In the past we've always thought 'we have to sign players' ending up with only zaki or sonko through desperation. It would be nice to sign someone out of the blue tonight but nothing more. So fresh for us to do our business early on
Business was done early, deadline day deals are for desperados. The only problem is the late departure of Ash, the club may have known for a bit longer than we have so may have already been looking. We dont need to rush to replace him though.
The players (and their agents) are in such a strong position on the last day of a transfer window. I can imagine Carroll asking for a fortune at Liverpool. "Let's see how desperate you are to see me sign. Hope you've got plenty of other irons in the fire an hour before the window shuts."
We've a full team of new signings and loans,let's see how they get on for the rest of the season and re-evaluate at the end of it.Buy what we lack in the summer,find a captain and push for promotion next season.It's too early to tell if the signings are up to the grade,it's time to play for a place in the team for next season,this season is rebuild with no chance of promotion.
Mannone for the rest of the season - yes Guzan to cover until Mannone returns - yes Chester - yes Stewart - yes Evans with a view to a permanent - yes Fryatt - yes McLean - not really but I might be proved wrong Belaid I've no opinion on yet.
Doveston, you must be new to supporting city? This has been the best transfer window we've EVER had since transfer windows were created. Under Brown we paid over the odds for old players with no potential to improve, we bought injuries and bad habits with no desire thrown in to boot! NP has bought young quality players with bags of potential and real sell on VALUE! We've filled most of the gaps, paid low fees and have not filled all the gaps ready for further strengthening in the summer. How on earth you can make such statements, you ought to feel a little bit embarrassed
Well said Ricardo and Jobbo - My thoughts exactly, only my BlackBerry rebooted before I could write them . You said it better anyway One of the best things in my opinion was that everything was pretty much kept under wraps until the deals were done. No leaks or wild promises or last minute panics. I don't even think we need to replace Ash yet - better to wait and see how the new signings turn out. We are quite well off for central midfielders now and many of us were complaining about playing two defensive ones. I think Evans might be more attacking than Ash and we can always play Koren in the middle too...
right then Mannone- no chance of a permanent Guzan - i have more faith in duke,hope theres no chance of a permanent Chester- yup fine Stewart - fine needs work Evans - absolutly no way man u are gonna let him go Fryatt - needs to start putting his chances away McLean - not been played as an out an out striker,always in oppos half best transfer window ever? nah.np has brought 2 strikers who i can't see scoring the goals,can you from what you've seen? bullard and ash gone.more of a money saving exercise imo.
You can't see Fryatt scoring goals? Other than the two in four, that he's already scored...? And McLean is still settling in. So he hasn't scored against two of the best defences in the league in Reading and QPR? Also, so what if Mannone and Evans have no chance of becoming permanent. We now know Fraizer Campbell had no chance of becoming permanent at the end of 2008... are you saying that window was disappointing with hindsight, or would you rather have done without him for the end of the 2007/8 season? They're here, they're playing for us. If they're going back in the next transfer window, fine. Let's deal with that then. If you think this window is crap, god knows what you thought about some of the windows gone.
As I've said before, I don't like certain things about NP's management style. But his recruitment of players isn't something anybody could question. He has signed no end of players, most we've never heard of, and all of them have come good. I can't see how we could have signed any better.
I would call it a very encouraging transfer window. We had a well devised plan which was professionally executed.