Oi you lot, Rob Apter. Whats going on? - 28/01/26 gone on loan to Bolton (p7)

This is what NJ told Cawley. There is perhaps a slight inference that he wasn’t always a lovely human being?

“He’s a lovely footballer - when he is happy and content he is a lovely human being here. He has been frustrated. Now with that frustration, we have a decision to make. Do we keep him and give him sporadic game time? Or do we allow him to go out and enhance the asset by getting game time?“

Think it suggests he can get a bit grumpy but I think that’s fair enough. I’d also be aggrieved if I played well for a month, got displaced and then when I had a chance got hooked after half an hour because the manager went far too aggressive against his old employer 

RC_CAFC said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

He’s young and 6 months into a long contract having never played at the level and got our player of the month in his only solid month of football for us.

He’s been at Bolton for 5 minutes.

Letting him go annoyed me, but as has so often been the way Jones has made the right call. 

We bought potential based on his performances in league one and two and he still has that. 

Let’s all give him time. Someone going out on loan doesn’t mean they can’t come back and be more ready.

I don’t see a loan deal added an extra 20 pounds of muscle, an extra few inches of height and suddenly turn him into a wingback. Like the player but he’s just not a NJ player. I’d rather accept he’s not gonna become what we need take the money and throw it at Clarke +/- Bree

Crispywood said:

RC_CAFC said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

He’s young and 6 months into a long contract having never played at the level and got our player of the month in his only solid month of football for us.

He’s been at Bolton for 5 minutes.

Letting him go annoyed me, but as has so often been the way Jones has made the right call. 

We bought potential based on his performances in league one and two and he still has that. 

Let’s all give him time. Someone going out on loan doesn’t mean they can’t come back and be more ready.

I don’t see a loan deal added an extra 20 pounds of muscle, an extra few inches of height and suddenly turn him into a wingback. Like the player but he’s just not a NJ player. I’d rather accept he’s not gonna become what we need take the money and throw it at Clarke +/- Bree

He may not work out as a wing back but potentially he could still fit into the role currently occupied by Carey/Berry of the attacking midfielder. He'd still need to work on his physicality/aggression to do that in a Jones side but it wouldn't be quite as much of a transformation needed.

NabySarr said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

They were all gambles and I don’t think the club expected them all to work. I still think Kelman and Knibbs we will be fine on over the next year or so they will show their worth. 

But as an overall strategy to buy league 1 players to develop, Carey is probably worth £7m alone now so it’s kind of worked anyway, but if Kelman and Knibbs push on then I’d say it was actually quite a successful strategy even with 2 not working out at all 

I rate Carey, but Behave 😂 

NabySarr said:

CAFCsayer said:

NabySarr said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

They were all gambles and I don’t think the club expected them all to work. I still think Kelman and Knibbs we will be fine on over the next year or so they will show their worth. 

But as an overall strategy to buy league 1 players to develop, Carey is probably worth £7m alone now so it’s kind of worked anyway, but if Kelman and Knibbs push on then I’d say it was actually quite a successful strategy even with 2 not working out at all 

I rate Carey, but Behave 😂 

What’s the going rate for a championship midfielder that scores 10+ goals a season? 

He has scored 10 goals in a season. If he does it the next two seasons too then maybe

NabySarr said:

CAFCsayer said:

NabySarr said:

CAFCsayer said:

NabySarr said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

They were all gambles and I don’t think the club expected them all to work. I still think Kelman and Knibbs we will be fine on over the next year or so they will show their worth. 

But as an overall strategy to buy league 1 players to develop, Carey is probably worth £7m alone now so it’s kind of worked anyway, but if Kelman and Knibbs push on then I’d say it was actually quite a successful strategy even with 2 not working out at all 

I rate Carey, but Behave 😂 

What’s the going rate for a championship midfielder that scores 10+ goals a season? 

He has scored 10 goals in a season. If he does it the next two seasons too then maybe

Maybe 7 is a stretch but I think he’d be worth at least 5m this summer. He’s shown he can play well and score goals at this level

Just looking at last seasons midfield goalscorers. Finn Azaz scored 12 and he went for £12m, and he’d never scored 10+ until that season 

Lol. You've just dropped his "price" by £2million (or 30%) in half an hour. 

Are you an estate agent?

Crispywood said:

RC_CAFC said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

He’s young and 6 months into a long contract having never played at the level and got our player of the month in his only solid month of football for us.

He’s been at Bolton for 5 minutes.

Letting him go annoyed me, but as has so often been the way Jones has made the right call. 

We bought potential based on his performances in league one and two and he still has that. 

Let’s all give him time. Someone going out on loan doesn’t mean they can’t come back and be more ready.

I don’t see a loan deal added an extra 20 pounds of muscle, an extra few inches of height and suddenly turn him into a wingback. Like the player but he’s just not a NJ player. I’d rather accept he’s not gonna become what we need take the money and throw it at Clarke +/- Bree

He’s not currently an NJ player, but that doesn’t mean he can’t become one. It may be that in the long term, he doesn’t see Apter as a wing back.

