(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

If Santos goes our priorities may shift again. Terrell Agyemang loan from City has been mentioned as an energetic midfielder to complement Dempsey and perhaps push George Thomason out, but at L1 level Rico would be a big miss. However the money could finance both a CB and striker. Whatever happens, I reckon Evatt is looking way past the usual suspects and we may be in for a few surprises - that is providing Evatt himself stays of course.

6 hours ago, Eddie said:

Off-season’s shit isn’t it. Have we signed Saviola yet?

I remember the first time I thought we were proper big time - we were trying to sign Andy Johnson for £8m. Back in the days before constant updates from twitter etc., waiting to hear some rumour from somewhere or grab a UK newspaper on holiday to see whether he was going to come to us or Everton.

Crazy to think that was 16-17 years ago and now I’d be getting excited if we spent £800k on someone. Football’s mint.

I remember that well, exciting times!  Came to nought as usual.  But I remember the first time I thought we were back on the football map.  Reading in the Mirror that Bruce Rioch was interested in signing 2 players from Millwall.  One was Alex Rae - a decent player I'd actually heard of linked with us, and even reported in a national paper not just the BEN/MEN!  

That was the first time I'd even seen Bolton mentioned in a transfer gossip column, we'd just been promoted to the championship.  After that I was looking for snippets most days to see who we were linked with and another time I was in Scotland and read we were signing Owen Coyle for actual money.  This was a whole new world!

Nowadays I've virtually no interest in the "gossip" stuff because the first we tend to hear of a signing is when its announced and scarf is in hand, I've learned that everything else is mostly nonsense, nobody has a clue except IE etc.

3 hours ago, Zico said:

Brighton just finished 6th and got into Europe for the first time ever 

That was us 18 years ago 

That season Brighton finished 20th in the championship, top attendance was 6848 

 

Agree with your general point but perspective on their 6,848, that was basically the capacity of their temporary stadium, which was an athletics track.  It didn't even have permanent stands, just temporary seating around the athletics track.  Initial capacity 6k, gradually increased over a few years and they got a high of 8,700 for a cup game v City.

To be fair they should get good crowds, there's no other clubs near them.

31 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Agree with your general point but perspective on their 6,848, that was basically the capacity of their temporary stadium, which was an athletics track.  It didn't even have permanent stands, just temporary seating around the athletics track.  Initial capacity 6k, gradually increased over a few years and they got a high of 8,700 for a cup game v City.

To be fair they should get good crowds, there's no other clubs near them.

Yeah, but most blokes round there are into flower arranging and making Alaskan pipelines.

Edited June 1, 20233 yr by DazBob

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

Dion Charles would be a great signing for Wrexham.

Why he is Irish 

Not Welsh 

but £10k a week 

3 hours ago, Farrelli said:

1. He would love 1/2 players as they are better than what we have. I’m thinking Anderson, Cadden, Connell.

2. Not likely to a rival.

3. We need to spread our budget this Summer and improve 4/5 positions.

4. Sideways move so it would come down to other factors.

5. Bonus😀

That's assuming Evatt and his team agree with 1.

Barnsley have a few players who would strengthen us, there's no shame in admitting that.  They finished 5 points above us in the league after all is said and done.

Thing is, unless any of those are out of contract or Barnsley suddenly fall into financial difficulties, they're not going to be selling any of them to us unless we make a daft offer.  Now that Sheff Weds, Plymouth and Ipswich are out the way they'll be confident of automatic promotion next year, so to sell to a rival would be madness on their part.

 

Anyway, Miguel Veloso has just been spotted ordering a Whopper up at Migglebrook.

2 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Agree with your general point but perspective on their 6,848, that was basically the capacity of their temporary stadium, which was an athletics track.  It didn't even have permanent stands, just temporary seating around the athletics track.  Initial capacity 6k, gradually increased over a few years and they got a high of 8,700 for a cup game v City.

To be fair they should get good crowds, there's no other clubs near them.

How temporary was temporary? 

They averaged under 10k from 1986 to 2011 

When we moved in to the Reebok in the PL getting exactly 27,000 each week, they averaged 2,329 

Now they have something like 25k season ticket holders

7 minutes ago, Zico said:

How temporary was temporary? 

They averaged under 10k from 1986 to 2011 

When we moved in to the Reebok in the PL getting exactly 27,000 each week, they averaged 2,329 

Now they have something like 25k season ticket holders

To be clear I'm no apologist for Brighton 😁 But since you ask....

Left Goldstone Ground in 1997, so their last 10 or so years were poor crowds - along with most teams not in the top flight in that era.  

Then 2 years playing at Gillingham - which explains their 2k crowds - and moved to Withdean in 1999 for 12 years.

Between 1986 and 92 every season had an average of 8 or 9k at 2nd tier level, well above us at the time but we were generally a division below, they sank to Div 4 a few years after that and came within 1 game of going out of the league.  

Isted the keeper Barnsley had between the sticks just been released by Luton.. 

