Well done Moussa Dembele

[Twig]

All I know is that had we managed to keep Dembele we would still be in the top 6...

Losing him, and McCormack, without effectively replacing them, may cost us dear this season.

Agreed. That's the one big failing in the transfer window. We went for the budget option and it's not paid off so far.

I can agree with this also, we categorically failed in this respect. While we strengthened in other areas we have been left without a prolific goal scorer, which we have always had as our saving grace. That said, we must have cash to spend in January, so could well sign a top striker for the second half of the season. Until then we will have to rely on goals from midfield and the occasional contribution from the current crop of strikers.

Yes, it still puzzles me that we knew we were going to lose 40 goals a season in attacking talent yet failed to sign any sort of replacement whatsoever.  It is true that we should have sufficient funds, as well as room within the FFP, for a winter signing but it iis notoriously difficult to get the right talent during that window.  I just hope we don't panic and sign Martin.

[Dembele96]

Have to agree with all your points regard him leaving, but my moan is why have an academy when you bring the one gold nugget on amongst the others and then see them taken from you for peanuts at the end of their first contract when they are still only 18/19.

The problem is that the academy at the time started performing well when the club was in difficulty, the manager choose to not do to much change because relegation was pending. Then the club still got relegated and got the same problem in Championship the years after.
So the academy never got the time to shine.

[alfie]

I struggle to understand why people think we would get a top class forward wanting to join at the time to a struggling Championship side. It is so easy to say lets get whoever but not always the case, and we may well have made lot's enquiries but not reported.

[Chutney]

I struggle to understand why people think we would get a top class forward wanting to join at the time to a struggling Championship side. It is so easy to say lets get whoever but not always the case, and we may well have made lot's enquiries but not reported.

At the same time you have to wonder how Bristol City and clubs like them can get payers like Tammy Abraham and we end up with Chris Martin.

You can't honestly tell me Bristol City hold more weight than us in the transfer market.

[AlexW132]

As sad as it makes me seeing these young players leave, at least it gives our academy and club a name for themselves

[ffc73]

Tammy would not have got past the computer boys stats test

Clearly a player though that would have been great for us. But then we only know that because of the job he is doing for Bristol

Maybe we get Tammy next season when he has some stats to analyse

[@jolslover]

I struggle to understand why people think we would get a top class forward wanting to join at the time to a struggling Championship side. It is so easy to say lets get whoever but not always the case, and we may well have made lot's enquiries but not reported.

At the same time you have to wonder how Bristol City and clubs like them can get payers like Tammy Abraham and we end up with Chris Martin.

You can't honestly tell me Bristol City hold more weight than us in the transfer market.

Didnt see anyone here suggest Tammy Abraham, He was a gamble. No one knew he would perform this well
I can imagine certain posters on this forum getting very angry if we signed an unproven 17 year old striker from Chelsea on loan and would say that Woodrow should be starting ahead of him.

[Chutney]

I struggle to understand why people think we would get a top class forward wanting to join at the time to a struggling Championship side. It is so easy to say lets get whoever but not always the case, and we may well have made lot's enquiries but not reported.

At the same time you have to wonder how Bristol City and clubs like them can get payers like Tammy Abraham and we end up with Chris Martin.

You can't honestly tell me Bristol City hold more weight than us in the transfer market.

Didnt see anyone here suggest Tammy Abraham, He was a gamble. No one knew he would perform this well
I can imagine certain posters on this forum getting very angry if we signed an unproven 17 year old striker from Chelsea on loan and would say that Woodrow should be starting ahead of him.

Sure, the fans might not be happy, but if we had done our scouting properly, like Bristol have, we could of had a similarly talented player banging in goals for us currently. Once the goals start going in you won't see any complaints from the fans, I'm sure there were Bristol fans concerned about a 17 year old signing, that has nothing to do with his ability.

"No one knew he would perform this well" - I'm sure whoever scouted him and had seen him play previously knew what he could do.

There is a huge flaw in the way we find our players, and without knowing our methods I can't suggest what that is, but judging by our recent transfer record over the last few years, whatever we are doing, isn't working.

If other championship teams can consistently find talent in every window why can't we?

Last summer was perhaps our best window for three or four years, and even then when compared with the recruitment of the teams around us, we are lacking.

[Wolf]

"Bristol"? Wtf is this Bristol?

There are two clubs in the city of Bristol, one is a division higher than the other. Nobody calls either of them just Bristol.

[@jolslover]

I struggle to understand why people think we would get a top class forward wanting to join at the time to a struggling Championship side. It is so easy to say lets get whoever but not always the case, and we may well have made lot's enquiries but not reported.

At the same time you have to wonder how Bristol City and clubs like them can get payers like Tammy Abraham and we end up with Chris Martin.

You can't honestly tell me Bristol City hold more weight than us in the transfer market.

