Albion give up on promotion!

[sixnilup]

We did a fantastic bit of business selling Barnes for 750k. A player who's contract was up in the summer. The Huddersfield match recently summed up why he's not good enough for this currant squad.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

We did a fantastic bit of business selling Barnes for 750k. A player who's contract was up in the summer. The Huddersfield match recently summed up why he's not good enough for this currant squad.

The raisin we sold was purely financial, and we should be grapeful for the time Ash spent with us.

 

[Beach Hut]

The raisin we sold was purely financial, and we should be grapeful for the time Ash spent with us.

Bunch of good that did.

 

[Urchin]

As I said before, Ashley Barnes was the heartbeat of the team. Sounds like Andy Naylor agrees that the team lacked that heartbeat at Derby. And Peter Schmeichel on motd tonight highlighted Eriksen as the best player for Spurs today- what position does he play? Same as Barnsey did, shuttling from midfield to attack, then back to help out in defence. Whether Ash wanted to stay or not, whether we lost him for nothing in the summer or not, we have transferred our promotion hopes out the door with him unless miraculously David Burke finds a remarkable replacement, at a Barber/FFP friendly price who is fit and can slot straight in to the team. Hmmm.

It's very worrying when the "heartbeat" of our team, who is a striker, scores 3 goals from open play in 22 games.

 

[fat old seagull]

The raisin we sold was purely financial, and we should be grapeful for the time Ash spent with us.

Yes, but surely we could have oranged a more suitable date?

 

[Albion Dan]

Yes, but surely we could have oranged a more suitable date?

It's a shame we didn't keep that Kiwi fella who we had on loan a few years back in div 1 instead of sign Barnes.

 

[JBizzle]

It's very worrying when the "heartbeat" of our team, who is a striker, scores 3 goals from open play in 22 games.

Why do people always discount penalties to make stats look worse? There's no doubt Barnes has been missed since he left , in my eyes.

The next 10 days will go a long way to either prove or disprove Super Steve Earle's point. Right now £750k and no replacement seems very poor business, bring someone in and things look much better. We'll have to wait and see...

 

[symyjym]

The raisin we sold was purely financial, and we should be grapeful for the time Ash spent with us.

But this Barnes sham, pains me.

 

[rippleman]

My concern is that we appear to have done our "selling" at the start of the transfer window but have not had the replacements ready to come straight in. The fact that we have two important away games against promotion rivals (one of which we have already lost) during the window appears to have been overlooked! (And Obika's goals per game ratio is nowhere near as good as Barnes!).

If we wait until the final day of the window to do our buying business, I fear the dropped points are going to cost us dear.

 

[B.W.]

As I said before, Ashley Barnes was the heartbeat of the team. Sounds like Andy Naylor agrees that the team lacked that heartbeat at Derby. And Peter Schmeichel on motd tonight highlighted Eriksen as the best player for Spurs today- what position does he play? Same as Barnsey did, shuttling from midfield to attack, then back to help out in defence. Whether Ash wanted to stay or not, whether we lost him for nothing in the summer or not, we have transferred our promotion hopes out the door with him unless miraculously David Burke finds a remarkable replacement, at a Barber/FFP friendly price who is fit and can slot straight in to the team. Hmmm.

This is ridiculous. Comparing Barnes to an absolutely top class player. Please wait until the end of the window. IF we fail to sign a BETTER player than Barnes (NOT difficult) THEN I'll join you in writing off promotion. Until then, chin up!

 

[sparkie]

By selling Ashley Barnes, I seriously believe we have given up on promotion this season. He is the heartbeat of the team and we will struggle now. We should have sacrificed the £750k, kept him and reviewed in the summer. I don't think we'll go down, but that's it for now. I well remember another time in another age when the club failed to realise the importance of Kit Napier and we never recovered that season with dramatic consequences.
I think this will be the same.

10 days to go.

If we get a decent striker, and an attacking midfielder - plus a replacement for Crofts on a half-season loan - will you still say the same ?

 

[Big_Unit]

The raisin we sold was purely financial, and we should be grapeful for the time Ash spent with us.

What a reasonable and well-balanced post. I never understand people who go out of their way to inSULT AN Albion player.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

10 days to go.

If we get a decent striker, and an attacking midfielder - plus a replacement for Crofts on a half-season loan - will you still say the same ?

