Rating our transfer window

[Pollingtonblade]

I've said 6 but reckon we'll do a bit when loans open. Also looking for some of last season's goalscorers to get going in next few games.

No loan window

 

[Sean Thornton]

5/10 kept our decent players but went after targets that were far from first choice and have not addressed the glaring lack of pace in this squad.

The article on deadline day suggests that the targets were exactly who we were focused on.

 

[RammyBlade]

Ok so who were the 3 idiots who voted 1 or 3 ?
10 Players in without losing any of our star players must be at least a 6 if not 7 or 8 !!

 

[Gretsch Blade]

10 out of 10 for not selling our best players
7 out of 10 for the players signed (until I see them play)
10 out of 10 for Chris' efforts but let down by agents and sellers unrealistic demands

10 out of 10 for not selling our best players
7 out of 10 for the players signed (until I see them play)
10 out of 10 for Chris' efforts but let down by agents and sellers unrealistic demands

Totally agree with this

 

[Louis Hobbs]

Here's my overall take on our transfer window.
https://lh9sport.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/rating-sheffield-uniteds-201718-summer-transfer-window/

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

We would all have loved to improve on incomings during the last couple of weeks, but there are plenty of ways in which we might see this as one of our best transfer windows in a living memory.

Players we have brought in, who will imminently, or who have already, directly improved our first XI and/or bench on match days: Blackman, Stearman, Baldock, Stevens, Donaldson (plus potentially Heneghan and Carter-Vickers, we'll see, and who knows Evans). I'll add Brooks here, too, since we assumed we'd lost him on loan to Chesterfield, and his sudden emergence and retention this window make him as good as a new signing for the first team squad). Total = 6 (inc Brooks), plus 3 potentially. Let's be positive, credit Wilder, or give the benefit of the doubt, whatever you want, and call it 9.

Players we have retained who we might easily have lost to a daft bid: Fleck, Coutts, Duffy, O'Connell, Freeman, Basham, Brooks, plus one or two others from last year (take your pick). I'm excluding Bill, for obv reasons, though a cheeky 10mill bid from, e.g., Burnley at 9pm last night--would Kev have been able to resist ? Can't count Brooks twice, so total = my arbitrary 6, plus those that others might add, and minus those they might subtract.

Subtotal = 9 improvements to first team squad, plus 6 'vulnerable ' (and all other) key players retained.

Players moved on, whose loss seems ultimately acceptable to most: Brayford, Done, that leftback chap, at least one of the Wallaces ? (others ?).

Players lost who a majority have mourned: no bugger.

Players brought in for the medium or longer term: Thomas.

With apologies for those I've forgotten or omitted. By my own subjective reckoning, and crude maths, that adds up to a pretty damn good window, all told.

It's an 8.5 from me

 

[Roygbiv]

How others rate their transfer windows

http://www.footballforums.net/threads/rate-your-window-out-of-10.267036/

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I would rather spend a few hundred grand on players that would run through a wall for us than millions on players that wouldn't.

 

[Hartley Hare]

The job this year was to establish ourselves as a mid-table championship team and to find our feet at this higher level. All goes well so far, early days.

The new signings are solid and will help with the above objective. I also like the idea that the players who did so well last year are all still involved, they have been given a chance to prove they can perform and that is only right.

The test will come in the next two/three years. In order to force our way into the top six I reckon we will need to spend serious money £10m - £15m each season to build a strong team.

I hope we can generate more funds, TV money, sponsorship and gate receipts to help fund the colossal amount now required to compete at the top table and our benefactors have the deep pockets required.

HH

 

[Dimyan93]

We've done alright.

Donaldson is cover for sharp/clarke who will be out front two for the rest of the season.

Defence is sorted.

Only worry is midfield cover for Fleck/Couts, if both get injured/suspended at the same time within the next few months, that's those games lost

 

[Champagneblade]

To me, our window has not been too dissimilar to the challenges faced by Spurs.

We have a first XI that smashed the league below. Very little room for improvement on the first XI in that regard other than seeing who will adapt.

We were totally fine with our first choice keeper. He got injured, we brought in a player that also looks fine.

Defensively we had a very capable three in Basham, Wright and O'Connell who work well together. Questions about how they would step up but definitely worth the opportunity. A lack of cover and competition though. Carter-Vickers, Henighan and Stearman bring that. The latter also brings years of experience. The Derby game shows the first three to be capable at this level.

Freeman is more than worth a run at this level and Baldock looks to provide very capable conpetition. Stevens looks an improvement on Lafferty who was steady rather thsn spectacular last season.

