Textbook example of how to convince fans that we’ve had a good transfer window

[Mouth of the South]

It could've been loads better. On paper, the gap between our squad and Middlesbrough's has narrowed considerably.

It could've been so much worse though.

That's fair. We could do with a couple of surprise M'boro losses to ease our concerns a little bit!

 

[petcharlie]

"I'm a professional cynic but my heart's not in it. I'm paying the price of living life at the limit".

When I look at our last two years of transfers it appears batshit crazy. One permanent signing. One. Little turn over of an ageing playing squad. Players allowed to run their contracts down - including our most valuable young assets. Not a recipe for success in the long run that's for sure. If we don't go up this season and bank the Prem cash it's scary unless the new owner chucks big money at it.

Judging this window alone, context is needed. I can park a lot of that. 12 points clear with a game in hand. Those below us faltering. If we were mid table I'd say cash in on the two big names if they wont sign new deals, and turn the squad over with young players on long deals. Also Prince out as you can't run a sustainable Championship club of our size. As it is, let's get promoted, get our best young players under contract and then reassess. Hopefully the new owner is already pushing some of this. If it was my club (or going to be) I'd be on it re the contracts already

I agree with most of what you say but we are not allowed to offer our players a new contract without the league giving the green light under the rules of an embargo . Plus it would be hard to give them a renewal until we know what league we will be in .As soon as we know and we are clear of the embargo it should be the first job to sort contracts out . Hopefully at the end of the season we will have new owners and be in the Prem. Must say though i enjoy the Championship but i realize we need the Prem money and will have to put up with the dodgy decisions against us and the actors .

 

[nopigfansintown]

Not sure that I would call, Brewster, Bogle, Anel, Lowe, Berge, Ndiaye, RND, Jebbison, Mcburnie an ageing squad.
How many are good enough to play in the premiership is another question.
Egan we should get one more season out of.
The others are most probably reaching the end of their time at Bramall Lane but will help to get us promoted.
The new contracts for the younger players will come once we know which division we are in. We can't offer them premiership terms until we are promoted and they aren't going to extend their contracts based on Championship pay.
To be fair, I don't think the Prince has got much wrong in his time here. At least we haven't sold our prize assets.

I see Ndiaye and Berge moving on if we aren't promoted. Maybe other young, saleable assets which will deplete us there. The emergence of academy graduates has been a massive boon that has stopped the issue becoming more serious. I think there'd be other emerging next season if we don't go up, but we'd still need a significant churn.
.
Contracts can be offered with divisional clauses. It's standard practise and was a big feature of the Wilder era. I think we've rolled the dice on going up twice, and look like coming up trumps at the second time of asking.The conservative approach would've been cashing in and bringing in young players on lower wages with one eye on moving them on for big money. With the exception of Ramsdale/Anel we haven't done that.

 

[alcoblade]

Nobody expected any meaningful new additions.

Many did fear losing the best of what we had.

So it has been a positive window.

Exactly this.

 

[cooperblade]

I see Ndiaye and Berge moving on if we aren't promoted. Maybe other young, saleable assets which will deplete us there. The emergence of academy graduates has been a massive boon that has stopped the issue becoming more serious. I think there'd be other emerging next season if we don't go up, but we'd still need a significant churn.
.
Contracts can be offered with divisional clauses. It's standard practise and was a big feature of the Wilder era. I think we've rolled the dice on going up twice, and look like coming up trumps at the second time of asking.The conservative approach would've been cashing in and bringing in young players on lower wages with one eye on moving them on for big money. With the exception of Ramsdale/Anel we haven't done that.

It's a problem for another day but I'm not sure they stay even if we are promoted. Lots we don't know yet re the takeover but unless we're about to enter the ranks of the super wealthy clubs, it's hard for me to see us persuading them to stay.

 

[nopigfansintown]

It's a problem for another day but I'm not sure they stay even if we are promoted. Lots we don't know yet re the takeover but unless we're about to enter the ranks of the super wealthy clubs, it's hard for me to see us persuading them to stay.

