That *was* the January Window

[JHRover]

Lets be honest, we have no strategy other than to sell and cut costs and then try to fill up the squad with whatever cheap loans and frees come available.

Jettisoning two academy graduates who know the club inside out and have been here since boys, one to Palace and one to Ipswich, and signing John Fleck on a short term deal really does sum it up.

[Exiled_Rover]

38 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

Given he has only signed a 2 and a half year deal at Stoke I'd suspect that we probably paid him or are paying him a years salary.

Or that's all Stoke want to commit to...

[Neal]

HE WAS AT COVENTRY WITH WAGGOT!!!

 

YOU COULDN'T MKE IT UP!

 

🤣😂🤣😂

[garnersfags]

53 minutes ago, pick32 said:

....the four options going forward this season are Buckley JRC Sonny and Garrett

(wrote this before the news of our fleckin new signing.....) If JDT gets his way, we'll only need 2 of those 4 at any one time, as he wants to play 5 - 2 - 3. 

I'm interested to see how JDT moulds another challenging ugly duckling squad into a gliding swan, with the odd, understandable youth-driven stutter. A continuation of our on the pitch style development, which a lazy-looking, frustrating Buckley, showing the same level of brilliant inconsistency we've seen from AW for the last year.

(Now Fleck thro the door, JB will be more of a bench warmer....hmmmmm, options)

[booth]

We're fucking doomed aren't we. 😂 🫠

[yankfan]

44 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Fleck is 32 and the Coventry loanee 37 so you have to say the need for some experience in the squad has been addressed. Fleck's arrival should mean JRC can stay on the right flank, where he is best. Wharton has gone but add in the American lad and getting money for Ennis and the window could have been worse.

Let's see how it goes

It’s clear the goal is to stay up, fill the holes until summer when the illusive funds become available. 

[Paul Mellelieu]

Reading SUFC Forum.  All agreed Fleck was a great player, but knackered now.  Maybe we get a few games and dressing room  leadership from him.  Maybe he puts in some Gordon Cowans performances in.

[Jimmy612]

 

What on earth am I reading here

[Gav]

1 minute ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Reading SUFC Forum.  All agreed Fleck was a great player, but knackered now.  Maybe we get a few games and dressing room  leadership from him.  Maybe he puts in some Gordon Cowans performances in.

You have to be in Gordon Cowans  league to put in GC performances, Fleck isn’t and never will be.

[47er]

44 minutes ago, booth said:

Sheffield United fans say he's been shite for 3 years. Immobile, injury prone, fitness problems and on top of that he re-broke his leg which never seemed to heal properly. And he's just come back from another injury.

But hey, it's experience!

Welcome to the Ewood Park Field Hospital.

Good company guaranteed.

[Silas]

5 minutes ago, Jimmy612 said:

 

What on earth am I reading here

An abysmal spelling of yesterday. 

In a modern age where technology literally does it for you. 

[joey_big_nose]

36 minutes ago, goozburger said:

I think Tomasson made it fairly clear that Travis binned us off rather than the other way around.

I think the process was JDT didnt like Travis in the deeper 6 role so moved him, Travis kicked off about it so JDT dropped him entirely, so then Travis asked to leave.

The root of the issue was JDT didnt rate Travis in his favoured position.

[jny]

The thing that annoys me most about all these young Prem loans is we keep getting the players who aren't performing and don't look like they're going to make the cut at their parent club (even when these same clubs also have other players they're looking to loan out in the Championship who are actually decent!)

What's the point of insisting on playing the Tyler Mortons of this world week-in, week-out to apparently develop a relationship with their parent club at the behest of our own prospects, if we just then get loaded with these clubs' academy chaff the next season?

Edited February 2 by jny

[yankfan]

28 minutes ago, Jimmy612 said:

 

What on earth am I reading here

Paid accounts 

[booth]

14 minutes ago, 47er said:

Welcome to the Ewood Park Field Hospital.

Good company guaranteed.

We all wanted experience, but with McFadzean and Fleck, one fears that Gregg is one step away from necromancy.

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, jny said:

The thing that annoys me most about all these Prem loans is we keep getting the players who aren't performing and don't look like they're going to make the cut at their parent club (even when these same clubs have also got other players they're looking to loan out in the Championship who are actually decent!)

What's the point of insisting on playing the Tyler Mortons of this world week-in, week-out to apparently develop a relationship with their parent club at the behest of our own prospects, if we just then get loaded with these clubs chaff the next season?

It definitely feels like we have got loans that have been decided purely on the cheapest contributions rather than to improve the team. Ayari is possibly the highest calibre in that he moved to Brighton for 4m and I think Coventry made a decent contribution to get him, but he bombed there so his stock has fallen and he was sent back. And Chrisene was nowhere near the Villa side and had a brief injury hit spell at the same level that Jack Vale has gone to.