The midfield trio have been awesome and instrumental in our success. Unless silly money is going to be bandied around, then Fleck and Coutts can be the axis to take us up through the divisions. Ahead of them, Duffy once more looks capable and Brooks' emergence makes that position locked down. Carruthers and Lundstram add cover as well as young Thomas. I think I would prefer Whiteman to Lundstram at this point but it's catch 22. How can young Ben improve with only 15 minute cameos? Only shame is we did not get Leonard as we lack one of his 'type' but you may argue it's easier to ask Basham to do that given we now have more defensive depth. Also cost effective - defenders cheaper to pick up than midfielders.

Up top there were potential questions around Sharp. 4 goals goes someway to answering that. More pace up top would be nice. It remains to be seen if Donaldo can bring this but he does bring 3 years of valuable Championship experience. You are then looking for one from Clarke, Evans and Lavery to make the step up. In a strange way, still having Hansen for the winter months November onwards might be a blessing. We also have the option of playing Brooks and Duffy and have a striker in Donaldson who can play up top on his own. Would have been useful cs Boro for instance.

Would have liked more pace but even the pacey options were unproven. None of Sinclair, Cole or Quina has any pedigree at this level.

The squad of 26 doesn't look bloated. We have added some experience in Stearman and Donaldson and a recognised scorer.

I think we've done pretty well. 7/10.

 

[Bladezz]

I agree with most points on pretty much most of the responses.

However I feel to really improve our team I think we need a significant amount of money. Players like Jota for £6million / Roberts 5£million / Harlea Dean £2.5million / Sam Gallagher etc are players that I would have liked us to go for. However we were never really in the market for them.

We did the window on the cheap and in Jan we will do the same again most likely try and sign Leonard / Cole who are both out of contract in the summer.

 

[blade67]

just for the record

players in / out are as follows

Long (loan) - Blackman (loan)
EEL (loan ends) - CVV (loan)
Hussey (loan) - Stevens
Wilson - Stearman
Brayford - Heneghan
Scougal - Lundstram
Done - Evans
Chapman (loan ends) - Nathan Thomas
Mcnulty - Donaldson

- Baldock
Reed (loan) -
Whiteman (loan) -

So 11 departures and 10 arrivals. For me the key is that all 11 departures were not 1st 11 picks and only 1 or 2 were making the match day squad on a Saturday from February 1st onwards last season. Overall we've replaced players adding no value to the club with improvements.

Of the arrivals, I'd say 3/4 are serious contenders to start and another 3/4 are expected to be in the 1st choice squad so we are improved in 7 squad places over last year. On top of that Brooks is like an 8th new player and may kick on to become a starting player as the season goes on.

7/10 for me

I'm sure some of the 10 signing will be a disappointment , but some will probably prove to be better than expected. Only disappointment is another forward would have been on my wish list, but hopefully we can manage with what we have till January and fix that then.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Please rate us when loan window closes.

 

[JJBlade]

The purpose of a transfer window is to improve
There isn't a player brought in who is an improvement on the first team players,

3/10 and a missed opportunity to take another small step forward

 

[Ricky]

Looks like 7/10 is the clear winner.



IMO it's like this:

First team improvements: Stevens, Stearman, (Brooks)

Likely first team improvements: Baldock, Donaldson

Possible future first team improvements: Heneghan, Blackman and Carter-Vickers short term as they're both loans

Unlikely first team improvements: Evans, Thomas, Lundstram



I always think that your signings should either improve the starting 11 or have the potential to in the future - avoid just signing back up. So we've not done too badly there, because Thomas and Lundstram are far from hopeless, same with Evans if he can stay fit enough.

 

[HermitageBlade]

I've rated it a 7 however I do think January will be a big one for us. Looking at the squad and the way we're playing it's obvious our strength is in midfield. So come the summer that's we're the bids will come in. It's not inconceivable that we could lose fleck, Coutts and Brooks. Add to that our main strike force being the wrong side of 30 and we will need quite a few new faces. That's why for me we probably should be pushing the boat out for a quality young striker next and maybe a midfielder.

 

[Hodgyman]

The purpose of a transfer window is to improve
There isn't a player brought in who is an improvement on the first team players,

3/10 and a missed opportunity to take another small step forward

Who says that we needed improving? The players we already had were pretty good and bought into the CW /SUFC ethos

In 6th position in this league after a dodgy start isn't too shabby. The new additions have helped to strengthen (Stevens, Stearman & Donaldson) and others to provide cover in depth to cover for injuries, suspension and competition for other places.

Our new striker option has also given us a new name to go with the Bashembauer mould is Donaldo. What more do you want?

 

[Esablade]

A decent window based on giving the '100' L1 team a shot at the Champ. 6/10 for me.

Agree with Ricky here:

But at the same time we've missed an opportunity to build on our momentum and capitalise on having the best manager we've had for decades. A few quality additions could've possibly seen us challenge for the top 6.

