What a fantastic Transfer Window

[Stegosaurus]

Hi Stegosaurus here,

Selling Berge was a blessing, he's just not very good. I think people only think he's good because he cost alot and other people say he's good. So people say he's good too so they don't get accused of being a thicko by being the only person saying he's ... not gash, but average at best. I said all along he is average at best.

Our transfer window has been a bit midfield heavy

Slim, Souza, Hamer, Davies and now McAtee. Not to mention we already had Norwood. And Fleck ... I suppose, for some reason. Why did we renew his contract again? Just pissing 20 grand a week away.

At the same time, we've only signed one CB in Trusty, and that's a weak spot. Egan is shit, Basham is shit, Robinson is shit. Getting a good CB has to be a priority.

Also -- goalkeeper, we still have L1 Wes (admittedly playing ok at the moment) but we have Davies as backup ... imagine him in the Prem?

 

[Badger Blade]

If we get McAtee and AN Other before the end of the window, we've probably done as well as we can do given our meagre resources and foot dragging when it comes to getting things over the line.

Losing Ndiaye was a disappointment but it was inevitable that in the very near future, he'd be going elsewhere anyway. If he plays his cards right, a gig at somewhere like Newcastle or Villa could be in the offing in the next couple of seasons while we're likely doing our best Norwich City yoyo impression.

Berge isn't the man for a relegation fight because, quite simply, the guy has no fight about him. Fine in his dinner suit running rings around Championship-level toilers but in the cut, thrust and pace of the Premier League, swapping him for Hamer seems like a good ploy. Burnley is something of a sideways move but he's probably just not as good as he's touted as being so getting decent money from a relegation rival could be good business, especially if we perform a miracle and stay up at their expense.

 

[coolasanidiot]

Hi Stegosaurus here,

Selling Berge was a blessing, he's just not very good. I think people only think he's good because he cost alot and other people say he's good. So people say he's good too so they don't get accused of being a thicko by being the only person saying he's ... not gash, but average at best. I said all along he is average at best.

Our transfer window has been a bit midfield heavy

Slim, Souza, Hamer, Davies and now McAtee. Not to mention we already had Norwood. And Fleck ... I suppose, for some reason. Why did we renew his contract again? Just pissing 20 grand a week away.

At the same time, we've only signed one CB in Trusty, and that's a weak spot. Egan is shit, Basham is shit, Robinson is shit. Getting a good CB has to be a priority.

Also -- goalkeeper, we still have L1 Wes (admittedly playing ok at the moment) but we have Davies as backup ... imagine him in the Prem?

So the defence that got us promoted is ALL shit- the same defence that held the worlds best team for three quarters of a game to nil - nil - ALL shit.

It's certainly not an amazing defence - but to say shit is just plain silly and disrepectful of efforts.

But Berge was average so agree there.

 

[Brewster Cost £70 million]

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Given the way he'd started the season I'd like to see another centre back brought in to cover Egan. The defence was the one area where I thought we looked alright until we kicked a football against Palace. Clearly we need another striker but Egan worries me more than any other player. He was error prone in our relegation season, he was error prone in the FA Cup semi final and he's been error prone in two out of three matches so far.

I'm not bouncing off the walls with our new signings, but we've brought in more than I was expecting. Now Hecky needs to figure out what he's doing in training to keep injuring our players all the time.

Souza, Archer and Hamer have all been exciting signings compared to the others and if we land McAtee then we should have a decent midfield at last.

 

[GymClassHero]

All in all, I'm content with the window.

Positives:

• The future of the club playing staff-wise looks much brighter
• Some genuinely exciting talent, Hamer, Souza and Archer (Bennie gets an honorable mention)
• I feel that the squad is actually decent enough to give it a real go

Negatives:

• Piss poor overall management of transfer business by the board
• Losing Ndiaye (albeit I'll concede we probably did the right thing)
• Basically throwing our first 6 pts away due to already mentioned poor planning

Whilst the board has somewhat redeemed themselves, it was still ultimately an embarrassing few months.

 

[Gin&Juice]

I think the only upgrade we’ve made is Berge. We needed to make 5/6 all over the pitch and we’ve only made 1.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

It’s very early days but I do feel more confident of Hecky building a squad capable of establishing itself in the Premier League than the last manager who had the same opportunity

Am way less certain that he will.

