Budgets

Well remember the Mauge injury. Wasn’t Pritchard also injured at the same time?

Bringing in youngsters on loan was a disaster. Remember Wolleaston but can’t recall Junior Lewis. Where did he come from?

Taking this off topic a bit, but there was a lot of talk about experienced players linked to us during that season that we didn't sign either because the board were too tight or Ollie was scared it would upset the applicant, but feel like I've never heard who they were...any ideas?

Pretty sure Roberts having his head turned, and also possibly Cureton, didn't help matters. If those two had already decided to down tools thenvsigning experienced CM's wouldn't have made much difference. 

As I understand it, by the time GC apologised for his outburst and asked for his job back they had made the decision to sack him. GC ruined his own career with that radio interview too.

To think what might have been.

Not very different to the 13/14 season when we went out of the league. Michael Brown injured at Pompey at Easter and missed the run in and then Lee Brown injured at the end. Playing without those two made such a difference and almost sealed our fate. ☹️

UTG!

I agree Topper, quite different situations. The Holloway season Burnley went and signed Ian Wright that window, can you imagine his personality and what it did for their camp, 15 appearances and 4 goals and they went up where as we signed youth/work experience kids! The season we went down the damage was done, DC given the reigns too late, he should have been brought in well before and given a window.

This seasons budget has been used badly, I don’t get this hysteria that it’s so good, it’s like making a wedding cake and having no icing, we literally have no strikers?!?!

All the crap about JCH not having an official agent, you’d have known about this prior to the deal, Lambert was 5th choice, where was our 2nd, 3rd 4th etc? This isn’t scouting going after an old girlfriend like JCH who BTW the other week looked anything but the player we sold. Lazy scouting, it’s agents scouting and who do you have lads, Friend back to Barnstaple, Wilson back home Newport, it’s all pension pot stuff, same as Pitman and Leon Clarke. I don’t see Cogs and Liam Scales scouting, DC and his non league knowledge, we sign on agent’s recommendations and Collins was found by a previous scout not employed by Barton.

Oxford summed it up this summer with Harris and Rodrigues, young, hungry and pace, both frees. Even the right back was unemployed this summer, it’s really poor scouting.

And if Barton goes, so does Jennings, the tail wags the dog with us and these two, we don’t have it like Exeter where the manager leaves, the infrastructure is in place. I do hope the Kuwait’s see this, Barton and Jennings have a £4.5 million budget are are last minute shopping all the time, it’s incredible. The only praise I give them that his contacts seem to let us exploit the loan market but then again, the ex PE Teacher Liam Manning who Barton ridicules these sorts has also done brilliant on the loan market for Oxford, their GK on loan won them the game, England U21 international

We never had a second choice did we?

We bid for the lad at Cheltenham who went to Charlton, and then waited until September 1st to go for our next striker.

I am with you, I think mid table this season, one off consistency until we bring a proper striker in.

There is a reason players are unemployed now and like Martin was, it’s because clubs don’t want them and have looked at them. You can get lucky but really you are just hoping on this front, it’s not a long term signing or one you can make a profit on like Exeter and Peterborough do.

As I said, the cake might taste nice but without icing on it which is needed for this one, you will always think something is missing.

Would drifting around 8th/10th really be good enough though given the budget JB's been given?

What evidence is there we're building for a top 6 push next season, the likes of Cox will return to their parent clubs and the likes of Hunt, Wilson and Friend, will be another year closer to retiring.

Next summer will need another big overall of the squad.

I think your post is spot on, I forgot Martin lived in Bristol as well, another pension pot signing!

If we’d have got Harris and Rodrigues like Oxford, both free’s, we’d never have even had to beg the new owners for £800k and we’d have pace upfront as well!

Re Martin though, I like him a lot, we might get lucky on this one, just hope his fitness is better than Pitman (that can’t be hard!) and Leon Clarke.

Topper, if we can be without 6-8 points on January 1st I’d take this now and a window to use. Personally I think Barton could be gone before then if we are more points off this, the new owners are also everything but pension pot signings……….the NBA academy is based on youth, they haven’t said much but have said the training ground and academies are important to their business model. Surely Greenslade would be worth having around the squad, it might only be Conference South but we have nothing upfront at all x.com/harvgreenslade/status/1696572460299153411?s=46&t=bhN6HOKs1kzYSj3KfeKg9Q