Well done conor, mladen and the board

A lot of fans said centre half was priority

 

Can we praise Mladen and the board for not selling the crown jewels when we don't know if anyone bid anywhere near what we wanted for them?

We still have Nwakali on the books.

We've signed a guy who for the past two years had had a multiple series injuries who we pray will stay fit and contribute to our season and not be the new Benson.

We didn't get hold of a striker we needed, but give Farrell some chances in the league rather than just the cups.

 

Yes, because our fans often accuse the board of selling first offer that comes and for peanuts.

 

I’ve seen plenty saying it but I disagree.

Roberts, Shepherd, Earl, De Gevigney & Barrett may not be an ideal set of centre backs but relying on a 37 year old to stay fit all season seems high risk to me.

I just hope it’s because they think the young lad Farrell’s the real deal & not just a failure to get one in.

 

I was happy to muddle through until Robbo returned. We’ve Barratt and Maël deputising already. Another forward option was more important for me, personally.

But, fitness permitting, we ought to have enough until January where we can reassess.

Not knocking the new lad by the way. I know nothing of him, but he’s obviously someone Conor and Keogh will know well. I hope he comes straight in and plays like Arjan De Zeeuw.

 

This season's For and Against columns certainly suggest the club was correct to prioritise a defender over another striker.

 

We’ve made some cracking signings and got rid of deadwood. Would’ve been great to get another striker in but DKD and McGoldrick both prefer to play centrally so we have the option of rotating them. We can then rotate Farrugia, Cleary and Jalo opposite Vickers.

 

I’m not sure what to make of this window.

My initial feeling is it’s better than prior windows because Hourihane has taken hold of it and been rigorous in researching who he approved. I’ve felt previously coaches have had minimal say on who they got and just accepted what they got.

But there are glaring issues. Up front. One injury and we’ve problems. Midfield, too many bodies, not enough game time to go around, 1 or 2 could well stagnate. But the biggest issue is financial.

We’re paying for a number of loanees we couldn’t sell. I’d guess we can’t get rid of Nwakali and we’ve either asked too much for players where offers have come in, or offers just haven’t materialised for our better players.

The result, another big loss in 2025/26 and a gamble that we get promoted after a decent, but slightly fortunate start. Parekh needs to keep on his Dad’s good side. For another year at least.

I think in time we’ll see this as a poor window, but given we haven’t sold anyone, plenty will see it as good, despite the financial impact.

 

I think in a pretty constrained situation they've managed to revamp most areas of the squad. Pretty sure they wanted a striker but just couldn't find one that ticked the boxes.

I also think it's worth saying that by default of us not selling anyone the Board are gonna have to put their hand in their pocket to keep funding a pretty big gap. Fair play. Again not bad for 'the worst owners in our history'.

 

I don’t think it has been a fantastic window. It’s been a surprising one with some good signings and no sales.

But we’ve brought in a centre back who’s barely played a game of men’s football and who had been out injured for most of the last two years. He might be a revelation - but they can’t know.

We have had THREE windows to replace Devante Cole. We still haven’t signed a centre forward. We have some good wingers and tens. Very good in fact. We can play well with what we have - we’ve seen that - but the club have provided Hourihane with wingers and not one recognised out and centre forward for them to cross to - both McGoldrick and DKD are tens and better from deep or wide, not as nines.

Given the Derby connection I assume Conor did want the Rooney signing though.

That they haven’t sold anyone is a real bonus - at first glance. Though I am concerned as to what happens if the owners choose to not dip their hands in their pockets again to plug the gap that we know exists in the finances - are they taking a punt here?

Seems a big risk to not sell anyone to keep the squad together and presumably they think to have a dart at getting out of the division - and yet we are left with an injury to a man not far off forty from having nobody with any height or strength up front to retain the ball.

Though they should be recognised for not cashing in any assets - I personally wouldn’t have blamed them whatsoever.

 

There's still time to move Nwakali on, windows still open in other countries.

