January Reinforcements

[Scott129]

Just now, Millenniumram said:

He’s had 6 months to prepare for this window and the best he could come up with was Micheal Smith and Lee Gregory? Absolute fraud. 99% of members on here could have come up with those suggestions.

I completely agree.

But I suspect the intention was to save money in this window ready for the summer, when we're supposedly free from any and all restrictions.

[MoleyMcMolerson]

So chaps, thoughts on Bird?

[Ghost of Clough]

10 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

I don't know much about the u21 strikers, that is why I asked the question. 

My only real recollection is that Warne was an awful manager 2 or 3 weeks ago for not playing Weston?

 

Weston's a #10 who has recently played on the wing to allow Wheeldon (who only just stepped up from the U18s) to lead the line

[Jourdan]

3 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Judging by the summer just gone and the fact it was spouted we blew all our budget on to think probably only 3 of the 13 signings have been a success I don’t have a lot of faith in the recruitment team, warne or Pearce to have a productive one with over 10 players out of contract 

How do you come to the conclusion only three signings have been a success?

Is the season over? Does a player only have two-thirds of a season to show what they can do?

Let’s see how the rest of the season pans out and perhaps let’s see which players come to the fore over the next few months and even next season before we throw around the idea of failure.

[IslandExile]

Just now, MoleyMcMolerson said:

So chaps, thoughts on Bird?

He's a good footballer so doesn't fit in with our manager's vision.

[OoooMarkWright]

28 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

The only predictable thing was the hysterics from the usual suspects 

One fit centre forward for the next month is pretty shambolic though, is it not? 

[jimtastic56]

13 minutes ago, tinman said:

He’s the reason we can’t bring in premier league loans in. No other managers trust him with their decent players. 
the on my loans we’ve had are crocks or rejects going nowhere in their careers. 

Florists have loaned their Costa Rica wiz kid to Bristol Rovers . Not that we would want him , but other teams L1 are getting Prem kids . 

[Tyler Durden]

3 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

I understand the disappointment everyone is feeling, and am sorry to be a pedant here, but Clowes didn’t say we had a top 2 budget. He said we have a very good budget, one that he “thinks” is good enough for promotion (which could still happen remember).

In fact the exact quote is;

"Paul has been given a budget, I think a good budget for League One that is good enough to get us out of the league. But it's football and nothing is guaranteed."

The effective use of that budget will be an ongoing conversation until, and probably beyond, the season’s end.

Quote taken from here;

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65959914.amp

At what point do you think Clowes has regretted making that statement.

Bet he will be a bit less candid when questioned about the same subject in the future. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

1 minute ago, MoleyMcMolerson said:

So chaps, thoughts on Bird?

Not as good as Knight by some margin. 

[strawhillram]

2 minutes ago, MoleyMcMolerson said:

So chaps, thoughts on Bird?

One in the hand is worth two in the bush

Carry on 

[Animal is a Ram]

1 minute ago, MoleyMcMolerson said:

So chaps, thoughts on Bird?

I wouldn't, you might want to give it a few days...

That said, you've got a cracking young player - he'll have a better time in the Championship than he's having in L1. Doesn't look spectacular, should shoot more often, but is a 7/10 most weeks.

Needs to shoot more often, only really scores stunners.

[sage]

2 minutes ago, MoleyMcMolerson said:

So chaps, thoughts on Bird?

If you want to pass the ball to each other then he'll do well 

If you want to run around more than the other team, then not so much.

 

 

 

[Tyler Durden]

1 minute ago, enachops said:

One fit centre forward for the next month is pretty shambolic though, is it not? 

Let's play the blame game then - who have you got in the frame for this?

[G STAR RAM]

1 minute ago, jimtastic56 said:

Florists have loaned their Costa Rica wiz kid to Bristol Rovers . Not that we would want him , but other teams L1 are getting Prem kids . 

We have TJJ on loan.

 

[IslandExile]

1 minute ago, Jourdan said:

Let’s see how the rest of the season pans out and perhaps let’s see which players come to the fore over the next few months and even next season before we throw around the idea of failure.

So after last season's failure, the Warne fans - fairly reasonably - said judge him after this season. Now they're already starting to ask for next season aswell.

[Ambitious]

2 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

I cant stand the entitled attitude of some of our fanbase.

Because them pots are limited and the players we went after were not available within our constraints?

Surely the correct thing to do then is look for players IN our constraints? It’s not like there isn’t a player now playing non-league or otherwise in world football that isn’t going to go on to have a very good career - the job of our club is to find them. We have a lazy approach to recruitment, that hasn’t changed since Mel Morris was chairman. How often do we sign players from down the pyramid as opposed from up it? Since the takeover, we have signed one player from a level lower than our own - Scott Loach from Chesterfield.  Peterborough have made more signings from a level lower than themselves in the past two seasons than we have in the past decade. We just don’t do it. 

Take a snapshot of almost any season in history and you see names littered amongst the lower tiers - it happens all the time. Why on earth we take such a lazy approach to recruitment really irritates me. No excuse for it given our position. 

[Van der MoodHoover]

5 minutes ago, Scott129 said:

I completely agree.

But I suspect the intention was to save money in this window ready for the summer, when we're supposedly free from any and all restrictions.

Judging by some of the old jollop we got last summer, should have kept hold of the purse strings then as well.....

 

[Animal is a Ram]

To put a slightly more positive spin on this - for all the talk that Portsmouth have done well, I think they've gone too far in trying to stop their stuttering form, they risk unsettling the balance. Time will tell of course.

 

[Cam the Ram]

1 minute ago, MoleyMcMolerson said:

So chaps, thoughts on Bird?

Very talented. There will be games here and there when he's not getting involved much and it can be frustrating, but when he's on it, he's a joy to watch. He's been a bit hot and cold this season and not really performed to the level we know he can, but I personally put a lot of that down to the system he's playing in. He's a midfielder who likes to pick a pass and dictate play , but is currently playing in a system that revolves around getting it out wide and letting the wingers/full backs do most of the work. We very rarely play through the middle and he's not the best crosser of a ball, so he's not doing an awful lot for us at the minute, through little fault of his own.

[Caerphilly Ram]

2 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

At what point do you think Clowes has regretted making that statement.

Bet he will be a bit less candid when questioned about the same subject in the future. 

Yeah in hindsight it’s not the best look, as others have said the expectation setting by the club, whether intentional or not, has been questionable.

I’d much rather have had low expectations of a “as we continue to recover post admin we’ll be able to add to the squad but within sensible limits agreed in our business plan put to the EFL”, would probably have disappointed at the time but saved some heartache in the mid to long term of the season.