That *was* the January Window

[G Somerset Rover]

Paul Mani talking negatively. All we need now is Chaddy to join in and then the end really will be nigh.

[tomphil]

38 minutes ago, J*B said:

I can't see how its fair enough really - we're swapping a player with Premier League experience that covers CB and RB for a League Two centre back that only plays CB.

It'll be cheaper.

[arbitro]

4 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Insinuating? Bloody obvious I'd say.

Not to me it wasn't. He won some great challenges on the ground and in the air. By implication you are accusing him of cheating.

[tomphil]

Indian delegation turn up - priciest loan set to go back.

Coincidence ?

[MarkBRFC]

Have to laugh at folk suggesting experienced keepers on loan or whatever,

Remember we're not in the results business here, they spent 800K on Leo, he will be our keeper for a good while yet, learning on the job hoping that he improves so they can make a bit of a profit on him later.

Nobody above JDT gives a damn that he is costing us a goal or 2 a game. All about development.

[martonrover]

26 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

Any calls for a loanee keeper are just as risky as working on set pieces and preventing crosses in and sticking with the Swede or Pears. 

 

Can't see us paying what you need to these days (monthly fee, prem wages) for a significantly better keeper (Hovrath) and can't see the benefit of gambling on a youngster who no doubt we'd have to play every game

Wahlstedt needs removing from the firing line for his own good and that of his team mates.

Hopefully, Pears will be back soon.

He’s not great, but certainly less of a liability than Wahlstedt, on current form.

If Pears is going to be out for a while longer, a loan keeper makes sense, or play Hilton, who couldn’t do any worse.

[tomphil]

As i said filling the squad with development players will lead to schoolboy football and errors more consistently than it'll lead to results.

That is what they are telling us to like or lump without actually saying it.

[G Somerset Rover]

3 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Have to laugh at folk suggesting experienced keepers on loan or whatever,

Remember we're not in the results business here, they spent 800K on Leo, he will be our keeper for a good while yet, learning on the job hoping that he improves so they can make a bit of a profit on him later.

Nobody above JDT gives a damn that he is costing us a goal or 2 a game. All about development.

Indeed. If the owners wanted to progress then they'd compensate the focus on youth with a few older heads. But they won't. 
The big question is who is advising them on the 'model'.

Edited January 2, 2024 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Mattyblue]

4 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Have to laugh at folk suggesting experienced keepers on loan or whatever,

Remember we're not in the results business here, they spent 800K on Leo, he will be our keeper for a good while yet, learning on the job hoping that he improves so they can make a bit of a profit on him later.

Nobody above JDT gives a damn that he is costing us a goal or 2 a game. All about development.

And as a bonus there’s another young-ish keeper about to return, signed up to a long term contract, so we can flog him too if he actually manages to stand in the middle of his goal in future.

[martonrover]

7 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Indian delegation turn up - priciest loan set to go back.

Coincidence ?

Sending a delegation sums up the arrogance of our owners.

It’s absolutely incredible that naive idiots still believe they are doing right by the club.

We need shot of them, even if it hurts us in the short term.

[alcd]

35 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Ideally they're sizing us up for a sale - but we all know they're seeing what else they can cut back on.

Absolutely baffling why they continue to hold onto the club.

If they sell the club they'll have to repay the loans that have financed the club and if they can't repay, the assets they're secured on in India will be taken. They are stuck between a rock - continuing losses - and a hard place - losing assets in India. It was only ever a matter of time before this happened. 

[wilsdenrover]

1 hour ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Need a goalkeeper before anything. With a half decent one, we'd probably have 5 or 6 more points on the board.

We’d have at least that many more with a decent striker too.

Is it too much to hope for one of each? (I’m well aware that it is)

[rovers11]

Hill is a good defender at this level so it's a blow to lose him. His form has not been great the last couple of games but he is a good defender. Apparently he's happy here so hopefully it's not the end of the matter. Would like us to try and sign him permanently in the summer if Carter is sold. 

