Transfer Gossip

[gonzo]

Norburn off to that shower down the road? 🍊

Thats a great signing for them.

Theyll be in the mixer next season

[tomski]

15 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Norburn off to that shower down the road? 🍊

Thats a great signing for them.

Theyll be in the mixer next season

Steady on. Nothing to see yet.

[Roger_Dubuis]

Never heard of Norburn, thought it must have been Barnsley's sub in the play off final but that was Norwood.  For other people who have never heard of him he is a 30 year old  ex Peterborough midfield player who has moved to Blackpool.Had previous spells at Tranmere and Shrewsbury.

[paulhanley]

23 minutes ago, Roger_Dubuis said:

Never heard of Norburn, thought it must have been Barnsley's sub in the play off final but that was Norwood.  For other people who have never heard of him he is a 30 year old  ex Peterborough midfield player who has moved to Blackpool.Had previous spells at Tranmere and Shrewsbury.

Like a stopped clock you are very occasionally right.

But you're still a dirty red bastard.

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

54 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Norburn off to that shower down the road? 🍊

Thats a great signing for them.

Theyll be in the mixer next season

A big question mark over whether he'll be quite as good as he was after his injury

[Biggish Dave]

Don't really know anything about Norburn - would he get in our team and if so, who does he replace?

Can't say I'm arsed to be honest

[Mutley]

Would be interested in signing Norwood was impressed with him in play offs. Can’t believe lack of interest in him. Local lad as well. 
 

MTLEE

[Mutley]

Kiernan Lee training with Atherton Colls. Offered a ‘deal’ with them. Debating retirement but considering it at Skuna 
 

muT

[Casino]

1 hour ago, Biggish Dave said:

Don't really know anything about Norburn - would he get in our team and if so, who does he replace?

Can't say I'm arsed to be honest

Hes the one who wound jason lowe up

Lowe got red carded

Christmas/new year

[barrycowdrill]

Alfie May off to Gillingham by all accounts 

[Casino]

Division 4?

[radcliffe white]

Doesn’t seem right that 

[Whitesince63]

20 minutes ago, barrycowdrill said:

Alfie May off to Gillingham by all accounts 

That’s been on the cards for a while as he was keen to get back to Kent for family reasons. Cracking signing for them if it comes off and I’m sure his wages will be good as there’s some money in the Gills ownership.

[Zico]

23 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

That’s been on the cards for a while as he was keen to get back to Kent for family reasons. Cracking signing for them if it comes off and I’m sure his wages will be good as there’s some money in the Gills ownership.

aye, was surprised to see Sadlier linked with them before he went to Orient, given they were scrapping away at the bottom of league two

[barrycowdrill]

Some big budgets in L2 next season. Not discounting the obvious Wrexham fairytale. Fighting their way back in to the league against all odds.. 

[globaldiver]

Just bumped into Kachunga. Is he staying?

[Biggish Dave]

Did he go down looking for a free kick?

[Arrested development]

1 hour ago, globaldiver said:

Just bumped into Kachunga. Is he staying?

Maybe one of the local non league teams need a new striker. 

[MickyD]

1 hour ago, Biggish Dave said:

Did he go down looking for a free kick?

No, he turned and walloped him in the stomach.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

1 hour ago, Biggish Dave said:

Did he go down looking for a free kick?

🤣

[Cheese]

Decent article this.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/23621332.bolton-wanderers-now-new-set-transfer-problems/

[woolli]

3 hours ago, globaldiver said:

Just bumped into Kachunga. Is he staying?

Did he fall over as per?

[Wanderlust]

52 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Decent article this.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/23621332.bolton-wanderers-now-new-set-transfer-problems/

Could you copy and paste it please?

[Cheese]

1 minute ago, Wanderlust said:

Could you copy and paste it please?

IAN Evatt’s first Bolton Wanderers squad was constructed in the most unusual circumstances – a hotch-potch of freebies assembled under restrictive salary cap rules at the height of a global pandemic.

