It sounds like they could have, they said there was tons of interest. They just...didn't.

Very.

We all know the Armstrong money won't be available come January or next summer. Maybe like a million of it if we are very lucky. I think we are now in the position of entirely relying on our academy to produce. Loaning 5 last season already wasn't ideal, as the manager admitted. Ideally we'd have been recruiting permanent players to replace the loans, but instead we have gone backwards on players we actually own. What have we lost, 7 this summer? With 1 incoming. With no real money to spend, we are going to be incredibly reliant on producing our own players, even assuming we manage to tie down next summer's expirees. Assuming no more big money sales of course.

Ooh, tough question everyone... If you could only get rid of TM or SW, which one would it be? (Yes yes we all wish it was both)

Well that's been a shite window. A ton of players gone. One brought in permanently, four loans. 28-goal striker not replaced at all. £15 million brought in, 500k spent. The only one of our youngsters sent out on loan isn't really that young anymore, is out of contract again in the summer, was pointlessly renewed even though we have no intention to use him, and is going back to the level he basically completed in the second half of last season. I'm not sure which one of these bothers me the most.

Didn't even loan anyone out after bringing Elliott though did we?

I'm interested in this too, I'd like us to get some decent loans for some of our prospects.

If he wants a perm he should just go to the barber like everyone else.

When your manager has outstayed his welcome by a measure of years, perhaps yes. If some fans feel the need to vent their frustrations with some 'naughty' words, so be it.

Tbf though...that's a really weird opinion to have right now. That a backup LB is more important than trying to replace the 28 goal void. Each to their own obviously, but...wow.

Hmm, maybe. After all, we just lost a 28 goal striker. The most any Bournemouth player scored last season was 15, in Solanke and Danjuma. Danjuma is gone now, and Lowe scored 14 last season, maybe they're thinking it's a cheap way to replace those goals. Our goal void is considerably larger so perhaps we are expecting more - arguably we need more, just to tread water.

Has he? All I've seen is one fan on this board suggested him when someone said Sharpe, I think it was, said the player we are targeting isn't an out and out striker (and they literally said just one word, 'Barkhuizen?'). Are there actual links?

I know what definitely doesn't give a proper reflection of his game time, and that's using the total appearances he has made when the vast, vast majority were off the bench. The minutes he has played is, very literally, his game time. It is the amount of time he has been playing games. It's the most accurate measure to use, especially when a player barely starts. The issue with pointing to his ratio isn't the methodology used, it's the fact that when you tot it up, it's a very small sample of time. It's a bit like saying Nuttall was lethal early days when he kept scoring off the bench. Was a valid argument at the time for his inclusion, but it also wasn't proof he was going to do the business. As it stood, he probably didn't get enough game time for us to know what would really have happened if he was played whilst on a roll, but on the whole he turned out to be a bit of a turkey, at least so far. Some of them turn out that way, some don't. But in both cases we only had the numbers we had and have at the time to go off (albeit in Nuttall's case we also saw his limited overall game first hand). And Obafemi's numbers, done accurately, are promising so far. It's not his numbers, but his injury issues, experience for what we would pay, potential wage and desire that are potential concerns. Overall I will be fairly happy if we do sign him at a fair price, though it doesn't look too likely.

Think we will struggle to find a striker for a million on reasonable wages who isn't a huge long shot. And I don't mean their shooting style. If that's the whole budget I'd probably rather loan one and make do with the other options we already own, and spend that money in areas it can go further. But based on the Obafemi thing I would guess we have about 3 million for fees if needed.

And the other 2 have been relentlessly played as wingers despite not being such. So they make take a little time to readjust even if Tony has any intention whatsoever of consistently putting either of them back in there.

Well considering they supposedly turned down double this figure about three weeks ago... https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/sport/football/aberdeen-fc/donsnews/rejecting-a-500000-bid-for-ryan-hedges-was-a-show-of-strength-from-aberdeen-insists-boss-stephen-glass/ ...one of the two claims is wrong, or we really don't have a clue about what people cost, even players we've had tabs on for a while. (Or we are taking the piss with bids we know won't pan out so we can claim we tried again)

I see Van Hecke was talking to Duffy, who urged him to sign for us. I hope he didn't advise him on how to behave when you're not getting your own way...

I was gonna say, looking him up shows me he is also billed as a midfielder. What kind though? I don't think we need to be bringing in Poveda, Khadra and Edun all to play on the wings. Especially when we like to gallivant huge strikers on the wing and already have Dolan too. A central mid, or one of the three we like to play in midfield, and I guess it might be shrewd enough. Bit of a utility player with room to grow? If that's the case perhaps it's not the worst move, especially if it means we won't sign Khadra. And as long as we still think we can sign a proper striker and have money for contract renewals...but if any of that isn't the case, or if he is seen purely as an LB, I have to question our strategy. Again.

From how I read the discussion you joined, neither of them was advocating throwing those players in right now. They're just touting the ones most likely to succeed at some point. Not guaranteed, and not immediately. I'm sure they'll correct me if that's not right. I'd imagine most fans are aware that good prospects fail more frequently than they make it.

He better be perfectly competent at RB too, because it will be bizarre even for us if our only spending this summer, the only place we permanently recruit, is twice at left back. A backup LB (or potential first choice if Pickering doesn't deliver) is one of the areas I'd have been fine with us only loaning a player whilst we see if Pickering finds his feet.

Total disagree on Cairney. We weren't getting the best out of him by playing him wide (clearly we have learnt from that since...Jesus...) but it was still abundantly obvious he was a key player for us and worth considerably more than the pittance we sold him for. I was fuming about the deal. At the time, not with hindsight nor a crystal ball. I wasn't alone. We were in full fire sale mode and got well under his worth. King I wanted to keep, we saw potential in him but for various reasons (including not getting consistent runs in the side) never hit it with us. I definitely wanted him to sign a new deal instead of leaving, though I'll agree I was surprised by how well and how quickly he took to the Prem.

Looks like we are going to sign him, and I've got to be honest, the clips don't excite me about him that much. In particular, the first clip, where literally every single run he makes on it results in a loss of possession (or is cut off before we see what happens with the ball, as presumably it's a loss of possession). It's great that he can run with the ball like that, but if the end product is frequently a loss of possession I'm happier with Rothwell and Dolan. Or since we are talking 'wide' players, BB. We also brought in Poveda already, another player said to be similar to Dolan. I don't see the need for us to loan two similar players to Dolan and continue to hold his development back at a critical stage. I'd rather we didn't bother with Khadra. Maybe he will turn out to be a corker, and obviously I want him to, but it seems like the stupidest area of the pitch to make another loan.

And of course, we are short of owning many players, with that situation looking likely to worsen next summer as it's hard to see us keeping all the out of contract assets. We can rest assured there won't be a budget next summer unless we sell again, the Armstrong money will just vanish into the legendary black hole.

Christ...I think our transfer strategy is abysmal, but that statement is a stretch. We let two LBs go (I'm not going to seriously count Downing there, he was a midfielder who could be forced in there when necessary) and we brought one in. It's immaterial that we technically signed him in January, he has only just rocked up.

Me then? I want to be here. I scored 5 goals last Tuesday in a 7-a-side too, although tbf it doesn't sound like my CV matters, only how much I want to be a Rovers player. Genuinely a lifelong dream for me, can't ask for more than that.