It's not really in their interest to stay. Last 12 months means a big wage rise if they leave on a free. Hopefully they can be persuaded with a pay rise and release clauses.

 

[Chingo]

A lot of fans wanted to sell
Berge last week , make your minds up cynics!

 

[Ned the Donkey]

1. Defer paying an instalment of a transfer payment to trigger an embargo
2. Make sure that the embargo gets reported
3. Leave a star player out of a game that he wasn’t suited for anyway and tell the manager it’s because of transfer interest
4. Feed lines to an ITK that not one but two top players may leave
5. Wait 24 hours and then announce that there will be no departures or signings
6. Accept the plaudits for not selling despite pressure to do so
7. Pay the overdue instalment after deadline day, when it no longer matters

That's exactly how I explained it to my social worker this morning, but she just sighed and changed my prescription.

 

[El Volví]

Yes we're in a good position, yes we're 12 points clear ( with a game in hand) of 3rd place, yes this is our best chance of returning to the EPL...
But a couple of new signings to give us that little extra push, especially as we definitely need a striker, although not a guarantee, would surely have added something!
I said months ago that we should go all out and not only keep, but build a team around Ndiaye and Berge, so I'm pleased they're staying for now. However, we need to be looking at the future, which is not going to include quite a few of the current squad, especially if we are to compete in the EPL.
Burnley are already building for next season and the clubs below us have all made significant signings this month. Are they planning for next season? No, they're seriously looking to push for promotion and we've got to rely on what we've got.
Yes, they've been good enough to get us where we are and in spite of injuries, but we are short of a striker for sure!

P.S. I think we'll stuff Rovrum on Saturday

 

[Norwood's 6 iron]

It's not really in their interest to stay. Last 12 months means a big wage rise if they leave on a free. Hopefully they can be persuaded with a pay rise and

Tbh I don't see it the way you see it, respectfully of course. We haven't signed players this year but I believe the work we have done over the last few seasons is starting to come good at the right time.

If you look at this list that has been bought or developed over the last few years, does it not look good to you?

Anel - RND - Lowe - Bogle - Berge - Coulibaly - Ndiaye - Brewster - McBurnie - Jebbo - Osula.

Fair enough we didn't buy them last year but squad building is about building a team to take us up. You could argue that only Coulibaly, Brewster, and Osula haven't added something to this years promotion push, there is still time though.

That's a cracking set of young players who will either keep improving or will certainly sell more than we acquired them for.

If "perm signings every year" is what you hope for then fair enough, that's your opinion.

But for me, I see a team of quality young players, supplemented by experienced pros, and then add some loan players we have no hope of signing perm in our division.

I think I would be prepared to have only one season in the premiership if we kept our established youngsters and brought through some of the others that the club keep talking about having real potential.
Certainly don't want to go down the Forest route, have they really offered Shelvey a 2 year contract on £100k a week?
It's a fact of life now in football, if one of the rich clubs want 1 of your players there is bugger all you can do about it. No matter who takes us over I can't see that changing.
And completely off topic, don't build your hope's on seeing England win a major trophy, as the number of foreign players coming in to our game just doesn't leave opportunities for top English players to play at the highest level.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

Not sure that I would call, Brewster, Bogle, Anel, Lowe, Berge, Ndiaye, RND, Jebbison, Mcburnie an ageing squad.
How many are good enough to play in the premiership is another question.
Egan we should get one more season out of.
The others are most probably reaching the end of their time at Bramall Lane but will help to get us promoted.
The new contracts for the younger players will come once we know which division we are in. We can't offer them premiership terms until we are promoted and they aren't going to extend their contracts based on Championship pay.
To be fair, I don't think the Prince has got much wrong in his time here. At least we haven't sold our prize assets.

The only players you could put in the aging category are Stevens, Sharp & Basham.

Flecks quality is declining but he’s only 31

The problem we’ve got is the contract issues

 

[Aston max]

Up until the embargo nobody was particularly thinking we would have anyone out but we were hoping for a back up striker.







