(That long since we've had any, couldn't find the thread)

Alan Nixon: "Top Liverpool starlet Cameron Branagan will Ben allowed out on loan in Jan.

Bolton lead the race for the 20 year old midfielder"

Edited December 11, 20169 yr by Ratwhite

11 minutes ago, Farnywhite said:

Why would we sell Charles he is our best striker ? Jerome as a contract so he is going to be difficult to shift 

We sold Dapo. No one is immune I’d say. I hope he stays but IE might think he’s not up to it as he hooks him on 60mins religiously now. Agree Jerome will be hard to shift. He may run with 5 but seems a lot.

In Dans defence he hasn’t really been given a chance yet. Thought he was MOM by a country mile v Barnsley away and was amazed he was hooked.

50 minutes ago, Popeye doyle said:

Evatt said last season Ndlundulu could be as good as Ivan Toney. Hope he’s right.

Bet he won't be 😁

I'm also not a Dan fan, I had a feeling Evatt was going to sign him again, obviously Evatt sees plenty of potential in him and I trust his judgement.

Victor, Randell and Dan all have a big point to prove this season, hopefully with a pre-season drilling tactical detail into them they can flourish. 

5 August can't come soon enough. Hopefully Baccus and Wilson are in next week. 

GK - Baxter + Coleman

RWB - Wilson + Cogley

CM - Baccus

ST - Dan

 

Think at the start of the window I expected us to sign 6 or 7 players. We've got 6 done early if Baccus an Wilson materialise. One more attacking midfielder and I'll be happy.

He'll do for me.

 

3 minutes ago, tomski said:

We sold Dapo. No one is immune I’d say. I hope he stays but IE might think he’s not up to it as he hooks him on 60mins religiously now. Agree Jerome will be hard to shift. He may run with 5 but seems a lot.

Well there is a plan in place we can only guess at the minute how it will shape itself . May be a couple of academy loan signings lined up from the likes of city or Liverpool to complement the forward line as well 🤷‍♂️

Just now, Farnywhite said:

Well there is a plan in place we can only guess at the minute how it will shape itself . May be a couple of academy loan signings lined up from the likes of city or Liverpool to complement the forward line as well 🤷‍♂️

Absolutely pal. Pure speculation. Too early to call whether it’s good or bad this window but early signs look positive.

Forwards will now most likely be sorted,  with:

Dion, JDB, Victor & Dan, Jerome

Our goal scoring ability was our biggest downfall last season. However, I think we've got more than enough up top now to push on.

Dion should get us 20/25 goals next season, JDB can score 15 minimum if he's fit, which is a big if.

Victor is proven at this level and could score 15/20 goals himself, but he didn't hit form with us yet, the same with Dan.

I'm hoping a big pre season and learning from last season can help them 2 get more to grips with our style. They are capable but this is now their season to show it.

If we got another striker I wouldn't complain, but we've spent half a mil on Victor and given Dan a 3 year contract, who has remember played in the Premier league.

My attention for us now would be to strengthen midifeld, if Baccus and Wilson are confirmed, I'd get another attacking midfielder and maybe a centre back for cover.

 

From Daily record - quite a bit of info here.  Medical and personal terms done apparently...

 

Quote

St Mirren have agreed a £275,000 move with Bolton for Keanu Baccus - but the deal has the potential to more than double with future add-ons.

The Australian international has been given permission to travel south, where he has done his medical and agreed personal terms.

The two clubs have struck a deal and it is now subject to a work permit and visa being issued.

The move will see St Mirren make a six figure profit on a player they signed from Western Sydney Wanderers for nothing last summer.

The Paisley club will also benefit further on the deal subject to Bolton appearances, further international caps, potential promotions and a chunky future sell-on.

Baccus is currently in the final year of his contract and has never hidden his desire to try his luck in England.

Talks with Bolton have been on-going for several days and have seen the League One side significantly up their bid.

So 275k up front

Article says deal could be more than double that with add ons. Double that would be 550k.

So maybe something along the lines of:

100k for 50 BWFC appearances

100k for 10 Australia caps

100k for promotion to Champ (although article says promotions plural, so maybe less on international caps and then a big fee if we got to the PL)

That would bring the figure to over double, at 575k.

Sell on fee I wouldn't be surprised if that was 20% or more. 

 

Just pulling numbers out of my arse there but can't be too far off.

Edited June 24, 20233 yr by Mantra

1 hour ago, RoadRunnerFan said:

You went with a Greek God? 

More his satyrs and maenads!

 

Dion is going nowhere. Jerome is a bit part player anyway at his age and he's always injured. 

Evatt likened him to Toney so let's see if we can unearth the untapped potential because he's 24 not 20

1 hour ago, tomski said:

We sold Dapo. No one is immune I’d say. I hope he stays but IE might think he’s not up to it as he hooks him on 60mins religiously now. Agree Jerome will be hard to shift. He may run with 5 but seems a lot.

