This is VERY plausible. They are not going to agree to sign on loan until they know that they have no chance of getting a top flight game. Unfortunately this does not fit in with the transfer window, only the loan window.
Onuoha to right back I'd imagine and we welcome the slowest centre back pairing in footballing history.
A line up of Young Onuoha Dunne Hill could well be the slowest back four in history. Of course then we are one player injury/suspension away from a joke back 4.
My bet is on 1 or 2 signings - anything else will be loans. Everybody pretty much in agreement on our shortcomings - so have to assume HR sees the same. I also think we lack any good support for JB-KH at the moment, Ale still coming up short at the moment.
I think it will be one or 2 but we need 4 or 5. Imagine an injury to Austin, Onuoha, Simpson, Hoilett/Philips. Lose 2 of those and our season is over.
It's not that big an issue, do the Tommy Smith style split again and the only game they need to miss is Birmingham. Looking at your fixtures your last game before the January window when you can make the loan permanent or into a season long deal is the Watford game on 29th December. The loan deadline is 28th November so to include both those dates that's 32 days and you can't change that even though the first game in that time is on the 30th November. Before the loan deadline your last game is 23rd November, going back to Burnley on 26th October is another 29 days (to include both games). Before Burnley your last game is 19th October, and having used 61 days of your loan on the last two chunks you've got 32 left, so any player could sign for you to play against Brighton and then not miss another game all season. *I've tried shifting the break in the loans to be over the international break, it doesn't work as making the 2nd chunk long enough to cover all the games after the break only leaves you with 25 days for before it, and the minimum chunk length is 28 days.
That would be OK if we only had one or two positions to fill Ricardo. we have four or five and not enough loans to fill the blanks.
Right I'll break this down in terms of the targets I'd go for; Defence - Chris Baird solves the defensive issue. He plays RB and CB. Craig Dawson from WBA would be a solid signing. Having a bit of confidence in Max Ehmer wouldn't do any harm either. Michael Harriman returns from his loan deal next week so we do actually have the cover in defence. Midfield - Sign Michael Kightly from Stoke (as started in a previous thread) and we've got the wide positions fully covered. I'd also target Nathaniel Chabolah from Chelsea or Thomas Eisfield from Arsenal who's the direct, attacking CM we need. Either of these on loan. Attack - I'd try for John Guidetti from Man City or Harry Kane from Spurs on loan to provide competition and cover for AJ. Ideally... Baird, Dawson, Guidetti, Chabolah and Kightly come in and we walk the league.
I think the slowest centre back pairing I can recall was Dave Webb and Frank McLintock. And, as I recall, they did rather well, albeit in a different footballing era.
When you signed Tommy Smith from Pompey the paperwork wasn't done in time for the FA or FL to approve the transfer. As a result you signed him on loan, but because it was outside the transfer window the loan could only be a maximum of 93 days. You split the loan into chunks that were each at least 28 days long, using the gaps between games (ie Sunday to Friday) and the international break to officially send him back to Portsmouth so those days wouldn't count towards the 93. When he was officially back at Portsmouth he was still really with you for training as there's nothing in the rules preventing it and it meant he missed the bare minimum number of games. Using the same process this season, if you don't sign someone before the transfer deadline you can bring them in after the Birmingham game and job's a good one. Unless it's gaps in your starting 11 it shouldn't be a problem. You can only name 5 loan players in your matchday squad, but you can have more at the club, you just select which ones you need to name based on the other players available on the day. 3 defenders, a winger and a striker on loan gives you the cover you need based on the OP sub a 2nd striker for the winger now you've got Phillips as well?). I know it's a lot of loanees to name, but if they're ahead of permanent deals in January they're not really loans.
Yeah but 5 loans, each count as 3 separate loans and youre only allowed 6 or 8 short term loans. So we could only do a work around with 2 of them at most. Thats why Im saying we need the season long loans to be done in the window.
Well, its now Thursday 29th......either the club are playing a quite blinding hand, have tied Harold and multiple agents down to prevent them talking ahead of agreements, or we are off to Loans'R'Us next week.......
So why haven't we signed Baird, he is a free agent, trains with us, and no one else is interested (odd!) We must not sell Hoillet or Barton...or we are lost. We need another forward, as Bobby has shown he is dead on his legs...and so have only 2 top strikers with kids as back up. We need a quality attacking midfielder, but I assume we are hoping to rotate our defence in light of suspension (with Hill, Ned, Baird, Traore able to play in different positions plus Harriman) We seem light on goalies.....(oh I forgot we have a Brazilian international I keep forgetting about)...I think the goalie will be a loan ..if and when. So in my book...we need to buy by the end of the window a good goalscorer and a creative midfielder. We must not sell Hoillet or Barton The rest we can get on loan, later on well that is my take
I'm sure people just by-pass the relevant comments on here. This is what we need. Although I disagree with Harry Kane as he proved at Leicester what I already knew - he's ****. Other centre forwards - Berahino at WBA would be worth a shout and would want a full season of playing.
I agree that Baird does indeed solve most of the problems at the back. From FFC supporting friends I hear that he's a top pro (true 'Arry style) and would easily cope (and more) in the championship at RB, LB or CB. To be honest, they told me he's played okay in CM for them before. Wouldn't mind signing a decent up and coming striker on loan from the PL. An attacking midfielder/winger wouldn't go awry either, but I think the other two areas are higher priorities.
I heard that there are other interested parties in Baird, which is why he hasn't signed up yet. Seems he is playing a waiting game! Bit cheeky given how we've accommodated him.
