I hope the May story has legs even if he has been linked to Wrexham.
Would be a bit of a coup even if the Ajose comparisons would be drawn.
Ajose syndrome isn't limited to us. When this came up last summer I looked and Billy Sharpe and Marquis were the only two players that had scored 20 league 1 goals in a season twice in a long time.
Finding the player that scored few enough to not get bought by a Championship club or get his own club promoted and have the potential to score 20+ goals is the key.
Taylor and BWP would both full into that category, when we signed them, but it's very hard.
I hope the May story has legs even if he has been linked to Wrexham.
Would be a bit of a coup even if the Ajose comparisons would be drawn.
Ajose syndrome isn't limited to us. When this came up last summer I looked and Billy Sharpe and Marquis were the only two players that had scored 20 league 1 goals in a season twice in a long time.
Finding the player that scored few enough to not get bought by a Championship club or get his own club promoted and have the potential to score 20+ goals is the key.
Taylor and BWP would both full into that category, when we signed them, but it's very hard.
Aaron Collins and Sam Smith would maybe be the ones fitting that, unless Collins gets a Championship move.
Smith the free one rather than being quoted at £4m. Again, caveat that with the fact neither of them likely fit under Project Break Even.
Yeah goalscorers are like rocking horse shit. Collins is the one that jumps out but once again, if there’s a fee involved we can forget it
Someone said the other day they’re asking £4m for Collins. Even if they only accepted half of that there’s no way we’re paying that sort of money for a player at this level, even with a takeover.
Yeah there's no chance with Collins and I don't think even a championship club with a few quid is going to pay £4m for him. Sam Smith and May feel like the most likely targets - not sure what fee May would command but a 30yr old striker with a year left on his deal shouldn't be ridiculously expensive.
Yeah goalscorers are like rocking horse shit. Collins is the one that jumps out but once again, if there’s a fee involved we can forget it
Someone said the other day they’re asking £4m for Collins. Even if they only accepted half of that there’s no way we’re paying that sort of money for a player at this level, even with a takeover.
And nor should we realistically. If we do pay as much as that, you know that any and everyone else we for will suddenly have a premium attached.
Yeah there's no chance with Collins and I don't think even a championship club with a few quid is going to pay £4m for him. Sam Smith and May feel like the most likely targets - not sure what fee May would command but a 30yr old striker with a year left on his deal shouldn't be ridiculously expensive.
Considering Morecambe were asking for £500,000 for Stockton last year who was the same age, and had a similar career and goal scoring trajectory I wouldn’t be shocked if that’s the asking price for May.
I’m in the same camp I was with Stockton with May in that I think that’s a lot of money to pay for a striker who has really only had one ‘good’ season at this level. If he was on a free it’s a different equation, but if we are going to make that sort of financial outlay on a player I’d rather it was on someone either younger or more ‘proven’ so they will either develop with us the level above or money can be made back off them and reinvested in improving the squad down the line.
Portsmouth picked up Bishop for the same price, who was younger, and had 3 previous league one seasons hitting double figures. That sort of signing for a fee makes more sense to me.
As you mention if it was a choice between Sam Smith on a free and May for a fee, I’d be going for Smith.
Yeah there's no chance with Collins and I don't think even a championship club with a few quid is going to pay £4m for him. Sam Smith and May feel like the most likely targets - not sure what fee May would command but a 30yr old striker with a year left on his deal shouldn't be ridiculously expensive.
Considering Morecambe were asking for £500,000 for Stockton last year who was the same age, and had a similar career and goal scoring trajectory I wouldn’t be shocked if that’s the asking price for May.
I’m in the same camp I was with Stockton with May in that I think that’s a lot of money to pay for a striker who has really only had one ‘good’ season at this level. If he was on a free it’s a different equation, but if we are going to make that sort of financial outlay on a player I’d rather it was on someone either younger or more ‘proven’ so they will either develop with us the level above or money can be made back off them and reinvested in improving the squad down the line.
