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Winter-January 2026 Transfer Window Rumours ...
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They did, we had one of the highest net spends in the league, we just bought top league 1 players who, so far, have shown they can't step upozaddick said:There's something I don't quite understand about our transfer business, both in the summer, and now.
Why would the owners pump a lot of money into ground improvements, giving the Valley a massive refresh, and not spend the required money to bolster the squad with some high end championship players?
Why do a shoestring job on the squad, comparatively at this level, it's possible you could make money with player resale, final league position etc, yet spend on a ground you don't own? Doesn't make sense to me.3 -
Has it really been that bad? We've not been in the relegation spots once so far, despite being favourites to go down.ozaddick said:There's something I don't quite understand about our transfer business, both in the summer, and now.
Why would the owners pump a lot of money into ground improvements, giving the Valley a massive refresh, and not spend the required money to bolster the squad with some high end championship players?
Why do a shoestring job on the squad, comparatively at this level, it's possible you could make money with player resale, final league position etc, yet spend on a ground you don't own? Doesn't make sense to me.26 -
They spent £10m, I’d hardly call that a shoestring job. I don’t think we can spend much more than they have done and still stay within the financial rules, our revenues just aren’t high enough to pay big championship wages yetozaddick said:There's something I don't quite understand about our transfer business, both in the summer, and now.
Why would the owners pump a lot of money into ground improvements, giving the Valley a massive refresh, and not spend the required money to bolster the squad with some high end championship players?
Why do a shoestring job on the squad, comparatively at this level, it's possible you could make money with player resale, final league position etc, yet spend on a ground you don't own? Doesn't make sense to me.9 -
So here we are over halfway through the season and we still don’t have a settled team. We didn’t properly replace Small. We spent a lot of money (for us) on Tanto, Apter, Knibbs and JRC who have all ended up bit parts. Kelman comes back from injury and finds his scoring boots only to end up back on the bench.If these signings were all NJ’s picks then I’m not sure he’s very good at spending the money wisely. I hoped that this window we’d get evidence to remind us of what Phil Chapple can do. Clarke looks decent and Dykes probably works as Leaburn alternative (though not alongside). But we still have a gaping hole down the left side and excuses are being trotted out of nearly had someone but their club backed out or they got injured - you know what? That’s football - a signings not a signing until you have a signature.10
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So you think one summer transfer window shopping in league 1 is enough? So, why do the bookies not agree with you?NabySarr said:
They spent £10m, I’d hardly call that a shoestring job. I don’t think we can spend much more than they have done and still stay within the financial rules, our revenues just aren’t high enough to pay big championship wages yetozaddick said:There's something I don't quite understand about our transfer business, both in the summer, and now.
Why would the owners pump a lot of money into ground improvements, giving the Valley a massive refresh, and not spend the required money to bolster the squad with some high end championship players?
Why do a shoestring job on the squad, comparatively at this level, it's possible you could make money with player resale, final league position etc, yet spend on a ground you don't own? Doesn't make sense to me.2 -
Berkshire1970 said:
So you think one summer transfer window shopping in league 1 is enough? So, why do the bookies not agree with you?NabySarr said:
They spent £10m, I’d hardly call that a shoestring job. I don’t think we can spend much more than they have done and still stay within the financial rules, our revenues just aren’t high enough to pay big championship wages yetozaddick said:There's something I don't quite understand about our transfer business, both in the summer, and now.
Why would the owners pump a lot of money into ground improvements, giving the Valley a massive refresh, and not spend the required money to bolster the squad with some high end championship players?
Why do a shoestring job on the squad, comparatively at this level, it's possible you could make money with player resale, final league position etc, yet spend on a ground you don't own? Doesn't make sense to me.Of course its not enough, but what's the alternative...You've got to be realistic?If we'd spent that £10m on proper Championship experience and talent, you'd have got one, maybe two players in - Instead we've got to be smarter, and take risks with who we try to bring in, as we just cant compete financially with the rest of this Division at the moment. We could have shopped abroad, but as a newly promoted club, you're taking the risk that they can even adjust to English Football, take the £3.5m that Oxford spent on de keersmaecker.So as a result, I'm not surprised that Jones opted to go for experience, and those that he knew he could rely upon... This was never a summer for taking risks because of how new we are to this level... Yes it was a risk because of the injury record to Burke and Bell, but so far the argument can be made that its paying off, because we've not put a foot in the relegation zone yet.4 -
Even a midtable side like Derby showed the quality gap - £8m on Agyemang, Clark on loan from RB Leipzig , Brereton Diaz on loan from Southampton.
