[Albion] "Albion rebuilding may spill over into season"

[sydney]

so that means we'll be dipping into the loan market again which isn't , really , re-shaping or building is it.....?? it's borrowing isn't it.....go all out for lambert....go on...just what we need.

 

[Bra]

I guess it depends on what Hughton meant exactly. If we sign a couple but will complete the squad after Forest I can live with that, anything else is a worry. The issue was obvious to everyone last season in that we lacked the creativity and guile to create chance and a striker to convert those we made. Since then we have lost Tex. Hemed maybe a good addition but without service we could have Messi and he would still struggle. We simple have to add creativity before Forest or we will once again have issues with goals. To allow this situation to spill over into the new season is unacceptable. The most annoying thing for me is the noises the club have been making since January; revamped recruitment, working hard, hit the ground running etc leading me to believe we had learnt our lessons from last year. Clearly I was wrong.

 

[Icy Gull]

I guess it depends on what Hughton meant exactly. If we sign a couple but will complete the squad after Forest I can live with that, anything else is a worry. The issue was obvious to everyone last season in that we lacked the creativity and guile to create chance and a striker to convert those we made. Since then we have lost Tex. Hemed maybe a good addition but without service we could have Messi and he would still struggle. We simple have to add creativity before Forest or we will once again have issues with goals. To allow this situation to spill over into the new season is unacceptable. The most annoying thing for me is the noises the club have been making since January; revamped recruitment, working hard, hit the ground running etc leading me to believe we had learnt our lessons from last year. Clearly I was wrong.

It's very difficult but the club are working hard

 

[durrington gull]

This is the thing isn't it. The club are always at pains to tell us how hard they are working to identify their targets, and all the scouting processes they have in place to sign exactly the right kind of player for the squad. And of course we're constantly reminded just how impossibly difficult it is to sign a player (although we are, of course, assured that the manager does have a competitive budget). But eventually, after all the scouting, and all the difficulties in securing a deal, we end up with a squad stuffed with complete and utter BILGE like Toko, Kemi and COG. And then the loans begin....

Its wearing a little thin now, to say the least. I'm not at the self-harming stage just yet, and we're not quite as half-baked as we were this time last year, but rather than telling us how hard it is to sign anyone, the club really needs to start backing up all their talk of "ambition" with some PROVEN quality for this division, fairly sharpish.

Nailed it - the point about signing 'Proven' quality not just getting any old crap Lg1 level players is the thing - we need to get in another 4 players and try to loan/sell/give away players who failed last season - eg, COG, Colunga etc etc

 

[durrington gull]

this

Agree but im not convinced about buying yet another striker and we then play out of position or simply as a sub! - we only ever play 1 upfront hence why we have the stupid situation where Baldock is likely to play out wide, and if we do get yet another striker in can we please get rid of COG and Colunga first of all!!!!

 

[NooBHA]

It's not only clubs that leave it till the last minute, so do the players trying to get the best deal.
We may already have approached some who are uming and ahring, *cough* Iranian chap *cough*.

It wasn't just the Iranian lad...........Yes he was approached early then claimed he wanted to stay in the Netherlands for another year at least.

We also made early bids for a player and then the selling club hiked the fee they wanted and over and above that we were in early for a Premiership bound striker who's agent held out for a Premiership club which he looks likely get.

So although we tried to get in early in many cases, we can't really control what other clubs, players, or agents do when apprached

 

[perseus]

The squad, as it stands, has a defiant, functional feel to it, hopefully to be embellished in the weeks ahead by a dash of inspiration. (Naylor)

This could be translated in a lot of ways.
"A lot of honest plodders but no flair or excitement"
or
"prevent defeat before going on the attack".

I prefer to say we've got to get a spine to our first team: quick covering defender (needed), midfielder (Kayal) and goalscoring threat/striker.speed merchant. in order tio challenge for promotion.

 

[Icy Gull]

It wasn't just the Iranian lad...........Yes he was approached early then claimed he wanted to stay in the Netherlands for another year at least.

We also made early bids for a player and then the selling club hiked the fee they wanted and over and above that we were in early for a Premiership bound striker who's agent held out for a Premiership club which he looks likely get.

So although we tried to get in early in many cases, we can't really control what other clubs, players, or agents do when apprached

Given how we fail with most of these players maybe we should lower our sights and go for players who will actually sign? As it is we are ending up with what's left. No harm in aiming high but we need to be landing at least one of the high targets over a two year period?

It could of course be that it's sod all to do with the recruiting team and more to do with the budget which is not massive enough for the players we are targeting .

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Given how we fail with most of these players maybe we should lower our sights and go for players who will actually sign? As it is we are ending up with what's left. No harm in aiming high but we need to be landing at least one of the high targets over a two year period?

Hemed? Kayal?

 

[Icy Gull]

Hemed? Kayal?

Were they in demand and high profile? Genuine question. Kayal is great but he was a gamble given his injury record. I am questioning our record at signing Premier League and Championship quality forward players that other English clubs are after rather than foreign gambles.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Were they in demand and high profile? Genuine question. Kayal is great but he was a gamble given his injury record. I am questioning our record at signing Premier League and Championship quality forward players that other English clubs are after rather than foreign gambles.

Oh ok. You didn't specify forward player earlier. Yes, we seem to struggle to get these ones signed.

 

[NooBHA]

Given how we fail with most of these players maybe we should lower our sights and go for players who will actually sign? As it is we are ending up with what's left. No harm in aiming high but we need to be landing at least one of the high targets over a two year period?

It could of course be that it's sod all to do with the recruiting team and more to do with the budget which is not massive enough for the players we are targeting .

Your point is a very valid one but if you read some of the replies about the signing of the Finnish striker then there are loads of negative responses to going for one that was really prepared to sign for us. So by doing that we are accused of not aiming high enough by some people and when we aim high we are accused of aiming too high.

I know someone is now going to say that we should aim somewhere in the middle then but I think we should wait and see how we actually shape up in the first 8-10 weeks before we judge. Also, I think one of the players we missed out on, I think we will go back in with an increased offer for him and that's the reason I have always said that there might be one or two leaving to free up more funds before we make any major signing.

It is not ideal bringing players in this late but better late than never and there is still a month left on this transfer window.

 

[Langley]

Apart from the exceptions of those clubs who have paid (perhaps) silly money for their targets, isn't another factor the deadline for Premiership clubs to register their first team squads thus setting out potential targets who may not be seen as such right now ?

You have hit the nail right on the head.

 

[TSB]

Collective on this thread.
It's not August 7th yet, chaps.

 

[perseus]

I would be happy for us to go for unproven "quality".

 

[Easy 10]

I would be happy for us to go for unproven "quality".

Is there such a thing ?

 

[thisistips]

I am sure that we could have signed many players by now, but they would not necessarily have been much good. We are showing ambition in going for targets that others also want. This is just the expected side effect of the season starting before the transfer window shuts.

This is a sensible and refreshingly positive comment. I'm not worried about the need for more signings. It's great that they're looking and being ambitious.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

This is probably the season to go large on relegation. Squad is League One threadbare. Club appears to have learnt nothing from last season. Almost like they didn't want to learn. A conspiracy theorist might almost suggest that there are huge hedged bets on the relegation that narrowly failed to pay off last season, but might well do so this season. Certainly see nothing whatsoever that suggests progress on the playing side is on the cards.

 

[TSB]

This is probably the season to go large on relegation. Squad is League One threadbare.

You feel free. We'll keep our money cheers.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

You feel free. We'll keep our money cheers.

Good luck with that then