Transfer Window January 2024 Transfer Window Thread

TailsWeWin said:

Descartes? He thinks it is (as he sees it) therefore it is.

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This is not Descartes. "I think therefore I am." is Descartes.

His attempt to provide a logical proof of existence. Unfortunately it is only a proof that a person can know he exists.

Paul Cannell said:

This is not Descartes. "I think therefore I am." is Descartes.

His attempt to provide a logical proof of existence. Unfortunately it is only a proof that a person can know he exists.

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The intellectual standard on this forum is pretty high. Cant imagine Millwall chucking a bit of 16th Century French philosophy into the mix

Eric Blair said:

The intellectual standard on this forum is pretty high. Cant imagine Millwall chucking a bit of 16th Century French philosophy into the mix

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The idea of comparing Oxford and Millwall is really just a clumsy rehash of Samuel Huntingdons sojourn into the ‘clash of civilizations’. There can be no peace between our cultures

I was hoping that jan would be a month of twirking but it needs some work!

We are miles off it performance wise, but it’s still game on in the league. This season is a great opportunity. I’m still on the positive bus but a little concerned.

Radio Oxford were banging on about Cumming again last night, so I assume its either already a done deal or is imminent (ie today).
One of them dropped in a comment that sounded in the know about GK being in before the weekend, "and potentially another"...
But we've been here before, so not going to count my chickens just yet.

1/3rd of January, and Des is beginning to learn the Oxford way . Top 30 club? Arsenal, man utd ,spurs ,man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leeds,West ham, Leicester, Southampton, Brentford, Birmingham, West Brom,Wolverhampton, Fulham,Bournemouth, Newcastle, Stoke ,Derby,sheff wed ,Sheffield utd,Everton, Bolton,Hull,Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Burnley, Brighton, Aston villa,Nottingham forest, Crystal Palace, oh no that's 31 .Sorry Des ,I meant top 40 , Ipswich, Coventry, Watford, Cardiff, Norwich, Swansea, Queens Park rangers, Millwall, Bristol city sorry I meant top 50.

Eric Blair said:

The intellectual standard on this forum is pretty high. Cant imagine Millwall chucking a bit of 16th Century French philosophy into the mix

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Pedant Watch: 17th Century.
Enough.

The mighty Aldo said:

In a recent interview Des Buckingham said he knew who he wanted but there was a domino effect happening and we had to wait for other clubs to get the players they want further up the chain.

We are a team in fifth place in the league just six points from the top.
This time last year Plymouth had four players in by now and went on to get promoted.

Its just not good enough waiting for players, this is all too familiar with what happened to us last year under KR, but then we were fighting relegation and weren’t an attractive proposition.

Under Manning most of business was done early and we all thought great, but my bet is we will get four or five in ( two on deadline day) but not the players we want and consequently I confidently predict we will finish 8th to10th this season.

Hopefully we can hold onto Moore and Brannagan because if either of those go we are well and truly fucked

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And let's not forget approaches and negotiations can take place at any point during the season, not just during the window like a lot of managers seem to suggest. It seems unlikely to me that all of the 6 players we want are waiting on a 'domino effect'.

Gregortheox said:

I was hoping that jan would be a month of twirking but it needs some work!

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Thanks for the update on the expansion of your dancefloor repertoire. Keep working at the twirking, it's good for the glutes.

TailsWeWin said:

Pedant Watch: 17th Century.
Enough.

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See. I would have got away with that on the Millwall forum,

The mighty Aldo said:

In a recent interview Des Buckingham said he knew who he wanted but there was a domino effect happening and we had to wait for other clubs to get the players they want further up the chain.

We are a team in fifth place in the league just six points from the top.
This time last year Plymouth had four players in by now and went on to get promoted.

Its just not good enough waiting for players, this is all too familiar with what happened to us last year under KR, but then we were fighting relegation and weren’t an attractive proposition.

Under Manning most of business was done early and we all thought great, but my bet is we will get four or five in ( two on deadline day) but not the players we want and consequently I confidently predict we will finish 8th to10th this season.

Hopefully we can hold onto Moore and Brannagan because if either of those go we are well and truly fucked

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We never had a January window under Manning worse or better.

Osleroad said:

We never had a January window under Manning worse or better.

