Don't believe the Gillingham transfer at all. If we are bringing in Arter and have Dobson why would we need three similar players. The Tucker move doesn't seem likely as we now have a seventeen year old who will undoubtedly become a better player than Tucker and signing the Gills Centre back will hinder that progress. As others have said on here it's Gillingham trying to raise cash before the end of the window, the reported £200000 offer was the opening gambit in their quest for cash, it never happened. Looking forward to a couple of more signings by Tuesday one being a left back, although some on here who declared that Gunter can't cross with his left foot, have been a little more quiet than usual.
If Harry Arter has done a proper pre season with Forest and as a good Professional, why wouldn't he, then he can be an asset in League1. The balance was wrong in midfield, and we will now have a plethora of midfield players to chose from. Nigel Adkins realized what a couple of us proposed; going 4-4-2 when attacking and 4-4-1-1 when out of possession can be successful.
Have a formation which creates the most chances, until yesterday we were impotent in that department.
If we can support Stockley, and have wingers and Midfielders who can score then no problem with 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3.
The set up didn't work because of the players available. With Lee that should help as he can score.
I can confirm We are definitely pursuing becoming a Cat 1 Academy.
Our academy is what has kept us going over the years and being in the South London hotbed means there aremore out there.
We are also coming under pressure from other clubs nabbing kids from our areas hence category one is essential
@Swisdom this is great news, there’s surely a phenomenal bill attached to this? Especially on a training ground we lease. Is there a timescale attached, by when we are planning to achieve it?
I regularly see the development at the p*l*ce academy and it is very impressive. Despite the smell. It’s tremendously heartening to see us try to compete as the catchment for them would easily encroach into our traditional talent base and worried me each time I saw it.
The costs aren't small, but there are financial benefits among the many reasons to do this.
Valley Gold will be making a decent contribution to this project, so it's a good time to join if people would like to support the academy directly.
If some solid plans are unfurled I will re join valley gold after decades of absence from it
The Wigan defeat and the reaction, was a big wake up call.. by the sounds of it, more money has been made available
To be honest, that would track with the line of thought that Sandgaard's "blow the league" comment was an honest mistake not a deliberate subterfuge. The budget etc he expected to be competitive was not, but if he's willing to face that and find more funds then fair play to him.
Journalists get most wrong as they rely on gossip from their contacts in the game, local journalists that just cover one or two clubs will be more accurate as they have the time to check the veracity of what they hear.
I know it’s unlikely that we’ll get Dempsey and Tucker but I’d love to land them. I still think our squad depth isn’t good enough and we need high quality options to start and from the bench if we’re really going to challenge for promotion. I’d even consider leaving Tucker there until January and then see where we are.
The Thursday deadline was mooted by the EFL back in early summer when UEFA hadn't agreed anything as they weren't sure about Covid impacting on the new season. Once the Premiership announced it was Aug 31st then the EFL fell into place.
The Wigan defeat and the reaction, was a big wake up call.. by the sounds of it, more money has been made available
To be honest, that would track with the line of thought that Sandgaard's "blow the league" comment was an honest mistake not a deliberate subterfuge. The budget etc he expected to be competitive was not, but if he's willing to face that and find more funds then fair play to him.
And once the transfer business is hopefully done and we are all happy, I hope TS comes back on the pitch and gets the standing ovation and respect he thoroughly deserves rather than the north stand singing a different song to what he is playing on his guitar - we can then put this last month of doom and gloom behind us and get back on track
If we consider the players are good enough to play in the Championship I can believe we are interested. Sometimes you get an opportunity and you have to go for it, so price is everything.
Following the recruitment of Arter, if we want to improve on our midfield/forward options either now or in January, we will need to shift some bodies. We will have something like 18 players on the pay roll for just six positions and not too many teams at out level carry that many.
I’d love to run Nixon’s Twitter account for a day. I reckon no-one would be able to tell the difference and I wouldn’t have to speak to a single player/agent/manager. He’s basically a modern day fortune teller. ‘The mists are clearing…you’re looking to get a midfielder over the line, but costs could be an issue’.
Hopefully Ronnie’s absence from training has been for him to get himself fixed up elsewhere and we can bring in another striker - definitely needed in my opinion
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Probably more due to how injury prone our starting CBs are
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Was Dobson dropped or injured?
Dropped / rested is what I took from Adkins interview after the game on charlton tv
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Was Dobson dropped or injured?
Dropped / rested is what I took from Adkins interview after the game on charlton tv
Ruthless yet necessary. For me the biggest disappointment out of our signings so far. But who knows maybe this will help him turn it around, football is strange like that.
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Don't see us taking the time and trouble to source and pursue Dobson just to dump him a few weeks later. More likely we already had four midfield/striking options on the bench in Lee, Davison, Clare and Taylor so if we had put Dobson on there too then that would have left us with just one out and out defender. Chances are that had we been away against better opposition Dobson would have come in for one of those four.
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Was Dobson dropped or injured?
Was definitely just dropped - He was out doing some running / fitness drills before the game
Dobson left out of the squad yet 2 centre half’s on bench is a strange one to keep an eye on as well if we are doing some wheeling and dealing - no info just a guess
Was Dobson dropped or injured?
He was just left out.
And that is the benefit of having more options. With Arter, Gilbey, Purrington and eventually JFC returning, more players will lose their place in the 18 so we can drop/rest players who are either not good enough or simply out of form
Comments
As others have said on here it's Gillingham trying to raise cash before the end of the window, the reported £200000 offer was the opening gambit in their quest for cash, it never happened. Looking forward to a couple of more signings by Tuesday one being a left back, although some on here who declared that Gunter can't cross with his left foot, have been a little more quiet than usual.
The balance was wrong in midfield, and we will now have a plethora of midfield players to chose from.
Nigel Adkins realized what a couple of us proposed; going 4-4-2 when attacking and 4-4-1-1 when out of possession can be successful.
Have a formation which creates the most chances, until yesterday we were impotent in that department.
If we can support Stockley, and have wingers and Midfielders who can score then no problem with 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3.
The set up didn't work because of the players available. With Lee that should help as he can score.
I'm assuming most of you are adults, properly fkin weird lads.