All of our so called "targets" have obviously turned us/Karl/Tiger down. Money will be at the bottom of all this - so much for the talk of financial backing! KR must surely have known the sort of numbers that would be involved so why mislead everyone? Or is it that his targets really did not want to play for him? This window is never good for many clubs but for OUFC it has been a disastrous prelude to what is now going to be a dog fight to avoid relegation.
But not just money - division, league position, location, people they've worked with before, etc. These will all play a part, and if someone new joins the bidding at the last minute with a more attractive combination of these factors, then whatever has been agreed/hinted at/etc before can go out of the window, regardless of what we offer them.
Portsmouth may have been able to offer more money, but even if they didnt they've got league position on their side, which may be enough to persuade someone to go there instead of us.
We are not, and will never be, the primary destination for 99.9999%+ of players, regardless of how well we state our case and however much money we can throw at players, so we can never guarantee getting everyone we attempt to sign. This will have been the same for every manager and owner we've had for a long time, whether we love or hate them, so I wonder whether things get blown out of proportion on here sometimes.
I bet there are lot of managers this evening wishing they'd had a window as good as ours (4 first team ready players in, 8 fringe/crocked players off the wage bill and none of our best players being stolen for a pittance).
I think we are better placed to stay up now squad wise than we were on Jan 1st - so lets crack on and do it !
