My problem with this whole window is that they know where there are gaps and they have failed to fill them. If Roger Johnson comes in and is a good defender for us then well done. But keeping a clean sheet or only leaking 1 goal instead of 5 is only good enough if you are able to score more than the other team. Vetokele is off form, Watt is not being started for some reason (possibly not fit either), Church is not a goal scorer for all his work rate and Ahearne-Grant though having a lot of potential is not ready to start (but worth a shot from the bench and i would prefer that over Church).
I know its not the end of the world, but when a one eyed budgie with a squint can see where we have problems and the board can't address it then surely we have a right to be angry/upset with them and feel completely deflated.
Ok we have Bulot and Moussa to come back, but neither of them were setting the world alight before their absences. Gudmundsson is still putting in plenty of effort, Watt still to be given a chance, Lepoint needs to find his feet and Velkjovic is looking a good prospect, but you have to wonder where the goals are coming from and the team is just seriously lacking in confidence.
My main anger from yesterday is that I don't believe our defence is the problem and thats where they decide to spend the money in wages rather than getting someone in to score or create goals (although defending set pieces seriously needs work). Scoring goals will ease pressure on the defence. When the loan window opens i don't expect anyone to come through door either.
Serious question, is there anyone at the club who's actually experienced in transfer dealings? Utter shambles.
Serious question and this isnt a dig @ you Robin
But is there anyone here that has experienced in transfer dealings to know what happened last night... this aint Football Manager
I don't really care about the ins and outs of why we didn't sign anyone. The fact of the matter is we needed to, we didn't and some of our rivals did.
That tells me that either we were lied to, again, or RD and Katrien simply arnt very good at their job and failed to get potential signings over the line.
Both worrying.
Well I never remember KM or RD saying "We promise that we'll sign two / three players before the close of the window tomorrow"
Instead it was always "we want to try and sign two / three players before the window closes"
Unfortunately as I've said, this isn't Football Manager yet the real world, players may not be available, they may not want to come to London, dont want to join Charlton or are happy where they are... In those situations there is nothing that the owners can do cos its just a factor in life...
Yes we shouldn't have left it till the last minute but this is the problem with the January Transfer Window, a club isn't going to sell a player without knowing that they'll be able to replace them (and yes I agree it was a mistake letting George Tucudean go in that sense but this freebie may well be a Striker still)... the Managers are constantly saying that they hate this transfer window because it can seriously hinder their season
The bloke won't pay the going rate for what he needs (as with Kermorgant) and given the small world that football is word will have got round that the set-up is bonkers. It's because RD is in denial about the facts of life - not the supporters - that he can't sign the players we need.
Bikey, Vetokele, Onyewu, Henderson, Etheridge, Moussa, Coquelin, Velkjovic, Gudmundsson and Lepoint are all signings who aren't/weren't in the network. Dimitrovic and Watt are both here permanently. These leaves the grand total of 'network loanees' as... two (Ben Haim and Buyens), the former of which has a pretty good claim for player of the season any way. That's fourteen in total, MORE than enough for an entirely new 11 if all fit. Bikey, Ben Haim, Moussa, Etheridge, Watt and Onyewu all have experience of the English/British game, several of them in the Championship. Coquelin and Velkjovic are both highly rated at far bigger clubs than we'll ever be.
I am not saying there aren't problems nor that many of these players aren't good enough but saying the problems are too many Liege reserves is factually incorrect, as is saying that we just haven't made enough signings in total. The problem is the players aren't good enough. IF we had a better scouting/recruitment system in place and the network would be a great asse.t... Big IF though
Aren't good enough for the money we are prepared to pay more like.
Apparently TOP MAN have a warehouse clearance of slightly shop-soiled mannequins that would be available for a season long loan at very reasonable rates that might just fit the Network budget constraints.
That spare Number 9 shirt might look rather good on a 6ft tall, a funny pink-coloured plastic figure with no genitals.
Not much in the way of pace but pretty hard characters in the box for Igor to work off. Even more importantly, they have very low wage demands and you are allowed to name them yourself- we we could even call him Yann.
Shop doesn't closes until 6pm so even Roland might not miss out in this one.
