Watching rumours grow during the window

2 minutes ago, Cheese said:

When was the last time you were blown away by a new recruit? I'm guessing it's a very long time ago.

Collins was pretty exciting, was current League One player of the season and seemed like the type of player we needed.

Trafford back on loan for the second season was a rather pleasant surprise. 😎👍

I am pretty chubby so not easily blown away

Yeah, blown away is more like signing a player you thought was out of our reach or someone you never heard of turning out to be a bit special.

37 minutes ago, kent_white said:

I'm not being negative though. I'm right.

Well your opinionated for sure , doesn’t make you right though

Dean signing today apparently. from his uncle via text to my BIL.

2 hours ago, Chrisj said:

Kenny or Dean will sign it’s Gent playing silly beggars no way is he going for 3.5 million I’d rather spend 2 mil on Kenny than Dean.

The problem is with inflated fees, Kenny’s £2m is now also £3.5m

Ultimately if we want quality, we have to shell out. If we want to do this season on a shoe string, we’ll get relegated

3 hours ago, Ratwhite said:

Hardly pricing him out of a move.

£3.5m is buttons in championship now.

Unfortunately not to us. The reality is, we have to survive a season, then build again.

Best analogy of our position i can think of is weirdlyrugby league. First season a team gets into the Super League, they just have to avoid relegation. That's we're I see us being.

Just have to finish above three other teams.

It might be buttons for a proven championship player, not for a proven L2 striker. We're mugs if we over spend on an unknown quantity. If he had Hardie's scoring record we'd be talking £5mil if the starting point is £3.5mil and plenty aren't convinced Hardie will start games.

2 hours ago, Take Hunt Off said:

Our back line is better , midfield is no worse barring injury & suspensions ,

And we will strengthen up front before window close so stop being so negative ffs

My view.

We're stronger in defence, have more midfielders, and have more wingers of our own.

Of course we're still light up top, but that's changing too.

Midday.

Boooooooooo

Clearly the loss of RR and Simons is a big factor in us going into this month's games looking well short, when added to the shortages out wide / up front.

It's also hard to judge which, if any, of the new lads will be upgrades on what we've let go and hack it in Championship, until they've actually come up against such opponents at least 3 or 4 times.

As things stand today though, on the eve of our first game, we look some way short of a squad that will take points off even those in the bottom third. Any sort of positive result tomorrow, whether by way of an OG, a blunder, a dodgy pen or whatever, will be a big bonus

51 minutes ago, Cheese said:

When was the last time you were blown away by a new recruit? I'm guessing it's a very long time ago.

ACD last season

CBT before he got injured

New signings have all been a bit meh for me so far. But clearly a long way to go - and a lot of room for improvement.

Wasn't blown away by ACD, as I'd never heard of him. Only once he started did we think "wow".

In fact his record at Blackburn suggested he was far from someone who would blow me away.

33 minutes ago, Take Hunt Off said:

Well your opinionated for sure , doesn’t make you right though

Why are you being so adversarial? 😁

I have an opinion. I'm not sure that makes me 'opinionated'

On paper - I think the squad we had in February beats the one I've seen in (admittedly pre season) this term.

I don't understand why that is so controversial?

I'm not threatening to rip up my season ticket or anything - I just think we've got a long way to go in the next couple of weeks. If we managed to get Kenny and ACD back - I'd say we were about at parity or perhaps slightly ahead.

And we probably need to be considerably ahead.

1 hour ago, desperado said:

Stephenson > Tutu

Famewo > Conway/Johnston

Davies > Johnston

Brunt > quite a lot of last years back line

Dong = Cissoko

Hardie = Kenny

larra > Apter

Hard to know or prove.

But how is that a happy clappy/unreasonable perspective to disprove/argue that this squad looks better than Februarys?

This is where I'm at..

Hardie is a huge coup for us, before his injury, 2 seasons with double figures in the Championship..

Seems to be a love in for Tutu atm, you only have to go back to April on here and people were slating him.

Johnson OR Forino OR Toal has to go, the defence wasn't working, so first out of contract went..

Dong needs time to settle and being judged as a non native speaker in his first few weeks.

Apter.. oh my..

Not necessarily blown away but as a statement signing for the level, probably Erhahon. It was seen as a coup especially in L1 & SS’s big summer signing for his new rebuild. He was seen as a standout midfielder in our division who’d been constantly linked to the championship & had everybody who watches the EFL saying what a great signing it was. Obviously in hindsight he’s had streaky fitness issues but hopefully a big season for him when he gets up to speed.

Anelka

8 minutes ago, DLH said:

Anelka

Has he signed .

He was mentioned on another thread but I remember when an ageing Gary O’Neil came in and showed quality the like of which we hadn’t seen for a good while.

The see-saw of how people rate Hardie vs Kenny is giving me whiplash. If we'd signed JK last week I doubt anyone would be saying he was equal to Hardie.

The fact we're still seemingly keen on Kenny and/or Max Dean tells you that Hardie isn't expected to be our main striker. Obviously things can and will change, but on paper if you were comparing him to a player from last season's squad, he's more like a replacement for Mason Burstow (won't start to begin with, can play all along the front line).

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by Tombwfc

Hearing Sam Edozie, from Southampton is the winger...

46 minutes ago, kent_white said:

Why are you being so adversarial? 😁

I have an opinion. I'm not sure that makes me 'opinionated'

On paper - I think the squad we had in February beats the one I've seen in (admittedly pre season) this term.

I don't understand why that is so controversial?

I'm not threatening to rip up my season ticket or anything - I just think we've got a long way to go in the next couple of weeks. If we managed to get Kenny and ACD back - I'd say we were about at parity or perhaps slightly ahead.

And we probably need to be considerably ahead.

More observational than adversarial I reckon but heyho it’s a broad church & we all want the same outcome, survival in the championship

COYWM !

21 minutes ago, Traf said:

Hearing Sam Edozie, from Southampton is the winger...

Was on loan in Belgium a couple years ago. Fergals had his eye on him.

At face value, je looks a good player and I'll be pleased if we bring him in

He does seeem to be right-footed though, so I'd guess we're still looking for a left winger as well

That also pleases me

1 hour ago, Bertie said:

Midday.

Boooooooooo

Tbf that is the time for us to sign someone

We get a bit longer for our media team to produce the latest clever video.

1 hour ago, Bertie said:

Midday.

Boooooooooo

Still holding out for a Friday 5pm announcement