January transfer window 2020

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, JoeH said:

Yup. It is certainly frustrating that almost all of TM's "long term" targets never end up playing at Ewood Park in blue and white. 99% of the time we get very left-field deals that actually cross the line. In Stewart Downing's case, a great piece of business, in Ben Brereton's case, a poor piece of business.

We've supposedly had interest in this Kamil Jozwiak at Lech Poznan for well over a year now. Well now he's had the season of his life in the Polish league and every Championship club under the sun is linked with him, as well as some interest from soon to be Premier League club Leeds United.

It's so frustrating to see us miss out on deals because we haven't been proactive enough. I don't think anyone was so gutted about missing out on Bauer that it made anyone lose sleep, but it is a trend that worries many, we can't lock down long term targets.

I think there's been a policy of throwing around some decent names and registering an interest knowing it's highly unlikely we'll get them.  Creates the scenario that we are actively chasing good targets whilst providing a bit of cloak and dagger to line up something else that might not be as interesting.

Also keeps your name in the hat should one of the big targets suddenly become available cheaper or drop his wage demands - then we might become genuinely interested.  

I think the Bauer farce kind of showed this up - sniffing around him for ages, finally becomes available so try and land him as cheap back up. He says no so tell everyone his wage demands are ridiculous whilst in reality you've now decided to put your money elsewhere. Then he signs for modest paying direct competition and blows your illusion out the water.

If there's a decent money deal to be done it'll always be done via one of the usual friends via friends route here imo.

Edited June 25, 2020 by tomphil

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Errr..... that wasn't me pontificating about Platt!

Don't know why it's tagged you, I just quoted the original post. Odd one.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

How do you know what our long term targets are? Just because you don’t read about it on twitter doesn’t mean the club have no interest. Gallagher sounds like he was a target over several windows and we got him (regardless of how that’s turned out).

I’m not sure any club in the Championship can confidently stride out and pick up every target they want. 

It's ironic that we eventually managed to sign Gallagher. He's one I would have been quite pleased to miss out on.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, neophox said:

Is Hayden Carter ahead of Tyler Magloire, Scott Wharton and Matty Platt? All are over 20 years of age.

I think it's seen that Wharton and Platt aren't going to be first team players here. One of them will be used at 23's level, the other will go or go on loan. Magloire and Carter are probably on similar levels, one will go on loan the other won't I suspect.

1 hour ago, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

How do you know what our long term targets are? Just because you don’t read about it on twitter doesn’t mean the club have no interest. Gallagher sounds like he was a target over several windows and we got him (regardless of how that’s turned out).

I’m not sure any club in the Championship can confidently stride out and pick up every target they want. 

I can't think of many long term targets that we HAVE managed to get. Harrison Reed was something Tony was desperate to get sorted again, didn't get that over the line. Sam Gallagher took two seasons to get sorter and by the time he came he'd lost any resemblance of touch.

We expressed interest in John McGinn after L1 promotion, he went to Villa because we weren't proactive enough, he was immense and they're a PL side now.

I mean even Curtis Jones who Mowbray has been interested in for well over a year, he's now deemed to good to come and play for us by Liverpool. 

We keep missing out on things and I don't think that's difficult to read. A lot of Championship clubs identify targets, then bring them in. We dither and it's frustrating.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, neophox said:

Is Hayden Carter ahead of Tyler Magloire, Scott Wharton and Matty Platt? All are over 20 years of age.

Doesn't young Grayson also play centre half ?

[Dreams of 1995]

Is it 100% confirmed Sam Hart cannot play for the Club under any circumstances? Given the current situation it is possible we may lose Bell / Williams overnight due to forced quarantine and Hart would need to step in. It may shed some light on why he was given another month. 

For all of those who are linking our transfer conundrum to Tony Mowbray - you're way off the mark. This is a problem which stems from the top. Ever since Venky's came we have had a reputation of being slow when it comes to transfers, which means sometimes agents, players & clubs go elsewhere.

Nothing will change whilst the attitude of our owners remains the same. 

[arbitro]

1 minute ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Is it 100% confirmed Sam Hart cannot play for the Club under any circumstances? Given the current situation it is possible we may lose Bell / Williams overnight due to forced quarantine and Hart would need to step in. It may shed some light on why he was given another month. 