That's the next step up in business that we need to get to if we stay up.31 -
I think that is in Jones mind as well, we essentially need a wing back and a left back in the current system, not really possible if you are struggling to get one, and his chopping and changing of the team is probably an indication of trying to play a different way.Sword65pf said:Get a left back, change the system.2 -
Cawley made the good point that maybe we had to shift our LWB targets from a stop gap who can cover for a few weeks and take some minutes here and there to someone who can start for the rest of the season. Now you can argue that we should just sign the stop gap anyway but it could well be a knock on effect of Edwards' injury13
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I guess the problem we had pre-Edwards setback is that we didnt want to end up signing someone who'd inevitably go from starting, to being a backup when Edwards returns, especially if that was in a few weeks time. Could well have an unhappy player on our hands, upsetting the dressing room, or you could be left with a parent club wondering why their loan isn't getting more game time... a la Zach Mitchellfenaddick said:Cawley made the good point that maybe we had to shift our LWB targets from a stop gap who can cover for a few weeks and take some minutes here and there to someone who can start for the rest of the season. Now you can argue that we should just sign the stop gap anyway but it could well be a knock on effect of Edwards' injury2 -
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ForeverAddickted said:
I guess the problem we had pre-Edwards setback is that we didnt want to end up signing someone who'd inevitably go from starting, to being a backup when Edwards returns, especially if that was in a few weeks time. Could well have an unhappy player on our hands, upsetting the dressing room, or you could be left with a parent club wondering why their loan isn't getting more game time... a la Zach Mitchellfenaddick said:Cawley made the good point that maybe we had to shift our LWB targets from a stop gap who can cover for a few weeks and take some minutes here and there to someone who can start for the rest of the season. Now you can argue that we should just sign the stop gap anyway but it could well be a knock on effect of Edwards' injury
Your last sentence is key there. I'm sure any parent club we've approached have probably put some kind of guarantee in the deal regarding playing time if it's a young player. They wouldn't loan us a player just for us to be giving him 20 mins a week off the bench.
I wonder if the 4 man list NJ mentioned last week has changed slightly now with the Edwards setback.3 -
CB1 said:Well everything is ok because I think we are going to announce a signing today 😉
Not funny anymore...🙄7 -
My 2 thoughts on this.ForeverAddickted said:
I guess the problem we had pre-Edwards setback is that we didnt want to end up signing someone who'd inevitably go from starting, to being a backup when Edwards returns, especially if that was in a few weeks time. Could well have an unhappy player on our hands, upsetting the dressing room, or you could be left with a parent club wondering why their loan isn't getting more game time... a la Zach Mitchellfenaddick said:Cawley made the good point that maybe we had to shift our LWB targets from a stop gap who can cover for a few weeks and take some minutes here and there to someone who can start for the rest of the season. Now you can argue that we should just sign the stop gap anyway but it could well be a knock on effect of Edwards' injury
Yes, our parameters have probably changed now that Edwards is out for the rest of the season. BUT that shouldn't have stopped us signing a LWB as soon as the transfer window opened to cover Edwards position until he was fit AND to cover him if he broke down.
Which then leads to point 2.
So what if it pissed off loaning club. You mention Zach Mitchell & Hibs......they sid it to us and I'm sure other clubs do it too. No morals in football anymore. We might come out to be the good guys......but relegated good guys.1 -
NJ in his presser with Rich ' Hopefully we'll have an LWB in the building by the weekend ' , Roussillon not up to the athletic levels of the the championship yet.5
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The "so what" is we probably won't loan to Hibs for a bit now. If one of the PL teams decide not to loan to us in the future because we messed them around then we could miss out on some good talentgolfaddick said:
My 2 thoughts on this.ForeverAddickted said:
I guess the problem we had pre-Edwards setback is that we didnt want to end up signing someone who'd inevitably go from starting, to being a backup when Edwards returns, especially if that was in a few weeks time. Could well have an unhappy player on our hands, upsetting the dressing room, or you could be left with a parent club wondering why their loan isn't getting more game time... a la Zach Mitchellfenaddick said:Cawley made the good point that maybe we had to shift our LWB targets from a stop gap who can cover for a few weeks and take some minutes here and there to someone who can start for the rest of the season. Now you can argue that we should just sign the stop gap anyway but it could well be a knock on effect of Edwards' injury
Yes, our parameters have probably changed now that Edwards is out for the rest of the season. BUT that shouldn't have stopped us signing a LWB as soon as the transfer window opened to cover Edwards position until he was fit AND to cover him if he broke down.
Which then leads to point 2.
So what if it pissed off loaning club. You mention Zach Mitchell & Hibs......they sid it to us and I'm sure other clubs do it too. No morals in football anymore. We might come out to be the good guys......but relegated good guys.1 -
Given how we have performed, as well as how the majority of transfers have performed. Do the owners still trust NJ to spend money wisely. So far it’s not a good look to have a substantial financial outlay not even making the bench4
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That is nothing short of embarrassing from the player, coaching staff, and everyone involved in singing him.MarcusH26 said:NJ in his presser with Rich ' Hopefully we'll have an LWB in the building by the weekend ' , Roussillon not up to the athletic levels of the the championship yet.26 -
To be fair NJ clearly knows it was a bad signing as he keeps saying he's the only player that was available as a free agent. I'm struggling to see why he's still here though, only answer I can think of is his contract runs out at the end of the windowCroydon said:
That is nothing short of embarrassing from the player, coaching staff, and everyone involved in singing him.MarcusH26 said:NJ in his presser with Rich ' Hopefully we'll have an LWB in the building by the weekend ' , Roussillon not up to the athletic levels of the the championship yet.4 -
Panic over guys.
