Ali Al-Hamadi - Signed for Ipswich Town

[Jimbo Ram]

1 hour ago, Ram@Lincoln said:

If it came across I was meaning that and trying to slag off Clowes, then it's crossed wires.

Regardless of owner, we've never really sold when at the top value. Look at the deals for Rob Hulse and Kris Commons with GSE, before that Barnes and Nyatanga had big interest we reportedly turned down. Further back the deals for Riggott and Christie, then back again for the likes of Stimac. Still baffles me why we agreed to lose nearly £1m on him. 

The main reason Brentford and Brighton have made it to the premiership and maintained their positions is through smart investments and knowing when to sell. This has then enabled then the invest in their stadiums, training facilities etc. 

Steve Mac mk1 had it right in investing in young up and coming players like Thorne, Dawkins and getting the loans of Wisdom, Bamford and Ibe. Just a shame we couldn't make it up then. The waste of money on Butterfield, Jozefzoon, Anya etc is what caused this mess. 

We need to get back to signing assets that will appreciate in value, the likes of Wilson, Fornah and Nyambe (if he stays) is a good move in that direction. The likes of Washington and Bradley will leave us for no regained value. It'll take time for the rebalance for sure. 

Yep, sell on value is vital 😊

[Archied]

16 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

I guess it depends what the xF (expected fee) would be

Xw anyone

[Ghost of Clough]

2 hours ago, Archied said:

Xw anyone

[GangwayD]

Scored twice today for Wimbledon who won and had two sent off. 
Not good timing if the links are genuine !

Gangway D from the Terrace 

[FKANorwichExile]

You can tell January is approaching when we're having our name added to every form player with an agent eyeing a payday.

The chance of us splashing a million on a single player is basically 0.

[Comrade 86]

21 hours ago, NorwichExile said:

You can tell January is approaching when we're having our name added to every form player with an agent eyeing a payday.

The chance of us splashing a million on a single player is basically 0.

No doubt Clowes will get it in the ear from the faithless few on here who feel we can actually compete with Leeds and co right now, whilst still clearing admin debts and under a restrictive business plan. The thing is, the January window is typically a god-awful time to be trying to get anyone in on a fee. Buying clubs only tend to be looking because of injuries and / or the failure of a player(s) to shine and selling clubs just think of a number and then double it. Some will pay. We clearly won't and rightly so IMO.

With us playing better of late and with a modicum of style to boot, I'd look to the loans market and see if we can't get a few decent young players in from PL or Championship clubs. There'll deffo be some needing football. An Attacking midfielder and an out and out striker would be nice, though TJJ is apparently back in training at last! If we can get everyone healthy and keep them that way, we might have enough quality at hand already, but with our injury record, maybe that's a gamble best avoided.

[Ghost of Clough]

39 minutes ago, Comrade 86 said:

No doubt Clowes will get it in the ear from the faithless few on here who feel we can actually compete with Leeds and co right now, whilst still clearing admin debts and under a restrictive business plan. The thing is, the January window is typically a god-awful time to be trying to get anyone in on a fee. Buying clubs only tend to be looking because of injuries and / or the failure of a player(s) to shine and selling clubs just think of a number and then double it. Some will pay. We clearly won't and rightly so IMO.

With us playing better of late and with a modicum of style to boot, I'd look to the loans market and see if we can't get a few decent young players in from PL or Championship clubs. There'll deffo be some needing football. An Attacking midfielder and an out and out striker would be nice, though TJJ is apparently back in training at last! If we can get everyone healthy and keep them that way, we might have enough quality at hand already, but with our injury record, maybe that's a gamble best avoided.

I previously suggested Callum Marshall from West Ham, but I doubt how realistic it would be now. 14 goals and 2 assists in 9 U21 games (2 goals against Bristol Rovers and 1 against Cheltenham).

[oomarkwright]

Scored 2 tonight on television. Looked to be disappointed to be pulled off before his hat trick. 

[MaltRam]

1 hour ago, oomarkwright said:

Scored 2 tonight on television. Looked to be disappointed to be pulled off before his hat trick. 

I'd have been made up, personally.

[rammieib]

This guy looks the real deal.

I know Ramsgate are level 8 in the pyramid - but this guy looked like it didn't matter what level he was playing. He'd have the skillset to make it.