1 hour ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

That's assuming Evatt and his team agree with 1.

Well they finished above us and also defeated us in the play offs so they definitely have players that would strengthen us. 

7 hours ago, woolli said:

Ambition? Like Paul Mullins dropping from league one Cambridge to non league Wrexham?  You dont think it was the offer of 10 grand a week then?

There are lots of ways to classify ambition and he doesn’t seem to be doing too badly with his choices so far. 😉

28 minutes ago, Farrelli said:

Well they finished above us and also defeated us in the play offs so they definitely have players that would strengthen us. 

I agree and of their players I particularly liked Andersen and their midfielder Philips who both scores and creates. Either would improve us I think and since Barnsley’s position is to sell players to fund the club I should think they’d listen to offers for anyone? Not sure we could offer enough but you don’t know unless you ask? 😉

5 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

I agree and of their players I particularly liked Andersen and their midfielder Philips who both scores and creates. Either would improve us I think and since Barnsley’s position is to sell players to fund the club I should think they’d listen to offers for anyone? Not sure we could offer enough but you don’t know unless you ask? 😉

I don’t see any of their squad who’ll improve us significantly… in the games we’ve played them they’ve created little and bored the tits off me. 

Just noticed madine is out of contract !!

4 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I remember that well, exciting times!  Came to nought as usual.  But I remember the first time I thought we were back on the football map.  Reading in the Mirror that Bruce Rioch was interested in signing 2 players from Millwall.  One was Alex Rae - a decent player I'd actually heard of linked with us, and even reported in a national paper not just the BEN/MEN!  

That was the first time I'd even seen Bolton mentioned in a transfer gossip column, we'd just been promoted to the championship.  After that I was looking for snippets most days to see who we were linked with and another time I was in Scotland and read we were signing Owen Coyle for actual money.  This was a whole new world!

Nowadays I've virtually no interest in the "gossip" stuff because the first we tend to hear of a signing is when its announced and scarf is in hand, I've learned that everything else is mostly nonsense, nobody has a clue except IE etc.

Remember that, think the other lad was Etienne Verveer who never really did owt but sounded exotic at the time. 

59 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

I don’t see any of their squad who’ll improve us significantly… in the games we’ve played them they’ve created little and bored the tits off me. 

They could say the same about the Bolton squad then given how shit we played against them

10 minutes ago, RoadRunnerFan said:

Remember that, think the other lad was Etienne Verveer who never really did owt but sounded exotic at the time. 

Verveer was def linked...he played in the game when mcateer scored having run from half way

Another one was john mcglashan

4 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

They could say the same about the Bolton squad then given how shit we played against them

They could… however no contracted Bolton player gonna even consider signing for Barnsley. 

1 hour ago, Farrelli said:

Well they finished above us and also defeated us in the play offs so they definitely have players that would strengthen us. 

Maybe. Doesn't mean Evatt would agree.

Perhaps he prefers players with differing skills, or is setting his sights higher.

One thing is for sure, the difference between us was miniscule, and neither went up, so if we are taking things in a narrow minded, literal sense, we probably wouldn't go for any of them.

1 hour ago, Mounts Kipper said:

I don’t see any of their squad who’ll improve us significantly… in the games we’ve played them they’ve created little and bored the tits off me. 

The very point I'm making. Just picking an individual because they did well against us once or twice is a weak means of assessment.

Markham is far better than that, and his team will have identified weaknesses in our squad and will put together targets based on that. If that includes a Barnsley player, fine, but I wouldn't lose sleep if not.

We play a different way fundamentally, and I don't see IE moving away from that. He may introduce more pragmatism, but I don't see us getting it wide and crossing it at every opportunity. Admittedly, a crossing a bit more often might help, but he'll be assessing all such things.

New signings should be based on consistency of performance, maybe unglamorous but we have players who give us flashes of brilliance but are often  ineffective, most specifically our midfield. A team capable of smashing Plymouth but losing to Shrewsbury. I suppose players like Lee of whom when fit and ready was our best midfielder by a country mile. Furthermore am I the only one who are sick of the Barnsley mentions.

Imagine if after all this we go and sign devante cole in a swap deal with Dion Charles 

47 minutes ago, RoadRunnerFan said:

Remember that, think the other lad was Etienne Verveer who never really did owt but sounded exotic at the time. 

Well remembered!  Dutch midfielder, played at Burnden for Millwall and looked like a cross between Kluivert & Rijkarrd 😁 I was buzzing at the prospect of signing him but he hardly played after he left Millwall.

13 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Well remembered!  Dutch midfielder, played at Burnden for Millwall and looked like a cross between Kluivert & Rijkarrd 😁 I was buzzing at the prospect of signing him but he hardly played after he left Millwall.

Indeed. Though Rioch brought John McGinley ... ex Bury & Yeovil who was in Millwall reserves, and Leith Brannighan who also couldn't buy a game down at the Den.

Who knows if a time with is, under Rioch would have made it a different story.