Like most people, depends on outgoings. If we keep the band together, then a striker and CH are the bare minimum. If any of our crown jewels leave though, it's gonna be tough to replace them at this stage.
Only if that’s still their plan. Perhaps they believed that much in Conor they have shelved that. Not necessarily the right thing to do in bigger picture but quite possible.
I don't think they are very good at plans, so I look at it simply as a club that needs to be more sustainable and less at risk of financial collapse. From a purely footballing perspective, we have too many midfielders. We have Russell, Phillips, Bland, Connell, Yoganathan, Kelly and Dunn if they want to use him as an attacking midfielder behind a focal point. And we still seem to have Nwakali. That's 8 options for 3 places, that doesn't make sense.
Absolute priority is a big unit of a CB. Another Helik type find would be the dream. Some big, scary Eastern European hard nut. And then another forward. If we could splash on a top wide man like Dobra, Ethon Archer, Kelly N'Mai type from L2 that would be the dream, but be happy with a loan for some depth.
keep connell, phillips and dkd, sell russell who looks like he is not part of plans but decent CH and striker and we good to go
For me we have 2 too many, Nwakali who is not wanted and one from Phillips or Russell. Don’t view DKD as one. The rest should be viewed as the future pipeline being developed accordingly so when the next is sold the gap is less
That's what we've got to get back to. Developing a pipeline. Our losses are such through a mixture of hubris and poor recruiting (most recently). At least the squad looks more manageable and with Jalo and Roberts to come back in, we do have more depth than reported. The glaring lack of cover is central striker. But we'll see where we are post 7pm today.
What I think will happen: I reckon they’ll think they can muddle through without another defender, with Robbo back mid-October. And in fairness, with Maël, Earl, Barratt and Shepherd we are doing better than anyone could have imagined. Dunno how the window works in terms of overseas these days, but even if Kelechi doesn’t go today, I imagine there’s some random league elsewhere with a different window who’d end up taking him on loan ala Leya Iseka. Jackson Smith to go on loan to the fourth division, or even National League later on, with there being no window. One loanee forward incoming, who can play anywhere across the front three. What I’d like to happen: Kelechi out, anywhere, anyhow. Smith out, permanently if possible. At least one of our best players sold for daft money. Samson Tovide in. - Reasoning: I no longer think a centre half is worth the extra addition to our financial burden. Regardless of Robbo coming back in six weeks or whatever, I think you have to accept we’ve four options there already and just continue to back them, and then hope Marc has enough in the tank upon his return also. We’ve also no guarantee that a new defender would be a success. What if we sign one, of quality, and he struggles? Then we’ve six on the books. Plus Lopata under contract. It can’t go on like this. I love watching Phillips, DKD and the good version of Luca. And if the owners are content to keep propping up the club with their own cash that’s their prerogative. But for me I think we should always be looking to cash in on a player if the bids received would make the club a gigantic profit. For example - if we spent a couple hundred grand on Phillips, and someone’s willing to pay a few million for him, that’s good business. Similarly, if you’ve spent three quarters of a million on DKD, then bids of £5,000,000 must be tempting. We got Connell for nothing. Again, you have to be sensible surely? I do appreciate that getting back to the second tier makes a huge difference to this club. I know that first-hand. It’s a sustainable model if we get up there and stay up there over a number of years. So you have to marry that ambition to get back there with the prudence of where we actually are right now, for a fourth year on the spin. Not easy I know. I’d remind folk it’s been one month of football. Nothing is decided at this point. A dodgy Autumn and the many, many complaints that fans had will magically reappear again. Good luck to all at BFC today. Whatever decisions are taken, it’d be nice to hear from Mladen on the football side of things post-deadline, and Jon on the business side. Not the owners. I hope they remain completely out of sight. Let those employed to run the club, do exactly that. It’s what I asked for months ago - let Conor run the first team, I said. Give him free rein. Stop getting involved. No coincidence that he’s thriving. Oh, and a last reminder - even if there’s no signings at 7pm, assuming a deal sheet has gone in before that time, moves can be announced after that time, as long as all relevant paperwork (appropriately signed) goes in by 9pm. Happy deadline day!
If we bring in any new players today, I hope they're of the same standard as the rest we've signed this Summer. At the same time, they've also moved on a good number of indiviuals without weakening the squad.
I've offered my services to the club again Lil, anything for one game up front in front of the Oakwell faithful. They've not responded (again) and as I'm 60 this year I'm really running out of hope of a response.
In his pre-match press conference last week, Conor alludes to a previously mentioned transfer target no longer being of interest to him. I took that to mean Ballard. If so, we moved on from him by at least the middle of last week, and have other targets in mind.
I would still like a natural CF, a right footed CB and a left winger. Keeping our best players would be a bonus, albeit at the detriment of the club if we don't get promoted, though it will give us the best chance to mount a challenge. How refreshing is it though to be at deadline day with a strong team, having had a good start to the season, being in the 3rd round of the cup, and the likelihood that the team will only get stronger by the close of the window.
Hope you right and I reckon if we are stronger come 7pm we definitely promotion contenders.....fingers crossed!