hypochondriac

Saint901

If that were the case then why put a deadline of responding this evening? You'd just keep stringing it along.

Skacel was my favourite because it actually happened and he was mostly crap.

Yeah Manning is a bad example for me and is more of a Quarshie type signing albeit with previous league experience.

Also they haven't responded to the offer but presumably will this evening? Why wait? And why tell some random Armenian on social media that you will make an announcement later that day?

It's all about when we decide that those players aren't going to happen and we move on to other targets. As long as we get quality in and also decent replacements for the good players who will leave that will immediately. Improve us I'll be happy. Not long left to do that though and the link to the winger yesterday isn't the level of player I'd be looking for in that bracket. Personally I'd like to see us make a big bid for fellows. That's the sort of player I think would improve us immediately. I don't necessarily disagree with signing downs and Quarshie (although in downs' case I would have liked to have seen a more reliable goalscorer signed for that position and a proper Adams replacement) but we must admit that they are quite different players to the ones we signed last time and are more viewed as players with good attributes who have the potential to move up the leagues with us.

Quite possibly but presumably the player isn't too upset about it.

I'll be the first person to congratulate the club if we pulled something like that off. The other side of things is when we signed proven top championship quality like Downes and THB that got us promoted. I'm hoping we recognise when the chance of anything happening is remote and we move elsewhere and down the list.

Right so as suspected it's all a load of bollocks. Look elsewhere.

Which of those were signed by Wilcox and which of those were signed in the championship?

That's the basis I'd be judging him on too. Downes and THB were absolute quality loans with options to buy and they had an immediate positive impact. That's the type of players Spors needs to bring in over the next fortnight or he will have performed clearly worse than Wilcox.

Big two weeks for Spors to prove his worth. Despite some oddballs suggesting we have to wait till the end of the season to judge him, I think it will be reasonable to cast a preliminary judgement on how he's performed this window with shifting deadwood and bringing in new talent.

Like oreily, Gakpo etc.

Like every single window when people bring these things up, it's perfectly reasonable to make an initial assessment on a window when it closes and then reappraise that assessment throughout the season. That's not writing off players. In general, when fans of other teams laugh and take the piss when we sign a player that's normally a bad sign. The other side of that is fans that are upset about losing a player is normally an indication that a player is more likely than not to be a success. That's certainly been my experience when looking at potential signings. If you'd employed your logic last year, you'd be unable to criticise the largely crap business in the summer window until we'd got to months in and no wins even though it was obvious to anyone with a brain that we had missed many of our targets and our overall business was lacking. At the moment, Still has said he wants some new players with championship experience and if we manage to bring that in the next two weeks then that may be an improvement. Similarly if we manage to get some of these bigger name signings over the line then that might improve our squad overall. Currently though I am entirely free to comment on a window whilst it's happening and it's conclusion. Maybe Spors will pull it out of the bag in the next two weeks or maybe he will underwhelm me with some more solid but uninspiring signings who will then gel and smash the league. It's still not going to stop me from commenting on the window and it's not daft to do so.

No I've said that at the moment I haven't seen anything from them yet that would make me think they are ready to come in and improve us immediately. When we brought the likes of Downes and THB in last time that's exactly what they did almost straight away. I actually said they could both come good but at the moment they aren't at that level, they are works in progress that may develop over time and be decent players. Of course Spors has a couple of weeks left of the window to bring in the required quality that I believe we need. I don't think it's unreasonable for supporters to have some doubts at the moment given the lack of incomings and outgoings. Those doubts may disappear when we bring in high quality signings over the next fortnight. I'm appraising the job that has been done up until this point, not writing him off because I've acknowledged there's still time in the window.

I haven't made wild conclusions and I haven't judged people in charge of recruitment at the end of August. I've done neither of those things.

I think he's making a joke based on it being Quarshie.

Good post. I sensing a rising level of concern today not just about the lack of transfers in and out but the players we have brought in and are now being linked with. We've heard nothing else positive about the likes of fellows and Rudoni and are instead being linked with this new bloke that his current club hate. I'll be honest, I was expecting a slightly higher quality of player. Downs and Quarshie may come good but at the moment I'd say they are both solid squad players but I wouldn't be expecting them to play every week if our aspiration is to win the league. Downs for instance looks like he could potentially be a decent signing but at present he's a definite downgrade if his this year's Adams replacement. Maybe a lot will hinge on if we sell Dibling or not but I wouldn't describe our transfer incomings as ambitious so far and I'm beginning to question Spors and his strategy - albeit he has a couple more weeks to prove me wrong.

Their Christian belt buckle...

Yes I get that. I'm just frustrated I think by the lack of any movement in or out. If we lose our best players right at the last minute it's going to be pretty shit, particularly if we replace them with solid but unspectacular stuff like this.

Have they made much more than we have? I'm not sure they have. Delap they got much less for and I think they had to pay a sizable chunk of Hutchinson. Fair enough broadhead for 8.7 million but if we do lose Edozie and Aribo soonish we will probably be comparable.

Meanwhile Ipswich linked with 17-20 million pound wonder kid and Norwegian international.

I almost went into a coma when we exercised the counter-option to buy... at the time I told myself that it was perhaps because they had contacts to sell it more expensively elsewhere, I didn't see any other possible explanation... Guilavogui's possible departure represents for me the perfect opportunity to turn the page on a certain type of player: those who have no technique. Missed controls, shots off target 9 times out of 10, repeated injuries... No but it would make me laugh Guilavogui in Southampton, it's hilarious. They thought they had Spertsyan and ended up with Guilavogui. not exactly filling me with confidence

Hmm. All the Lens fans think he's shit. Not always an indicator but not the best sign.

I mean potential to do well in a new league. Always difficult to know how someone will adapt.