(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

Seems we've been looking at Etete for a little bit.

Not clear, but doesn't seem we've been looking at midfielders. 

The new man had been watching us for a game or two before appointment. 

What he saw, and felt was needed, we don't know.

We may have approached clubs about players, but deals couldn't be done.

Lots of unknowns, and whilst it's good to have got rid of some, it's still somewhat underwhelming.

Down to the new manager now, and how well he can re-tune the squad.

Gonna be interesting to see what happens with Santos now.

I personally hope there's a way back for him. 

Absolutely not in the middle of 3 centre backs mind.

 

7 hours ago, Lostock Whites said:

Some of the shite I've been seeing people sending to Chris Markham, his accounts online is just completely unnecessary and uncalled for.

Just miserable bastards who have nobody to complain at now Evatt is gone and are now targeting Markham.

Ridiculous.

I’ve got sympathy with Markham. In the long term I’d say he’s identified more players who have contributed positively to BWFC than not.

And in these last few weeks he’s been working in very uncertain conditions.

That said, come the next transfer market there will (understandably) be (even) less patience and tolerance if the signings aren’t high impact ones. 

But yes, it seems the haters have to hate. Now the manager is gone, unfortunately there will always be others to fill the gap.

6 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Not clear, but doesn't seem we've been looking at midfielders. 

That Norwegian guy was seemingly a legitimate target.

But as we’ve discussed, Evatt’s timing of departure made this window an extremely strange one.

SS could have little, if no input. Getting in players under uncertain conditions is a barrier. Markham was identifying players for a manager who wasnt going to be there. The squad was too big and full of like-minded players,  and I suspect the owners didn’t want to splash unnecessarily.   

Added to that, while it’s near on impossible to consider automatics, there’s debatably a squad there who still have potential to do something in the play-offs.

I’m amazed we’ve ended up with 4 players who weren’t with us at the beginning of the month!

All in all, under the circumstances, it completely makes sense why there were no additions yesterday. 

18 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Gonna be interesting to see what happens with Santos now.

I personally hope there's a way back for him. 

Absolutely not in the middle of 3 centre backs mind.

 

He doesn’t strike me as the sort of guy who will roll his sleeves up and give it his all for the next 4 months. I hope I’m wrong as he’s here and it’s a fresh start for all.

I’m unsure he gets in ahead of Forrester at the mo.

That said I’ve no doubt we will rack up injuries and he will be needed.

I am looking forward to the rest of the season no more messing about at the back slow ponderous football players showing no fight IE goes , within 3 games more fight no pissing about at the back the Santos Baxter goal kick routine hopefully gone. 
I didn’t think we would sign anybody yesterday think SS needs time to work with what he’s got and then look at changes in the next window onwards and upwards. 

28 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Gonna be interesting to see what happens with Santos now.

I personally hope there's a way back for him. 

Absolutely not in the middle of 3 centre backs mind.

 

 

6 minutes ago, tomski said:

He doesn’t strike me as the sort of guy who will roll his sleeves up and give it his all for the next 4 months. I hope I’m wrong as he’s here and it’s a fresh start for all.

I’m unsure he gets in ahead of Forrester at the mo.

That said I’ve no doubt we will rack up injuries and he will be needed.

He’s got 4 lots of relationships he needs to either build/re-build.

The manager, his team-mates and the fans are the obvious ones.

The 4th one is the most important for me. His own state of mind. I’m guessing, but this needs re-building before anything. 

It will be tricky. But If he does this it can only benefit everyone, as we know, on his day he’s a great defender.

But there’s definitely others ahead of him at the moment who deserve their place.

18 minutes ago, tomski said:

He doesn’t strike me as the sort of guy who will roll his sleeves up and give it his all for the next 4 months. I hope I’m wrong as he’s here and it’s a fresh start for all.

I’m unsure he gets in ahead of Forrester at the mo.

That said I’ve no doubt we will rack up injuries and he will be needed.

Aye probably wishful thinking he's gonna get stuck in with a different mentality.

By all accounts he's been sulking in London for the past few weeks.

 

9 hours ago, desperado said:

Positive realism mate 😂

Now the window is closed are you as positive 😁

Hopefully this striker can get up to speed and be great value added for the squad. 
 

some great aways in L1 next season 😂

17 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Aye probably wishful thinking he's gonna get stuck in with a different mentality.