Bikey, Vetokele, Onyewu, Henderson, Etheridge, Moussa, Coquelin, Velkjovic, Gudmundsson and Lepoint are all signings who aren't/weren't in the network. Dimitrovic and Watt are both here permanently. These leaves the grand total of 'network loanees' as... two (Ben Haim and Buyens), the former of which has a pretty good claim for player of the season any way. That's fourteen in total, MORE than enough for an entirely new 11 if all fit. Bikey, Ben Haim, Moussa, Etheridge, Watt and Onyewu all have experience of the English/British game, several of them in the Championship. Coquelin and Velkjovic are both highly rated at far bigger clubs than we'll ever be.
I am not saying there aren't problems nor that many of these players aren't good enough but saying the problems are too many Liege reserves is factually incorrect, as is saying that we just haven't made enough signings in total. The problem is the players aren't good enough. IF we had a better scouting/recruitment system in place and the network would be a great asse.t... Big IF though
We did fine when recruiting players for our League One title winning campaign, no scouting issues that I could see, we assembled a team that not only won League One, it was a team that managed to amass over 100 points in the process. My belief is that there is one of two reasons why we are getting crap players:
1) The whole network scouting policy just doesn't work. 2) RD refuses to pay the going rate for the quality of player we need.
Either way, both these problems sit firmly in RD's lap. If the network scouting isn't up to the job, he needs to make changes. If it's because he doesn't like to get his wallet out, then he really needs to either sell us to someone who is willing to make the investment, or change his policy and start paying the going rate.
Bikey, Vetokele, Onyewu, Henderson, Etheridge, Moussa, Coquelin, Velkjovic, Gudmundsson and Lepoint are all signings who aren't/weren't in the network. Dimitrovic and Watt are both here permanently. These leaves the grand total of 'network loanees' as... two (Ben Haim and Buyens), the former of which has a pretty good claim for player of the season any way. That's fourteen in total, MORE than enough for an entirely new 11 if all fit. Bikey, Ben Haim, Moussa, Etheridge, Watt and Onyewu all have experience of the English/British game, several of them in the Championship. Coquelin and Velkjovic are both highly rated at far bigger clubs than we'll ever be.
I am not saying there aren't problems nor that many of these players aren't good enough but saying the problems are too many Liege reserves is factually incorrect, as is saying that we just haven't made enough signings in total. The problem is the players aren't good enough. IF we had a better scouting/recruitment system in place and the network would be a great asse.t... Big IF though
Thing is, what you've done there is put across your stats in a vacuum. Who have we lost from the time RD took over to now? Hamer, Alnwick, Thuram, Adjarevic, Reza, Parzyszek, Yann, Stephens, Wood, Dervite, Morrison, Evina, Green, Poyet, Hughes, Cook, Cort, Gower, Hollands, Pritchard, Obika, Sordell, Tucudean and even Pope has gone out. A number of those were loans ending, but they still meant gaps in the squad opened up. Within that lot, at least seven were first team players and five or six were the kind who would come off the bench or rotate into the squad. With that in mind, bringing in enough players for a new 11 isn't enough for a squad to compete over the length of a season.
That's the problem. We absolutely have not signed enough players, and that is why we should have brought in loans over the past few months and re-stocked our players in January so we don't have to keep throwing in a 17 year old forward, or playing Bikey through poor form, or prolonging the baffling existence of Neil Etheridge. Instead we spent January signing goalkeepers while shipping one out and filling out the squad in positions where we were already sufficiently well stocked. And we sold a striker. Insane.
Bikey, Vetokele, Onyewu, Henderson, Etheridge, Moussa, Coquelin, Velkjovic, Gudmundsson and Lepoint are all signings who aren't/weren't in the network. Dimitrovic and Watt are both here permanently. These leaves the grand total of 'network loanees' as... two (Ben Haim and Buyens), the former of which has a pretty good claim for player of the season any way. That's fourteen in total, MORE than enough for an entirely new 11 if all fit. Bikey, Ben Haim, Moussa, Etheridge, Watt and Onyewu all have experience of the English/British game, several of them in the Championship. Coquelin and Velkjovic are both highly rated at far bigger clubs than we'll ever be.
I am not saying there aren't problems nor that many of these players aren't good enough but saying the problems are too many Liege reserves is factually incorrect, as is saying that we just haven't made enough signings in total. The problem is the players aren't good enough. IF we had a better scouting/recruitment system in place and the network would be a great asse.t... Big IF though
We did fine when recruiting players for our League One title winning campaign, no scouting issues that I could see, we assembled a team that not only won League One, it was a team that managed to amass over 100 points in the process. My belief is that there is one of two reasons why we are getting crap players:
1) The whole network scouting policy just doesn't work. 2) RD refuses to pay the going rate for the quality of player we need.
