1 hour ago, Bobnewtonian said:

I hope Carol isn’t being hoodwinked. The signing situation seems almost out of control. It ll cost her a pretty penny. 
 

Is it  almost impossible to mount a promotion challenge with the make up of the current squad and influx of players? 

I prefer the rudgey method.. each window try and swop out your two weakest players for two better ones and over time you ll increase the strength of your team rather than this current method… not sure method is even the right word.
 

if anyone can guess todays starting line up I ll be impressed…. 
 

i ll have a go at naming 2 of the starting 11- Ripley and Stockley.

UTV 

 

The Rudge method worked because he was manager here for a long time a new manager will always bring in a lot of players,lets not forget DM had none of his own players at the club,this is his first window so he has massively changed that and now that falls all on him results wise.

We have had a large turnaround of managers and that ends up being the same for players as well,it's natural,IF Moore stays longer term which i hope he does as that means he has been successful then I guess transfer windows could be different

Loan signing makes more sense now Dipepa has gone. I take my words back.

Wow. Good luck Baylee. Great move

Not gone for the big money we hoped at a guess. Hopefully large sell on clause. 

Great move for him and for us assuming there’s a sell on. Southampton usually very good at developing talent.

Well done Baylee.  Good football ethos at Southampton. 

Best of luck lad. Gutted to of seen so little of you. 

It is rumoured to be a 7 figure fee with a decent Sell on clause

There's a plan moving forwards, as it stands with Darren it's a 5 year plan.

We fans are not aware of what the plan entails, but at a guess, as a minimum I assume it's promotion to at least League One and the development of young talent to sell on.

The transfers thus far do seem more towards the attacking intent but there maybe mitigating factors for this :

Firstly it was obvious last season that scoring goals was a big problem, perhaps the addition of Stockley, Tolaj and Paton will go some way to alleviating that problem, whilst also bringing on the younger players who can only benefit by watching/training with and playing with them.

Moving onto the defence, perhaps Smith is now ready to slot back into the First Team and maybe Hart's Injury isn't as bad as first feared. 

Maybe the targets we were perhaps hoping to bring in were unavailable for whatever reason, or chose to remain where they are, or indeed move elsewhere. Maybe we weren't even looking at defenders.

Midfield certainly looks well stocked.

My personal view is that this 'one up front' will be ditched, having been utilised due to players not being match fit, but now that we have Stockley fit and I figure Tolaj is also probably ready to play once again I think we will play 2 up front, certainly at home.

Looking at the 3 young lads we have taken on loan, perhaps we are looking long term at maybe taking them on permanently in the future, assuming they are surplus to requirements at their parent clubs, maybe not, but I am sure they have been brought in to fight for a place and will almost certainly figure on Tuesday against Wolves under 21's.

Other of our young players, we know who they are, may already be lined up for loan deals elsewhere where they can gain valuable experience. 

Then of course there's January, another transfer window - but let's leave that for now for another thread come December time.

Right now I'm in no doubt that the club is in a healthy financial position off the field, and on the field we certainly have a much stronger squad than last year.

I for one am prepared to give both the Manager and this squad time to gel and find it's feet, I don't expect us to be top of the League any time soon, indeed I think it may even be mid October before we start to see the real shoots of recovery, but I am confident that we will be in the mix come next May. 

PS, I wrote this post before seeing the news about Baylee, good luck Lad.

Edited August 31, 20241 yr by Birches Head Fred

Birmingham break the league one 1 transfer fee with a whopping 10 mill. Mental

Stansfield is on a 7 year contract, so the £10M paid over 7 years? Mainly as a Championship club, they hope.


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Not gone for the big money we hoped at a guess. Hopefully large sell on clause. 

How have you established that?

26 minutes ago, Devoid said:

I might be wrong but I believe we can still release players and sign uncontracted players.

We can still bring in free agent full backs although they might not be up to speed straight away unless released by a club they have been playing for

Dipepa has gone Southampton.

It is rumoured to be a 7 figure fee with a decent Sell on clause

Source?

Southampton u21 team not first team

Although Bailey has joined Southampton U21 there great at bringing players through is probably one of the best in the country I'm sure in the deal there are multiple additions PL appearances etc I wish him all the best.

I think this is a great move for him as a player above going to a Man United where youngsters get lost in the system he has being advised well in my opinion to give him that pedestal to go and make it.