Shaun Williams?

[the wanderbus]

.....Sorry ,but IMO neither of these "Near Misses "would have made a real difference to the squad.

I can't believe you don't think a couple of players that would be perpetual bench warmers wont send us soaring into the play offs and beyond. Anyone would think we needed improvements in the starting eleven..... oh.....

 

[ewe2]

If neither of these near misses are not good enough for now or the Prem, should we make it. (which I very much doubt ) Why has our Mr Burke made them our top targets?

Now that is a very interesting observation....."Why Indeed " ?......!

 

[kevtherev]

So we'll offer Casper a 3 year contract in the summer and big pete will be the number 1. Great, can't wait till next season

My guess would be, if we don't go up then we will get a decent championship level keeper. Much in line with the players we have been targeting. But I would be amazed if Pig is here next season unless we get promoted. You only got to look at the way the budget is being managed atm to realize this is the case.

 

[perseus]

MK Dons fan here.

Williams is a class act. He will do very well for you, I'm sure.

He joined us as a midfielder but for the last two seasons has played mostly at centre back. He's not the biggest or strongest but makes up for that because he's a such a good reader of the game. He tackles well but his biggest strength is his footballing ability. We like to play out from the back and it nearly always goes through him.

He takes all our attacking free kicks and penalties.

I'm pretty sure other Championship teams have been interested in the past but he's stayed because Karl Robinson convinced him we could get promotion. That's unlikely again this year so it's right he moves up a level.

I hope you get him and not Millwall. You'll be getting a quality footballer.

Sounds just about the quality required. He could replace Bridcutt from that description.

 

[nwgull]

Chose Millwall over us, unreal. Oh well, maybe he was guaranteed football there.

Probably the case; he certainly wasn't guaranteed it with us. He was AEA's replacement as back up to Upson and Greer and would have been offered an appropriate contract.

Chicksen was a regular with MK Dons last year and is mainly a DS player at our level. However, at his age he's probably happy to work his way into the senior side. This guy is 27 and you can't blame him for wanting 1st team football for the last 3-4 years of his career.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Obviously we must have scouted him the same time as Chicksen so he wasn't unknown to us so obviously we didn't fancy him then so no big loss in my eyes

 

[portslade seagull]

Aspinall said Williams was slow and that we should be signing better players

 

[perseus]

Missed out.

http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/10963933.Albion_miss_out_on_transfer_target/?ref=twtrec

I think we needed a replacement for Bridcutt and this is one we have missed. It is going to be very difficult to find an alternative.

 

[portslade seagull]

Have to agree with this. No wonder Barnes left. The money we must be offering must be pathetic. FFP strikes again

Is the correct answer, budget now being kept in check, would be surprised to see any signings now

 

[portslade seagull]

Our contracts are a disgrace. Lua Lua, Pig, Upson are out of contract in the summer and you think they'll stay if other clubs come sniffing. We offer players contracts that when they get into their last season they don't sign an extension. If Pig, Upson, Lua Lua don't sign and leave for nothing how much will it cost us to replace them?

We're starting to drift and it'll get worse and the season tickets will drop at this rate if we can't even sign division one players.

Its well known the PIG will be leaving so we need another keeper, Upson will stay another season, Lua Lua will be off

 

[fosters headband]

So what is going wrong with our ability to attract players. My view is that Gus is the difference, who's infectious enthusiasm for the game is the missing piece of the jigsaw now. My view is that Players like Mackail-Smith, Upson, and PIG all big signings at the time, signed for Gus and Gus's dream for the club. I listen to Burke and Oscar and I have a problem staying awake.
They maybe both very good at their jobs, but I don't see them as people who can sell the club.

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

The club should never leave it until Jan to talk about contacts if they are up in the summer. Really weakens our hand - Tony is a gambler, thought he would have noticed this. Lua Lua is young and has sell on value, whilst in contract at least we could get a sell on fee.

