Successful Transfer Window?

[YES Blade]

As has been said many times on this thread, the midfield is the major issue. To me there is a massive lack of goals and pace. I personally can't see much more than 10 goals from them and that doesn't get you promoted.

 

[Ricky]

If I'm being picky I'd also say that Wilder may wish to play 4-2-3-1 and I can't think of anyone other than Scougall who can play the central AM.

And that's another reason why DCL shouldn't have been sold. He was the most suitable for that position.

Now it's either Scougall or pretending one of the strikers is playing a withdrawn role.

 

[AdamSufc1997]

Sunday will tell us if this squad will finish anywhere near the top 6. IMO probably get battered unless Hussey starts on the bench and maybe we look solid lol

 

[IMABLADE]

Will this squad get promoted?
rWe`ve sold the last of the crown jewels so we`re kinda fucked if it dosen`t.

It won't get automatic promotion this year, and if it doesn't go up through playoffs and we kept Wilder we will go up the next season

 

[IMABLADE]

We'll see but on first glance not really..

Lots of players out.
Sold best 2 young players and not re-invested the money.
Bought cheap and loans, except for Moore. The signs aren't great.
It feels like a Nigel I window in many ways.

We're very thin on the ground by he has signed players who can adequately cover another position. No CM is ridiculous.

We prob ably have enough to scrabble to mid-table.

Let's see what Kev thinks

Trust me Che Adams was overrated, he will never become a good player or a high quality player we robbed Birmingham of 1.7million and same with Everton with DCL

 

[IMABLADE]

No strong ball winning CM. That's the disappointment for me.

Basham is amazing ball winning midfielder, however once he has the ball he tends to give it away

 

[Blade]

Basham is amazing ball winning midfielder, however once he has the ball he tends to give it away

He really isn't

 

[The_Green_Man]

Basham is amazing ball winning midfielder, however once he has the ball he tends to give it away

Rash at times, cumbersome, lacks physicality, lacks both timing and judgement......... No..... he isn't anormal amazing ball winner! Far from it and this goes for in the deck and in the air!

He might be a manager yes man and he might turn up to training every day and be the last off the training pitch...

He might lead by example around the squad and his heart might be in the right place....

But honestly he isn't a very good footballer really is he? And I'm not talking about technically gifted etc....He lacks the basics quite a bit as well for all his effort.

 

[Champagneblade]

In fairness to Wilder, he has achieved some balance and he's got the numbers he likes to work with and he has had to manufacture a squad from zero - some 36 players left our payroll over the past 12 months - he's added 12 and he's got his squad of 25 plus the 6 new young pros . The only question is whether he has the quality.

Keepers - Kudos to him for being decisive and recognizing Long was not to be undisputed first choice. Moore seems a far better communicator and at least we have some depth here as Long is not a bad back up. We can develop Eastwood and Ramsdale through U23 football and short term non-league loans I think.

Full backs - Kudos once more for acknowledging that Hussey has struggled early season. Fans' views on Lafferty are encouraging. Freeman has done well and deserves his chance so fair play to Wilder for being open to this and Brayford's wages were always hard to justify at this level. Ebanks-Landell, Basham and Whiteman can deputise at right back if needed.

Centre backs - He got his 4 centre halves like he wanted, 2 right footed, 2 left. Perhaps he didn't get his first choice but Ebanks-Landell got promoted with Wolves before and is of a good stature. The likes of Stearman, Morgan, Pearce etc that he apparently targeted show he knows a decent player but if they don't want to drop down you cannot force them and if Millwall didn't want to sell Webster to a rival then you have to accept this. At least in loaning we don't over-commit and we do have genuine competition. Ebanks-Landell can also play right back as mentioned above.

Centre midfield - It seems 4-2-3-1 is Wilder's chosen approach. He's got ball players like Fleck and Coutts plus also Reed there and he's got the more energetic Basham and Whiteman. The latter I am pleased that he can at least see daylight to the team having made a promising debut last season. A lot will depend on Coutts' reemergence.

I steel myself to say this because I've hardly been his biggest fan, but for all the talk of Morsy and of Luke Murphy neither are fully proven above league one, Morsy being new to the league and already offloaded by Wigan and Murphy out of favour at Leeds (may be harsh on Murphy after 100 games, but he's not nailing a regular spot at the moment). Coutts has 125 matches at that level and was a regular at Peterborough, Preston and Derby injuries permitting. IF and it is a big IF, WIlder can somehow give him a platform to return to that level and he stays fit, perhaps he could be the most unlikely of catalysts for a good season. I'll give him this, for all negatives on his scoring, tackling and general combativeness, his ball retention is second to none in the squad and he can pass a football. That's as generous as I can go! I would rather have let Basham go for a slightly different player but hey. It will be down to Wilder to shuffle his pack well. We may see Coutts and Fleck together for some games for instance. At least he has a few options.

