Transfer Window January 2025 Transfer Window Thread

[Carpy]

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Transfer Window Closed

 

[Yellowarmy]

Still amazed that people think we can get 19 points from 9 Championship games with some kind of liability up front

Totally agree.

 

[holdsteady]

Liverpool and Arsenal are battling it out in the PL with Nunez and Havertz up front - it can be done.

Man U are managing to stay out of the bottom 3 with their forwards just to double down on your point.

 

[WRox]

I’d love to understand from anyone criticising Harris (and some of the comments are pretty valid), who they think we should be signing in a window where one Kyle Joseph goes for the cost of four Siriki Dembele’s.

 

[bdodwell]

STRIKER SIGNED

 

[werthersoriginal]

We won the milk cup and were in the top division in 1986 Colin. That's almost 40 years ago. We were non league for 4 years. The large majority of the teams in the championship have either been in the prem, luton, cardiff, hull, swansea, stoke, Watford, Blackburn, qpr, sunderland, been in a national cup final, millwall, cardiff, boro, or have spent many years in the championship accruing its revenues. I.e preston. Facts are we are up against it and making a really good fist of it. I have nothing but praise for the team this season. Not convinced we have a mid table budget either. Most teams have accrued their squads in previous years budgets.

Our time in the top division was a bit of a blip and I think our average league position over the last 40 years is upper League One, which feels about right. I don’t know how our budget compares in the championship but we are one of the smallest clubs for sure - we have the lowest attendances this season, just below Luton, though both of us might be up with Millwall and QPR if we had our new grounds.

 

[Foley]

Yeah it is funny how some people seem to think it’s impossible that we could lose form and still go down.

Imagine if you’d said to those same people, while we were in the great start under Des ‘Let’s be calm though, as you never know, we might go on a long run where we don’t even win a single game!’ they’d be shouting you down, saying haven’t you seen the start we’ve made?! Harris is on fire, we’re playing really well, and we’ve got some awful teams to play at home like QPR - we’ll be fine! What are you on about! We might even make the playoffs!

Now, if Rowett goes the rest of the season unbeaten, those same people will probably quote this as an example that they were right; but I’m not saying that we will or even are likely to go down, or go on a bad run of form, I’m just saying it’s possible for results and performances to turn fairly quickly and for teams to go on bad runs in this league - we’ve seen it already this very season!

Who had said we can't lose form? Everybody I have seen would agree with that.
The point is that we need 2 to 3 wins and we are in great form. Surely everybody would agree with that as well.
The fact that no team in the Championship with the points we have at this stage of the season has EVER gone down , surely suggests that we should be reasonably optimistic?

 

[tatabanya]

It's also the weird narrative around the idea that we NEED a new striker, when our current performances and results would see us miles clear of the drop zone at the end of the season. We can't be complacent, but there isn't a shred of evidence to suggest that signing a new striker will make or break our season.

 

[tonyw]

Stoke have got Al Hamadi and he makes an immediate impact.You saw against us that Stoke got the ball into good wide positions but had nobody to finish them off.

Now what really concerns me is that we have splashed out £1.6 million on Romeny and in the two games he has been on the pitch I haven’t seen anything to say “wow there’s some player “ especially when BCFC were down to 10/9 men he should have been demanding the ball.

This is probably for a completely different thread but £1.6 million for a player that’s only here to boost the fan base in Indonesia is worrying. Are we sure Gary Rowett wanted this player here in the first place?

I think this is the wrong way to look at it (and I'm repeating myself from earlier in the thread, but what the hell......)

We are currently a mid-table Championship side mostly because two uber-wealthy fellas from Indonesia have decided to sink tens of millions into our club to allow us for several years to sign and retain a playing staff that is way beyond our means. If they were to decide to up sticks and leave tomorrow, then we're likely supporting AFC Oxford in the Isthmian league in a couple of years because we have >£30m in debt (maybe a lot more after this season's spending) and almost no assets other than those on the pitch.

We know at least one of them (Thohir) is passionate about the Indonesian national side, and doing whatever he can to get them to the level where they can get to World Cups. It seems utterly logical that he's going to want to use the EFL Championship club that he owns as a way to get Indonesian-qualified players training and opportunities in England that they might not otherwise have received.

