Transfer Window January 2024 Transfer Window Thread

[captainox]

I see that Derby have signed Blackett-Taylor on loan until the end of the season, when he will be out of contract.
This is blatantly a way of getting around their transfer restrictions. I’m sure the EFL will be straight on it (or not).

The transfer restrictions they had last season e.g. wage cap and only being able to sign free agents/loans are no longer in place. They were ahead of their budget plan agreed and lodged with the EFL, and therefore those restrictions were lifted early.

Their budget plan is in place for 2 years following the exit from administration. The EFL have signed off on the Blackett-Taylor deal as being acceptable within the previously agreed budget plan.
Their new owner basically cleared all the remaining debts at the point of his takeover, and they've been having crowds of 22k+ ever since. Averaging over 27k last season and then over 26k so far this season.
Whilst they have some limits due to the plan, their revenue base and 'controlled' budget is miles ahead of the rest of League One. Their turnover in the first 9 months since the takeover was more than Sheff Weds who of course finally got out of L1 last season.

The only reason it is a loan is because as part of their budget plan, there are two 'pots' of money, one relating to permanently contracted players and the others in relation to loans. The permanent pot is maxed out unless they sell someone, which is pretty unlikely, whilst the loan pot has plenty of wiggle room, enabling them to pay a £300k loan fee to Charlton for CBT. A loan deal worked for everyone as it means Charlton get a fee now rather than losing him on a free in the summer, as there were no other offers on the table at this point.

Derby also trying to sign Michael Smith on loan from Sheff Weds, but Wednesday are asking for a massive loan fee so that one has slowed up.

 

[Joey]

As said above, MM should get the odd rest and have to compete with new midfielder XX. The only three I'd pre-print on the team sheet are goalie, Moore, and Cam. It's not being a bitch to rotate and vary the team to suit fitness levels and the opposition.

Absolutely agree with this and it's why I'd love us to sign another midfielder, ideally one who can sit a bit. I said on here I liked Coventry but apparently Charlton paid around £1m for him which seems mental to me but someone in that mould.

Competition should always be encouraged which is why I hope we get another striker as well.

 

[Osei Yaw]

What happens to RR in your 4-3-3?

You could play him in any of the front 3 positions and let him drop deeper into pockets of space where he does his best work, so long as you have others in that 3 with pace to get in behind.

 

[MustardYellow]

The transfer restrictions they had last season e.g. wage cap and only being able to sign free agents/loans are no longer in place. They were ahead of their budget plan agreed and lodged with the EFL, and therefore those restrictions were lifted early.

Their budget plan is in place for 2 years following the exit from administration. The EFL have signed off on the Blackett-Taylor deal as being acceptable within the previously agreed budget plan.
Their new owner basically cleared all the remaining debts at the point of his takeover, and they've been having crowds of 22k+ ever since. Whilst they have some limits due to the plan, their revenue base and 'controlled' budget is miles ahead of the rest of League One. Their turnover in the first 9 months since the takeover was more than Sheff Weds who of course finally got out of L1 last season.

The only reason it is a loan is because as part of their budget plan, there are two 'pots' of money, one relating to permanently contracted players and the others in relation to loans. The permanent pot is maxed out unless they sell someone, which is pretty unlikely, whilst the loan pot has plenty of wiggle room, enabling them to pay a £300k loan fee to Charlton for CBT. A loan deal worked for everyone as it means Charlton get a fee now rather than losing him on a free in the summer, as there were no other offers on the table at this point.

Derby also trying to sign Michael Smith on loan from Sheff Weds, but Wednesday are asking for a massive loan fee so that one has slowed up.

Blackett-Taylor for £300k is a cracking deal, btw.

 

[dickwalton1964]

The transfer restrictions they had last season e.g. wage cap and only being able to sign free agents/loans are no longer in place. They were ahead of their budget plan agreed and lodged with the EFL, and therefore those restrictions were lifted early.

