Wsm-ram

We have put our faith in getting it wide and whipping in crosses which makes Smith a sensible option, but I’m not sure how we utilise TJJ’s strengths. He looks to me like a player who likes the ball played on the ground in intricate moves (as per Arsenal).
He’s not going to get that with our 1.5 man midfield. That’s why we need Arblaster, a busy youngster with a neat pass.
That might be the final piece we need.
 

Think smith not being in Wednesday squad he might be on move soon 

Cox was offered Gee and Steve Bull by a scout who'd been looking for potential but couldn't afford both as he had brought in another striker.  I assume that would be Lillis then.

I think we should appreciate what’s starting to happen here.
At the beginning of the season we were looking at Waghorn and Washington to spearhead our attack.
We now have the prospect of a 22yo and a 26yo tearing it up. We should be delighted.
If we get Arblaster too it will be a fantastic window.
 I do wonder who might go out to make way.

My friend who is on the inside at Charlton (ex Board) says the deal has been done and subject to him passing his medical at Derby he will sign today - apparently he’s at Moor Farm today and came up here last night 

Well fair play @Big Trav 

Keep an eye out for later👀

I don’t think so, however on this occasion I’d like it to be! 

I honestly believe a player like Brannagan really could be the big missing piece of the jigsaw as far as or team’s development is concerned. More important than another wide player in my view. I say that because we really tend to be a single plan team at the moment- give it to Cash or Nelson, who then feed it out wide and then it goes down the line…
We don’t really have that Plan B of attack utilizing a good and creative thrust through the middle … Brannagan etc would bring that …

So update ( although not much of one ) is that my Charlton insider mate has said CBT is supposedly carrying a knock but believes from what he’s heard he’s played his last game for CAFC and said he believes it is us that’s the main interested party as hasn’t heard any other clubs mentioned apart from us 
He thinks a figure of 350k would get him not the 500k that has been mentioned but to me that seems a lot for a player out of contract soon 
also another note …Dobson there CM looks like he’s on his way as was taken off yesterday and done a lap around the stadium applauding the fans and is also out of contract soon 
I quite like Dobson and is quite a tough player who gets stuck in I actually wouldn’t mind if we got him as well as CBT 
Charlton fans love Dobson and I’ve always thought he’s a good CM 

A 6 month loan makes sense. I don't want any more permanent signings of players of this sort of age

If we signed CBT, Smith and a Midfielder I think we’d be in a very very strong position 

Unfortunately I think there are people who still genuinely think he is ITK.
BTs posts are genuinely the first posts I look for on here, I find them entertaining. I love an ITK post. But I'm not stupid. 
 

Got 4 goals from midfield for a team in absolute crisis? 1 goal per 7 matches for that s**** is nothing to be sniffed at. 
 
Also have to look at it that there’s a big chance we lose bird either now or in summer - will Hourihane still be here after summer? I’m not so sure. Same with regards to Smith. 
 
That’d leave us with Fornah and Thompson? Add Savage to them and a more senior player on a free in summer and you’ve got some decent options. You’ve got youth and legs. 
 
Id be very much for us making transfers that seem cheap but have potential for the players to grow with us. 
 
people always used to say they want us to be like Brentford well Brentford never signed players in their prime. They signed good players from underperforming teams based on their chairman’s model and developed them before selling them on for a fortune. 

I don’t think alarm bells should be ringing if we are willing to spend £250-500k. Let’s face it, this will be in exceptional circumstances, not the norm.
CBT’s career is trending upwards and he has shown himself to be one of the most productive attacking players in the league over the last 18 months.
Another five months of good form and being available on a free could put him out of reach.
We can’t afford to spend millions on the likes of Mason-Clark, Poku or Collins, so taking advantage of CBT’s contract situation makes a lot of sense. Strike while we can.

Yeah I'm hoping the bid being reported by Football Insider is the same bid reported by that Richard Cawley at the start of the week.
Then we've continued negotiations this week and are getting close. CBT has probably informed Charlton that he wants to leave and move to Derby. So hopefully they've just said look we're close, not played him today and we can get this all done next week.

I think the reason some get a bit disappointed when the window is open is the same reason I do 
We don’t want to spend silly money and go against financial restraints blahdy blah but it’s the fact that PW explains how difficult it is to get anyone and all the stars have to line up and the wind has to be blowing in the right direction etc etc when others seem to just get on with it and get players in eg Charlton signing Coventry 
it seems to follow a similar path each time saying we are near players have been shown round blah blah and we all think this is Derby and we should be able to sign a couple of half decent first team players for league 1 and then in the last few days PW says we tried but everything can just change and it’s so difficult to get the right players in yet also say it’s not difficult to get players to play for a club like ours ??
Then hey presto …last knockings of the window  cue the Springett and White signings ….lol ….we’ve had all season to identify the players that would make a difference yet something stops it from happening and I don’t think it’s all about finances 

The lad has never played winger before in his career. He's 23. He's impacted games positively in nearly every appearance he's made, and has room to keep improving. If that isn't a successful signing, your metrics are way off. Not every signing is first name on the team sheet, prime aged player. We need several more Kane Wilson signings to build this squad for the future.

Washington won't be match fit till March providing he doesn't have a set back. Waghorn who knows. At some point isn't really helping.
Smith is proven at this level and offers something different to Collins. Whilst TJJ has potential. Not being able to play 90 minutes isn't really much help at all. 
If we signed CBT, Smith and Arblaster this month I'd think we could give it a right good go to get promoted. Strength in depth is key and being able to rotate and not weaken the side is key. Because last season we ran out of steam as we had nobody that could step in and replace any of our better players. We can't let that happen again.

His 21/22 season he had the following (stats per 90):
0.43 goals 
6.37 aerial duels won (league highest)
5.85 touches in the box (98th percentile)
Also, won possession 43 times in the final third, which was a league high.
In 22/23, he also had 0.52 goals (0.43xG) per 90 which was near the top of the league.
He'll add a different dynamic in our attack, win us aerial duels up top and get on the end of crosses. It'd be a good signing.

My ITK source (Beryl 🍔) tells me the 2 initial forward players are CBT and Smith on loan from Wendies and then a last day of the window attempt to sign Arblaster on loan from Sheffield Utd 😉

Let’s remember, the Wendies thought Mendez was s*** and were laughing at us when we signed him. Ok he’s done it at a higher level and has a better pedigree but this lad is 26, he’s up there in L1 in terms of stats, if he’s a similar player to Mendez then how much better will that be for Mendez teams having another problem to deal with. Sounds like we’re all over this and good if so.

What happened to the supposed money available? 

Centre mid more important than a striker IMO. Sick of seeing us over run in midfield

Corey Blackett-Taylor, shown around training ground Monday. Know nothing more than that