When I posted yesterday that we were only one racist remark away from reserve team strikers, I foolishly assumed we'd keep some reserve team strikers.
Nathan Eccleston to Blackpool.
So, four strikers out one in. Still good thing that scoring goals wasn't our main problem last seas... Oh.

Kev7 wrote:


That the Spurs deal is being quoted as being £6M, you have to wonder either how badly did Liverpool botch the etiquette of the transfer or whether the purse strings are really that tight.

From Twitter: "Liverpool make £35m bid for West Ham's Andy Carroll"

So, did Spurs sign Moutinho or not?

One more reason to be a fake Spurs supporter.

I think this is the first time I've watched Sky Sports right after the transfer window. Crazy number of transactions.

And of course, another chance to hear Aston Villa referred to as "a massive club."

Outside Agent wrote:


No.

How come they always reveal the transfer fee but don't discuss the wages in the contract?

Due to the ummm... overlap in the two teams ownership Watford currently have ten Udinese players on loan. This can't be a good precedent can it?

Various thoughts:

I don't like loans, which is not a great position to be in right now as a Watford fan (I'd happily ban what we're doing with Udinese). Loans should be for giving young players experience or temporarily reviving the playing careers of outcast players. It annoys me every time I see a loan on transfer deadline day as it always stinks of "couldn't get a permanent one through for whatever reason, fuck it, have it on loan for a while."

Further down the tree, I've probably seen Dundee United's Gary Mackay-Steven and Johnny Russell linked with about half the Championship. Both remain in place. Other heavily touted players at this level who have also remained where they were: George Boyd of Peterborough (although his team-mate Paul Taylor, touted to a similar degree, moved yesterday) and Luke Freeman of Stevenage.

Jordan Rhodes went though, and Huddersfield seem to have failed to replace him, apart from signing the winger Adam Hammill from Wolves.

I also note that Rangers contrived to bid "under £1m" (i.e. nearly £1m) for two Hearts players - one of whom, David Templeton, was also linked with a load of Championship teams.

Hugo Lloris signing for Spurs presumably means Brad Friedel's run of unbroken league starts - running back to the 2003/04 season - is sadly set to be broken.

Amor de Cosmos wrote:

Don't forget the two we've got from Granada, also owned by the Pozzos, and the lads we've got Liege and Chelsea. Just the 14 loan players.

For whatever reason, foreign loans don't count towards your loan quota, so technically we've only got one on loan! I'm told the Pozzos did this with Granada two years ago to get them into La Liga - they went up with a similar number of loan players.

We currently have a squad of 42 professional players, only three of whom are out on loan. Although Troy Deeney's helpfully in prison - they've said they'll keep him on when he gets out, though.

As I said in my last post, I'd happily ban it, along with bringing in a load more loan restrictions.

It is indeed exactly the strategy that they used at Granada.

Jordan Rhodes went though, and Huddersfield seem to have failed to replace him, apart from signing the winger Adam Hammill from Wolves.

Very strong rumours that Jermaine Beckford is going to Huddersfield on loan.

As a supporter of a club that has recently exploited the loan system (though not to any great benefit) I agree with you. I think it encourages player stockpiling and quick-fix thinking, overvalues having good contacts (why employ a good coach when you can get someone who is mates with Ferguson or Wenger?) and potentially results in rich, player-heavy clubs being able to stack the deck in their favour by judiciously loaning around players who then can't face their parent club.

I didn't know that about Friedel. Boo to Spurs, he's an excellent goalie who deserves better.

How does the system work in Germany? I noticed that Ravensburg has some kind of formal player development deal with Freiberg. Is that sort of "farm tem" deal common? We have that sort of thing here - like Harrisburg is officially linked to Philadelphia and I think Richmond is linked to DC. It's above board.

hobbes wrote:


Yeah, the difference will be Barca pushing forward and Liverpool continually passing backward unless Gerrard gets the ball and decides to run 3/4 of the field. I don't think Charlie Adam was a good purchase (most guys with two first names aren't going to be very good) but selling him further depletes a weak midfield. On that front, I have complained a lot about Shelvy. Watch in the next game how many times he passes backwards versus moving the ball toward the goal. It's ridiculous; one would think he assumes the goal is to score against Reina.

EDIT: I had heard that Liverpool were offering cash and a player/some players for Dempsey. It's funny to read upthread that Henderson was on offer. Rodgers has basically said via these moves that almost everyone purchased by King Kenny was crap, and that's true. Suarez and perhaps Coates are the only purchases worth keeping.

Friedel is 40 odd and although an excellent keeper he has two major flaws - he's incredibly hesitant about coming off his line and is iffy on crosses.

Spurs have a selection of flawed keepers -

Reed John wrote:


The transfer fee is rarely revealed, it's normally speculated upon by the media. Even then! the phrase "undisclosed fee" is increasingly common.

Which also means Liverpool value him at somewhere less that £6m, unless it was a loan. Which is pretty harsh I reckon. Henderson is worth £10m in the current climate, surely. There's a decent player in there somewhere, even if we got entirely dicked on the price last year.

delicatemoth wrote:


Apparently, you lot pulled the plug at five to eleven with the player having passed a medical and signed the deal. Now I don't like Beckford, but we really needed a new striker. And after e sold you Frank Worthington all those years ago :-(

Hopefully the loan window will prove more fruitful. Hammill seems a decent signing though.

hobbes wrote:


We'll loan them Cole to make up for it.

Antepli Ejderha wrote:


Johnson is on around 50K while City subsidise the rest. I hardly think that’s too irresponsible, relatively speaking.