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3 hours ago, Jourdan said:

Warne doesn’t have just one way of playing. We played some lovely football during the 15-game run last season, however that was heavily dependent on McGoldrick and Knight bringing balance to the team.

Having not been able to replace those two sufficiently, we have had to try another approach.

I think hopefully things will be easier when the restrictions are lifted and we have more flexibility in the market. Bringing better players into the fold can and will evidently make a difference. A player with the quality of a McGoldrick can bind a team together.

It’s very easy to say we should be working towards a sustainable place in the Championship now. However the phrase trying to run before we can walk would spring to mind.

Disagree , why not build a team that needs tweaks rather than an overhaul next season 

23 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Sorry mate I would disagree here.

Forsyth was our only left back on the books in the summer. He signed a one year deal and most agreed he would have been a good squad player to have. We then signed Elder, who pretty much we all agreed on that it was a really good signing. 28 years old, won league one previously, had 10 assists from left back. Unfortunately for him he was injured in pre season and missed most of it. Missing pre season is massive for any player as they are playing catch up.

How do we know that he wouldn't get infront of Forsyth of he'd been fit and firing all season? We don't. He's clearly plenty good enough.

His other signings.

Wilson - Has potential to be really good. 

Bradley - Everyone was absolutely buzzing when we signed him. Didn't start great. Made a couple of mistakes (which is all you need to do in our fans cases before we write someone off) and he's unfortunate that Cashin and Nelson have been so good. We probably signed him expecting Cashin to go.

Fornah - Definitely has potential. Still young. Hardly any experience. But there's definitely a player in there. Sometimes to laid back but he'll learn.

Washington - A player Warne trusts. Just starting to see glimpses (the go against Northampton) of what he could do at this level, getting up to speed. Then he's injured on international duty.

Ward - Obviously with 352 in mind. But now he just looks like he's surplus to requirements. I might be wrong. But I just don't see him getting a game or even on the bench soon.

Waghorn - Steady played. No world beater. Cheap, convenient and will still contribute when he's back fit.

Nyambe - Brilliant signing. Really good defender. 

Vickers - A keeper. Not really don't anything wrong.

TJJ - Massive risk we felt we could take. Obviously looked at his ability and thought we couldn't get much better if we can get him fit. It's not worked out. 

Embleton - Can barely judge this. He did his thigh taking a corner in training.

Some signings don't work out as you hope. It's the way it goes. 

But we don't seem to give anyone a chance before we want them gone or say they are s****. I've seen some having a go at CBT already after playing 80 minutes of football for us.

I've just seen Brighton are letting Dahoud go. A midfielder they signed from Dortmund in the summer. Clearly not worked out it happens.

We're a league one club, with hardly any money, working to restrictions. We can only do what we can do. 

Yep fair enough mate pretty fair assessment but still think myself we've wasted some money and we need it now 

6 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

I guess because he’s unproven as a goal scorer at this level in stark contrast to Gregory and Smith.

 I appreciate we won’t know until he’s given a shot but quick results seems to be the order of the day.

he is unproven and you're totally right with whst you say  but he could've been given much more game time experience here and just his pace and enthusiasm would've been a positive impact from the bench as well as having a Gregory or a Smith 

I'm not convinced Waggy and Washington play many games before the end of the season  

If you can get to Luton  there is a Thameslink train that stops at Charlton is approx 1 hour no changes 

5th or 6th and we won't win play offs 

I'm by no means a half fan and travel a long way but if we are in L1 next season with Warne as manager I will not be travelling all over the place to watch , I'll wait until we change manager

8 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

I think Fornah has shown glimpses of being a decent player….needs a run in the side…

Yes lets give him a chance he hasn't really been given a run because we are so insistent on 2 CM's 

8 hours ago, Jourdan said:

I think we have an outside chance of automatic promotion as we are looking a comfortable 4th at the moment, so I would imagine there’ll be little to no movement tomorrow.

