Ins and outs

So, from the squad three months ago, Pringle, Famewo, Fox, Dixon, Rose, Hooper, Robles gone - only Ring and Ohman in. Guess/hope we're going to be busy?

Grayson?

Am hoping we are trying to save wages for one quality striker

I guess Jolley wants quality over quantity. It’s only when Slade come in and signed heaps of shite that we’ve got this idea we need a big squad. Lincoln have a small squad full of quality. We need 1-2 additions probably but not many more.

Plenty of cover at the back, attacking options is what’s needed. At least one striker and an attacking midfielder please.

Plus Hendrie signed permanent deal

We don't have to sign player after player just because its January. We have released who we have had to and ideally two if not one addition will be good business

This is MJ's first full season and we have an idea by now of what he wants to do and we know we are limited budget wise

Quoted from pontoonlew

I guess Jolley wants quality over quantity. It’s only when Slade come in and signed heaps of shite that we’ve got this idea we need a big squad. Lincoln have a small squad full of quality. We need 1-2 additions probably but not many more.

His predecessor was even more free with the signings, and on contracts too.

I doubt we'll be too busy. 3 defenders out but 3 in already. Robles didn't kick a ball for us. Pringle effectively replaced Hooper so that's just one down. Welsh can step up in the pecking order now Rose has gone.

MJ will have his list of targets but if he can't get them by tomorrow I'd prefer him to wait and have another go in summer rather than sign others now just to pad the squad.

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

I doubt we'll be too busy. 3 defenders out but 3 in already. Robles didn't kick a ball for us. Pringle effectively replaced Hooper so that's just one down. Welsh can step up in the pecking order now Rose has gone.

MJ will have his list of targets but if he can't get them by tomorrow I'd prefer him to wait and have another go in summer rather than sign others now just to pad the squad.

I would agree but I just cannot get past that nasty little statistic - one solitary goal in 450 minutes. Surely something has to be done about that even on a temporary basis.

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

I doubt we'll be too busy. 3 defenders out but 3 in already. Robles didn't kick a ball for us. Pringle effectively replaced Hooper so that's just one down. Welsh can step up in the pecking order now Rose has gone.

MJ will have his list of targets but if he can't get them by tomorrow I'd prefer him to wait and have another go in summer rather than sign others now just to pad the squad.

I would agree but I just cannot get past that nasty little statistic - one solitary goal in 450 minutes. Surely something has to be done about that even on a temporary basis.

Quoted from TwoLeftFeet

Plus Hendrie signed permanent deal

He was already here!

If we have let 7 go and only brought in 3 or 4.assuming we don't bring anymore in. That should save us 3 or 4 wages until summer. This should allow us a bit more cash to tempt better players that what may be available in this window. I'd rather save that and use it to better the team for serious push next year.

We are in a rut where fans out of boredom want to see a rash of signings. Realistically we are unlikely to go up or down and signings in January are only usually a stop gap. A couple of strong signings and then regroup in the summer.

Quoted from VinnyGTFC

We are in a rut where fans out of boredom want to see a rash of signings. Realistically we are unlikely to go up or down and signings in January are only usually a stop gap. A couple of strong signings and then regroup in the summer.

I don't want to see a rash of signings but I do see that there's still an opportunity for us to get near the play-offs given that we've played most of the top teams twice. A couple of quality signings would benefit us and I'm sure the club want attendances to go up rather than drift away as they would if we played for mid-table obscurity.

Scunny say Charlie Goode turned us down...a defender?? Any gaps left for such a thing?

You have to remember this is MJ's first English job in charge .... balancing budgets etc .......he is showing he is learning ....but it is a learning curve.....give him space xx

Regarding Charlie Goode,
we do not know when Charlie turned us down, just because it has been mentioned today doesn't mean it was today, how do we know it wasn't a couple of weeks ago and we signed Grayson when Goode turned us down?

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

I would agree but I just cannot get past that nasty little statistic - one solitary goal in 450 minutes. Surely something has to be done about that even on a temporary basis.

Yeah, but we did play three of the best teams in the division, and a Premier league side with only 10 men. Then had a bad day at the office against a resurgent Macclesfield, all the while with a depleted squad due to injuries and suspensions. We also had a bad trot earlier in the season, but picked up and started scoring and winning with the players we have now. Not saying we don't need attacking reinforcements, because we do, but if they don't arrive just yet, i think we'll be ok.

Quoted from marinerrick

If we have let 7 go and only brought in 3 or 4.assuming we don't bring anymore in. That should save us 3 or 4 wages until summer. This should allow us a bit more cash to tempt better players that what may be available in this window. I'd rather save that and use it to better the team for serious push next year.

