Harry Chapman

[champs95]

So has this Lyons lad joined or not?
Why does everything have to be so cloak-and-dagger?
It's maddening. Whatever happened to freedom of information?
Don't tell me: it's "commercially sensitive". Anyone found guilty of using that phrase should be given three-months' community-service, specialising in sewer cleaning.

I'm not at liberty to confirm Auks, it's commercially sensitive.

[Saxo1man41]

Lyons is from the northern Irish league.. Not even League of Ireland.. Little more than local league football over here.. I wouldn't expect to see him in first team contention for a long time.

[AucklandRover]

Let's call a spade a spade. The transfer system is a shambles. It's not just us, but how can clubs miss out on players by a few minutes when there are months to get signings sorted.
TM has praised the reorganised scouting system, but you have to say there have been blips (I'm being polite).
You could put the Chapman saga on the stage and call it a "French farce"!
The number of people who have been "in the bag" - only for the bag to develop a hole - is ridiculous.
My belief is that it's also unsettling for the existing players - especially the younger ones. When they see their clubs employing a scattergun approach, with all kinds of obscure names being mentioned, it's hardly going to be taken as a vote of confidence.
Using us as one example, we now have Travis, Tomlinson and Nuttall stuck in no-man's-land. Can they progress much further in the Under-23 team?
Surely the football authorities can come up with a better system than the current chaos - especially as it plays into the hands of the media (and bloody "social media"!)
My current pills are clearly not strong enough.

[Despair]

Aucks, forget the pills.
Just don’t engage will all the ‘social/journo media nonsense !
This is really why I don’t get involved with all the forums speculative postings re ‘movements’!
Simply because I just don’t waste my time reading up on it all, it’s just ‘space filler’. I’ve got better things to do with my time.

PS. It’s good to see that on this forum our recent defeat is being taken in the right spirit. We were second best so we score no points, that’s the name of the game.
We will be losing quite a few this term, we always were, so no real harm done.
We move on to next challenge - simples.

[AucklandRover]

Aucks, forget the pills.
Just don’t engage will all the ‘social/journo media nonsense !
This is really why I don’t get involved with all the forums speculative postings re ‘movements’!
Simply because I just don’t waste my time reading up on it all, it’s just ‘space filler’. I’ve got better things to do with my time.

PS. It’s good to see that on this forum our recent defeat is being taken in the right spirit. We were second best so we score no points, that’s the name of the game.
We will be losing quite a few this term, we always were, so no real harm done.
We move on to next challenge - simples.

Very good points, Despair. Actually, I have nothing to do with Social Media myself. I suppose my main complaint on that score is that I have no idea which rumours have some foundation in fact.
My biggest grouse, though, is the nature of the system. Brereton was a definite "NO" on Forest's part on deadline day...but turned into a "YES", a fortnight later. Then there is the Chapman roller-coaster, not to emotion the absolute farce of the Irish lad, with the club more or less admitting they weren't sure whether they had signed him or not.
Is this the best the football authorities can come up with?

[AucklandRover]

Very good points, Despair. Actually, I have nothing to do with Social Media myself. I suppose my main complaint on that score is that I have no idea which rumours have some foundation in fact.
My biggest grouse, though, is the nature of the system. Brereton was a definite "NO" on Forest's part on deadline day...but turned into a "YES", a fortnight later. Then there is the Chapman roller-coaster, not to emotion the absolute farce of the Irish lad, with the club more or less admitting they weren't sure whether they had signed him or not.
Is this the best the football authorities can come up with?

For "emotion" two lines up, read "mention"! (I blame my therapist).

[champs95]

For "emotion" two lines up, read "mention"! (I blame my therapist).

Auks, if you where Tony Pulis .....would you package up a very, very, very good player in Chapman and hand him to a direct rival playing in your division?
I would not. Not a chance. Why would he?
Yes we got him on loan in Div1 when Boron where a Prem side. That is not the case now.
While I think the discussion took place, I do also think we made several efforts to get him. I think we probably did everything n our power to make it happen.

But not one mention of this as a viable option?
We are very critical of everything, but just sit and think about it. It is probably the case.
Boro would not be in the business of making us better, no matter which slant we put on it.

[AucklandRover]

Auks, if you where Tony Pulis .....would you package up a very, very, very good player in Chapman and hand him to a direct rival playing in your division?
I would not. Not a chance. Why would he?
Yes we got him on loan in Div1 when Boron where a Prem side. That is not the case now.
While I think the discussion took place, I do also think we made several efforts to get him. I think we probably did everything n our power to make it happen.

But not one mention of this as a viable option?
We are very critical of everything, but just sit and think about it. It is probably the case.
Boro would not be in the business of making us better, no matter which slant we put on it.

I'm really talking about the pattern. You told us we were definitely getting Chapman, but the truth is, the system means it is impossible to plan properly because nobody knows which deals are going to go through. This business with Lyons was hardly credible. Why wait until half an hour before the deadline?
At times, TM's own frustration with the whole process bubbled to the surface, and I don't blame him.