Blessings in disguise

[Scooter_mcgavin]

Holmes,
A three month pursuit of Leonard
A two month pursuit of Lenihan,
The Watford Youth,
Devante Cole,
The Palace Youth.....
Brooks to Chesterfield

At the time we were struggling for striking options (Sharp and the rest seemingly 'not good enough).

Fast forward 2 months and we have 3 strikers that have contributed positively, 4/5 centre halves fighting for a spot between them (and none have let us down), the best midfield we have had for decades (irrespective of who plays with Fleck/Coutts)...

CCV > Lenihan
Holmes/Leonard wouldn't have got a game
The Watford and Palace youths looked decent options, but when you're talking 'youths' on 20k+ p/w, how would that have upset the squad mentality?

I think the only one we did miss out on is Cole, but to be honest... I really don't care now, we have King Billy, Donaldo, Lion and Welsh International.

What a time to be a Blade....

Oh, and our 'better halves' are currently squealing about how shit their 'superior' players are.

 

[Grizzly blade]

The blessing is that it has allowed Brooks a clearer path to the first team.

Simples.

 

[Mouth of the South]

Who was the Palace youth? Don't remember any such rumour.

 

[Slim Man]

Don't think Devante Cole not coming has been a blessing in disguise, he'd have been a good option and it's a shame Fleetwood ended up blocking the deal. Can see us trying again in January, he's had a very impressive season so far.

 

[Benny and the Blades]

Wonder if the shopping list for January has changed any ?

 

[TJB.]

Ricky Holmes is a fucking idiot

 

[Benny and the Blades]

And the better we do the worse it looks for that greedy agent.
Hope he losers all his clients..

 

[Ricky]

It's incredible how many blessings in disguise we've had, and how it always seems to work out better for us.

Surely it can't last much longer?

Another one to add to the list is Ryan Bennett, who we were after in the summer. Went to Wolves, he's nowhere near their team, doesn't seem like the right character and we have better options at CB anyway. I'm very happy with CCV, Stearman and Heneghan. They suit us better.

Others examples are Holmes, Lenihan, Sinclair and going back to last summer McFadzean, Kilgallon, Tafazolli and Revell.

Maybe the biggest blessing of all, although maybe not in disguise, is Brooks' loan to Chesterfield being cancelled. Just how ridiculous would it have been had he been playing in League 2 for 6 months?!

 

[Sheffsteel]

Another one was the very highly rated Ben Reeves at MK Dons.

He was out of contract and the rumours were we were after one of the best talents in league 1.
But he joined his former manager at Charlton where he’s struggled this season
Although I think he’s been injured but he’s made no impact to date.

 

[Ricky]

Another one was the very highly rated Ben Reeves at MK Dons.

He was out of contract and the rumours were we were after one of the best talents in league 1.
But he joined his former manager at Charlton where he’s struggled this season
Although I think he’s been injured but he’s made no impact to date.

Another one that looked a tempting free transfer.

Then there's Graham Carey too.

I wonder if it was mainly luck, or if Wilder delayed attacking midfield signings to have a proper look at Brooks?

 

[Carlton Blade]

I think we suffered based on Geography in the summer. Maybe the pay rises weren't enough to encourage players to move their families 200 miles up the M1 for a possible relegation fight and a non-guaranteed starting place. Especially if similar money was available nearer home. If we are still challenging in Jan I'd expect players from anywhere to be more forceful in expressing their wishes to join

 

[BushBlade]

As we don't know how well they'd have done if they'd joined us, we don't really know if it was a blessing in disguise or not. What it does show is that CW isn't really affected by potential set backs. Compare that with Wilson. Whenever we had the slightest set back like Collins missing or McDonald out, we struggled. Fair weather manager. Wilder just takes it on the chin and keeps going.

 

[blade too long]

just trust Chris is the moral of the story

 

[Ricky]

I won't quite include Leonard in this category yet but he must be absolutely gutted now.