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Didn’t say we did, just saying that the one window he was here for he acted quickly unlike what had happened previously

Symp59 said:

1/3rd of January, and Des is beginning to learn the Oxford way . Top 30 club? Arsenal, man utd ,spurs ,man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leeds,West ham, Leicester, Southampton, Brentford, Birmingham, West Brom,Wolverhampton, Fulham,Bournemouth, Newcastle, Stoke ,Derby,sheff wed ,Sheffield utd,Everton, Bolton,Hull,Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Burnley, Brighton, Aston villa,Nottingham forest, Crystal Palace, oh no that's 31 .Sorry Des ,I meant top 40 , Ipswich, Coventry, Watford, Cardiff, Norwich, Swansea, Queens Park rangers, Millwall, Bristol city sorry I meant top 50.

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I think the directors have the ambition and wealth to want to get there but have absolutely no idea how to get there. Yes we improve finfrastructure but look at the clubs that have made it and were once our level and below. So look at Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford. What are the features of them that enabled them to progress so quickly.
Brighton played at the Withdean and have got there. Bournemouth played in a 3 sided ground for a few years and have got there, Brentford hade made it.
Go investigate those clubs their DNA, their structure, the key staff appointments both on and off the field. Understand what they did right and put together a long term strategic plan to replicate. I'm sure none of them did it, without having the fans onside, i'm sure none of them changed path when a manager left, I'm sure they had a visible leader at the helm, and kept making marginal gains. Kept reassessing the clubs ambition and no doubt had a huge stroke of luck on the way.
It is what many quick growing businesses do, they look at why their competitors grew, then replicate and attempt to improve. Invariably the key is always finding the best staff you can find that fit your culture, understanding what staff at all levels are good and what they are not. Unfortunately most businesses don't understand who that person is they are looking for and pick the wrong candidate.
This is not saying Des is the wrong choice btw, the jury as always is still out. It is a generality that if a business has three candidates to choose from it often makes the wrong choice because the selection process is flawed.

Eric Blair said:

The intellectual standard on this forum is pretty high. Cant imagine Millwall chucking a bit of 16th Century French philosophy into the mix

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If you knew that was French philosophy from the 16th century (ok 17th) without googling Descartes then the standard of intellect has gone up even a further notch .

Mind you we are one of the top University cities in the world, so maybe this the cleverest forum in the EFL. Hence why we ask so many questions about just what is going on!

MustardYellow said:

And let's not forget approaches and negotiations can take place at any point during the season, not just during the window like a lot of managers seem to suggest. It seems unlikely to me that all of the 6 players we want are waiting on a 'domino effect'.

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To be fair to Des he didn't say it was the players domino effect. It's more likely the domino effect is Tim finishing a management seminar, contacting Grant who has been out celebrating our December retail figures a bit too hard and is sleeping, who then leaves a message for Horst to see if we can pop in a bid. Horst has to check with Bakrie who is busy on the Olympics, so tried to reach Thohir, who is at the F1. Eventually they get an answer, it goes back down the chain.

By which time the player has fucked off to Barnsley.

Golden Dr Otto said:

The idea of comparing Oxford and Millwall is really just a clumsy rehash of Samuel Huntingdons sojourn into the ‘clash of civilizations’. There can be no peace between our cultures

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Culture and Millwall are two words that I never thought I’d read in the same sentence.

Grumpy Git said:

Culture and Millwall are two words that I never thought I’d read in the same sentence.

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There is more than one definition for the word 'culture'.

Leysboy said:

Seems like we are going down the Konate route again.

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I was delighted that this the was route we took last January and very disappointed when we abandoned it during the summer.

If we stick hard and fast to the Konate route this Januuary we may achieve 5th bottom. Purely alphabetically speaking this is better than 5th top.

greatunclekip said:

To be fair to Des he didn't say it was the players domino effect. It's more likely the domino effect is Tim finishing a management seminar, contacting Grant who has been out celebrating our December retail figures a bit too hard and is sleeping, who then leaves a message for Horst to see if we can pop in a bid. Horst has to check with Bakrie who is busy on the Olympics, so tried to reach Thohir, who is at the F1. Eventually they get an answer, it goes back down the chain.

By which time the player has fucked off to Barnsley.

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Or maybe he meant it literally and Tim and Grant are building a massive domino rally (like Roy Castle used to do on Record Breakers back in the day. Roy - RIP). Once they've set that off they will get round to transfers.

TailsWeWin said:

Pedant Watch: 17th Century.
Enough.

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Careful. He could have written Meditations at the age of 3.