Scotchegg
Well-known member
- Joined
- 14 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 14,074
It’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that significant money was not spent in that transfer window, neither on transfers, nor wages.
It’s also obvious that we will need to spend further significant monies (£millions) if we want to finish top two in this league, and also common knowledge that our new owners have enough money to make that happen.
Based on all evidence and known facts, it’s highly likely that we are currently “treading water“ while waiting for planning permission to be granted for the new stadium. So KR will be kept during this “holding” period, and given a bit more money in January if we really look in danger of relegation (which we currently do).
We can expect a new manager to be put in place next summer (or following the stadium plans being rubber stamped by the council, whichever is sooner), with the promise of £x amount to spend. Until then, I guess we need to get behind the team and encourage them. Get to the magical 50 points, then plan for next season. Whether he goes now, goes Xmas, or goes in the Summer, KR is a ”dead man walking”. He must realise this by now, and tbh I feel sorry for him. The players will also realise this, and this explains why most of them are looking so uninterested: they realise that their long term future isn’t at the football club. There are exceptions, and we can only surmise that a handful have been reassured that their long term futures are here (e.g. Brannagan and McGuane). KR hasn’t lost the changing room, the owners have…….. which is fine, just so long as the Council pull their finger out and get the planning permission granted asap.
I don't think you've presented the "known facts" accurately. Money was available, both for transfer fees and wages. We spent well on several players without the marquee signings, but still very competitively. There was talk of top 4 budgets, but we didn't spend it all. I'd guess that we were still in the top 8 for actual spending, but I couldn't say for certain exactly where.
The problem was that the players we wanted didn't arrive, and there were various reasons for that.
Ryan Hardie simply didn't want to leave Plymouth, and you have to respect that in the same way as we respect Cam for staying. Thomas-Asante knew that there was Championship interested and waited for those bids.
Others chose other league one sides over us. Unfortunately, despite looking to compete, I'm not sure that we are yet able to match the likes of Sheff Wed, Ipswich and a couple of others as serious promotion candidates (even before the season started). Also they and others were paying wages much higher than we would have wanted to pay.
However, there were also players that we should have looked at. Jack Tucker, Darragh Burns and Dawson Devoy were players we should have been looking at over MK Dons as examples. Others wouldn't have stretched the budget but would have been solid squad players to build on.
We were genuinely looking at players like Tyler Morton and I think we got a little star struck with some of those on our radar and rather than have one or two marquee signings to add sparkle to the team, we missed the opportunity to get the basics right.
The idea that the club are looking to treadwater may have a little validity, it's hard to tell when we're going off one 15 minute interview 12 months ago to know exactly what they want from the footballing side. However, I think we can see in the pressure Robinson is clearly under we're seriously under performing.
If Robiinson stays, and I like the guy so would be more patient than most, then we badly need people in and around the club to help him. I don't buy the ego stuff that some label him with. Every successful football manager has an ego! But I'm sure he's open to working with others, especially if it takes some of the nonsense off his workload.
We need to move the club forward and improve every area of the club from top to bottom. There's some fantastic people behind the scenes who live and breath Oxford United, but they can't do it on their own. And I include Robinson in that.
The next few weeks and months are crucial and we have to hear from those at the top to truly understand what their ambitions are, and how they will be achieved.