[Archived] Sam's January Targets

[4ever&ever]

I'm not too dissapointed that we didn't bring anyone else in tbh.

I'd have liked Beattie but the truth is that we are prob gonna be playing 4-5-1 for the rest of the season anyway so a striker less isn't too much of a burden, hopefully the wages can be put towards the summer budget.

However if that money isn't used in the summer to bring in a quality striker then serious questions have to be asked.

I'd also offer Pedersen a new contract as we wouldn't get anyone to replace him, when he plays well we play well. Can we still sign someone on loan or is only free agents that can be brought in?

[bluebruce]

STRIKER SHORTAGE...let's be fair...you wanted a striker and didn't get one...no cheap make-up, spin or propaganda takes away from that fact...you are a striker short and a midfielder short unless Basturk can roll back the years in a hurry...I have my doubts...so it was a poor window, no point in saying otherwise.

Striker, yes. But how on earth are we short a midfielder due to the window? Sorry Nicko but that's BS. We only sold Treacy didn't we? Who wasn't remotely wanted and was being loaned out as often as possible. And we SIGNED TWO!

[alexanders]

I would love Nonda.

Dont know how he has been doing lately, but he was useful to our squad back in the days !

[nicko]

Striker, yes. But how on earth are we short a midfielder due to the window? Sorry Nicko but that's BS. We only sold Treacy didn't we? Who wasn't remotely wanted and was being loaned out as often as possible. And we SIGNED TWO!

You brought in Linganzi, who is not expected to play immediately, and Basturk, who has not been playing reguarly for a couple of years or so.

You needed a class midfield operator...your choice is virtually the same as it was in the first half of the season.

The kid Nzonzi is a find but is being asked to play too much, you had Emerton and Pedersen in central midfield too often recently and the options are Andrews, Diouf and the rarely-fit Andrews and Grella. I count Dunny as a 'support striker' these days.

I don't even consider Treacy in any equation.

[Kelbo]

Actually in addition to the last point - are there any free transfer strikers lying around the place? I imagine that is where we will be looking now.

We cant sign free transfers out of the window, we can only sign players not contracted to other clubs!

Well thats my interpretation of things anyway!!

[LeChuck]

We cant sign free transfers out of the window, we can only sign players not contracted to other clubs!

Well thats my interpretation of things anyway!!

That is correct, although I think Joey meant strikers not contracted to clubs at the moment. Someone posted a list a few pages back and it wasn't very appealing.

I don't see the point on getting a free transfer for the sake of it at the moment. If one of our strikers picks up a long term injury then maybe we can have a look, but what's the point in paying someone to sit on the bench when Di Santo and Roberts are already there?

Edit: here's the list. Derlei would be okay.

[Gav]

Missing out on Moses for £2.5m really irritates me.

We don't have 2.5m to spend on potential.

[Silencio]

You brought in Linganzi, who is not expected to play immediately, and Basturk, who has not been playing reguarly for a couple of years or so.

You needed a class midfield operator...your choice is virtually the same as it was in the first half of the season.

The kid Nzonzi is a find but is being asked to play too much, you had Emerton and Pedersen in central midfield too often recently and the options are Andrews, Diouf and the rarely-fit Andrews and Grella. I count Dunny as a 'support striker' these days.

I don't even consider Treacy in any equation.

Your right there. There was no need to go for any strikers this window. The priority should have been finding a central midfielder of better quality than what we already have. Yet again we haven't done it and we have needed to to it since Savage broke his leg three years ago.

Finding a striker should have been the second priority. We'll just have to hope the club sorts the midfield out in the summer.

[bluebruce]

You brought in Linganzi, who is not expected to play immediately, and Basturk, who has not been playing reguarly for a couple of years or so.

You needed a class midfield operator...your choice is virtually the same as it was in the first half of the season.

The kid Nzonzi is a find but is being asked to play too much, you had Emerton and Pedersen in central midfield too often recently and the options are Andrews, Diouf and the rarely-fit Andrews and Grella. I count Dunny as a 'support striker' these days.

I don't even consider Treacy in any equation.

Absolutely none of which explains how we are DOWN a midfielder though. Is it a bit of a general problem? Arguably, but it has been for about four seasons or more really. We still have rather a lot of central mids, too many in fact. Yes, some are injury prone, and some others are cack, but no matter how you spin it you can't say this window has made us short a midfielder- we are exactly how we were before. In fact we MIGHT end up better off, by bringing in the two newbies. We might not, but we might. So if anything, we're potentially better off, and at worst, no worse off. And that's even after remembering the other non-entity we have dispensed with in midfield (Van Heerden).

