Transfer rumours !

Keegan wrote:

karlypants wrote:Hmm...have you been looking into Boggers crystal balls Keegan?

I don't even know if they are really crystal, Karly!

@BwfcGoals wrote:BREAKING: New signing trains at Bolton #BWFC

They say first teamer and "New Messi". Al thinks we may have triallists in but that's about it.

I saw that tweet, it had a picture of an empty football field accompanying it

Yeah... to indicate a total lack of new signings...

Can't decide if that's just cryptic paper talk or just bollocks.
Usually when they say "first teamer", we think it's going to be Ronaldo and it's invariably Keith Andrews so even if this mystery person ends up with us it's not likely to be that exciting - unless it's Rob Earnshaw and his 16 goals in his last 61 games in the blind school league of course.

Keegan wrote:Yeah... to indicate a total lack of new signings...

Alright.. Calm down..

I'm totally calm. I'm confident that any signing the Gaffer makes will be right for the club. We missed out on Ibe but may well face him on the weekend because Liverpool recalled him. We didn't miss out really since we wouldn't have had him now in any case. Maybe if Lennon was able to make a host of signings, young Zach "Messi" Clough wouldn't have gotten his debut. I'm just staying hopeful.

My understanding is that we are supposed to be in a period of austerity to manage our huge debt and that our goal this season is to continue to cut wages and survive in the Championship despite this.

Struggling to see why the financial reality for Freedman should be any different for Lennon.

Sure Freedman gambled on Beckford to solve the goals problem, but he had to sell, sell, sell to get the money - and that's what Lennon will have to do.

Getting Spearing off the books will help and others may have to go but I don't think there's any "up front" capital for a transfer fee.

If Lennon actually makes a signing I'll be surprised and pleased (providing it's not another last minute desperate throw of the dice like Beckford was) but I don't think we need anyone else to survive - providing the injury situation doesn't get much worse.

We have a few kids coming through, people to come back from injury - we should be fine.

So wouldn't Lennon be better off keeping the money in his pocket and riding it out until the summer when he can have a good go at building his team? Unless he finds a cracker now.

May as well wait on Commons and get him for free in the summer (if we get him at all). Long term the problem is Eddie's lost interest and there won't be any real investment in the squad until that changes (ie the club is sold).

bwfc1874 wrote:May as well wait on Commons and get him for free in the summer (if we get him at all). Long term the problem is Eddie's lost interest and there won't be any real investment in the squad until that changes (ie the club is sold).

We could try and get him now on a pre-contract for the summer when he's a free agent.
Celtic would pay his wages until then.
Give him a golden hello for a pre contract (say for arguments sake £1m) and we might just have the best of both worlds.
This season we won't go up and we won't go down- so there's no real benefit in a host of new signings until next season when, other things being equal, we could have a reasonable chance of being in the promotion mix.
So- keep most of the money in the back pocket-but spend a little buying in advance

I'm not at all sure we need a host of signings. My feeling is that Neil is clearly getting the best out of the squad and they have bought into his message and style of play enthusiastically. We certainly need some strengthening but I'd rather see 2 or 3 quality players than a dozen average ones. 

Of course the striker situation is still problematic. Eidur and Emile are doing really well but they're on short term contracts and both well past thirty so they aren't the long term answer. There are also still some problems with our somewhat jury-rigged defence but overall we seem to have a solid squad with players who can adapt and do well despite being 'out of position' sometimes. 

I think we could do to trim the number of midfielders we have and perhaps use the released wages to fund a quality RB, LB and striker. Other than that I think we're actually OK. Of course that may change if we lose a few players we need like say CYL but for right now I wouldn't look to rush out and make immediate signings for the sake of it and I'm sure Neil won't.

rammywhite wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:May as well wait on Commons and get him for free in the summer (if we get him at all). Long term the problem is Eddie's lost interest and there won't be any real investment in the squad until that changes (ie the club is sold).

