Ghost of Clough

I live in the hope that we had a list of players with all being options depending on our situation and how many choose to go elsewhere. I'd be gobsmacked if anyone in power at the club sat there and thought: "today is the day Sheff Weds decide to cave in and let us have one of their players on loan, after playing us for foolsall the other times we tried to get someone off them".. If Gregory was our 4th choice target, we would have still been talking to them in case our 3 preferred options fell through. On days like today, you need to have every option on standby.

If Blackburn sign that forward they're after, could Harry Leonard become available?He's rarely featured since they signed an Icelandic forward, so will have even less game time after today. He's scored 3 and assisted 2 in his 834 league minutes this season. Scored 10 and assisted 4 in his 15 U21 appearances last season too. Similarly, Reyes Cleary could be on the way out of West Brom. He's out of contract at the end of the season, seemingly frozen out of the squad (due to not signing an extension). West Brom have also signed Callum Marshall, so there's no chance of Cleary getting minutes. 16 goals and 3 assists in his 12 U21 games last season and still only 19. There are a few decent wingers from U21 sides with conrtacts expiring in the summer. I'd be tempted to get any of them in early if possible: Amario Cozier-Duberry (Arsenal, RW, 18) - 7 goals and 2 assists in 13 U21 games Charles Sagoe Jr (Arsenal, LW, 19) - 3 goals and 10 assists in 17 U21 games Omari Forson (Man Utd, RW, 19) - 7 goals and 2 assists in 10 U21 games

There's currently only 1 player I could speak to and friends of my family know a couple others, but that's as close to being #ITK as I'll ever be.

By forgetting all the useful stuff I need to remember for work and whatever my wife told me last night 😅

Since we sold him during admin, we would have sold him for the best up front fee we could get. I doubt there will be a sell-on. However, we will be entitled to a modest 1% of any fee due to FIFA's Solidarity Contribution scheme - essenitally 0.5% for every season at the club before the end of the season a player turns 23 (0.25% per season between the ages of 12 and 15). This only applies when a player transfers from one country to another.

There's a 'Championship Pot' and a 'League 1 Pot' depending on the outcome at the end of the season. Some targets may even appear in both pots

He's still managed to score 7 goal contributions against top 8 sides (I expect to see Blackpool in the top 6 by the end of the season). He played for 484 minutes against the top 8 so far, so has averaged a very impressive 69 minutes per goal/assist against the top sides.

Midfielders (7) - Bird, Hourihane, Adams, Thompson, Smith, Fornah, Sibley Wide players (4/5) - Mendez-Laing, Blackett-Taylor, Barkhuizen, Wilson, Ward (?) We're perhaps a Smith/Fornah and a Ward too heavy in terms of squad size but not too bad, especially as Wilson/Ward also cover RB. However, we would be a tad heavy at CF in a 433 once we sign someone and other players are all fit (5): Collins, New, Washington, Waghorn, John-Jules

I think most fans think he'll come good. I also think I'm an outlier in thinking he should be moved on, but that's mostly because when we signed him I had the opinion that he "isn't much of an improvement over Smith (if any at all)" and haven't seen enough to change my opinion. I can recall 2 games where he made an impact - I think it was the Cambridge home game where he mopped up everything in midfield, and the Bistol Rovers game where he came off the bench to assist our last minute winner. His performances since then have lacked effort, topped off by walking back when Bradford were breaking up the field. I am perhaps being a tad harsh on him, as looking through his match ratings when given conssitent starts in the absense of Bird and/or Hourihane, he did quite well. We've also only lost 2 games which he started in - his first start for Derby was against Bolton when Wildsmith got sent off, and the other was against Shrewsbury when we was brought off at half time (score was 0:0 and we went on to lose). I can see why Fornah may be frustrated with not being given more starts, which will have been a cause for his recent poor displays when given a rare opportunity in the team

Are you worried John-Jules may be a bit lonely on the treatment table later in the season?

We had Luke McGee on loan from them. He was also part of their 21/22 L2 promotion team

Other than Robinson, the rest of the U21s are unlikely to get EFL loans so we can still send them out to the National League (or lower) later in the season. The club will be reluctant to weaken the U21 too much. Whilst results haven't improved as much as we'd have liked, performances have improved considerably. We've been undeservedly beaten in a few games, including agaisnt Forest the other night - it took 2 red cards and an injury time goal for them to beat us. We haven't been beaten by more than a single goal since September, and that was the last of only 3.

Still over 12 hours left to sign one It seems like you missed yesterday's news - we signed a defensive midfielder... Exactly wehat you're crying over. We also didn't need to sell our best midfielder to get someone in. Seems like you put your tin hat on too early and can't see what's right in frot of you. There's still budget left in the pot to sign a forward WITHOUT selling anyone.

