If we sign…

[Aston max]

Nathan Redmond (rumoured to training with us)
Danny Ings (rumoured to be training with us)
Ben Mee (training with us)
Japhet Tanganga (rumoured to be in personal terms)

Alongside the Malmo lad, Ben Godfrey, Louie Barry and Soumare….

Would this be a successful transfer window for you?

And can we overturn the start of the season and get up into autos?

That would be an incredible statement from our owners IMO.

Or is it a manager thing?

Top 6 is the best we can hope for and that depends on selles getting his head from up his arse with formation.
Ings is a no brainer we need another forward and where this he has to play in a two has come from I've no idea , he's played as a single striker most of his career.
Mee signing depends on JLT leaving.
Redmond " could" be a decent signing if he's kept fit .
All 3 bring the experience we are lacking.

Honestly for me the last signing should be another CDM as we've no idea on the status of Ollie and tom Davies, even if it's only a loan till January.
Oh and see if we can off load Adam Davis and get a decent replacement he scares me to death he always reminds me of one of these

 

[LBA_Blade]

Out of all the 3 free options, Mee is defiantly 1st choice regardless of how many CB's we had/have he brings with him professionalism and a great work ethic that we have been lacking for a while, probably since Jags left. Ings & Redmond are both options I mentioned a few weeks ago, picking out frees from transfermrket.co.uk and looking at players of experience that last were available in 2025. Even on short term contracts with the option to extend both can do a job. As a club we have to be thinking about the options due to the restructure of the board and management is this now a stabilisation year in the Championship and try and avoid getting into a relegation fight or is this still a push for promotion. The downside with the 2nd is that we won't have a squad capable of competing in the Premier League and it's a huge risk to spend £100;s of millions to try and keep us there.

 

[BladeByChoice]

A successful window would most of em done earlier but hey ho..... manager is not for me , clueless and out of depth and no I don't want Wilder back.

Just a general comment on your comment,

I don’t think he’s clueless, I do think he’s out of his depth, in cloud cuckoo land where he joins the club and gets to select the whole squad to play his style, I still think he would bottle it.

Coming into a top end championship club with expectations of promotion is to much for him at this stage in his career.

I do like the bloke and think he would make a successful L1, L2 promotion specialist, but, and this just my honest opinion, I think he was brought into the club to be the fall guy if AI didn’t work.

He has to go but not with any malice, he just isn’t for us and that’s all on the owners.

I don’t want Wilder back either.

 

[Youngand70]

Regarding our strategy, sitting amongst our new owners is Bettis. He’s been the club’s CEO for over nine years and knows the score more than anybody. By definition a CEO sets the company's overall vision, leading strategic decision-making, managing senior management, and acting as the public face of the organisation to stakeholders. So where’s our ‘public face’ been since May? Maybe he should explain our current strategy?

I'm afraid we haven't had a public face for much longer than that. Bettis has been in position for about 10 years now, was a friend of one of McCabe's sons then "hey presto" a bit of nepotism and he became CEO, a post he remains in to this day. We have changed owners but basically we have continued on a similar path to the Prince's tenure so far.

The statement made by COH regarding the aim is to be an "established Premier League club", to me, is just that, "a statement", it's something that sounds good for the thousands of Blades supporters without anything to back it up.

No club strategy, vision or direction to achieve that "aim" has been forthcoming which isn't surprising as their is no communication or fan engagement strategy from the COH board members which includes Bettis. Mr Bettis certainly doesn't resemble your CEO job description. Yes and he does "know the score", only trouble is it's the "wrong score"!!!

Our previous owner spent most of his time in the US/Saudi only turning up for the "good times" and I'm sure he gave Mr Bettis a glowing reference. The present owners are also "absentee" over the pond. This leaves our illustrious CEO to his own devices, similar to "while the cats away the mice will play". Hence it's the same old same old.

Needless to say this doesn't contribute to the club moving forward and changing to embrace the modern way of football. We do not have the footballing experience in the club at the higher level to change direction. Until this situation changes then we will stay marooned in "mediocrity city" for the foreseeable future.

