January Transfer Window - Jan 2023 (Deadline Day starts page 112)

Scoham · January 2023

Garrymanilow said:

It's probably worth people surprised there's interest in Stockley remembering that he's a good player woefully out of form and still adjusting to his return from injury. Stockley is a player who is very capable of scoring goals, but is completely unable to adapt his game to a style that doesn't immediately suit him. He was good for Bowyer where the style was power and effort, OK under Adkins with a better team balance, pretty woeful in an Adkins 433 with the wrong players, and good again under Jackson where it was 352 hit it up and pray. Under Garner he was totally useless because he just couldn't work with the system. Slow possession doesn't suit him because he doesn't move. He wants the ball fired into him so he can lay it off and head for the goal. All the work then has to be done by the players around him so the ball can arrive where he wants it. He is spectacularly unable to work in a system that's not for him, but the simpler the style the more he'll score. That's why he's brilliant in L2 and decent in L1 if he's catered to but hasn't been able to play above that level. If you're a L1 or L2 manager playing a style that wants to lump the ball up and rely on other players to create everything and just need a focal point at the end of it you won't find many better options than Stockley, and he's very available. There will be a lot of teams looking at him

Agree, though I do think there's something in him being impacted by injuries and not being as strong in the air and becoming even slower than he was.

Richard J · January 2023

Starinnaddick said:

I would do a Jimmy Seed and convert Stockley into a centre back.
Lol

Or more recently with Arthur Horsfield and Ronnie Moore. Both played at centre back for long periods. Indeed Arthur played most of the promotion season of 74/75 at the back and joined Watford as a defender. I always felt Ronnie was better in this position for us particularly in the Cup games against Spurs.

On a serious point I always feel happier when Stockley is defending corners. This is one aspect of his game we will miss.

Simonsen · January 2023

Richard J said:

Starinnaddick said:

I would do a Jimmy Seed and convert Stockley into a centre back.
Lol

Or more recently with Arthur Horsfield and Ronnie Moore. Both played at centre back for long periods. Indeed Arthur played most of the promotion season of 74/75 at the back and joined Watford as a defender. I always felt Ronnie was better in this position for us particularly in the Cup games against Spurs.

Everyone played 8/10...even Paul Friar. Never seen so many ordinary players, play out of their skin.

Starinnaddick · January 2023

Some decent players switched between centre half and centre forward. John Charles, Dublin and Sutton to name a few.

ProperCharlton · January 2023

Stockley hasn't been the same since his injury and spends most of his time moaning at other players. Probably for the best for everyone that he leaves. I'll have no ill feelings towards him

Braziliance · January 2023

Would Bonne really be that bad of a signing? I feel like if Taylor actually played, less pressure would have been on Bonne and he wouldn't be given as much stick. He had made the jump from non league football to championship and was leading the line, I don't think he was ready. He did well to get a move and we did well to get a fee.

As far as memegate goes, really? Surely we have a bit more about us as a fan base to not get rattled by a no context Leo Di Caprio image..

We certainly give it to players, unfortunately players responding are well within their rights.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind him coming back and reckon he would instantly make us a better side. Would be willing to wager he would beat Stockleys (league) goal tally so far this season in 10 or fewer games

tangoflash · January 2023

All we're seeing is potential departures. Despite how poor we think they are, but until we bring in replacements, I can't get excited about anyone leaving.

A quarter of the window gone and it's living up to my expectations

Redhenry · January 2023

Starinnaddick said:

I would do a Jimmy Seed and convert Stockley into a centre back.
Lol

I was thinking this

MickeyBennett · January 2023

Richard J said:

Starinnaddick said:

I would do a Jimmy Seed and convert Stockley into a centre back.
Lol

Or more recently with Arthur Horsfield and Ronnie Moore. Both played at centre back for long periods. Indeed Arthur played most of the promotion season of 74/75 at the back and joined Watford as a defender. I always felt Ronnie was better in this position for us particularly in the Cup games against Spurs.

On a serious point I always feel happier when Stockley is defending corners. This is one aspect of his game we will miss.

Side point, but the real Ronnie Moore had been significantly tainted by his namesake on Charlton Life. Felt mildly ill when I read his name in this post.