We could try and get him now on a pre-contract for the summer when he's a free agent.
Celtic would pay his wages until then.
Give him a golden hello for a pre contract (say for arguments sake £1m) and we might just have the best of both worlds.
This season we won't go up and we won't go down- so there's no real benefit in a host of new signings until next season when, other things being equal, we could have a reasonable chance of being in the promotion mix.
So- keep most of the money in the back pocket-but spend a little buying in advance

A million squid for Commons? He's already in his 30s and he wasn't that great when he was in his prime. Decent squad player though - if overhyped.

wanderlust wrote:
A million squid for Commons? He's already in his 30s and he wasn't that great when he was in his prime. Decent squad player though - if overhyped.

Commons would hardly be a squad player if he came to BWFC. He'd be our main man.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wanderlust wrote:
A million squid for Commons? He's already in his 30s and he wasn't that great when he was in his prime. Decent squad player though - if overhyped.

Commons would hardly be a squad player if he came to BWFC. He'd be our main man.

I agree with Nat here but I think a million quid for a signing on fee would be most likely beyond us even if it was what Commons wanted. I suspect there'll be some sort of golden hello but his wages are probably going to be where he makes a lot especially if there's some sort of goal bonus in there. 

I think he'd be brilliant at this level if we could afford him. I'm not so sure about the Premier League if we got there but he'd certainly be an asset in our attempts to get promoted.

wanderlust wrote:

rammywhite wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:May as well wait on Commons and get him for free in the summer (if we get him at all). Long term the problem is Eddie's lost interest and there won't be any real investment in the squad until that changes (ie the club is sold).

We could try and get him now on a pre-contract for the summer when he's a free agent.
Celtic would pay his wages until then.
Give him a golden hello for a pre contract (say for arguments sake £1m) and we might just have the best of both worlds.
This season we won't go up and we won't go down- so there's no real benefit in a host of new signings until next season when, other things being equal, we could have a reasonable chance of being in the promotion mix.
So- keep most of the money in the back pocket-but spend a little buying in advance

A million squid for Commons? He's already in his 30s and he wasn't that great when he was in his prime. Decent squad player though - if overhyped.

...but unfortunately that's what decent squad players cost now.

Can't agree with that Rammy, £1 million is an excessive signing on fee for a club like ours. Think your bang on otherwise though, get a pre-contract signed up in January and put together a promotion side for next year.

bwfc1874 wrote:Can't agree with that Rammy, £1 million is an excessive signing on fee for a club like ours. Think your bang on otherwise though, get a pre-contract signed up in January and put together a promotion side for next year.

Over the past few years we've spent a lot more on players who have turned out to be real dross.
I was concentrating on the word 'decent' -and I don't think you get decent players for much less than that in the championship, certainly not players who have actually done the business elsewhere and not hopeful punts on players who might make it. We've had a lot of them as well.

rammywhite wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:Can't agree with that Rammy, £1 million is an excessive signing on fee for a club like ours. Think your bang on otherwise though, get a pre-contract signed up in January and put together a promotion side for next year.

Over the past few years we've spent a lot more on players who have turned out to be real dross.
I was concentrating on the word 'decent' -and I don't think you get decent players for much less than that in the championship, certainly not players who have actually done the business elsewhere and not hopeful punts on players who might make it. We've had a lot of them as well.

Anything under £5 million is a gamble but a good manager with a good eye for a player may be able to pick up a player who could hold his own in the Prem for around £3 million - although that would be a fantastic deal if it could be struck.

A Million Quid for Commons is cheap IMO, i thought that we'd have to pay way more than that.

Zigic, Sam Ricketts (loan).

scottjames30 wrote:A Million Quid for Commons is cheap IMO, i thought that we'd have to pay way more than that.

I believe that the negotiations with Commons are still ongoing but the sticking point seems to be his weekly wages. The figure that has been mentioned is £18,000 per week and he will not sign for anything less.

Reebok Trotter wrote:

scottjames30 wrote:A Million Quid for Commons is cheap IMO, i thought that we'd have to pay way more than that.

I believe that the negotiations with Commons are still ongoing but the sticking point seems to be his weekly wages. The figure that has been mentioned is £18,000 per week and he will not sign for anything less.

In wish I had never mentioned the £1milion. I had suggested this simply as a number as a signing on fee to get him on a pre contract.
I'd still pay that for him though!