People demanding we push the boat out on signings when the budget is very limited or reliant on outgoings perhaps signals how we got into this mess in the first place.

Personally I would love to see a new midfielder and a new striker. It would bring excitement and breathe life into the campaign. However this is on a backdrop of decreasing confidence in the recruitment team to deliver.

It seems better to me to wait until the summer when the restrictions will be lifted and we can hopefully make more measured deals than last minute panic signings.

yes in L1 with a new manager if we don't get a couple in ...its football and we need players  in as Warne has said himself 

5 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

In the summer we had one left back on the books in Forsyth and not a single right back or right wing back?

And you're sat there saying Ward and Elder weren't needed? Of course they were.

Elder has been unfortunate with injuries but I'm convinced there's a player there, just needs a run of games.

It's only in hindsight now we have Nyambe and Wilson in that Ward isn't needed.

Ward would only be needed if we were thinking of 352 as he’s not a RB even posh fans said he was defensively weak 

Elder I agree on and has played well recently apart from his slip against Burton but that happens but he still doesn’t get in front of Fozzy so basically we were getting cover players ? So wasn’t better than what we already had 

I thought we were signing players in the summer who were starters 

Nyambe was a good signing but I still don’t think we needed either Ward or Elder as a sensible loan or 2 to cover LB /RB would have been sufficient or god forbid we look for players that can play a couple of positions 

on the whole I’ve found PW’s signings underwhelming that’s all im saying 

when Clough signed players like Brayford, Coutts Bryson, Martin etc they were an improvement on what we had and I could see why 

all managers get some signings wrong but I just think in our current predicament I would’ve liked to have seen more right than wrong 

Mikkel Beck thinking of dusting off his puma kings in case he gets the call 

I mean yikes alive I’d rather give Brown a go than rely on Gregory ffs 🤦‍♂️ 

57 minutes ago, deanoakaram4life said:

Both Smith and Gregory are cast off’s from a team who are struggling like mad at the bottom of the championship. Big decisions are needed to be made in the summer if we are going down this route re recruitment.
 

You can see why the club are struggling this window. The summers budget was blown on Ward, Elder and Bradley, all of which have turned out to be disasters. It also didn’t help that we went into the season with a 3-5-2 which clearly didn’t suit the group. 
 

Who knows what the rest of the season will bring but we need a revaluation no matter what division we are in! 

Exactly this …why doesn’t anyone seem to recognise that we brought in so many duds in the summer when we are supposedly potless so every signing would be crucial don’t waste it on players that when fit still don’t get selected …so we end up with Ward RWB - not needed Elder - LWB - not needed there’s two places we could’ve spent more wisely players bought for a for a system that doesn’t work did we really need Vickers ? Not the players fault they don’t fit Ward must be thinking why was I signed ? Does Clowes now think he’s wasted a lot of his budget on non starters ? I would 

have a plan of how you want us to play with a couple of different formations get those players to play that who suit then get cover for those positions utilising the youth in academy when required 

27 minutes ago, KBB said:

I think the problem we have with our young players and "stars" is that we hold on to them for too long and sell them on their downward price value. Some say it shows ambition to hold on to your best players. It does, however, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, selling players and reinvesting in a quality replacement and s young up and coming player has to be our business policy.

Thinking back to Hulse, Martin and thinking about Bird, Cashin, Sibley we will never receive a value our fans think is acceptable for them to leave. Sometimes you do have to sell assets at a good value, suck it up and move forward.

Sibley will never be sold for anywhere near the rumour of what wolves were prepared to pay before and during his breakthrough.

Fans see a lack of ambition in selling young players, however if we got anything around 3mill for Bird, we could potentially go and get moxon and branagan and bring through Robinson. For me, this would not be lacking ambition, it is rebuilding a midfield by "sacrificing" a good player to aid this process.

I don't want cashin or Bird to leave and rate them both highly but if we got between 5 and 7 mill for them combined I would sell them both and rebuild. These are the times the club is living in. We have to embrace this as a fan base.