Cafc43v3r · January 2023

CL_Phantom said:

Cafc43v3r said:

cabbles said:

killerandflash said:

It says something about our recent transfer record, that two players we paid fees for are being linked with L2 clubs

It’s this people need to remind themselves of when they say, “we’re only X amount of players away from being able to compete”

Stockley - linked with Gillingham
Mansfield - failed deadline day move to Mansfield
JFC - Stevenage
Gilbey - Stevenage
Elliott Lee - Wrexham
Matthews - Somewhere in Cyprus
Gunter - AFC Wimbledon
Pratley - Leyton Orient
Leko - back to Brum reserves
Pearce - retired

I understand all of these players aren’t ones you might think are good enough. But I think if you look where the class of the last few years have ended up, it tells a very obvious story. Individually and collectively it’s been abysmal. However, I’ve read numerous posts on here over the years arguing for all these players in one way, shape or form being good enough, they just need 2 or 3 more.

I would imagine this time in 8 months we can add Morgan to this list, Kirk, Aneke, Payne, and even CBT.

The only player at the moment who has been part of our team in the last few years (from 19/20 onwards) that has gone on to better things is Maatsen and possibly Millar, although I haven’t been following his career. The facts are undeniable imo. If any of the above had been strong enough, we wouldn’t be where we are, even with a couple of ‘better players’

TBF you could do the same thing a year/18 months out with our last two promotion winning teams.

No one would say that Hollands and BWP weren't key players and ended the next season out on loan to lower league teams.

In the summer of 2021 I said all we had to do was replace our 5 worst players with 5 "best" ones and we would go up. We lost our 5 best players.

The squad, bar the left back and center foward issue, is OK. It's the 4, 5 or 6 really good players we haven't got.

Aribo, Taylor, BFG, Cullen, Beilk
Stephens, Wiggins, Yann, Jackson, Solly

Dobson wouldn't be a stand out player in that company, Leaburn wouldn't be relied on, you could get by with Clare as back up right back, it wouldn't matter if CBT missed some chances.

Most of our current players, or the ones you mentioned, aren’t worse than the Docherty, Euell, Benson, Marshall, Lapslie, Reeves, Parker etc etc and some of them are better than Wagstaff, Hayes, Purrington etc.

I'm of the opinion now that we don't have enough of the steady Eddies in the squad. The sort of player that'll give you a consistent selection and 6-8 performance. Look at our best 11 and bench, place fitness or consistency next to the name of what they have/ do suffer from. Only one player gives us the above, no fitness issues and s consistent level of performance - Dobson. The player 90% of us will agree is out best and most important, coincidence that he's an ever present and performer?

Wollacott - ? Looked to be consistent, injury
Egbo - fitness
Inniss - fitness and consistency
O'Connell - ? Looked good at times shakey
Sess - fitness
Dobson
Fraser - consistency
Mcgrandles/ Morgan - fitness / consistency
CBT/ kirk - fitness and consistency / consistency
JRS - consistency
Leaburn ? Looks to be consistent

AMB - ?
Clare - consistency
Lavelle - fitness and consistency
Payne - consistency
DJ - fitness and consistency
Stockley - consistency
Aneke - fitness and consistency

Our attacking/ match winners are all a coin flip for which one will turn up.

Chuck in a consistent if not spectacular b2b next to Dobson and a more reliable wide player to keep us ticking over and it's less an issue while the others decide whether it's an A game day or not.

I think steady eddies or OK players are fine when your winning and are seen as a liability when your not. We aren't.

Purrington is a classic of this genre. When he first came in and when Jackson took over he was praised for being solid if not spectacular. Then firstly under Bowyer then when the results stopped under Jackson he was a liability who offered nothing coming forward, couldn't cross, was to slow to overlap etc etc.

CBT and JRS would get less stick if we weren't as reliant upon them, no one cares when you miss at 3-0 up.

The example someone made about Bonne's poor finishing getting us relegated, it wouldn't have mattered, or even have been noticed, if some of his team mates scored at some stage.

In short some will be better with better players. A lot won't but it shouldn't matter as much and people will stop noticing their short comings.

ricky_otto · January 2023

Starinnaddick said:

I would do a Jimmy Seed and convert Stockley into a centre back.
Lol

Or we could try and convert him in to a centre Forward.

cabbles · January 2023

Chunes said:

It would be fantastic if we can ship him out. (If we bring in a good replacement, that is).