We won't get a GK in this window. Pears will come back into the team once he's fit. He's poor but he's better than Leo imo. He was solid in the second half of last season and kept Kaminski out of the team, so he does have a bit more about him than Leo who is just simply useless.

We need to sell Wharton in the summer and re-invest in the squad. He's a fantastic player but he's also a luxury player and we'd be better off selling him and bringing in 3-4 experienced players. 

 

[wilsdenrover]

1 hour ago, J*B said:

They can't add any further cash into the club other than enough to cover the existing bills whilst under investigation by the Indian government. i.e. they can't send us money for transfers, but they can send us money to cover existing contracted obligations. 

They can only send us money for those reasons but what’s to stop us spending it on something else 🧐🤨

(I’m in no way being serious)

[jim mk2]

55 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Hill got beaten in the air by Eaves when it mattered. Looked great when he first came into the team but his form has dropped off along with the rest of the team. 

If you mean yesterday's match the first goal was all down to the goalkeeper

The second was an excellent cross and headed goal - sometime you have to give credit

[K-Hod]

2 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

Hill is a good defender at this level so it's a blow to lose him. His form has not been great the last couple of games but he is a good defender. Apparently he's happy here so hopefully it's not the end of the matter. Would like us to try and sign him permanently in the summer if Carter is sold. 

We won't get a GK in this window. Pears will come back into the team once he's fit. He's poor but he's better than Leo imo. He was solid in the second half of last season and kept Kaminski out of the team, so he does have a bit more about him than Leo who is just simply useless.

We need to sell Wharton in the summer and re-invest in the squad. He's a fantastic player but he's also a luxury player and we'd be better off selling him and bringing in 3-4 experienced players. 

 

Yeah, but history tells us we don’t even do that though.

[jim mk2]

49 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He cost us two goals yesterday - he was awful.

He was a really useful makeshift RB (albeit he didn't have the close control or passing to play there - the additional size he brought to the team was a big boon), but he's let us down at CB.

See my previous reply. He wasn't to blame to either

[RoverDom]

10 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Hopefully, Pears will be back soon.

What a difference 12 months makes. Imagine if someone had said that this time last year. 

[Mattyblue]

Imagine someone saying that this time last month.

Edited January 2, 2024 by Mattyblue

[NeilInBristol]

19 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Indian delegation turn up - priciest loan set to go back.

Coincidence ?

No of course not

It's the risk we play when we or anyone loans players

 

Bournemouth need him back because they are short.

 

Shame Liverpool didn't take Morton back last January!!

[joey_big_nose]

10 minutes ago, alcd said:

If they sell the club they'll have to repay the loans that have financed the club and if they can't repay, the assets they're secured on in India will be taken. They are stuck between a rock - continuing losses - and a hard place - losing assets in India. It was only ever a matter of time before this happened. 

They have the cash though dont they? They could just write it off?

[joey_big_nose]

7 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

If you mean yesterday's match the first goal was all down to the goalkeeper

The second was an excellent cross and headed goal - sometime you have to give credit

Yeah and it was from the left, ultimately it was pickering and whoever the midfielder was not closing down.

[tomphil]

Yearning for Pears over Leo is like deciding if you prefer butter on your bread or margarine because you can't afford anything else to go on there.

Not long ago there were constant yells for Leo over Pears because they'd paid 800k for him so that automatically meant he was better.

Yeah well that worked out well.

Imo he was always initially coming as back up to Pears whilst he found his feet regardless of the fee.  These development lads are short term fixes to the squad because of cost cutting but long term projects on the books.

Markanday was, the Crewe lad will be the next one to probably come in and struggle wilst being expected to be as good as Hill.

[alcd]

They could repay the loans from the banks if they've got a couple of hundred million sitting around but if they do then why did they take out loans in the first place. It's a mistake to assume that even "billionaires" have a cache of liquid assets. 

[joey_big_nose]

Given the tax issues and all the negative press and admin that comes with that it seems possible to me that the delegation is over looking at ways for Venkys the extricate themselves. We can live in hope!

Just seems logical as their approach has been to largely ignore us but pay the bills to keep the noise down, but now it's harder to ignore us and to pay the bills so that policy might change?