When the club is stable and sustainable, then we demand top dollar for the next generation.

Young players impressing in the first team is where the value is. It is risky as they can sink or swim, but if Brown was up top for us and having the season Collins is and on a long term contract we would be talking 10mill for him.

Totally agree with this …whether Warne is the correct man to do this then I have my doubts ….plenty of good players about 

41 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Lee Gregory would be fine if there is nothing else we can get in. He's experienced, will be a handful and I'd fancy him to chip in with a few goals.

What annoys me is I am reading some fans on twitter using this as a stick to beat Warne with. "I'm worried about Warne and our transfer policy if this is what we're doing"

Do you think if we sat Paul Warne in a room he'd say that Lee Gregory was his number one target and one he has always wanted?

No he wouldn't. Ideally he'd want a 24-27 year old proven league one striker who's ready to go and good enough to step up to the championship but if there are any available then 1. They aren't going to be sold and 2. If they were, we can't afford them. At all.

It's like our fans have seen that we have next to nothing, had to dip into a loan pot for CBT and are just ignoring that. 

If Gregory comes in he'll get my support, he's a stop gap for the season. Gives us an option. Is he what I want? No. He's not. But he might be the best we can get given our budget.

I've seen people say they'll be livid if we sign Gregory and we should have kept Brown. Livid? If be more livid if we didn't bring someone in.

Brown is nowhere near ready yet. Thrusting a young player in early can ruin them. 

I remember when we got linked with Jordan Rhodes and people were kicking off then. He's second top goalscorer now.

But alas, it's all Warnes fault. Warnes fault we've got no money, Warnes fault our midfield is poor when half of them are out injured. 

i get what you're saying but wheel and deal , sell Cashin and Bird if it means getting a few in that will matter, why is everyone so hung up on keeping our two academy products, would Brentford or Posh not sell and spend the money or reinvest etc ....Both of those players are not irreplaceable no one is in fact ...Bird could well be walking around PP at the end of the season waving goodbye when we could've used that money wisely, but here lies the problem for me...Warne does not seem to sign wisely so I'm with you , lets stay as we are and try and try and get up with what we have ................may well be in L1 though next season 

9 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Which he absolutely had to. We had nothing. Every single club will spend more of their budget in the summer

 

yeah that worked out well ..... only Nyambe, Nelson and to some extent Wilson, the rest are bench warmers and treatment table hoggers ....lets be honest his recruitment wasn't great and we still rely heavily on the players that were here before he arrived , really has stamped his mark on this team.....not!

7 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

If we sold Cashin we’d need a replacement for him because there’s no obvious CB partnership at the club to replace him. 
Nelson and Bradley together would be a disaster.

There's plenty of decent CB's about if we had sold Bird and Cash , maybe Clarke back and I'd have gone back in for Roberts as I thought he was playing well for us last season once he'd properly settled then maybe we'd have a few quid to get another really good striker and Arblaster on loan 

I know its ex players but there are a few good players out there not including them we just seem devoid of a plan ...sometimes you have to sacrifice to get somewhere ...its all well and good keeping hold of players but we need to get out of this crap division we really do...how are we genuinely going to feel if we go into the last 3rd of the season with one striker and a midfield that doesnt work

I think deep down most, like me think we'll go up, but the reality is we may not and this window could be crucial 

I would hate another season is this bloody division.....2 is enough

24 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

I suspect it’s probably got something to do with them not having recently come out of administration and being subject to an EFL approved business plan for a two year period….

You can be sick of hearing about it, but that doesn’t change the reality of our situation. Regardless of our size and revenues, we did go into administration with large debts, we came out of administration and had to settle some debts, and we were required to submit a business plan to the EFL for approval which we then have to adhere to.

I’m all for the conversations about misuse of what funds we do have given the hit and miss success so far of our summer recruitment, we seemingly could and should have gone for other free agents as an example, perhaps those with a better age profile and more resale value. Though I still standby the fact the age profile isn’t as a bad as some make it out to be it’s a realistic argument to say we could have tried signing Knibbs or Smith (went to Reading) instead of Waghorn and Washington for example.