We are weaker than when we went into the window yet most are fine with it.







A masterclass in lowering expecttions.

 

[Mouth of the South]

I see Ndiaye and Berge moving on if we aren't promoted. Maybe other young, saleable assets which will deplete us there. The emergence of academy graduates has been a massive boon that has stopped the issue becoming more serious. I think there'd be other emerging next season if we don't go up, but we'd still need a significant churn.
.
Contracts can be offered with divisional clauses. It's standard practise and was a big feature of the Wilder era. I think we've rolled the dice on going up twice, and look like coming up trumps at the second time of asking.The conservative approach would've been cashing in and bringing in young players on lower wages with one eye on moving them on for big money. With the exception of Ramsdale/Anel we haven't done that.

Whether or not Utd are promoted this season is likely to be a sliding doors moment for the club - either re-enter the promised land of the Prem and the riches that go with it and good stand a chance of retaining its best players/assets or experience a large drop in income due to the parachute payment dropping to £15m (I think), lose the top talent, be unable to extend the contracts where options are held and effectively rebuild the squad.

Let's keep everything crossed that PH manages to maintain the momentum (there are no indications he won't) and M'boro and others lose the odd game!

 

[A Storm of Blades]

We’re, for the most part, ripping the league to bits with this squad, whilst carrying a hefty injury list. Number 1 priority for this window was don’t lose anyone.

 

[El Volví]

I think I would be prepared to have only one season in the premiership if we kept our established youngsters and brought through some of the others that the club keep talking about having real potential.
Certainly don't want to go down the Forest route, have they really offered Shelvey a 2 year contract on £100k a week?
It's a fact of life now in football, if one of the rich clubs want 1 of your players there is bugger all you can do about it. No matter who takes us over I can't see that changing.
And completely off topic, don't build your hope's on seeing England win a major trophy, as the number of foreign players coming in to our game just doesn't leave opportunities for top English players to play at the highest level.

Forest are a basket case and as I've eluded to in the past, a vehicle for money laundering or sports washing as is now the preferred phrase!
Spending money like they are and 'collecting' players like football stickers just shouts of a Club and manager that doesn't have a clue what they're doing!

 

[El Volví]

Not sure that I would call, Brewster, Bogle, Anel, Lowe, Berge, Ndiaye, RND, Jebbison, Mcburnie an ageing squad.
How many are good enough to play in the premiership is another question.
Egan we should get one more season out of.
The others are most probably reaching the end of their time at Bramall Lane but will help to get us promoted.
The new contracts for the younger players will come once we know which division we are in. We can't offer them premiership terms until we are promoted and they aren't going to extend their contracts based on Championship pay.
To be fair, I don't think the Prince has got much wrong in his time here. At least we haven't sold our prize assets.

It goes deeper than that.
Not only the question of how many are good enough for the EPL but also there a a couple in that list who are injury prone to say the least.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

It goes deeper than that.
Not only the question of how many are good enough for the EPL but also there a a couple in that list who are injury prone to say the least.

I don’t think any of us believe this current squad is good enough. I’d say we need 6/7 new faces in the summer, however, I wouldn’t say we have a bad squad either. We just need to add quality & how we condition players

 

[N20 Blade]

Jebbison full of confidence and making his mark too, his current suspension notwithstanding.

100% - since QPR he has been a revelation tbh and is now a real option. The fact that his suspension is such a problem says it all. Given the way we play, airlifting a striker in would not necessarily work quickly anyhow, as our style of play is unconventional but so far effective. Jebbison has been with the group for a full year now and finally it's paying off.

 

[Ginger Gnome]

Jebbison taking Khadra's spot in the squad and Osula coming back to fill the Jebbo couldn't even make the bench spot pretty much evens itself out as Khadra wasn't much use the way we used him anyway.

 

[Bladesman]

I wouldnt say weaker.

Pre January no one considered Jebbison as a viable striker.