Didnt see anyone here suggest Tammy Abraham, He was a gamble. No one knew he would perform this well
I can imagine certain posters on this forum getting very angry if we signed an unproven 17 year old striker from Chelsea on loan and would say that Woodrow should be starting ahead of him.

Sure, the fans might not be happy, but if we had done our scouting properly, like Bristol have, we could of had a similarly talented player banging in goals for us currently. Once the goals start going in you won't see any complaints from the fans, I'm sure there were Bristol fans concerned about a 17 year old signing, that has nothing to do with his ability.

"No one knew he would perform this well" - I'm sure whoever scouted him and had seen him play previously knew what he could do.

There is a huge flaw in the way we find our players, and without knowing our methods I can't suggest what that is, but judging by our recent transfer record over the last few years, whatever we are doing, isn't working.

If other championship teams can consistently find talent in every window why can't we?

Last summer was perhaps our best window for three or four years, and even then when compared with the recruitment of the teams around us, we are lacking.

When you say last summer do you mean 16/17 window, (the one just passed) or 15/16 window?

[filham]

There were some winners in the Dembele move:-

Celtic obtained a very good striker who is scoring goals for them in European football without paying a huge transfer fee.

Dembele has no doubt enjoyed a good salary increase and is playing in European football.

Dembele's agent probably had a nice cheque from at least one of the parties involved.

The outright losers were Fulham who gained absolutely nothing and were left high and dry without a champion quality striker.

Something wrong when a move like this can be so unbalanced.

The Roberts move was really a greater loss of player but at least we came out of it with a few quid in the bank.

[Mince n Tatties]

Arsenal and Bayern ready to swoop in January?

[Mince n Tatties]

While Dembele seems to be progressing,Roberts isnt.

[alfie]

I struggle to understand why people think we would get a top class forward wanting to join at the time to a struggling Championship side. It is so easy to say lets get whoever but not always the case, and we may well have made lot's enquiries but not reported.

At the same time you have to wonder how Bristol City and clubs like them can get payers like Tammy Abraham and we end up with Chris Martin.

You can't honestly tell me Bristol City hold more weight than us in the transfer market.

Didnt see anyone here suggest Tammy Abraham, He was a gamble. No one knew he would perform this well
I can imagine certain posters on this forum getting very angry if we signed an unproven 17 year old striker from Chelsea on loan and would say that Woodrow should be starting ahead of him.

Just because he is doing well at BC does not mean he would do the same here, different players, different set up, all sorts of things affect how a player performs.
You never know some of our forwards just may find their shooting boots.

[HatterDon]

Arsenal and Bayern ready to swoop in January?

I don't see it.

[Bill2]

There were some winners in the Dembele move:-

Celtic obtained a very good striker who is scoring goals for them in European football without paying a huge transfer fee.

Dembele has no doubt enjoyed a good salary increase and is playing in European football.

Dembele's agent probably had a nice cheque from at least one of the parties involved.

The outright losers were Fulham who gained absolutely nothing and were left high and dry without a champion quality striker.

Something wrong when a move like this can be so unbalanced.

The Roberts move was really a greater loss of player but at least we came out of it with a few quid in the bank.

As I said earlier in this post why bother with an academy when you lose all the real quality for nothing and then other clubs get the benefit, no doubt will get a nice cheque. The rules need to change so when the youngsters get snapped up by other clubs the selling club should be eligible for a cut or the can give longer contracts which then have to be bought out.

I don't blame Dembele for moving, what irritates is the fact if Celtic sell they get the reward for our development work.

[WolverineFFC]

There were some winners in the Dembele move:-

Celtic obtained a very good striker who is scoring goals for them in European football without paying a huge transfer fee.

Dembele has no doubt enjoyed a good salary increase and is playing in European football.

Dembele's agent probably had a nice cheque from at least one of the parties involved.

The outright losers were Fulham who gained absolutely nothing and were left high and dry without a champion quality striker.

Something wrong when a move like this can be so unbalanced.

The Roberts move was really a greater loss of player but at least we came out of it with a few quid in the bank.

As I said earlier in this post why bother with an academy when you lose all the real quality for nothing and then other clubs get the benefit, no doubt will get a nice cheque. The rules need to change so when the youngsters get snapped up by other clubs the selling club should be eligible for a cut or the can give longer contracts which then have to be bought out.

I don't blame Dembele for moving, what irritates is the fact if Celtic sell they get the reward for our development work.

What the club got for his development was a 15 league goal scoring striker last season. How much would the club have to pay right now to get another one of those?

The mistake the club has made with the academy thus far has not been the development. It has been the inability to navigate how to sell or sign the youth that make it. Hopefully they are learning and will manage the Sessegnon situation better than the Hyndman/Dembele generation.

[Southfield White]

Blame the club for losing Moussa, not Moussa himself

Some Fulham fans couldn't see the potential in him, he's still not the finish article but will only get better

Good luck to the lad