BUT regardless of the conversation around how we’ve used the restricted funding available to the club, I have accepted that those funds do remain restricted due to recent events that simply cannot be denied. 

Thankyou for the explanation together with @DCFC1388

So is that saying that if we had sold Bird and or Cashin we could've spent a bit more as I for one would've sold Bird and maybe both if it gave us the funds to get out of this division, but going to contradict myself here and say I would not want Warne spending our money so maybe a small budget might be best ...If we had the right manager ( in my eyes anyway ) I would've sold Bird 

really sick of hearing we have no money...whether its true or EFL restrictions or a combination of both i refuse to believe we can't get a decent player in on loan or buy someone,( I don't mean spending a fortune ) how does it work out then that Bolton can spend and Charlton can offer big sums of money when there income through the gate etc is much less than ours 

If we knew it was going to be difficult getting players in why haven't we used Robinson and Weston more from the bench to at least give them a try 

1 minute ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Beryl has told me and I have shared with you, 3 signings before the deadline. CBT is already in the onion bag…Smith in on loan and Arblaster in on loan on deadline day 😉

Arblaster and a striker and I'd be happy but only if we play 3 in mid 433 ,really like Arblaster and great name !!

6 minutes ago, BaianoPOTY98 said:

Maybe Premier League clubs dont want to loan young players to us because A. They dont like our style of play and or B. They dont think the players will get much game time with Warne not showing much trust in younger players?

Don't think you're too far away to be honest, Lampard only did well really because he managed to get Tomori,Wilson and Mount

makes we wonder just what exactly was in those pots Warne talked of.....

3 minutes ago, Mick Brolly said:

I've heard him take responsibility in many of his after match interviews 

I also have heard him say some quite honest reviews but then its rinse and repeat!

3 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Springett already been snapped up elsewhere so not an option 😉

he's cobblers!!!......

I mean he's gone to the cobblers lol

30 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

Nothing at the moment, waiting for Wednesday to decide on Smith 

It seems even though we have the largest attendances and income we can't compete with Bolton Pompey and even Charlton and Oxford ffs !!   😧 What that man MM has done to this club!!! grrrrrrr 🤬

44 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

Whatever happens, the teams around us have strengthened more than we have. Bolton have made 3 quality signings, similar to Pompey. Despite the fact we’ve signed CBT we have also lost our back up forward for the season. The midfield still isn’t right either and we’re one injury away from Cashin/Nelson/Collo and we are going to struggle. 
 

very similar to last January window unless we can pull a rabbit out of the hat. 

Have to say its not looking promising but we live in hope 

1 hour ago, Jourdan said:

I think he has looked at the midfield three before and there were games even with a three in a midfield where we struggled to control proceedings.

I don’t think he is wedded to a two or a three. He (probably) recognises both have their advantages and disadvantages.

I think the bigger issue is a lack of players he can trust to do a job consistently. He comes across as a manager who really needs players he can trust to build the core of the side around.

If he sees that Bird and Hourihane isn’t working, that is the only reason he would persist with it surely?

Hopefully Fornah, Thompson or one of the academy boys steps in, grabs their chance and makes it impossible for him not to trust them moving forwards.

 

You make Warne out to be some kind of messiah with lots of tactical nous, I really don't think he thinks having control of the game in midfield is as important as a lot of fans see it 

Think this will be tough as fully expect new manager Nathan Jones to be in the dugout for them saturday (new manager bounce and all that )

They do have some good players in Dobson, Coventry,May,Leaburn Ladapo etc 

We may well rue not getting max points against Lincoln or Reading as I don't think we will win this one

If we were to win though fair play but you just know they're going to turn up against us 

I'd definitely pack the midfield in this one 3 as a minimum as Dobson,Coventry are decent also I'd bring Wildsmith back and Nyambe straight back in