The Official Silly Season January Transfer Thread 2017/18

[Tabby]

If we bite the bullet and splash the cash on a proven goalscorer, I think we can get by on what we have elsewhere, at least until the summer and be in with a shout for play offs.
I do think Madl deserves another chance, mystified by his absence. I trust Joka to turn it around.

Think Madl will just stay on the bench for the rest of the year. His contract is out in the summer IIRC.

Joka rates Djalo and Odoi above him, so chances would be very few and far in between.

[MJG]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

[SG]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

There speaks a man who has spoken to some of the FFC people involved. These people cock it up in the summer, are not inclined to remedy it in the January window and thus another season wasted. No doubt as a result we will be looking for a new manager in the Summer. What a waste of an opportunity to build upon last season's relative success. For the record I expect very little this window unless they can sell on some of the failed Summer buys for reasonable money, cancel some loans or cash in on one of our prized assets. I don't expect the Chairman to dig deep that is for sure. Sustainable mid table mediocrity.

[FulhamStu]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

I really don't expect anything this Jan Mike, but I wonder why did the club told you targets have been identified if they are unlikely to buy anyone ?     Frankly 2 players could make a massive difference.   Striker and centre half.

[SuffolkWhite]

We absolutely must make at least one key signing in January.

The club will have to replace Ojo (who's becoming an increasingly important player), Kalas, Norwood, Piazon and possibly Sessegnon and Cairney in the summer. That's literally half a team. If all of those players leave (rather than having their loans/contracts extended) then the 2018/19 will be a write-off before it's started because you cannot quickly integrate that many new players into the starting XI. So the club is already facing a massive uphill struggle just to resolve that in a non-fatal way.

If you add to that the longstanding major signings needed at CF and CB, arguably GK as well, that's just not even remotely possible to achieve in one summer, not for any team. And it's not as if our negotiating team have shown themselves to be the most effective and shrewd people in the last few years, is it.   

Would agree with most of this Statto, but did Wolves bring in a load of players in the summer or was that an established squad already? I cant recall.

[MJG]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

I really don't expect anything this Jan Mike, but I wonder why did the club told you targets have been identified if they are unlikely to buy anyone ?     Frankly 2 players could make a massive difference.   Striker and centre half.

As I say I dont expect too much going on. It might well be two that would be fine for some and not enough for others.
I do believe it will come down to where we are and the realistic chance we have of getting to the playoffs If thats possible then we may gamble.
But people should not read into this they wont do anything. They have targets as they said and thats to be expected.

You could argue this a lot of ways. Back SJ to build for next season now, or do you wait till summer to see where we all are?

[@jolslover]

We absolutely must make at least one key signing in January.

The club will have to replace Ojo (who's becoming an increasingly important player), Kalas, Norwood, Piazon and possibly Sessegnon and Cairney in the summer. That's literally half a team. If all of those players leave (rather than having their loans/contracts extended) then the 2018/19 will be a write-off before it's started because you cannot quickly integrate that many new players into the starting XI. So the club is already facing a massive uphill struggle just to resolve that in a non-fatal way.

If you add to that the longstanding major signings needed at CF and CB, arguably GK as well, that's just not even remotely possible to achieve in one summer, not for any team. And it's not as if our negotiating team have shown themselves to be the most effective and shrewd people in the last few years, is it.   

Would agree with most of this Statto, but did Wolves bring in a load of players in the summer or was that an established squad already? I cant recall.

only 4 of their starting 11 played for Wolves last year.

[toshes mate]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

In other words, Kline may be gone but the ethos, lack of judgement, and clumsiness of the recruitment team remain permanent fixtures.  What are we to make of that if it isn't a lack of ambition at the highest level?  All talk is cheap.  It is action that speaks loudest.  As long as there is someone to act as a fall guy this Club will never improve its underlying methodology and deceitful PR.     

