Matt Penney (a left back!!!) - signed for Rochdale (p10)

bolloxbolder said:

Rumours on the other site we are under a transfer embargo. Seriously when will it end?

I could be wrong, but aren't teams placed under an embargo just prior to a takeover being confirmed? Either way, if we are placed under an embargo, the EFL will announce it as they have with Wigan and Sheff Utd during the past week.

Scoham said:

Looks a decent signing on paper, though I wonder why he wasn't good enough for Ipswich. Still young enough to improve and potentially become a permanent signing.

Considering he went to Motherwell on loan the sort of signing we could have made in the summer. Instead it appears TS and MS thought Clayden was good enough. They saved on wages for half a season but those 2/3 extra signings we needed in the summer could have been the difference between a playoff place and mid table.

In theory, yes, but it might be that in the summer, or maybe even up until last week, they wanted him to have some sort of playing time guarantee, which, with Egbo and Sess seemingly fit or coming back to fitness, we couldn't provide. Now with Clare as our only dependably fit fullback, Penney looks like he'll play a lot more than he would have at the start of the season.

Don't know anything about him but sounds like a good signing on paper. I'm glad that we didn't wait all window for Edun. He probably has a higher pedigree, but at some point you have to move on to other targets. I feel like our recruitment has struggled with that in recent times, so it's nice that they put a marker down in the sand and moved on to Plan B. 

He's been playing regularly which means he's fit, which is really good as well. It also means that when Sess is fit, he can play on the right. We can then drop Clare or use him in a back three. 

At this point, I would give this window a solid B grade. Needs have been addressed. Quality in depth has been added. A stand out CB or Attacker would still be really beneficial, but those are hard to come by, especially in January and when you can't guarantee loan players playing time due to existing depth. Moving on Stockley and Lavelle (loan or perm) and bringing in two to replace them would be ideal, but that feels more like something that would happen in the summer given that requires four transfers over the next week and a half. 

Last step is to let some of the youngsters go out on loan. Mitchell, Deji, and Kanu all can go to the National League and develop (they also don't necessarily have to move within the window). Same with Chin, though we may keep him on a tighter leash given that we're still not exactly blessed with fullbacks.

Good business, done before the 11th hour. We're stronger now than we were three weeks ago, and we've also gotten two players presumably on decent wages off our books. A LB and Bonne should have been added in the summer, it's a shame they weren't as things might have turned out differently. 

Oh go on, my go...

We spent a Penny!