Their budget plan is in place for 2 years following the exit from administration, and is agreed and lodged with the EFL. The EFL have signed off on the Blackett-Taylor deal as being acceptable within the budget plan.

The only reason it is a loan is because as part of their budget plan, there are two 'pots' of money, one relating to permanently contracted players and the others in relation to loans. The permanent pot is maxed out unless they sell someone, which is pretty unlikely, whilst the loan pot has plenty of wiggle room, enabling them to pay a £300k loan fee to Charlton for CBT.
They're also trying to sign Michael Smith on loan from Sheff Weds, but Wednesday are asking for a massive loan fee.

Smith would be a very astute signing at this stage - good finisher and knows his way around L1. That's the type of player I'd like to see us add - a short term, been there and done it, loanee for 6 months. Someone who wouldn't expect to play every game but content to be part of a squad chasing a promotion. A 2024 version of Ryan Taylor would be ideal.

 

[Swaby39]

You could play him in any of the front 3 positions and let him drop deeper into pockets of space where he does his best work, so long as you have others in that 3 with pace to get in behind.

Could even argue he could operate as an 8, playing slightly deeper. He's got the eye for a pass, works his socks off and loves a 50/50. Nice option to have should Brannagan, in particular, be missing as the creative influence. But without a screening midfielder behind, it's a big risk to play Rodrigues in that area. It's an essential role to fill that would open up a number of options. You feel looking at a possible play off campaign, a holding midfielder is something you really ought to have in your locker.

 

[captainox]

Blackett-Taylor for £300k is a cracking deal, btw.

It is, and shows the peril of letting a player get to the last 6months of their deal. Charlton faced keeping hold of a player who wanted to go and getting no fee at the end of the season. Or taking a loan fee which is effectively a transfer fee now.
Derby were in for him all summer, and are probably now paying 50% less than they were originally offering!

He's even allowed to play against Charlton, who Derby play twice in the next few weeks!

 

[dickwalton1964]

Derby in for Young too, seem hell bent on adding some serious firepower. Warne is very experienced and very capable at getting out of this league, with some of the players being linked to them and with him at the helm they will very likely be top two.

 

[dickwalton1964]

It is, and shows the peril of letting a player get to the last 6months of their deal. Charlton faced keeping hold of a player who wanted to go and getting no fee at the end of the season. Or taking a loan fee which is effectively a transfer fee now.
Derby were in for him all summer, and are probably now paying 50% less than they were originally offering!

He's even allowed to play against Charlton, who Derby play twice in the next few weeks!

Why would Charlton agree to that ?

 

[Bicester Yellow]

Club shop shut this morning, I wonder if that means they are fitting a new signing out in kits etc

 

[Osei Yaw]

Could even argue he could operate as an 8, playing slightly deeper. He's got the eye for a pass, works his socks off and loves a 50/50. Nice option to have should Brannagan, in particular, be missing as the creative influence. But without a screening midfielder behind, it's a big risk to play Rodrigues in that area. It's an essential role to fill that would open up a number of options. You feel looking at a possible play off campaign, a holding midfielder is something you really ought to have in your locker.

Indeed. The squad is in a much better place overall than it was 12 months ago, but that was a low bar.

We are still weighed down by some very expensive contracts for unreliable players. Whichever league we find ourselves in next season, we should have a lot more flexibility in the budget to assemble a coherent squad over the summer.

It's heartening that Buckingham clearly has a couple of systems in mind and I'd expect he and Waldron to recruit to those systems properly. We should be moving on from the days of 'Player X has to play - he's absolutely undroppable'.

Successful teams at this level aren't reliant on individuals, they are the sum of all parts and you need competent back up in every position who can step in at short notice without ruining the set up. Sure, each team may have a talisman (if Brannagan is still here next year then you expect he'd still be ours) but that doesn't mean they should be shoehorned into every starting line up.