I think he was regularly hooked as he was the only regular goalscorer.

Hopefully we can have others chipping in more with a pre season in them.

I know it was rumoured quite heavily, but I've got to admit that I'm surprised we've signed Dan.

3 minutes ago, Traf said:

I know it was rumoured quite heavily, but I've got to admit that I'm surprised we've signed Dan.

I'm not surprised we signed him, but I'm quite surprised we signed him to a three-year contract

2 hours ago, paulhanley said:

Really mixed feelings. There's a player in there but on a three year deal there's an element of gamble about this. Evatt is backing his coaching ability to bring it out of the lad.

I think he is likely to be deployed in the Lee/Kachunga role. I still think we're short of a proven prolific striker but so is most of the EFL. 

 

I know what you mean in terms of Dan potentially being made into a deeper player as he likes to drop off & get on the ball... however we can't afford to keep neglecting the importance of finally getting a real fit for the pocket in behind the front two in my opinion. Dapo/Shola didn't work as they didn't want to do the out of possession work once the ball bypassed them, Kacha did a job there but wasn't natural to him even going back when we tried to deploy another ST in Delfouneso there in L2. The only real player who looked decent in the role was Lee due to his pressing & IQ... we really need to invest in that position as it could totally add 10-15+ goals to our team if we find somebody who's natural game is to get shots off in & around the box especially against low block teams supporting the forwards. Dempsey was meant to be that player but he's clearly more suited deeper where he can win duels then carry the ball forward, he even said in an interview recently his favourite position is deeper because he has the whole pitch in front of him. 

39 minutes ago, Deanu said:

I know what you mean in terms of Dan potentially being made into a deeper player as he likes to drop off & get on the ball... however we can't afford to keep neglecting the importance of finally getting a real fit for the pocket in behind the front two in my opinion. Dapo/Shola didn't work as they didn't want to do the out of possession work once the ball bypassed them, Kacha did a job there but wasn't natural to him even going back when we tried to deploy another ST in Delfouneso there in L2. The only real player who looked decent in the role was Lee due to his pressing & IQ... we really need to invest in that position as it could totally add 10-15+ goals to our team if we find somebody who's natural game is to get shots off in & around the box especially against low block teams supporting the forwards. Dempsey was meant to be that player but he's clearly more suited deeper where he can win duels then carry the ball forward, he even said in an interview recently his favourite position is deeper because he has the whole pitch in front of him. 

Have you thought of sending this essay to Ian Evatt? He and his large team of staff work with the players every day, but maybe you've spotted something they've missed.

12 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Have you thought of sending this essay to Ian Evatt? He and his large team of staff work with the players every day, but maybe you've spotted something they've missed.

Opinions? Pfft. Might as well shut the forum down, eh?

Really wasn't a comment worthy of an arsehole response.

2 minutes ago, TM Trotter said:

Opinions? Pfft. Might as well shut the forum down, eh?

Really wasn't a comment worthy of an arsehole response.

It was a genuine question.

I know Evatt sees promise in Dan but I'm struggling to see how he can improve his touch, awareness and finishing which are essential for the role and are innate skills that he should have perfected years ago.

Still, I live in hope

3 hours ago, paulhanley said:

 

. I still think we're short of a proven prolific striker but so is most of the EFL. 

 

To be fair Dion just bagged 20

11 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

I know Evatt sees promise in Dan but I'm struggling to see how he can improve his touch, awareness and finishing which are essential for the role and are innate skills that he should have perfected years ago.

Still, I live in hope

To be fair though I don't remember him having too many clear cut chances, same with Victor. 

They've gotta be more intelligent, more intricate with their play (dare I compare to Haaland) who all don't have much of the ball or space when the opposition team sit off.

No doubt Evatt will be already working hard on how our strikers can get opportunities against stubborn league 1 defences.

I think our midfield has to improve just as much to help with their movement, passing but also to chip in more with goals.

18 minutes ago, Cheese said:

It was a genuine question.

Apologies if so. 

Can’t say I was the biggest fan of his last season but there were certainly glimpses of what he could do.

Surely the biggest thing that should give us confidence here is the fact that Evatt has worked with him for 6 months. This is not a blind transfer based on scouting and data, it’s based on watching him day in day out (in training, not just what we saw in games) and from that he reckons there’s a player in there. It might not be that he’s the finished article last season (we could all see he wasn’t) and he might not even get to it next season, but Evatt has seen something and reckons he become an asset for the club.

The 3 year deal is shrewd. If he backs his opinion then it means that if he has a wonder season next season and comes to the attention of other clubs, he’s still got 2 years of a contract left so we can demand top dollar, or if he’s still working towards it next season then we’ve still got plenty of time to improve him and get the benefit ourselves.

It’s not as exciting as seeing a new name turn up but I think we’ve got to trust Evatt on this one. 

44 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Have you thought of sending this essay to Ian Evatt? He and his large team of staff work with the players every day, but maybe you've spotted something they've missed.

Short essay that