[MJG]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

In other words, Kline may be gone but the ethos, lack of judgement, and clumsiness of the recruitment team remain permanent fixtures.  What are we to make of that if it isn't a lack of ambition at the highest level?  All talk is cheap.  It is action that speaks loudest.  As long as there is someone to act as a fall guy this Club will never improve its underlying methodology and deceitful PR.   

So how many would you want in in January as things stand today?

[spoonffc]

We absolutely must make at least one key signing in January.

The club will have to replace Ojo (who's becoming an increasingly important player), Kalas, Norwood, Piazon and possibly Sessegnon and Cairney in the summer. That's literally half a team. If all of those players leave (rather than having their loans/contracts extended) then the 2018/19 will be a write-off before it's started because you cannot quickly integrate that many new players into the starting XI. So the club is already facing a massive uphill struggle just to resolve that in a non-fatal way.

If you add to that the longstanding major signings needed at CF and CB, arguably GK as well, that's just not even remotely possible to achieve in one summer, not for any team. And it's not as if our negotiating team have shown themselves to be the most effective and shrewd people in the last few years, is it.   

This is all such a good point, I must say I think it might be time to cash in on sess, (hopefully north of 35mill) hope they'll loan him back and then reinvest accordingly

[toshes mate]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

In other words, Kline may be gone but the ethos, lack of judgement, and clumsiness of the recruitment team remain permanent fixtures.  What are we to make of that if it isn't a lack of ambition at the highest level?  All talk is cheap.  It is action that speaks loudest.  As long as there is someone to act as a fall guy this Club will never improve its underlying methodology and deceitful PR.   

So how many would you want in in January as things stand today?

I don't play numbers but I do play quality.  If I leave Aluko's replacement out of the equation decent replacements for Malone and Martin were unmet summer requirements, and our weakness in defensive cover still lingers on.   I wouldn't go for broke (as in the Gayle farce) but we do need to be looking to rebuild for next season and that means running the rule over which summer additions are worthy of retention or replacement.  If SJ has been seriously consulted (and that is a big 'IF' with Fulham's recruitment team) then I am hopeful we may get at least one quality signing and a couple of seriously beneficial loans, but little else.  We do not need to spend big but we do need to spend wisely but I doubt our recruitment team has what it takes by a long chalk.

[Baszab]

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave some moments before : -


2 more loans and that's your lot

[MJG]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

In other words, Kline may be gone but the ethos, lack of judgement, and clumsiness of the recruitment team remain permanent fixtures.  What are we to make of that if it isn't a lack of ambition at the highest level?  All talk is cheap.  It is action that speaks loudest.  As long as there is someone to act as a fall guy this Club will never improve its underlying methodology and deceitful PR.   

So how many would you want in in January as things stand today?

I don't play numbers but I do play quality.  If I leave Aluko's replacement out of the equation decent replacements for Malone and Martin were unmet summer requirements, and our weakness in defensive cover still lingers on.   I wouldn't go for broke (as in the Gayle farce) but we do need to be looking to rebuild for next season and that means running the rule over which summer additions are worthy of retention or replacement.  If SJ has been seriously consulted (and that is a big 'IF' with Fulham's recruitment team) then I am hopeful we may get at least one quality signing and a couple of seriously beneficial loans, but little else.  We do not need to spend big but we do need to spend wisely but I doubt our recruitment team has what it takes by a long chalk.

I dont disagree with the quality angle, but you know full well even if we signed '2' quality players another argument would say we need another 5.
Fact is nothing club do in  January will keep everyone happy and history shows we dont really go big in January.
If I was a betting man it would be one permanent signing, a loan cancelled and two more loans/free in

[toshes mate]

I dont disagree with the quality angle, but you know full well even if we signed '2' quality players another argument would say we need another 5.
Fact is nothing club do in  January will keep everyone happy and history shows we dont really go big in January.
If I was a betting man it would be one permanent signing, a loan cancelled and two more loans/free in

I'd say the need for quality is going to be more serious in the summer if we do not see success this season, and by success I mean at least a top six finish.  As Statto points out the between season window then becomes an issue of who we lose as it was, even on a slightly lesser scale, last summer.  I just want to see an end to the perpetual need to keep rebuilding the core by building cover into the equation now.  If we are seriously not going to challenge for promotion this season then the whole issue of retaining Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon seems to highlight the myopic vision the Club's owners have.  Our head coach has to employ a game by game approach since he can do little else but our owners need  to have a much longer term interest in what breeds success in any football Club.   I think they allowed 2016/7 to go to their heads and that problem still hasn't been sorted.

