Transfer Window January 2024 Transfer Window Thread

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

I understand what you're saying.

Maybe me being negative is fuelled from a few things.

Hearing what is going on within the club from inside people and also the lack of communication from the club with regards to the new stadium.

The positive football and exciting football under Manning ( I realise he had a shaky start) but under Des it's so bloody dull especially up home.

I've been a season ticket holder for years and been following United for over 25 years. The atmosphere home and away isn't what is used to be, the matchday experience (entertainment) is awful, the Kassam and it's surroundings are in a right state of disrepair.

I understand we don't own anything but surely the club should be trying to improve things even if it at cost to them. We need to build momentum on and off the pitch to make the ground move successful.

I know a fanzone in the carpark was mentioned before but was dropped due to Kassam wanting to charge extra for it but the club should be doing all that can to maintain or attract more customers/fans.

Maybe I need to take a season out from all of it to rekindle my love for the club. Anyone ever done that and if so did it work?

Hear you and relate to this. I've never taken a conscious year out but have had to step back a bit sometimes. Some of what you're saying about the general match day vibe can make it hard. I remember around the Clotet era when Eales and Mapp had done a runner I stuck to the occasional away game and went to the Kassam only if I could get friends together for a decent chat and a few drinks away from the multiplex before or after. Supporting footy is so much about the social side and as a way to forget other worries and stresses for me. Amazing what a difference it makes when the game isn't everything. Also ridiculous what a difference a few good performances or positive steps by the club hierarchy can have. Hope you get that mojo back soon.

 

[Steve McAvoy]

Something very much in Des’s favour is the way he has given opportunities to Smyth, in my view. Centre - mid-mid. may well become his destination assuming there is a player in there.

Or centre - mid even…

 

[Marked Ox]

Careful, you’re very close to portraying Robinson as competent

He was until the personal stuff impacted on his job and then he became incompetent.

 

[LeftSideLarry]

If we don’t make the playoffs this season, there’s no way it won’t be a big disappointment after the start we enjoyed. Things have conspired against us, but that’s what happens when you take too many risks on injury-prone players. DB isn’t to blame for that, of course. However, I would have much more faith about what might happen next season if I could see what he’s trying to implement on the pitch to make promotion a reality when he’s unshackled from the expensive deadweights in the squad. He talks a lot about attacking football with lots of chances and goals, but it’s seldom seen.

All for DB getting a slug more time, but he needs to show us the incremental improvements that give us genuine hope, excitement and belief that it’s time worth spending.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

Realistically, to be promoted you need a team which will at least survive in the Championship. We don’t, whoever else we sign this month. We have a new manager getting to grips with League 1 and too few players on the books good enough to compete at a level above.

Yes, I’ve said that before, you need a side or at least 5 or 6 players who could play in the championship. We’ve got 2 or 3 maximum

 

[Bigdwoolly]

Maybe you know more than me but how long has that £400k been available to Ed and the team? Didn’t we try and spend it in the summer on Marriott and Burey? To me that’s budget that was always there unspent.

I've no idea how long it's been available, but it doesn't matter, because the club could have withdrawn it if they weren't interested in the football side doing well.

 

[Sarge]

five days of January/ the January window left , still no news on any incoming to boost the squad. IF there are any to arrive yet, they'll more than likely be loanees

 

[MustardYellow]

Can’t see any reason Des wouldn’t get the summer window. He’d have to go some to lose his job now. I think the board would happily see us sink to mid table without much concern. We’re all prepared to see Des plan for next season and finish the clear out that’s needed but I can’t hide my frustration of failing to strengthen enough after our best start to a season in years. No matter what’s happened, we remain in a great position with games to play and it feels like we’re going to bow out with a whimper and make it all about next season. Have to take your opportunities in football in more ways than one and so far it feels like the football operation is very low on the priority list. Whilst I know we have bigger fish to fry, that isn’t a good look.

Am I the only one a bit bored of being told whatever happens this season is fine because 'next season' is when we'll *really* try get promoted? It's been 'next season' for a few seasons now...

 

[Carpy]

He was until the personal stuff impacted on his job and then he became incompetent.

But certainly not impotent

 

[notThisWayButThat]

Am I the only one a bit bored of being told whatever happens this season is fine because 'next season' is when we'll *really* try get promoted? It's been 'next season' for a few seasons now...

It's (next season + n)

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Can’t see any reason Des wouldn’t get the summer window. He’d have to go some to lose his job now. I think the board would happily see us sink to mid table without much concern. We’re all prepared to see Des plan for next season and finish the clear out that’s needed but I can’t hide my frustration of failing to strengthen enough after our best start to a season in years. No matter what’s happened, we remain in a great position with games to play and it feels like we’re going to bow out with a whimper and make it all about next season. Have to take your opportunities in football in more ways than one and so far it feels like the football operation is very low on the priority list. Whilst I know we have bigger fish to fry, that isn’t a good look.

