If the three don't come in.....

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Patrick Suffaux

Patrick Suffaux

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I'm not that bothered. We signed a load of players in the summer that are only just starting to gel and I would sooner see the club try and fail to sign players that can improve the team, than players that are signed for the sake of it.

I'm not into token signings that keep the fans happy. If the right ones aren't available then I don't want any old player. Happy to wait for the loan window if that's the case. Some supporters just want to see a signing.
 

Patrick Suffaux said:
I'm not that bothered. We signed a load of players in the summer that are only just starting to gel and I would sooner see the club try and fail to sign players that can improve the team, than players that are signed for the sake of it.

I'm not into token signings that keep the fans happy. If the right ones aren't available then I don't want any old player. Happy to wait for the loan window if that's the case. Some supporters just want to see a signing.
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The manager has said we're still a couple of players off having a side capable of challenging.

These are not token signings.
 
If we haven't met valuations or the clubs plain don't want to sell, we are stuck.

I don't think we are a promotion squad at the moment, we have to get it right in the loan market. Presumably we have a bit of money to throw at good loanees.
 
I think you missed mine.

This is not a case of the fans wanting a signing for signing's case.

This a case of the fans agreeing with the man in charge of the club that we NEED players or we'll struggle to get promoted.

We've acted too slow and people are now understandably disappointed.
 
Hmmm 3 un named players an no reports of bids from any clubs? I suspect we actually didn't intend to spend any money today at all, and we're playing this '3 bids' card to keep the fans and, most importantly, Nigel happy. Now I may be a cynic, but we were '2 or 3' players short before today, and we still are. Anyone seen Groudhog Day?
 
blader said:
Hmmm 3 un named players an no reports of bids from any clubs? I suspect we actually didn't intend to spend any money today at all, and we're playing this '3 bids' card to keep the fans and, most importantly, Nigel happy. Now I may be a cynic, but we were '2 or 3' players short before today, and we still are. Anyone seen Groudhog Day?
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Spot on
 
blader said:
Hmmm 3 un named players an no reports of bids from any clubs? I suspect we actually didn't intend to spend any money today at all, and we're playing this '3 bids' card to keep the fans and, most importantly, Nigel happy. Now I may be a cynic, but we were '2 or 3' players short before today, and we still are. Anyone seen Groudhog Day?
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Yeah, if I was trying to keep the fans and the manager happy, what I'd do, is pretend to make a few bids to fend them off for a few hours, hoping that after 11pm, they forget all about it and don't ask any questions.
 
Houso said:
I think you missed mine.

This is not a case of the fans wanting a signing for signing's case.

This a case of the fans agreeing with the man in charge of the club that we NEED players or we'll struggle to get promoted.

We've acted too slow and people are now understandably disappointed.
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We signed about a dozen players in the summer!

You need to read my first post again. You've completely missed my point.
 
Foxy said:
Yeah, if I was trying to keep the fans and the manager happy, what I'd do, is pretend to make a few bids to fend them off for a few hours, hoping that after 11pm, they forget all about it and don't ask any questions.
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As I say foxy, I believe it's more I appease Nigel.

If he went to the board with three names, they had to make it look like they were working on them to try and support him. He's already made public he wanted there players, so they could hardly come out and say 'no we're not signing anyone' could they? This 'effort' to sign Nigel's targets allows the board to blame the other clubs and can report back to Nigel saying 'sorry we tried'. They've played a good game, which a lot of people have fallen for.
 
Patrick Suffaux said:
We signed about a dozen players in the summer!

You need to read my first post again. You've completely missed my point.
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Which bit am I missing? I see the same point made twice which is presumably the main thing to take from the OP, i.e. you want the right players to sign, or no players at all.

And my response to that was that Nigel wanted the right signings, the supporters wanted the right signings, we didn't get the right signings.

Yes, there are still new players from the summer gelling within the squad and I personally believe that Higdon will end up a very good signing. BUT, to repeat, the manager has said we were short going into the final day of the window, and it's looking like we're still going to be short.

You can't say that the manager has done the right thing, when he didn't do the thing that he wanted to do in the first place.
 
Patrick Suffaux said:
Is the possibility of their clubs saying "no, we don't want to sell" really that hard to believe?
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No it's not. But are they they only three players out there that would improve our first team?

We've left it late and have had no plan b, i.e. we've messed up.
 
blader said:
As I say foxy, I believe it's more I appease Nigel.

If he went to the board with three names, they had to make it look like they were working on them to try and support him. He's already made public he wanted there players, so they could hardly come out and say 'no we're not signing anyone' could they? This 'effort' to sign Nigel's targets allows the board to blame the other clubs and can report back to Nigel saying 'sorry we tried'. They've played a good game, which a lot of people have fallen for.
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As frustrating as a lack of signings is at this point, do you honestly think that Mal Brannigan, knowing and working with Nigel, is leading him down the garden path and that he's daft enough to allow that to happen?
 

blader said:
As I say foxy, I believe it's more I appease Nigel.

If he went to the board with three names, they had to make it look like they were working on them to try and support him. He's already made public he wanted there players, so they could hardly come out and say 'no we're not signing anyone' could they? This 'effort' to sign Nigel's targets allows the board to blame the other clubs and can report back to Nigel saying 'sorry we tried'. They've played a good game, which a lot of people have fallen for.
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The same good game they play every summer and every January and the fans fall for it time after time, nothing will change while McCabe and his cronies are still on board.
 
Houso said:
Which bit am I missing? I see the same point made twice which is presumably the main thing to take from the OP, i.e. you want the right players to sign, or no players at all. Correct, so where did I say the three targets would be token signings?....I refer to post no.2.

