Summer Transfer Window

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

28 minutes ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

This is effing pathetic as things stand. We're about to start the season with a 3rd rate defence, an area that has not been worked on for at least 2 seasons. Tosin and Cunningham were quick fixes that worked but have gone back to their clubs leaving us with no planning about what happens next. Sure, names have been mentioned, like Schmidt, Kipre, maybe even Hanley but we can all sit around and mention names here. Apart from Kipre there has been no action to solve issues that have not been resolved for some time.

And just like other seasons we went after the unrealistic option in Kipre and then seem surprised we got turned down 

[Blueandwhitemike]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

The notion of Hanley coming back is fanciful and I think tinged with sentiment. I remember him as an average player but headstrong and far too error prone. Why would he (or anybody) take a huge pay cut? Also what about Mowbrays footballing centre half philosophy? With Lenihan and Hanley together the ball would spend more time in the Riverside or JW Lower.

You may be right about the wages but to me part of the perception of Hanley is due to the fact he was a young player coming through that did make mistakes however by the time he left us I felt he had matured into an excellent centre back and one of the best in the Championship.  More concerning is his injury record but I would hope if we do try and get him that we would have investigated that.  If he's on 25k a week he might be amenable to lower wages with a longer contract or possibly Norwich might loan him and make a 5-10k contribution to his wage rather than have to pay all of it when he is not in their first team plans.  All speculation of course but we do need a couple of top quality defenders.

[EgyptianPete]

1 minute ago, Blueandwhitemike said:

You may be right about the wages but to me part of the perception of Hanley is due to the fact he was a young player coming through that did make mistakes however by the time he left us I felt he had matured into an excellent centre back and one of the best in the Championship.  More concerning is his injury record but I would hope if we do try and get him that we would have investigated that.  If he's on 25k a week he might be amenable to lower wages with a longer contract or possibly Norwich might loan him and make a 5-10k contribution to his wage rather than have to pay all of it when he is not in their first team plans.  All speculation of course but we do need a couple of top quality defenders.

Well at least one good post from what two pages of undermining Hanleys ability, he's much better by far than anything we have right now, it's like you all know what he's done every dam game for Norwich, but hey forget his player of the seaon, he must have got that because hes the managers pet, total rubbish from some posters, again no benifit of the doubt, i hope kaminski dosent make ONE mistake, he will be slautered on here. 

[SBlue]

Agreed - Hanley getting some ridiculous pelters here.

If he’s fit, he’d be our best defender.

I always thought when asked he could move the ball around pretty well, and certainly travel with it.

He’s a bit like Harry Maguire - he just gives off the illusion of being a donkey.

[skous18]

Genuine question:

Do you guys think our team as individuals is better than the League 1 squad? 

Back then we had Mulgrew, Downing, Graham, Raya and Antonsson

Since then we ve singed and are left with Bell, Brereton, Gallagher, Johnson and Rothwell (And the New goalie)

[Admiral Nelsen]

1 minute ago, skous18 said:

Genuine question:

Do you guys think our team as individuals is better than the League 1 squad? 

Back then we had Mulgrew, Downing, Graham, Raya and Antonsson

Since then we ve singed and are left with Bell, Brereton, Gallagher, Johnson and Rothwell (And the New goalie)

I think we are to be honest. I know Gally for instance gets quite a bit of stick on here (or Mowbray for playing him wide) but if he was in the L1 team in the Antonsson role, he would've impossible to deal with at that level. 

[rigger]

5 minutes ago, skous18 said:

Genuine question:

Do you guys think our team as individuals is better than the League 1 squad? 

Back then we had Mulgrew, Downing, Graham, Raya and Antonsson

Since then we ve singed and are left with Bell, Brereton, Gallagher, Johnson and Rothwell (And the New goalie)

Yes

[Sparks Rover]

52 minutes ago, LDRover said:

To be fair the bodywork has taken a pounding over the past few years and he's never had a good engine.

More of a hearse I'd say.

[skous18]

4 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

I think we are to be honest. I know Gally for instance gets quite a bit of stick on here (or Mowbray for playing him wide) but if he was in the L1 team in the Antonsson role, he would've impossible to deal with at that level. 

Yeah, Gallagher would have probably done better than Antonsson, do you think he would have done better than Graham thou? 
I dont know, it feels like we are a better team now and yet every single transfer windows since we got away from league 1 has been a failure 

[G Somerset Rover]

12 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

I think we are to be honest. I know Gally for instance gets quite a bit of stick on here (or Mowbray for playing him wide) but if he was in the L1 team in the Antonsson role, he would've impossible to deal with at that level. 

He wouldn’t have bagged more than 10-12 even in league one. Finishing of Jason Roberts on a bad day. 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[tomphil]

10 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I would definitely be happy if Hanley came back. Not perfect but a very good defender at this level and a leader.

That said there is absolutely nothing I have seen on this thread that suggests he is coming back unless I missed something.

He gets linked every window.

[Ossydave]

21 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Agreed - Hanley getting some ridiculous pelters here.

If he’s fit, he’d be our best defender.

I always thought when asked he could move the ball around pretty well, and certainly travel with it.

He’s a bit like Harry Maguire - he just gives off the illusion of being a donkey.

The if he's fit part is the biggest issue though, and the reason I'm not keen - although he's better than bloody nothing.