 

[Icy Gull]

So what is going wrong with our ability to attract players. My view is that Gus is the difference, who's infectious enthusiasm for the game is the missing piece of the jigsaw now. My view is that Players like Mackail-Smith, Upson, and PIG all big signings at the time, signed for Gus and Gus's dream for the club. I listen to Burke and Oscar and I have a problem staying awake.
They maybe both very good at their jobs, but I don't see them as people who can sell the club.

I'd suggest we were spending much more on players last year than we are this, so far. We have good players, not sure either of the targets we have missed out on so far are anything but squad players. I hope we have one or two QUALITY players in the pipeline, who can challenge immediately. I may be a dreamer....but if there is a player Oscar really wants he'll have no trouble selling him the club.

Gus had the luxury of being allowed to totally overhaul the squad last year, he did a good job of it. Not sure Oscar is being given the same opportunity because we already have good players earning good money, moving them out is the only way he'll get the chance to spend big, which is why I hope we sell Bridcutt early next week and have a couple of players who can walk into the first team in sight.

 

[fosters headband]

I'd suggest we were spending much more on players last year than we are this, so far. We have good players, not sure either of the targets we have missed out on so far are anything but squad players. I hope we have one or two QUALITY players in the pipeline, who can challenge immediately. I may be a dreamer....but if there is a player Oscar really wants he'll have no trouble selling him the club.

Gus had the luxury of being allowed to totally overhaul the squad last year, he did a good job of it. Not sure Oscar is being given the same opportunity because we already have good players earning good money, moving them out is the only way he'll get the chance to spend big, which is why I hope we sell Bridcutt early next week and have a couple of players who can walk into the first team in sight.

Were we not all charged an increase on season tickets so that the manager had the same playing budget as Gus had in his final season, a season when we spent £2 mill on one player.

 

[Gullys Cats]

He wanted to sign for Millwall, the bigger club

 

[Billy the Fish]

If they're no better than what we've got then I'd rather not sign anyone.

I'd prefer to keep giving the youngsters a chance - Ince, Chicksen, JFC and March have all proved they can cut it. They are still finding their feet at this level but if we allow them to develop then we'll reap the benefits later on.

 

[Icy Gull]

Were we not all charged an increase on season tickets so that the manager had the same playing budget as Gus had in his final season, a season when we spent £2 mill on one player.

Most of that will have been taken up in this years wages won't it, quite a few of the players we signed last year were freebies and assumably signed for BIG wages, which would have taken care of most of the budget. We have signed Ward and Andrews on loan and are assumably paying more for them than we paid for Bridge ( who was mostly subsidised by City I think) and Dicker.

I'll reserve judgement on our ambition until the end of the transfer window though.

 

[fosters headband]

If they're no better than what we've got then I'd rather not sign anyone.

I'd prefer to keep giving the youngsters a chance - Ince, Chicksen, JFC and March have all proved they can cut it. They are still finding their feet at this level but if we allow them to develop then we'll reap the benefits later on.

100% Agree, so why are we chasing players who are no better than what we have and why are we not using our budget to hold onto the players like Barnes and Pig if we can't find better.

 

[Icy Gull]

100% Agree, so why are we chasing players who are no better than what we have and why are we not using our budget to hold onto the players like Barnes and Pig if we can't find better.

Maybe we haven't been chasing that hard, which is why they didn't sign for us? We gave them the opportunity, they went for club who offered the longest contract or most money I assume rather than join a club who seem much better placed than Millwal or Bournemouth but with no guarantee of 1st team football either.

 

[armchairclubber]

So what is going wrong with our ability to attract players. My view is that Gus is the difference, who's infectious enthusiasm for the game is the missing piece of the jigsaw now. My view is that Players like Mackail-Smith, Upson, and PIG all big signings at the time, signed for Gus and Gus's dream for the club. I listen to Burke and Oscar and I have a problem staying awake.
They maybe both very good at their jobs, but I don't see them as people who can sell the club.

Was going to write exactly the same, though you could add many more players names to that list, and most of them quoted that Gus played a huge part in attracting them to the club

It's all becoming a bit TOO business like, more and more the biggest selling factor is becoming the 27,000 crowds, once they decline I have a feeling we may become the next M'boro or like and that the zest has gone