[FulhamStu]

See comments from the most recent FST meeting held last week.  Slav is very much involved in transfers for this Jan.   Player targets have been identified, will they happen...hmmm ??

I wouldn't expect too much in January. A lot may depend on how we do over next four games. Still in with chance then maybe a couple of ins.

In other words, Kline may be gone but the ethos, lack of judgement, and clumsiness of the recruitment team remain permanent fixtures.  What are we to make of that if it isn't a lack of ambition at the highest level?  All talk is cheap.  It is action that speaks loudest.  As long as there is someone to act as a fall guy this Club will never improve its underlying methodology and deceitful PR.   

So how many would you want in in January as things stand today?

I don't play numbers but I do play quality.  If I leave Aluko's replacement out of the equation decent replacements for Malone and Martin were unmet summer requirements, and our weakness in defensive cover still lingers on.   I wouldn't go for broke (as in the Gayle farce) but we do need to be looking to rebuild for next season and that means running the rule over which summer additions are worthy of retention or replacement.  If SJ has been seriously consulted (and that is a big 'IF' with Fulham's recruitment team) then I am hopeful we may get at least one quality signing and a couple of seriously beneficial loans, but little else.  We do not need to spend big but we do need to spend wisely but I doubt our recruitment team has what it takes by a long chalk.

I dont disagree with the quality angle, but you know full well even if we signed '2' quality players another argument would say we need another 5.
Fact is nothing club do in  January will keep everyone happy and history shows we dont really go big in January.
If I was a betting man it would be one permanent signing, a loan cancelled and two more loans/free in

I thought loans had to stay the full season, is it possible to cancel a loan.  If so, then surely Jorden Graham should be allowed to leave so he can get game time somewhere else, also
Maybe Soares should go elsewhere so we can get a left back that could challenge for a first team place.

Kalas, Norwood, Ojo make over a quarter of our starting 11, nearly a third of our outfield players and when Piazon returns this could even increase further. I have no issues with loanees playing but can't feel it's healthy to rely so much on this number of players that are not our own.  At lease unlike Martin, these starting players want to be here.  Can't think that would also apply to Graham and Soares.

Soares failure is one of my biggest dissapointments so far this season.

[EJL]

you cannot quickly integrate that many new players into the starting XI.

We did that just last season and started better than most other sides -- teams do it all the time in this division. Button, Malone, Kalas, Johansen, McDonald, Ayite, Martin, Aluko were all starters brought in the summer window.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Players can quickly integrate. It's a myth to think they cannot. It's an excuse for incompetence and lack of effort by the individual player.
Strong characters, leaders and fighters will get the basics right and win their own battles, do their job and stand up and be counted and communicate and take responsibility.
That's how to interrogate. That's why they get paid enormous salaries, not to stand around scratching their nether regions as some do.
We sign far too many snowflakes and lightweights for comfort, we already have enough of them on board to sink a ship.
Another symptom of the ridiculous transfer policy and stats system that needs overhauling and shredded.

[Mince n Tatties]

Brighton lining up a 18 million bid for Dembele from Celtic...Do we get any of the fee?

[davew]

Brighton lining up a 18 million bid for Dembele from Celtic...Do we get any of the fee?

LOL, I really doubt it Mince!!

[Mince n Tatties]

Brighton lining up a 18 million bid for Dembele from Celtic...Do we get any of the fee?

LOL, I really doubt it Mince!!

😂😂😂