Transfer Window January 2026 Post Transfer Window Thread

[Carpy]

 

[ECYellow]

Look at the positive - a loyal servant who will undoubtedly be one of our best players in L1 next season - unless he really can't face having to work under Bloomfield much longer

A loyal servant who has been paid handsomely for his services. Let’s not pretend that Brannagan is here because of some sort of unconditional love for the football club.

He has been a good servant, but he deserves to come under the same scrutiny as everyone else, and for a considerable period of time this season, he’s fallen a long way short of what a commanding championship CM looks like.

If we could offload him in the summer, pick up a fee to offset the £1 million plus that we spent on the Millwall lad () and release his substantial wages, then i wouldn’t hesitate. The club needs a reset, and that includes the leadership group on the pitch.

 

[ubermeistervonmeat]

A loyal servant who has been paid handsomely for his services. Let’s not pretend that Brannagan is here because of some sort of unconditional love for the football club.

He has been a good servant, but he deserves to come under the same scrutiny as everyone else, and for a considerable period of time this season, he’s fallen a long way short of what a commanding championship CM looks like.

If we could offload him in the summer, pick up a fee to offset the £1 million plus that we spent on the Millwall lad () and release his substantial wages, then i wouldn’t hesitate. The club needs a reset, and that includes the leadership group on the pitch.

Point taken - but I would still far rather have CB here next season than MB

 

[Toucan]

Can we talk about Cameron Brannagan?

I hope he's carrying a niggly injury, but the realist in me thinks he might be done at this level I'm any case.
Our lack of quality in the middle, and our resultant inability to get a foothold in games will be one of the main reasons we're relegated.

It's not CB's fault. He works his a**e off and loves the club. Recruitment has been poor. Why did 'The Future of Turkish Football' remain on the bench, while Vaulks (someone I admire but simultaneously never want to see turn out for us again) come on in the second half?

It was for his long throws, in the desperate attempt at creating a goal.

 

[tatabanya]

- 2 goals in 7 games against teams in the bottom half.
- No goal at home since Boxing Day
- 4 goals in 8 games since Jan 1st

Squad might appear better, but we are still starting games with Harris up front or asking him to come on and change games after 60 minutes. It’s was incredibly naive to not reinforce the top end of the pitch, rather than rely on a 20 year old, Mark Harris and an ailing Prelec.

I don’t think it’s particularly revolutionary to say that either. It just seems baffling that our head of football operations and Head of recruitment seemed unable to identify the striker position as a significant priority. Instead plumping for another left back to complement the two (+ Brown) we already have.

You aren’t going to get a good striker with what we’re paying for Roosken though, so it’s a false equivalence. Maybe we could have brought in a striker instead of McDonnell, or one on loan instead of Donley, but these were also obvious needs within in squad.

 

[ECYellow]

You aren’t going to get a good striker with what we’re paying for Roosken though, so it’s a false equivalence. Maybe we could have brought in a striker instead of McDonnell, or one on loan instead of Donley, but these were also obvious needs within in squad.

Possibly not. Probably because we are still paying for all of the following in some capacity:

Findlay
Dale
Kioso
El-Miz
Goodwin
Negru
Bradshaw
Leigh
Golding
HTA

I think it could be argued that if the recruitment had been better in many of the cases listed above, we probably wouldn't be relying on Mark Harris to lead the line, as we would have more disposable wage budget to play with!

Arguably, we could have looked to loan Harris out and roll the dice with an alternative second striker. There again, we'd have been lumbered with a hefty chunk of his wage, substantial as it is, following the new contract in the summer...more great and astute business from Ed & Scott.

 

[tatabanya]

Possibly not. Probably because we are still paying for all of the following in some capacity:

Findlay
Dale
Kioso
El-Miz
Goodwin
Negru
Bradshaw
Leigh
Golding
HTA

I think it could be argued that if the recruitment had been better in many of the cases listed above, we probably wouldn't be relying on Mark Harris to lead the line, as we would have more disposable wage budget to play with!

Arguably, we could have looked to loan Harris out and roll the dice with an alternative second striker. There again, we'd have been lumbered with a hefty chunk of his wage, substantial as it is, following the new contract in the summer...more great and astute business from Ed & Scott.

Are we blaming Ed and Scott for Findlay too now? And Dale and Leigh were good signings weren't they?

Clearly some bad in there, but you can take any team in the EFL and draw up a list of 7/8 bad signings who they will still be paying?

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Are we blaming Ed and Scott for Findlay too now? And Dale and Leigh were good signings weren't they?

Clearly some bad in there, but you can take any team in the EFL and draw up a list of 7/8 bad signings who they will still be paying?

From the list posted by @ECYellow I would actually offer Dale a contract for next season. He is a decent league 1 player who fights for every ball.

 

[Jaboysmith]

From the list posted by @ECYellow I would actually offer Dale a contract for next season. He is a decent league 1 player who fights for every ball.

Plymouth fans wouldn't agree

 

[Jster]

Well he was decent for us in league one.

 

[Fanatica]

Well he was decent for us in league one.