Tend to agree with this. But, let's say the club has a pretty standard injury list of three for a good run of games in the near future, which could happen, and those three are Embleton, Clifton and Thomas, any starting line up would look decidedly weak and we could start looking over our shoulders pretty quickly. The other thing to consider is that saving budget would only provide a war chest for one season before reverting back the following season. This would mean that we would only be a position to offer one year contracts or else we would be instantly overspending the season after or slashing the number of players back to the current level. Very difficult balancing act, not without risks. Will be highly surprised if we didn't get at least a midfielder in on loan tomorrow..

Jolley’s cleared some out and freed up their wages. With him being a shrewd businessman I’m sure he’s trying to find that perfect fit but wont panick buy unlike some previous managers. A good place to be in. UTM

Quoted from ginnywings

Yeah, but we did play three of the best teams in the division, and a Premier league side with only 10 men. Then had a bad day at the office against a resurgent Macclesfield, all the while with a depleted squad due to injuries and suspensions. We also had a bad trot earlier in the season, but picked up and started scoring and winning with the players we have now. Not saying we don't need attacking reinforcements, because we do, but if they don't arrive just yet, i think we'll be ok.

Your confidence does you credit.

Do you get a fee for being spiritual adviser to Fishy depressives?

He's said more than once that he has to free up some budget to bring in what he wants, and he knows where we need strengthening. One part of that equation is now complete, so i expect the second part to happen today or tomorrow, otherwise as Bigdog says, it's a risky strategy, reliant on what we do have staying fit and firing.

Last season showed just how quickly it can all go t1ts up, and you would think we would have learned our lesson from that. However, this is GTFC and we may end up winging it again. I do think we have better players than last season though, but that only counts if they are on the pitch together. We are not crammed with loan players either like we were last season, so we have a nucleus of players with a vested interest in the club.

Looking at it realistically, 4 or 5 more wins would see us safe in most seasons, and i think we are more than capable of achieving that from the remaining games with what we have. I just can't see us not adding to the squad before the window shuts, given how many have departed from what was not a massive squad to start with. We must have deals lined up i would have thought, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes....

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Your confidence does you credit.

Do you get a fee for being spiritual adviser to Fishy depressives?

I have confidence in Jolley. Maybe it's misplaced, but he seems to know what he is doing and exudes confidence himself. He got a right rabble of misfits winning games last season, with much less time and planning than he has now.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Your confidence does you credit.

Do you get a fee for being spiritual adviser to Fishy depressives?

So I'm not the only one to spot his guru-like qualities.

Might explain the 'ommmmmmmm!' sound coming from the Main Stand.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

So I'm not the only one to spot his guru-like qualities.

Might explain the 'ommmmmmmm!' sound coming from the Main Stand.

Not a Main Stander just yet. Still have my own hair and teeth.

Quoted from ginnywings

Not a Main Stander just yet. Still have my own hair and teeth.

Touchy lot in the Main Stand. Someone red-crossed you for suggesting they're over the hill.

We can still pick up some free agents after tomorrow. Andrew Fox didn't join until March last year. There may be a few players terminating contracts tomorrow who would then be available anyway.

Whoever comes in needs to be the right character and improve the squad. I'm sure he's got a few lined up and it all hinges on deals elsewhere. I expect 2 players to join before the transfer window slams shut

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Touchy lot in the Main Stand. Someone red-crossed you for suggesting they're over the hill.

Easily offended, old folk. Mind you, it's the big 6-0 for me in August, just in time for the new season, so i should accept my fate, and join the Werthers posse.

There’s plenty of movement of strikers in the leagues above like Scott Hogan going to Sheffield United and Leon Clarke leaving to go to Wigan in the Championship, League one Walsall have loaned a QPR striker and Rochdale have got Rekeil Pike who was on loan at Wrexham. It’s likely that deals trigger other deals in a housing chain sort of way. Sadly we’re bottom of the food chain and may have to wait until the last minute tomorrow to get anyone if at all.

Quoted from jimgtfc

There’s plenty of movement of strikers in the leagues above like Scott Hogan going to Sheffield United and Leon Clarke leaving to go to Wigan in the Championship, League one Walsall have loaned a QPR striker and Rochdale have got Rekeil Pike who was on loan at Wrexham. It’s likely that deals trigger other deals in a housing chain sort of way. Sadly we’re bottom of the food chain and may have to wait until the last minute tomorrow to get anyone if at all.

Sobering thought that we have to wait our turn until Walsall and Rochdale get their bits of business done..

Quoted from Bigdog

Sobering thought that we have to wait our turn until Walsall and Rochdale get their bits of business done..