For all of those who are linking our transfer conundrum to Tony Mowbray - you're way off the mark. This is a problem which stems from the top. Ever since Venky's came we have had a reputation of being slow when it comes to transfers, which means sometimes agents, players & clubs go elsewhere.

Nothing will change whilst the attitude of our owners remains the same. 

We were without Bell and Williams on Saturday and JRC played left back. Hart wasn't even on the bench. My belief is that it's Uncle Tony looking after one of his players again. Notionally that's fine but we are on the bones of our arse according to the recent communication.

[G Somerset Rover]

16 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It's ironic that we eventually managed to sign Gallagher. He's one I would have been quite pleased to miss out on.

Especially as a ruddy right winger. I called that one when TM wouldn’t stop sniffing around him. All ifs and buts, but imagine if we’d brought in some actual genuine quality out wide with that £5 million.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[rigger]

6 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Is it 100% confirmed Sam Hart cannot play for the Club under any circumstances? Given the current situation it is possible we may lose Bell / Williams overnight due to forced quarantine and Hart would need to step in. It may shed some light on why he was given another month. 

For all of those who are linking our transfer conundrum to Tony Mowbray - you're way off the mark. This is a problem which stems from the top. Ever since Venky's came we have had a reputation of being slow when it comes to transfers, which means sometimes agents, players & clubs go elsewhere.

Nothing will change whilst the attitude of our owners remains the same. 

I don’t get your first paragraph. You say 100% he cannot play, then say he could be called upon

[Ricky]

Just now, rigger said:

I don’t get your first paragraph. You say 100% he cannot play, then say he could be called upon

He said ‘is it’ not ‘it is’.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

It's pretty damning that Hart couldn't even get in the massed ranks of the bench warmers when both the recognised left backs were unavailable and a young utility player had to fill in there.

[Dreams of 1995]

8 minutes ago, arbitro said:

We were without Bell and Williams on Saturday and JRC played left back. Hart wasn't even on the bench. My belief is that it's Uncle Tony looking after one of his players again. Notionally that's fine but we are on the bones of our arse according to the recent communication.

That didn't even cross my mind before asking that question to be fair.

A very weird choice, given his position in the squad. I was trying to come up with some justification for it but there's no point trying to defend the indefensible. 

[Sparks Rover]

19 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It's pretty damning that Hart couldn't even get in the massed ranks of the bench warmers when both the recognised left backs were unavailable and a young utility player had to fill in there.

I've seen him plenty.  I can't understand why we even bought him. Very average, I'd go as far as saying he's not professional standard and i think he will end up down the conference.   

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Sparks Rover said:

I've seen him plenty.  I can't understand why we even bought him. Very average, I'd go as far as saying he's not professional standard and i think he will end up down the conference.   

I've only seen him once close up but like you I was amazed we'd signed him in the first place. A deeply average player.

[rigger]

43 minutes ago, Ricky said:

He said ‘is it’ not ‘it is’.

I stand corrected. Does anyone know if he can or cannot play, if required?

[Damien]

I think I read somewhere that he just wanted to keep the group together. I don’t think he kept them around to play. I know some of you will hate that and I understand why. However, I think it shows the class of the man to want to keep the squad together until the end of the season. 
I could imagine if some players had left before the conclusion of the season, it could adversely affect squad morale. 
Better to keep the group together and then say farewell properly. 
 

That’s my understanding of the situation.

[MarkBRFC]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

I think I read somewhere that he just wanted to keep the group together. I don’t think he kept them around to play. I know some of you will hate that and I understand why. However, I think it shows the class of the man to want to keep the squad together until the end of the season. 
I could imagine if some players had left before the conclusion of the season, it could adversely affect squad morale. 
Better to keep the group together and then say farewell properly. 
 

That’s my understanding of the situation.

That's what I originally thought too, and ordinarily I would have said fair enough, but when the club releases a statement a week or so prior guilt tripping fans into not asking for a refund because it would "threaten the existence" of the club, I can see why some are annoyed at the thought of paying Smallwood & Hart an extra months wages to do nothing, can you?