So we can spend the time worrying about whether this is diluting our playing squad and/or forcing us to take risks on players we might not normally take.

Or we can embrace it. Accept that we wouldn't have gotten Murphy without Thohir & Bakrie's money, wouldn't have kept Cam, wouldn't have signed Dembele or Helik etc. etc. without it, and understand that the odd Indonesian wild card is a very small price to pay for the journey their money has allowed us to take. Hopefully one or more of them - maybe it's Romeny, maybe it's Marselino, maybe it's the next one - is going to be awesome.

 

[Foley]

Our forward players ain’t scoring. We can’t keep relying on defenders to pop up with goals. They will dry up and we will start losing games soon.

We have scored goals from all over the pitch for 2 to 3 years now.
Leigh, Harris, Brown, Ruben, Tyler, Cam and many others score.
We have scored more goals as 10 teams and as many as Blackburn.
It is far better if most players can score in my view

 

[Foley]

It's also the weird narrative around the idea that we NEED a new striker, when our current performances and results would see us miles clear of the drop zone at the end of the season. We can't be complacent, but there isn't a shred of evidence to suggest that signing a new striker will make or break our season.

Spot on.
Slmr of the negative comments are odd in my view.

 

[Foley]

I think this is the wrong way to look at it (and I'm repeating myself from earlier in the thread, but what the hell......)

We are currently a mid-table Championship side mostly because two uber-wealthy fellas from Indonesia have decided to sink tens of millions into our club to allow us for several years to sign and retain a playing staff that is way beyond our means. If they were to decide to up sticks and leave tomorrow, then we're likely supporting AFC Oxford in the Isthmian league in a couple of years because we have >£30m in debt (maybe a lot more after this season's spending) and almost no assets other than those on the pitch.

We know at least one of them (Thohir) is passionate about the Indonesian national side, and doing whatever he can to get them to the level where they can get to World Cups. It seems utterly logical that he's going to want to use the EFL Championship club that he owns as a way to get Indonesian-qualified players training and opportunities in England that they might not otherwise have received.

So we can spend the time worrying about whether this is diluting our playing squad and/or forcing us to take risks on players we might not normally take.

Or we can embrace it. Accept that we wouldn't have gotten Murphy without Thohir & Bakrie's money, wouldn't have kept Cam, wouldn't have signed Dembele or Helik etc. etc. without it, and understand that the odd Indonesian wild card is a very small price to pay for the journey their money has allowed us to take. Hopefully one or more of them - maybe it's Romeny, maybe it's Marselino, maybe it's the next one - is going to be awesome.

Spot on

 

[bigboyoufc]

Who the f**k is liam manning?

No cryptic message in this one I just liked the chant

 

[Colin B]

We won the milk cup and were in the top division in 1986 Colin. That's almost 40 years ago. We were non league for 4 years. The large majority of the teams in the championship have either been in the prem, luton, cardiff, hull, swansea, stoke, Watford, Blackburn, qpr, sunderland, been in a national cup final, millwall, cardiff, boro, or have spent many years in the championship accruing its revenues. I.e preston. Facts are we are up against it and making a really good fist of it. I have nothing but praise for the team this season. Not convinced we have a mid table budget either. Most teams have accrued their squads in previous years budgets.

I know that, as I was there.

We have more in common with the Luton, Watfords, QPRs, Millwalls etc than we do some of the teams that we've had to play against since Foroz Kassam turned ups (when we were top half current Championship) and took us on his journey.

You actually said "we deserve to be bottom of the league" those were your words. It's a bloody good job the likes of Brighton, Brentford, and Bournemouth didn't adopt that mentality when they left the lower divisions behind!!!

And I can assure you that we do have a mid table budget, and I can further assure you that Erick Thohir and Co don't want us to be bottom of the league, and neither do they expect us to be.

 

[Front Post]

Bristol City have triggered the option in Sykes' contract so that extends it through to end of next season, rather than this season.

I think we're probably done unless things align for one of the fringe players to go out and someone to come in.