The regulations, it turned out, were not worth the paper on which they were written and scrapped several months later after being deemed “unlawful” by the PFA. And of the procession of players signed and trialled in the summer of 2020, many went the same way.

Over the past couple of years, the way Wanderers have recruited has changed dramatically. Chris Markham’s influence, and that of his analysis department, has been clear, and the club has slowly started to move away from the free agent market to target players contracted to other clubs.

Ian Evatt celebrates his third anniversary as manager on Saturday with the club arguably in the strongest financial position since he came to the club.

The backing of Football Ventures, boosted by a successful bond scheme, gives the Bolton boss more funds at his disposal than ever before – a far cry from those early days of scrabbling around for players displaced in lockdown.

That is not to say this brand-new world is not without problems, though, and Evatt has found in the last week that complications can still arise.

Having gone way down the line in his attempts to sign Kane Wilson from Bristol City and Keanu Baccus from St Mirren the club decided against the deal, finding something in their ‘due diligence’ that made then unwilling to part with the money.

In both cases, those around the deal presented conflicting reasons for it breaking down, and surely no club would be crass enough to make them public. But for Bolton it does represent a chunk of time lost when they desperately wanted the majority of their first team squad out in Portugal getting acquainted with the latest evolution of the manager’s tactical plan.

Equally, there is something to be applauded about being careful spenders. This mini transfer saga came exactly 15 years after Wanderers paid out a club record £8.2million to Toulouse for Johan Elmander – a deal actually worth around £10m when you factor there was a makeweight, Daniel Braaten.

Plenty has been discussed down the years on the Sweden international’s Bolton career, his struggles under Gary Megson, rebirth under Owen Coyle, the goal at Wolves, the midfield cameo in the FA Cup semi-final, but ultimately him walking out of the door for free represented some stunningly irresponsible business at the time.

Of course, we are not talking about the same sums here, in fact even the lower valuation of Elmander’s fee back then could comfortably fund the entire first team squad’s wages for a year these days. But it is all relative, and Wanderers are unwilling to jump into any transaction where they are uncomfortable with any factor, be it an unsatisfactory medical, a future contract clause, the fees being requested by an agent, or last-minute discussions with a rival bidder.

In the case of Wilson and Baccus, Bolton were unlucky, too. Both deals hit the headlines very early on in the piece and were played out in great detail in the press, locally and internationally. Their decision to put on the brakes was magnified because of that attention, and, yes, I appreciate I played my part in that. It comes with the job description, unfortunately.

The truth is any transfer which involves a fee tends to get scrutinised more closely by the press and the supporters than a player who arrives on a free. Often the money involved over the course of the contract – wages, bonuses etc – can make them work out similar in value. Perhaps we should forget about the price tag, as someone once sang.

New rules involving international transfers have also opened up a completely different – and unexpected – avenue for Wanderers.

League One clubs are now able to bring in two foreign players who would have otherwise failed the traditional work permit application. Put simply, whereas Evatt was once shopping at the Londis on the corner, he can now access Amazon.

The new regulations have been approved by the Football Association, via the Home Office, and were rather hoisted on clubs this summer. We should not, perhaps, expect a wave of foreign superstars just yet but the opportunity to investigate markets that were hitherto impossible to tap must be an intriguing prospect for Evatt and Markham, particularly with the data-driven model they use to recruit.

Wanderers are expanding their analysis department this summer in an effort to get the “one per cent gains” that Evatt seeks on his promotion rivals, and those unsung heroes are likely to have a big say on the future direction the club takes in the transfer market too.

No transfer is without risk. Think Robbie Elliott, Sean Davis, even Fabrice Muamba, and fate can intervene at any point. I think it is safe to assume on the evidence of this summer so far, though, that Bolton are being responsible with their boosted transfer kitty. And long may that continue.

[Wanderlust]

Ta.