Roussillon is nearly there.
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Why on earth is he on the bench then? Absolutely farcical having him there ahead of Apter.MarcusH26 said:NJ in his presser with Rich ' Hopefully we'll have an LWB in the building by the weekend ' , Roussillon not up to the athletic levels of the the championship yet.28 -
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If Jerome isn't up to the athletic levels of the championship yet, and he's been in the building for 2 months already, he won't reach them19
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Newnow says millwall/charlton trying to sign striker cadamateri (cant see it happening) and sam field is now available - think someone reported this a few days ago anyway2
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So who should we have signed as soon as the window opened, what club should have rolled over and had there tummy tickled by us on Jan 1st selling us there best LB/LWB?golfaddick said:
My 2 thoughts on this.ForeverAddickted said:
I guess the problem we had pre-Edwards setback is that we didnt want to end up signing someone who'd inevitably go from starting, to being a backup when Edwards returns, especially if that was in a few weeks time. Could well have an unhappy player on our hands, upsetting the dressing room, or you could be left with a parent club wondering why their loan isn't getting more game time... a la Zach Mitchellfenaddick said:Cawley made the good point that maybe we had to shift our LWB targets from a stop gap who can cover for a few weeks and take some minutes here and there to someone who can start for the rest of the season. Now you can argue that we should just sign the stop gap anyway but it could well be a knock on effect of Edwards' injury
Yes, our parameters have probably changed now that Edwards is out for the rest of the season. BUT that shouldn't have stopped us signing a LWB as soon as the transfer window opened to cover Edwards position until he was fit AND to cover him if he broke down.
Which then leads to point 2.
So what if it pissed off loaning club. You mention Zach Mitchell & Hibs......they sid it to us and I'm sure other clubs do it too. No morals in football anymore. We might come out to be the good guys......but relegated good guys.
Should we have overpaid for someone right away? Sure we could pay over the odds and hand out a juicy contract to someone, it might work but then it might not and we’re then lumbered with yet another player we can’t shift off the books eating into our £13m allowed losses a season having already spent £10m or so on transfer fees in the summer.
This isn’t Football Manager and there’s no blank cheque book. The club loses enough money as it is before operating in the market which makes doing smart business even more important in this league.2 -
I think everyone is surprised and disappointed we don't have a LWB in by now, moaning about it at 00.01am on 1st January and then every available second after that is the bit that gets the ribbingCroydon said:People like to poke fun at Golfie on here, but all the talk around me in the covered end tonight was disbelief at the fact we're 20 days into the window and haven't signed a Left Back yet.13 -
I agree, dig out Katrien's armchair for him and pass him the remote.Clem_Snide said:
Why on earth is he on the bench then? Absolutely farcical having him there ahead of Apter.MarcusH26 said:NJ in his presser with Rich ' Hopefully we'll have an LWB in the building by the weekend ' , Roussillon not up to the athletic levels of the the championship yet.0 -
No wonder Apter has kicked off if he has.Clem_Snide said:
Why on earth is he on the bench then? Absolutely farcical having him there ahead of Apter.MarcusH26 said:NJ in his presser with Rich ' Hopefully we'll have an LWB in the building by the weekend ' , Roussillon not up to the athletic levels of the the championship yet.0 -
Rousillon was a small gamble that hasn't paid off. Frustrating but let's not pretend we got him in over someone else.16
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I do wonder if initially with Edwards due back at some point, other clubs were reluctant to send us one of their assets who may ultimately sit on the bench once Edwards returned.
We may be in a position to guarantee any player coming in on loan a guaranteed spot for the season which may be more appealing to other clubs now.9 -
I think Nathan Jones would be rightly annoyed at Hibs, we could have got Zach a loan somewhere and he could progress with development, instead half a season wasted in Edinburgh and unlikely to feature for us for the rest of the championship season.golfaddick said:
My 2 thoughts on this.ForeverAddickted said:
I guess the problem we had pre-Edwards setback is that we didnt want to end up signing someone who'd inevitably go from starting, to being a backup when Edwards returns, especially if that was in a few weeks time. Could well have an unhappy player on our hands, upsetting the dressing room, or you could be left with a parent club wondering why their loan isn't getting more game time... a la Zach Mitchellfenaddick said:Cawley made the good point that maybe we had to shift our LWB targets from a stop gap who can cover for a few weeks and take some minutes here and there to someone who can start for the rest of the season. Now you can argue that we should just sign the stop gap anyway but it could well be a knock on effect of Edwards' injury
Yes, our parameters have probably changed now that Edwards is out for the rest of the season. BUT that shouldn't have stopped us signing a LWB as soon as the transfer window opened to cover Edwards position until he was fit AND to cover him if he broke down.
Which then leads to point 2.
So what if it pissed off loaning club. You mention Zach Mitchell & Hibs......they sid it to us and I'm sure other clubs do it too. No morals in football anymore. We might come out to be the good guys......but relegated good guys.1 -
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