[alexanders]

Not many proper midfielders have been available. We could've and maybe did try for Eguren, but no one else.

[G Somerset Rover]

Nonda bagged 37 goals in 48 games for Gala according to Wiki - that's some record.

Could be an option although I wasn't overwhelmed by him last time. Also heard a couple of funny stories about the lad's time here which would probably mean that we won't go back in for him.

[Kelbo]

Absolutely none of which explains how we are DOWN a midfielder though. Is it a bit of a general problem? Arguably, but it has been for about four seasons or more really. We still have rather a lot of central mids, too many in fact. Yes, some are injury prone, and some others are cack, but no matter how you spin it you can't say this window has made us short a midfielder- we are exactly how we were before. In fact we MIGHT end up better off, by bringing in the two newbies. We might not, but we might. So if anything, we're potentially better off, and at worst, no worse off. And that's even after remembering the other non-entity we have dispensed with in midfield (Van Heerden).

Not forgetting, I think we can recall any midfielders we have on loan if we were in the mire!!

[bluebruce]

We don't have 2.5m to spend on potential.

Well, we did have 2.5m to spend. I'd argue we didn't have it to spend on somebody who MIGHT give us a solid but not exceptional season, two at the absolute most, before being worth sweet F.A. and still draining heavy wages. I'd have much sooner spent that on potential, when we are neither going to go down nor challenge for Europe. Look long-term. The club either does that or it sinks, because we can't buy a horde of has-beens every friggin year.

[den]

Not many proper midfielders have been available.

Not getting involved with all this again, but it's a pretty wideheld belief that no decent strikers were available either.

How do you know that Alexanders?

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

We don't have 2.5m to spend on potential.

Why not?

The board alledgedlly will release funds for such players (with high potential sell on (eg Adam Johnson). Here was a relatively cheap one.

Let's not forget we haven't replaced Derbyshire yet, for whom we got a similar fee.

Or would you propose paying £2-£3 million on a 29-30 year old journey man on higher wages with little or no sell on.

Which one is the gamble?

Oi! It wasn't meant to sound daft! Just an example of lateral thinking.

[mickbrown]

If Mido is willing to take 1k a week he will be motivated. On his day he is a good player. Certainly more potential reward than potential risk for West Ham.

ps. The brazillian who we were looking at is now probs not needed by West Ham, plus he is a free agent so can sign post window. Any chance we will go back in

EDIT - Wham signed him anyway! Christ is that seven strikers at the Boelyn?

7 strikers at West Ham but 2 are kids, so really we only have 5 and out of that Franco is out for a while. So that makes 4 and 1 of them is Mido so in reality that leaves only 3 strikers !

[bluebruce]

Nonda bagged 37 goals in 48 games for Gala according to Wiki - that's some record.

Could be an option although I wasn't overwhelmed by him last time. Also heard a couple of funny stories about the lad's time here which would probably mean that we won't go back in for him.

To be honest, I laughed and then shivered when somebody initially raised the prospect of signing him after his contract expired. Then I checked his wiki profile for his Gala record (which oddly I remember as having said about 27 goals in 48 games...has somebody been tinkering? Does somebody else have a more reliable stats base for this?) and thought it didn't look SO bad, but it was an easy league of course and he's maybe a bit over the hill (get it?). But now we haven't signed anybody at all...well I wouldn't be moaning if we took him on a pay-as-you-play as emergency backup til the summer. He seemed to enjoy his time here, and wanted to sign permanently, so perhaps he would even agree to that kind of deal. A very "Sam" kind of striker in many ways. Granted that might mean a resort to hoofball, but we're doing that anyway, so we could at least do it with someone who can...

...by the same token, I won't be bothered if we don't even give him a second glance either!

[alexanders]

Okey Den. Maybe I shouldnt be so bombastic, but as I said about strikers. Not many clubs are willing to sell/loan out players who are good enough for their team in the middle of the season.

The only possibility is out of favour players ie Bastürk, Eguren, Hitzlsperger or young players searching for first team action (Wilshere) or paying way over their value (£5m) stephen hunt.

I am happy we got rid of Benni and we didnt put any oldones on our wagelist. Maybe I am to optimistic, but this is how I see it.

[LeChuck]

Not getting involved with all this again, but it's a pretty wideheld belief that no decent strikers were available either.

How do you know that Alexanders?

If they were then they seemed to evade every other Premier League team as well. Honestly, there hasn't been a striker signing made by a PL team that has left me thinking "I wish we'd signed him instead".

January is notoriously difficult for signing players, clubs are far less willing to deal than in the summer.