Yet they’ve just shelled out big money on a promising striker.

Are you really sure about the ‘football team being a low priority’?

Seems to me the forum blows with the wind depending on whether we’ve won or lost in the previous match.

 

[m]

f**k me, when did our fanbase become so f*****g whingey?

 

[TailsWeWin]

Yes, I’ve said that before, you need a side or at least 5 or 6 players who could play in the championship. We’ve got 2 or 3 maximum

Exactly. Even if we do scrape into the play-offs and get promoted, it’s going to take a MASSIVE turnover of players and the rebuilding of almost an entire team. Bristol city and Coventry showed us that.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Something very much in Des’s favour is the way he has given opportunities to Smyth, in my view. Centre - mid-mid. may well become his destination assuming there is a player in there.

We know there’s a player in there. Haven’t you been watching games recently?

 

[vapourtrailOX]

Am I the only one a bit bored of being told whatever happens this season is fine because 'next season' is when we'll *really* try get promoted? It's been 'next season' for a few seasons now...

Understandable to find it frustrating definitely. Not think though that given last year's disaster and the bad luck of our successful rebuild getting devastated by Manning's sudden departure and a severe injury crisis contextualises why we need a longer-term goals?

Like many I'm sure, I looked at the league at the start of the season and thought wow this might be as weak as it gets, there's a strong chance of promotion here. In reality, I think the top of the league isn't on the same level as Sheff Wed, Plymouth and Ipswich, but the rest of the league has been really competitive both in transfer muscle and in tactical setups. The marginal gains we had at the start of the season (a clear plan with Manning, a fit Marcus Browne, fresh legs for high-intensity pressing game) have diminished not by design but more by bad luck and we look pretty average as a result.

I don't think this is something a month of a transfer window can really rectify, but I do reckon that we will see other teams experience similar problems later on in the campaign just as we work our way out of the them. Honestly though, unless Bolton, Posh or Derby experience some really bad luck or unexpected form I don't see how we can demand promotion this season. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't demand a clearer game plan and attacking purpose, but our wide options at the moment simply don't have 75 mins+ of pressing and taking on the fb 1-on-1 - something all the other teams around us have.

 

[bazzer9461]

Browne Bodin Henry Murphy Seddon Findlay all Robinsons signings all need to be gone in the summer.Also some of Man inns signings weren't the best Thorniley Mckechran Perkins .This shows just how mIuch Des has his hands tied.I think Des needs summer window to do things his way.

Henry wasn’t a Robinson signings age may have had a new contract which I think is up at the end of the season but definitely not a Robinson signing

 

[werthersoriginal]

Understandable to find it frustrating definitely. Not think though that given last year's disaster and the bad luck of our successful rebuild getting devastated by Manning's sudden departure and a severe injury crisis contextualises why we need a longer-term goals?

Like many I'm sure, I looked at the league at the start of the season and thought wow this might be as weak as it gets, there's a strong chance of promotion here. In reality, I think the top of the league isn't on the same level as Sheff Wed, Plymouth and Ipswich, but the rest of the league has been really competitive both in transfer muscle and in tactical setups. The marginal gains we had at the start of the season (a clear plan with Manning, a fit Marcus Browne, fresh legs for high-intensity pressing game) have diminished not by design but more by bad luck and we look pretty average as a result.

I don't think this is something a month of a transfer window can really rectify, but I do reckon that we will see other teams experience similar problems later on in the campaign just as we work our way out of the them. Honestly though, unless Bolton, Posh or Derby experience some really bad luck or unexpected form I don't see how we can demand promotion this season. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't demand a clearer game plan and attacking purpose, but our wide options at the moment simply don't have 75 mins+ of pressing and taking on the fb 1-on-1 - something all the other teams around us have.

I think people are underestimating the effect of our injury crisis, with nearly all our good attackers injured. Imagine how much better we'd have been against Barnsley if we'd started a fit Mills or Browne and brought on a lively Murphy and canny Bodin. It's impossible to play in the way I imagine Des wants us to. That said, he's still got a lot to prove, but he's surely got till October to do so.

 

[bazzer9461]

five days of January/ the January window left , still no news on any incoming to boost the squad. IF there are any to arrive yet, they'll more than likely be loanees

Yet another pairing of Ricketts and Brown

 

[bazzer9461]

Am I the only one a bit bored of being told whatever happens this season is fine because 'next season' is when we'll *really* try get promoted? It's been 'next season' for a few seasons now...

And the rest

 

[maidenheadox]

Where does the "top 4 budget" come from? I'd be surprised if our wage bill is bigger than any of the relegated clubs (Wigan, Reading, Blackpool) and would also expect us to be behind a few others. Derby obviously, probably Peterborough, Pompey, Barnsley as well. Maybe others, I don't know. Even with that it's well understood that there's a sizeable portion of the wage bill that need to be cycled off our books so we can invest it more effectively, that won't happen until the summer.