Seriously, the extra bodies should mean that McEntee is now used more as a CB (displacing Dave as first choice RCB?) and Albert becomes a rival for Barrett’s place rather than be used as a forward. Healthy competition all across the whole squad - no safe berths leading to complacency.
High-profile loan signing from PL club to replace Lowe
Long-term replacement/understudy for Jamma on a permanent
Midfield options to cover injuries to Hall and Earing
Experienced striker who has scored goals at L2 and above
No outgoing transfers despite interest throughout the window
I still think the Lowe recall was a bit of a hammer blow and then we seemed to lose a bit of momentum after the Freddie deal collapsed, but hopefully Sadler has more than enough at his disposal now to get us over the line.
I’d say we’ve done well when you look at it on paper. Losing Lowe was massive and he was never going to be replaced like for like as he was a complete anomaly for us. We have strength in depth in all positions and have a mixture of youth and experience (something loads of here crowed on about).
My only concern is the amount of loans.
Simkin
Asiimwe
Hall
Chang
Lipsuic
Harrison
Wheatley
We can only choose 5 in a match day squad, so some of those will be sitting out. I know Hall is injured but you’d think none of the others will be happy to not be on the 18 come Saturday/Tuesday. Be interesting to see how Sadler manages this moving forwards as Asiimwe didn’t even make the squad on Saturday.
I would have like a few more permanents, but maybe they club will use this as an extended trial for next season on some. One thing the club will get from me is patience as they’ve proven they deserve this after the past 12 months.
I really don’t think anyone can have real concerns about that window
Sadler seems to know exactly what he needs and they’ve dealt with it accordingly - 7 players in…. Not bad when some on here were motioning we should have signed players within 5 minutes of the window opening which would be complete madness…
Even though the Draper deal didn’t come off, it was through no fault of ours - I honestly think Lincoln weren’t really that fussed if they sold him or not but would have for stupid money if it had been on the table… Unfortunately, we were first to blink and made them a sensible offer - they then chose to ‘market him’ at a much higher number (that’s what you risk when you jump in too quickly) - we subsequently found out we were dealing with knobs…
I’m happy with the business we’ve done - let’s hope we’re back to winning ways asap…
Some of the loan signings look like extended trials to me, with a view to moving for them permanently in the summer if they settle in well and perform to the required standards on the pitch, especially the two loans from Blues.
If you look what Blues spent this season, I’d guess they will be more of the same this summer in the championship so that won’t leave much opportunities for the likes of Hall and Chang.
A good window. The best signings are done in the summer, when contracts run out. It is very difficult to get good permanent signings in January. I think the Saddlers or perhaps the Sadlers have done a decent job.
I think it ticked the majority of the boxes we had but I always compare to other teams in the same league as us, it tends to give an indication of the market place we were competing in, once again it stacks up well imho
Some negatives number of loans, a quality striker that’s ours, a creative dominant number eight would have been nice in my book but can also see why not and the benefit in the summer to upgrade for hopefully a league one season
So it’s 8/10 for me
Was thinking the same. We seem to have an eye on what we may need next season as well as what we need now. Bring in some younger players, have a good look at them with a view to loans next season. Blues will go up this year so may want their 2/3 kids to get game time with us as they may not be ready for the Championship. Benefits all parties. We’ve got a large squad now, they can’t all be in the team but it means we can manage everyone’s game time to help players recover and keep them fresh.
A very good window in the end. Not a 10 but not far off. It is difficult to recruit well in January and with the Harrison signing we are only one player short of a perfect squad for this level (a good experienced midfielder) .We should have more than enough to get promoted.
7/10 would’ve liked a permanent in midfield hopefully the two loans make a difference. I assume some money was spent on Harrison for him to essentially end his contract at the Dongs