[Wolfie20]

Great age, pacey, brings others into play but I'd imagine clubs higher than League One will be aware and interested.

[Comrade 86]

I'd be amazed if we can compete for this type of signing before exiting the current agreed business plan and having settled with HMRC et al. It's a shame as this kid looks a baller, no doubt, but there'll surely be any number of clubs looking at him right now and I think we need to temper expectations in what could be a tricky window, even without the current restrictions.

Looking at things slightly less pessimistically, if we've moved onto the heels of top two and are flying when the window opens, that would significantly strengthen our pitch, as I do think the lad would probably want a crack at the Championship sooner rather than later.

I hope I'm wrong as I think this would be an exciting piece of business and precisely the kind I'd hope we'd be doing were our hands not still somewhat tied, the one small mercy being this will be the last window where any restrictions apply. For my own part, I'm resigned to the fact that we are once again going to be limited to looking for loans, though that's not the worst place to be.

[Gerry Daly]

On 14/11/2023 at 15:07, Comrade 86 said:

No doubt Clowes will get it in the ear from the faithless few on here who feel we can actually compete with Leeds and co right now, whilst still clearing admin debts and under a restrictive business plan. The thing is, the January window is typically a god-awful time to be trying to get anyone in on a fee. Buying clubs only tend to be looking because of injuries and / or the failure of a player(s) to shine and selling clubs just think of a number and then double it. Some will pay. We clearly won't and rightly so IMO.

With us playing better of late and with a modicum of style to boot, I'd look to the loans market and see if we can't get a few decent young players in from PL or Championship clubs. There'll deffo be some needing football. An Attacking midfielder and an out and out striker would be nice, though TJJ is apparently back in training at last! If we can get everyone healthy and keep them that way, we might have enough quality at hand already, but with our injury record, maybe that's a gamble best avoided.

I don’t think we will still be under a restrictive business plan, other than one which we have imposed on ourselves. Controls required by the EFL ran for two years. I agree with your points though. But can we attract top loans? Evidence so far doesn’t suggest so

[Comrade 86]

41 minutes ago, Gerry Daly said:

I don’t think we will still be under a restrictive business plan, other than one which we have imposed on ourselves. Controls required by the EFL ran for two years. I agree with your points though. But can we attract top loans? Evidence so far doesn’t suggest so

The plan runs until Summer 2024, so we remain under some restrictions and doubtless more stringent compliancy than other clubs too and I don't see that being arguable. Also, just a hunch, but personally, I don't think Clowes will want us to be seen to splash any hefty sums prior to us at least having cleared the 25p in the pound we offered our creditors in order to escape administration. Perhaps I'm being naïve, but Clowes seems the absolute antithesis of Morris and I don't doubt for a moment that mending the reputation of Derby County Football Club has been very much at the forefront of his thinking. For that reason, I think signings like Nombe last window and this lad this time around are likely to be a real push even if they are feasible from a commercial / regulatory standpoint. I'd be delighted to be wrong though, I can assure you! 

As for the loans, I doubt many of the top boys will be in L1 and I think we are better positioned to attract some good lads, if not the top ones, purely because we are actually playing decent football right now and the dust is settling on an incredibly tumultuous period of the club's history. Put simply, we're no longer the basket case of the last few years and I think that definitely makes the decision easier for clubs looking to loan out younger players. Whether it plays out that way, well we'll have to wait and see, but I do think it's now a lot easier to send kids to us than it was even at the beginning of this season.

 

[EnigmaRam]

Scored again today 

[Jimbo Ram]

2 hours ago, EnigmaRam said:

Scored again today 

A brace I think…

[Boycie]

3 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

A brace I think…

Two pheasants?

[Elgin_Ram]

Sounds like a pheasant plucker.

[Jimbo Ram]

13 hours ago, Boycie said:

Two pheasants?

3 French Hens 🌲🤶⛄️

[AndyinLiverpool]

On 09/11/2023 at 09:48, Kernow said:

At first glance I thought this was Ali Al-Habsi, the Wigan keeper from about 10 years ago. Then I saw the story and realised that he’d be much more like to join than Al-Hamadi.

This reminded me that a few years ago I was working with a group of Omanis in Liverpool. I tried to organise a meeting one afternoon but they couldn't attend because they were all off round Al-Habsi's house for tea. Nice bloke.