Another good signing

[champs95]

Welcome aboard Walton. Big lad, 6ft 5. That extra 5 inches is crucial. Hopefully we won't cave in on every cross now Raya has left. This lad has good experience, and sounds a far better bet. And hopefully he will give our defence a bit of stability. With a commanding keeper it should address things. We are likely to let Leutwiler go this week, and we are after getting Simon Eastwood back from Oxford as an experienced number 2.
Big blow learning that we will be without Williams for the first 6 weeks of the season.
And we are closing in on Tosin. Also we are now chasing a young winger/striker from West Ham. Notice that Chapman hasn't featured in pre-season. He will be injury prone that lad, so I think this is another option.

[champs95]

Its also expected we will complete the signing of Glenn Whelan in the next few days. That would be a very good squad player signing.

BUT the BEST business by FAR (!!!!!!!) this summer was getting Travis to sign a 4 year deal.
People will naively find negativity in the signing of another experienced player (both Evans and Smallwood will now leave) but the fact one of the best young talents in the Champ is wanting to stay with us, is HUGE! He will only carry on improving, and Sunday showed what an impact he has on us. We desperately needed experience (and move on the one's who where not good enough) and strength.

I am really happy with the business we have done. I think we now have one of the best squads in the league, and on the quiet, I think top 6 is a very realistic aim. 2 or 3 signings to go, but looking around, who are we scared of? Who's actually spent any money (that will actually count) I'm only really bothered about Derby, Bristol City and Fulham.

[AucklandRover]

Champs - I agree that this is a good signing, but I really can't see the point in getting Eastwood as well. Leutwiler simply isn't as bad as people make out, and I remember that Eastwood was not exactly well-regarded by fans, last time around! We also have Fisher and Hilton as back-up, (although I wouldn't be surprised if Fisher goes out on loan). Reserve keepers get so little game-time, anyway!
I'm interested that you are so certain Evans and Smallwood will leave. Do you have inside information?
As for Glenn Whelan - good player, but I really can't see the point in piling up veterans who won't get on the field much. And why was Adam - a very good passer -not considered, if another experienced player was considered necessary?
Then you mention a winger/striker from West Ham? Really? If he's intended for the First Team, I'm baffled.
Is he just being signed in case Chapman gets injured a lot?
Well, we have Bennett, Downing, Armstrong, Brereton, Rankin-Costello and Rothwell who can all fill in out wide in a crisis, or double up as the support strikers!
Are we going to send Nuttall and Butterworth out on loan but BRING IN an Under-23 player from a DIFFERENT club. Is he going to play instead of one of those mentioned, or instead of Graham, Dack, Gallagher? In other words, what would be the point?
I just don't see how the squad is going to get reduced to 25, if all of those mentioned arrive!

[AucklandRover]

By the way, Chapman and Samuel are apparently nearing full fitness, so there appears to be even less need for an extra forward.

[robinrover]

The west ham winger I agree with,not really much point,when we are well stocked.
Back to the original post
Walton was a surprise but a good one however he needs to get the defence organised as more often than not we have let ourselves down from corners and free kicks.
This is a start though,get the city boy through the door and there is really no reason why we cant achieve mid table minimum.

[champs95]

I really don't rate Armstrong. He isn't good enough. I don't think he will feature much. And will be gone by next summer. And Chapman is too injury prone. And not the same player we had in Div1. Since his injuries. We don't have a natural winger. Not one that can make an impact.

[seventwo]

Chapman and Nuttall simply aren't good enough yet and Armstrong inconsistent and played out of position.

[champs95]

Chapman and Nuttall simply aren't good enough yet and Armstrong inconsistent and played out of position.

I couldn't agree more. Chapman is at BEST a last 5 or 10 min impact player.
Only since he came back, he has had no impact, and no effect at all.
And he cant be trusted sadly. He picks up injuries when we don't even play.
Davenport is the same. Neither will ever really get going with us.

