You're absolutely right, how didn't I realise it was actually an 8 day period, not a 7 day. Please accept my profuse apologies. We only need a 10 man squad in that case.
Absolutely but that 25 man squad isn’t usually predominantly made up of senior pro’s with a solid pedigree who will all feel they should be first choice in a second tier side. It makes Rosey’s job a lot more difficult instead of easier as it’s an extra thing for him to manage and only so many games. If we’re lucky and don’t get plagued by injury there will be a lot of unhappy players around I reckon specially if we go on a run because we will end up with a settled side that will be next to impossible to break into other than 20 minutes here and there.
I suspect Ally, Doc, Sinik, Woods, Longman and maybe Oscar leave, Simons on loan, and potentially Vaughan and Covil out on loan late in the window if all our targets come in.
Squad size is very interesting. I’m sure Rosenior has said he’d prefer a smaller squad, so like others, I imagine there’ll be a lot of outgoings before the end of the window. One of the things I am happy with is that it is recognised who needs replacing and not up to the standards of a promotion push. We are putting together a highly competitive squad which rivals any other club in the division. Bookies are sleeping on us and I imagine other clubs/fans will underestimate our strength in depth too. UTT.
The other positive is getting incomings sorted before outgoings as it means we aren't getting fleeced in negotiations.
Peter taylor absolutely did that where we had 2 relatively evenly matched players (and Junior Lewis) for each starting berth. Didn't necessarily always have the best 11 in the league but had by far the best squad and that led to the back to back promotions. That's absolutely the intention with us this year also as Acun has confirmed in his interview with Baz today. What you can't have is senior pro's with no chance of playing regularly though, so current 3rd choices need to make way for the kids coming through. .
As much as I love the transfer window, I cannot wait for the window to close and know that’s our squad done and dusted! The last few days have got me very excited, especially after some bed wetting following the Donny game
Wouldn't be surprised if you're adding Fleming to that list also. Not sure about Oscar. It would make sense if we need to fund incomings but he's certainly prominent in the clubs media output at the moment and involved, so maybe biscuit man has stumped up in some headroom increasing way shape or form if he does stay.
Really happy with Davis, I mentioned a few days ago that I'd love a target man to interchange with Delap. I thought we'd have to settle for somebody completely average and I never thought we'd be able to attract someone as good as Davis. And the fee is a snip. I'm also glad it's the end of Oscar, everyone likes to blow smoke up his arse but since last August/September he's been completely average. There's been a real clear difference between when Delap's been on the field and when Oscar's come on.
Strengthens the players hand though, knowing we need to get rid. If we've already got the replacement for a player then they can more or less write their own payoff and have a stronger hand in influencing what bid we can accept. Swannys under the cosh pod gives a basic example where Leeds accepted an offer from us but we didn't match his wage expectations. He went back to Leeds after rejecting us and when he got back Gordon Strachan was sitting there... Gave him the wriggle room to demand a payoff from Leeds to make up the difference. Parkin himself always says if a clubs on the make from selling me then 'I want a cut of that fee' if they want me to move' . Should give that pod a listen. Might be as illuminating from an alternate perspective as is Kieran Maguires pod.
