(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

2 hours ago, L/H White said:

wouldn't read to much into this 

loads of pros having extra sessions away from their clubs now

aye but rumour was he was on of the fall outs with IE and probably one of the rumoured ones who didn't bother turning up to training

so was probably going there instead to keep fit

One of those players is Williams that I genuinely don't have an opinion on.

He's just a player. Never did much good but never did much bad.

Just a professional footballer for the sake of being a professional footballer.

13 minutes ago, deeane Koontz said:

Absolute shit for brains crying and writing a player off after his first 30 odd minutes coming on as a sub. Only been training with the club for a couple of days too 🤦‍♂️

Is it not more folk not understanding why we have signed someone who isn’t ready when we are already behind where we need to be. 

26 minutes ago, burnden said:

Rob Holding gong to Palace

 

Shetlandy Walker

Did he not sign for them in 2023 ? 

31 minutes ago, deeane Koontz said:

Absolute shit for brains crying and writing a player off after his first 30 odd minutes coming on as a sub. Only been training with the club for a couple of days too 🤦‍♂️

Indeed. I'm sure Cardiff only awarded him a 2 year contract extension last week because they're fucking daft. If only they'd consulted all these armchair Pep's.

Edited February 3, 20251 yr by Cheese

Just now, Ani said:

Did he not sign for them in 2023 ? 

He did and he's now leaving for Sheffield United

3 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Indeed. I'm sure Cardiff only awarded him a 2 year contract extension last week because they're fucking daft. If only they'd consulted all these armchair Pep's.

it's embarrassing. Makes us look like a set of thickos

7 minutes ago, Ani said:

Did he not sign for them in 2023 ? 

He did i meant leaving 👍

8 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Indeed. I'm sure Cardiff only awarded him a 2 year contract extension last week because they're fucking daft. If only they'd consulted all these armchair Pep's.

well they did spunk 6 million quid on madine

1 minute ago, deeane Koontz said:

it's embarrassing. Makes us look like a set of thickos

I have come to the conclusion that our fanbase consists of a massive set of thickos.

1 minute ago, L/H White said:

well they did spunk 6 million quid on madine

A fair point.

4 minutes ago, deeane Koontz said:

it's embarrassing. Makes us look like a set of thickos

I imagine it's a gamble, low wage and if he does something whilst on loan with us would become a saleable asset in the summer. 

He may prove to be decent but was way off it Saturday. I thought it was an odd substitution. Aside from the pen (mistake it happens), he looked really weak to me and gave the ball away loads. 

Edited February 3, 20251 yr by bwfc4ife

1 minute ago, Cheese said:

I have come to the conclusion that our fanbase consists of a massive set of thickos.

This is quite the shock.

Pierre Van Hooijdonkey

John Brayford 

33 minutes ago, Cheese said:

I have come to the conclusion that our fanbase consists of a massive set of thickos.

Came to that conclusion a long time ago.

How about have a bit of rally round the lad, get some form of song going and show him some support and a decent welcome?

Nah, just write the poor lad off after 20 minutes and freak mistake.

Booooooo

2 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Came to that conclusion a long time ago.

How about have a bit of rally round the lad, get some form of song going and show him some support and a decent welcome?

Nah, just write the poor lad off after 20 minutes and freak mistake.

Booooooo

I understood that before releasing him to us Championship club Cardiff gave him a new contract.

He's THAT shite in the eyes of a club who've employed him for over 2 years prior to his recent injury.

6 hours ago, Eddie said:

FFS mate, I’ve removed these nob heads (and the anger that goes with reading it) from my life. You’re stressing my Monday morning out! 😂

It always amazes me that anyone above 25 looks at football chat on Twitter (and that's no disrespect to anyone that does read it, I'm just genuinely surprised).

The only bits I ever see are what are posted on here or similar forums, why entertain these folk, just out for an argument by the looks of it.

4 hours ago, Cheese said:

Iles asked the question at the weekend. Apparently, the process is: Schumacher tells Markham what position/type of player he wants. Markham finds realistic targets that fit that profile, with input from Ludonautics. Schumacher does the personal/character research. Schumacher gets final say.

Edit: Just seen he's posted an article about it this morning:

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/24903347.bolton-wanderers-boss-club-scope-deadline-day-deals/

 

Schumacher has clarified the club’s position on recruitment, which is being driven by sporting director, Chris Markham, and also informed by the data company Ludonautics, owned by ex-Liverpool chief Ian Graham.