We've lost Khadra but the emergence of Jebbison goes some way to filling this minimal whole in the squad.

Debatable if Reda actually suited our system.

 

[Trafford]

My comments were mostly tongue in cheek but how much better did everybody feel when the announcement came out about nobody leaving, having been told to expect that they definitely were? I do think that there was an attempt to offload Berge as well and that it may have been thwarted by either a lack of genuine interest or Hecky’s reaction - watch who he walks around the pitch with at the end of every match, not just the odd one.

 

[Isar]

Nobody expected any meaningful new additions.

Many did fear losing the best of what we had.

So it has been a positive window.

Under the circumstances it has been a great transfer window. This current squad, with injuries, has got us 2nd in the Championship and all to play for.
This is the best points gap I have ever known us have at this stage of a season.

We go on with all of our assets.

Still some fans aren't happy, they are waiting and hoping for us to fail just so they can claim "I told you so" .

 

[Keen Blade]

Forest are a basket case and as I've eluded to in the past, a vehicle for money laundering or sports washing as is now the preferred phrase!
Spending money like they are and 'collecting' players like football stickers just shouts of a Club and manager that doesn't have a clue what they're doing!

How can they not be breaching ffp rules ?

 

[Snowflake]

But a couple of decent signings would have basically ensured promotion

As it stands we're still quite vulnerable

Vulnerable to what ? Being caught by teams that in the last few matches have gone further away from us ?

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Vulnerable to what ? Being caught by teams that in the last few matches have gone further away from us ?

Injuries, no improvement in performances, a downturn in results and rivals who have strengthened making up ground on us

 

[Snowflake]

Yes we're in a good position, yes we're 12 points clear ( with a game in hand) of 3rd place, yes this is our best chance of returning to the EPL...
But a couple of new signings to give us that little extra push, especially as we definitely need a striker, although not a guarantee, would surely have added something!
I said months ago that we should go all out and not only keep, but build a team around Ndiaye and Berge, so I'm pleased they're staying for now. However, we need to be looking at the future, which is not going to include quite a few of the current squad, especially if we are to compete in the EPL.
Burnley are already building for next season and the clubs below us have all made significant signings this month. Are they planning for next season? No, they're seriously looking to push for promotion and we've got to rely on what we've got.
Yes, they've been good enough to get us where we are and in spite of injuries, but we are short of a striker for sure!

P.S. I think we'll stuff Rovrum on Saturday

Sadly we don’t have a game in hand on Luton who are also on 45 points, but no one seems to be concerned about them !

 

[Snowflake]

Injuries, no improvement in performances, a downturn in results and rivals who have strengthened making up ground on us

Do we need an improvement in performances if they keep producing points ?
We can stress about many things, some realistic others not, but things affect other teams prejudicially also.
I think, but maybe wrong, that having the same squad together will create a bond and desire to see this job through.

 

[Sean Thornton]

1. Defer paying an instalment of a transfer payment to trigger an embargo
2. Make sure that the embargo gets reported
3. Leave a star player out of a game that he wasn’t suited for anyway and tell the manager it’s because of transfer interest
4. Feed lines to an ITK that not one but two top players may leave
5. Wait 24 hours and then announce that there will be no departures or signings
6. Accept the plaudits for not selling despite pressure to do so
7. Pay the overdue instalment after deadline day, when it no longer matters

You’ve forgotten this gem of itkness.

“This management team is approx 10 wins from promotion and he wants to ruin it. Hey Ho that’s football but he’s doing it to get us out of embargo so he ‘might’ buy a player.”

 

[El Volví]

Sadly we don’t have a game in hand on Luton who are also on 45 points, but no one seems to be concerned about them !

And we should be as any of those teams below us potentially could put a run together and it only needs us to drop a few points and, well you know the rest!

 

[Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn]

Just for some context:-

“Maybe someone forgot to plug the fax machine in again?

You can change managers,

You can change players

You can change the board

If the clowns are still running the show, the circus will continue.”

No not from a Blades archive but a Blackburn fan site - football fans eh ?