Transfer News Transfer targets summer 2019

[Sir Winston]

And so soon after our Dear Leader graced the K*$$*m with his presence - trouble behind the scenes? Feel for KR.

C'mon Billionaires Boy Club on the board, back ya man!

New training top to be released soon

 

[Shosho]

you dont know any of that though.

Which bit?

 

[Gary Baldi]

That’s Marc Bola...likely off to Brentford ☺

Ah yes, that's right. I knew we had been linked to both. Seems Pompey were quoted a million for Tilt and other clubs are sniffing around him too

 

[Wallop]

What is sizeable then? £500, £1000?

I’m not going into specifics but it’s enough to make a significant difference over the course of a season to a league 1 player. There are some big clubs with deep pockets but hopefully as deadlines approach, some players will compromise to bank what we can afford.

 

[Common Villager]

Christ that latest interview with Karl is concerning. I really hope we we get a few players over the line this week settle everyone's nerves.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Great post.

Can the folk who are still writing about it being a tricky old summer, not much business done, our targets are waiting etc please please read this post from Ryan.

And with that, also not bother to tell us all to wait, again. How long is too late?

Other clubs manage it - there's no glossing that one up I'm afraid.

And also, I posted this morning about Ashton, and Ryan says the same, Karl is doing the best he can, but I don't think he's the one who should be directly doing the deals.

And I'll repeat. For anyone thinking also this is a tad frustrating, but all will come good, please pour me a pint of what you're drinking, and re-read Ryan's post.

Well thank you for not just trying to stick something hot and sharp up my bum and for actually considering what I’m saying. I’m actually sticking up for the club in saying what I’m writing, as far as I’m concerned. I think it’s being let down, and while I have my own opinions on Robinson as a manager - and I’m happy to play the long game and see exactly where he ends up on that one - this isn’t about him. Recruitment and transfers are not his failing, he’s supposed to have someone above or around him who can sit down with the agent and go toe to toe. His job is to convince the player that he would enjoy coming and playing here, nothing more. The dynamic between manager and player goes no further than the pitch or changing room.

Two of the more interesting transfer mini documentary pieces in the last year or two are the Chris Wilder / Sheffield United deadline day video, and the Brentford / Emiliano Marcondes transfer video. In the CW / SU one, he sits down with his head of football operations who leads the way. At numerous points in the day, CW is simply milling around waiting for news. The head of operations is the one doing the business, crunching the numbers, heading up the haggling etc. Bar the odd phone call directly to a player or manager CW does nothing - HE is the one waiting to be led by his guy. In the Brentford clip, the player says he’s surprised that the manager shows up to a meeting - he didn’t even expect to see him. That’s how far removed managers usually are from the deal process now. Don’t forget that the CW video was made just three months after they were playing in L1 with us, and Brentford aren’t exactly Barcelona. These were clubs right in and around our level at the time of filming. If our manager is driving all over Europe on the prowl, walking targets around the training ground, sitting down with them to talk numbers with a teacher and a complete maniac on speakerphone waffling about his passion etc, how on earth could anyone expect us to be smashing it? It’s one thing getting a loan done. A loan player has an agreed contract already, and you just need to make him want to come to you to play games. If he has a look around and feels it’s a good fit for what he’s after, that’s really it for the most part. The negotiations beyond that are rarely more than “We pay the kid this much, we want you to cover this much”. Almost anybody can get a loan deal done in an hour, and believe me, I’ve seen it happen in the flesh and seen how long the faxes take. It ain’t a complex process for the most part.