The forwards - You can see if not selected centrally, Lavery being first choice on the left. If he and Duffy take the wide spots, then centrally Sharp, Done and Clarke are all proven at this level. Scougall seems to be re-emerging and the Boro lad Chapman comes highly rated. It also leaves a little daylight for Brooks to emerge, who by all accounts impressed with his skill mid-week. It gives Wilder a healthy blend with 2 for each spot.

The above by no means smacks of automatic promotion but Northampton's team wasn't full of superstars either. Wilder has his options, 12 of them have been signed by him. It's down to whether he can make them a team over the next 40+ league games.

Good luck to him!

 

[Lard_Lad]

I don't think the team with have at the moment is even that bad. Maybe i'm just an optimist but the players we have are capable of play offs.

 

[Toronto Blade]

Trust me Che Adams was overrated, he will never become a good player or a high quality player we robbed Birmingham of 1.7million and same with Everton with DCL

That could be the reason that Birmingham and Everton are where they are and the Blades are in League 1,they keep getting robbed and we are legends in the transfer department.

 

[Lazerblade]

Good post champagne.

September is a big month for them all especially coutts. He could, as you elude to, be the catalyst. There has never been any doubt in my eyes about his ability, if wilder can get him to have the right mentality then happy days.

There seems to be a bit more pace in the side, lavery, chapman, done and scoogs. Ironically the two that worry me the most at the minute are the two most proven in sharp and Clarke, hope I'm wrong but it hasn't clicked as yet and done looks better with billy.

It's looking positive to me lets play our part, it helped Saturday v Oxford, utb.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

The players we've signed aren't WOW signings are they ?

Yesterday we got shut of 3 players and brought in 3 over the last 48 seems to be one out one in now.

We have also sold 2 players for big money and Moore apart haven't spent any of it. Will we in January?

The squad I think is a bit better than what we ended May with but our lack of goals from midfield is a concern. If Coutts and Basham are our 'midfield ' as appears to be the case they won't contribute 5 goals.

This transfer window reminds me of a Clough one but suppose the good point being players aren't on excessive wages.

One thing now though Sharp apart at least we have no one to sell so I worry for January.

 

[The Crab]

I just thought freeing up Brayford's wages would have paid Morsy's for a season. That's before the money we've made from our sales but we move on.
If we do still recruit a replacement for Basham il be happy.

Perhaps it did, maybe it was merely a case of he wanted to play a division higher, and had an option to do so?

 

[Ted Hemsleys chads]

I was pleased as punch when we got Wilder in, a non bullshitting football bloke, and best of all a Blade. Thought that after 10 years of bullshit we'd finally got somebody who might get us going again. After my initial disappointment at both the signing of Clarke, who I think is fucking dog shit, and our early results I think we might actually be onto something here. He's not signing names, reputations, over priced crap for the sake of it, he's building a squad. OK, they may not be everybody's first choice, and they probably aren't his but if he gets them going like Harry did when Wilder was playing, then I'll be happy with that. A team of tryers giving 100% is better than a team of nice haircuts doing fuck all. ( The exception being Monty who tried hard but was fucking woeful)

Whoever the manager is he'll struggle. Whilever that hand wringing bastard McCabe is anywhere near the place we're going to be a selling club, that's a proven fact but at least Wilder is trying to change things. He's signing players who might get stuck in and fight, just like he did at his previous clubs so good luck feller. One of the biggest critics of the club here is 100% behind you. I hope you win the league and the owner of Victoria's Secret comes in and buys the club. Owt to get that fucker out of the club, and there should be some bloody great adverts in the programme to boot.

 

[Bookers Mullet]

successful for McCabes wallet, for the team, remains to be seen, the two in are an unknown quantity and have mixed reviews from their parent club (I'm being kind in Landells case - seems they rate him as useful only on Blackpool beach). I very much get the impression Landell was a plan C signing after other targets fell through for whatever reason.

We do however have competition in most positions, but I do feel we lack that extra bit of quality that will push us into the automatics. I think getting into the play offs is the best we can hope far, and without further signings in Jan, I reckon we'll end up around 10th

 

[blade67]

Taken overall, below shows the ins and outs as I remember them across the transfer window. It shows 22 out and 12 in. Overall, I can't say the ins look massively stronger than the outs, but there is a lot of deadwood that's been moved on that wasn't going to get us promoted. CM is probably the area I'm still disappointed about. Fleck is going to have to be one hell of a player, or Coutts is going to have to prove me very wrong for us to dominate games from there.

My assessment is that we can't yet tell on the goalie, Baptiste is the only CB we'll miss and we were never going to get him permanently. Signing the 2nd left back looks sensible when you consider that we've let 4 go.

Up front, we've binned off some potential prospects and some dross and brought in a couple of lads who've been relatively successful at this level.

BTW - I'm sure I've missed one or two out and I've included some loans in or out as it compares what we had at the end of last season with the start of this.