 

I am glad that we didn't let any of our better players go this window and acquired a right sided centre half. Shame about the Macatee situation, but to be fair he was a trier but not always a great finisher. Letting Watters leave now seems a mistake but he too was a trier who could not always finish either, so we go with what we have. Nwakali is still here but on looking at the situation and his past clubs who
would want him with his attitude. So with Marc Roberts, Gent and Jalo to return at some time in the future let's hope we enough to keep us up there come January and beyond.

 

What do you mean we are paying for loanees we couldn't sell mate?

 

So are we signing the striker we’re desperate for on loan ?

 

The window has been okay in some regards, however as others have stated, the lack of 'strikers' is quite ridiculous in my opinion.

Was the same last season as well, smaller clubs than us (e.g. Lincoln) signing strikers when we couldn't (James Collins) - that's just one example. We've had Cole to Port Vale, another forward to Huddersfield today when they already have May, Taylor, Charles etc (yes I know we beat them at the weekend...), Forss to Bolton, Woodrow to Wycombe, Al-Hamadi to Luton (appreciate they will have serious money), Ballard to Orient, even Tyler Roberts(!) to Mansfield would have given us an option and some more experience. Lincoln, Peterborough and Exeter all brought forwards in today as well and probably more.

The 3 starting forward players we have (DKD, McGoldrick, Vickers) are great, but then beyond that we have the unproven Cleary (looks exciting but very raw and still unproven), the constantly injured Jalo (not a slight at him, just a fact), and Farrugia, who is mainly known as a left wing back. Then academy lads.

So really, there's a front 3 and not much else in all likelihood. One of those front 3 is 38 this year. If they're all fit and it's Saturday - Saturday, we might get lucky and be okay. However, we are going to have a lot of midweek games, and a) the lack of rotation options, b) the lack of bench options to change a game and c) the lack of a 'number 9' with a bit of strength, height etc to play a different way if a game requires it, for me is pretty crazy. I fear it will bite us hard as the weeks go on, UNLESS they magic up a free transfer that doesn't take 3 months to get fit...

I'm also not sure how much credit the board deserve for the lack of sales. Maybe they do, but do we know we've even had one bid for DKD? Do we know they've stood firm to good offers to try and keep the best players to mount a promotion push? Yes we turned down money for Connell and possibly for Phillips (who in previous windows when linked away had literally no offers, hence he hasn't left before), but not sure it's because the board are showing ambition. I could be wrong, but not heard about any bids for DKD.

Anyway, I pray we stay injury free, else the free scoring start might not last long.

 

Naturally I'm quite negative with BFC. Especially during games. But I'm finding myself quite optimistic right now.

We've got rid of a lot of dross, and we've recruited with a lot more vigour and some real quality. And on top of that kept hold of the talent most of us accepted we were going to lose at least one if not 2.

As windows goes, we can't be perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than we've had to endure over recent seasons. A big turnaround isn't always a good thing, but this one was needed.

Yes I share the same concerns of a lack of additional striker, but I have seen glimpses of promise on Farrell. For one, for such a young age, he has strength, and isn't just knocked off the ball. He can hold it up... Can he finish? I dunno. But I'd rather he gets the gig than some random punt. McAtee would have been a great addition, but didn't happen. So hopefully he takes his chances just like the young academy lads have done so this year. Bland especially, looks an absolute pearl of a player with a big future.

As fans we could do our bit. Just a bit more encouragement from the stands, we could do a bit of a favour to CH and the lads, and back them.

I'll try to keep positive myself too. Life's a lot better when looking forward with a positive vision...

Reds

 

We've loaned players out because we were unable to sell them, or the cost of paying off all their contract was unpalatable. We'll be paying some of those wages still. That's still our financial cost, even if they are out of sight.

 

And if not in January then next summer eh! Keep on saying it and you'll definitely be right one window!

 

I'll give credit to Mladen this window due to not selling our best players. Noticed we haven't had dross like Clem Rodrigues forced on us like in the January window. Conor won't wear it.