It’s a good, strong message as well. For whatever reason, if you feel he’s been affected by injury, our style of play or you just don’t think he’s good enough, it’s clearly not working. Him leaving will be a very good thing for him and us, and it’s the sort of intent we should’ve shown over the last few years, but haven’t.

Leaburn, although very young and I wouldn’t want him to shoulder the burden of being our main attacker, has come in and shown how far Stockley is off the pace. There’s no future for him here. He needs to go

Garrymanilow · January 2023

Scoham said:

Garrymanilow said:

It's probably worth people surprised there's interest in Stockley remembering that he's a good player woefully out of form and still adjusting to his return from injury. Stockley is a player who is very capable of scoring goals, but is completely unable to adapt his game to a style that doesn't immediately suit him. He was good for Bowyer where the style was power and effort, OK under Adkins with a better team balance, pretty woeful in an Adkins 433 with the wrong players, and good again under Jackson where it was 352 hit it up and pray. Under Garner he was totally useless because he just couldn't work with the system. Slow possession doesn't suit him because he doesn't move. He wants the ball fired into him so he can lay it off and head for the goal. All the work then has to be done by the players around him so the ball can arrive where he wants it. He is spectacularly unable to work in a system that's not for him, but the simpler the style the more he'll score. That's why he's brilliant in L2 and decent in L1 if he's catered to but hasn't been able to play above that level. If you're a L1 or L2 manager playing a style that wants to lump the ball up and rely on other players to create everything and just need a focal point at the end of it you won't find many better options than Stockley, and he's very available. There will be a lot of teams looking at him

Agree, though I do think there's something in him being impacted by injuries and not being as strong in the air and becoming even slower than he was.

I had originally written something about that but then I looked at his stats and changed my mind a bit. When he finally came back from injury under Jackson he scored 6 goals in 13 games. A goal every 185 minutes, basically 1 every 2 games, which is excellent. I don't know if he got worse over this summer or just ate loads of Toblerones in his time off but he didn't seem to be impacted by injury when the system suited him. I can remember how out of place he looked at the start of the new Adkins season though and I'm more reminded of that when I see him play now. I think he just really can't adapt and it affects every part of his game.

Cafc43v3r · January 2023

Bromley have sent Clayden back.

killerandflash · January 2023

Injury to Sessegnon and Clayden could be playing at Old Trafford

cabbles · January 2023

Cafc43v3r said:

cabbles said:

killerandflash said:

It says something about our recent transfer record, that two players we paid fees for are being linked with L2 clubs

It’s this people need to remind themselves of when they say, “we’re only X amount of players away from being able to compete”

Stockley - linked with Gillingham
Mansfield - failed deadline day move to Mansfield
JFC - Stevenage
Gilbey - Stevenage
Elliott Lee - Wrexham
Matthews - Somewhere in Cyprus
Gunter - AFC Wimbledon
Pratley - Leyton Orient
Leko - back to Brum reserves
Pearce - retired

I understand all of these players aren’t ones you might think are good enough. But I think if you look where the class of the last few years have ended up, it tells a very obvious story. Individually and collectively it’s been abysmal. However, I’ve read numerous posts on here over the years arguing for all these players in one way, shape or form being good enough, they just need 2 or 3 more.

I would imagine this time in 8 months we can add Morgan to this list, Kirk, Aneke, Payne, and even CBT.

The only player at the moment who has been part of our team in the last few years (from 19/20 onwards) that has gone on to better things is Maatsen and possibly Millar, although I haven’t been following his career. The facts are undeniable imo. If any of the above had been strong enough, we wouldn’t be where we are, even with a couple of ‘better players’

TBF you could do the same thing a year/18 months out with our last two promotion winning teams.

No one would say that Hollands and BWP weren't key players and ended the next season out on loan to lower league teams.

In the summer of 2021 I said all we had to do was replace our 5 worst players with 5 "best" ones and we would go up. We lost our 5 best players.

The squad, bar the left back and center foward issue, is OK. It's the 4, 5 or 6 really good players we haven't got.

Aribo, Taylor, BFG, Cullen, Beilk
Stephens, Wiggins, Yann, Jackson, Solly

Dobson wouldn't be a stand out player in that company, Leaburn wouldn't be relied on, you could get by with Clare as back up right back, it wouldn't matter if CBT missed some chances.

