January 2025 Transfer Window

It's Alexander ball in a nutshell. His win percentage at City so far has been 45.6%, his career win percentage is 43.1% so he's performing about the levels he always does. But he's never won trophies, he has two promotions with teams who had money at the time for the level. He's a nearly man, he's a safe hire but a promotion would be likely through the play offs because his teams cant hold consistency to challenge for the top slots.

For me, he is a hire for a Barrow, a Newport, a Grimsby type hire. He would do well for clubs who aren't traditionally going to press for promotion but really don't want to go down. He isn't a man who will do well for a team who want promotion, the wheels just come off far too often for a promotion.

 

GIBLING Southampton, (Spelling)
Delap Ipswich
Bellingham Boro.


Great kids coming through

 

Huntington was the best defender yesterday according to WyS and it wasn’t AK.

 

Delap looks a very good prospect. Saw a lad play for Sunderland the other night out wide, he looked a decent player. the theres players who look great under a system and a manager but take them out of it and they're just bang average like Kalvin Phillips at Leeds. I say bang average in the sense he ain't much better than a decent championship player.

 

I thought he played well. In fact the defence was decent as a unit, but going forward we needed another Benn on the left. If Richards was fit enough for the bench, he was fit enough to start. What I don't get is how many times he changes the defence during a game, it never used to happen. Maybe too many sub options now.

 

I mentioned on here or maybe C & B about six years ago about a kid I was teaching who was eight years old. He was outstanding on the football pitch and a lovely, polite boy in the classroom.

He had both Manchester and Liverpool teams wanting to sign him. When he went to Manchester United he had a kick around with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

If you look up Edson Manchester United youth, he is now one of their star young players.

You are right about youngsters being sought for at a young age and how the chances of a club like us finding and retaining young players has diminished.

 

But those clubs you mention, thats the level we are.16,000 attendances are the only thing that distinguishes us from them. And therein lies the crux of the problem. How do we go from being that run of the mill league 2 club thats hit the playoffs once in 5 years to a club thats a genuine top three contender. Because since we've been back down in the khazi league we've looked nothing like a promotion winning side, 20 teams have achieved that status in those 5 seasons.
Its what we should be asking our owner and CEO. Why in those five years have we not improved beyond a team that might scrape a playoff place? Why losses against clubs like Morecambe, Harrogate, Barrow are not even though of as shocks anymore? Just expected.

 

A club might be lucky and find a rough diamond that either has escaped the net or just not developed till later. Bobby Pointon an example, he never really stood out when younger but grafted his way to where he is now. I remember speaking last year to guy involved in youth development at Man United, the investment at that level is simply insane.

 

Yes he’s been found out RT a great shout .

 

January for me, we are crying out for a winger.

Even if that is just to give a different option during games, it's scandalous that we don't have one.

Every substitution is like for like, every week and changes nothing in terms of shape, tactic, or outcome of the game.

If said it before Alexander is simply doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result. It ain't going to happen

 

Even the big clubs get it wrong Kev, look at Cole Palmer. According to the guy i mentioned in my post to Jordan, he was well known to Man Utd as these young kids are well known to every major club in football (the guy i mention was at Man Citys academy at the time), even at an early age and he's also big united fan, but was the way with United under Glazers, no direction from top to bottom. As with Phillips, it was a bad move for both parties but i guess hindsight is a wonderful thing. £42 million for a player worth half that at best

 

He’s not worth that imho.

I mentioned him earlier …just watch that kid at Southampton Dibling ( got his name right this time).

Hes mustard and won’t be there long, watched him 3 times recently Reminds me of Palmer, and Grealish ( but better) . He will end up at one of the big free spending clubs, no question in my mind.

 

I agree. Although he was only playing in Neil Byrnes regular position so it was a very low bar he was compared against.

 

I could write an essay with what I think is wrong with how the present academy system is structured, but nobody would want to read it and this isn't the thread to do it in anyway.

I will say that I'd like to see the big clubs being prevented from poaching youngsters from this area. If you live within a BD postcode, City should have first refusal on any youngster [to stop the bigger teams academies from within 1-1.5 hours travelling distance hoovering up every youngster from around here with even half a chance of possibly making it].

The Prem/Championship teams can pay a decent fee to acquire them when they reach their teenage years. It'd create a decent revenue stream for clubs like City, instead of the bigger clubs totally monopolizing this resource. They could re-invest the profit back into the academy to either create more youngster to sell or ultimately forge players who could one day pull on a City shirt at VP. Don't know if the new football governance regulator will be looking at issues like this, but they should.

 

Unfortunately England have improved since the Premier League was allowed to raid lower league clubs with impunity.

That was the aim, and it's definitely worked.

 

We are craving a lot of players but we will either get two loan deals in who no doubt will have had half a season at a club in our league and done nothing ..........or a crock who is after a nice little payday

 

Flat roofer with Pvc single ply experiance, All types of metal cladding, job requires travel ,ideal location Bradford
If you have any of the following it will be to your advantage.
History of long term injuries
OAP prefered

Apply to Mr NoSpark
Valley Parade
Bradford

 

Preference given to candidates with demonstrable ability at wing back

 

A willingness to work unfamiliar duties would be advantageous.

 

Seems like a good assessment, but his reputation as a player has got him some bigger clubs lately like MK and City.

If he fails here, his time at bigger clubs is over. On to the sides you mention, like Grimsby.