Bloke is a middle of the road League One winger. People seem to forget that we were pretty f*****g awful for most of the promotion season, and in truth, haven’t been a top 4/5 side since we sold Fosu & Baptiste.

 

[Jster]

Bloke is a middle of the road League One winger. People seem to forget that we were pretty f*****g awful for most of the promotion season, and in truth, haven’t been a top 4/5 side since we sold Fosu & Baptiste.

Apart from actually finishing 5th, that is!

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Bloke is a middle of the road League One winger. People seem to forget that we were pretty f*****g awful for most of the promotion season, and in truth, haven’t been a top 4/5 side since we sold Fosu & Baptiste.

'Pretty f*****g awful' teams generally don't finish 5th in the league. Also Dale did very well for us in League 1.

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

I still don’t think that you know what the word lazy means.

Also, didn’t you praise most of the signings when they came in?

Last night is on the manager for me, I think it’s a much better squad now than before the window

Lazy recruitment. Think it’s pretty obvious what I mean. More loans with options than Santander.

‘Most’ - seems you’re rewriting history as pretty sure you called out my negativity of our recruitment a number of times.. A few decent signings scattered amongst the 37 or whatever it is.

Much better squad..? whilst the likes of Long, Placheta & Harris start in a must win game after 2 years at this level.. okay..

Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and say you was maybe wrong for being so ultra positive about Waldron & the recruitment.

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

Can we talk about Cameron Brannagan?

I hope he's carrying a niggly injury, but the realist in me thinks he might be done at this level I'm any case.
Our lack of quality in the middle, and our resultant inability to get a foothold in games will be one of the main reasons we're relegated.

It's not CB's fault. He works his a**e off and loves the club. Recruitment has been poor. Why did 'The Future of Turkish Football' remain on the bench, while Vaulks (someone I admire but simultaneously never want to see turn out for us again) come on in the second half?

He’s not fit clearly and hasn’t been the same since returning from injury.

Same as Ciaron Brown. Same as Brodie Spencer.

Almost as if there’s a pattern for it than needs looking into.

 

[Basham Wonderland]

Bloke is a middle of the road League One winger. People seem to forget that we were pretty f*****g awful for most of the promotion season, and in truth, haven’t been a top 4/5 side since we sold Fosu & Baptiste.

Lots of people think we had a great season because we went up but we were absolute w**k for most of it. What was that winless run we went on? Something like 12 games? We were diabolical at times. Anyone remember Bristol Rovers away? The 0-5 against Bolton?

Edit - 3 wins in 14. Only reason we managed it was because of a 4 win, and a 5 win streak at the start of the season...

 

[tatabanya]

Lazy recruitment. Think it’s pretty obvious what I mean. More loans with options than Santander.

‘Most’ - seems you’re rewriting history as pretty sure you called out my negativity of our recruitment a number of times.. A few decent signings scattered amongst the 37 or whatever it is.

Much better squad..? whilst the likes of Long, Placheta & Harris start in a must win game after 2 years at this level.. okay..

Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and say you was maybe wrong for being so ultra positive about Waldron & the recruitment.

If you’ve got issues with the amount of loans then it’s the owner rather than the recruitment team you’ve got an issue with.

I’d imagine the recruitment team are also pretty surprised that those players were picked

 

[Fanatica]

'Pretty f*****g awful' teams generally don't finish 5th in the league. Also Dale did very well for us in League 1.

People said that because he gets himself about and looks like he works hard. Technically not a great player. He managed 2 assists (1 v 10th placed Northampton, 1 v 21st place Cheltenham) and 1 goal (v 23rd place Fleetwood) in his half a season with us.

People forget that apart from Derby right at the start of the season it wasn't until we beat Peterborough (who were resting players and had basically switched off ahead of the playoffs) that we actually beat another top 6 side. We beat the crap teams (mostly) and got in because of that. Heck, when push came to shove, we played Lincoln and Stevenage (our two competitors for the playoffs) and didn't win either of the crunch games. We fluked our way into the playoffs, and yes did a great job there.

Regardless, my point is that as a footballing side, I would argue we managed to stay up last year with what was effectively the remnants of a side that in my view was not good enough for the playoffs. We stayed up on pure vibes, big moments and long throws. The second season slide occurs because we've brought in sub-par players who don't care as much as they weren't there to get us here in the first place, so don't put in the 110% that we saw from your Browns, your Brannagans, your Joe Bennetts last year.

 

[Osleroad]

Well he was decent for us in league one.

Partly

 

[werthersoriginal]

People said that because he gets himself about and looks like he works hard. Technically not a great player. He managed 2 assists (1 v 10th placed Northampton, 1 v 21st place Cheltenham) and 1 goal (v 23rd place Fleetwood) in his half a season with us.

People forget that apart from Derby right at the start of the season it wasn't until we beat Peterborough (who were resting players and had basically switched off ahead of the playoffs) that we actually beat another top 6 side. We beat the crap teams (mostly) and got in because of that. Heck, when push came to shove, we played Lincoln and Stevenage (our two competitors for the playoffs) and didn't win either of the crunch games. We fluked our way into the playoffs, and yes did a great job there.

