Strengthening in January?

Ferrier to Tranmere and Norwiod to Walsall. Player plus cash (undisclosed, obviously) #youknowitmakessense

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Surely, living in Walsall, someone at the club has asked the question about Greg Halford. He can fill in at centre half, full back and in midfield. He even had a spell up front at one point in his career. Another plus is his mammoth long throw. Maybe Etheridge can have a word…

I wonder whether Hoolahan might be a possibility given the testimonial that Norwich have arranged for he and Martin. I know he’s old but Ishmel has flattered to deceive and Oztumer has never really been replaced. I suppose a lot rides in our potential FA Cup run…

What would make him better than Martin though? Hasn’t played a game since May. He’s also trouble off the pitch which is one reason he’s had plenty of clubs.

A really ambitious club at this level would be looking at someone like Oliver Burke on loan. Was great at Forest, big money move to Germany didn’t make out and same has happened at West Brom so needs to go somewhere where he can play every week and loan to Walsall would certainly be a reality check.

Will probably end up at a Sunderland or Peterbrough.

Why do people believe that Fitzwater will be recalled?

Tranmerefan

RedandWhite

Sep 7

RedandWhite, Norwood has been great (again). Hes out of contract in June, but us whites are worried about losing him in January, probably for peanuts. I always knew (like Cook) he would make the step up into the FL. You can just tell by his game and what he brings. Hes different to Cook in how he plays of course but offers more than goals. Even if he doesn’t score, he puts 110 percent effort into every game and is a constant nuisance. Scored a lot for us in the National League also. 21, 16 and 24, then goes onto score 5 in his first 5 league games in the FL. Just like Cookie, he just needed a club to take a chance on him in the FL, but gladly we were that club. I fear we may lose him though. Ferrier has done well for you also, we nearly signed him ourselves. Danny Rowe of Fylde is another whos an option and Keates knows him well. Also a player who we tracked, and had into our office during the summer.

Glad Cookie is doing well btw, hes a great lad and did us proud!!

RedandWhite

Maybe if you do no good this season we come back and have Norwood off you as well :smile:

Tranmerefan

So big Cookie is doing well so far?

Yeah, weve still got a big gap. Norwood who already has 4 in 4 is missing him as a strike partner. Ive already seen enough to think if we had kept Cook we would be getting back to back promotions. They were like Shearer and Sheringham, but the lower league version.

We brought back former player Cole Stockton from Carlisle to replace him. Which has had mixed reactions from our fans, most didn’t rate him including me. Hes done okay in games but remains goalless in 5 games. If we still had Cook…

All the best.

The Cookie :cookie: monsters :japanese_ogre: ours . would love to get Norwood off you tho. Shall we say 50k plus Morgan terrier :joy:

I would argue that we shouldn’t be looking to do too much business in January. We won’t go up and we shouldn’t go down so any investment with a view to maybe finishing 13th instead of 16th would be wasteful in my opinion.

With Dobson, Edwards and Chambers all due to return in the new year, it will be like Saturday’s squad getting three new players anyway.

Any business we do should be with an eye on 19/20 and beyond. This might mean concentrating on extending Kinsella and maybe even offering Cook a new contract. It also means extending the professional trials of Devlin, Leahy et al.

Of course all of this is subject to the opaque way we do the books. If this year’s cup money plus the money we got/will get from transfers (don’t forget the Candlin and Bradshaw cash will come next month) becomes not even a footnote in a set of accounts manufactured to show a small profit then Dean may as well go for it in January.

The worst case scenario is that come the autumn when the accounts are published, we see a profit of £12,000 with a certain Director’s loans reducing by £200,000 and us not having strengthened the squad in either January or August.

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Watched the first five episodes of the new Sunderland documentary on Netflix yesterday, which offers an interesting insight into the January transfer window from the viewpoint of their Chief Exec and the manager at the time (Chris Coleman).

What it really highlighted was how important mid-season league positions can be in relation to getting loan players in. Despite their ground, stadium, support etc they struggle to get signings in because they are in the bottom three and, presumably, players don’t want a relegation on their CV.

Seem to remember us going into last January in the bottom half having not won a game in December, so you have to wonder how much that contributed to what was a seemingly poor transfer window. Would like to think that staying within touching distance of the play-offs could put us in good stead for the next window, which makes Saturday’s result all the more disappointing.

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I tend to agree with that…we may need to replace loan players who go back to their parent club but very little else needs to be done. Obviously I would like to see another striker brought in because although we have conceded a fair number of goals we haven’t scored enough either. Cover at left back would also be useful but other than that I would wait until the Summer.

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Notice that Dan Agyei has been scoring for Burnley’s U23’s. Wouldn’t mind him returning for six months.

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I’d take him back. Thought he was underrated by many of our fans.

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I though he was decent. Would certainly help to put pressure on the existing strikers.

I’d like to see him up top with Cook. Far less selfish than Ferrier and a better finisher than both Ferrier and Gordon.

Personally think him and Ferrier are much of a muchness. Agyei 8 goals in 46 League games, Ferrier 3 goals in 22 league games. 0.2 goals a game plays 0.1 goals a game.

I would rather look for somebody else. There has to be better out there.

I think it would depend on how he’d be used. In a front two he’d be excellent with Cook, but he was never up to playing as a lone striker. He looked a class above on his debut when played as part of a two with Bakayoko. I remember him being a real handful, and us looking far worse when he went off. I think we got spanked the next game and then reverted to one up top for most of the rest of his spell here where he didn’t really have the attributes to play that role.

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I agree. As a 2 with Cook I think he’d shine.

Would be interesting to know if Keates has been in contact with Smith since the latter took the Villa job. They must have some talented youngsters that need match time.