But Koumetino looks at the worst level on face value. He wasnt close to the Liverpool squad unlike the 3 previous ones (even Clarkson was quite close, Morton definitely) and his loan spells say a lot, unsuccessful despite being at really poor levels.

[roversfan99]

I think we have done a really poor job in this window at loaning out our own young players. I get that our own late flurry of signings may have caused issues but still.

Leonard will/should be nowhere near the team now with Gallagher, McGuire and Dolan. Telalovic is crap so id have Leonard ahead of him but he still is quite a bit away from this standard, a League 1 spell would have done him the world of good. Surely it could have been set up on the assumption that McGuire was coming and completed in the last few hours as confidence grew.

Batty and Gilsenan were nowhere near the first team even before these signings, theyll gain little playing for the under 23s. Markanday could have done with a loan too.

[Upside Down]

Another transfer window that can only be described as a total disaster.

[bluebruce]

This has been an utterly dog shit window. That's all I have to add right now.

[windymiller7]

3 hours ago, Torgeir said:

Why number 50?

Finally! Just needs an early goal to get going. 

Only numbers left in the club shop!

They actually had to re-heat Adam's shirts to remove the previous numbers - expect Dunc's shirt to be a snug fit!

[DackDackGoose]

Well a very bad window all in all, adam needed replacing with a half decent playmaker. A lot of dud loanees purely to make up numbers. At least it looks better than last night - interested to hear what actually happened..

I think fleck (tbh never stood out to me when watching) and mcfadz are smart short term signings, can extend contracts next year to keep experience/leadership in squad, it was clearly missing. Not the best players now but have won promotions. 

Mcguire is a big risk, cant see him having an impact on this season, better than Ennis though? Lets see - worst thing is i'm actually happy Gally has stayed..

With JRC and flecks injury records (and buckley to an extent) its a massive onus on garrett to perform..

Seems theyv made an effort to stop shipping goals, cant see us scoring many though.

[Upside Down]

14 minutes ago, windymiller7 said:

Only numbers left in the club shop!

They actually had to re-heat Adam's shirts to remove the previous numbers - expect Dunc's shirt to be a snug fit!

Beyond embarrassing.

If only we had billionaire owners....

[metalrover]

All eyes now on the central midfield void. No quality replacement for wharton. The Travis loan now looks like a big mistake.

 

And if Pears get injured again, we might go down.

[ageoftherover]

Not quite the disastrous window it was looking like 24 hours ago. Hardly a slam dunk though.

Pros:

McGuire is a very interesting signing. Young, scoring a bagful stylishly in a comparable league, and looking destined for international football. We have the inside track to obtaining him permanently if it goes well and lose relatively little if it doesn't. Has the potential to be a very special player here given his age and profile, albeit a lot of water to go under the bridge first. I think our front line is significantly stronger with him taking the place of Ennis and I'm hopeful that he and Szmodics will be a huge problem of opposition defenders, for potentially a long time.

Were a much tougher team with McFadzean and Fleck. Both hard nosed, experienced guys who won't accept bullshit, either from team mates or opposition players. Their bodies holding up is obviously a risk, but even if their main contribution is a training/mentoring one I think there's value in the context of a young squad with a tendency to get bullied and wilt in games. Squad character is a real thing.

Defensively we've strengthened, with many more options and decent depth in the position. Imo this was our #1 priority for the window and while not perfect, I think recruitment has done a decent job given the constraints. Whether it coalesces into a more organised defensive unit is another question of course.

Cons: 

Creatively we're now super reliant on JRC and Buckley stepping up/remaining fit. I think JRC in particular has the potential to be one of the best midfielders in the comp, but staying on the pitch for long enough to fill that potential is another matter. An early injury to Tronstad and we have a relegation level midfield.

All round organisational shitshow. Chaos with the McGuire deal, timing of the Wharton deal made spending difficult, hamstrung management and no capacity or willingness for the owners to spend. Hard to know from the outside where to apportion blame (though I have my suspicions) but clearly we are treading water organisationally which suggests a downward trajectory. If we maintain competitiveness over the next year or two I think GB and JDT deserve extremely high praise.

Loads of young loans. Meh. Hard to get excited about them or see them impacting us meaningfully.

GK was never going to be a priority this window, but it remains a problem position. A Pears upward trajectory isn't out of the question, but there's a lot riding on this particular maybe.

I'd give the window a 5.5/10.

[Bbrovers2288]

Got to say this was an epic fail of a window , jeez