The only way I see this happeneing is if we do a straight swap with Fornah, with them having enough time in to get loan cover in for CF. Unrelated, but I didn't realise how small their squad was. Outside of their first 11, they have Clarke-Harris who has played a bit part role this season, a winger who comes on when Mason-Clarke or Poku need a breather, and a backup kepper. They also have a CB who hasn't started since September (following 7 goals being conceded in 2 games). The rest of their squad has played a total of 622 minutes between them. If they don't suffer from fatigue in the 2nd half of the season, they'll surely pick up a couple of injuries with results dropping off.

Warne'll no doubt go with Adams, Hourihane and Bird once he's settled. Personally, I'd have Thompson or Sibley (when not filling in at LB) in there over Hourihane to maintain a high press. I've said it before, but Hourihane should have a reduced role in the squad - coming off the becnh every game to see games out or provide a different threat if chasing a result. I expect Smith to be loaned out tomorow. I wouldn't be surprised if Fornah is loaned out either.

That's the kind of personality which will lift the team when on a bad run. It's clear how excited he is to have joined us and you know he'll try his best when out on the field.

To be fair, the injury which kept him out for all of last season was afreak accident "never seen before in football" and doesn't seem to be a problem which could reocurr. He's been releatively free from injuries throughout his career. If his performances at Forest Green are anything to go by, he'll be the 'midfield enforcer' many people crave. He also had a good attacking output for a DM when playing for them. Much better than what you'd expect from Fornah and Smith.

Which would be another dissapointing signing when Brown has a better strike rate than him at U21 level this season. It's similar to us signing White last season, which resulted in Thompson deciding it was best for him to go out on loan.

More "poorly used" than "limited"

Tbh, I think it's been hinted at a couple of times. They overestimated how long it would take to 'rebuild' the academy, so didn't expect many players to come through for a couple of years. This would have likely been a factor towards opting for a manager with minimal histroy of bringing through academy players, and no working history with a category 1 academy.

Boro's Rogers was actually a £1.5m signing in the summer. Similar situation as Whittaker signing for Plymouth and now being linked with £10m+ moves. There's a common theme with the clubs selling young players for a lot of money - they have 'modern coaches' who have faith in playing youngsters. The market for Championship players used to be only PL clubs, but that market initially slowed down around Covid. However, clubs from Europe (Germany and Italy in particular) are now starting to take greater interest, in the hope of churning a massive profit to PL clubs in the future. Young players prefer signing for clubs with modern coaches, and the club trust them more with their players. Carrick is a great example. This season alone he's signed Rogers, van den Berg, Azaz, Greenwood and Thomas. Rosenior has signed Philogene, Connolly, Carvalho, Delap, Twine and Morton

Just because we're currently operating under a business plan doesn't mean we couldn't have signed players who would have played a greater role than the ones we did sign. A few free agents signed by L1 clubs which could have been alternatives to who we signed (and who they signed for): Bradley: Pennington (Blackpool), Lopata (Barnsley), Jones (Charlton), Shaughnessy (Portsmouth), Poole (Portsmouth) Elder: Sparkes (Portsmouth) Ward: Dacres-Cogley (Bolton), Clark (Port Vale) Fornah / Embleton: Morgan (Blackpool), Chislett (Port Vale), Knibbs (Reading), Wing (Reading), Matt Smith (Wigan) John-Jules / Washington / Waghorn: Martin (Bristol Rovers), Harris (Oxford), Rodrigues (Oxford), Smith (Reading) Of the players listed, all are rated higher according to Whoscored than the players we signed, with the exception of Waghorn who is higher than Harris.

Gregory's use to us should be similar to the use Lampard had for Nugent. Handy backup as a 3rd choice CF when playing with just 1 up top. If we were signing him for that role, I would be happy with it. However, we need someone who will play a more important role at this moment in time.

Not stricly about January signings, but I thought an profile comparison with our 3 main promotion rivals would highlight where we were need to focus our attention on. A few points of note: 1. I would say Warne's intended age profile is close to what Bolton currently have - the majority between 22 and 29, with more regular starters being in the upper end of that range. However, Bolton are known for having a more patient passing style. More game time over the rest of the season to the likes of Blackett-Taylor, Nyambe, Fornah and Ward would go some way to addressing the imbalance. 2. Those 3 clubs combined have given players aged 30+ 10538 minutes. We've given almost double the minutes to players over 30, with overr 12000 minutes to those aged 32 and over. Peterborough have almsot no players over the age of 24! 3. Both Portsmouth and Peterborough have given more minutes to those 21 and under. This is where we should have included Thompson and DRobinson much more than we have done. Occasional game time to the likes of Brown also would have helped. Rooney's injury is a mitigating factor.