I’d also add, I don’t actually know that money is an issue as such. I think access to that money is being handled appallingly and I think our owner is a total nut case who seems to relish being naughty with the tax man, but I think in principle there is an alright amount of money somewhere. Now, where that money is from, the nature of it and so forth, I couldn’t tell you. But I think it’s there. I think it’s fair for people to point to certain areas of the club that DO seem better and say it proves we aren’t paupers - to a point at least. We’ve got hold of a good number of really promising young players in the last 12 months or so, which suggests we can identify players of worth okay through scouting and analysis, and we managed to sign them up to scholarships and development deals on the back of finding them, although I think that’s much easier with a teenager who has been picked up having either not made it somewhere else, or who has been given a chance from a much lower level. They’ve got stars in their eyes and just want to make it anywhere, so you don’t need to convince them the way you do a fully fledged pro with a particularly flash agent and a host of options. But if anything, all this only proves how lacking the first team brokering process is. People have pointed to our training ground as being a huge plus - big whoop. More and more teams at all levels have nice training grounds. It’s the bare minimum you should have at a L1 club dreaming of going higher. We are years behind and are just catching up, it isn’t an advantage. Furthermore, I’ve never seen a player slag off a training ground, and I’ve personally shown a few around a basic as hell clubhouse near Bicester in the old days. I showed Jake Wright around it for a start, and Danny Philliskirk (THE Danny Philliskirk!), and Harry Worley to name but a few. Players who were joining us from proper clubs with amazing facilities (Brighton, Chelsea and Leicester in their cases) and every single one of them went “Yeah, class, really decent this”. And it is LITERALLY a village clubhouse where they had to do weight sessions on the grass next to a rugby pitch because we didn’t even have a gym, and injured players had to pop over the road to a golf club to get any real treatment on an injury, because we had nowhere besides a little side room with a table in it for a basic rub down. Like hell they thought it was class, but they can’t exactly say that can they! They’re ALL going to nod and mutter something about it being “nice”. Also, we signed the likes of Kemar Roofe, George Baldock (albeit only on loan, but twice), John Lundstram, Ryan Ledson, Joe Rothwell, Chris Maguire and loads more brilliant players when we didn’t even HAVE a training ground. They were sold a vision, they believed in the endgame and the club had a structure in place that meant they had experienced people, ready and willing to go head to head with any agent and get the deal done. We signed some unbelievable players, often fairly early and often relatively quickly, just two or three years ago. We picked most of the above up while we were in League Two, let alone League One. The two I listed who we first signed as a L1 club signed when we hadn’t even kicked a ball in that division for over 15 years - we’d only been promoted a month or so before they signed up.

So why, since our new owner took over, can’t we point to having done the same? We signed Brannagan and Dickie just a fortnight before he rocked up, on 3.5 and 2.5 year deals. In Dickie’s case we’re struggling to not lose him on a free next summer already, because like Nelson, we can’t seem to negotiate a new deal with him, which is yet MORE proof that we seem to struggle when it comes to getting down to it. And who can forget Jonte Smith, the player who had to buy HIMSELF out of his contract with Lewes six months ago, because we couldn’t get the deal done ourselves! A non-league striker who we let go a few months later anyway, and we couldn’t successfully get the deal done without the player himself having to handle it so that we could sign the papers the next morning. That more than anything should show absolutely anybody how dreadful we are are clinching permanent deals now. That’s beyond humiliating, but again, it was a permanent deal. The record under our beloved Tiger is terrible on that front.

Will we sign permanent deals again? Of course we will. We might even sign one or two fairly soon, and I’ll be chuffed if this is the case. Nobody is suggesting we will never sign a player again on a permanent deal, or even a good one, or an expensive one, or both! But we DO struggle really badly, and these suggestions that it’s all fine and dandy, and our lovely training ground somehow makes us special and gives us an edge, and all the other waffle is just NONSENSE. I’ve just spent ages laying out some serious facts, and I’m not indulging in this insane notion of “My opinion is worth as much as your facts” any longer. It’s ridiculous and it isn’t up for debate that we need to seriously sort our backroom affairs out, because clearly it is woefully lacking and holding us back. And no manager can do anything about that.

 

[Oxford84]

Which bit?

That KR is doing it by himself, that he has no support, and that theres no structure behind him,thats all just something youve made up,it isnt fact.

 

[Navegante]

Well thank you for not just trying to stick something hot and sharp up my bum and for actually considering what I’m saying. I’m actually sticking up for the club in saying what I’m writing, as far as I’m concerned. I think it’s being let down, and while I have my own opinions on Robinson as a manager - and I’m happy to play the long game and see exactly where he ends up on that one - this isn’t about him. Recruitment and transfers are not his failing, he’s supposed to have someone above or around him who can sit down with the agent and go toe to toe. His job is to convince the player that he would enjoy coming and playing here, nothing more. The dynamic between manager and player goes no further than the pitch or changing room.

Two of the more interesting transfer mini documentary pieces in the last year or two are the Chris Wilder / Sheffield United deadline day video, and the Brentford / Emiliano Marcondes transfer video. In the CW / SU one, he sits down with his head of football operations who leads the way. At numerous points in the day, CW is simply milling around waiting for news. The head of operations is the one doing the business, crunching the numbers, heading up the haggling etc. Bar the odd phone call directly to a player or manager CW does nothing - HE is the one waiting to be led by his guy. In the Brentford clip, the player says he’s surprised that the manager shows up to a meeting - he didn’t even expect to see him. That’s how far removed managers usually are from the deal process now. Don’t forget that the CW video was made just three months after they were playing in L1 with us, and Brentford aren’t exactly Barcelona. These were clubs right in and around our level at the time of filming. If our manager is driving all over Europe on the prowl, walking targets around the training ground, sitting down with them to talk numbers with a teacher and a complete maniac on speakerphone waffling about his passion etc, how on earth could anyone expect us to be smashing it? It’s one thing getting a loan done. A loan player has an agreed contract already, and you just need to make him want to come to you to play games. If he has a look around and feels it’s a good fit for what he’s after, that’s really it for the most part. The negotiations beyond that are rarely more than “We pay the kid this much, we want you to cover this much”. Almost anybody can get a loan deal done in an hour, and believe me, I’ve seen it happen in the flesh and seen how long the faxes take. It ain’t a complex process for the most part.

