In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

[GhostoftheBok]

Iles also says Nlundulu stays on loan at Cambridge unless we accept a cash offer.

Which is sensible. The loan is serving its purpose and raising his stock again.

We, like Posh, basically want our money back. Dan apparently doesn't particularly want to come back, so a permanent move away at this stage would suit all parties. He's a talented lad, but he needs to decide if he's happy just being talented or wants to actually be good.

Dan's issue at the minute is that the teams that are mooted to want him and have some cash right now are in League Two and the teams that want him in League One don't seem to have any money unless they sell. He won't drop down.

Scotland may beckon in the summer.

[GhostoftheBok]

The up front cash payment on the Randall deal may be interesting. Posh have apparently been willing to take significantly less up front to guarantee most of the total, rather than having it all performance-related per the initial offer.

Very Football Manager.

It does feel like we're working hard to keep our per-deal cash outlay low this window so we can do multiple deals.

When did we do the early bird cash influx last season? I'm wondering if we are doing this because we're delaying that sale process until results improve., or if it's purely to allow Evatt to get more in in this window.

[Worthy4England]

Iles also says Nlundulu stays on loan at Cambridge unless we accept a cash offer.

1 more goal/assist than McAtee currently. What's that? About a million quids worth?

[The_Gun]

After Randall we will have spent close to £4m this season, all on peak aged players, and it presently looks very unlikely we’ll get promoted. Somewhat concerning, for me.

For reference, this is comparable to what Ipswich spent when they were promoted, and more than all other promoted teams in the past two seasons.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Iles also says Nlundulu stays on loan at Cambridge unless we accept a cash offer.

1 more goal/assist than McAtee currently. What's that? About a million quids worth?

Except
(1) he's got the same numer of goals and assists (4g/2a in the league, 1/0 in the Trophy, per Transfermarkt)
(2) I suspect Dan's not been played in midfield

Plenty of sticks to rightly beat Evatt with, but again for me this is waaaay down the list.

After Randall we will have spent close to £4m this season, all on peak aged players, and it presently looks very unlikely we’ll get promoted. Somewhat concerning, for me.

Agreed and it does worry me we're having one last window splurge, but what am I gonna do? Hope we don't get any new players?

[The_Gun]

Double post.

[TonyDomingos]

Iles also says Nlundulu stays on loan at Cambridge unless we accept a cash offer.

1 more goal/assist than McAtee currently. What's that? About a million quids worth?

Except
(1) he's got the same numer of goals and assists (4g/2a in the league, 1/0 in the Trophy, per Transfermarkt)
(2) I suspect Dan's not been played in midfield

Plenty of sticks to rightly beat Evatt with, but again for me this is waaaay down the list.

After Randall we will have spent close to £4m this season, all on peak aged players, and it presently looks very unlikely we’ll get promoted. Somewhat concerning, for me.

Agreed and it does worry me we're having one last window splurge, but what am I gonna do? Hope we don't get any new players?

It's all about putting together a squad for the autos next season. Perhaps.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It's all about putting together a squad for the autos next season. Perhaps.

Perhaps. But not under this lad, barring a series of improbabilities – namely that
(1) we improve so much on 2024 that
(2) we get close enough to threaten the autos that
(3) board and importantly fans back Evatt and
(4) we come good on that in 2025/26.

[TonyDomingos]

It's all about putting together a squad for the autos next season. Perhaps.

Perhaps. But not under this lad, barring a series of improbabilities – namely that
(1) we improve so much on 2024 that
(2) we get close enough to threaten the autos that
(3) board and importantly fans back Evatt and
(4) we come good on that in 2025/26.

Sorry, I was being ironic. I should have known better: it rarely works on t'internet.

[Worthy4England]

Iles also says Nlundulu stays on loan at Cambridge unless we accept a cash offer.

1 more goal/assist than McAtee currently. What's that? About a million quids worth?

Except
(1) he's got the same numer of goals and assists (4g/2a in the league, 1/0 in the Trophy, per Transfermarkt)
(2) I suspect Dan's not been played in midfield

Plenty of sticks to rightly beat Evatt with, but again for me this is waaaay down the list.

After Randall we will have spent close to £4m this season, all on peak aged players, and it presently looks very unlikely we’ll get promoted. Somewhat concerning, for me.

Agreed and it does worry me we're having one last window splurge, but what am I gonna do? Hope we don't get any new players?

Just observing. You'd hope a strategy outlived 6 months and built upon the direction you were marching in. At the moment they feel like "resets." Not in totality necessarily, but in part.

[jmjhb]

Why do people keep saying the fee for McAtee was seven figures? Because someone on Twitter said?

