I don't believe the location stuff personally, let's be honest, it's money and the club project. For Moore and BTA, they're both certainly better projects than ours and they'll both be amongst the favourites for the top 6 at least. I've said it all summer, bringing in a gaffer without a UK reputation will always make it harder to sign domestic players, I don't think that's rocket science. I've been surprised we haven't heavily focused on the German market and 2.Bundesliga players will jump at the chance to come here. There's not a lot of money in the bottom third of the Bundesliga, never mind the 2nd tier (minus the big clubs). Signing Mehlem for a six-figure fee seems very astute on paper, and a few more like that certainly wouldn't hurt. In reality, you don't get a lot of value for money over here, so there's definitely better value on the continent but the hard part is finding those that can adapt and handle the intensity of the Championship.
It was in the offing for months. Even before the season ended. Everton interest didn't materialise. Nor spurs, nor west ham. Ipswich put the best offer on the table. Villa matched it last minute for a 30% discount. What's happened to us happened to Ipswich. It happens. End of story.
You have a point.. If Assante was at the Fiorentina game. Id probably have left at half time to be fair.
Location is an issue for domestic talent. We either overpay or become second choice when an even paycheck is on offer. Provincial clubs can overcome this by presenting a vision for player progression though. We had that last season. Were going to have to build that base under a brand new structure again this time. And Walters building from ground up. I agree with those who feel for him.
It's a fair point you make, and I expected seeing 2 or 3 players from Germany with TW connections there, maybe they will still come, but at least it would be good to get one over the line.
If we get McKenna and Hughes I don't see Macca staying. Location is definitely a factor domestically. The two strikers we have missed out on clearly want to be at clubs closer to their home and who will be in a in a similar position to us (fighting for promotion - hopefully). Add to that, TW is not known domestically. LR was well known and respected so could be a motivating factor for coming. Those coming from.overseas will want to buy into the vision/style of play. I was hoping we would have 4/5 in by now, but still confident we will have a decent squad by the end of the window.
It is just poor though, relying on that date. Walter has talked of reprogramming players, it taking a while to get the system drilled in. We are essentially banking on a really good international break worth of training
No ST... but apparently it is something to do with Prem clubs submitting their squad...? something like that...
If we can muddle through the first 4 or is it 5 games, with one or three new bods, get to the international break and then go from there...
No, that's the end of August. It's a date Tan and Acun referred to as the date they expect PL clubs to have sorted their squads and so dominoes start falling. BUT that was I believe in the context of agreeing / confirming our loan signings. It's however crystal clear that we are struggling with our non-loan targets and are having to work down the list. Not good. 9 days to k.o.
Before retirement do players really have a home? They move from place to place all over the country or further afield in Europe. Money is a big incentive. Moore’s wife is based in Sheffield which is the reason he gave for choosing Sheffield United over us. It didn’t seem to worry him when he signed for Ipswich.
There's clearly some frustration around Acun bring involved with his other projects but it was inevitable he wouldn't be able to be hands on all the time. That, for me, is the biggest problem. From the names mentioned, it feels as though the scouting/identification side of things is on the right lines but who is doing the schmoozing when he's elsewhere? Who is helping Tan to sell the dream?
It wasn’t a ‘30% discount’ though was it. We got exactly the same as we would have if he’d have signed for Ipswich.
Tim Walter is a guest at the Senior Tigers meeting this afternoon. If he shares any info I’ll post it later.
