So.... Has the squad improved?

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

What we have achieved this season has been without him so we haven't lost him any more in this half of the season that we had in the first.

Ok. For the sake of consistency I think CMS and Hoskins are undeserving of a place on the 'we're up' list as it's probably still a month until we see CMS at best.

 

[5mins-from-amex]

We had Orlandi in December (initially returned v Bournemouth in November, but aggravated an injury, returned again December 26 v Charlton (unused sub).

We don't currently have CMS or Hoskins any more than we had them in December. Yeah, they've started training, but CMS only played 25 minutes with the kids in a behind closed doors friendly, and hoskins has just been running and turning for the first time in almost a year. They are still some way off being ready to be in the match day squad. Orlandi has been in the match day squad for over a month, Ulloa for ten games, and both are still trying to find match fitness and form. So, even when they are fit enough to make it into the match day squad, we'll still have to wait a month or more before they're fully up to speed, by which time the season will be over.

We have lost: Barnes, El Abd, Crofts and Bridcutt (and we had Conway and Lita in December and have lost him, too)
We are now up: New Dave, Stephens, Obika, and £3m

This sums it up for me, there is no way the squad as strong as it was before the window opened. But If we needed to pocket the cash from the Bridcutt transfer to help with FFP then so be it.

 

[portslade seagull]

This sums it up for me, there is no way the squad as strong as it was before the window opened. But If we needed to pocket the cash from the Bridcutt transfer to help with FFP then so be it.

Heard we needed the cash to finance the training ground but not to disappointed with that as it gives us the chance to nurture the next generation

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Heard we needed the cash to finance the training ground but not to disappointed with that as it gives us the chance to nurture the next generation

That sounds plausible and completely reasonable.

 

[Zebedee]

We had Orlandi in December (initially returned v Bournemouth in November, but aggravated an injury, returned again December 26 v Charlton (unused sub).

We don't currently have CMS or Hoskins any more than we had them in December. Yeah, they've started training, but CMS only played 25 minutes with the kids in a behind closed doors friendly, and hoskins has just been running and turning for the first time in almost a year. They are still some way off being ready to be in the match day squad. Orlandi has been in the match day squad for over a month, Ulloa for ten games, and both are still trying to find match fitness and form. So, even when they are fit enough to make it into the match day squad, we'll still have to wait a month or more before they're fully up to speed, by which time the season will be over.

We have lost: Barnes, El Abd, Crofts and Bridcutt (and we had Conway and Lita in December and have lost him, too)
We are now up: New Dave, Stephens, Obika, and £3m

I've a feeling that it's the £3M that counts.

 

[Acker79]

Heard we needed the cash to finance the training ground but not to disappointed with that as it gives us the chance to nurture the next generation

I'm not convinced. Firstly, we were still looking at four players (with a view to signing two of them), offered £1m for clayton. Not sure we would have been looking at spending such a sum if it was needed for the training ground.

If that is true, I'd be a little concerned about what it means about the clubs financial position, that we need to sell players to pay for something that was supposedly already paid for by Bloom.

I'd believe it was needed to help us meet FFP targets this year (training ground isn't included in that so is irrelevant), but think it's more a case of us strictly adhering to FFP, meaning our financial offers to clubs and players aren't as attractive if the player isn't top choice. So if we're not getting our top choices, we're not going to overspend on alternatives.

 

[British Bulldog]

I guess it's possible we might be using some of our transfer income to start negotiating new contracts with some of our current squad? It would make sense as we have a fair few out of contract in the summer.

 

[portslade seagull]

That sounds plausible and completely reasonable.

Lets just say it came from an insider