Transfer Embargo

Anythings possible.

Admire your optimism though.

 

That's meaningless fluff from him. Every manager would say that. Even the likes of Rosenior and Walter who many City fans would say are obsessed with one single way of playing wouldn't identify that way themselves. They would (and did) say that they changed lots of things all the time.

 

I agree. I would’ve kept Simons this summer even before the fee restriction. Zambrano would’ve still been banned until November and Alzate apparently wants out. Simons would’ve been a solid option as a backup number 6 and he can even play as a box-to-box number 8. Selling him for £300K is just daft and arrogant, like you said. Andy Smith is a different story as we’re good for centre-halves.

 

i really hope jacob goes and becomes readings number 1 left back, think theres a player in there, but he badly needs consistent game time to work through his flaws

 

They’re not even the same type of midfielder.

 

Agreed.I think Jacob will come good for someone else and the best of luck to him.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again today...We need to go back to our roots/the basics and remember who we are at times,we've got nowhere spending the £4 and £5 millions on mediocre players,time it stopped and we build from the ground upwards!!

 

Simons often kept Zambrano out of the starting XI before he was banned. From what I can remember, he never dropped a stinker before he went on loan to Wycombe. He’s 22-years-old, strong, athletic and held his own in a poor Walter side. People were ****ing themselves silly over Zambrano after a few half-decent performances and were acting like he was amazing before the ban. I’m not suggesting Simons is better than Zambrano on a technical level but there wasn’t a huge difference between their impact and performances in the season just gone.

We already know the outcome to many of the names you mentioned. Matazo’s injured until December, Zambrano’s banned until November and Puerta isn’t even registered.

 

Well, the question is who fills out our midfield this season when we're under a transfer embargo.

I would argue that we do need two, and many more in fact, players who are solid, cheap and reliable. Many of our signings over recent years have been none of those things.

And if he is only mediocre, that's still above average for our transfer record. Instead we'll no doubt find another Lincoln to come and sit on the bench for £20k/week before quietly leaving the following window.

 

I think you're right to an extent. It's always nice to get a big money signing but it very rarely works out for us. The best we've been under Acun was the first half of 23/24 when we quietly spent the first half of that season in the playoff places. That summer we'd been relatively conservative, signing Delap and Morton on loan and getting the likes of Lokilo in who must've been cheap. Twine and Philogene were the 'star' signings but we didn't go mad. Since then we've gambled more and more on buying and spending money but never got near that level again.

 

If we remain under a fee restriction this summer then we will have to sign several free agents of a similar standard as Simons or even worse to provide depth to the midfield.

 

Then surely the answer to that is, if the club had had a crystal ball they wouldn't a) have let Simmons go and b) they'd have got their ducks in a row to stop whats happened happening...

 

Agree about Simons
Disagree about Jacob

 

I wouldn’t say they were a major up grade tbh
Look were we finished

 

It's not getting value on the pitch or off it for the majority of those kinda signings that's lead us here

They didn't need a crystal ball. Nothing that's happened here has come out of the blue. It's all there in the EFL regs and in the agreements we signed.

ignorance isn't an excuse and 70 out of 72 clubs don't have this problem.

 

I think you’re forgetting that during the short time that Zambrano was involved in the team, it was under Walter and his insistence that we avoided playing through central midfield wherever possible and yet he still managed to look a cut above.

 

So did Simons.

 

Simons always struck me as a player who needed the right manager to improve his game, whereas other players can just play regardless of the manager/tactics.