 

[Bell4]

I think we are now about as good as we were last season. Obviously nobody we could attract would have replaced N'Diaye but if McAtee comes in then the midfield looks better.

I wouldn't say it's been fantastic by any stretch but it looks far healthier than it did when we sold Berge and we should at least compete in most games now. Still think we are far too short up front to stay up though.

Bang on

 

[Yogi]

Assuming McAtee comes in it’s probably a 6-7/10. We’ve recruited well in midfield but are probably still one starting caliber player short in that department. We’ve added players in defence but the jury is at this stage out on whether they improve the starting 11. I’m assuming in time at least one or two will acclimatise and improve us there. We’ve brought in a marquee type signing upfront but again I’m not expecting him to hit the ground running.

I think it’ll take time for us to really gel and that might be time we don’t have due to how late some of the business has been done. Added on to this we are still very thin in certain areas and any injuries to Hamer, upfront or Anel/Egan could completely torpedo us due to lack of depth in these areas.

What it looks like we have managed to do well is stretch what little budget we have as far as we can and early doors it does look like we’ve managed to bring in some quality.

It’s not over yet though and the club still needs to get the contracts situation sorted out. On the whole i think we’ve given it a fair shake but it would still be an overachievement if we stay up.

 

[Shakespeare blade]

I’m reasonably happy but still no forgiveness for the state of how the board left us with illi and berge leaving, not buying into what was said, see baldock how to turn down an offer etc.
think we have a good set of first team and hopefully have enough time to bring others up to speed and back to health
Bring on Everton

 

[reedy63]

McAtee has signed on loan from Man City Great news, he can't play tomorrow and missed today's deadline. according to Sky Sports News Hecky wants to bring another player in before 11 pm tonight.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

Then why was the rest of the post not comparing to the last time we competed well in the Prem?

Fine lets do that.

Going on our current XI presuming McAtee gets over the line. Omitting Lundstram from 19/20 XI as Berge was a clear improvement when he signed.

Foderingham- Worse than Henderson but still decent. Vs 19/20: Worse
Thomas - Doesn't sound a patch on prime Enda Stevens. Vs 19/20: Worse
Baldock: Pretty much the same. Vs 19/20: No Change
Trusty/Robinson - Jury's out on Trusty but Jack O'Connel is a tough act to follow. Robinson def worse. Vs 19/20: Worse (Robinson)/ Unsure (Trusty)
Egan - Doesn't seem as good as Egan of 19/20 but might just be a blip. Vs 19/20: No change (being kind)
Ahmedozic - Unproven at this level, looked good last season, can score goals too. Basham was great. Vs 19/20: Unsure
Souza - Bigger than Norwood but hard to comment as we've barely seen him. Vs 19/20: Unsure
Hamer - Smaller than Berge, more consistent and a great passer. Vs 19/20: Improved
McAtee - I really liked Fleck in the 19/20 season but I thin McAtee is a an improvement. Vs 19/20: Improved.
McBurnie - He only has to score 6 this season to match his 19/20 best. and 2 to beat his Premier League 2nd best. He's set the bar so low he should be OK to keep this standard. Vs 19/20: No change.
Archer: If he can match Lys Mousset's form in his short-lived prime (but for longer) I'd be delighted. Hard to say if he will though. Vs 19/20: Unsure


Results: 2 positions we're worse off than 19/20 . 3 positions we're similar to 19/20. 2 positions we're likely improved. 4 positions where it's hard to be sure.

Conclusion: If Trusty, Ahmedozic, Souza and Archer prove they are up to Premier League standard then we could do much better than most expect. Bloody big IF though! Offering nothing going forward down the left could make us very predictable. The 19/20 teams success was built on a solid defence and we seem a bit weaker there however central midfield could excite with Hamer & McAtee (please lord!) together. Very hard to get excited about the forward line, but could say the same in 19/20. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

 

[Houso]

Fine lets do that.

Going on our current XI presuming McAtee gets over the line. Omitting Lundstram from 19/20 XI as Berge was a clear improvement when he signed.