Regardless, my point is that as a footballing side, I would argue we managed to stay up last year with what was effectively the remnants of a side that in my view was not good enough for the playoffs. We stayed up on pure vibes, big moments and long throws. The second season slide occurs because we've brought in sub-par players who don't care as much as they weren't there to get us here in the first place, so don't put in the 110% that we saw from your Browns, your Brannagans, your Joe Bennetts last year.

Also, there were two clearly bad sides last year in Plymouth and Cardiff. This year there are two clearly bad sides again but unfortunately we're one of them.

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

If you’ve got issues with the amount of loans then it’s the owner rather than the recruitment team you’ve got an issue with.

I’d imagine the recruitment team are also pretty surprised that those players were picked

I’ve got an issue with the way we use loans. Loans should used to pick up players of higher quality which we cannot do permanently. I think we’ve made 14 loan signings since Wembley. Lankshear being the standout one in quality then Nelson/Matos were decent but didn’t feature enough minutes wise.

The rest have been below par. That’s on the recruitment team, not the owner.

 

[90syeIlow]

People said that because he gets himself about and looks like he works hard. Technically not a great player. He managed 2 assists (1 v 10th placed Northampton, 1 v 21st place Cheltenham) and 1 goal (v 23rd place Fleetwood) in his half a season with us.

People forget that apart from Derby right at the start of the season it wasn't until we beat Peterborough (who were resting players and had basically switched off ahead of the playoffs) that we actually beat another top 6 side. We beat the crap teams (mostly) and got in because of that. Heck, when push came to shove, we played Lincoln and Stevenage (our two competitors for the playoffs) and didn't win either of the crunch games. We fluked our way into the playoffs, and yes did a great job there.

Regardless, my point is that as a footballing side, I would argue we managed to stay up last year with what was effectively the remnants of a side that in my view was not good enough for the playoffs. We stayed up on pure vibes, big moments and long throws. The second season slide occurs because we've brought in sub-par players who don't care as much as they weren't there to get us here in the first place, so don't put in the 110% that we saw from your Browns, your Brannagans, your Joe Bennetts last year.

Saying we only survived on vibes, big moments and long throws is wrong in my view.

Des got us some important early wins and gave us some excellent home form, up until Middlesbrough battered us.

 

[ECYellow]

Are we blaming Ed and Scott for Findlay too now? And Dale and Leigh were good signings weren't they?

Clearly some bad in there, but you can take any team in the EFL and draw up a list of 7/8 bad signings who they will still be paying?

No, we’re not blaming them for Findlay, but it’s yet more evidence that when it comes to recruiting and negotiating, we aren’t all that great at it. Are we?

I don’t think there will be many teams with the levels of surplus that we have, which in turn has apparently prevented us being able to strengthen in the CF position.

This January wasn’t Mitchell or Waldron’s first look at a transfer window. I’d expect their success rates and transfer negotiations, both in and out, to have a far better hit rate than what they’ve managed so far.

 

[tatabanya]

I’ve got an issue with the way we use loans. Loans should used to pick up players of higher quality which we cannot do permanently. I think we’ve made 14 loan signings since Wembley. Lankshear being the standout one in quality then Nelson/Matos were decent but didn’t feature enough minutes wise.

The rest have been below par. That’s on the recruitment team, not the owner.

But the reason for the loans is that funds to build a Championship squad on permanent transfers hasn’t been available. It’s not like they’re choosing to do loans and leaving a pot of money unspent?

 

[TheDukeOfBanburyshire]

It was for his long throws, in the desperate attempt at creating a goal.

Then we really are doomed.

 

[Mintyshoe]

No club overhauls the squad with 8 transfers in January for a reason.

The seeds of this mess were sown when we inexplicably downed tools halfway through the Summer window.

Rowett was left holding the ball with an ill-prepared squad (both in quality and preseason schedule) expected to pull off another miracle.

Many people said this all along, and it’s pretty obvious in hindsight.

 

[Pgyellow]

The most unbelievable part of the whole sorry saga is that it doesn't seem as if anyone will be held accountable apart from a manager whose hands and feet were tightly tied.

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

But the reason for the loans is that funds to build a Championship squad on permanent transfers hasn’t been available. It’s not like they’re choosing to do loans and leaving a pot of money unspent?

An interesting take.

I hope you put that point across to the leadership team at next months fan forum who I’m sure will argue that the recruitment team have been provided more funds than lots of clubs in our league.

 

[tatabanya]

An interesting take.

I hope you put that point across to the leadership team at next months fan forum who I’m sure will argue that the recruitment team have been provided more funds than lots of clubs in our league.

Funds for transfer fees? They couldn’t get away with saying that because it’s clearly not true. Didn’t stop them last time though I suppose

 

[uptheus]

Feels a very messy window with a lot of unknowns, so I guess only time will tell, but I don’t hold out much hope.

Thought I’d repost this one!

 

[tatabanya]

Thought I’d repost this one!

Why? If anything last night showed us how much we needed the new players. 4 of 8 started, 3 of which have maybe been our best 3 players in the last few weeks.