The January Striker Debate

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Will the club fail to make the playoffs as a result of not signing another striker in January

  • Yes - it’s almost a criminal offence

    Votes: 16 18.0%
  • No - I think we have enough to make top 6

    Votes: 5 5.6%
  • Not too bothered - I like the way the club is developing and didn’t expect playoffs

    Votes: 53 59.6%
  • I just want to complain about the club all the time, regardless

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other… please state

    Votes: 6 6.7%
  • Yes, just yes

    Votes: 9 10.1%

  • Total voters
    89
We have seized the opportunity beyond any other club in this division. Who has improved as dramatically as us this season? 5th in League 1 last season...

Playoffs still on. If we miss out, because other teams are better, that shouldnt be seen as a missed opportunity. What will be is if we fail to progress next season and beyond. Our opportunity this season was to establish ourselves at this level and develop young lads. I would say we have already succeeded personally.
 
If we are serious about a play off spot we need an out of contract number 9 to give us 70 mins a game


Absolutely not. These mystery players (none of whom appear to have names, I keep getting told there "must be someone") are out of contract for a reason. There is a reason not one club in the EFL wanted them in the summer, or even in the desperation of January
 
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We have seized the opportunity beyond any other club in this division. Who has improved as dramatically as us this season? 5th in League 1 last season...

Playoffs still on. If we miss out, because other teams are better, that shouldnt be seen as a missed opportunity. What will be is if we fail to progress next season and beyond. Our opportunity this season was to establish ourselves at this level and develop young lads. I would say we have already succeeded personally.


It’s a missed opportunity if we don’t get a proper number 9, we won’t without one. Why is mid table mediocrity your aim. Some of the young lads will be bought by other clubs if we aren’t in the premier league and we may not replace them with as good
 
We did not sign a striker, the club made excuses, but it simply was not good enough.

The manager has just said 'we went into the match without the tools to win the game'
Also that 'if we had their striker , we would have won the game easily'
He is calling out Speakman, make no mistake, and rightly so
I really struggle to see how we did not sign at least one, ********* ridiculous
At any level, you need a striker
Agreed, but how do you replace Ross Stewart at 48 hours notice?
 
It’s a missed opportunity if we don’t get a proper number 9, we won’t without one. Why is mid table mediocrity your aim. Some of the young lads will be bought by other clubs if we aren’t in the premier league and we may not replace them with as good

Why do you think finishing mid table is mediocre? We finished 5th in L1 last season. This year's plan was to stay up. Even finishing 12th would be a successful season
 
We have seized the opportunity beyond any other club in this division. Who has improved as dramatically as us this season? 5th in League 1 last season...

Playoffs still on. If we miss out, because other teams are better, that shouldnt be seen as a missed opportunity. What will be is if we fail to progress next season and beyond. Our opportunity this season was to establish ourselves at this level and develop young lads. I would say we have already succeeded personally.
Couldn't agree more. The highest finish for a newly promoted team in recent years has been 15th. Top half = success. Play offs would have been amazing, but our rotten luck with injuries has put paid to that
 
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It’s a missed opportunity if we don’t get a proper number 9, we won’t without one. Why is mid table mediocrity your aim. Some of the young lads will be bought by other clubs if we aren’t in the premier league and we may not replace them with as good[/QUOTE]
Might replace them with better, who knows
 
In the early 90’s Bob Murray didn’t understand the coming premier league, and thought it was ok to still be in division 2 as it was then. Now we are making the same error, due to fear of what happened when the chuckle bros ran us. Consolation is the cry, mid table is OK. No it isn’t,

If we are serious about a play off spot we need an out of contract number 9 to give us 70 mins a game. I think the current top table aren’t that bothered about going up so we won’t. They are , however, missing an opportunity that may not happen again. This is a poor championship and if we are stuck in it, next year will be harder and there is no guarantee our recruitment will do as well again.

With the Saudi blood money the mags will challenge if they don’t win anything and they might. If we aren’t in the premier league soon we risk losing more young fans from County Durham as we did in the 90’s.

Don’t get me wrong I think the current leadship is heading in the right direction, I do, however, question their pace. We weren’t ever in danger of relegation unless they were incompetent.

"We weren’t ever in danger of relegation unless they were incompetent."


What makes you say that ...

... Wigan 'seized their opportunity', spent money, bought strikers.

And are currently bottom..
 
"We weren’t ever in danger of relegation unless they were incompetent."

What makes you say that ...

... Wigan 'seized their opportunity', spent money, bought strikers.

And are currently bottom..
Spot on. We are also currently 13 and 18 points ahead of the 2 automaticaly promoted teams as well.

Yes, we all know that we are short on strikers but overall we're in a damn good spot. It's not like we didn't try to get any in, the players we were after went elsewhere.

Other than the perenial flops who are available i've yet to see the name of a player mentioned by the nay sayers who would actually be of benefit to us.
 
Spot on. We are also currently 13 and 18 points ahead of the 2 automaticaly promoted teams as well.

Yes, we all know that we are short on strikers but overall we're in a damn good spot. It's not like we didn't try to get any in, the players we were after went elsewhere.

Other than the perenial flops who are available i've yet to see the name of a player mentioned by the nay sayers who would actually be of benefit to us.
Agree. I DO think the club could have been more proactive in signing a young player we could groom to be Roscoe's replacement - not one that would necessarily help us this season, but maybe next.
 
An opportunity is a progressive chance.

If that's the question, we are.

We are toward the bottom of the form guide and I do feel we will live there. We won't finish top 6.

We had the chance. But we didn't have the striker depth.

We have still done amazing. But we have definitely blown a chance this season.
 
Imagine giving up on half a season ?


Lord it's championship. Hard as it comes got to take the chances. Be harder next year too.
I don't think anyone in the club has given up, nor is our season over. I'd love someone to offer a name of a player we could sign, instead of this constant Speakmann bashing as if he stuck a knife into Stewart's achilles himself.
 
Agreed, but how do you replace Ross Stewart at 48 hours notice?

Apologies for wading in, but for me, you cannot replace a Ross Stewart, but losing Simms was a blow so another striker In my humble opinion must have been on the agenda. Speakman had said we were or for 4 or 5 but couldn't get them over like for whatever reason, I choose to believe that the reason was they didn't fit us. We'll never know.
 
Apologies for wading in, but for me, you cannot replace a Ross Stewart, but losing Simms was a blow so another striker In my humble opinion must have been on the agenda. Speakman had said we were or for 4 or 5 but couldn't get them over like for whatever reason, I choose to believe that the reason was they didn't fit us. We'll never know.
Wouldn't disagree. The ideal scenario for the club was Simms coming back and there must have been some encouragement from Everton for us to pursue it. As for a 3rd striker? My gut feel is that some players were available but clubs were taking the piss with wages/loan/transfer fees and Speakmann/KLD decided to stick with what we had

It's ****, but it is what it is and we need heads down and get as many points as we can between now and the end of the season
 
An opportunity is a progressive chance.

If that's the question, we are.

We are toward the bottom of the form guide and I do feel we will live there. We won't finish top 6.

We had the chance. But we didn't have the striker depth.

We have still done amazing. But we have definitely blown a chance this season.

Prehab don't take this the wrong way but that's the most balanced argument you've made today. Well thought out points