I’d also add, I don’t actually know that money is an issue as such. I think access to that money is being handled appallingly and I think our owner is a total nut case who seems to relish being naughty with the tax man, but I think in principle there is an alright amount of money somewhere. Now, where that money is from, the nature of it and so forth, I couldn’t tell you. But I think it’s there. I think it’s fair for people to point to certain areas of the club that DO seem better and say it proves we aren’t paupers - to a point at least. We’ve got hold of a good number of really promising young players in the last 12 months or so, which suggests we can identify players of worth okay through scouting and analysis, and we managed to sign them up to scholarships and development deals on the back of finding them, although I think that’s much easier with a teenager who has been picked up having either not made it somewhere else, or who has been given a chance from a much lower level. They’ve got stars in their eyes and just want to make it anywhere, so you don’t need to convince them the way you do a fully fledged pro with a particularly flash agent and a host of options. But if anything, all this only proves how lacking the first team brokering process is. People have pointed to our training ground as being a huge plus - big whoop. More and more teams at all levels have nice training grounds. It’s the bare minimum you should have at a L1 club dreaming of going higher. We are years behind and are just catching up, it isn’t an advantage. Furthermore, I’ve never seen a player slag off a training ground, and I’ve personally shown a few around a basic as hell clubhouse near Bicester in the old days. I showed Jake Wright around it for a start, and Danny Philliskirk (THE Danny Philliskirk!), and Harry Worley to name but a few. Players who were joining us from proper clubs with amazing facilities (Brighton, Chelsea and Leicester in their cases) and every single one of them went “Yeah, class, really decent this”. And it is LITERALLY a village clubhouse where they had to do weight sessions on the grass next to a rugby pitch because we didn’t even have a gym, and injured players had to pop over the road to a golf club to get any real treatment on an injury, because we had nowhere besides a little side room with a table in it for a basic rub down. Like hell they thought it was class, but they can’t exactly say that can they! They’re ALL going to nod and mutter something about it being “nice”. Also, we signed the likes of Kemar Roofe, George Baldock (albeit only on loan, but twice), John Lundstram, Ryan Ledson, Joe Rothwell, Chris Maguire and loads more brilliant players when we didn’t even HAVE a training ground. They were sold a vision, they believed in the endgame and the club had a structure in place that meant they had experienced people, ready and willing to go head to head with any agent and get the deal done. We signed some unbelievable players, often fairly early and often relatively quickly, just two or three years ago. We picked most of the above up while we were in League Two, let alone League One. The two I listed who we first signed as a L1 club signed when we hadn’t even kicked a ball in that division for over 15 years - we’d only been promoted a month or so before they signed up.

So why, since our new owner took over, can’t we point to having done the same? We signed Brannagan and Dickie just a fortnight before he rocked up, on 3.5 and 2.5 year deals. In Dickie’s case we’re struggling to not lose him on a free next summer already, because like Nelson, we can’t seem to negotiate a new deal with him, which is yet MORE proof that we seem to struggle when it comes to getting down to it. And who can forget Jonte Smith, the player who had to buy HIMSELF out of his contract with Lewes six months ago, because we couldn’t get the deal done ourselves! A non-league striker who we let go a few months later anyway, and we couldn’t successfully get the deal done without the player himself having to handle it so that we could sign the papers the next morning. That more than anything should show absolutely anybody how dreadful we are are clinching permanent deals now. That’s beyond humiliating, but again, it was a permanent deal. The record under our beloved Tiger is terrible on that front.

Will we sign permanent deals again? Of course we will. We might even sign one or two fairly soon, and I’ll be chuffed if this is the case. Nobody is suggesting we will never sign a player again on a permanent deal, or even a good one, or an expensive one, or both! But we DO struggle really badly, and these suggestions that it’s all fine and dandy, and our lovely training ground somehow makes us special and gives us an edge, and all the other waffle is just NONSENSE. I’ve just spent ages laying out some serious facts, and I’m not indulging in this insane notion of “My opinion is worth as much as your facts” any longer. It’s ridiculous and it isn’t up for debate that we need to seriously sort our backroom affairs out, because clearly it is woefully lacking and holding us back. And no manager can do anything about that.

