If I was in charge of a football club I would get my targets in early and then let others sweat about getting their targets in during the last few minutes, sadly, like Hull City.
Wigan came in for Long, but he was already on a flight to us at that point - so I wouldn't be surprised if they put in a loan attempt.
Thats where the media and agents come into play. Once they get hold of it, other clubs are alerted to the player being available and the price increases.
AKCJ is right Sessignon isn't a striker. I wonder how many sad ****s on here will invent a rivalry out of this. Clarke looked after his own back, he did what was best for his club, and did the same as what Bruce would've done, if the roles were reversed. We should've done this business earlier. In the end it's our own fault. We play the transfer window poorly every year and we paid the same the price as when we missed out on Campbell, DJ and Phillips etc.
Golaccio is right. Steve Clark is a fûcking **** as are those baggy yam yam ****s. Clark doesn't know what he's done, this is the start of a rivalry. A particularly nasty one.
To be fair the club did their transfer business for the most part in good time, if the Charlie Austin deal had not gone wrong, then all the signings would have been done a dusted before the end of the window. We don't know why they suddenly went for Long, but maybe one of the Irish guys tipped them off whilst with the Irish squad that WBA might listen to a bid for him, and that is why this suddenly came up as an option. Who knows, but I am sure SB didn't want to get into this last minute situation.
Never said it was a disaster. But we're always hanging on for some other business to go through before we get our player. We always get burnt on the transfer window deadline day and it's becoming formality. We haven't improved the forwards. I hope to be proven wrong.
By "our" you obviously mean Bruce & the Allams.. and your absolutely right. I said something similar last night and it seemed most didnt agree with me. Fact is we've had all summer to bring in a striker of real quality and we haven't. It seems like every other club in the end got the player they wanted or atleast strengthened in their weakest position... except us..
Plenty of other clubs missed out on their targets too, WBA with Lukaku, Arsenal wanted to bring Ba in. The further down the food chain, the harder it is to bring in quality. I think we were extremely lucky with Thudd and Livermore.
Overall the window has been cracking. We have a more than capable squad now. I think what Lloydy means is that we've had since June 9th to add a top quality striker to our squad, but we waited until literally the last few minutes of the transfer window to get one. There'll obviously be a lot of complications behind the Long deal and in the end it didn't come off, but we got a solid striker in Gedo, so it's not the end of the world. We now have a strike force of Aluko/Gedo/Graham/Sagbo. Who wouldn't have taken that before the season started?! We don't need a marquee signing in every position and there's another transfer window in January. I don't think we'll have any problems.
Sessegnon played a season at Sunderland as a striker. Very few sides play with two out and out forwards. I doubt Clarke would of spent £13m on two forward if he wasn't go to play. So I think will be at least third in pecking order. Its okay saying get your deals done early. But this domino effect started when Eto'o signed for Chelsea, which made Lukaku available, Anichebe then comes available and Borini transfer to Sunderland made Sessegon available and then opens the door for Long
Your middle paragraph sums up what i think. I'm not slagging off the club/ the owners, by any means. I just don't see the point in doing it at the last minute, because we've never been truely successful doing transfers that way. Plus, we're paying over the odds.
Sometimes, leaving a chase for a striker 'till late is smarter than people think. If we'd have tabled a bid a couple of weeks ago, that allows other teams to come in and either outbid us or force our hand to offering more. I'd heard nothing of Shane Long until Deadline Day and Bruce kept it well hidden. That's the key to getting good deals IMO. It's just pissed me off that Steve Clarke has left it so late. Not to mention how pissed off Shane Long will be... I think he's done it on purpose as we're technically relegation rivals.
This is a bit unfair given the amount of business we have done and done early. We missed out on one player that became available yesterday after his club decided to move on their targets in the last few minutes. ^^^^^ This, a hundred times over! Shane Long probably wasn't even available until yesterday once the domino effect kicked in.
Anyone who glibly states "Get your deals done early" is taking a very naive and simplistic view of the world. Unless you are a Man City, who are willing to offer significantly higher wages than just about anyone else in the world right now (apart from maybe Real), then for certain players you are going to face competition. As soon as that happens and you add into the mix agents, advisors, sponsors, lawyers, accountants, medics etc etc etc you end up with a very complicated process. I enjoy the transfer window it's entertaining and we have done better this window than we have ever done before. We are feeding at a very big table these days and some people need to remember a few things. Firstly, that it was only 10 years ago.....Blah, blah, blah! So be thankful for the position we are in rather than always wanting MORE. Secondly, we are incredibly in debt to the owners of the football club. Not only have they spent a vast fortune on simply ensuring we survived, they have also funded our return to the Premier League. Thoughtlessly demanding we throw millions and millions more at the process of trying to stay up is incredibly disrespectful to them. Finally, we have already won the National Lottery. It would be nice to continue winning lotteries but not at the expense of pissing what we have won up a wall. The club needs to evolve and that might occasionally necessitate taking a step back in order to take two forward.
Until Hull City have been an established PL club for around 3-4 seasons we won't be picking and choosing, it's up to the gaffer and the players to prove their worth and show their ability now. We have done very well this window.
Well we didn't really have a choice but to do it last minute where Shane Long was concerned as we were told he would only be available if WBA managed to get their targets. Although obviously we could have sorted out a deal for someone else a long time ago. If we had £5m+ to play with then surely that would have secured us Bendtner a while ago. I think Clarke comes across as a bit of a snake tbh, to renege on an agreement right at the very last minute leaving us with no chance to secure anybody else. Yes maybe it was our fault in part for leaving it so late, but it still reeks of unprofessionalism and a clear attempt to sabbotage a relegation rival.