Either way, both these problems sit firmly in RD's lap. If the network scouting isn't up to the job, he needs to make changes. If it's because he doesn't like to get his wallet out, then he really needs to either sell us to someone who is willing to make the investment, or change his policy and start paying the going rate.
Spot on with this. The only problem being that RD doesn't care if the team does well or not. It's all about showcasing his players to sell them on. Reza, Tucudean etc.. I imagine that means whatever division we may find ourselves in is also irrelevant.
Bikey, Vetokele, Onyewu, Henderson, Etheridge, Moussa, Coquelin, Velkjovic, Gudmundsson and Lepoint are all signings who aren't/weren't in the network. Dimitrovic and Watt are both here permanently. These leaves the grand total of 'network loanees' as... two (Ben Haim and Buyens), the former of which has a pretty good claim for player of the season any way. That's fourteen in total, MORE than enough for an entirely new 11 if all fit. Bikey, Ben Haim, Moussa, Etheridge, Watt and Onyewu all have experience of the English/British game, several of them in the Championship. Coquelin and Velkjovic are both highly rated at far bigger clubs than we'll ever be.
I am not saying there aren't problems nor that many of these players aren't good enough but saying the problems are too many Liege reserves is factually incorrect, as is saying that we just haven't made enough signings in total. The problem is the players aren't good enough. IF we had a better scouting/recruitment system in place and the network would be a great asse.t... Big IF though
Thing is, what you've done there is put across your stats in a vacuum. Who have we lost from the time RD took over to now? Hamer, Alnwick, Thuram, Adjarevic, Reza, Parzyszek, Yann, Stephens, Wood, Dervite, Morrison, Evina, Green, Poyet, Hughes, Cook, Cort, Gower, Hollands, Pritchard, Obika, Sordell, Tucudean and even Pope has gone out. A number of those were loans ending, but they still meant gaps in the squad opened up. Within that lot, at least seven were first team players and five or six were the kind who would come off the bench or rotate into the squad. With that in mind, bringing in enough players for a new 11 isn't enough for a squad to compete over the length of a season.
That's the problem. We absolutely have not signed enough players, and that is why we should have brought in loans over the past few months and re-stocked our players in January so we don't have to keep throwing in a 17 year old forward, or playing Bikey through poor form, or prolonging the baffling existence of Neil Etheridge. Instead we spent January signing goalkeepers while shipping one out and filling out the squad in positions where we were already sufficiently well stocked. And we sold a striker. Insane.
on a thread recently there was a list of the ins and outs under duchatelet - but i can't seem to find it. does anyone remember where this was?
In some respects RD is the modern day King Canute in an English footballing context.
Everyone knows what is wrong with football predominantly in this country, the few "haves", the many "have nots" but more importantly the far too many "Lets splash the imaginary cash in a hope of hitting pay dirt in that false Nirvana, the Premier League!" clubs.
He has stated and his every move so far has confirmed that he will not pay top dollar for overpriced and inflated egos and their middle men. He is trying to turn the inevitable tide back and it will not happen quickly if ever, well not in our life times. He is stubborn, reportedly so, so it ain't gonna change folks. That is what is so depressing at the moment.
This Luzon better be a miracle worker, with a team of under performers, low on confidence and with reportedly factions within the camp that may not of healed from Big Bob's tenure. I will give him time just because I have no choice, I am not going to support anyone else for example. An oft repeated phrase on here, interesting times...
(Ps. 30 secs for a poster to corrupt the word Canute...)
In some respects RD is the modern day King Canute in an English footballing context.
Everyone knows what is wrong with football predominantly in this country, the few "haves", the many "have nots" but more importantly the far too many "Lets splash the imaginary cash in a hope of hitting pay dirt in that false Nirvana, the Premier League!" clubs.
He has stated and his every move so far has confirmed that he will not pay top dollar for overpriced and inflated egos and their middle men. He is trying to turn the inevitable tide back and it will not happen quickly if ever, well not in our life times. He is stubborn, reportedly so, so it ain't gonna change folks. That is what is so depressing at the moment.
This Luzon better be a miracle worker, with a team of under performers, low on confidence and with reportedly factions within the camp that may not of healed from Big Bob's tenure. I will give him time just because I have no choice, I am not going to support anyone else for example. An oft repeated phrase on here, interesting times...
