OUFC Transfer Deadline Day Thread - Jan 2019

  • Thread starter Deleted member 222
  • Start date
We now have a squad of mainly fit players and with some competition for places. Our best player in pre-season was Carruthers, and having him back for the last 3 months feels like a new signing. We have a nippy but unproven striker who can ease the pressure on Mackie and allow Whyte to play in his best position. We have Browne who was struggling with an injury and maybe fatigue, who has been able to rest up more due to the arrival of Graham. We have Sykes, who is unproven at this level but cover for maybe Henry and Brannigan, and we have Kashi as cover for Mousinho. Of the players we've lost, none of them made an impression in the first team if they even got there. We've caused two of the top teams in this league all sorts of problems, and without the additional striker.
The key points now are to continue those performances and get results against the lesser teams, especially those around us, and start winning away from home. Then we can all relax..... but then this is Oxford!
 
Luton sign Baptiste, Cummings and Connolly. Theyre up.

A player who used to be good but is coming to the end of his career, a young academy player and 1 player that is actually proven.

While Oxford have signed an experienced player coming to the end of his career (Kashi), a young player who is still yet to make it (Sinclair), a player who has potential to be a very good player (Sykes) and a player who has proved he is a very good player (Graham).
 
According to Blog, chances of signing Jonte Smith are slipping away. Ye gods, how difficult can it be to sign an Isthmian league player!!
I do wonder whether the move for Smith is pretty much a consequence of our lack of alternatives from the bench on Tuesday night? Simply more bodies allows, for example, more scope with Mackie (or Graham on Tuesday. Simply a way of creating more alternatives through the squad. The signing of Sinclair makes rather more sense in terms of our overall declared transfer strategy.
 
Swindon pulled out at the last minute to sign jonty a month ago. I suspect a rogue agent demanding too high a wage for a player that does not deserve it yet.

Or, as well as playing non league he may have a job he would need to leave and what we are offering although good, may not be enough to cover his job and football income
 
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 !


So I'd argue that the disappointment lies not so much with the fact that we missed out on James Vaughn today - although that's obviously disappointing, it's also understandable. Portsmouth are a better side than us, and (as of today) a bigger club.

It's with the fact that we've had a glaring need in our squad all month - with Obika injured, and Smith turning out to be ineffectual, we've come into January with only one fit, capable striker in Mackie. Which, it goes without saying, isn't enough. And I'm just not convinced (barring something surprising happening in the next couple of hours) we've done enough to remedy that.

Yes, Sinclair has a bunch of promise. But he doesn't have much experience, or much of a goalscoring track record and - as far as I can tell - has barely ever played alone up front.

If Mackie stays fit and in his current form for the next couple of months, then I think we'll wind up mid-table. On our day, we're a decent side.

But if he were to break down.....then I think we're at risk. And signing an experienced, striking option this month would - I believe - have reduced that risk. It didn't have to be Vaughn, but it ought to have been someone.
 
All done. Couldnt get the Smith deal over the line.

A slightly disappointing day despite how some may try and gloss over it.

We are where we are. I think it will end in League 2 but have everything crossed im wrong.

Night all.
 
Luton sign Baptiste, Cummings and Connolly. Theyre up.
The lad Connolly they have signed is currently out with an injury....and will join up with the Luton squad when he has recovered from a hamstring injury and had game time in Albion’s Under-23 team. If we had done that deal then I suspect it would not have gone down too well on here
 
Luton sign Baptiste, Cummings and Connolly. Theyre up.
The game I thought meant that you have to get points to go up and not just signings?
Are these three unbelievable players who are going to blow the Division apart?
They clearly have a decent chance and I expect that you will again put your mortgage on them going up?
 
luton make 3 really good signings.....shows the intent from the owners there...one a striker from forest....so Danny Hylton still is not available?..really...well down the pecking order...tiger and robinson could change all the negativity aimed at them by just one new ex player turning up for training tomorrow...quite simple...sign someone every bloody supporter would be happy with....as for luton saying hes not available... bullshit....make them an offer..sign someone who could still hit 10 goals plus this season...
 
I love how Kip was banging on about us needing a proven striker and now we haven't signed a player from the non league that we are certain to go down!

