DJ Barry Hammond

I think a general state of discontent is now the norm across fans on social media. For example I’ve come across a lot of disgruntled Brighton fans no less when checking out for news and views on Evan Ferguson. Wolves fans do have strong justification to be raging mind.

That’s world wide figures across a season - so I expect it’s mostly made up of the Ronaldo fan club members.

I don’t think it’s even big in Saudi? Average attendance across the league of around 9,000, TV viewership of around 200 million to put some hastily googled figures on it. For a comparison - it is suggested that the Premier League averages over 600 million viewers per match.

Spurs going well again tonight I see!

Here’s some context. https://www.premierleague.com/transfers A summary of the number of confirmed transfers for Premier League clubs so far in January * Note, I’ve ignored loans of younger players and looked to focus on first team activity. Arsenal: 1 out Villa: 2 in, 3 out Bournemouth: 4 in, 2 out Brentford: 1 in, 1 out Brighton: 1 in, 3 out Chelsea: 2 out Palace: 1 in, 1 recall out Everton: 0 Fulham: 0 Ipswich: 3 in, 2 out Leicester: 1 in, 2 out Liverpool: 2 out Man City: 4 in, 1 out United: 1 out Newcastle: 1 out Forest: 1 in (Wayne Hennessey), 1 out Southampton: 3 in, 1 out Spurs: 2 in, 1 out (tfr in immediately loaned out) West Ham: 1 out Wolves: 1 in So, yeah, there hasn’t been much activity across the league so far. Here’s another source, https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/transfers/wettbewerb/GB1/plus/?saison_id=2024&s_w=w&leihe=1&intern=0&intern=1 which summarises there have so far been; 38 departures 49 arrivals costing a net balance of close to -£250m; with more than half of that spend courtesy of Manchester City. Why is the market so slow? Given we’re in the era of registering 25 man squads, it makes sense that January will be lighter on activity than over the longer summer window. Most clubs will have filled there 25 man allocation at the start of the season, meaning any in’s requiring registration would need to be balanced by transfers out - or leaving player(s) unregistered. PSR will also be a factor in activity at this point in the season - clubs will know more about their positions and what headroom they may or may not have from actual income and expenditure figures for the season so far, compared to the projections they would need to base spending on during the summer window.

I’m not sure how to take this contribution to the underlying matter. Is it no deal because he’s “never wrong” or should I be expecting an announcement video to drop in a matter of hours?

Yep, wages to turnover ratio above 90%, riding very close to PSR… rings a bell doesn’t it.

I don’t get why fans expect anything different - this has been the pattern across every January window for as long as I can remember; and not just at our club, but every club. And there’s good reason for that. The Christmas and January fixture period is always manic meaning clubs are unlikely to trade players at that point and time for negotiations are much more limited. By and large it’s only when things settle down a little and players on the fringes of a squad get twitchy about future playing time and long term prospects that deals get agreed.

I’m baffled at this view Rik because I feel you’re essentially missing the current situation the club is in, despite pointing out the situation the club is in within your post! As you point out, there’s a risk of relegation, so the view in this window HAS to be short term - players that can help us get on the right side of the line come seasons end - especially under a tight budget. At seasons end and into the summer, when our league status has been determined and budgets are refreshed, that is the time when the club can look a bit further ahead in terms of transfer planning (not withstanding that if we survive, the scope and availability of players to us would significantly widen) - but for now, we have to be considering players who can improve us or add something we haven’t got and contribute in the 15 games + cup fixtures we have left. I also think you’re barking up the wrong tree in terms of looking for signings from Japan and South America during this window - through the logic of time zones, language and simple geography they are much harder deals to do and would come with massive unknowns in terms of player adaptation periods and performance levels. And so if you consider this link - primarily a loan to seasons end (we don’t know what options it includes yet), that makes a lot of sense when you consider there’s no way we’re intending to sign a striker in this window that would be starting in front of Vardy - partly because that would surely require a £30-40 million outlay at least! So is this link suggesting Glover isn’t doing his job properly? Or is he actually working to situation we are in?

Really? I think it makes a lot of sense. We won’t be looking to replace Vardy in this window - that would be in the summer. So we’re looking for a stop gap striker, someone that can come in, provide something different to what we already have and contribute bits here and there until the end of the season. It seems Ajax are actively looking to loan Akpom out, so availability ✅ Cost - probably fair - so ✅ Player interest - probably ✅ Ability - jury probably out on that. But he’s playing in a major European league and performed well at Championship level… where we could find ourselves in, so it’s a deal that could also hedge on that possibility longer term. Is it an exciting link… no… but it is one that has logic behind it.

I think it’s accepted we could do with bringing in a striker. I think it unlikely we’d be able to get a striker of the calibre that would replace Vardy’s position as primary striker in this window. So yeah, we’re looking to sign a striker that could take the load off Vardy - contribute 20 minutes from the bench, maybe come in for tougher away fixtures where we might need more of a hold up striker. This windows goal is about getting us what we need to survive; so it’s going to be a case of looking at solid pro’s with a solid mentality that contribute now, not signing wonder kids for years to come.