Portsmouth picked up Bishop for the same price, who was younger, and had 3 previous league one seasons hitting double figures. That sort of signing for a fee makes more sense to me.
As you mention if it was a choice between Sam Smith on a free and May for a fee, I’d be going for Smith.
I absolutely agree , I'd rather go for someone like Smith who is younger and has upside.
Colby Bishop is the ideal comparison, was around a similar fee and had the stats to back him up.
Yeah there's no chance with Collins and I don't think even a championship club with a few quid is going to pay £4m for him. Sam Smith and May feel like the most likely targets - not sure what fee May would command but a 30yr old striker with a year left on his deal shouldn't be ridiculously expensive.
Cheltenham have an option for another year so it's effectively 2 years left.
He's definitely leaving though regardless, they even pre-planned the late substitution against us so he could walk off and get applauded by their fans.
The club are playing poker with supporters at the moment, they need bums on seats clearly. We’ve seen storrie mention the “increased budget” and if anyone had any commercial acumen in this industry they would get Alfie May done now.
Would it not give them a season ticket bump? They can go public with the fact we’d paid a fee, come out with stuff like this is our intention this season we fought off rivals for him etc etc. What ever your opinion is I’d argue it’s clear most of our fans want him, not forgetting he’s a proven goalscorer at this level.
But no, my guess is it’ll be another that gets away despite it clearly being a good fit geographically for him.
The club are playing poker with supporters at the moment, they need bums on seats clearly. We’ve seen storrie mention the “increased budget” and if anyone had any commercial acumen in this industry they would get Alfie May done now.
Would it not give them a season ticket bump? They can go public with the fact we’d paid a fee, come out with stuff like this is our intention this season we fought off rivals for him etc etc. What ever your opinion is I’d argue it’s clear most of our fans want him, not forgetting he’s a proven goalscorer at this level.
But no, my guess is it’ll be another that gets away despite it clearly being a good fit geographically for him.
Completely agree with you BR..dont want to be 'liking' this as they should just be going for it and getting someone like May over the line. But highly doubt they will.
The club are playing poker with supporters at the moment, they need bums on seats clearly. We’ve seen storrie mention the “increased budget” and if anyone had any commercial acumen in this industry they would get Alfie May done now.
Would it not give them a season ticket bump? They can go public with the fact we’d paid a fee, come out with stuff like this is our intention this season we fought off rivals for him etc etc. What ever your opinion is I’d argue it’s clear most of our fans want him, not forgetting he’s a proven goalscorer at this level.
But no, my guess is it’ll be another that gets away despite it clearly being a good fit geographically for him.
Completely agree with you BR..dont want to be 'liking' this as they should just be going for it and getting someone like May over the line. But highly doubt they will.
We can’t quantify how many extra season tickets it would sell but I’m sure it would cover what would be a small transfer fee.
Is May a ‘proven’ league one striker though? He has spent most of his career in league two/national league level and the last time he was at League One level before this season he scored 7 goals in 2.5 seasons before being shipped off back to a league two team.
Ive seen football enough to know lots of players can have very good above average years for them.
Again, I’m not saying May is not a good player or that I would be upset if we signed him. If he can replicate last year it would be well worth the investment. But its easy to spend someone else’s money, and I personally wouldn’t risk spending what would be a substantial fee on a player when there’s other cheaper alternatives out there.
I certainly wouldn’t be basing my thoughts and emotions around the whole season if we don’t get him, which I know many on here will.
Is May a ‘proven’ league one striker though? He has spent most of his career in league two/national league level and the last time he was at League One level before this season he scored 7 goals in 2.5 seasons before being shipped off back to a league two team.
Ive seen football enough to know lots of players can have very good above average years for them.
Again, I’m not saying May is not a good player or that I would be upset if we signed him. If he can replicate last year it would be well worth the investment. But its easy to spend someone else’s money, and I personally wouldn’t risk spending what would be a substantial fee on a player when there’s other cheaper alternatives out there.