Appreciate your detailed insight. Out of Interest - why do you refer to our Dear Leader as a "complete maniac"? Genuine question.

Oh and Harry 'Curly' Worley - forgot that name. Seems he had to retire from the game prematurely due to injury. Shame.

 

[forevayella]

I’m not going into specifics but it’s enough to make a significant difference over the course of a season to a league 1 player. There are some big clubs with deep pockets but hopefully as deadlines approach, some players will compromise to bank what we can afford.

I’d say that’s because you don’t know specifics. I think we’d pay a fair wage for league 1.

 

[forevayella]

Not really, we can get players in after but the players will probably need to get match fit like JM did last season it took him until December,

That’s because he had no pre-season which he openly admitted. Do you not think the players we are after aren’t training with their perspective clubs?

 

[Shosho]

That KR is doing it by himself, that he has no support, and that theres no structure behind him,thats all just something youve made up,it isnt fact.

Is there any evidence to the contrary? As @RyanioBirdio has eloquently put above, what structure is around KR to negotiate and get deals done?

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Appreciate your detailed insight. Out of Interest - why do you refer to our Dear Leader as a "complete maniac"? Genuine question.

A fair question that I’m happy to answer.

There are two main reasons.

1) Because when I had my afternoon at the training ground last season - which some absolute imbeciles still try to claim I inexplicably made up, despite being a former club employee who posts under my own name - Tiger was referred to as being “ a total mad man” by more than one person. With a laugh, I add, but it happened and on several occasions led to people burying their face in their hands, and mock pulling their hair out. I think he is very well liked, that isn’t the issue, but he is clearly challenging and difficult to work with, and on a bad day it clearly isn’t funny. He’s an eccentric in the extreme. That’s what I mean by him being a maniac - I know what it’s like dealing with those sorts of characters and while they make you laugh and you can be very fond of them, they can also cause real, genuine problems that leave you fuming. That by all accounts is very much how he is viewed by a good few.

2) On the morning of his infamous welcome ‘press conference’, I was stood on the platform of Oxford Parkway waiting for my usual train to Marylebone for work. I had Radio Oxford in my ear as I was waiting to hear it and it was delayed. As the train stopped in front of me and the doors opened, the man himself was stood directly in front of me, looking very baffled and confused. He then got off the train (which had come from Oxford station proper, which is easier to get to the stadium from in the first place, so don’t ask me why he was even on that thing) and wandered off towards the stairs. Given the press conference was already meant to be underway, I text someone I know at the club who is still there from when I was and said, “If you’re looking for the new owner, he’s just got off a train at Oxford Parkway looking confused.” I won’t say what the reply was, but let’s say it doesn’t do anything to play down the “he is a bloody maniac” vibes.

Hopefully that answers your question, and you understand the context a little more when I refer to him as a maniac. He’s a very flamboyant and, er, “free spirited” man.

 

[Yellows1]

Looks like the club and board have lied to us supporters into buying season tickets when in fact they’re giving us sod all in return. The bull s**t on Robinson’s statement is plane to see. Obviously the one he hopes to have in before tomorrow’s game is Cadden and wouldn’t any one think wow what a signing sorry loan as we can’t attract players to this once great club of ours, he KR hopes to have 3 in before the transfer window shuts but he has to work hard? Bollox he couldn’t even get Sinclair whom apparently we offered a better deal. So the crux of it all is the fans have been sold down the river, oh and these two billionaires who are into looking for a stadium, we won’t need one until we can get the Cali new of player that may take us to the champions we’re going to struggle. So if they’re here for the name of Oxford chuck the club a few million for that honour if not.....f**k off.

Nicely put Bazza, you tell it like it is but maybe just maybe the tide will turn, players and their agents will start to get desperate, god we need at least 4 decent players..,,

 

[Oxford84]

Is there any evidence to the contrary? As @RyanioBirdio has eloquently put above, what structure is around KR to negotiate and get deals done?

wheres your evidence?

 

[bazzer9461]

Nicely put Bazza, you tell it like it is but maybe just maybe the tide will turn, players and their agents will start to get desperate, god we need at least 4 decent players..,,

@Yellows1 i do hope the tide turns but regarding the players that get desperate we don’t look at who are maybe not for us and are recruited to appease us.

 

[Oxford84]

A fair question that I’m happy to answer.

There are two main reasons.