It's part of the reason why I always felt Bowery was underappreciated in our promotion season in 2016. Roofe was a star in that side but he was unavailable for a trip to Wimbledon. With the game at 1-1, Bowery came on and took 5 minutes to completely change the game with a run and finish from the half way line. Within a week, he was starting up front against York (who were cannon fodder that season) and opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Knowing that Bowery was easily good enough to start there meant that Roofe was reintroduced with half an hour to play in that fixture, rather than thrown in from the start.

That Appleton side had so many options all over the pitch. I talked about Plymouth's blueprint for promotion before, but actually we've done it ourselves in recent history. You just need to know how you want to play and recruit 2 players for each position. So long as we have people with their heads screwed on like Des and Ed then I think we're most the way there. If we could just get a DoF type to come in to help support both of them then really we would be heading to top 30 club territory (at least on the pitch).

 

[Shosho]

Smith would be a very astute signing at this stage - good finisher and knows his way around L1. That's the type of player I'd like to see us add - a short term, been there and done it, loanee for 6 months. Someone who wouldn't expect to play every game but content to be part of a squad chasing a promotion. A 2024 version of Ryan Taylor would be ideal.

Feels more likely we will see a young loan if it’s effectively a 3rd striker role. You would expect Goodwin and Harris to play the majority of available minutes so might be tricky selling a loan for someone like smith with a potential chunky fee involved. I suspect we will be looking at right wingers ok loan that are possibly out of contract in the summer - similar to Edwards.

 

[Gregortheox]

Feels more likely we will see a young loan if it’s effectively a 3rd striker role. You would expect Goodwin and Harris to play the majority of available minutes so might be tricky selling a loan for someone like smith with a potential chunky fee involved. I suspect we will be looking at right wingers ok loan that are possibly out of contract in the summer - similar to Edwards.

Naaah, we need a quality striker still, Harris is good at playing a bit wider too - loads of games coming up.

 

[Shosho]

Naaah, we need a quality striker still, Harris is good at playing a bit wider too - loads of games coming up.

Yes would like that also, but selling minutes could be tough, in my opinion. Sure we will find out before long

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Yep.

But gets less leeway than MM, who, season after season does exactly the same thing. Start superbly, fade disappointingly.

Not sure about that, if McGuane gave the ball away as easily and regularly as Rodrigues does some games he’d get absolutely slated on here

 

[LeftSideLarry]

Not sure about that, if McGuane gave the ball away as easily and regularly as Rodrigues does some games he’d get absolutely slated on here

Plenty to do for RR, no doubt.

But I think it highlights one of the things that frustrates me about MM. His tendency to take a safety first approach is too often seen. Under instruction or has he been coached to care about pass completions too much?

He’s capable of so much more. Perhaps he lacks the opportunity to be more expansive due to his role/position, which RR clearly doesn’t, but RR is our creator-in-chief and MM doesn’t have a similar skill set.

He’s a bit of an enigma, in a similar way that Rothwell was when he was here (as was mentioned earlier). I could be wrong, but the lack of regular suitors for his signature suggests to me that he’s not seen by others as a risk worth taking.

I hope someone can unlock his potential, but I think that person is largely Marcus himself.

 

[mooro]

Yes would like that also, but selling minutes could be tough, in my opinion. Sure we will find out before long

Why is our Sam always last to be told these things?

 

[Foley]

Smith would be a very astute signing at this stage - good finisher and knows his way around L1. That's the type of player I'd like to see us add - a short term, been there and done it, loanee for 6 months. Someone who wouldn't expect to play every game but content to be part of a squad chasing a promotion. A 2024 version of Ryan Taylor would be ideal.

Smith is a big upgrade on Ryan Taylor (whose goalscoring was on a par with Mark Harris)

 

[spmox]

Agree completely with this.

MM is just so frustrating! Glimpses of progressive runs forward, but too often slowing the game down and turning in circles to win a free kick!

 

[spmox]

Agree completely with this.

MM is just so frustrating! Glimpses of progressive runs forward, but too often slowing the game down and turning in circles to win a free kick!

Sorry "this" was previous post re MM