January Window - Stupid timing

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

The January window is a real annoyance to me, since most of the transfer action happens at the end of the window, the new signings only really have Feb, March and April to influence the outcome of a nine month long season. This can often be a case of too little too late. Isn't it in pretty much every clubs's interest across europe to move the winter window forward so it begins late November and ends around 23 December? Obviously this season in particular I'd love that, but really it makes sense any season. Not sure why there's not more clamour for it?

 

[nopigfansintown]

Yeah, if you are requiring major or even semi major surgery in January you're at a badly run club. Players that are available are invariably overpriced and unfit even if you get what on paper is a good fit. Worryingly we need about ten

GK, a quality centre back, two right backs, two central midfielders, one or two target men (depending on system). A couple of wide players.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

We should boycott the January transfer window.

 

[RossingtonBlade]

We need to bring in 7/8 players and let go of 5/6. Unfortunately that isn’t realistic for a JTW. Unless of course, he gets rid of all the loan players as they’re fucking wank.

 

[Weasel]

Yes, but whatever business we are looking to do, i think its imperative that we hold our nerve and only look to do the business on transfer deadline day itself, preferably in the last 30 minutes, so that we can really ensure that we save ourselves a few quid and get the value for money. Thats what counts....

Just a thought. Maybe it would be an idea to pay a little bit more earlier in the window to actually get a few players through the door nice and early so that they can get up to speed quicker, get used to teammates and tactics, and affect a month of fixtures.

United are the equivalent of the tramp who waits at the back of a supermarket to see what food gets chucked in the skip last thing at night, rather than the average person who will go in the shop during the day and actually spend a few quid on what they actually fancy.

No doubt, 2 February 2026...Bettis the binman will be rummaging around in the bins again.

 

[Jon B]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

 

[Thrice]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

Even if the squad isn't as good as we thought it was, it's not bottom 3 of the league bad. It's not lose at home to Derby bad. Wilder has to take some accountability here. He's been back for 6 weeks now and the improvements have been minimal at best.

 

[Houston_Blade]

I don’t think there’s really another time the January transfer window could be is there?

 

[knowsnowt]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

He's basically alienated himself from half the squad saying that. I couldn't actually believe my ears.
Any of the players that actually gave a fuck no longer do.
It's bordering on mental negligence.
We are truly fucked.

 

[Houston_Blade]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

Ridiculous comment to make as a manager, we look demotivated already, I’m sure this will do the squad the world of good!

 

[Weasel]

Ridiculous comment to make as a manager, we look demotivated already, I’m sure this will do the squad the world of good!

Or maybe its a not sich a daft comment from CW. Whats he supposed to say if asked about his future plans for the team? Just say, we might look to bring in a player or two cos we think we have a great mix with our current lads..?

Hes just telling the truth in that he wants to get to work wheeling and dealing. I for one am pleased to hear it too as i cant stand most of these losers currently representing our squad of players.

Maybe too, its another throw of the dice by CW to try and coax a degree of effort out of some of these players who might realise too late what an opportunity they have had at this club and chucked away. Selles was clueless, CW isnt exactly blameless in this seasons shit show, but the players themselves have been mostly pathetic. They need to be told its deliver results and effort now, or you are gone in January. Some of these lazy spineless players need it. And if some of the players dont like it and down tools, then quite frankly, will we even notice?

Even the players probably arent thick enough to not think that the manager wont want to make big changes asap. If they havent thought that then they really are thick as shit as well as being piss poor at their jobs.

 

[unitedbhoy]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

On one hand he talks about building a culture, then he goes on about how he can’t wait to fuck them all off.

 

[JustLookin]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

I imagine there’s a few of them can’t wait to get out.

 

[ATL Recs]

Yeah, if you are requiring major or even semi major surgery in January you're at a badly run club. Players that are available are invariably overpriced and unfit even if you get what on paper is a good fit. Worryingly we need about ten

GK, a quality centre back, two right backs, two central midfielders, one or two target men (depending on system). A couple of wide players.

Nowt to do wi systems

 

[John Street West Terrace]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

I’ll offer a different angle to that ….The results say the squad isn’t good enough & the players playing in it know that .. surely as a professional footballer you’d think I need to get my atse in gear & raise my game here or I might be out the door ?

 

[John Street West Terrace]

We need to bring in 7/8 players and let go of 5/6. Unfortunately that isn’t realistic for a JTW. Unless of course, he gets rid of all the loan players as they’re fucking wank.

Bindon , Barry , Ogbene , Soumare .. 4 loans there that will probably ( and hopefully ) be returned , of those there’s only Soumare I’d probably keep .
Of the other last window panic buys & waives & strays Mee looks slow , McGuiness well just shocking , Chong not a clue as already stuck to the treatment table , Ings.. fuck knows as only seen about 10 mins of him in total , Riederwald a stop gap u til window open but looks miles off fitness at moment .
At the least we need a commanding centre back , right back , strong & fit centre midfielder , a striker who can hold the ball up .
The other issue is unllike the last JTW when we were top 3 , we’re not exactly the attractive proposition we’re then for incoming players , worryingly it might be more whose available than who we want ?