1) Because when I had my afternoon at the training ground last season - which some absolute imbeciles still try to claim I inexplicably made up, despite being a former club employee who posts under my own name - Tiger was referred to as being “ a total mad man” by more than one person. With a laugh, I add, but it happened and on several occasions led to people burying their face in their hands, and mock pulling their hair out. I think he is very well liked, that isn’t the issue, but he is clearly challenging and difficult to work with, and on a bad day it clearly isn’t funny. He’s an eccentric in the extreme. That’s what I mean by him being a maniac - I know what it’s like dealing with those sorts of characters and while they make you laugh and you can be very fond of them, they can also cause real, genuine problems that leave you fuming. That by all accounts is very much how he is viewed by a good few.

2) On the morning of his infamous welcome ‘press conference’, I was stood on the platform of Oxford Parkway waiting for my usual train to Marylebone for work. I had Radio Oxford in my ear as I was waiting to hear it and it was delayed. As the train stopped in front of me and the doors opened, the man himself was stood directly in front of me, looking very baffled and confused. He then got off the train (which had come from Oxford station proper, which is easier to get to the stadium from in the first place, so don’t ask me why he was even on that thing) and wandered off towards the stairs. Given the press conference was already meant to be underway, I text someone I know at the club who is still there from when I was and said, “If you’re looking for the new owner, he’s just got off a train at Oxford Parkway looking confused.” I won’t say what the reply was, but let’s say it doesn’t do anything to play down the “he is a bloody maniac” vibes.

Hopefully that answers your question, and you understand the context a little more when I refer to him as a maniac. He’s a very flamboyant and, er, “free spirited” man.

Its another white board!

 

[North Wales Yellow]

I get that the more days go by without signings, the more anxious we get, and with good reason.

No one is happy with the window so far, least of all Karl.

Some context though:

- Top players are still available. More top players of L1 standard may yet become available as other teams do business and push others down the pecking order. We could lose out on Evans, and be first in line for someone like Bogle or Rhodes a few days later.

- There's not been much business done this summer that I can say I'm hugely jealous to have missed out on (Grimmer and McFadzean being exceptions). Ladapo, Eisa, and Norwood will have gone for overpriced moves, either in terms of fees or wages.

- Some people have said we should give up on quality targets and just focus on getting bodies in. We had a proven L1 defender in Guthrie with us, who was decried as not up to the standard required to replace Nelson. Curtis has gone to a top Championship side, to replace him like for like, we're going to have to continue looking at the Findlays of this world.

- We are not going to be left with no-one. I know that is incredibly naive given the striking options we've had for the past 2 seasons. But even last season we had someone, in Smith. We won't end the transfer window with just Mackie.

Am I missing something with Jack Grimmer? Couldn’t get in an average Cov side last season. Can do better, or at least would r waste a wage on him as he’s not that much of an improvement on Long.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Is there any evidence to the contrary? As @RyanioBirdio has eloquently put above, what structure is around KR to negotiate and get deals done?

See, this is what I was taking about. “My opinion is worth as much as your facts, and if I believe something it’s true.” It doesn’t matter that KR himself was driving around Europe last January trying to sign players in between matches, or that he spent his own holiday this summer watching youth football with his wife (which she even documented online with pictures m), or that he’s stopping off on the drive back from Glasgow to speak to a player personally at 10pm on a Sunday. All undisputed facts that he has said and admitted himself, but people are just making it up when they suggest he has nobody around him. So the man himself says all these things in the public domain of his own free will - what ELSE do you have to go on besides that? I’m gonna need more than that, and a better source than the man himself. It’s bananas.

He very openly told me that he wants to have Steve Gallen come from Charlton in an ideal world. A man who, surprise surprise, is head of recruitment and the deal broker over there. He was very open and honest about how he’d love him, or someone very much like him, at the club ASAP. Now why would he be saying that if we already had people there who could do the job? And if we did, would we not have a better track record?

Still... nobody has any proof. Just direct words in public from the manager himself, more words in person with people who can recount direct real life experience, and a boat load of results that perfectly line up with both of them.

I guess we’ll never know!

 

[Shosho]

wheres your evidence?

@RyanioBirdio above....this is someone who has worked within the club. It patently obvious from the outside too when we have KR running around, Tiger flying over for recruitment meetings in July and total silence from our MD. Who do we have, beyond KR that can meet players, sell the dream (as MApp did) and then close the deal?

 

[Oxford84]

@RyanioBirdio above....this is someone who has worked within the club. It patently obvious from the outside too when we have KR running around, Tiger flying over for recruitment meetings in July and total silence from our MD. Who do we have, beyond KR that can meet players, sell the dream (as MApp did) and then close the deal?

Its just his opinion.