem) that's just sensible.