But here's one piece of business news

https://www.humberbusiness.com.....y-11303-detail/story

Quoted from Bigdog

Sobering thought that we have to wait our turn until Walsall and Rochdale get their bits of business done..

Why? Football has been very cyclic for quite a time now , with some clubs having purple patches and others barren years. It was exactly 30 years last June that AB was appointed manager for his first spell. The previous season we had finished 3rd from bottom of the old third division and were relegated to the level we are at now. The club was on a real low and certainly no Chairman or Directors throwing cash to prop the club up. I don't think we were a particularly great attraction for getting new signings and AB brought in 7 players from non-league or free transfers. I recall a lot of the comments at the time " he is bringing in non-league players because the club is preparing for non-league football "! We had a shoe string budget then but AB had a vision of how he wanted to play and the kind of players he needed to achieve that. It wasn't all plain sailing and that first season wasn't great but progress was being made. MJ is very similar in his approach to AB - he knows how he wants his team to play and is slowly assembling the kind of players needed to achieve that. Whether MJ is as successful as AB remains to be seen but he could just do that. A few interesting stats from that first AB season. At this stage of the season( end of January ) we had played 21 games and amassed 24 points ie 1.14 points /game. This season we have played 30 games and amassed 37 points ie 1.23 points/game. The club's attendances were very poor with only 2,889 turning out for the first home league game to Torquay. In fact we had to wait until January 2 ( home to Colchester ) before the gate exceeded 4,000. As a final point about that season , 1988/89 , of the 24 clubs in Division 4 , 11 are now non-league. Now that is a sobering thought!

Quoted from rancido

Why? Football has been very cyclic for quite a time now , with some clubs having purple patches and others barren years. It was exactly 30 years last June that AB was appointed manager for his first spell. The previous season we had finished 3rd from bottom of the old third division and were relegated to the level we are at now. The club was on a real low and certainly no Chairman or Directors throwing cash to prop the club up. I don't think we were a particularly great attraction for getting new signings and AB brought in 7 players from non-league or free transfers. I recall a lot of the comments at the time " he is bringing in non-league players because the club is preparing for non-league football "! We had a shoe string budget then but AB had a vision of how he wanted to play and the kind of players he needed to achieve that. It wasn't all plain sailing and that first season wasn't great but progress was being made. MJ is very similar in his approach to AB - he knows how he wants his team to play and is slowly assembling the kind of players needed to achieve that. Whether MJ is as successful as AB remains to be seen but he could just do that. A few interesting stats from that first AB season. At this stage of the season( end of January ) we had played 21 games and amassed 24 points ie 1.14 points /game. This season we have played 30 games and amassed 37 points ie 1.23 points/game. The club's attendances were very poor with only 2,889 turning out for the first home league game to Torquay. In fact we had to wait until January 2 ( home to Colchester ) before the gate exceeded 4,000. As a final point about that season , 1988/89 , of the 24 clubs in Division 4 , 11 are now non-league. Now that is a sobering thought!

I don't disagree with your analysis using a single snapshot in time and your hopefulness that MJ will replicate what AB did. We could also take many other snapshots in time that provide very different facts and figures to prove points too. But we are where we are, some fans saying it's ok because it's comparable to the very few times in my lifetime that we were at our lowest ebb. Let's all keep giving ourselves doses of reality and wake up every morning and thank our lucky stars we're not Stockport. Always comparing ourselves downwards never comparing ourselves upwards. My point still remains, it's a sobering thought that we have to wait our turn behind Walsall and Rochdale and have done so for a cycle that's lasted nearly half my supporting lifetime. Doesn't seem very cyclical to me as it spans nearly one seventh of the club's history. These footballing cycles now seem to last a lot longer at the end of the A180.

Twenty years ago our average historical position for final position standings in the football pyramid was 49th, it's now 65th. So that's a net figure of 16 clubs that have gone above us in that table. That's a net figure so it accounts for all of the clubs that have fallen from grace too. So taking into account the current administration's performance we have to compare to the 49th position surely? And the average historical final position of the current administration's tenure is more likely to be not far off 90th, nowhere near as high as the 65th let alone the 49th average that all the other administrations had achieved between them in the rest of the club's history  The drop from 49th and operating at an average of nearly 40 places lower has been down to them. The sick thing is that if we continue performing as we are, our historical position will drop further and further and some time in the future we could end up with the administration using the statistics to say, well we're not far from the then historical position anyway, yet they had overseen the drop from 49th themselves. Facts, figures and statistics can be used in many ways to prove points that the user wants to make..

