Assessment

Quoted from 123614

None of which we were in for.

We were in for Vernam.. that’s a fact mate.

Not according to others.

Quoted from 123614

Not according to others.

Not gunna get into a debate on it mate. We tried in the summer, we tried all window until late last night. Lincoln wouldn’t let him go unless they had a replacement - they failed with a late bid on for a winger from Pompey.

I’m not basing it on a hunch..

Yep. All but done and waiting on Lincoln approving it.

Think they got jittery with their own strengthening not going quite to plan. But I do wonder if there was perhaps a bit of brinkmanship going on and both parties refused to blink.

We needed the deal to happen more than Lincoln did, at that stage of the window you perhaps have to accept you'll end up paying a premium.

Quoted from ska face

I know it’ll never, ever, happen but honestly feel Hurst would get a bit more slack from fans if he was more open with who his targets were now it’s a stage where it doesn’t make a difference.

He’s very, very stubborn and you could see from his interviews all month and leading up to the window that he just doesn’t even want to engage with the process. Just play the game a bit man ffs.

If he came out now and says “oh we were in for x, y, z player but x wanted twice what we could afford, y wanted to live nearer his nan and z doesn’t like driving in straight lines for 45mins” then at least fans would feel slightly more informed rather than having to speculate.

He’s putting himself under a lot of unnecessary scrutiny when some other managers would be happy to deflect it and put the grief on agents, other clubs and players.

I agree with you. It would be nice to know who we wanted which would indicate how progressive the club wants to be. It would also ease the thoughts of many on here.

In naming the targets it would not lessen or improve future summer negotiations as the targets may sustain injuries, or their reasons for not coming may never change. As far as the summer signing window is concerned it doesn't matter if we will have only 9 under contract. What does matter are the next 22 games and getting as many points as possible, plus an FA Cup tie reply to win.

Quoted from 123614

None of which we were in for.

If we wasn't in for Dallas and/or Vernam, then why not?
I think every Town fan would identify them as players who would improve our squad and I think that everyone would also believe they would realistic targets.

I certainly would be one to question that if Vernam and Dallas where not high up in our shortlist, then the people who are actually collating this list, are not doing a very good job.

My take on this is the following:
1.if the new forward Lloyd is good we buy him at the end of the season my gut feeling is that he will be good
2. Emmanuel from Hull sounds a good player and again we should sign at the end of the season.I would be very disappointed if we donot have an option as this would be very short sighted
3. it is clear we got knocked back a lot. Stockwood & Pettit, are smart Enough, we have to address this
4 these players come with a lot less fanfare than others would have done, and I suspect that will make it much easier for them to settle in.
Our antiquated set up is holding us back , this is the big picture and will take some fixing.
The next few games are not too easy and it is far easier to get points when mid table than at the bottom and so we need a couple of dour 1:0 wins. Hurst is good at this, we have no chance of playoffs this season as the squad clearly lacks quality but we can learn from this for next season. I am ok with the Jan business but this would not be acceptable in the summer utm

Kyle Lafferty has had his contract terminated by Killie . I'd personally drive him to Grimsby

He’s 35

Quoted from chaos33

He’s 35

he's a bloody effective player if you can motivate him.

nb fwiw was told by a number of separate sources that us n vernham was a 'love in' - both wanted it to happen, preferrably perm , but  a loan wasn't the end of the world.
Just a thought - in the past 9 months we've nicked their goalkeeping coach and recruitment lad. Was there a bit of 'payback' involved in their reluctance to play ball?