Crispywood said:

RC_CAFC said:

Crispywood said:

RC_CAFC said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

He’s young and 6 months into a long contract having never played at the level and got our player of the month in his only solid month of football for us.

He’s been at Bolton for 5 minutes.

Letting him go annoyed me, but as has so often been the way Jones has made the right call. 

We bought potential based on his performances in league one and two and he still has that. 

Let’s all give him time. Someone going out on loan doesn’t mean they can’t come back and be more ready.

I don’t see a loan deal added an extra 20 pounds of muscle, an extra few inches of height and suddenly turn him into a wingback. Like the player but he’s just not a NJ player. I’d rather accept he’s not gonna become what we need take the money and throw it at Clarke +/- Bree

He’s not currently an NJ player, but that doesn’t mean he can’t become one. It may be that in the long term, he doesn’t see Apter as a wing back.

TC isn’t in the mould of the player you’ve described and Jones loves him.

I think ultimately, Jones doesn’t like his players being too maverick’y and the defensive side always comes first.

He hasn’t yet seen enough of that in Apter yet, but it may come. Not ready to write him off yet.

Jones clearly favours Pace Power Strength Height and Workrate as the key attributes. TC has the pace power and workrate. Apter arguably has none of the physical attributes. 

I don’t want to write him off but there’s some players you just watch and think this isn’t going to work for how we play. We saw it last season with the likes of Ahadme not being good enough in front of goal, Mitchell not having the speed or on the ball ability to play as a wide centre back etc 

Time will tell, I really rate Apter and was really pleased when we signed him as he’d done so well for Tranmere and Blackpool. With Edwards on the other side, he started the season really well. For me, he has pace and workrate but admittedly is short in the power department.

Sword65pf said:

I thought his link up play with Carey stood out at the start of the season. 

Yeah made Carey look a lot better with his vision/passing as he could put the ball in an area next to him and he knew apter would be speeding on to it. 

Carey isn't worth 7m lol. One thing I've noticed is that our entire open play game plan is set up to generate chances for him specifically. It's Alfie May all over again - not deployed the furthest forward, but receiving ball in shooting areas. Good player but we're absolutely making sure he's on the end of everything, so it makes sense he's scored a few 

Leuth said:

Carey isn't worth 7m lol. One thing I've noticed is that our entire open play game plan is set up to generate chances for him specifically. It's Alfie May all over again - not deployed the furthest forward, but receiving ball in shooting areas. Good player but we're absolutely making sure he's on the end of everything, so it makes sense he's scored a few 

That’s a good thing isn’t it? He started showing that ability more consistently in the second half of last season. We’ve signed him for a specific role that suits the way we play, and he’ll likely score more in this league than he did in the previous season despite now playing at a higher level.

If clubs want a hard working goal scoring midfielder then he’ll be worth a big fee to them. If they want a more traditional playmaking 10 then no he’s not worth anywhere near that.

I wouldn’t underestimate what clubs will pay for goalscorers, despite his limitations.

Crispywood said:

RC_CAFC said:

Crispywood said:

RC_CAFC said:

Crispywood said:

Though Apter would do well at Bolton and we could get a decent sum of money back for him doesn’t seem like that’s going to plan. 

Championship survival was always the goal so couldn’t care less how we do it and in the end it would a good season and you have to say it’s been solid overall transfer windows because that playoff final squad would have got relegated. 

But we have Seriously wasted 7M on Kelman Tanto and Apter 

He’s young and 6 months into a long contract having never played at the level and got our player of the month in his only solid month of football for us.

He’s been at Bolton for 5 minutes.

Letting him go annoyed me, but as has so often been the way Jones has made the right call. 

We bought potential based on his performances in league one and two and he still has that. 

Let’s all give him time. Someone going out on loan doesn’t mean they can’t come back and be more ready.

I don’t see a loan deal added an extra 20 pounds of muscle, an extra few inches of height and suddenly turn him into a wingback. Like the player but he’s just not a NJ player. I’d rather accept he’s not gonna become what we need take the money and throw it at Clarke +/- Bree

He’s not currently an NJ player, but that doesn’t mean he can’t become one. It may be that in the long term, he doesn’t see Apter as a wing back.

TC isn’t in the mould of the player you’ve described and Jones loves him.

I think ultimately, Jones doesn’t like his players being too maverick’y and the defensive side always comes first.

He hasn’t yet seen enough of that in Apter yet, but it may come. Not ready to write him off yet.

Jones clearly favours Pace Power Strength Height and Workrate as the key attributes. TC has the pace power and workrate. Apter arguably has none of the physical attributes. 

I don’t want to write him off but there’s some players you just watch and think this isn’t going to work for how we play. We saw it last season with the likes of Ahadme not being good enough in front of goal, Mitchell not having the speed or on the ball ability to play as a wide centre back etc 

Genuine question, not a criticism. What are you saying is the difference between power and strength? I do not think TC has an abundance of either, though he is not a bantam-weight like Apter, and he is improving.