26 minutes ago, ValiantHan said:

So, if Ruari is joining St Johnstone on loan then Vale Whispers was completely off the mark when they said that he was joining Fleetwood. 

What a surprise. 

Not got a huge amount of faith in the loan players but beggars can't be choosers I guess and we need bodies in. 

Thinking about it, going with loan players is probably the right way to do things at this stage.  Brady will have a pretty bare squad to recruit into in the summer, and unless your last team was Workington it's probably quiet hard to permanently recruit for a team in our position. 

2 minutes ago, Walka003 said:

Not got a huge amount of faith in the loan players but beggars can't be choosers I guess and we need bodies in. 

Thinking about it, going with loan players is probably the right way to do things at this stage.  Brady will have a pretty bare squad to recruit into in the summer, and unless your last team was Workington it's probably quiet hard to permanently recruit for a team in our position. 

I think the thing that stands out to me is you don't even have the usual PR spin or hype that these are players we even wanted and have been looking at. 

The sounds coming from the club sound very much like the scraping of the bottom of a barrel. 

1 hour ago, robf said:

The Moore decision that completely baffled me with Paton was dropping him after both him and Cole scored at Exeter. That game was clearly a chance to get a partnership going upfront (like he did with Tolaj/Stockley the previous season) but Moore went back to his beloved rotation and out went Paton.

Paton may not be good enough but he deserved a run at that point so he at least had a chance to show his ability. I think the point with Tolaj is really well made. At Christmas 2024 time, there was a lot of criticism of Tolaj's form because he'd been mucked about - in and out of the side, played out of position. It was only when played as a pair upfront that he clicked. Paton has had the first part (mucked about and played out of position) without the second part - a run in his best position for a few games.

Paton may still not have made it but I guess we may never know now. Incidentally, he's contracted till 2027 though I suspect if this move does happen there may well be an option to buy. 

I really didn't get that Moore decision when he dropped Ruari for the Barnsley game and after that I don't think him and Devante started another league game together. If Moore had kept that partnership going I think they would have scored and assisted each other on a regular basis and IMO we would have been in a better position in the league table rather than where we are now.

IMO he has never been given a proper run in the team to show his ability and what he can do. At least he will go down in history though as the first player to score against Everton's first team at their new stadium albeit in a pre-season friendly so nobody can take that away from him.

Edited February 2Feb 2 by ValiantHan

11 hours ago, soothsayer said:

He can’t play for another club this season having already played for two. They could buy and loan him back I suppose.

Is Scotland classed as a different country, I don’t know personally can’t see a club busting a gut to sign a player that they can’t play.

5 minutes ago, ValiantHan said:

The Moore decision that completely baffled me with Paton was dropping him after both him and Cole scored at Exeter. That game was clearly a chance to get a partnership going upfront (like he did with Tolaj/Stockley the previous season) but Moore went back to his beloved rotation and out went Paton.

Moore made a lot of questionable decisions during his time as manager here and this was another one that he made. 

5 minutes ago, Conrad said:

personally can’t see a club busting a gut to sign a player that they can’t play.

I can.

If they move now and he continues to score then his price could be even higher in the summer and he may attract other clubs. So the logic is act quick while the price is lower and there are fewer clubs also bidding.

If they think Tolaj is only going to get better then they could sign him now, on a long-term contract, then leave him on loan at Plymouth for the remainder of the season. Then he's theirs to play next season onwards...

26 minutes ago, robf said:

The Moore decision that completely baffled me with Paton was dropping him after both him and Cole scored at Exeter. That game was clearly a chance to get a partnership going upfront (like he did with Tolaj/Stockley the previous season) but Moore went back to his beloved rotation and out went Paton.

Paton may not be good enough but he deserved a run at that point so he at least had a chance to show his ability. I think the point with Tolaj is really well made. At Christmas 2024 time, there was a lot of criticism of Tolaj's form because he'd been mucked about - in and out of the side, played out of position. It was only when played as a pair upfront that he clicked. Paton has had the first part (mucked about and played out of position) without the second part - a run in his best position for a few games.