[Dreams of 1995]

11 minutes ago, Damien said:

I think I read somewhere that he just wanted to keep the group together. I don’t think he kept them around to play. I know some of you will hate that and I understand why. However, I think it shows the class of the man to want to keep the squad together until the end of the season. 
I could imagine if some players had left before the conclusion of the season, it could adversely affect squad morale. 
Better to keep the group together and then say farewell properly. 
 

That’s my understanding of the situation.

Sam Hart was out on loan though and has been since he came. He can't have spent much time with the squad at all.

I can understand Smallwood as I'd assume he's a pretty influential figure in the squad. Plus if the dreaded coronavirus does put a few of our players out Smallwood can easily step in and play.

[Mattyblue]

End of the day we are a professional club who exist to put a first team on a pitch to win football matches.

If the situation around eligibility is true, surely giving a contract to an employee that legally/per regulations is not allowed to perform his duties for the duration of said contract is a rather odd turn of events?

Edited June 25, 2020 by Mattyblue

[rickard]

I just read that Manure have the same issue with Alexis Sanchez. He's been called back but can't play since he's registered for a full season loan at Inter Milan, so it might be a universial issue here.  Still, Hart has shown absolutely nothing to earn a new contract/extension of his current.

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Damien said:

I think I read somewhere that he just wanted to keep the group together. I don’t think he kept them around to play. I know some of you will hate that and I understand why. However, I think it shows the class of the man to want to keep the squad together until the end of the season. 
I could imagine if some players had left before the conclusion of the season, it could adversely affect squad morale. 
Better to keep the group together and then say farewell properly. 
 

That’s my understanding of the situation.

I can understand the emotional side of wanting to keep the squad together, but the cost of keeping four or five players on the books for an extra month, costing the club upwards of £60,000/70,000, despite being awkward about ST refunds and guilting the fans about FFP, is a bit snide.

[K-Hod]

30 minutes ago, Damien said:

I think I read somewhere that he just wanted to keep the group together. I don’t think he kept them around to play. I know some of you will hate that and I understand why. However, I think it shows the class of the man to want to keep the squad together until the end of the season. 
I could imagine if some players had left before the conclusion of the season, it could adversely affect squad morale. 
Better to keep the group together and then say farewell properly. 
 

That’s my understanding of the situation.

That may be. But, if we are encouraging fans not to seek refunds, then we are paying squad fillers who probably won’t get on the pitch, whose contracts we won’t extend after the end of the season and who will most likely get no game time this season. 
Bizarre logic from the club.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

I think I read somewhere that he just wanted to keep the group together. I don’t think he kept them around to play. I know some of you will hate that and I understand why. However, I think it shows the class of the man to want to keep the squad together until the end of the season. 
I could imagine if some players had left before the conclusion of the season, it could adversely affect squad morale. 
Better to keep the group together and then say farewell properly. 
 

That’s my understanding of the situation.

I can think of a list of successful managers who wouldn't do it like that but first and foremost Mowbray is a players man.  

However there is a real danger that the situation extends itself and 'keeping morale up' ends in fresh deals for those he's keeping around. There is youth in the squad to cover positions so an opportunity to cut deadwood and save that money should betaken when it presents itself. Those few names mentioned are very unlikely to play any part this is a similar to the Gladwin situation without the injury. 

Looking after the boys but that's the way he works so that's the way it is.

Be very prepared though for a name on a free to pop up who might freshen the squad up a bit in summer only for us to be told there's no spare change in the pot to do it !

Edited June 25, 2020 by tomphil

[Hasta]

In a parallel dimension in 1992:-

"Sorry Alan. I know you're a good player and all, but the boys are really fond of David and, as we just got promoted, we want to keep the team morale intact"

[simongarnerisgod]

35 minutes ago, Hasta said:

In a parallel dimension in 1992:-

"Sorry Alan. I know you're a good player and all, but the boys are really fond of David and, as we just got promoted, we want to keep the team morale intact"

if we somehow manage to get promoted(highly unlikely but strangely possible)i hope uncle tony does`nt go to far on the sentiment front,can`t imagine any of the current squad bar lenihan and travis coping with top flight football?