January Transfer Deadline Day rumours/gossip/ or fact,

[Young_Nudger]

The proof of this pudding will of course be in the eating and I wish all our under the radar shall we say new recruits all the best .

A few things here YN for you to digest , firstly when James Cryne first began this analytic approach to recruitment in 2015 we as a club were one of the very first in the UK to do it and unsurprisingly we enjoyed a number of hits including as you say Alfie Masson .

Now everyone is doing it and so the chances of finding unearthed gems is as a percentage considerably smaller than what it was 8 years ago .

Secondly Patrick was prepared to be the guarantor on loans he arranged , which meant that whilst finances were often tight we weren't living hand to mouth or pay cheque to pay cheque as we are today , as a consequence the pond in which we were fishing in wasn't limited to the League Of Ireland or indeed the 7th and 8th tier of English football .

Mawson came from Brentford with plenty of third tier experience gained , Hourihane from Plymouth Argyle and Winnall from Sc unthorpe even Marc Roberts at least came from the 5th tier .

Vastly different situation today on many levels and it's fools gold to believe the early James Cryne years can be replicated today with the same kind of success .

I look forward to your considered reply and it would make a refreshing change for your reply to be not the wing and a prayer type based on fantasy .

Bobby Thomas is not a fantasy.
I saw him.
Or I think I did.
Who on here predicted that incoming ?

I don’t know anything about scouts we employ.
But I’m told we haven’t any.
All I know is that James sits at a computer and is able to identify players.
I’m also told that this role was taken away from him last season and we dropped back into recruiting players in the traditional way of doing things eg by reputation.
And at the beginning of this season James has resumed responsibility for recruitment - hence Bobby Thomas.

So my considered reply is this ……. do we go back to a time of short contracts where every season a nearly new team of has beens and loans had to be brought in.
Even those with short memories will remember this.
Or do we continue to recruit under the radar by using algorithms - buy cheaply hoping that those players can be developed.
We strayed away from the algorithm method last season - we are still paying the cost of it.

[animallittle3]

Bobby Thomas is not a fantasy.
I saw him.
Or I think I did.
Who on here predicted that incoming ?

I don’t know anything about scouts we employ.
But I’m told we haven’t any.
All I know is that James sits at a computer and is able to identify players.
I’m also told that this role was taken away from him last season and we dropped back into recruiting players in the traditional way of doing things eg by reputation.
And at the beginning of this season James has resumed responsibility for recruitment - hence Bobby Thomas.

So my considered reply is this ……. do we go back to a time of short contracts where every season a nearly new team of has beens and loans had to be brought in.
Even those with short memories will remember this.
Or do we continue to recruit under the radar by using algorithms - buy cheaply hoping that those players can be developed.
We strayed away from the algorithm method last season - we are still paying the cost of it.

Bobby Thomas isn't our player , he's on loan .

[Shadrack the Red]

Bobby Thomas isn't our player , he's on loan .

In fairness Thomas had to be recruited even though he is a loan player , poor loan players have arrived here before & players have to be vetted, although in this case I would have thought Duff will have had a big input which if true dismisses the theory that our HC has no involvement in player recruitment when he obviously does .

[SBRed48]

For information Nudge our transfer business so far this window has been

Max Watters signed on loan from Cardiff until end of this season

Bob Thomas signed on loan from Burnley until end of this season

Barry Cotter signed from Shamrock Rovers for £20K on contract until 2026

In addition we have Larkeche (Fulham), Tedic (Man City), Martin (Norwich) and Edwards (Stoke, now returned) on loan until the end of the season, deals done last summer.

As you say we don't want to return to the days of short term loans.

[SBRed48]

Ahmad may well have worked his magic. I said recently that Duff's comments about not expecting any further incomings was a front to cover Ahmad working under the radar.

There are rumours we are about to swoop on Kilmarnock striker Oliver Shaw, known as "Oli". He is 24 yrs old, of medium height 1.7m (5 foot 7 inches)
He was a scoring sensation last season in the Scottish Championship notching 14 goals in 29 appearances but, following Kilmarnock's promotion the Scottish Premiership, he has found it a little less productive, not finding the net in his 7 appearances this season.

[Young_Nudger]

Ahmad may well have worked his magic. I said recently that Duff's comments about not expecting any further incomings was a front to cover Ahmad working under the radar.

There are rumours we are about to swoop on Kilmarnock striker Oliver Shaw, known as "Oli". He is 24 yrs old, of medium height 1.7m (5 foot 7 inches)
He was a scoring sensation last season in the Scottish Championship notching 14 goals in 29 appearances but, following Kilmarnock's promotion the Scottish Premiership, he has found it a little less productive, not finding the net in his 7 appearances this season.

Oli Shaw might be a good player - but he dosent provide the team with owt different - he doesn’t provide Duff with a different option - cos Shaw basically is not big enough.
He’s another small lightweight striker to add to all the other small lightweight strikers.
If he is coming in then I’m not impressed.

James needs to be popping some different info into that theer compputor …….. eg
Striker
At least 6’3”
Built like a brick sh.ithouse
Plug ugly
Wide shoulders big a@rse
Quick (ish)
Nasty ****er

[POGGYWELL]

Barnsley FC transfer news: Reds linked with a move for Kilmarnock striker and previous transfer target

Yorkshire Post: Leon Wobschall 1 hour ago.

BARNSLEY are being linked with a move for Kilmarnock striker Oli Shaw.

The 24-year-old is a player well known to the Reds for some time and reports in Scotland suggest that the Oakwell outfit have agreed a fee with Killie for the 24-year-old, whose former clubs include Hibernian and Ross County.

Barnsley were previously linked with the one-time Scotland under-21 player back in the summer of 2019 when he was on the books of Hibs.

The Edinburgh-born player scored four times in the Scottish League Cup at the start of the season, but has struggled for goals since and failed to find the net in the Scottish Premier League this term.

[POGGYWELL]

Surely James with his spreadsheet must realise Oli ( Oil ) and Watter just don’t mix !

[SBRed48]

We need to bring in a Stanley to pair up with Oliver---Stan and Oli

This is another fine mess you gotten us into Ahmad.

[Shadrack the Red]

Oli Shaw might be a good player - but he dosent provide the team with owt different - he doesn’t provide Duff with a different option - cos Shaw basically is not big enough.
He’s another small lightweight striker to add to all the other small lightweight strikers.
If he is coming in then I’m not impressed.

James needs to be popping some different info into that theer compputor …….. eg
Striker
At least 6’3”
Built like a brick sh.ithouse
Plug ugly
Wide shoulders big a@rse
Quick (ish)
Nasty ****er

Shaw is not big enough , makes you wonder how Chaplin managed to score for both us & Ipswich , & I am still baffled how John Hendrie did it at top level , both way too small !!!!