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

I would be certain our incomings far exceed the players that we let go,especially as we will still be paying a considerable part of their wages, we also paid a considerable transfer fee for Leigh, however you enjoy knocking the club so carry on if that’s what you go for.

 

We were talking about wages, who mentioned transfer fees?

I am not knocking the club, just pointing out your assumption was incorrect and a throw away comment without any basis.

 

Transfer fees are a significant part of the budget and you mentioned transfer fees talking about a fee we got for Young. Some of our players this season will be on big money,our budget for this season will be far bigger than last as the quality of the squad is far better than last season.

 

Answered what? You've lost me. Are you saying that the extent to which we could have signed someone we didn't is because I can't articulate who we should have signed?

 

I didn't disagree, but that's not what I was saying either. January is a sellers market, but it's a genuine opportunity for clubs in the lower leagues. Many a club has made a push in January and it's tipped the scales positively in their favour. I think we'll rue the decision not to do the same.

 

Maybe. But Rupp himself will never have had a better chance to 'invest' in that one signing that could be pivotal to whether we go up or not. Could be a huge missed opportunity.

 

Who are the "quality" players we've added so far?

Apart from Sarcevic I'd say the players who've made the most impact (Cook, Pattison, Pointon, Richards and Smallwood) were all here last season.

We're certainly look to have increased genuine squad options but if we've pushed the boat out for any of the incomings so far then we've not as yet seen value for money.

Hopefully Leigh settles in and finds a role and Crichlow realises his potential but once again I think we'll look slightly bloated in the summer with players that possibly won't feature much and haven't really enhanced the first XI options.

 

Now that’s gobbledygook . We didn’t sign anyone because the right player , ie an experienced goalscorer, wasnt available ( Source GA on video) . Why do some repeatedly, ad infinitum, say we should have done ? . Money no object we would, but money no object is not where our owner is at, you know that so why are some pretending otherwise? Two reasons , all common sense, yet we “shudda, wouldda, couldda” ad infinitum. As indicated quite well earlier by another contributor , it should have been last summer , not in the winter window when these players are wanted by about 40 different clubs, because the need is greater.

 

Two of the best strikers we've signed in recent times (Cook and Wyke) have both been signed in the January window. The players are there if we have the skill (and the desire) to find them.

 

Or an owner willing to invest and a Head Scout, whatever Gent is called finding a gem… The first blows up the idea Dave?

 

Good point, but good players are hard to come bye but easier in the summer. It will be fingers crossed that our own players can go the extra mile.

 

Another reason we forget, winter signings these days tend to be on 1.5, 2.5 & 3.5 year deals , so most deals now end in the June time , not Dec/ Jan.

 

I agree, it's easier to buy in the summer. But I expect the people running the club to do hard things from time to time. We could and should have strengthened up front in the summer. However, through January we've seen a long term injury to Cook, exits for Smith, Oliver and Sanderson, and we've seen ourselves emerge as genuine top 3 contenders. The landscape shifted and I think we'll regret not making that one final move to bring in a proven striker. Not just for now, but to build for life beyond Cook.

 

Well apparently we do have an owner willing to do that if his words are anything to go by but yet again, it looks like empty promises.
End of November when talking about January he said-
'I will again INVEST and make more funds available to ensure we can do the deals we want and NEED to do. I believe we have a fantastic opportunity to achieve our goals this season'.
'

 

No Kev, its not gobbledygook. You're being reductive and naive. I have no idea who was 'available', or what budget we're working to, so I've no idea why you think I'd be able to offer up who we should have signed. And if you're taking literally what a Manager says in his press conferences, you're a fool. What else is he going to say, 'Yeah I wanted Paul Mullin but these tight b*stards wouldn't back me?!'. He's only every going to say what he's said. Its not the job of a manager to tell the absolute truth when speaking to the press.

And yes, signing players in the summer is easier. But if everything about running a football club were easy, anyone would do it. I've posted above, you have to respond to events as well as plan in advance of them. The availability of any player is determined by the budget made available. And my point is simple - if I'm Rupp, I'm looking at the loss of Cook, the departures of 3 other forwards, the strong league position we find ourselves in, my performance as owner today and the erosion of the value of the club under my ownership and I'm thinking, 'there'll never be a better time for me to push the boat out and throw some cash into the mix', to change the 'availability' of a player. Its not about 'money being no object', its about giving yourself a competitive advantage in a sellers market by making a balanced assessment of investment/risk/reward.

And I think we'll come to rue having not either positioned the funds we had, or made available new funds, to secure one, quality forward that otherwise would be seen as 'unavailable'. Its as simple as that.

 

Spot. On.

 

Exactly. For me, January was proof in the pudding that his 'investment' statement is nonsense. There'll never be a better, or more obvious time to roll in some funds. We're on the edges of top 3, well set in other areas of the squad, in good form and its generally one of the weakest L2s in recent years. No real big spenders in the league etc. We've just lost our talisman forward, and 3 other squad forwards. We're left with one hardworking but not prolific striker.

We're neither so strong we can be complacent or too far out of contention to just back ourselves for a playoff punt. There'll never be a more obvious scenario to justify pumping in say £100-£200K to buy that stand out forward, or fund a premium loan signing, to have a 'real go'. Not just because it'd make a likely difference of getting top 3, but it actually adds credibility and PR value to ST sales if we don't go up, because there's a demonstrable 'see, I'm serious about putting my money in and getting us promoted' message.

 

If only we had an owner like Gillingham,remember when everyone on here was going all gooey eyed when they were making loads of alleged quality signings a year ago and when they got Bradley Dack back in the summer we were once again a joke of a club for not making that type of signing. How’s that going? Then of course the Carlisle owners were just what we should have, that’s not going too well either. I won’t talk about the meltdown when Rupp turned down Wagmi. We’d all love a sensational big money signing but few owners do that. The team seem to be on the right lines now and we did contrary to some posters invest in players in January. Not getting a striker in could cost us but that was up to the manager and recruitment team who to bring in and they chose extra midfield players. If they turn out to be crap that’s not down to lack of investment.

 

With the caveat that Cook wasn't wanted and Wyke had a clause in his contract. By general rule it's more advantageous to buy in the summer, January is a sellers market.

 

If only we had an owner like Wrexham or Stockport....