(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

12 hours ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Would have prefered a photo of his missus .

Not sure whether it is refreshing to see the honesty re how our new squad is shaping up or to be disheartened by the pessimism.

In truth few of us know much about our new signings unless there are folk who watched Kilmarnock and Dundee Utd week in week out last season as well as having seen Ben Davis and Akin Femawo before last season (because neither played much in 25/6).

Going only off pedigree and careers to date the two young lads have clear potential. The two central defenders have Championship seasons on their CV but not above mid-table and, as stated, not of late. They may well be upgrades on G|J and (going to back to a year ago) Forrester but perhaps not by loads.

Fourth bottom will do - and if that's what it proves to be there will be rough patches next year that we'll need to grit our teeth and live through without the collective fanbase toys being hurled out of the pram.

Let's see how we strengthen the attacking areas now.

Anybody else curious as to why we have brought in two left sided centre backs that were decent around 2021/22. Now some will take the view they are the best we can attract. If we combined their wages surely we could have brought in somebody who is above those two, much younger and would play 40 odd games......Not sure we are getting 40 games combined

Replacements for GJ, Forrester and eventually Taylor for a small fee and Championship experience to boot. Most of the budget will go on wingers and strikers.

1 hour ago, paulhanley said:

Going only off pedigree and careers to date the two young lads have clear potential. The two central defenders have Championship seasons on their CV but not above mid-table and, as stated, not of late. They may well be upgrades on G|J and (going to back to a year ago) Forrester but perhaps not by loads.

Akin Famewo was promoted to the Premier League with Hull?

12 minutes ago, Zog1 said:

Akin Famewo was promoted to the Premier League with Hull?

He played 7 games and made 8 sub appearances. And a good number of those involved filling in at full back.

Gotta assume he's got faith in some of the younger players like inwood, temple etc..

Either that or he's started at the back and building experience first. Confident defence breeds a confident team n all that

1 hour ago, masi 51 said:

Anybody else curious as to why we have brought in two left sided centre backs that were decent around 2021/22. Now some will take the view they are the best we can attract. If we combined their wages surely we could have brought in somebody who is above those two, much younger and would play 40 odd games......Not sure we are getting 40 games combined

59 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

Replacements for GJ, Forrester and eventually Taylor for a small fee and Championship experience to boot. Most of the budget will go on wingers and strikers.

Jmjhb gives a good response to your question.

And to add a bit more context, I think referring back to FH’s “Pragmatic Progression” quote is a good one to look at in terms of our transfer business this year.

Getting in numbers to replace who we have lost while trying to up-level in quality, with a limited budget is, I suspect, a tricky balancing act.

But that’s his job, which he has done pretty well so far.

If there was one affordable player who would be guaranteed to play 40 odd games and be better than the two we brought in I’m pretty sure FH would have considered this.

I think It’s a pretty secure assumption that FH and his team will be looking at a shed load of data, alongside the budget as well as getting to know the character of the players he’s bringing in.

I’m not downplaying or dismissing your opinion @masi 51 just offering an alternative view which offers some possible reasons for our transfer strategy.

Edited Saturday at 11:365 days by desperado

49 minutes ago, only1swanny said:

Gotta assume he's got faith in some of the younger players like inwood, temple etc..

Either that or he's started at the back and building experience first. Confident defence breeds a confident team n all that

When assessing our central defensive options (as they stand), Temple is an interesting and somewhat unknown element. They didn't gamble on him in the second half of last season but at his age and stage of development that means nothing

57 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

He played 7 games and made 8 sub appearances. And a good number of those involved filling in at full back.

To be fair though he was injured a bit last season but when he did play he was apparently pretty decent so I think we need to wait and see and hope our physios can keep him fitter? Maybe the PL was considered too much of a risk for Hull so it could turn out to be a cracking signing?

4 minutes ago, desperado said:

Jmjhb gives a good response to your question.

And to add a bit more context, I think referring back to FH’s “Pragmatic Progression” quote is a good one to look at in terms of our transfer business this year.

Getting in numbers to replace who we have lost while trying to up-level in quality, with a limited budget is, I suspect, a tricky balancing act.

But that’s his job, which he has done pretty well so far.

If there was one affordable player who would be guaranteed to play 40 odd games and be better than the two we brought in I’m pretty sure FH would have considered this.