Like it or not both Birmingham City and Wrexham owners have far more vision/direction than COH and they have engaged/communicated with their fans regarding that vision and direction. Many other forward thinking clubs also engage and communicate with their fans.

In a recent interview the Wrexham owners stated "they use a hands off approach to club ownership, their preference to build structures around tallented, carefully chosen football decision makers and thay have a responsibility to do the best for the town they have bowled into", they also speak with a respect for the supporters they have taken the journey with.

Certainly not so with COH including Mr Bettis. Do COH have anyone advising them regarding the path they allegedly hope to take, well we will see?

 

[The Glasshouse Blade]

that's why he's training with us so he can be assessed, not hard to work that out is it.

 

[RammyBlade]

This manager is completely incompetent so we wont go anywhere with this fool

 

[GrayBlade]

I'm afraid we haven't had a public face for much longer than that. Bettis has been in position for about 10 years now, was a friend of one of McCabe's sons then "hey presto" a bit of nepotism and he became CEO, a post he remains in to this day. We have changed owners but basically we have continued on a similar path to the Prince's tenure so far.

The statement made by COH regarding the aim is to be an "established Premier League club", to me, is just that, "a statement", it's something that sounds good for the thousands of Blades supporters without anything to back it up.

No club strategy, vision or direction to achieve that "aim" has been forthcoming which isn't surprising as their is no communication or fan engagement strategy from the COH board members which includes Bettis. Mr Bettis certainly doesn't resemble your CEO job description. Yes and he does "know the score", only trouble is it's the "wrong score"!!!

Our previous owner spent most of his time in the US/Saudi only turning up for the "good times" and I'm sure he gave Mr Bettis a glowing reference. The present owners are also "absentee" over the pond. This leaves our illustrious CEO to his own devices, similar to "while the cats away the mice will play". Hence it's the same old same old.

Needless to say this doesn't contribute to the club moving forward and changing to embrace the modern way of football. We do not have the footballing experience in the club at the higher level to change direction. Until this situation changes then we will stay marooned in "mediocrity city" for the foreseeable future.

Like it or not both Birmingham City and Wrexham owners have far more vision/direction than COH and they have engaged/communicated with their fans regarding that vision and direction. Many other forward thinking clubs also engage and communicate with their fans.

In a recent interview the Wrexham owners stated "they use a hands off approach to club ownership, their preference to build structures around tallented, carefully chosen football decision makers and thay have a responsibility to do the best for the town they have bowled into", they also speak with a respect for the supporters they have taken the journey with.

Certainly not so with COH including Mr Bettis. Do COH have anyone advising them regarding the path they allegedly hope to take, well we will see?

Totally agree, oh for a Derek Dooley type. COH did initially hint at appointing an experienced Director of Football which may have improved matters. As it is, I don’t think Selles has even got an assistant to help/advise him has he?

 

[loyalblade95]

Anyone starting to get concerned about our recruitment?

Just seems like a load of reactive, panicking bollox atm?

I think it shows our owners just how quickly a situation can change.

When they sacked Wilder after 92 points and 7 loans all went back (only 3 of them were playing regularly) I think they might have thought we didn't need a lot (incomings wise) even with a new manager.

But that hasn't been the case as it left us lighter than they might have initially thought we would be, which got proved against Bristol City and they've been playing catch-up with the signings ever since.

 

[Railway Blade]

I was sceptical of Godfrey but on first impressions he looks solid enough. Showed good character too after the game picking up our players that dropped to the floor in disappointment.

Tanganga will be a very good player at this level

I like the look of Soumare when fully fit. Is he as good as Souza?. I doubt it yet but time will tell.

I think overall I think we are a bit weaker than last year.

The main problem however at the moment is the manager. Playing Peck as a holding midfielder (which he isn't naturally) then playing O'Hare and Hamer in front of him centrally. A recipe for disaster as they both bomb forward way in advance of the ball and Peck has no one to pass to. When we lose the ball they are both too advanced leaving gaping holes in midfield.
Until he sorts the midfield three out or changes the system the defence and the attack just wont function.