Paton may still not have made it but I guess we may never know now. Incidentally, he's contracted till 2027 though I suspect if this move does happen there may well be an option to buy. 

Rob

i think you have done well to pick out just one baffling Moore decision!
 

My favourite was 15 minutes to go against Peterborough. 0-0 and pressing. Clark needs substituting, and he has a RB on the bench. However, his genius move was to switch Hall to RB, move Cole to the left wing, and bring on Faal

1 minute ago, Brian said:

Rob

i think you have done well to pick out just one baffling Moore decision!
 

My favourite was 15 minutes to go against Peterborough. 0-0 and pressing. Clark needs substituting, and he has a RB on the bench. However, his genius move was to switch Hall to RB, move Cole to the left wing, and bring on Faal

Moore made a lot of questionable decisions during his time of the club but I can't list them all otherwise I would be here all day and we certainly don't want that. 

13 hours ago, robf said:

As we had a tall loanee striker in Faal and have brought in a tall loanee striker in Sherif - isn't it really Faal's position that has been taken?

I think it remains to be seen whether Cole will be replaced. We'll know in about 24 hours.

However, Brady reckoned on Sunday we only had two strikers and now we have three - which isn't very many to last the season out - so either there's at least one more targeted or we're gonna be short upfront for the rest of the season. 

 

We need to improve on that by the end of the day because brown is awful, stockley can lead the line but he needs a partner to do the running and sherif has already been out injured three times this season so I would call him more of a gamble than anything, may come off but odds on he will break down again.

That’s the second manager now that is not feeling Rauri and sent him out on loan.

They both can’t be wrong surely ?

Just now, kevin_struggles said:

We need to improve on that by the end of the day because brown is awful, stockley can lead the line but he needs a partner to do the running and sherif has already been out injured three times this season so I would call him more of a gamble than anything, may come off but odds on he will break down again.

I would definitely agree. However, wanting one and getting one are very different.

I can't imagine we will get another loan in as we can't play them all so that would lead to all sort of Moore-esque rotations. So it's gonna have to be a permanent signing.

Jon Brady managing to persuade someone to sign permanently for a club bottom of the division is a tough task.

One intriguing possibility I was thinking of, is perhaps he goes for free agents after the window? Here's the logic:

• A free agent can either do nothing or play for a club bottom of the table (so it's perhaps easier to get one)
• We can also (like Marvin Johnson) perhaps agree a short-term deal till the end of the season so there's no massive long-term commitment for either party. 
• There's a chance that on Weds we've further closed the gap (if we can beat Wimbledon) and perhaps (amazingly) by Sunday we may even have managed three wins in a row and really closed it down. 
• If that's the case does a club say five/six points adrift look a better prospect to an experienced free agent than it does now?
• The downside is that free agents are usually that for a good reason (usually injury) and there isn't a massive pool of decent players, so I guess bringing in a free agent would be a gamble
• But that said, the last one (Marvin Johnson) was able to come into the team and have an impact, perhaps a free agent striker could too?

A lot of ifs and buts there - but I think it's going to be really difficult to persuade anyone during the window if they have other options (i.e. surely a player is going to opt for the club not in bottom place if they have a choice) so free agents may be an option. A number of players get released today so it would be interesting to see who's out there and perhaps it's not quite time to despair if we don't get someone when the window closes.

9 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

That’s the second manager now that is not feeling Rauri and sent him out on loan.

They both can’t be wrong surely ?

Well, Darren Moore was frequently wrong for a start...

5 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

That’s the second manager now that is not feeling Rauri and sent him out on loan.

They both can’t be wrong surely ?

I get the impression that JB wants to play 4-3-3 as a starting point so just the one central striker which won't suit paton so maybe its more a case of him not being what JB needs.

45 minutes ago, kevin_struggles said:

If they had good business sense they would have removed DM sooner, backed the new manager in the january transfer window and generally done the necessary to secure our league one status. This is not good business sense its damage control made necessary by lack of good business sense.

That’s Football business which we lack and the reason we are in this mess.