Now that the dust has settled and the window slammed shut, I really don’t understand how we apparently had no plans for if something like this happened. We really, genuinely had no doomsday routine? We didn’t plan at all so that if somebody were to leave late in the window for big money, we would spring into action and have a shortlist of players and deals to frantically try to get done? The manager said publicly yesterday that what happened today would happen - he said almost certainly no players in and so it came to pass. Why so certain? Why so sure over 24 hours before the end of the window that nothing could be done? Clearly the decision had been made that we were all out. So why was that, when at the start of January we were second in the division and the bookies favourites to go up? I’m not suggesting going for broke or gambling recklessly, but why the hell wasn’t there even 500k in a pot when we know several million quids worth of deals are about to complete? Nothing? Seriously?
I am absolutely not advocating a panic signing mentality and am fully supportive of the idea that if you don’t think someone is up to it, you don’t waste the cash. That’s totally fine. But we have known for months that we would almost certainly need a right back, and another forward if Agyei had been deemed not up to it and Taylor has some sort of problem with playing too frequently. We didn’t learn this during the window, which lasted a full month regardless, but well before it even opened. So why couldn’t we get a single deal done in those areas? If we had five targets across two positions, that is ten players. How could we not get even one of them? We have bagged around half a million quid from cup games in the last couple of months alone, and sold players for a combined fee of some £5million since August. There isn’t enough money for a full back, no? Not even one of the very best in L2, in the same way that Championship clubs seem to enjoy raiding us so much? We have sold the silver and replaced those players with loans, but even then we are down in terms of overall numbers by going from two right backs to one. We replaced those we sold with short term loans, lost the right back we’d borrowed and besides that bought a non league defender who subsequently went straight back out for the season.
Anybody who wants to say that this lack of investment is about sustainability and how it’s for the good of the club’s future is forgetting the bit where you replace the cans that you remove from the pantry. Because if you don’t do that then there isn’t anything to sell later on. The whole point of the model is that you buy, develop, sell and replace. Selling is not the issue; not reinvesting in our own assets is. Especially when we also happen to be in the strongest position we’ve been in for over 20 years. Five million pounds in player sales alone, plus at least half a million more in cup monies, since the end of July and this is the result? It’s disappointing, plain and simple. Dickie and Brannagan will be into the final 12 months of their deals in the summer which means their fees won’t be half as big as people think - anyone expecting the £3m combined fee we got for Fosu and Baptiste for those two, if not more, is in for a big shock - and that is why replenishing the stock is so vital, and why the categorical failure to do this properly is negligent in the extreme. The lack of assets that we own if those two move on as expected is cause for concern. Not panic, before the usual happy clappers start talking about flapping and meltdowns - genuine concern. Concern based on perfectly reasonable, logical arguments. There is no tomorrow without today, after all. Future proofing cannot be done without an effective present, and we have not covered ourselves in glory.
However, the reality is that we are where we are, and now there is nothing to do but back the players we do have for the remaining fixtures. There is nothing to be done bar that anymore. Just because we have had what I personally consider to be a bit of a disappointing window in terms of pushing on as well as planning ahead, does not mean we cannot still do something this season. We all want that, no matter how many people seem to want to cause divides and split people into two camps marked ‘us’ and ‘them’. Everybody here is an Oxford United supporter and as such wants to see the team and club as a whole succeed, and will do everything they can between the beginning and the end of the games to help. The notion that anybody who ever says they don’t like something or think a wrong decision has been made, be it from the dugout or the boardroom, somehow wants to see us fail is moronic. Only imbeciles would think that, so it’s time to stop this “I am a true fan and you must hate it when we do well“ bullshit that flies over the fence. Everybody wants the best we can have for this football club, however they choose to express it versus anybody else, and for the next few months especially everybody should just get on with it. Then we can see what the summer brings, for better or worse.
Speaking of which, is it time to start the summer transfer thread yet?