And my response to that was that Nigel wanted the right signings, the supporters wanted the right signings, we didn't get the right signings. Shit happens. You can only buy what the other club will sell.

Yes, there are still new players from the summer gelling within the squad and I personally believe that Higdon will end up a very good signing. BUT, to repeat, the manager has said we were short going into the final day of the window, and it's looking like we're still going to be short. The manager isn't going to say anything different. How often do managers say "I don't want any more signings. Our squad is perfect."

You can't say that the manager has done the right thing, when he didn't do the thing that he wanted to do in the first place.
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Foxy said:
As frustrating as a lack of signings is at this point, do you honestly think that Mal Brannigan, knowing and working with Nigel, is leading him down the garden path and that he's daft enough to allow that to happen?
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I'd like to think not Foxy. However, that doesn't excuse the fact we haven't even come close to meeting Nigel's requirements. Earlier in the day they have said we were making three bids for players, and we have signed none of them. What heightens my suspicion is that they have not named the players, and not one of the three clubs have said they received a bid from Sheffield United. This is common place nowadays that a club admits rejecting a bid and I find it hard to believe that there has been 3 genuine bids and no reports from either side. Whatever has happened, and whatever the reason behind it, we have again failed to deliver. That is serial incompetence which lends itself to the suggestion nothing has changed with the introduction of our new owners.
 
Houso said:
No it's not. But are they they only three players out there that would improve our first team?

We've left it late and have had no plan b, i.e. we've messed up.
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I think it's perceivable if they're the only ones in our price bracket, yes.
 
Patrick Suffaux said:
The manager isn't going to say that. How often do managers say "I don't want any more signings. Our squad is perfect."
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Oh, so when managers say what in effect amounts to "we're not good enough to go up", they're actually just throwing out tired managerial cliches?
 
Patrick Suffaux said:
I think it's perceivable if they're the only ones in our price bracket, yes.
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There are only three players out there in our price bracket that could improve our first team. Really?

Wow, this thread quickly jumped the shark.
 
Foxy said:
Yeah, if I was trying to keep the fans and the manager happy, what I'd do, is pretend to make a few bids to fend them off for a few hours, hoping that after 11pm, they forget all about it and don't ask any questions.
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I know you're being facetious here but as I just said elsewhere, this is known as The Leroy Lita Gambit. United have been known to utilise it from time to time.

As for the loan market, I have absolutely no faith that we can play it. We either get utter duds or when we do get gems (Coady, Brayford) we fail to tie them up leaving us back at square one the following season.
 
Guesty said:
I know you're being facetious here but as I just said elsewhere, this is known as The Leroy Lita Gambit. United have been known to utilise it from time to time.
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What, choosing not to pen the deal on the table after all, after being advised you can still get paid and pocket a signing on fee later?
 
Foxy said:
What, choosing not to pen the deal on the table after all, after being advised you can still get paid and pocket a signing on fee later?
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If I'm being brutally honest with myself, I just like the phrase.

That said I wouldn't be at all surprised if his name was just dropped at the time to placate the fans over the Beattie sale.
 
Houso said:
There are only three players out there in our price bracket that could improve our first team. Really?

Wow, this thread quickly jumped the shark.
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How many players in the market we're in do you think would actually guarantee an improvement to our first team?
 
I think young Nigel has done the fans a big favour with his comments over the weekend, by tomorrow morning we'll know exactly where we are with this particular board. We're down 3 decent players from last season - Maguire, Brayford and Coady. Clough has stated what players he wants (to the board at least). A lot of money from the sale of Maguire, cup run and increased season ticket sales, on top of the Pearly Prince promising funds for incoming transfer (roughly this time last year) and don't forget we are debt free after McCabe wrote off the debt for a £1.

There is no reason why we can't go out and buy some decent players, when Weir had money to spend this time last year that's what we did. My own take on it is we'll get nowt in, bar one or two sop freebies. Clough has been fed a line and his comments over the weekend is to force the boards hand. They're trying to get promotion on the cheap again imo.
 
Patrick Suffaux said:
How many players in the market we're in do you think would actually guarantee an improvement to our first team?
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How much money do you think we have available to strengthen the team? Note, the amount of money we have is fairly representative of the market we're in.
 
With any luck, we'll pick up a couple of decent signings in the loan market but I won't hold my breath. The thing that is frustrating myself and others is that we've had a whole pre-season to acquire the couple of 'WOW' players we need to win promotion and the longer time goes on, the more it appears we haven't signed these said players. Now it is our 4th season in this division and people are getting pretty hacked off with the nonchalant nature of signing players that will get us out of the division. Anything but promotion this season is failure. Not saying promotion isn't possible, it is, but as goals aren't plentiful and we haven't seemingly signed any attacking quality then promotion seems a distant concept at this time.
 
Houso said:
How much money do you think we have available to strengthen the team? Note, the amount of money we have is fairly representative of the market we're in.
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It's not just about budget though is it? It's about who wants to play at this level and it's probably a reasonable suggestion that either current League One players or Championship players way down the pecking order are the likely candidates.

Now from those, how many could actually guarantee an improvement to a team already full of seasoned second and third tier players?
 

Patrick Suffaux said:
It's not just about budget though is it? It's about who wants to play at this level and it's probably a reasonable suggestion that either current League One players or Championship players way down the pecking order are the likely candidates.

Now from those, how many could actually guarantee an improvement to a team already full of seasoned second and third tier players?
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Believe it or not, I'm not actually a scout so don't have a database full of players who would make a difference.

But, let's look at two of our nearest rivals. Bristol City have gone out and signed one of the league's top scorers from last season in Agard. Meanwhile, Peterborough have signed one of the brightest prospects outside of the top two leagues.

Both goalscorers, both in our market, both the type of player we needed.
 
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