I really do question the sanity of some of our fans at times and today as been one of those times! It is quite clear that no matter what the club did, some would find reason to moan.
 
I suspect Holmes going back was for financial reasons. Couldn't afford to take the risk on what may well have been a bit part player whereas Gillingham can. KR has obviously had to scrimp and save where he can to do deals. The financial backing doesn't seem to be there. It's going to be a real scrap between now and the end of the season - on and off the pitch probably. What price another HMRC skirmish?
 
So I'd argue that the disappointment lies not so much with the fact that we missed out on James Vaughn today - although that's obviously disappointing, it's also understandable. Portsmouth are a better side than us, and (as of today) a bigger club.

It's with the fact that we've had a glaring need in our squad all month - with Obika injured, and Smith turning out to be ineffectual, we've come into January with only one fit, capable striker in Mackie. Which, it goes without saying, isn't enough. And I'm just not convinced (barring something surprising happening in the next couple of hours) we've done enough to remedy that.

Yes, Sinclair has a bunch of promise. But he doesn't have much experience, or much of a goalscoring track record and - as far as I can tell - has barely ever played alone up front.

If Mackie stays fit and in his current form for the next couple of months, then I think we'll wind up mid-table. On our day, we're a decent side.

But if he were to break down.....then I think we're at risk. And signing an experienced, striking option this month would - I believe - have reduced that risk. It didn't have to be Vaughn, but it ought to have been someone.

I think this is an excellent summary of the situation. Putting it generously, we’ve known since October that the front man situation needed sorting. There was a broad consensus that what was needed, particularly given our utterly atrocious start to the season (followed by a dire festive period) was a proven quantity at this level. We were all also in a broad consensus that, particularly after Sam Smith, a young kid on loan from a champ/PL would be nice to have (yes, for f*cks sake, we all remember being indifferent to Roofe’s signing for the 900 people who have said that today) but should NOT be relied upon as the forward to alleviate our striking issues.

To sit through January with big talk, no action, playing chicken with the transfer deadline to only end up with a PL loanee is a real disappointment. I support him fully - but anyone saying this is a ‘good’ signing simply has no justification for doing so. He might turn out to be one - but nobody can know it now (unless they’ve spent more time watching Sunderland than us this year. And from what I’ve seen Sunderland fans aren’t raving about him).

If we were told in July that come Feb 1st we’d be right in the relegation mix with only Mackie and this new lad as viable striking options we’d be furious. To now say this has been a ‘good’ transfer window is a fallacy. Yes it’s been decent - but given how spectacularly abysmal our summer recruitment was, ‘decent’ is not good enough. Graham’s a good signing. Kashi might be. And we’ve cut some dead weight. But that’s it. Sykes and Sinclair are unproven. If they impact our season then great - but given how bad our summer dealings were, and given how bloody long they had to plan and properly identify targets, I do not view this as a great January window.

My own view is that our scouting/player recruitment is the drizzling shits now. Whyte has worked. But who else? Beyond that we’ve had our manager driving off all over Europe, we’ve had journeymen in on extended trials only for them to vanish, and we’ve left ourselves in a position where we are still having ‘recruitment meetings, budget meetings’ and whatever else late in the January window when we f*cking KNEW how important it was to get it right. I fully understand getting gazzumped on deadline day by Pompy for Vaughan (allegedly). With as much time to plan as we’d had, letting it get to that position however, is astonishingly neglectful...and indicative of an ownership regime who view tax commitments as optional/flexible payments and think wishy-washy vague lip-service statements will placate a fan-base who are desperate to know what exactly is going on.

I actually feel for KR here. As he constantly feels the need to tell us, he’s been in football a long time. There’s no way he doesn’t know that his striking options aren’t great...

We may stay up. We have enough quality in the squad to do it (if we can steer clear of injuries). But anyone claiming this is a grand old day, or that we’ve done terrific business, or ‘look at Roofe and McAleny - they came good’...well I’m struggling to reach that opinion myself.
 
Last edited:
I've never fully appreciated how whiney and irrational some of our fans are until this week. Complain about not enough communication, complain when communications turns into a dead end out of the clubs control, with a complete lack of understanding of how football really works, etc.

Vaughan and his agent shafted us over royally, and there is nothing the club can do about it.
 
Back
Top Bottom