[unluckymorton]

ROBBIE KEANE...is costing Celtic £105,000-a-week for the rest of the season...their money man Dermot Desmond thinks it is worth it and has the money...he blew away David Sullivan and West Ham...Rovers could not even have come close and frankly he would not have made THAT much of a difference to your final league position and prize money which is all you are playing for right now.

STRIKER SHORTAGE...let's be fair...you wanted a striker and didn't get one...no cheap make-up, spin or propaganda takes away from that fact...you are a striker short and a midfielder short unless Basturk can roll back the years in a hurry...I have my doubts...so it was a poor window, no point in saying otherwise.

MIDO...a waste of money even at £1,000-a-week.

A poor window for the press?

Rovers signed 2 more players that originally planned, one young promising player and one player who has vast experience to add to our midfield.

Not a bad transfer window for the Rovers getting rid of Big Mac from our wage bill and putting a few quid in the coffers for the summer.With no decent options for adding to our strike force Rovers have decided to wait a few months and use our current 4 strikers. Good decision not to panic buy (see Mido, Benjani & Big Mac).

Hopefully the interest in the likes of Treacy will grow over the remainder of the season and a couple of deals can be done in the closed season period to lighten our wage bill so we can plan for the future.

[den]

If they were then they seemed to evade every other Premier League team as well. Honestly, there hasn't been a striker signing made by a PL team that has left me thinking "I wish we'd signed him instead".

Every PL team weren't looking for strikers LeChuck.

I think the reality was that we hadn't done our homework properly. We appeared to pretty well sit back and wait to see what was available from the remnants of other clubs dealing.

In fact Sam said as much prior to the window opening. He said something along the lines of us being interested in a list of players, but inevitably we would be left to choose from the bottom of the list when everyone else had their deals sorted.

So why not look elsewhere? The world is a small place in footballing terms.

[thenodrog]

7 strikers at West Ham but 2 are kids, so really we only have 5 and out of that Franco is out for a while. So that makes 4 and 1 of them is Mido so in reality that leaves only 3 strikers !

Right. So how much are those 'three' costing then in wages. About 200,000 pw I'd guesss. Or about 60% of your gate receipts.

Do you lot ever stop to think how you got in such a mess to begin with or is that all forgotten now?

For what it's worth even you must be ready to admit that it would have been cleaner and better all round if you'd had points deducted when you cheated Sheff Utd out of the Prem.

If they were then they seemed to evade every other Premier League team as well. Honestly, there hasn't been a striker signing made by a PL team that has left me thinking "I wish we'd signed him instead".

January is notoriously difficult for signing players, clubs are far less willing to deal than in the summer.

Indeed. Greed, avarice with a huge dollop of blackmail being fuelled by desperation. Not pretty.

[Gav]

Well, we did have 2.5m to spend. I'd argue we didn't have it to spend on somebody who MIGHT give us a solid but not exceptional season, two at the absolute most, before being worth sweet F.A. and still draining heavy wages. I'd have much sooner spent that on potential, when we are neither going to go down nor challenge for Europe. Look long-term. The club either does that or it sinks, because we can't buy a horde of has-beens every friggin year.

Don’t really disagree with the sentiment, but 2.5 million is now major cash for us and spending it on potential isn’t really an option unless you can almost guarantee a return.

You only need look at the clubs that tried for Moses to understand he’s not really rated by many.

[unluckymorton]

Every PL team weren't looking for strikers LeChuck.

I think the reality was that we hadn't done our homework properly. We appeared to pretty well sit back and wait to see what was available from the remnants of other clubs dealing.

So list the strikers that we could realistically have tempted to Ewood whilst paying ridiculously low fee's to their respective clubs?

We are in an unfortunate position where we can only 'pick from remnants' and look at fringe players of other squads, that's the way it is, we are not prepared to get ourselves in the position of Pompey, Hull who not so long ago were very close to administration or West Ham who were trying to sign every striker available. Lets keep the club ticking over soundly and let Sam get on with the LONG process of rebuilding our club.

We are taking the sensible approach, other clubs are getting themselves in huge debt hoping things will come good. I'd rather we were in control of our own destiny rather than banks and administrators stepping in.

What have Pompey got out of going crazy spending money they don't have? An FA Cup and possible closure of the club. Hull have overspent and are now languishing at the foot of the table, Sunderland have spent masses of cash and where has that got them? We should be proud that our club is self sufficient and is being run extremely well by a board who care about the well-being of the club, and it's fans.

[bluebruce]

Don’t really disagree with the sentiment, but 2.5 million is now major cash for us and spending it on potential isn’t really an option unless you can almost guarantee a return.

You only need look at the clubs that tried for Moses to understand he’s not really rated by many.

Ok but your preferred option is...?