Summer 2023 Transfer Rumours

Listening to Hughes at the end of this press conference it doesn’t sound like there is anything imminent
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0g610w6

 

What a load of nonsense, sorry but lol.

 

Seems to have changed the wordings in last few week, was we are in the loan market waiting for good players to come available at the back end of the window. Now it’s we ll see what happens! Maybe we went above are means last season

 

I'm wondering if we sent Jake Young out and we're paying his full wages, because I was sure him leaving would give us room for another player.

 

In fairness, compared to the "Omari Patrick is now a great player" post, that one is actually quite low key.

 

Do you mean that Hughes is in the Parky mold, where he wants reliable men not promising boys?

If so, I agree with that, but several of these players appear to have improved under Hughes.

Cook is an obvious one, but Alex Gilliead had his best season in years in a new position - he wasn't our best player or anything, but he was at least useful, whereas in previous seasons he's been extremely disappointing.

Ciaran Kelly is probably the one to keep an eye on this year as a potential break out player. A long way to go, but it might work out for him if he keeps impressing Hughes.

I thought Platt got better as last season went on, I was not impressed with him earlier in the season. Part of that might have been playing alongside Stubbs, who he seemed to suit, but complementary partnerships like that are 100 % down to Hughes.

Ridehalgh & Halliday? Came in as consistent, unspectacular players but Halliday had a decent season last year.

Luke Hendrie already looks a little more competitive. He wasn't Bradford City standard when we brought him in, and I thought it was a bit ridiculous when we made him a last minute January signing under Adams. Now, he looks like he might push Ridehalgh for that left back/wing back slot. A lot must have happened in the background for that to work out, just like with Ciaran Kelly.

It's always tempting to say lads like East/Young/Foulds haven't improved, but the over-focus on them is down to their age rather than their ability. East still has time, but he's not suddenly upending Smallwood. Perhaps if Richie gets injured?

I think it's a bit blasé to say 'nobody but Cook has improved', to be honest.

The players that don't seem to have improved at all are Jamie Walker, Osadebe (injured), and Oliver (who has sat in Cook's shadow, and we don't know what we'd get if he got a full season).

 

I’d usually give people an explanation when making a comment like I did, but after the Patrick one it’s obvious they’re a lost cause.

 

No it doesn't, but it shows that we've recruited better than we had last season. Every side should look to improve the squad from the season before. Otherwise, you'll end up going backwards.

 

I think the jury is very much still out on whether we've recruited better this summer, and whilst I've nothing against Gilliead and appreciate that he gives nothing less than 100% in a city shirt, I still think this summer was the time to say thank you and goodbye.

 

Wouldn't disagree with that, but on paper McDonald and Pattison are upgrades on the role Gilliead filled last season. If we were looking to bring in another 10 players then I'd agree we should have said goodbye, but with Hughes trying to add to an established squad, it made sense to keep him here. He rarely let's us down and I think even he knows that he won't make as many appearances this season as he did last. If he does then something has gone wrong.

 

We should have a go at signing this guy seen as the left back spot is desperately needing an upgrade. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/sport/amp/defender-unlikely-to-come-back-to-gillingham-288658/

 

Would he be an upgrade on Ridehalgh though?

I agree we need a left wing back, not even sure whether Tudonda is a wing back. What I do know is Gillingham don't rate him enough to be first choice, so why should we?

 

I'm even more confused now. You said you think Gilliead has improved under Hughes, but now you are saying if he makes as many appearances this season as he did last season, something has gone wrong. That just doesn't make sense.

 

I think proper wing backs are the hardest signing to make currently at this level. All of a sudden, a majority of tier 4 have dropped 4 at the back and gone 5 at the back with proper attacking wing backs. So everyone still has these traditional back 4 full backs who can defend and get nose bleeds whenever they are 30 yards from goal on their squad that don't fit systems anymore.

The only "natural" ones these days for this level are PL/CH youth loans, kids who have been trained as a proper wing back as academies train and play the same systems as the first teams more often that not so your Spurs, Liverpool, Man City types that expect 10-15 assists a season from their wing backs have these kids learning the role. Or, it's a traditional lower leagues winger who can tackle, like Salford who moved Bolton back from RW to RWB and had a great season or Roberts at Stevenage last year. Or they were attacking defenders who might not have previously been trusted in back 4s but flourish when they are allowed to attack like Wilson when he moved up at FGR or Tom James at Orient last season.

Because a lot of the teams in L1 use them too now, the best lower tiers ones are already snapped up. We thought we had ours early in Odour, just look at the signing article, think they mentioned left wing back a fair few times. Obviously, doesn't look like he's the plan anymore in that slot and we are left playing catch up.

 

He has improved, tick. Is he better than McDonald or Pattison (on paper) no, therefore I wouldn’t expect him to play in front of them, otherwise the recruitment of the latter two has failed. That is what I meant by going wrong.

 

Pace wise yes, as Ridehalgh looks like he runs through treacle. If you look at his twitter status a lot of their fans are sad to be seeing him go as they said they enjoyed watching him play. Also he adds the versatility aspect to his game that Hughes has been championing, due to being able to play left back but not being naturally left footed. I know Gillead can play there, but let's be honest he's not a defender like Tutonda, he's a winger. That being said as mentioned below, we are playing catch up and this not being sorted out early, or doing homework on where Oduor wanted to play, is rather a shambles to be fair.

 

Why is it, how do you know, how do we know what he was recruited for, other than Twatter or T& A talk. We don’t know is the answer.

 

Because he'd played most of his career left wing back/left back and we were built up to believe he would play there. Then he came and said he wanted to play a more attacking role, which now questions why we let Foulds go in the first place, to leave ourselves short on the left. If Ridehalgh gets injured, it's square pegs in round holes Gillead not left footed, or Hendrie that won't let you down, but isn't left footed at all.

 

Must be the longest medal ceremony in history then

 

Shall we just close this thread now? Dust it off in November or so?