It’s been reported as a loan deal.

The article does suggest it’s an initial loan with potential purchase - doesn’t clarify whether that’s an option or obligation m, but definitely muted as a loan deal.

Yet 1.5 key passes per 90? I guess those stats hide the subbed on in 5 of those appearances and subbed off in 12 - in fact he’s only managed one full 90. I don’t think Cooper rated him.

Weghorst is one of those strikers managers just play though isn’t he, regardless of whether he’s particularly good.

Well we know he’s decent at the level below us. Wouldn’t be against this, although I thought he was younger than 29… still that’s his prime, not a pensioner yet!

That’s not sack the board then I guess, it’s Rudkin out. But I would ponder this. Vichai was clearly no mug and not one for sentiment - he was a proper businessman that wouldn’t put up with incompetence at the highest level in his businesses. So he must have seen something in Rudkin, some positive qualities, that led him to not only keeping him on throughout his time, but extending his remit to his horse racing / polo interests. Anyway - a lot of the noise around this is pointless at this point in time anyway. 1.) It would be insane to sack your DOF during a transfer window and 2.) Any potential buyer of the club hoping to take control would need very deep pockets to buy out Top / King Power given the money they’ve invested / debt to equity conversions they hold… and 3.) If there are interested parties (I’ve not heard of any) they would no doubt wait until the end of the season to see where we finish in the league - because that would be a key valuation basis for the club. That of course doesn’t stop fans from viewing their opinion on this matter at games, but they may want to take a queue from the Spurs game and reflect how the negative atmosphere can impact a sides performance.

Yes, but at the cost of defensive shape is it worth it. Ask yourself, should a relegated side really be playing two flamboyant 10’s, even if one is playing out wide?

What about Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan?

Yeah, but we’ve tried with Daka without great success, to the point it’s probably time to give up hope with him (queue a goal scoring run of 5 in 5!) At least with Ferguson, it would be a fresh start for him and he wouldn’t have done anything with us to prove he’s shit (or not) to start with. Anyway, if the Sussex Express are to be believed, Xabi Alonso and Bayern Leverkusen are in form him… so we have next to no chance.

You know this won’t happen right… and for good reason!

Maybe not, but there’s a potential player in there and I’d say he’s the striker style profile that we’re certainly lacking at the moment (someone with a bit of physicality). I don’t think we’re at the head of the queue though sadly, plus finances could be an issue on that one. We’ll see though.

With respect to Union the financial gaps and player quality differential within the Belgian leagues will be somewhat different and easier to compete with than the Premier League. As a general model fine, but I don’t really see that they’re doing anything wildly different to the approach we have had with transfers on the whole - barr the odd older, immediate need signings that also have to be made for leagues as competitive as the Premier League and Championship. For every dudd signing that can be pointed at over the past few years, you can point to a quality one - but that’s the natures of transfers, some work, others don’t… and in some cases some take longer to prove their worth (Vestegaard, Soumare?). I get it that because of the PSR issues and relegation that fans have taken the opinion the club is badly run; but we’re not the only club to have troubles with PSR, poor performance and indeed relegation and you could argue the fact we were running so close to PSR limits was an indication of how ambitious we were trying to be at a time it was right to take a risk - and that had things on the margins gone differently (Champions League qualification) the overall story might have been very different. It’s also important to remember that when you operate a transfer policy of finding rough jems and trying to make them into the finished article, there will be fallow years, as even the article you referenced points out for Union; “The fact that Union have been able to sustain such a high level of success for three seasons is mightily impressive, but it is only natural that they face some (at least temporary) dropoffs given their budget and approach… …the fact that Union are ninth in the Pro League at the time of writing is neither a reflection of a drop in their scouting or recruitment nor an indictment of their approach. Instead, it is simply a natural part of their model which they will inevitably have to come across at some point.” So there’s certainly an argument that some fan’s aren’t accepting the rough that comes with the smooth and that football, transfers and finance at the Premier League level is far from easy, as the likes of clubs Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton, Spurs, Leeds and West Ham have shown us. And given I’ve referenced United and Chelsea - they also show a change of ownership is no guarantee to either success or indeed a better situation for fans overall when it comes to Ineos - and be clear, if new owners took over the club, they could be doing it on a purely profit motive, there’s no guarantee it comes with the ‘culture shift’ you’re looking for.

We dodged a bullet with Sensi though didn’t we? The other thing I’m always mindful of is the January window isn’t great for doing business in. Clubs everywhere are busy with playing, deals are hard to come by and you don’t have the time to get a player in, integrate them and get them them settled in their new surroundings before chucking them on the pitch. So for me there is a slight dilemma in terms of certain positions on whether it’s sensible to act now, or take a risk and hope to have better opportunities for that position in the summer. Signing a striker is a position I’m thinking of in particular because outside of Evan Ferguson - who I think would be a great signing for us - I don’t see much in terms of opportunities out there that would certifiably improve the starting 11.