I think It’s a pretty secure assumption that FH and his team will be looking at a shed load of data, alongside the budget as well as getting to know the character of the players he’s bringing in.

I’m not downplaying or dismissing your opinion @masi 51 just offering an alternative view which offers some possible reasons for our transfer strategy.

5 minutes ago, desperado said:

Jmjhb gives a good response to your question.

And to add a bit more context, I think referring back to FH’s “Pragmatic Progression” quote is a good one to look at in terms of our transfer business this year.

Getting in numbers to replace who we have lost while trying to up-level in quality, with a limited budget is, I suspect, a tricky balancing act.

But that’s his job, which he has done pretty well so far.

If there was one affordable player who would be guaranteed to play 40 odd games and be better than the two we brought in I’m pretty sure FH would have considered this.

I think It’s a pretty secure assumption that FH and his team will be looking at a shed load of data, alongside the budget as well as getting to know the character of the players he’s bringing in.

I’m not downplaying or dismissing your opinion @masi 51 just offering an alternative view which offers some possible reasons for our transfer strategy.

jmjhb puts a point across that really has nothing to do with my question which was why have we signed two players in the same position that have never been effective in the last few seasons. We will need consistency next season and i do not believe these two can bring that.

We could bring in Reece James and he would be the best full back in the league but your only going to get six games out of him all season.

There is every chance by Oct/Nov our two centre backs will be Toal and Forino and our left back will be Conway because our two Left sided centre backs/LB are in the treatment room.

Toal and Foirino also do not have the best injury records so we may have to throw Temple/Inwood in

Surely people can see we need players who are going to be playing week in week out

7 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

jmjhb puts a point across that really has nothing to do with my question which was why have we signed two players in the same position that have never been effective in the last few seasons. We will need consistency next season and i do not believe these two can bring that.

We could bring in Reece James and he would be the best full back in the league but your only going to get six games out of him all season.

There is every chance by Oct/Nov our two centre backs will be Toal and Forino and our left back will be Conway because our two Left sided centre backs/LB are in the treatment room.

Toal and Foirino also do not have the best injury records so we may have to throw Temple/Inwood in

Surely people can see we need players who are going to be playing week in week out

But you have no idea how the players fitness will play out next season.

It’s an opinion yes, but there’s a positive counter opinion you don’t seem willing to accept that could also be true. They could contribute by playing lots of games next season.

This time last year not many would have predicted Tutu would remain injury free all season, Johnston would have played nearly every game and Dempsey would be largely unscathed on his comeback.

I’m fairly certain FH/SS haven’t brought these defenders in to be crocks for the season.

I’m also fairly certain that they would have looked in depth about what their contribution can be next season.

27 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

jmjhb puts a point across that really has nothing to do with my question which was why have we signed two players in the same position that have never been effective in the last few seasons. We will need consistency next season and i do not believe these two can bring that.

We could bring in Reece James and he would be the best full back in the league but your only going to get six games out of him all season.

There is every chance by Oct/Nov our two centre backs will be Toal and Forino and our left back will be Conway because our two Left sided centre backs/LB are in the treatment room.

Toal and Foirino also do not have the best injury records so we may have to throw Temple/Inwood in

Surely people can see we need players who are going to be playing week in week out

You could have said exactly that about Osei-Tutu and we got 42 games from him last year.

Davies was an unused sub for a further 12 games and Famewo 18 games last season. It's a little unfair to say they were injured or unavailable all season. These lads have 200-300 league appearances under their belt, you don't get that by not being consistent.

Edited Saturday at 12:365 days by jmjhb

5 minutes ago, desperado said:

But you have no idea how the players fitness will play out next season.

It’s an opinion yes, but there’s a positive counter opinion you don’t seem willing to accept that could also be true. They could contribute by playing lots of games next season.

This time last year not many would have predicted Tutu would remain injury free all season, Johnston would have played nearly every game and Dempsey would be largely unscathed on his comeback.

I’m fairly certain FH/SS haven’t brought these defenders in to be crocks for the season.

I’m also fairly certain that they would have looked in depth about what their contribution can be next season.

Time will tell, and Tutu did not stay injury free Granted nothing more serious than a knock. Johnston had one bad injury and played pretty much every game before and two seasons after the injury and Dempsey was used sparingly not sure he completed 90 mins. He has brought in two players who started about a dozen games between them and another Dozen from the bench......Why not bring one established player in is all i am asking

Tuchall brought Saka, James and Stones to a month tournament pretty certain he never thought they would be crocks

9 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Why not bring one established player in is all i am asking

Yeh and you’ve had some reasoned responses, that offer you, and other posters reading, an alternative viewpoint.