 

[Blademan89]

Yeah, if you are requiring major or even semi major surgery in January you're at a badly run club. Players that are available are invariably overpriced and unfit even if you get what on paper is a good fit. Worryingly we need about ten

GK, a quality centre back, two right backs, two central midfielders, one or two target men (depending on system). A couple of wide players.

We dont need major or minor surgery in January, we need cpr, defibrillator & resuscitating.

All 5 loan players need to be sent back, need to find somone to buy matos & send about 5 on loan.

Then we need to try and bring in as you said in those positions.

 

[Bell4]

Even if the squad isn't as good as we thought it was, it's not bottom 3 of the league bad. It's not lose at home to Derby bad. Wilder has to take some accountability here. He's been back for 6 weeks now and the improvements have been minimal at best.

Nope

We are that bad - truly that bad .

Add to that the piss poor decision making and cock ups on the field by individual players - then we are fkd

Imo

 

[Blacksea]

I’ll offer a different angle to that ….The results say the squad isn’t good enough & the players playing in it know that .. surely as a professional footballer you’d think I need to get my atse in gear & raise my game here or I might be out the door ?

Exactly,where is their pride as a professional to prove Wilder wrong?
Nobody has been named,but if their collective attitude would be to think why bother,it says more about them and their mindset as an individual,as part of a team,as a pro representing SUFC and the supporters that they don't take it onboard as a wake up call to do better in the future and at least put themselves in the shop window to go back out on loan somewhere else

 

[Houston_Blade]

Or maybe its a not sich a daft comment from CW. Whats he supposed to say if asked about his future plans for the team? Just say, we might look to bring in a player or two cos we think we have a great mix with our current lads..?

Hes just telling the truth in that he wants to get to work wheeling and dealing. I for one am pleased to hear it too as i cant stand most of these losers currently representing our squad of players.

Maybe too, its another throw of the dice by CW to try and coax a degree of effort out of some of these players who might realise too late what an opportunity they have had at this club and chucked away. Selles was clueless, CW isnt exactly blameless in this seasons shit show, but the players themselves have been mostly pathetic. They need to be told its deliver results and effort now, or you are gone in January. Some of these lazy spineless players need it. And if some of the players dont like it and down tools, then quite frankly, will we even notice?

Even the players probably arent thick enough to not think that the manager wont want to make big changes asap. If they havent thought that then they really are thick as shit as well as being piss poor at their jobs.

Let’s see how they react.

 

[TJ blade]

Bindon , Barry , Ogbene , Soumare .. 4 loans there that will probably ( and hopefully ) be returned , of those there’s only Soumare I’d probably keep .
Of the other last window panic buys & waives & strays Mee looks slow , McGuiness well just shocking , Chong not a clue as already stuck to the treatment table , Ings.. fuck knows as only seen about 10 mins of him in total , Riederwald a stop gap u til window open but looks miles off fitness at moment .
At the least we need a commanding centre back , right back , strong & fit centre midfielder , a striker who can hold the ball up .
The other issue is unllike the last JTW when we were top 3 , we’re not exactly the attractive proposition we’re then for incoming players , worryingly it might be more whose available than who we want ?

Probably a better class of quantity than quality then

 

[LBA_Blade]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

Depends on the mindset of the player, the passive aggressive mind games could be a bonus for trying to motivate players, if you are academy players in particular or playing for contracts such as Reidewald, that should give you focus to train hard, get into the side and make a difference. On the flip side, they lose every game as Wilder loses the dressing room and respect of the majority of the squad he signed or brought through from the academy and we are relegated by March.

 

[dsr-burnley]

The problem is that if you offer a fair price for a good player, there is every chance that either the player or the club will hang on waiting for a better offer, and also there is a fair chance that the club won't sell until they have lined up a replacement. To get a good player early in the window, you have to offer enough that they don't think it's worth waiting for a better offer.

Buying bad players is a lot easier.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

According to Chris Wilder post match:

"January can't come quick enough, as you can imagine, to make the obvious changes that we need to make, to give ourselves a better chance going forward"

I'm not sure how telling everybody that his squad of players isn't good enough, even if true, builds up their confidence.

I know footballers are known for being thick but surely they have worked that one out for themselves.

 

[Yoonitedite]

Yes, but whatever business we are looking to do, i think its imperative that we hold our nerve and only look to do the business on transfer deadline day itself, preferably in the last 30 minutes, so that we can really ensure that we save ourselves a few quid and get the value for money. Thats what counts....

Just a thought. Maybe it would be an idea to pay a little bit more earlier in the window to actually get a few players through the door nice and early so that they can get up to speed quicker, get used to teammates and tactics, and affect a month of fixtures.