 

[Jster]

On the striker debate, worth noting that Man City getting a "proper" striker, as opposed to the "false 9" types they'd had since Aguero, seems to have made them a worse team overall!

 

[BillyTurleys CurlyWurly]

On the striker debate, worth noting that Man City getting a "proper" striker, as opposed to the "false 9" types they'd had since Aguero, seems to have made them a worse team overall!

Just the treble.

 

[Old Man]

Many thanks to the chap that helped me out of the East stand on Saturday . He could see that I had a white stick , my eyesight is indeed bad ! You should have seen his face when I got into my car and drove away !

 

[Jster]

Yeah, but I saw metrics from last season that showed they were declining as a team, and that's been borne out this season. Still their striker has 19 league goals already ...

(My point is that football can be played in all sorts of ways - the notion that you have to have a prolific striker to be successful is outdated. It may not even help.)

 

[Scotchegg]

I think we're probably done unless things align for one of the fringe players to go out and someone to come in.

I dont think we'll bring anyone else in even if someone leaves. I think the only exception will be if a deal too good to turn down comes our way, but I'm not sure there will be much about.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I dont think we'll bring anyone else in even if someone leaves. I think the only exception will be if a deal too good to turn down comes our way, but I'm not sure there will be much about.

So if someone leaves we might sign Edwards, or just leave the squad unfilled?

 

[Scotchegg]

So if someone leaves we might sign Edwards, or just leave the squad unfilled?

Unfilled would be my guess. We have 28 eligible players which is why Rowett is open to a couple leaving. I can't see the point in doing that if we're only then going to give a contract to someone who is less likely to play.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

I’d love to understand from anyone criticising Harris (and some of the comments are pretty valid), who they think we should be signing in a window where one Kyle Joseph goes for the cost of four Siriki Dembele’s.

Ole Romeny should play as the striker.

 

[tonyw]

Yeah, but I saw metrics from last season that showed they were declining as a team, and that's been borne out this season. Still their striker has 19 league goals already ...

(My point is that football can be played in all sorts of ways - the notion that you have to have a prolific striker to be successful is outdated.)

Although I'm pretty sure losing the world's best player (sorry, Vinicius Jr, but he is) for the season had something to do with Man City's decline as well!

 

[tonyw]

Unfilled would be my guess. We have 28 eligible players which is why Rowett is open to a couple leaving. I can't see the point in doing that if we're only then going to give a contract to someone who is less likely to play.

Could sign Edwards on a pay-as-you-play deal and register him?

Then there's nothing lost if he can't get fit enough. But if he can, then we know he's good enough to play at this level.

 

[Up The Manor]

Could sign Edwards on a pay-as-you-play deal and register him?

Then there's nothing lost if he can't get fit enough. But if he can, then we know he's good enough to play at this level.

He won't be earning much £ then ...........

 

[holdsteady]

On the striker debate, worth noting that Man City getting a "proper" striker, as opposed to the "false 9" types they'd had since Aguero, seems to have made them a worse team overall!

They won the treble with Haaland up front?

 

[Jster]

Although I'm pretty sure losing the world's best player (sorry, Vinicius Jr, but he is) for the season had something to do with Man City's decline as well!

Oh, absolutely, but they still have the top scoring striker in the PL, Salah being a winger. As opposed to 2021/22 where de Bruyne was top scorer with 15. In fact despite Haaland's 36 league goals the following season, Man City as a team scored 5 fewer goals in the league than the previous season .

 

[tonyw]

He won't be earning much £ then ...........

He isn't earning anything right now anyway.
If he still has ambitions to keep playing, then a 'prove it' deal with us might be as good as he can get until the summer.

 

[Scotchegg]

Could sign Edwards on a pay-as-you-play deal and register him?

Then there's nothing lost if he can't get fit enough. But if he can, then we know he's good enough to play at this level.

That is an option but not one that I expect us to take up.

 

[Jster]

Another interesting example is Bournemouth. Many thought they'd struggle to score without 19 goal top scorer Dominic Solanke from last season. But they are scoring at a better rate this season, and not by having replaced him with another prolific striker.

Obviously high scoring strikers can be a good thing for a team too, but it's definitely not the be-all and end-all.