Foderingham- Worse than Henderson but still decent. Vs 19/20: Worse
Thomas - Doesn't sound a patch on prime Enda Stevens. Vs 19/20: Worse
Baldock: Pretty much the same. Vs 19/20: No Change
Trusty/Robinson - Jury's out on Trusty but Jack O'Connel is a tough act to follow. Robinson def worse. Vs 19/20: Worse (Robinson)/ Unsure (Trusty)
Egan - Doesn't seem as good as Egan of 19/20 but might just be a blip. Vs 19/20: No change (being kind)
Ahmedozic - Unproven at this level, looked good last season, can score goals too. Basham was great. Vs 19/20: Unsure
Souza - Bigger than Norwood but hard to comment as we've barely seen him. Vs 19/20: Unsure
Hamer - Smaller than Berge, more consistent and a great passer. Vs 19/20: Improved
McAtee - I really liked Fleck in the 19/20 season but I thin McAtee is a an improvement. Vs 19/20: Improved.
McBurnie - He only has to score 6 this season to match his 19/20 best. and 2 to beat his Premier League 2nd best. He's set the bar so low he should be OK to keep this standard. Vs 19/20: No change.
Archer: If he can match Lys Mousset's form in his short-lived prime (but for longer) I'd be delighted. Hard to say if he will though. Vs 19/20: Unsure


Results: 2 positions we're worse off than 19/20 . 3 positions we're similar to 19/20. 2 positions we're likely improved. 4 positions where it's hard to be sure.

Conclusion: If Trusty, Ahmedozic, Souza and Archer prove they are up to Premier League standard then we could do much better than most expect. Bloody big IF though! Offering nothing going forward down the left could make us very predictable. The 19/20 teams success was built on a solid defence and we seem a bit weaker there however central midfield could excite with Hamer & McAtee (please lord!) together. Very hard to get excited about the forward line, but could say the same in 19/20. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Thanks for this. I mean... I didn't ask for it, but I appreciate the effort and broadly agree with your comments.

FWIW, I don't think Trusty will get anywhere near JoC.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

No point re-litigating Ndaiyes departure. After he wouldn’t sign and wanted to go it seems like we were backed into a corner.

If we had kept the squad in tact and If we had a decent budget for additions (even half of Burnley’s budget) like hamer / souza and trusty without sales. With the likes of slimani traore larouci being squad depth would have been a 10/10 window.

Can understand selling berge to find additions even if with a proper PL owner it wouldn’t have been necessary.

Think we are somewhere near a 6.5 overall. The first 11 at least looks decent and at least comparable to the promotion side.

Wes
Baldock Anel Egan JLT/Trusty Thomas
Norwood souza
Hamer Mcatee
Archer/mcburnie

Has the makings of a side that can compete if everything clicks as we hope it will. There’s still a ‘look what we could have had’ sadness from the window. With a reasonable budget we could have been in a strong position and still have the likes of Ndaiye and berge

 

[JayGreen17]

Still a striker short for me, let’s see at 11pm to make a judgement.

 

[reedy63]

You can't compare Thomas to Stevens you have not seen Thomas yet so i think that is unfair.

 

[steve26272]

All in all, I'm content with the window.

Positives:

• The future of the club playing staff-wise looks much brighter
• Some genuinely exciting talent, Hamer, Souza and Archer (Bennie gets an honorable mention)
• I feel that the squad is actually decent enough to give it a real go

Negatives:

• Piss poor overall management of transfer business by the board
• Losing Ndiaye (albeit I'll concede we probably did the right thing)
• Basically throwing our first 6 pts away due to already mentioned poor planning

Whilst the board has somewhat redeemed themselves, it was still ultimately an embarrassing few months.

This isnt just you, but loads on here say weve managed the window badly

On paper your right, but in reality how would you have managed it better?

Ndaiye, we offer best contract, he agrees, video etc then does one, what more could we have done?
Berge, he tells us hes leaving in 12 months, we get chance to sell and upgrade to Hamer who arrives in 72hours
We all wanted Archer, Villa dont want to sell at the beginning of the window - we can either move onto our 2nd choice, or hold out
Macca - see above, No1 priority, we've had to wait but hes here, should we have moved for someone of lesser ability just to gerrim in early?

The point been we have 2 choices

1) decide on who we want, move everything to get them, even if it means waiting till deadline day
2) go early, if our No1 choice isnt available, go to 2nd, then 3rd etc

Option 2 does give us time to gel, it also keeps fans happy and would make us stronger from game 1, not game 4
Option 2 is better in the long run, but nervous for all involved and means we play weakened for the first 3 games

Personal preference of course, but I would go with better players for 35 games, than 2nd or 3rd choice for 38

This is Hecky all over, studious, sensible, doenst flap just gets his business done

Rather this than Forest who are just hoovering up players with no apparent strategy

 

[YES Blade]

As with any transfer window, we’ll find out in the coming weeks and months how good it actually was.

