And So It Begins.

A typical example of what is actually needed, but out of our budget!

28 January 2022, Agyei joined Crewe Alexandra on an 18-month contract. Available as in 5 weeks.

 

The twitter handle is 'bantams' yet the name of the page is League 2, and the picture is so clearly a fake

 

I think we all knew that?

 

Do we really need to have clearly made up twitter posts reposted on here?

Stop giving these silly kids the attention.

 

What’s the actual point of the thread though?

Post your worst photoshops? If so then it ought to be in General Chat, though I don’t envisage many engaging with it sadly.

 

A lot of the content is rather beneath me.

 

Pie in the sky, but supposing we did land Agyei, it would be the best possible start to our transfer business

 

It's the sort of signing we should be making. Bit we won't. Which is why we bumble our way to season after season of League 2 football

 

Now that is the kind of intent I want the Board to comment on!

 

I'm not so sure though tbh. Most recent seasons we have made 1 or 2 so-called marquee signings, and they've always disappointed (Josh Wright, Jake Reeves, Eoin Doyle, Eisa, even Smallwood perhaps). The backing has, on the whole, been there but we just seem cursed since the club was taken over by Rupp

 

We're not cursed, the execution is just awful. We built too big a squad this season thar lacked in attacking quality, and lacked pace and energy across the side.

 

The year before it didn't work under Adams as the squad was too thin. We couldn't cope with injuries.
Had we had 5/6 injuries at once that strength in depth would have been valuable.
As it was we got off pretty lightly on the injuries front.

 

From one extreme to the other. Every time we 'push the boat out' in terms of budget and it fails, the following year is one of austerity.

 

Feels like we can't do right for wrong. We were all calling for more strength in depth this season and we didn't really need it! We had very few injuries considering the size of the squad.

 

We're not cursed we just have shit CEO's that keep picking shit managers

 

More depth, yes. But we went too far. What you really want are 2 good options for each position. And that's being generous. Did we really get away light on injuries? Osadebe out most of the season, Walker missing 2/3 of the season, Ridehalgh missed a couple of months, Clayton missed a month, Eisa missed plenty, Oliver out for the last 6 weeks.

At the top end of the pitch for example, after January we had Cook, Oliver, Derbyshire, Costello, Banks, Eisa, Nevers, Perreira, Chapman. 9 players for 3 attacking roles, but lacking in genuine quality. The only ones from that group who you'd expect to be in a promotion winning group, really, are Cook, Banks, Chapman, Oliver (based solely on what he's done elsewhere). Maybe Derbyshire, but really only as a 3rd choice. I'd happily have swapped Eisa, Nevers, Perreira and Costelloe for one player of real quality. Poor recruitment, in January especially.

 

The Nevers/Perreira/Costelloe loans didn't work out. Perreira & Costelloe looked excellent on paper.

 

I have to agree, the money WAS clearly made available by Rupp, yet some seem fit to criticise him for not putting the club into anywhere near the same level of debt as………Carlisle for example.

I bet we were not in the top 5 of the highest playing budget although we would never find out. I suggest we were below Orient, Stevenage, Northampton, Salford and Mansfield? Even MH alluded to the fact that others we’re spending more than us .

Smaller squad, better quality this time please, as someone rightly alluded to earlier .