Quoted from ginnywings

Not a Main Stander just yet. Still have my own hair and teeth.

they have their teeth...they just keep them in their pocket instead  

Quoted from moosey_club

they have their teeth...they just keep them in their pocket instead  

Some of us don’t!  

Quoted from ginnywings

Easily offended, old folk. Mind you, it's the big 6-0 for me in August, just in time for the new season, so i should accept my fate, and join the Werthers posse.

In days gone by you would have got yourself a tartan rug and matching flask. Times have moved on, with breathable, thin thermals and banned flasks.

Another point to add to the incomings and outgoings is the emergence of A.Rose and Pollock.  Whilst Rose is on a professional contract and was at the start of the season, he has since moved up the pecking order.  In the case of Pollock, he wouldn't have been considered for a first team place back in August, but has since moved on and probably taken the place of Famewo in terms of numbers at the back.

I know there's a big desire for signings galore in the transfer windows but I don't think we need that much.  We definitely needed a dominant centre-back and add a bit more height, which we've done with Ohman.  With the departure of Dixon and pending departure of Fox, the move to bring Ring in was essential - I think it's probably fair to say it was also a look to up the quality too.  

In terms of further up field, I think it's more important that we get another creative influence in the side than an actual goalscorer.  Thomas has shown he's got goals in him and when Vernam's had a run in the side and up top, he's not done too badly in front of goal.  But at the minute we're just not creating chances, especially if Embleton isn't available or is marked out the game.  I also get the impression that Jolley is keen on having goals spread throughout the side rather than an all eggs in one basket approach.

Quoted from diehardmariner

  I also get the impression that Jolley is keen on having goals spread throughout the side rather than an all eggs in one basket approach.

All managers say that, especially ones who do not have a potent strike force up front.

It looks doubtful we are going to be ambitious this window so I hope Rose is going to get more game time and Jolley will settle into a system that allows him to play. His pace could be what we are looking for.

Quoted from Bigdog

I don't disagree with your analysis using a single snapshot in time and your hopefulness that MJ will replicate what AB did. We could also take many other snapshots in time that provide very different facts and figures to prove points too. But we are where we are, some fans saying it's ok because it's comparable to the very few times in my lifetime that we were at our lowest ebb. Let's all keep giving ourselves doses of reality and wake up every morning and thank our lucky stars we're not Stockport. Always comparing ourselves downwards never comparing ourselves upwards. My point still remains, it's a sobering thought that we have to wait our turn behind Walsall and Rochdale and have done so for a cycle that's lasted nearly half my supporting lifetime. Doesn't seem very cyclical to me as it spans nearly one seventh of the club's history. These footballing cycles now seem to last a lot longer at the end of the A180.

Twenty years ago our average historical position for final position standings in the football pyramid was 49th, it's now 65th. So that's a net figure of 16 clubs that have gone above us in that table. That's a net figure so it accounts for all of the clubs that have fallen from grace too. So taking into account the current administration's performance we have to compare to the 49th position surely? And the average historical final position of the current administration's tenure is more likely to be not far off 90th, nowhere near as high as the 65th let alone the 49th average that all the other administrations had achieved between them in the rest of the club's history  The drop from 49th and operating at an average of nearly 40 places lower has been down to them. The sick thing is that if we continue performing as we are, our historical position will drop further and further and some time in the future we could end up with the administration using the statistics to say, well we're not far from the then historical position anyway, yet they had overseen the drop from 49th themselves. Facts, figures and statistics can be used in many ways to prove points that the user wants to make..

As you say , I was using a snapshot in time, but that was just to compare what AB achieved to what MJ could achieve ,seeing as the club was in similar situations on both occasions. Also, like you say, facts , figures and statistics can be used and interpreted in many ways. You have also taken a snapshot in time comparing the club's current administration's historical performance to it's historical performance for the whole period prior to 20 years ago. Hardly a fair comparison. During my time watching town I have seen the club at FL level 2 for 18 seasons, level 3 for 12 seasons, level 4 for 15 and non-league for 5 (?) so I also have witnessed many ups and downs. It's easy to quote our " historical final league position" but surely you must admit the whole dynamic of football, especially financially, has altered dramatically in the last 50 years and especially since the Premiersh*t was formed.
I do find your comparison to Rochdale and Walsall , condescending and with more than a hint of the " billy big boll*x " attitude. Both these clubs play in a level higher than us so would be both financially and career wise a more attractive option. They are also in close proximity to very large cities and such are more attractive places to live. I know a lot of posters poo poo this point but for any young single footballer or even a married one with a young family, close proximity to all the advantages a large city has can be a very compelling decision as to what club they sign for.