By all accounts he's been sulking in London for the past few weeks.

 

So is he just sorting his head out ? 
 

 

9 minutes ago, Big E said:

Now the window is closed are you as positive 😁

Hopefully this striker can get up to speed and be great value added for the squad. 
 

some great aways in L1 next season 😂

Yes 😂

I think under the circumstances, with the timing of Evatt’s departure, the window is about as good as we could have expected. Do you not? 

Morley back, Murphy in, both who are better than what was their previously (Arfield & Williams) 

Randall in, is work in progress but there’s definitely quality there.

Etete is the gamble, but one worth taking on a short loan for little financial outlay, when the new manager had no time to bring his own in. 

Then there’s the stream-lined squad which many of us have debated was good enough in the first place for the play-offs, under, what was the best part of the window, a new regime.

A new manager and coaching team who won’t be as restricted and set In their ways as previously.

So yeh I’m positive 😂 Whether that’s L1 or Championship we’ll be there 👏

15 minutes ago, Big E said:

So is he just sorting his head out ? 
 

 

Hiding in his mums box room playing his old N64 on his Arsenal bedding.

11 minutes ago, desperado said:

Yes 😂

I think under the circumstances, with the timing of Evatt’s departure, the window is about as good as we could have expected. Do you not? 

Morley back, Murphy in, both who are better than what was their previously (Arfield & Williams) 

Randall in, is work in progress but there’s definitely quality there.

Etete is the gamble, but one worth taking on a short loan for little financial outlay, when the new manager had no time to bring his own in. 

Then there’s the stream-lined squad which many of us have debated was good enough in the first place for the play-offs, under, what was the best part of the window, a new regime.

A new manager and coaching team who won’t be as restricted and set In their ways as previously.

So yeh I’m positive 😂 Whether that’s L1 or Championship we’ll be there 👏

Worse than @gonzo you for happy clapping 😁

Was a big fan of Charles and all the rotation at the beginning of the season was only ever going to end one way.

Arfield came two seasons too late....Think Evatt may have thought he would take over from Jerome as a voice in the changing room.

Williams was simply a winger who was turned into Evatts [Hybrid] wingback. Played well going forward awful tracking back.....Not his fault.

The three we have brought in are real head scratchers.......Etate is simply not match fit or is he a goal scorer replacement for Charles.  Every chance in a few weeks he may do well but is more like Vic than Charles.

Randall can find a pass others cannot see and is quality in this league but did we really need him at what we paid.

Can see him starting at home but on the bench in away games.

Finally Murphy  looks a great prospect but if we play with 5 at the back then it is either him or Schon which makes me question why we brought him in

Hopefully we go to a 4 which will fit them both in........Interesting few months

Schumacher will re-build in the Summer.....It is up to the fringe players to show do they want away or buy into the direction the club is going

If they are not up for the fight it is better they move on

1 hour ago, desperado said:

That Norwegian guy was seemingly a legitimate target.

But as we’ve discussed, Evatt’s timing of departure made this window an extremely strange one.

SS could have little, if no input. Getting in players under uncertain conditions is a barrier. Markham was identifying players for a manager who wasnt going to be there. The squad was too big and full of like-minded players,  and I suspect the owners didn’t want to splash unnecessarily.   

Added to that, while it’s near on impossible to consider automatics, there’s debatably a squad there who still have potential to do something in the play-offs.

I’m amazed we’ve ended up with 4 players who weren’t with us at the beginning of the month!

All in all, under the circumstances, it completely makes sense why there were no additions yesterday. 

He has said he likes the set up we have, as it's similar to what they had at Plymouth. 

Therefore any targets identified by Markham would still be relevant for consideration; as was shown by Etete.

Whether he bad identified any, at the behest of Evatt, we don't know. 

You mention the Norwegian fella- we don't know how much interest there was, and don't know if the manager was keen.

We do know that the new manager was around for a few days before appointment, and will have had talks over targets.

Both IE and SS said there maybe further incomings.

It may not be surprising to you, but it is a bit for me.

Not hugely perhaps, but the midfield situation doesn't make his job of getting into the play offs any easier.