I must admit Aucks, your confusing me? You know aswell as I do, Nuttall isn't anywhere near good enough. Same with Smallwood, and same with Evans. The latter was the best of a bad bunch, but simply not good enough.
If we wanted to be a mid-table side (I think we are aiming higher than that) we need to improve. As we didn't finish mid-table. We finished lower. Because (rightly so imo) he trusted and kept faith with everyone who got us here. Including players like Smallwood, Bennett etc who just are not good enough. It really is as simple as that.

We signed Reed on loan, from a Prem club. When we had Travis waiting to come through. Did Reed stop Trav playing? No.
Did Reed improve us? Absolutely.
Is he ahead of our own Under 23's. Yes, that's why we got him.

I really am not seeing where you are coming from? We cant sit still. We did the right thing, we played everyone. Gave everyone a game, and figured out who is good enough. Dack, Graham (who only has one season left in him) Lenihan etc. Surely you can see who we want, and who weren't good enough.

This isn't aimed at anyone here persay, but the fact remains .....its like highlighting every single mistake Raya made last season, week by week. And stating he needs to vastly improve. Discussing his inability to deal with crosses.
Then the day we sell him, start questioning why we are letting a good quality young keeper go?

The manager knows exactly what he is doing. Its fair, nobody can complain. And as a club, we are making sure we get in everyone we want and need. Then we are going to let people like Smallwood leave. Because our manager will do the right thing.

[AucklandRover]

Champs - I'm not talking about my (or your) preferences. I'm looking at the squad as it stands, and adding on two new keepers, a centre-back, Whelan and this West Ham forward.
That takes us to well over 30, and then there is the potential of the likes of Fisher, Wharton, Magloire, Hart, Grayson, Rankin-Costello, Buckley, Lyons, Butterworth, etc.
They can't ALL go out on loan!
And there is no concrete evidence yet that Evans, Smallwood, Bennett, etc. are actually leaving. That's just what YOU want to happen.
How can we guarantee in advance, anyway, that an unnamed WH player is going to be better than one of our own youngsters?
I agree we need to move on, but you are assuming all the replacements will be better. History shows how rarely that is true - especially when you're trying to get bargains.
I just don't think we're in the financial position where we can make signings who are top-notch. What if Johnson and Downing turn out to be Murphy and Whittingham, mark 2? I'm not saying it's likely, but we're not getting PL quality players there - not at this stage of their careers, anyway.
And, of course, we have no idea yet, for example, whether Walton is better than Raya.
At this point, I think we do need to take a risk with three or four of our own youngsters - although not all on the pitch at the same time, obviously. What have we actually learned about Wharton from his fragmented loan-spells? Platt actually seems to have gone backwards! So did Hardcastle.
Walton and one centre-back is surely enough, in addition to those who have arrived already. Would Simon Eastwood really be happy with another long period on the bench? I'm even a bit concerned about Adarabioyo - simply because I was expecting a GENUINELY experienced player in that position.
We can't just keep stockpiling players, hoping that all the gambles pay off.
On the Telegraph site, people are now talking top-six. Some of the same people will be yelling, "Mowbray out" if we get off to a bad start. I simply don't buy the argument that our signings - sound as they are - will automatically transform us into promotion-contenders. As far as I can see, none of them is MILES ahead of what we have already.
In any case, there is far more to success than the look of the squad on paper.
Will the team gel?
Can we get the "confidence" thing going?
Will key players get injured?
Will we be more consistent? (God knows we need to be!)
Will we get the run of the ball at important moments?
Will we get a run of poor decisions?
And that's before we consider the opposition! You'd think the other team doesn't count from some posts you read! A lot of squads aren't finalised yet, and I suspect we will see some bigger sums splashed out in the final two weeks of the window.
As always, I prefer to wait and see. I have never believed football is predictable. If my arm was twisted for a forecast at the moment, I'd go for between 10th and 12th.

[AucklandRover]

Just an addition, Champs.
I really think it's wild guesswork when you say things like Armstrong will be gone within a year, and that neither Chapman or Davenport will ever be any good for us.
But then you ARE also prepared to accept that an unidentified West Ham youngster will definitely be superior to what we've got!
Are you CERTAIN he's going to be better than Nuttall or the others mentioned? Why?