United are the equivalent of the tramp who waits at the back of a supermarket to see what food gets chucked in the skip last thing at night, rather than the average person who will go in the shop during the day and actually spend a few quid on what they actually fancy.

No doubt, 2 February 2026...Bettis the binman will be rummaging around in the bins again.

I swear I saw Patrick Bamford climb out of a skip behind Tesco's the other day.Sleeping bag tucked under his arm and a pair of dishevelled Nike's and a half chewed tennis ball.
I sat and observed him stride off at quite a pace,in the direction of Shoreham St.

It would add weight to your post Weasel

Remember,we like to get a Pint out of a half pint pot..........

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

Most on here know it, most not on here know it, the press know it, the players know it, every f****r knows it.
Our squad is poor, we need some major changes in January if we are to move forward.
Far better CW coming from this angle than 'maybe we'll make one or two tweaks but essentially we have all we need'
Any decent player (who will also know our squad is pants) is more likely to be attracted by the wholesale changes talked about than feel they'll be a minor addition to what everyone knows is currently a mid-table finish at best.

 

[LBA_Blade]

Although I can see why on some occasions we have gone for loans and some have worked out in particular Gibbs-White, Henderson, Doyle and McAtee. The major downside to them is that by nature they are here for a short term, we got lucky in a way with Henderson and McAtee that we managed to get more than 1 season out of them but once they went back it left a big hole in the side to fill. Our loan recruitment this season has been poor and likely to see a return for some if not all. After failing so badly at replacing the CB pairing after Soutter's injury last season and bringing in Holding on loan, I am not sure why we are surprised when the turn over of players ever few years is so large. We fail to keep hold of the talent (N'Diaye, Berge, Ahmedhodžić, Souza, Osula to start the list) we let longer term contracts run their course with the likes of Brewster and McBurnie going, yet on the flip side we aren't replacing the quality/proven record. Ahmedhodžić "replacement" is either Zatterstrom, Mee or Blindon. Blindon has shown he isn't at the required standard and we haven't seen Zatterstrom past the U23's yet to understand where he is at. The only saving grace in defence when played at CB is Tanganga. We ended up being too light in defence to being to slow and bogged down.

After this season is done wherever we are at, the board need to sit down before the holidays and have a proper long term recruitment plan for permanent signings, fine if the AI is there to identify players but who is going to slot in to replace Mee and Ings next season presuming that they retire. Do we extend Tom Davies contract that expires in the summer and who are we bringing in DM wise to fill the gaps of Soumare and potentially Riedewald if he lasts that long. We also need to address the 2nd/3rd choice keeper situation. Adam Davies is out of contract so surely to god he goes but if Faxton isn't up to speed, who are we bringing in there. Then league dependent we could be looking at replacing a whole host of players too particularly Hamer, O'Hare amongst others.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

On behalf of the footballing authorities please allow me to apologise for any inconvenience caused by the January window being in January. We will of course carry out an immediate review and refer ourselves to the don't give a damn commision.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Although I can see why on some occasions we have gone for loans and some have worked out in particular Gibbs-White, Henderson, Doyle and McAtee. The major downside to them is that by nature they are here for a short term, we got lucky in a way with Henderson and McAtee that we managed to get more than 1 season out of them but once they went back it left a big hole in the side to fill. Our loan recruitment this season has been poor and likely to see a return for some if not all. After failing so badly at replacing the CB pairing after Soutter's injury last season and bringing in Holding on loan, I am not sure why we are surprised when the turn over of players ever few years is so large. We fail to keep hold of the talent (N'Diaye, Berge, Ahmedhodžić, Souza, Osula to start the list) we let longer term contracts run their course with the likes of Brewster and McBurnie going, yet on the flip side we aren't replacing the quality/proven record. Ahmedhodžić "replacement" is either Zatterstrom, Mee or Blindon. Blindon has shown he isn't at the required standard and we haven't seen Zatterstrom past the U23's yet to understand where he is at. The only saving grace in defence when played at CB is Tanganga. We ended up being too light in defence to being to slow and bogged down.

After this season is done wherever we are at, the board need to sit down before the holidays and have a proper long term recruitment plan for permanent signings, fine if the AI is there to identify players but who is going to slot in to replace Mee and Ings next season presuming that they retire. Do we extend Tom Davies contract that expires in the summer and who are we bringing in DM wise to fill the gaps of Soumare and potentially Riedewald if he lasts that long. We also need to address the 2nd/3rd choice keeper situation. Adam Davies is out of contract so surely to god he goes but if Faxton isn't up to speed, who are we bringing in there. Then league dependent we could be looking at replacing a whole host of players too particularly Hamer, O'Hare amongst others.

My sentiments entirely

 

[Need4speed]

Either have no transfer window and have transfers all year round or just have the summer one