George Lloyd

Quoted from Poojah

The BBC’s goals and assist stats are quiet telling.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/grimsby-town/top-scorers

In just 16 appearances he’s our joint 4th top goalscorer and joint 2nd in terms of assists. He has the best minutes per goal ratio of anyone who has played a meaningful amount of time, too. 303 minutes per goal, not amazing, but pretty solid for a player who makes goals and does a lot generally at the top of the pitch.

He’s only 23 (24 come the start of next season) and so you’d imagine a good 4 or 5 years from his peak. Absolute no brainier we should sign him should it become a possibility; for me the bigger questions are:

a) Will Cheltenham want to let him go?
b) If so, how much for (and will we want to pay it)?
c) Will there be other clubs ahead of us in terms of transfer fee, wages and location?

I’d have him back in a heartbeat in the summer, but my worry is that we’ll fall down somewhere along the line in terms of the above. He’s a hard working young striker who scores and makes goals at this level - it’s almost certain we won’t be the only ones in for him.

I think a) and b) should be ok.  Whilst he is young, relatively speaking, he's had a fair few years as a pro at Cheltenham without really making his mark there.  That's even more the case since they've gone into League One.  It looks to be another case of them staying at that level for next season too.  I'm sure, for the right fee, we can tempt them to part with someone they might not need.  

But for the love of god we've got to take the bull by the horns to make sure b) doesn't became an issue and before c) even becomes a consideration.  Yeah I get it we don't want to have to pay £150k for a £100k player but if that extra £50k spent means we get the right player rather than playing the lottery of seeing who else will come to us then I'd rather spend it than not.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

I think a) and b) should be ok.  Whilst he is young, relatively speaking, he's had a fair few years as a pro at Cheltenham without really making his mark there.  That's even more the case since they've gone into League One.  It looks to be another case of them staying at that level for next season too.  I'm sure, for the right fee, we can tempt them to part with someone they might not need.  

But for the love of god we've got to take the bull by the horns to make sure b) doesn't became an issue and before c) even becomes a consideration.  Yeah I get it we don't want to have to pay £150k for a £100k player but if that extra £50k spent means we get the right player rather than playing the lottery of seeing who else will come to us then I'd rather spend it than not.  

Yeah, I think Hurst effectively alluded to this in a recent interview; players are worth what others are prepared to pay for them and you either accept that or miss out on key targets more often than not.

I’d like to think lessons will have been learned from the last couple of windows in which, whatever you make of our business, have seen us knocked back too many times.

I’d also like to think Lloyd has enjoyed himself here, my worry is if a club closer to home were to come in for him. Next season in League Two we’ll have Forest Green, Swindon and Newport - plus potentially Oxford too - all roughly within an hour’s drive of Cheltenham. Walsall is only 60 miles away as well.  

If one of the above were to lodge a serious offer, the prospect of not having to move far (or at all) becomes quite compelling, regardless of any factors in our favour. Gut feel just tells me we’re up against it trying to get him here permanently, but maybe we’ll see a different approach to recruitment in the summer and we’ll all be pleasantly surprised. Here’s hoping.

On a slightly related note, it was interesting to see in last night’s spectacular meltdown from the Yeovil owner (worth checking out on Twitter) that Maidenhead wanted £150,000 for Emile Acquah in January. Available on a free in the summer, so looks like Maidenhead priced themselves out of a sale in the hope he’d keep them up. Didn’t work, 13 goals this season and they’re bottom of the conference.

Quoted from Poojah

Yeah, I think Hurst effectively alluded to this in a recent interview; players are worth what others are prepared to pay for them and you either accept that or miss out on key targets more often than not.

I’d like to think lessons will have been learned from the last couple of windows in which, whatever you make of our business, have seen us knocked back too many times.

I’d also like to think Lloyd has enjoyed himself here, my worry is if a club closer to home were to come in for him. Next season in League Two we’ll have Forest Green, Swindon and Newport - plus potentially Oxford too - all roughly within an hour’s drive of Cheltenham. Walsall is only 60 miles away as well.  

If one of the above were to lodge a serious offer, the prospect of not having to move far (or at all) becomes quite compelling, regardless of any factors in our favour. Gut feel just tells me we’re up against it trying to get him here permanently, but maybe we’ll see a different approach to recruitment in the summer and we’ll all be pleasantly surprised. Here’s hoping.

Agree on all fronts.  Which is why I hope we've looked out our prospective bank balance over the summer and being proactive, engaging with Cheltenham now regards his transfer and effectively got something sorted already.

Quoted from ska face

On a slightly related note, it was interesting to see in last night’s spectacular meltdown from the Yeovil owner (worth checking out on Twitter) that Maidenhead wanted £150,000 for Emile Acquah in January. Available on a free in the summer, so looks like Maidenhead priced themselves out of a sale in the hope he’d keep them up. Didn’t work, 13 goals this season and they’re bottom of the conference.

Think you're mixing Maidenhead and Maidstone up?

Either way, 5 goals since they rejected that bid isn't amazing and you would have thought it could have gone towards an upgrade.  More to the point £150,000 on a player with a dogshit record like that?  Mind blowing!

Quoted from diehardmariner

Agree on all fronts.  Which is why I hope we've looked out our prospective bank balance over the summer and being proactive, engaging with Cheltenham now regards his transfer and effectively got something sorted already.

I hope you’re right, would be very happy with that. The pragmatist in me says Lloyd would be a daft to make any commitments at this stage; 2 or 3 goals in our remaining games and his stock would increase tangibly. But you never know, maybe he sees Hurst as the man to turbocharge his slightly floundering career, just as he has McAtee’s.

Quoted from ska face

On a slightly related note, it was interesting to see in last night’s spectacular meltdown from the Yeovil owner (worth checking out on Twitter) that Maidenhead wanted £150,000 for Emile Acquah in January. Available on a free in the summer, so looks like Maidenhead priced themselves out of a sale in the hope he’d keep them up. Didn’t work, 13 goals this season and they’re bottom of the conference.

Maidstone are bottom not Maidenhead.

At the end of the day, you have to pay the going rate for decent players, not what you think they're worth.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Think you're mixing Maidenhead and Maidstone up?

Either way, 5 goals since they rejected that bid isn't amazing and you would have thought it could have gone towards an upgrade.  More to the point £150,000 on a player with a dogshit record like that?  Mind blowing!

Yeah Maidstone, Maidenhead, Minehead, all meaningless shítholes.

Probably sums up the state of the market in January though at that price. Can see where Hurst was coming from when he said it’s a seller’s market at that point. Colchester blew their load as well and they’re only 4pts clear.

Quoted from ska face

Yeah Maidstone, Maidenhead, Minehead, all meaningless shítholes.

Probably sums up the state of the market in January though at that price. Can see where Hurst was coming from when he said it’s a seller’s market at that point. Colchester blew their load as well and they’re only 4pts clear.

Wowwww!
Minehead is nice actually