I might do. Your suggestions are appealing. My misgivings are that players who can play Barnsey's role are either few and far between or will take time to train. But hey, perhaps we'll just change our style to play to the strengths of the players we have.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Well I'm still feeling pretty flat. No, I'm not going to post after every defeat and Stephens could well be the Crofty replacement. But will Obika or Spanish Rodders fill the Barnes gap? I really sincerely hope so because I'm as avid a fan as anyone. But we've seen off the transfer window by siging... Oh, barely anyone. Don't care about Bridders going, he's hardly played all season and I'd rather keep Ince anyway. Buckley? Fine player, but struggling with fitness and form this season and unlikely to make more than a sporadic contribution. CMS. Great that he's nearly back and no-one can question his work rate. But if I remember rightly most NSC chatters suggested he had become a bit headless chicken before he was injured. It would be great if Oscar can bring out the best in him. who were we hoping for? Joe Lewis - nope. Grabban - played us for a bigger contract. Conway - somehow financially beyond us despite bringing in over £3m in the last couple of weeks. Happy we are sticking to FFP rules as no-one wants to see us do a Leeds, a Pompey or insert your choice of fallen club desperate for a benefactor. But I still believe we threw promotion ambition out the door for this season when we sold Barnes to our promotion rivals for a few more £ in the bank. We knew Murray would leave for nothing at the end of our League 1 Champions season, but we took the hit on him to secure the bounty the Championship brought. Perhaps we should have foregone the £750k for Barnes in exchange for a decent punt at the Premiership rather than made ourseves look a bit silly touting our FFP driven approach around the leagues to try and dredge up a replacement. I'll try and stay optimistic for the loan window but the gap is growing and we are going to have to move pretty smartly to have any chance of making the top six now.

 

[TottonSeagull]

Well I'm still feeling pretty flat. No, I'm not going to post after every defeat and Stephens could well be the Crofty replacement. But will Obika or Spanish Rodders fill the Barnes gap? I really sincerely hope so because I'm as avid a fan as anyone. But we've seen off the transfer window by siging... Oh, barely anyone. Don't care about Bridders going, he's hardly played all season and I'd rather keep Ince anyway. Buckley? Fine player, but struggling with fitness and form this season and unlikely to make more than a sporadic contribution. CMS. Great that he's nearly back and no-one can question his work rate. But if I remember rightly most NSC chatters suggested he had become a bit headless chicken before he was injured. It would be great if Oscar can bring out the best in him. who were we hoping for? Joe Lewis - nope. Grabban - played us for a bigger contract. Conway - somehow financially beyond us despite bringing in over £3m in the last couple of weeks. Happy we are sticking to FFP rules as no-one wants to see us do a Leeds, a Pompey or insert your choice of fallen club desperate for a benefactor. But I still believe we threw promotion ambition out the door for this season when we sold Barnes to our promotion rivals for a few more £ in the bank. We knew Murray would leave for nothing at the end of our League 1 Champions season, but we took the hit on him to secure the bounty the Championship brought. Perhaps we should have foregone the £750k for Barnes in exchange for a decent punt at the Premiership rather than made ourseves look a bit silly touting our FFP driven approach around the leagues to try and dredge up a replacement. I'll try and stay optimistic for the loan window but the gap is growing and we are going to have to move pretty smartly to have any chance of making the top six now.

Very easy to say we should have kept Barnes until the summer and let him walk for nothing when it's not your money! Personally I didn't particularly rate him, he gave 100% but would he be the difference to us going up or not? I am sure that TB & PB realise that they only way the will start to have any profits is to be in the Premier League and therefore have a plan to get there. It may not be this season and they be consolidating but I would much prefer to not go and spend money we don't have and gamble the future away. We have a £15m training ground being built which will nurture talent and attract better players. The future looks bright, it may take a while but I have no doubt that we will be in the Premier League in the next few years.
Now go around and pick up the rattle and your toys and place them back in your cot!

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Next 3 League games are at home , all are winnable.

 

[BensGrandad]

18 games left = 54 points to play for all is not lost yet as we have most of the teams above us to play and if we beat them the picture will change.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

We did a fantastic bit of business selling Barnes for 750k. A player who's contract was up in the summer. The Huddersfield match recently summed up why he's not good enough for this currant squad.

No need to use such fruity language.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Next 3 League games are at home , all are winnable.

Barnsley, Seff Weds and Millwall at home were winnable.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Very easy to say we should have kept Barnes until the summer and let him walk for nothing when it's not your money! Personally I didn't particularly rate him, he gave 100% but would he be the difference to us going up or not? I am sure that TB & PB realise that they only way the will start to have any profits is to be in the Premier League and therefore have a plan to get there. It may not be this season and they be consolidating but I would much prefer to not go and spend money we don't have and gamble the future away. We have a £15m training ground being built which will nurture talent and attract better players. The future looks bright, it may take a while but I have no doubt that we will be in the Premier League in the next few years.
Now go around and pick up the rattle and your toys and place them back in your cot!

Shame you spoiled a reasoned response with the childish comment at the end, but thanks for troubling to reply.