That's great to hear, loans with options are better. There's always a lot of talk about following the Brighton or Brentford model but the key similarities between those two clubs was patience. They built slowly and it took them a long time to get out of the Championship. Of course those two are understandable but it's surprising that we're getting this exodus at once. Regardless of what was thought about LD, going into a major rebuild without a Head of Recruitment is alarming to say the least especially when we've brought in a gaffer without experience in English football. How do you find domestic players to fit into Walter's thinking when his knowledge of the league will be limited? I'm sure he'll have seen plenty but that's barely scratching the surface compared to someone who's worked and played in it for the last few decades. Surely to have a chance of success the bulk of the signings have to be German-based players?
Are Wednesday players mainly German? Or did Cifuentes have a plethora of players he'd formerly worked with? Not every manager is Grant McCann.
Brighton had massive numbers of incomings and outgoings, they once had 15 players leaving in one summer so people need to chill
It seems a very sensible move to bring Oscar back into the fold, always felt Liam should have stuck with him, and particularly in January bring him back, rather than bring Sharpe in, he might have made the difference in certain games.
Loan players are the only way of bringing in EPL quality without having to pay large transfer fees, which we could never afford. When you don't have parachute payments then, this is the best way to get the quality you need to compete.
But it should be the sprinkling on top not the fundamental core of the squad like Delap and Morton were.
I don't think Tufan left because of LR though. He probably wants a shot in Turkish NT, missing Euros was a blow for him, he was a starter in '16 and '20 and all players he played/competed with, Calhanoglu, Yokuslu, Kaan Ayhan, Kahveci, Yazici, Kokcu were still in roster except him and he wasn't even at 30s.
It's a case of quality, yes, you can bring in at our level players for £2-3M but on the whole you are getting a good players but not exceptional. Most teams now bolster their squads with 5 or 6 loan players, this is just how things are now to try and be competitive but still stay within FFP rules. Of course ideally you would like to buy players, but to bring in the likes of De Lap/Morton/Zahroury/Carvalho, these would be out of reach, as we have seen with De Lap going to Ipswich for £15m + 5m add-ons. It's just the way of the world now.
Fair point, but he has had very few starts, mostly off the bench for the last 20 minutes. I guess the upside for us is that he will be already match fit.
I see one or two suggesting the club is badly run, I can understand why due to lack of signings so far, but I think IMO that is a bit unfair. Having listened to 1904 club, I am inclined to agree with Burnsy. He said he is sure there is already a plan, and what I have seen in Tan, is someone who certainly is on the ball. Firstly, with TW coming in, I always felt there was going to be a big change in the squad to suit his way of playing. I have always felt both Greaves and Jaden would want to leave, and the club will have known that. It's worth pointing out what a great bit of business the club did on Jaden, to buy for around £5m and then sell for £15-20m, is good business in anyone's book. It therefore seems sensible to me, the club will already have their targets, but wait until you know both Greaves and Jaden are sold, to then know what money they have to start strengthening the squad. To start buying players until you know the outcome of these 2 sales doesn't make a lot of sense. Tufan is probably the only disappointing departure, but I believe it was mainly for family reasons, as I think he personally would have been happy to stay. Others that have gone have cleared the decks, so to speak and players that were unlikely to even feature, so off the wage bill. On Seri, if he decides to leave, and City can get a reasonable fee for him, and Mikka can get a big paid day for the last couple of years of his career, then I think that is fair enough, as I am sure he would suit Walterball anyhow. Longman I am 50/50 on, I would be happy for him to stay, but equally if he is keen to move south closer to home at Millwall, I can understand it. Therefore, I can see why it would seem things are happening slowly and players are just leaving, but I can fully understand why it is happening this way. P.S. Another problem might be that with LD leaving for Stoke, he may well be targetting players we had already eye marked, which might have thrown one or two spanners in the works, which is out of the club's control. Maybe or maybe not, but it is worth bearing in mind.
Do you think LD got much of say when Acun and Tan came? I doubt he was head of recruitment, maybe one of the reasons he left?
He was always an “impact sub” and they’ve fallen off badly of late, they’re 6th now and yet still didn’t start him. So probably unlikely to trigger it I would’ve thought based on evidence
What in the last two and a half years makes you think they now suddenly have a plan? We’re already on our third manager (4th if you include McCann), under their leadership. The signing of players has been at best erratic, and at worst brainless. The majority of players have been flops and the few gems they have sourced we’ve failed to retain. Whilst our best academy products have been sold without resistance. I like Acun’s passion and enthusiasm. But ultimately after 2 and a half years of heavy investment and 30+ player transfers, we have a worse squad than the one that got promoted from League One.
I think your right on pretty much everything you said. The loans were always going to go back, Greaves and Philogene were always going to be sold, end of contract players were never going to get a new deal and Seri and Tufan leaving are understandable. Nothing really unexpected other than the last 2 perhaps.. That said, even though it was expected it doesn't mean it's a good way of running a club. We're meant to be building a team over 5 years (we're 3 years in) capable of promotion. If you look at the player's Acun signed in his first few transfers windows, they're not here anymore. If better decisions were made in the transfer market we'd have a much more stable core team than we currently do. Then when players like Philogene and Greaves are sold the money can be invested in a couple of replacements to strengthen the team. I think where Acun is going wrong is thinking too short term and doing massive rebuilds every year with different managers that play a different way. That doesn't look to me like there's a long term plan. One clear example of piss poor decision making is our left back situation.. Vinagre on loan then terminating that half way through the season, bringing Giles in with an obligation to buy for £4 million. A huge amount to spend on 1 player considering the size of the rebuild the team needs again and how close we are to FFP issues. And yet we're now selling him to Middlesbrough... It's just ridiculous really. This isn't bed wetting and there are much worse things to worry about in the world right now but still, there's more than a few on here who don't like the way Acun is handling transfers since buying the club and I tend to agree with them.