Most of our current players, or the ones you mentioned, aren’t worse than the Docherty, Euell, Benson, Marshall, Lapslie, Reeves, Parker etc etc and some of them are better than Wagstaff, Hayes, Purrington etc.

Fair points and as you point out, there were players in the promotion season that weren’t great. My point was more that over the last few years, all of the players I mentioned, and others have all had arguments made that they would be potentially be part of a promotion team, had they had better players alongside them (not you specifically, more generally across the forum). I personally can’t get on board with that.

For me, if they were good enough both individually and collectively, many of them wouldn’t have left us for the likes of Stevenage, Wrexham and clubs in Cyprus. Who is going to come in and suddenly make someone like Blackett Taylor be able to deliver a goal or an assist more than once every 7 or 8 games. Even if we had Lyle Taylor up top, I can’t see Kirk or Mansfield, upping their games. It’s a lack of quality at the end of the day.

Someone like Dobson, possibly Clare and Rak Saki could be the ones that would find it easier, but for me, we’ve always needed closer to 8 or 9 new, really decent players to come in over the summer of 21, or 22.

I know you thought we weren’t far off at the end of the 20/21 season, and to be honest I’ve probably merged my opinion of that team with the teams of last season and this, and are throwing them all in the same bag, but I do remember some God awful football that season, that imo, was a little bit better when Adkins took over from Bowyer. That team finished the season with Gilbey, Pratley, JFC, Stockley, all of which have subsequently gone on to play at a lower level. Maatsen and Millar were decent, but I just couldn’t share your enthusiasm for the potential at the end of that season. It didn’t look or feel good for me.

One thing I think we do agree on is that this has all been exacerbated by the shambles of TS’ ownership and how it’s all played out. I think the culture at the club is toxic and that’s had an effect on players and managers and it’s almost as if there’s something in the water for it to have continued this way.

Hopefully, a potential new takeover and the hints of activity happening now with players moving on are positive signals, but I’ve less and less patience for it, and that includes the players.

It would be great to have that spirit that Bowyer and Powell managed to instill during the promotion seasons and have all of us praising players and the team. At the moment I think we have two camps on here. Ones that are a little bit more willing to give players time and be optimistic that if we could add x amount more, we would be better. Then there’s the camp
i am in which is, it’s just not been good enough and would like the whole thing to be ripped up and started again. Some might say the answer is probably in the middle, but I’m fearful of treading water again if a lot of the players we currently have, are still here next season.

cazo · January 2023

No Stockton in the Morecambe team today.👀

stonemuse · January 2023

cazo said:

No Stockton in the Morecambe team today.👀

Derek Adams makes one change ahead of Cheltenham Town's Sky Bet League One visit to the Mazuma Stadium.

Caleb Watts starts over Cole Stockton who picked up a knock last time out.

https://www.morecambefc.com/news/2023/january/team-news--starting-xi-to-face-cheltenham-town-confirmed/

killerandflash · January 2023

Leaburn is better than Burstow, as his all round game is more complete. Keep him until the summer, and there's a chance we can make the playoffs.

RonnieMoore · January 2023

Looks like two deals are all but done … according to a good source at the ground ???

FishCostaFortune · January 2023

RonnieMoore said:

Looks like two deals are all but done … according to a good source at the ground ???

Were you chatting to yourself in the mirror again?

LargeAddick · January 2023

RonnieMoore said:

Looks like two deals are all but done … according to a good source at the ground ???

Did the Plymouth Herald have a reporter there then?

mart77 · January 2023

If we could somehow get to the championship with Miles he’ll be worth £10 mill plus

ricky_otto · January 2023

RonnieMoore said:

Looks like two deals are all but done … according to a good source at the ground ???

ross1 · January 2023

Perhaps Scott has been brought in to get the best free transfers and loans 😂

Swisdom · January 2023

I heard one deal is done. A palace player.

no idea who or if it’s a loan

sirjohnhumphrey · January 2023

Swisdom said:

I heard one deal is done. A palace player.

no idea who or if it’s a loan

Left back who has just returned from a loan spell at Coventry?

supaclive · January 2023

killerandflash said:
Leaburn is better than Burstow, as his all round game is more complete. Keep him until the summer, and there's a chance we can make the playoffs.

BEHAVE @killerandflash !