A positive one that these players might do well with their contributions next season.

All about different views 👍

1 hour ago, Whitesince63 said:

To be fair though he was injured a bit last season but when he did play he was apparently pretty decent so I think we need to wait and see and hope our physios can keep him fitter? Maybe the PL was considered too much of a risk for Hull so it could turn out to be a cracking signing?

I agree with all that but at the same time given what you say re the injury record it has to represent a bit of a gamble. As you say let's see.

15 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Why not bring one established player in is all i am asking

Less work to do down the line. Toal, Forino (and Christie) out of contract next year. We now have strength in depth at central defence, something we definitely couldn't say last season.

I know this season and last are rather 'transitional' but we need to get out of the habit of signing 10 new players in summer and then another 5-7 in January. A lot of that is down to the short-term strategy of loaning players but there are obvious upsides as in the case of ACD and Kenny when they're clearly above the level.

Edited Saturday at 12:495 days by jmjhb

We dont really know much about our signings , ability , fitness levels , performances etc , and wont do until we see them play . We are speculating on each others speculations as thats all that weve got for now . (Nothing wrong with that) .

Are we going for quantity over quality ? Hopefully a mixture of both but we wont no until the window shuts .

However I would say getting 4 in before we are back in training is pretty positive.

3 hours ago, only1swanny said:

Gotta assume he's got faith in some of the younger players like inwood, temple etc..

Either that or he's started at the back and building experience first. Confident defence breeds a confident team n all that

More chance of you playing

Thing people need to realise is that if Ben or Famewo HAD played more games last season, they'd be out of our budget and they probably wouldn't sign for us anyway.

If you want even an average Championship centre back, who's under 30 and played most of last season as first choice, you're probably looking at someone like Jordan Storey at PNE, fair enough that'll be £5 million and tbh he probably wouldn’t sign.

With Ben or Famewo, we have the chance to get 2, if they can stay fit, top end Championship centre backs.

I take that gamble 10/10 times and spend whatever the budget is elsewhere.

8 hours ago, bwfc4ife said:

I think we defo need at least 1 more centre half, toal won’t be up to it for me and is injured a lot too, especially if this new lad is the starting left back. Not sure about this Stephenson, from what I’ve been able to gather from him whilst a good prospect no doubt, looks lacking in physicality and pace compared to tutu so possibly a step backwards there. Hopefully a better defender.

FWIW, I think we might have a good shout of getting Kenny and ACD back. If ACD goes to the championship I think it’ll be with us. I genuinely think he’d choose to come here. Both probably not likely until after their respective pre-season tours when both teams have had a good look at them.

We’d then just need a couple of backup wingers then with pace and strength, CBT for example albeit ideally lads that aren’t sicknotes. Our team was lacking a lot of height and strength last year which I think we’ll need next season.

The talk about Bonham, he’s a massive liability for me.

Conway simply not good enough. He wasn’t anywhere near good enough last year, cost us countless times so other than the academy connection I’ve no idea why everyone’s so bothered about that. All this talk about his ability and getting forward, 2 assists in 41 appearances. Must’ve conceded at least 10 goals due his poor defending

Nice to see such a tremendously positive post.

Have you ever considered a role at a hospice? 😀

I don't understand the comment about Stephenson lacking physicality

1 minute ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I don't understand the comment about Stephenson lacking physicality

Especially compared to Tutu

32 minutes ago, Zog1 said:

Thing people need to realise is that if Ben or Famewo HAD played more games last season, they'd be out of our budget and they probably wouldn't sign for us anyway.

If you want even an average Championship centre back, who's under 30 and played most of last season as first choice, you're probably looking at someone like Jordan Storey at PNE, fair enough that'll be £5 million and tbh he probably wouldn’t sign.

With Ben or Famewo, we have the chance to get 2, if they can stay fit, top end Championship centre backs.

I take that gamble 10/10 times and spend whatever the budget is elsewhere.

Very good point and very good post 👏

Nobody knows, we could uncover a rough diamond that will serve us well for years.

My dad never gave Peter Nicholson the lickings of a dog, worst player he'd ever seen, yet that lad went with us from the 3rd Division to the top division and hardly missed a game.