JRC

If we'd got someone running off the headers he wins it would be the right tool for the job. He might be OK with someone like Mighton playing off him. He does win a lot of headers, they just end up getting cleared by one of the 4 unopposed defenders around Loft.

Connor Wickham hasn't played a game for 9 months. By the time he's properly match fit we'll either be relegated or safe.

I think Newcastle only paid him for the one season he had remaining on his contract when he signed for Stoke. This season he's had to survive on his Stoke wage.

There's a podcast with Dave Flitcroft on Twitter and we are talking to a free agent. I would suspect it's Gayle.

You can't just have someone sitting in the next door room, just in case your first choice deal falls through. Once it's down to the last couple of hours either the deal works out or you do a Wrexham or Bristol Rovers.

It would appear the plan fell apart late on deadline day. If there was a plan B it was too late to follow it.

It's pretty clear the manager did have some say and the priority was a centreforward. The problem was we failed to get the deal over the line in the final hours of the window. If we'd signed a decent centreforward I think it would have been a good window. Sadly it seem we failed in the final hour.

Partly depends on what Gayle wants from his next club. If he wants more money he won't be at Vale Park. I've seen him linked to Wednesday and Derby, where he's more likely to get minutes from the bench. He might be looking for a big pay cheques in Saudi or The States for a season. He might just love playing football and want to spend as much time as possible on the pitch. It is odd he still hasn't gone somewhere. I was expecting him to sign for someone within 48 hours of leaving Stoke. Normally players get released with a club already lined up but too late to get the deal done on deadline day.

As the window panned out Gibbo would have been a good signing. However, given the choice of a good centreforward or Gibbo the former was clearly the spot to spend money on. Being optimistic if Moore really did his research before taking the job it's pretty clear we are desperate for a centreforward. That probably means there is some kind of plan to bring someone in which has a reasonable probability of happening. I really can't see him being here to add a relegation to his CV. The obvious one Dwight Gayle who probably had his best season playing under Moore.

Just a moment... WWW.THESTAR.CO.UK They can add any of the contracted players to their list until it's full whenever they want, no questions asked or admin hurdles. Thereafter they need to get approval to make a change. So if a striker gets injured they can add Gregory, a midfielder Jeff Hendrick. If they'd named all 25 players and the wrong ones got injured it's probable they would not get approval for a change. This way they can run with more flexibility. It's a loophole that probably should be closed as it's allowing bigger clubs to horde players and operate with much bigger squads. A lot of teams are doing it. You are only really limited by squad lists outside transfer windows anyway. Wednesday can operate with a squad of 28 players and pretty much have 100% flexibility over who they select for most of each 3/4 month periods outside transfer windows. If they decide they want Gregory on Saturday they just add him to the list and he can play. Unlikely we will ever have a big enough squad to worry about this I'd guess.

I'd think there may be a possibility. Not 100% sure but I think Gayle scored his goals at Albion when Moore was manager.

The squad list and registration are different. The squad list is selected from registered players over 21. Clubs can only select from the squad list; although They can request a change to the squad list in exceptional circumstances. Wednesday probably elected to keep Gregory in case one of their forwards gets an injury.

Moore played Mighton at wingback at Wednesday.

He played wingback at Sheffield Wednesday. He's played as a 10, striker and both wings for Forest.

Last January we recruited Taylor and most fans were happy with him when signed. At this time last season we had Proctor, Harrison, Wilson, Taylor and Butterworth in the squad. Today it's Wilson, Loft, Uche and Dipepa.

If you watch video clips of his highlights he did appear to be playing centrally at times. It's not unusual for young strikers to play out wide initially. The fact he was likely to play more centrally may have been part of the reason he chose us. If Uche wasn't injured I'd be quite happy with our attacking options. Watching a little of Mighton playing he reminds me of Tony Sealy; my favourite Vale loan player. Particularly in his first spell when he often played up front with the Chamberlains he was unplayable.