“The recruitment team here is similar to what we used in my time at Plymouth Argyle,” he said. “Obviously, there's a lot of data and there's a lot of background, there's a lot of recruitment and scouting, if you like, that all goes on before it comes to the manager or the head coach.

“So, my process would be deciding the profile of a player, which is a profile I can play in the system and the style that we want to. And then they would present three, four players, whatever, and it's up to me to decide if they're the right ones.

“And, obviously, you've got to go into your background checks and all that and see what the character's like before they come and play for this club.

“So, I'm really comfortable in the whole process and it was something, again, that attracted me to Bolton.

“It seems like this club make logical decisions and that's the way I like to work.

“It’s the sort of environment that I've worked in before and I thrived at. And when you have that relationship where everybody's on the same page, everybody wants to achieve the same objective and you work together in sort of unity, then you'll have a good chance of getting decisions right.

“So, I'm really happy with everyone behind the scenes. The training ground staff that I met on Friday were brilliant. It's a real good atmosphere in the training ground. I really liked it.

“There's something about it. It feels like it's got a good soul. I'm just delighted to be here and hopefully it's the start of a real exciting year.”

I'm sure SS will make it work, I've no real concerns, but I'm not comfortable that he actually wanted Etete, clearly that was an IE signing.  That doesn't mean Etete isn't going to be a good signing, but I bet he'd rather have signed for a manager that actually sought him out, to feel confident you were going to be in the manager's plans.

Aside from that, the process described above - I would hope there is scope for a "one off" request from the manager, eg SS goes to watch a game (do they still do that?), a player he might never have heard of stands out and he decides he wants to sign him in the next window.  Not because "I need a midfielder who can tackle, has a good engine and scores goals", but just because Carlos Fancydan playing for St Mirren or Chesterfield looked like he's better than what we've got in that position.  But if I can't get him, it doesn't mean I want Markham to interrogate his data to find someone that's supposedly "similar" (but wouldn't be similar at all).  The system surely has to be flexible to take into account instinct and personal preference, not just data.

29 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Came to that conclusion a long time ago.

How about have a bit of rally round the lad, get some form of song going and show him some support and a decent welcome?

Nah, just write the poor lad off after 20 minutes and freak mistake.

Booooooo

You’ve gone soft you. All that sea air. 

2 minutes ago, Big E said:

You’ve gone soft you. All that sea air. 

I'm a donkey shagger

34 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Came to that conclusion a long time ago.

How about have a bit of rally round the lad, get some form of song going and show him some support and a decent welcome?

Nah, just write the poor lad off after 20 minutes and freak mistake.

Booooooo

happy clapper

2 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I'm a donkey shagger

Racist 😂

6 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I'm sure SS will make it work, I've no real concerns, but I'm not comfortable that he actually wanted Etete, clearly that was an IE signing.  That doesn't mean Etete isn't going to be a good signing, but I bet he'd rather have signed for a manager that actually sought him out, to feel confident you were going to be in the manager's plans.

Aside from that, the process described above - I would hope there is scope for a "one off" request from the manager, eg SS goes to watch a game (do they still do that?), a player he might never have heard of stands out and he decides he wants to sign him in the next window.  Not because "I need a midfielder who can tackle, has a good engine and scores goals", but just because Carlos Fancydan playing for St Mirren or Chesterfield looked like he's better than what we've got in that position.  But if I can't get him, it doesn't mean I want Markham to interrogate his data to find someone that's supposedly "similar" (but wouldn't be similar at all).  The system surely has to be flexible to take into account instinct and personal preference, not just data.

Oh i get it. 

Its like when Brittania music would send you their recommendation based on the freebies you ordered to a fake account.

Because you bought Thin Lizzy Live & Dangerous WE think you will enjoy Best of Val Doonican etc??

1 hour ago, JOGLER said:

Not being match fit shouldn't prevent a player being 'signed'.

If it was a permanent transfer i'd agree as you've got time to bed in. But this is effectively a 3 month loan from the end of Jan so when you take it all into account, I'd argue being match fit is huge factor.

This rumour that Schuey might be looking at Nathan Lowe at Stoke with a view to a loan....not sure if it has legs but Lowe is a good kid and did well in L2 for Walsall.

Saw plenty of him on EFL highlights as he scored a bunch, but that's highlights and got no idea of his all round play. Suspect he's a goal hanger rather than a non stop presser a la Dion.

Edited February 3, 20251 yr by Wanderlust