 

[loyalblade95]

Signing Ings, Redmond, Mee, Tanganga and Woo would be good, but another CDM would still be required, maybe a backup LW as well, then look to get some of the younger players out on loan.

Soumare could very well be our 1st choice CDM, but he needs a good backup option.

If Ings and a LW sign, Oné can go out on loan.

Marsh should be out on loan regardless.

Redmond signs we might be able to get Ukaki out on loan.

Presume Mee will only happen if/when Robbo leaves.

 

[djbaldken]

Three out of the four mentioned are geriatrics. Two of which are injury prone.
Desperation signings.
I did mention somewhere in a different thread during takeover threads that be careful what you wish for.
So far it's been a complete shit show.
I don't see things getting any better anytime soon. Clearly the new owners are clueless and out of their depth.
As Woody Alen once said:

More than any other time in history, the blades board are facing a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray they have the wisdom to choose correctly.”​

 

[Mumbo]

surely you can only judge the window buy results on the pitch?

 

[Gavlar]

No. Where's the Ndiaye, McAtee, Gibbs-White, David Brooks, McGoldrick? I want some entertainment, an exciting player.

Hamer? Barry?

 

[Gavlar]

Three out of the four mentioned are geriatrics. Two of which are injury prone.
Desperation signings.
I did mention somewhere in a different thread during takeover threads that be careful what you wish for.
So far it's been a complete shit show.
I don't see things getting any better anytime soon. Clearly the new owners are clueless and out of their depth.
As Woody Alen once said:

More than any other time in history, the blades board are facing a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray they have the wisdom to choose correctly.”​

What about our appointment of wilder the first time? Just finished 11th in league 1. That has to be worse than where we are now.

 

[Loco Blade]

How can we develop talent when we keep doing this retirement home for ex pros bollocks .

 

[Proper Blade]

I look at our list of transfers and it's like: what exactly is the plan?

• Old experienced pros that have been available on a free all summer (Mee, Redmond, Ings)
• Random players from the Bulgarian league who don't appear to be close to the level we need
• A scattergun of loans from home and abroad
• Zatterstrom and Tanganga, who don't fit into any of the above categories

Doesn't make any sense to me. There's no kind of pattern in terms of age or profile. We've signed everything from an 18yo Bulgarian to a 36yo Brit. What is the plan?

 

[djbaldken]

What about our appointment of wilder the first time? Just finished 11th in league 1. That has to be worse than where we are now.

It may have escaped your notice, but when Wilder came in it was the start of us moving forward.
Now, we are going backwards. And at this rate back to league one.

 

[Gavlar]

It may have escaped your notice, but when Wilder came in it was the start of us moving forward.
Now, we are going backwards. And at this rate back to league one.

Interesting. We had been in league 1 for 6 years and just finished in our worst position for 30 years when Wilder arrived.
That's going forward is it?
It was only the fact that Wilder changed things that moved us forward.

 

[KMC-1889]

I look at our list of transfers and it's like: what exactly is the plan?

• Old experienced pros that have been available on a free all summer (Mee, Redmond, Ings)
• Random players from the Bulgarian league who don't appear to be close to the level we need
• A scattergun of loans from home and abroad
• Zatterstrom and Tanganga, who don't fit into any of the above categories

Doesn't make any sense to me. There's no kind of pattern in terms of age or profile. We've signed everything from an 18yo Bulgarian to a 36yo Brit. What is the plan?

Exactly what you wrote. Develop young talented players so we can make a profit and buy better players. Recruit good value experienced players that improve the squad and can aid the development of youth players.

Cannon’s going through a rough patch, do you keep hoping he plays through it or bring in an experienced head that can talk to him player to player?

 

[Lord Eddard Muir]

 

[David Wheatley]

What is happening with Tanganga - it has all gone quiet - is he having second thoughts

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

What is happening with Tanganga - it has all gone quiet - is he having second thoughts

I have some special medication for when my Tanganga goes quiet..