 

[Hodgyman]

Have you seen this? Read it & see what you think of CW's efforts. What would you have done that was better?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ed-boss-chris-wilder-on-transfer-deadline-day

 

[BladeInIreland]

Have you seen this? Read it & see what you think of CW's efforts. What would you have done that was better?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ed-boss-chris-wilder-on-transfer-deadline-day

I don't think anyone is doubting Wilders efforts. I think he's done the best with the resources available. Just wish he had a better budget to be more competitive for his more ambitious signings. Maybe in January we will be in a better position to attract them, if so the board needs to back wilder.

 

[JJBlade]

Who says that we needed improving? The players we already had were pretty good and bought into the CW /SUFC ethos

In 6th position in this league after a dodgy start isn't too shabby. The new additions have helped to strengthen (Stevens, Stearman & Donaldson) and others to provide cover in depth to cover for injuries, suspension and competition for other places.

Our new striker option has also given us a new name to go with the Bashembauer mould is Donaldo. What more do you want?

It's lucky for the fans of Real Madrid and Barcelona that they don't rest on their laurels and believe they don't need improving

 

[andy m]

The purpose of a transfer window is to improve
There isn't a player brought in who is an improvement on the first team players,

3/10 and a missed opportunity to take another small step forward

Enda Stevens?

 

[JJBlade]

Enda Stevens?

Yes I was going to say Enda Stevens might be an improvement on Lafferty (might be)
But I ddn't want to be unfair to Lafferty

 

[andy m]

The 1st team may not have improved much, but the squad has improved massively. Last season we got away with a lack of strength in depth but it needed addressing in this transfer window.

 

[Pinchy]

As Pete said.

We were 2 good strikers awayfrom a 10/10. Early to say how they will all fare I suppose, but adding 2 quality strikers would be the difference between mid to lower half and top half.

January could be interesting. We have money, it's been offered to clubs on several players. How much....I don't know. Possibly up to £6m...or as low as £2m. But I would hope that Mitchell, Wilder, Knill and the board will be working exceptionally hard to find the strikers that fit the budget, and will have done the work needed to ensure they go through very early in January.

On the last point, I often find myself scratching my head (Shall I stop there? No, carry on lad) why transfers are not sorted much earlier than Jim White Day. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that it's because certain selling clubs (Fleetwood, who may now live to regret enraging Cole and Son, for example) deliberately wait for the last day in the hope of an auction for the desperate.

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

snog

 

[Hodgyman]

It's lucky for the fans of Real Madrid and Barcelona that they don't rest on their laurels and believe they don't need improving

These are a few of my previous replies to "concerns" that United did not do well enough for your liking in the recent transfer activities that seem to fit your posts.

"All this talk about not being willing to meet sellers demands, may I remind you of what happened when people were demanding that we (sorry the financial backers) met the asking price for the demi-god that was Brayford. That was one of the worst pieces of business that the club has done in my 60 odd years of supporting this club. It not only cost the club in a ridiculous fee (£1.5M) but also meant that we couldn't afford a couple more decent players that year that would have almost guaranteed promotion and all the riches that would have brought.
United have far more sense when it comes to spending money on players than the team that no doubt you support. £10MILLION for someone who daren't take a penalty."

"Have you seen this? Read it & see what you think of CW's efforts. What would you have done that was better?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ed-boss-chris-wilder-on-transfer-deadline-day".

"Well done Chris, show agents and the players that they "represent" that you will not be messed about. Deals are done your way or the deal can take the highway. Chris has made the point that 2 players that lost their opportunity to play at Roker Park in front of 40,000 will now have to play in under 23's matches watched by 400. The players will perhaps learn about how to chose or dump an agent!"

Who do you really support, United, S6 Porkers or agents?

 

[JJBlade]

The 1st team may not have improved much, but the squad has improved massively. Last season we got away with a lack of strength in depth but it needed addressing in this transfer window.

Yes you're right,
But we have been promoted and need better players to increase the overall squads ability, not just add some more bodies. Our transfer business has meant that our League One winning team is still pretty much our best side with the exception of Stevens. I like Baldock too, that signing has provided competition between him and Freeman and both will have to work hard to keep the shirt.

I'd have liked three signings to immediately challenge Fleck, Coutts and even Sharp. not play second fiddle to them

 

[Teddy]

Apologies if someone's made this point already...

A positive from this window (and Wilder's previous 2 windows) is that we are gradually fixing our recent reputation for being mugs who will pay over the odds for has beens and as a club who will relentlessly pursue a target to the point where we can't consider other options (Adkins).

We are putting a message out that we don't fuck about. I want that. I want football agents and other club's managers and officials to be having conversations like "reckon we can get away with demanding another £200k and still get this over the line?" - "no chance, it's Sheffield united, they'll just walk away if we try and pull that shit".