The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Accrington Stanley Tuesday 11th February 2025 7:45pm

I’ve no idea, why would I?

 

Nothing more to add, you answered it.

 

Other clubs , I include us in that , would have signed these “available” experienced goalscorers IF they were available Dave , but the obvious fact is nobody has that I can find ? U21’s from the Prem and CC “seem” to be the only ones available ? So we can keep on asking the same question over and over again….which in the evidence we have, is pointless ?

 

If you listen to GA in his interviews, he does say we aren't training fully at the moment with it been Saturday and Tuesday matches so Mellon basically has his individual fitness work, tactics discussion, then match days to get into full match fitness and understanding.
It's gonna take him weeks to catch up.
He will get more minutes as we go on so it's just a case of battling through February to hopefully see the new players really come into it for the last 12 matches or so.

 

I think realistically, you're going to have to look abroad during the January transfer window if you want to bring in a halfway 'proven' player of any variety. In League One, several clubs signed players from Scandinavia, some from Ireland - and it's important to note the football season has finished come January in those countries, so those players are likely to be more available.

But the window is notoriously difficult to bring in 'proven' talent from a like-for-like club that hasn't had a complete fall out with their previous club. Most of the signings are either going to be rookies on loan or players who are just not that hot statistically speaking. It's always telling to look at who we're prepared to let go, for example. We didn't exactly try to shift the best we had, nor would we.

 

There are always players who are out of favour at their parent club and might be worth a punt on loan until the end of the season. Andy Cook was one of those players 4 Januarys ago and that didn't work out too badly. Tyler Smith this January has gone out on loan the other way and has scored 2 in 169 minutes played for Barrow so far. He wasn't doing it for us but may prove a great signing for them.
It was never about being able to bring in a like for like Cook replacement this January, I think that's something we can all agree was unrealistic, but there will certainly have been players out there who would have offered us a different option to a 21 year old who isn't match fit and hasn't played 90 minutes in over a year and an attcking midfielder who is being asked to player as a striker. Whether it end up costing us or not we shall see, but I remain concerned that it will.

 

I think sometimes there's an Andy Cook-type striker available, but I wouldn't say there is every year.

I had a quick look at who other League Two clubs signed in terms of strikers, and I wouldn't say anyone signed a single proven goalscorer from a British club (at least at a glance).

I accept the point about some players being misfits, though, and you can certainly get lucky from time to time. But this season in particular it looks like it would have been checkbook time because there didn't seem to be a whole lot of interesting movement going on anywhere, to be honest. When you've got Vadaine Oliver getting a move to League One, I think that tells it's own story about the dearth of readily available proven goalscoring talent at that level too. Ladapo is the name we were most strongly linked with and he probably was available, so there will have been an option or two, but whether he was in any shape to make an immediate impact is beyond me. Recent record suggests he could have been another Vadaine himself.

 

I think they thought Walker would be off which is why we brought in Lapslie. But yeh agreed, at this stage even another body would have done.

 

Absolutely agree, a dose of reality . The availability of such players, in this instance “ proven goal scorers” is extremely limited. All clubs , both top and bottom , want them for obvious reasons , get them promoted or try to prevent relegation. Carlisle and Gillingham at one end of the scale , and Walsall and say 9 other clubs at the other all want one. Two reasons it seemed not to materialise ….Cost and a sheer lack of availability? Hens teeth are extremely expensive in the winter window !

Clubs therefore rely on loans from Prem or CC U21’s who rarely do anything of note. ( Newcastle have FIFTY under 21’s on their books….crikey they all need loaning out to get decent game time?

I had a very quick look last night and the most expensive signing I can find for 24/25 was from Accrington to MKD…….circa £300,000 …..for Tommy Leigh !

Yes there are probably others but until one gets to the upper echelons of L1 and US Dollars they just don’t exist for transfer availability in any numbers, especially mid season.?

You are right to mention Scandinavian players a once untapped pool, but even now Prem and CC clubs are hoovering up young talent. Some are VGood, some that end up in L2 end up there for a reason. ( There are of course exceptions) .
I try to be pragmatic , yet the repeated clamour AFTER the window has closed , yes I agree originally needed no question, for this fictitious goalscorer to cover for Cookie is daft at this stage . It saddens me to see two PROVEN scorers at this level, Leigh and now Mellon to be written off even after limited time on the field, literally minutes in one instance.

When players are brought in to “ cover “ a position(s) it’s not difficult to understand why they get limited game time. How do they therefore prove themselves, without supporters “ getting” on their backs after a ridiculously short number of minutes?

Remember GA said only last week “ The players we wanted were unavailable”.

 

We won’t have saved a fortune on wages,I would imagine we are still paying a big percentage of Oliver and Smiths wages and Sanderson would have been a cheap loan. The wages of Leigh, Crichlow, Lapslie,Mellon etc will far exceed what we’ve saved.

 

I think those calling for an experienced striker would be the same ones bemoaning an Oliver 2.0. The high pressing nature of our play dropped off in the second half after Kav went off and getting an experienced player who’s fit enough to continue and score goals is difficult. Mellon has to be given time to get up to speed. Provided we’re still winning I can’t see the problem. Hopefully in 2/3 weeks time he will be.
As City fans we are born pessimistic and fearful of a collapse, but overall the recruitment has been good so we have to trust that they’ve made the right call on the strikers this January.

 

I think most are in agreement that in the summer, the outgoings, far exceeded the incomings in terms of budget, especially when you consider the Young sale. Rumoured that around 70% of Olivers wage is covered by Shrewsbury.

You conveniently forgot to mention a few outgoings.

Departed...
Stubbs, Evans, Smith, Oliver

Signed...
Hilton, Crichlow, Lapslie, Leigh

In terms of loans...
Mellon replaced Sanderson
Khela replaced Adams
Adaramola replaced Diabete

 

Might be twitter nonsense, no way of confirming but Barrow fans when he signed think they are only covering half of Smiths wages for the rest of the season,

 

It is on my Now app on the TV.

 

I think you are wrong. I think we should have brought in a proven striker from Lg 1 or CC in the summer window. We weren’t brave enough to go hunting in the upper stratosphere or willing to put our wallet on the table. No good bemoaning our January bring and buy sale. Very rare to persuade players to leave current clubs in January.

This isn’t about availability, it is about showing intent and willingness to put our money on the table and go after what we need to fulfil our ambitions.

 

Last bit is spot on.

But we have a cuckolded, beaten, deafetist mentality brought to you by our fanbase....we know who they are. Youd think after 6 years of L2 things would change but they get worse!

 

Fully agree. It's tier 4, lets face it the amount of players who'd be unavailable for the right price between any clubs in the league, you can probably count on your hands.

It's not like we weren't linked with names either. Josh Stones, Jordan Rhodes, Freddie Ladapo & Matty Taylor were all either linked to us by having our name listed as chaser or in some cases a confirmed bid. To me the worst one is Stones. He was the first one we knew we wanted from about the time Cook went down. He was the top of the list and it looks like his choices at the end were York or a return Oldham. What package did we offer? Were we really blown out the water by York in terms of a weekly wage? Was the prospect of big crowd and potential L1 football next season not enough for him?

I don't think it's a case of the right player not being there at all, I think it's either 2 scenarios that went against us. Either all options didn't fancy a 3 man race for 1 starting position, or we had a cap of what we were willing to spend on our rotational options up top and none fitted into it.

 

That’s fair.

 

Stones…we and the rest of L2 and most of L1 were blown out of the water with his transfer fee alone!

He scored his first goals since his transfer 5-6 weeks ago against Woking last weekend . We don’t compete with that under our owner never mind his wages!