[Admiral Nelsen]

12 minutes ago, skous18 said:

Yeah, Gallagher would have probably done better than Antonsson, do you think he would have done better than Graham thou? 
I dont know, it feels like we are a better team now and yet every single transfer windows since we got away from league 1 has been a failure 

No, you're right there. Graham still being somewhere near his best for the L1 season was huge.

Equally though, whilst we've lost Graham, Armstrong is clearly a miles better player than he was in the L1 spell. Mulgrew didn't get worse in the Championship either, he was just doing a lot more defending against better teams.

I'd agree that our transfer dealings have been patchy and often quite drawn out like this one, but I wouldn't say they've all been a failure. Sometimes we've been a bit too short term, like with Downing or the loans last year, or a bit unlucky like with Cunningham. Other times we've just overpaid or signed players which haven't improved us - so there are plenty of areas for criticism, but at the same time there have been some decent captures too. 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Admiral Nelsen

[islander200]

48 minutes ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

And just like other seasons we went after the unrealistic option in Kipre and then seem surprised we got turned down 

Kipre wasn't that unrealistic to be fair.We missed out due to the fact West Brom couldn't get their first choice in, Duffy fecked us over again .If Duffy had agreed to join West Brom then they wouldn't have signed Kipre, no other reason for them to sign Kipre as late as they did other than missing out on other targets

[blue_n_white99]

Why did we not have a go at getting Alfie Mawson from Fulham? At his peak he is a terrific CB and possesses all the attributes Mogga demands, fell ouit of favour at Fulham and currently looks to be on his way to Bristol City, so you would think we could compete on terms etc.

I understand he's not played much recently but that is probably him not getting on with Scott Parker, certainly a higher standard than what we have.

 

[Sparks Rover]

3 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Kipre wasn't that unrealistic to be fair.We missed out due to the fact West Brom couldn't get their first choice in, Duffy fecked us over again .If Duffy had agreed to join West Brom then they wouldn't have signed Kipre, no other reason for them to sign Kipre as late as they did other than missing out on other targets

Id have kipre in front of duffy anytime

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, Sparks Rover said:

Id have kipre in front of duffy anytime

If they were both playing for us you'd have to have Kipre marking Duffy. You know what he's like....

[Admiral Nelsen]

17 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

He wouldn’t have bagged more than 10-12 even in league one. Finishing of Jason Roberts on a bad day. 

 

His first touch tends to be really poor (the worst facet of his game for me) but I think his finishing is really confidence driven. The goal against Wolves & his second vs PNE were both astonishing finishes, I just don't think it takes that much for him to lose his mojo.

 

I think if he got on a roll at a lower level he would be unplayable, but obviously that doesn't mean that he was £5 million well spent now we're in the Championship!

[bluebruce]

33 minutes ago, skous18 said:

Yeah, Gallagher would have probably done better than Antonsson, do you think he would have done better than Graham thou? 
I dont know, it feels like we are a better team now and yet every single transfer windows since we got away from league 1 has been a failure 

Several of our players have improved a fair bit since then as they were young, including players breaking through from our academy. Travis wasn't a feature then and he is far better than Smallwood.

[tomphil]

25 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

The if he's fit part is the biggest issue though, and the reason I'm not keen - although he's better than bloody nothing.

This is where we are at and if we had a solid center defense most wouldn't have him near the place. Sadly needs must and he might be in the same boat.

A loan might be best all round.

[arbitro]

57 minutes ago, Blueandwhitemike said:

You may be right about the wages but to me part of the perception of Hanley is due to the fact he was a young player coming through that did make mistakes however by the time he left us I felt he had matured into an excellent centre back and one of the best in the Championship.  More concerning is his injury record but I would hope if we do try and get him that we would have investigated that.  If he's on 25k a week he might be amenable to lower wages with a longer contract or possibly Norwich might loan him and make a 5-10k contribution to his wage rather than have to pay all of it when he is not in their first team plans.  All speculation of course but we do need a couple of top quality defenders.

On the few occasions I saw him for Newcastle and Norwich he didn't appear to have kicked on and still looked like he had errors in him, albeit against a better quality opposition. In the five seasons since he left us he has played 66 league games, no doubt a chunk of them missed through injury but some were because he struggled for form. However it might come down to Hobsons Choice if the intended targets keep being missed.

[tomphil]

He's a bread and butter no nonsense defender at the end of the day, never shy in getting his nut on the ball at either end or putting a foot in. These types need blending in with a partnership so they can cover each others lapses a bit and i think that's always been a problem with him. Always seemed to play for himself by his own rules and certainly at Rovers whenever we conceded and his was at fault he blamed everybody else.

I think that's why he'll never kick on at a higher level but midtable championship to upper end he should be comfortable enough.

[K-Hod]

2 hours ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Possibly, but not to Mogga. Grant's not going to be handing out Lemon Drizzle Cake at Monday debriefs. 

He’d probably just hand it to himself.

[Iceman]

Squad is good enough to go up, but the style of play is going to cost us, no matter who we have in defence 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Iceman said:

Squad is good enough to go up, but the style of play is going to cost us, no matter who we have in defence 

Love that optimism, but I think that’s a massive statement to make. Attacks win you games, defences win you titles. And our current defence is relegation standard.