I’m very happy with how it’s gone, Hecky and the Prince have done well to get the most out of the resources available.

 

[LBA_Blade]

On a similar topic the players that have gone on loan for mens football experience might be as equally important looking down the line. Arblaster by all accounts is doing great at Port Vale and if we can loan out Louie Marsh to an equally similar club and he has a similar impact we are looking at bringing back 2 knocking on the door players after their loan spells.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

You can't compare Thomas to Stevens you have not seen Thomas yet so i think that is unfair.

Would Championship Leicester be offloading prime Stevens on loan?

 

[Colombia Blade]

Well, it doesn't look like we had much choice but to let Ndiaye and Berge go, and while Ndiaye is irreplaceable, I don't think we've done too bad with who we've brought in. I suppose it boils down to which of the following teams would be best for the Premier League this season...

vs

Not sure there's much in it to be fair, so I suppose we can say we did well to replace Ndiaye and Berge. Whether it's an improvement, we'll see at the end of the season...

 

[ATL Recs]

So the defence that got us promoted is ALL shit- the same defence that held the worlds best team for three quarters of a game to nil - nil - ALL shit.

It's certainly not an amazing defence - but to say shit is just plain silly and disrepectful of efforts.

But Berge was average so agree there.

on another day they could have been 5 up after an hour that's more down to their finishing and decent goalkeeping

 

[reedy63]

Again You have not seen Thomas play for all we know he could be better than Stevens in his prime. I will be at Bramall Lane to see how good Thomas is. Hecky must think he is good otherwise he would not have got him on a season-long loan. I trust Hecky's judgment. bit of a silly question Would Leicester offer Stevens in his prime? so I don't know what you are on about there.

 

[coolasanidiot]

on another day they could have been 5 up after an hour that's more down to their finishing and decent goalkeeping

Ifs and buts and maybes- the defence was good last year and fact is although not amazing they are well drilled- we are bound to get a few pastings this year but I'll stick with they are far from shit.

Now I'd say defence not bad- midfield not bad- strikeforce lightweight but overall this has been a good window - albeit still cry each night because Ndiayes gone..

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

Wasn’t the mantra always “be patient and judge it on 1st Sept?”….that was mine anyway.

Lot of impatient Fannies these last couple of weeks/months.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Okay, so Hamer is a replacement for Fleck. Souza is competition for Norwood though they may play together. Traore will be more of a wide midfielder than striker. So where does that leave McAtee? Does he play as part of a midfield three, or do we go with one up front with McAtee playing behind in the Ndiaye/Scholes role in front of the midfield three?

 

[Yoonited]

I'm not going to thank them yet. Proof is in the pudding and all that.

But I think we're significantly stronger than the end of last season now. Just need them all to gel.

Not much magnanimity in your house then.
"It's not bad you've made it to the prem son,but I'll give you credit when you come home with your medals"
I'll say an extra thank's for you Houso

 

[Heely bottoms underpants]

Well it's certainly a lot better than it was a few weeks ago.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Wasn’t the mantra always “be patient and judge it on 1st Sept?”….that was mine anyway.

Lot of impatient Fannies these last couple of weeks/months.

Agree...whats quite funny and that a club might receive criticism of a lack of communication

but after the N'Diaye sale and terrible planning for the start of the season....the Prince volunteered to explain the situation on Sheffield United way.

He specifically explained that he would add the money from the Berge and N'diaye sales into the general transfer kitty.
He made it very clear that we have a decent budget for transfers but it's in our interest to say we're skint (helps negotiate a smaller fee).
He also made it very clear that we would bring in plenty of players, strengthen areas that Hecky has highlighted.
He also said we are still ambitious and intend to have a squad competitive enough to stay up...so that means better than last season.

So I expected (knew based on what we were told) at least a 7 out of 10 transfer window
........and that's what we got (good/ acceptable window not brilliant) but a brilliant window getting all our first choice targets was always going to be almost impossible.

Kept shaking my head at the comments at few weeks ago "The Prince is a liar", "he wants us to be relegated", "we never make ambitious signings" blah blah
When past events showed he's been reasonably ambitious.
Accept he took his eye off the ball for a few months......but that's natural...when you've sold something....you don't make major decisions regards it's future.