GK
Out = Howard
In = Moore

FB
Out = K Wallace, Mceverley, Brayford, Harris, C McFadzean
In = Hussey, Lafferty

CB
Out = Collins, Kennedy, Mcgahay, Edgar, Baptiste
In = Ebanks-landell, O'Connell, J Wright, Wilson

Midfield
Out = Cuvellier, Flynn, Baxter, JCR, Hammond, Diego, Woolford,
In = Duffy, Fleck, Chapman

Attack
Out = Sammon, Che, DCL, Mcnulty
In = Lavery, Clarke

 

[robbiez666]

I too wonder about those who praise Wilder for his 'straight talking' and 'no bullshit'.

There's been less straight talking and more bullshit than any other manager I can remember in the first few months of their tenure.

 

[Torrix1889]

Give Coutts and Fleck a run and those pining for another CM will soon be smiling. I've always seen a player in Coutts and if he gets the right partner beside him he will flourish.

That aside we are stronger in every department for me, the defence all of a sudden looks to have quality and strength in depth with plenty of cover.

Up top there are plenty slashing their wrists on FB as we have sold DCL, Che and McNulty has gone on loan but none of those 3 have really shown anything in the past couple of seasons and I see it as good business by the club. We now have pace in Lavery and Chapman plus two proven finishers in Clarke and Billy. Done was very good on Saturday.

The signs against Oxford and Leicester were good, that we are starting to gel and I only see the additions as positives.

COYRAWW

 

[IOM Blade]

GK
Out = Howard
In = Moore

FB
Out = K Wallace, Mceverley, Brayford, Harris, C McFadzean
In = Hussey, Lafferty

CB
Out = Collins, Kennedy, Mcgahay, Edgar, Baptiste
In = Ebanks-landell, O'Connell, J Wright, Wilson

Midfield
Out = Cuvellier, Flynn, Baxter, JCR, Hammond, Diego, Woolford,
In = Duffy, Fleck, Chapman

Attack
Out = Sammon, Che, DCL, Mcnulty
In = Lavery, Clarke

Can't be far off £1M in wages saved there.

 

[davidpinder]

DP, why not just wait and see how these players perform before writing them off? - same goes for every other negative nelly on here!
I am not comparing our squad to Leicester's squad but look how their 'bang average' looking squad got on last season.

Give them a break ffs.

If after several more games they are proven to be shite then fire away - but don't write them off before they've even pulled the shirt over their head.

UTMB

I'm not writing them off I am just saying that we sell and replace by loans, loan players never have the same hunger and we needed to sign the loan players are the other signings have been poor

 

[Slim Man]

We've got about 3mil in transfer fees, and spent 250k on Moore, 100k on Clarke. The rest have been frees and loans, EASILY covered by the wages we have saved.

We have got our sixth choice centre half. Brilliant.

What a window.

 

[Bladesince59]

No midfield general and leader/captain.

That for me is the biggest disappointment,

UTB

 

[Classof85]

Cant believe people are judging new signings before they have pulled on the shirt.

For yesterdays signings

Lavery - Will be a decent player in l1 and potentially in championship
EEL - Played for wolves all season last year before getting injured a good quality CH
Lafferty - don't know much about him so will reserve judgement

Get behind the lads for once and see what happens, 19k blades backing a team will give the players a much needed boost of confidence

 

[sheffielder]

We've got about 3mil in transfer fees, and spent 250k on Moore, 100k on Clarke. The rest have been frees and loans, EASILY covered by the wages we have saved.

We have got our sixth choice centre half. Brilliant.

What a window.

Who were the first 5?

 

[Darthblade]

If we go up this season Wilder will have proved himself to be a genius. No pressure.

If we go up this season, they will appoint him "god" status and people will be worshipping his icon across the world ........ it will be a genuine miracle of biblical proportions !!

I should imagine that the already surprised managers of Bolton, Charlton and MK plastics will be thinking, " right, that's one less team to worry about this year" !

UTB & FTP

 

[Finnieston]

0-0 was it?

Sure was but a great game of football.
You missed it didnt you?
Great night out. You should try it.

 

[Darthblade]

Cant believe people are judging new signings before they have pulled on the shirt.

For yesterdays signings

Lavery - Will be a decent player in l1 and potentially in championship
EEL - Played for wolves all season last year before getting injured a good quality CH
Lafferty - don't know much about him so will reserve judgement

Get behind the lads for once and see what happens, 19k blades backing a team will give the players a much needed boost of confidence

I'm not judging the new signings harshly mate ........ happy to give them a chance and see what they can do whilst they're in the red & white stripes ......

I'm judging what we didn't do, with the funds at our disposal from the sale of two young players and a slashed wages bill.

Opportunity missed as usual ........

However, on a positive note, the Board will have a spring in their step this morning and I've no doubt will be delighted with the transfer window business ..........

UTB & FTP

 

[Slim Man]

Who were the first 5?

McFadzean, Dan Burn, Beevers, Morgan, Webster.

 

[Blade56]

McFadzean, Dan Burn, Beevers, Morgan, Webster.

Baptiste went on season loan to Preston yesterday. Maybe CW didn't rate him, wages to high, he didn't fancy it after last time, whatever. Looked the part last time