 

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Aye probably wishful thinking he's gonna get stuck in with a different mentality.

By all accounts he's been sulking in London for the past few weeks.

 

In that case, I hope they throw the disciplinary book at him.

the lack of bastard in midfield is notable but it is what it is

hopefully that will be addressed in the summer

Etete was clearly never intended as a "replacement for Dion". If anything he is more a "replacement" for JDB or CJ  because let's be honest, Dion couldn't hold the ball up for toffee although he did make a good extra midfielder pressing from the front when we're out of possession - and we don't need that so much as someone to stay up top and keep the defenders honest. Take the penalties away from Dion and he's not that prolific anyway.

Give Etete some time to sort out his positioning and work with his teammates and I reckon he'll be vying/alternating with Vic to be the focal point of the attack who the likes of Collins, McAtee and Lolos can all benefit from.

20 minutes ago, Zico said:

the lack of bastard in midfield is notable but it is what it is

hopefully that will be addressed in the summer

For now we have George and Matete to stick a foot in when required - and they both can, although neither of them are the P. Viera we'd have in an ideal world. But the more defence minded set up we have now in conjunction with a "target man" discouraging the opposition back line getting too far forward to join their attacks makes that less of a problem than it was under Evatt.

Also...and I know that many on here lacked the vision to see it ...but we still have Santos at the club and he's not necessarily needed in the centre of a back three. Given that he has to retrain for a new system anyway, I'll throw in the idea of retraining him to play DM again.

Laugh away, but I still think it's worth trying - he could be that midfield bastard as he has the attributes.

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by Wanderlust

2 hours ago, Stig said:

Rectifying this is a job for the summer though, not rushing through in 2 days since SS has been here

Agreed we have started to rectify issues from previous windows. The concern for me is the main data driver behind the previous windows poor signings is still the data driver in place now. 
 

this new striker for example. On paper what we need but arrived unfit / injured. 
 

nlundulu we had on loan and was rubbish but we still spunked money on him. 
 

arfielld was needed to bring in experience….surely the data should have said his legs are gone 
 

being data driven to sign folk is fine when the data is good….we don’t seem to be using very good data. 

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Aye probably wishful thinking he's gonna get stuck in with a different mentality.

By all accounts he's been sulking in London for the past few weeks.

Santos, with Baxter, moved tippy-tappy to new lows. He was its God and I think he's lost the option of not playing that way. He also, maybe carrying injury, has lost that extra speed. He effectively stopped trying the long wonder-passes. His confidence is shot, his mentor was getting stick & has now gone. I don't think he took losing the captaincy at all well.

I'm surprised he didn't leave yesterday. I'd ever stunned if he stayed & bluntly, in his past 12m form, I'm none too bothered unless Schumacher thinks he can get a tune again.

I wonder what happens in instances where a target is identified through manager hunch / other recommendations just like the good old days. 
 

chances are it happened when Evatt was here but will likely happen more with Schumacher.
 

Players he’s had an eye on before or had in his squads. However they don’t meet the player “profile” the club is looking for or meet whatever scoring threshold / qualifying criteria when their name is input in to this ground breaking analytics database? 

I know SS has said he gets the final say but that’s based on players markham et el have shortlisted for him. But if he comes in one day and says “I want X player” does his request act as approval enough or is it a response of ‘that’s not the way we do it’ 

always a little niggle of mine when the gaffer is a head coach instead of manager” infers he doesn’t have total control and by all accounts is exactly the situation he had trouble with at Stoke.. 

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by barrycowdrill

1 hour ago, Rizlar said:

no more messing about at the back 

no pissing about at the back 

did you actually watch saturdays game?

That SKY documentary about how BWFC managed to sign Okocha discussed how when Allardyce was playing for Tampa Bay, he knew Billy Beane of Moneyball fame and studied his methods.

Worked for Allardyce, albeit with a much bigger wage budget (JJ was on over £30k a week) and fishing in a bigger pond - so why shouldn't it work for Markham in a different market. In both cases there is risk attached because you're trying to get better players on the cheap so injury, age, mental state etc are always going to be factors - otherwise they wouldn't be as cheap.

We can still agree loan deals can't we?

Maybe a midfielder via that route is still on cards