[The_Gun]

Why do people keep saying the fee for McAtee was seven figures? Because someone on Twitter said?

Around the time we were in for McAtee, Evatt was quoted as saying that they had made several £1m+ bids for players, so not to much of a leap to suggest that he was one of them.

[GhostoftheBok]

Why do people keep saying the fee for McAtee was seven figures? Because someone on Twitter said?

No, mostly because the club used Iles to get some positive PR going by leaking to him they'd made "multiple seven figure bids" - which at the time included Dembele, McAtee and Randall. That was then just flatly stated by the gaffer.

Crucial context being that the bids would all have been structured, so it's not like £xMillion in cash has all flooded out of the accounts at once.

Luton had more than one offer "rising to" in excess of a million quid, so he didn't come here for less than that.

There's a lot less certainty around the fee paid for Schon, but that was also reported as eventually rising to to around the 1 million euros mark. The speculation in Germany, where has was also wanted, was that the initial fee was closer to half a million euros.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It's all about putting together a squad for the autos next season. Perhaps.

Perhaps. But not under this lad, barring a series of improbabilities – namely that
(1) we improve so much on 2024 that
(2) we get close enough to threaten the autos that
(3) board and importantly fans back Evatt and
(4) we come good on that in 2025/26.

Sorry, I was being ironic. I should have known better: it rarely works on t'internet.

Certainly f*cks with AI's head.

Screenshot 2025-01-06 at 23.13.10.png (927.75 KiB) Viewed 823 times

Screenshot 2025-01-06 at 23.13.37.png (216.62 KiB) Viewed 823 times

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

You'd hope a strategy outlived 6 months and built upon the direction you were marching in. At the moment they feel like "resets." Not in totality necessarily, but in part.

Agreed on that. As I've said, one of Evatt's internal/eternal dichotomies is that he's not as dogmatic as one might think - he's changed tack a lot - but they tend to be revolutions not evolutions, after ages in the thinking chamber.

[TonyDomingos]

It's all about putting together a squad for the autos next season. Perhaps.

Perhaps. But not under this lad, barring a series of improbabilities – namely that
(1) we improve so much on 2024 that
(2) we get close enough to threaten the autos that
(3) board and importantly fans back Evatt and
(4) we come good on that in 2025/26.

Sorry, I was being ironic. I should have known better: it rarely works on t'internet.

Certainly f*cks with AI's head.
Screenshot 2025-01-06 at 23.13.10.pngScreenshot 2025-01-06 at 23.13.37.png

Are we in for him?!

[Prufrock]

It's all about putting together a squad for the autos next season. Perhaps.

Perhaps. But not under this lad, barring a series of improbabilities – namely that
(1) we improve so much on 2024 that
(2) we get close enough to threaten the autos that
(3) board and importantly fans back Evatt and
(4) we come good on that in 2025/26.

I'd been wondering on "how might he still be manager of us in L1 next year?".

If everybody else maintains they're ppg, and we won *every single game*, we still might finish behind Birmingham on GD! We'd have to go at 2.5 PPG to catch Wycombe and Wrexham.

He needs a 50+ point second half to the season, and a somehow positive despite losing play offs. It's a, erm, narrow path! The first bit probably most important for Sharon/the board, he'd then be able to argue yes I cocked up the first half of the season but look we've fixed it and have auto form over a long period.

I'm not holding my breath !

[GhostoftheBok]

he'd then be able to argue yes I cocked up the first half of the season but look we've fixed it and have auto form over a long period.

We're a tad stuck up on the Pennines and my neighbour (who works for a nearby footy club) were discussing this over coffee and pancakes t'other day, as a bus blocked the road and nobody was going anywhere.

His view is that Evatt has the safest job in the EFL. He's has injuries and all that, but the result has essentially been to bottom the team out. It's basically impossible to relegate a team with that much quality in it, so he's survived taking it to the lowest possible ebb and is still being handed cash.

I think that's a fair view of it. Evatt's had as bad a time as he could have had and is still solidly in his job. It's inevitable that we get better at some stage and when we do he may be able to translate that into more support from the board.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I have no problem with loyalty if the end aim is still believed to be achievable. Timetables change etc. The issue at Bolton is that whilst the board still believe Evatt has what it takes to achieve the end aim, albeit possibly on a new timetable, a significant number of fans don't believe. Importantly, do all the players still believe? Because if the core of that team don't (not suggesting they don't cos I don't know) then whatever the board believes means shit. Without the fans onboard it will only end badly too.

[officer_dibble]

Hmmm. Without a significant uptick in form and an improvement to the playing style you would have to think there will be a significant reduction in season ticket sales later this year. Surely that will land with the board at the next review point?