I certainly wouldn’t be basing my thoughts and emotions around the whole season if we don’t get him, which I know many on here will.
His record over the last two seasons at a struggling league one side is much more relevant than any season before that, players peak/improve at different stages in their careers, right now he’s a proven league goalscorer, 5 years ago he wasn’t.
Is May a ‘proven’ league one striker though? He has spent most of his career in league two/national league level and the last time he was at League One level before this season he scored 7 goals in 2.5 seasons before being shipped off back to a league two team.
Ive seen football enough to know lots of players can have very good above average years for them.
Again, I’m not saying May is not a good player or that I would be upset if we signed him. If he can replicate last year it would be well worth the investment. But its easy to spend someone else’s money, and I personally wouldn’t risk spending what would be a substantial fee on a player when there’s other cheaper alternatives out there.
I certainly wouldn’t be basing my thoughts and emotions around the whole season if we don’t get him, which I know many on here will.
His record over the last two seasons at a struggling league one side is much more relevant than any season before that, players peak/improve at different stages in their careers, right now he’s a proven league goalscorer, 5 years ago he wasn’t.
Two season running scoring 20 league goals is very impressive, and suggests it's not a flash in the pan bit of form. Especially as it's at a small team who've struggled to score this season.
This season he's scored 20 out of 45 goals, an incredible percentage.
Is May a ‘proven’ league one striker though? He has spent most of his career in league two/national league level and the last time he was at League One level before this season he scored 7 goals in 2.5 seasons before being shipped off back to a league two team.
Ive seen football enough to know lots of players can have very good above average years for them.
Again, I’m not saying May is not a good player or that I would be upset if we signed him. If he can replicate last year it would be well worth the investment. But its easy to spend someone else’s money, and I personally wouldn’t risk spending what would be a substantial fee on a player when there’s other cheaper alternatives out there.
I certainly wouldn’t be basing my thoughts and emotions around the whole season if we don’t get him, which I know many on here will.
His record over the last two seasons at a struggling league one side is much more relevant than any season before that, players peak/improve at different stages in their careers, right now he’s a proven league goalscorer, 5 years ago he wasn’t.
Two season running scoring 20 league goals is very impressive, and suggests it's not a flash in the pan bit of form. Especially as it's at a small team who've struggled to score this season.
This season he's scored 20 out of 45 goals, an incredible percentage.
Ah yeah, to be fair, I completely discounted that he had done it two seasons in a row now which is silly of me.
Perhaps we should try and pinch Paul Mullin from Wrexham , despite all the hoohah , they are still only bloody Wrexham and he is an absolute goal scoring machine and still only 28
Perhaps we should try and pinch Paul Mullin from Wrexham , despite all the hoohah , they are still only bloody Wrexham and he is an absolute goal scoring machine and still only 28
Pretty sure a driving thing in welcome to Wrexham was that he wanted to be close to Liverpool
Perhaps we should try and pinch Paul Mullin from Wrexham , despite all the hoohah , they are still only bloody Wrexham and he is an absolute goal scoring machine and still only 28
I think you need to pinch yourself first mate. They signed O’Connell from us, they’re “only Wrexham” in terms of history but spending power they could buy our entire team if they wanted.
Perhaps we should try and pinch Paul Mullin from Wrexham , despite all the hoohah , they are still only bloody Wrexham and he is an absolute goal scoring machine and still only 28
"Only bloody Wrexham" are probably the biggest football story outside the Premier league right now in terms of media exposure. They're everywhere and even have pre-season friendlies lined up against Man U and Chelsea. We're going to Welling and Dartford.
League one level players were signing for them in the National league, and now they've gone up a league. Plenty of players will want to sign for them and be a part of it.
Not to mention that Mullin is now pretty much a god in that part of the world. Not sure he'd leave them unless a decent championship side came in for him.
