Best transfer window... Never

I thought of posting on another thread, but I wanted to organise my thoughts in one place rather than post snippets across multiple threads.

First I want to judge this window on our stated objectives, some go back a while, some quite recent.

Offload Benson and Cosgrove.
Bring in two forwards.
Loan out fringe players.
Bring in a back up goalkeeper and loan out our stated future number 1 to get minutes.

Well we managed a couple of those, but the fundamental issue has been forwards and incredibly, we're weaker in that regard than before the window. I hope the new kid gets supported, because it's not his fault as to what's happened.

My wider thoughts are just why and how is this happening? Whoever is in charge of recruitment, whatever the processes, it's not coherent. Who is authorising this activity? How does our recruitment work now James Cryne has been bumped out of the way? Are we still using data? What data sources are we using? Just what are we trying to create and how are we liaising with team management to help them have what they need?

If our objective is to make the playoffs, this window makes no sense. If it's to save money, it makes no sense. If it's to transition to a different formation, it makes no sense. If the owners have had enough, it makes no sense. If they have lost faith in Clarke, it makes no sense.

I think I'm left with the overriding view that this window was an example of poor planning and execution. A late flurry to offload players we've undermined and may have lost motivation to be replaced by agent offers because we'd left it all so late in the day.

There have been times at this club, under different owners, players and managers, where we've created magical times where everything felt right, where everything aligned and you couldn't help but feel proud.

Yet we seem so far away from that. So much seems broken and failing. Faith is in short supply. Even watching on TV feels a chore. Enjoyment is a fleeting feeling.

Someone needs to grab hold of this thing and be truthful, painfully so, about where we are. Because right now, things are an absolute mess.

 

This with bells on ^

 

My view is that the club expected to sell either Philips or Connell to fund players in and for whatever reason that didn’t happen.
Allegedly Benson, our biggest earner, didn’t leave either.
It might be due to being close to the SCMP.

 

Equity injections are allowable as turnover in the SCMP calculation, so i highly doubt it.

 

I think @Tyketical Masterstroke it probably proves your earlier point that the appetite of the board to keep ‘investing’ has worn thin.

Expect a few years of wage cuts and players sold on (the very few who could command a fee) whilst the board tries to reset the cost base.

Let’s be clear the losses are not driven by transfer fees but the bloated squad which is resulting in over 100% of income being spent on salaries.

 

The utterly predictable consequence of a scattergun approach to recruitment based upon a trading rather than sporting model. The fact that some of us predicted it doesn’t make it easier to accept though. Far from it.

 

Unless like said previously, they don’t want to inject any more money into the club.
Times up it would seem

 

On the face of it it seems a total **** show!
Bringing in one new striker then letting another ( well Cosgrove) leave is hardly strengthening , although personally I'd try Pines up front before Cosgrove, I do find it amusing though that folk who have previously offered to pay his fare or drive him to another club are now complaining about him going! I mean it might work out for him at Stockport if they get some crosses in to him but there's been little sign of it for us and you can hardly blame the lad wanting to try pastures new given the abuse and piss taking he got here.
TBH to be slightly fair we were never going to get an already prolific striker because in January they are all in contract and their clubs need them.
Basically though it just gives the impression that either the recruitment team haven't got a clue or the owners and board have given up and good luck selling tickets based on the clubs enthusiasm so far. I don't see any of the higher ups sticking their heads above the parapet to excuse it either.
That being said we are still BFC fans , we have seen it all before and most of us will get behind the team and ride it out until things pick up again!

 

Wasn’t there an injection of cash registered only a couple of days ago though?
If so, that suggests to me that we had a target that was going to cost us a transfer fee and money was stumped up by the owners, but for whatever reason the deal didn’t happen.

 

Those running the club don’t have a clue? What a surprise!

 

It's an excellent post overall, but this bit just nails it as a summary for me.

 

What a brilliant post, sums up exactly how I'm feeling unfortunately

 

I know you really know the finances really well, have you any idea what we are spending 11m on, on the footballing side? Our wage bill is around 5.2m this season, what's the other near 6m being spent on, any ideas? Surely we aren't spending nigh on 6m on academy and coaching staff costs.

 

I've thought about this a little more, and I think perhaps what highlights the mess we're in best, is Jackson Smith.

We sign a young, highly rated keeper 'for the future' and in so doing we send a subtle message we're blocking off Flavell and our academy keepers. We state we want to get him minutes while the summer window is open. We only manage to find a very short term emergency loan at Grimsby, the rest of the time he's rotting away, not learning much in an environment where it matters... playing.

We then state the winter window is our opportunity to do the same, it's a key objective, to advance our future no1 so he's ready soon. Yet after the window, we sell our current no1 (who became no1 because the loan signing we made was toilet) because we pissed him off by signing a young unproven loanee. Meaning Smith has no opportunity to be loaned out and he's going to rot and stagnate for a whole season.

Are we so awash with riches, we can afford to sign a player who isn't ready for the first team? Are we so incapable of forward planning, that over the course of a whole season, we can't manage to get our publicly stated future no1 some game time... Anywhere? How is he going to be 'ready' for next season if the kid is having zero game time? Who is sanctioning this approach, but is then content to allow that approach to not be adhered to? How many players have we signed who 'weren't ready' and were loaned out, we got them back and were mainstays of the first team after they developed? I can think Kane and Mowatt... Though I don't think it was a plan to develop either that way, just mitigate signing too many players that they couldn't get game time, but we seem to do this a lot. Send our players out and hope they come back better.

It just doesn't feel thought through and it's certainly hugely wasteful, and it certainly isn't advancing us to brighter tomorrows.

 

Last accounts filed shows a wage bill of £9.3m

 

We were carrying championship wages on those accounts were down to 5.2m this is what has made me query Jon flatmans 11m statement on footballing operations as part of the 17m to keep the lights on speech.

 

Could free some money up by getting shut of some coaches and a completely inept director of football

 

Where are you getting the £5.2m figure from? The accounts with the info for the 2023/24 season aren't published yet.

 

That's what multiple sites have us down as, can't ever be accurate to the decimal but usually within a few hundred grand

 

Overall I agree about the mess and lack of clarity. I'd still, personally, like to wait and see if the new incomings actually improve things, even if we dont get in the play offs. Remember we have a goalie who is purportedly better than Phillip Pirrip with the long-term one in the background. We have Farage at left back/wingback. And, now, we have a guy from France who may well be inclement ( but may be good). We also have Sinister Dexter who MAY be good. It might be part of the long term drip feed into the summer window when there should be more activity anyway. So, I agree about the overall mess and things certain haven't been done well for a while but I'm inclined to watch for a few weeks and gauge if there seem to be any green shoots.