(Ps. 30 secs for a poster to corrupt the word Canute...)
In some respects RD is the modern day King Canute in an English footballing context.
Everyone knows what is wrong with football predominantly in this country, the few "haves", the many "have nots" but more importantly the far too many "Lets splash the imaginary cash in a hope of hitting pay dirt in that false Nirvana, the Premier League!" clubs.
He has stated and his every move so far has confirmed that he will not pay top dollar for overpriced and inflated egos and their middle men. He is trying to turn the inevitable tide back and it will not happen quickly if ever, well not in our life times. He is stubborn, reportedly so, so it ain't gonna change folks. That is what is so depressing at the moment.
This Luzon better be a miracle worker, with a team of under performers, low on confidence and with reportedly factions within the camp that may not of healed from Big Bob's tenure. I will give him time just because I have no choice, I am not going to support anyone else for example. An oft repeated phrase on here, interesting times...
(Ps. 30 secs for a poster to corrupt the word Canute...)
In some respects RD is the modern day King Canute in an English footballing context.
Everyone knows what is wrong with football predominantly in this country, the few "haves", the many "have nots" but more importantly the far too many "Lets splash the imaginary cash in a hope of hitting pay dirt in that false Nirvana, the Premier League!" clubs.
He has stated and his every move so far has confirmed that he will not pay top dollar for overpriced and inflated egos and their middle men. He is trying to turn the inevitable tide back and it will not happen quickly if ever, well not in our life times. He is stubborn, reportedly so, so it ain't gonna change folks. That is what is so depressing at the moment.
This Luzon better be a miracle worker, with a team of under performers, low on confidence and with reportedly factions within the camp that may not of healed from Big Bob's tenure. I will give him time just because I have no choice, I am not going to support anyone else for example. An oft repeated phrase on here, interesting times...
(Ps. 30 secs for a poster to corrupt the word Canute...)
Spot on with this. The only problem being that RD doesn't care if the team does well or not. It's all about showcasing his players to sell them on. Reza, Tucudean etc.. I imagine that means whatever division we may find ourselves in is also irrelevant.
Didn't see Reza or George do much in the way and of showcasing their talent
So what happened to the free agent we were signing this morning??
Only a guess, but I reckon his agent has been going over the contract and just realised that in terms of wages, what they understood to be pounds per week during negotiations is actually pence per week.
So what happened to the free agent we were signing this morning??
Only a guess, but I reckon his agent has been going over the contract and just realised that in terms of wages, what they understood to be pounds per week during negotiations is actually pence per week.
Yeh I reckon the clubs definition of "free" differed wildly from the agent and players definition. The club are waiting for them to stop laughing, give them a courtesy glass of tap water and wave them on their way...
In some respects RD is the modern day King Canute in an English footballing context.
Everyone knows what is wrong with football predominantly in this country, the few "haves", the many "have nots" but more importantly the far too many "Lets splash the imaginary cash in a hope of hitting pay dirt in that false Nirvana, the Premier League!" clubs.
He has stated and his every move so far has confirmed that he will not pay top dollar for overpriced and inflated egos and their middle men. He is trying to turn the inevitable tide back and it will not happen quickly if ever, well not in our life times. He is stubborn, reportedly so, so it ain't gonna change folks. That is what is so depressing at the moment.
This Luzon better be a miracle worker, with a team of under performers, low on confidence and with reportedly factions within the camp that may not of healed from Big Bob's tenure. I will give him time just because I have no choice, I am not going to support anyone else for example. An oft repeated phrase on here, interesting times...
(Ps. 30 secs for a poster to corrupt the word Canute...)
So what happened to the free agent we were signing this morning??
As its a free transfer i guess there is no hurry. Or maybe they are thinking "damn the fans are annoyed, lets see if there are any free strikers out there that can appease them".... i doubt it but you never know lol.
well yesterday pretty much confirms RD's a complete tool. Relegation would mean a substantial loss in revenue. In the process, players values would plummet too. Teams would then try and pick them up on the cheap. Not replacing "useless George" shows he's obviously stupid as well as stubborn.
Spot on with this. The only problem being that RD doesn't care if the team does well or not. It's all about showcasing his players to sell them on. Reza, Tucudean etc.. I imagine that means whatever division we may find ourselves in is also irrelevant.
"Didn't see Reza or George do much in the way and of showcasing their talent"
No, we didn't. But two other clubs saw enough to pay money for them. Which is the point.