Perhaps we should try and pinch Paul Mullin from Wrexham , despite all the hoohah , they are still only bloody Wrexham and he is an absolute goal scoring machine and still only 28
I think you need to pinch yourself first mate. They signed O’Connell from us, they’re “only Wrexham” in terms of history but spending power they could buy our entire team if they wanted.
Absolutely not. If Leaburn is currently worth maybe 4 or 5 million Reynolds won’t be paying anywhere near that for a player. Let’s see how much their biggest summer signing is.
Perhaps we should try and pinch Paul Mullin from Wrexham , despite all the hoohah , they are still only bloody Wrexham and he is an absolute goal scoring machine and still only 28
I think you need to pinch yourself first mate. They signed O’Connell from us, they’re “only Wrexham” in terms of history but spending power they could buy our entire team if they wanted.
Absolutely not. If Leaburn is currently worth maybe 4 or 5 million Reynolds won’t be paying anywhere near that for a player. Let’s see how much their biggest summer signing is.
You’re splitting hairs a bit here, my overall point remains, Wrexham spending power >>> Charltons spending power.
Perhaps we should try and pinch Paul Mullin from Wrexham , despite all the hoohah , they are still only bloody Wrexham and he is an absolute goal scoring machine and still only 28
I think you need to pinch yourself first mate. They signed O’Connell from us, they’re “only Wrexham” in terms of history but spending power they could buy our entire team if they wanted.
Absolutely not. If Leaburn is currently worth maybe 4 or 5 million Reynolds won’t be paying anywhere near that for a player. Let’s see how much their biggest summer signing is.
You’re splitting hairs a bit here, my overall point remains, Wrexham spending power >>> Charltons spending power.
It's not even (just) the "hard" spending power of Wrexham but also the "soft" power of being part of the "Wrexham story" which has sold them as really ambitious but also feel-good, the perception is a club going places and that absolutely will appeal to a lot of players.
Charlton in contrast need to take drastic action if we're going to do anything more than idle around as L1 also-rans.
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Finding the player that scored few enough to not get bought by a Championship club or get his own club promoted and have the potential to score 20+ goals is the key.
Taylor and BWP would both full into that category, when we signed them, but it's very hard.
Smith the free one rather than being quoted at £4m. Again, caveat that with the fact neither of them likely fit under Project Break Even.
Portsmouth picked up Bishop for the same price, who was younger, and had 3 previous league one seasons hitting double figures. That sort of signing for a fee makes more sense to me.
As you mention if it was a choice between Sam Smith on a free and May for a fee, I’d be going for Smith.
I absolutely agree , I'd rather go for someone like Smith who is younger and has upside.
Colby Bishop is the ideal comparison, was around a similar fee and had the stats to back him up.
He's definitely leaving though regardless, they even pre-planned the late substitution against us so he could walk off and get applauded by their fans.
Ive seen football enough to know lots of players can have very good above average years for them.
Again, I’m not saying May is not a good player or that I would be upset if we signed him. If he can replicate last year it would be well worth the investment. But its easy to spend someone else’s money, and I personally wouldn’t risk spending what would be a substantial fee on a player when there’s other cheaper alternatives out there.
I certainly wouldn’t be basing my thoughts and emotions around the whole season if we don’t get him, which I know many on here will.
This season he's scored 20 out of 45 goals, an incredible percentage.
Whilst i don't doubt that he'd like to sign for us and be nearer home, what are the chances that we will:
a) pay the no doubt decent sized transfer fee it will take to get him.
b) outbid other clubs (ie. Wrexham) on wages.
League one level players were signing for them in the National league, and now they've gone up a league. Plenty of players will want to sign for them and be a part of it.
Not to mention that Mullin is now pretty much a god in that part of the world. Not sure he'd leave them unless a decent championship side came in for him.
Charlton in contrast need to take drastic action if we're going to do anything more than idle around as L1 also-rans.