 

[ChemEngBlade]

One of the biggest is when the fax machine broke on transfer deadline day in 2011. Fleck was one of the players we tried to sign and failed to do so. I wholeheartedly believe that had he signed, we'd have ruined him playing in a team with no belief, poor tactics and simply not playing good football that plays to players strengths and sold him for pennies a few years later. We wouldn't be where we are now if that fax machine hadn't broken

 

[Ricky]

Adkins' failure was a huge blessing in disguise.

In fact you could say all of the L1 failures were. Because they eventually led to Wilder, and a situation we couldn't have dreamed of.

 

[I should coco]

Fleck was one of the players we tried to sign and failed to do so. I wholeheartedly believe that had he signed, we'd have ruined him playing in a team with no belief,

He'd have gone back to Scotland a broken player. Wasn't some other Rangers lad involved as well in the deal?

We wouldn't be where we are now if that fax machine hadn't broken

Spot on. Maybe this should now be the official end of the fax machine 'jokes'.

Also, considering the Butterfly Effect, maybe Simmo's penalty disturbed the gravity balance of the milky way that eventually resulted in CW turning up at the Lane?

 

[ucandomagic]

I won't quite include Leonard in this category yet but he must be absolutely gutted now.

I agree with this. If we'd got Leonard we wouldn't have got Lundstram, and I think Leonard would have been an upgrade - but Lundstram is improving.

Still - I guess like many others Leonard regrets it now - as we just go from strength to strength.

I reckon Cole is a certainty in the JTW - only the clock got in the way of that in the end.

The Magic is Back

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Hard to evaluate, because much of the player speculation is just that, speculation. Wilder has shown with signings that were not linked by our ITK crew and the press, that there is little credibility to names linked. Best bit of luck was the Toulon Tournament and the subsequent cancelled loan deal.

 

[ChemEngBlade]

He'd have gone back to Scotland a broken player. Wasn't some other Rangers lad involved as well in the deal?



Spot on. Maybe this should now be the official end of the fax machine 'jokes'.

Also, considering the Butterfly Effect, maybe Simmo's penalty disturbed the gravity balance of the milky way that eventually resulted in CW turning up at the Lane?

Yeah Kyle Hutton was part of the deal as well

 

[mancunianblade]

Said before should we be mathematically safe by Xmas it’s a triple plus point in Jan.

-Any potential addition knows we are safe from relegation.

-Being safe in Dec/jan would see us on course for Play Offs at worst

-The board should back Wilder for a push.

Nothing wrong with the squad we have now but the fact we missed out on THREE attacking players would suggest he thinks we are short up there, people will give me the but Brooks has shown his worth. Wilder knew that long before deadline day.

If we carry on as in I’d expect a top quality CM and a Striker plus maybe go back in for Sinclair again.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Holmes,
A three month pursuit of Leonard
A two month pursuit of Lenihan,
The Watford Youth,
Devante Cole,
The Palace Youth.....
Brooks to Chesterfield

At the time we were struggling for striking options (Sharp and the rest seemingly 'not good enough).

Fast forward 2 months and we have 3 strikers that have contributed positively, 4/5 centre halves fighting for a spot between them (and none have let us down), the best midfield we have had for decades (irrespective of who plays with Fleck/Coutts)...

CCV > Lenihan
Holmes/Leonard wouldn't have got a game
The Watford and Palace youths looked decent options, but when you're talking 'youths' on 20k+ p/w, how would that have upset the squad mentality?

I think the only one we did miss out on is Cole, but to be honest... I really don't care now, we have King Billy, Donaldo, Lion and Welsh International.

What a time to be a Blade....

Oh, and our 'better halves' are currently squealing about how shit their 'superior' players are.

I'm hopeful that we get Cole in January. Lots of raw potential that with a sprinkling of Wilder's magic dust, might just see him end up like his dad.