Spot on with this. The only problem being that RD doesn't care if the team does well or not. It's all about showcasing his players to sell them on. Reza, Tucudean etc.. I imagine that means whatever division we may find ourselves in is also irrelevant.
Didn't see Reza or George do much in the way and of showcasing their talent
No, we didn't. But two other clubs saw enough to pay money for them. Which is the point.
Depends if the other clubs paid what RD did in the first place for them.
Fuck the network, fuck Roland and fuck off Ms Belgium Bullshit!!
I thought you was upset with my ranting on Saturday ?
I must have misunderstood.
No I made you right, was just trying to lighten the mood.
You and I are old stagers and it hurts me so much what is going on at our club right now, that I am actually considering not going to home games, something I have never once contemplated since first attending in 1969.
I just feel so helpless. I suspect we all do. Looking for Airman to lead a successful campaign against these Belgium wankers.
Comments
I know its not the end of the world, but when a one eyed budgie with a squint can see where we have problems and the board can't address it then surely we have a right to be angry/upset with them and feel completely deflated.
Ok we have Bulot and Moussa to come back, but neither of them were setting the world alight before their absences. Gudmundsson is still putting in plenty of effort, Watt still to be given a chance, Lepoint needs to find his feet and Velkjovic is looking a good prospect, but you have to wonder where the goals are coming from and the team is just seriously lacking in confidence.
My main anger from yesterday is that I don't believe our defence is the problem and thats where they decide to spend the money in wages rather than getting someone in to score or create goals (although defending set pieces seriously needs work). Scoring goals will ease pressure on the defence. When the loan window opens i don't expect anyone to come through door either.
Apparently TOP MAN have a warehouse clearance of slightly shop-soiled mannequins that would be available for a season long loan at very reasonable rates that might just fit the Network budget constraints.
That spare Number 9 shirt might look rather good on a 6ft tall, a funny pink-coloured plastic figure with no genitals.
Not much in the way of pace but pretty hard characters in the box for Igor to work off. Even more importantly, they have very low wage demands and you are allowed to name them yourself- we we could even call him Yann.
Shop doesn't closes until 6pm so even Roland might not miss out in this one.
1) The whole network scouting policy just doesn't work.
2) RD refuses to pay the going rate for the quality of player we need.
Either way, both these problems sit firmly in RD's lap. If the network scouting isn't up to the job, he needs to make changes. If it's because he doesn't like to get his wallet out, then he really needs to either sell us to someone who is willing to make the investment, or change his policy and start paying the going rate.
That's the problem. We absolutely have not signed enough players, and that is why we should have brought in loans over the past few months and re-stocked our players in January so we don't have to keep throwing in a 17 year old forward, or playing Bikey through poor form, or prolonging the baffling existence of Neil Etheridge. Instead we spent January signing goalkeepers while shipping one out and filling out the squad in positions where we were already sufficiently well stocked. And we sold a striker. Insane.
Everyone knows what is wrong with football predominantly in this country, the few "haves", the many "have nots" but more importantly the far too many "Lets splash the imaginary cash in a hope of hitting pay dirt in that false Nirvana, the Premier League!" clubs.
He has stated and his every move so far has confirmed that he will not pay top dollar for overpriced and inflated egos and their middle men. He is trying to turn the inevitable tide back and it will not happen quickly if ever, well not in our life times. He is stubborn, reportedly so, so it ain't gonna change folks. That is what is so depressing at the moment.
This Luzon better be a miracle worker, with a team of under performers, low on confidence and with reportedly factions within the camp that may not of healed from Big Bob's tenure. I will give him time just because I have no choice, I am not going to support anyone else for example. An oft repeated phrase on here, interesting times...
(Ps. 30 secs for a poster to corrupt the word Canute...)
Spot on with this. The only problem being that RD doesn't care if the team does well or not. It's all about showcasing his players to sell them on. Reza, Tucudean etc.. I imagine that means whatever division we may find ourselves in is also irrelevant.
Didn't see Reza or George do much in the way and of showcasing their talent
No, we didn't. But two other clubs saw enough to pay money for them. Which is the point.
Depends if the other clubs paid what RD did in the first place for them.
You and I are old stagers and it hurts me so much what is going on at our club right now, that I am actually considering not going to home games, something I have never once contemplated since first attending in 1969.
I just feel so helpless. I suspect we all do. Looking for Airman to lead a successful campaign against these Belgium wankers.