Connor Wickham hasn't played since May. You are probably looking at mid March before he's fit. Without looking at the list it probably leaves Deeney and Gayle. Gayle will have suitors, what we can offer him is regular game time. Similar situation with Deeney. Does seem this window has been reminiscent of the Maynard window, where we held out in the hope of a signing fans would have been very happy with; ultimately missing out on lesser players we could have signed. That's football. Sadly I think we may end up finding out how good Debrah was as a centreforward.

With no local press coverage it was a strange end to a window. Before The Sentinel or Radio Stoke would tell you no further signings are expected and you'd know there was no point checking the Internet. There must be a way the club can pick up the slack on that. Even the run of PR messages last January was better than the absolute silence post the McDermott departure. It's not really Flitcroft or Crosby's job but the marketing and communication department just aren't good at getting information out at times, which is a little sad as there was a time when there were good.

I think they brought in some complicated arrangement where you send something in by 1100 and then have an hour to submit the remaining documentation. I don't fully understand how it works but it was in response to the Bristol Rovers and Wrexham problems in the summer. I think it was more straightforward just to keep a simple deadline. It also means you can't ask questions when completing documents as I assume the offices are unmanned after 11. Whether the rumour about Smith or any other player is true is a different question.

The two signed yesterday look good signings, I'm reasonably confident both will improve the team from a week ago and would have improved the team prior to the loans leaving. Uche is a loss, although that isn't the fault of the recruitment team. The real loss has been Devine and Arblaster. Devine was patchy when he played as a 10, so I don't think we are any worse with Weir or Mighton playing there. Devine and Arblaster we both very good in that sitting role. Against Portsmouth Gore and Weir together looked a bit lost. I thought Weir looked better when Sang replaced Gore. Really the determinant of whether it's been a good window or not will be if Gore can perform for most of his loan at the level of the two we lost. I think all of us are hoping something will be announced on the striker front. Thomas, Bulmer, McDermott, Cass and Conlon hasn't made the first 11 weaker. With the current injuries I'd have kept Conlon but the manager was selecting Walters ahead of him.

The striker I 100% agree on. I think Shorrock has made signing a LWB more difficult. He's looking better each game. Currently he's better than Small ever was for us; who was regarded as the next big thing by many Premiership watchers. He's also better than McCarron who Leeds paid 250k for. Unlike many I did think McCarron had some potential but he was further away than Shorrock to being a decent league 1 wingback. The issue is whoever we brought in had to be better than Jack and I suspect a lot of PL 2 players aren’t. That may have been the reason we didn't go back to Denver Hume. Not sure we need a RWB, Massey is playing his best football since joining. Sang improved in that position, Clark must be getting back to fitness and personally I think it will end up being Plant's best position. Lomax has also done OK when he's played there. Towards the end of the window I was starting to think cover for Ojo might be more beneficial. If we could have got a wingback better than Grant (who has been a little disappointing compared to what I'd hoped) then it would have been good news. Otherwise someone who could add what Ojo does started to look more appealing. Maybe Walters will step up if required.

Can't imagine we did sign anyone last night as you would hope they would have posted it at the least. Also the selling or parent club for a loan would have released the information. It's possible we could sign someone like Dwight Gayle who was released from his contract by Stoke quite late. That often means a shot term deal has been arranged and it's too late in the window to get medicals completed. Not sure if anyone else was released from their contract last night. Troy Deeney could be a possible, I think Crosby did some coaching at Watford when Deeney was there. Otherwise I guess we go with what we have. Crewe getting Charlie Kirk until the end of the season was good late business for them. We've got Wilson, Chislett, Mighton and Weir fit who play the role he could have occupied for us; plus Garrity when he's fit. I've always liked him when I've seen him play.

I think it's linked to FFP regulations being enforced.

So far today I think we've definitely signed players who will improve us. Conundrum now is 1 loan space and we need a lwb and a striker. I suspect the Uche injury has changed the importance of one over the other. Always possible we could sign someone permanently; or a player near the end of his contract gets released.

Good luck Lewis Cass. Never quite hit the heights I'd hoped he would. Loved his rampage forward. Sadly his distribution never really improved. Always looked like he gave his all. Ultimately I'd say Lomax has looked a better and similar prospect this season.