Ethan Wheatley

Wealthy as Rupp seems to the rest of us, I can't blame him for not being willing to underwrite the sort of losses most Championship clubs seem to suffer. It shouldn't stop us striving to get there though. If we find new investment great. If we don't and come back down then so be it.

 

Post of the week Grumps . Spot on !

 

Ah ok the Nathan Lowe that has only played 4 times since Jan and struggles to get picked by Wycombe and Ryan Hardie who has played six times in a garbage dogs attack during the same period , with four goals between em . Really ? If you want to name examples do better than that ?

 

White - shite for Orient and couldnt get in their starting 11
Wheatley - was shite at Walsall last season and didnt pull up any trees at Northampton
Sibley - hadnt started a game in 18 months
Evans - unwanted at Blackpool
Mullin - not good enough for Wrexham in L1, poor spell at Wigan in L1

That was what we were signing on paper.

 

In January you will never know what league you are in so shall we scrap the transfer window altogether and tell clubs not to sign anyone.

Surely it would make sense to build on what you have, a good transfer window in January could have set us up for the summer regardless of promotion or not.

4 good January signings, tied down on top of a current squad that as achieved a good finish position in league one, would have meant only a couple of additions in the summer.

Look back at all the old tales of the nearly year 1988 etc, all we had to do was sign curle and Townsend and we were promoted. Did you have same arguement then about not knowing what league we'd be in 2 months later?

 

They didn't though did they, almost every man and his dog called it out for what it was.

Wheatley 2 goals all season, and no glowing endorsement from previous clubs.

Two Newcastle lads, one with a hefty previous price tag, however both with not exactly set the world on fire in previous loans at this level. Funnily enough one who couldn't get in the orient team can't get in ours.

Evans, signed purely because power was going to have a two match ban, what a waste.

Mullin, pointless, was never going to play because of the same reasons cook was let go

 

Me too, but let’s see how it looks after Saturday. Could be down to 4 points and their game in hand is at Town next Tuesday.
To catch them however means we’d need to win the remaining 5 which ain’t happening in reality.

 

We shall never know especially when someone else is paying for it?

 

Just got a feeling that they way he runs the club will be rewarded beçuse i think a fair few championship clubs maybe on the brink within the next few seasons look at Sheff Wed and Leicester and i think thats just the tip ............are these owners gonba continue to lose millions to keep a club running ?????

 

Once no half decent signings where not revealed the first week in Jan when it was really needed then this was always the road we heading down ...........maybe signings now folk can alude to lack of money but for all the dross brought in should amount to bringing in at least 1 to 2 decent signings that would have madea difference...............happyto get in the playoffs but that January across the whole spectrum really did cost us a chance at the autos

 

Long time lurker, first time poster. Spot on this.

Also, whatever money we are willing to spend will simply go further in a summer window. There will be players up and down the leagues who are out of contract or their clubs want them off the wage bill etc etc. Spending big in January was no guarantee of success either, but if the choice was spend a lot of money on players we didn't really want because the players we did want were too expensive then I don't necessarily blame the club for charging their batteries for the summer window and getting the best they could from loans. We're third in the league with 5 games to go anyway!

Not only that, but the logic behind some of the January moves made some sense even if they haven't worked out as we would have hoped.

Sibley/White/Ashby - all experienced at this level or above, come from decent academies, all the right side of 25, impressed at other clubs at a similar level, all out of contract in the summer, all presumably motivated to get their careers back on track. Had they worked out we might have been front of the queue to sign a player for free that played well for us. It may even still work out that way for Ashby after the Wycombe game.

 

I can't disagree with any of that, although I'm not sure Sibley/White/ Ashby impressed that much at other clubs at this level.
The worry will always be if we don't go up this time, we might still get all the players we want in the summer, and come Christmas be comfortable mid-table and deeply regretting that we didn't go for it big style this season, when we found ourselves in an unbelievable position when the January transfer window came around.

 

Rupp wants promotion regardless - it will be an easy sell if his current asking price remains the same and he has zero thirst of owning us in the Championship.

 

I agree. I'm sure he wants promotion as much as the rest of us. But his personal wealth just isn't enough for him to risk the losses most Championship clubs seem to be suffering. So if we do go up, and he doesn't find a buyer or new investment, we need to be prepared for the fact that we will have to cut our cloth accordingly and very likely face a tough season and possible relegation...but that should never stop us going for it!

 

Fair play, though Sibley did well for Derby in League 1 if I remember correctly and Joe White for Crewe in League 2 (probably hoping for Metcalf 2.0). All 3 were gambles don't get me wrong, but given we're clearly operating on a small transfer budget they are gambles I can see the logic behind, though I am not defending they have even come close to meeting expectations sadly. But you never know who might get a shot before the end of the season and come up big in some way.

Being in mid table next season is definitely realistic and would be frustrating, but comes back to the point of the poster I originally quoted. Who could we have signed realistically? Talented and established attacking players don't exactly grow on trees and no club is going to give them away in January for a bargain and if they were, there would be other clubs offering higher wages probably. It's a terrible market for a club in our position to try and strengthen significantly and even if we had gambled and spent big there was no guarantee of success either. On the plus side, we are third in the League with 5 games to go, looking good for a play off spot and then who knows? If we end up going up then it might turn out we have more flexibility in the market to attack the Championship. If we don't go up we've had a season way beyond what anyone could have realistically expected and I would hope be an attractive proposition for good players in the summer who we have a fighting change of affording! If it takes a few windows to get us there so be it.

Don't get me wrong it would have been great to spaff some cash in January but you see what some of the clubs in this division are losing every year and it's a terrifying amount. I'm not sure I can hold it against Rupp not wanting to lose ridiculous and unsustainable amounts of cash, especially when plenty of those clubs are no better than us as things currently stand.

 

Ashby impressed enough at QPR to play 29 times in the CC.

 

Huh. Is that all? . To be fair he did on paper look the pick of the bunch

 

Again can't disagree with much of that. I just don't want to chatting here next year, "consolidated" in mid-table L1 (or worse) and rueing a missed opportunity that we might not see again for another 10 years

 

Hudders and Wycombe have scored more goals than we have, TBF.

 

I didn’t appreciate we were talking full squads in the Hardie /Lowe example as Jan signings?