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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Aug 15, 2025 8:42:23 GMT
Did he actually say those words or another case of disecting every word he said and adding 2 an 2 together and getting the wrong answer. Personally, I think it got a little lost in translation or simplified. The word "cut" wasn't used IIRC and sends out the wrong message. Yes, he said we had a lower budget - at the time - but that was a challenge we set ourselves (rather than Stott dictating was the subtext in my head) and we felt that we had got better players for it. Then he went on to say that injuries can blow your budget with the need for replacements which is what I suspect happened last season. I think it's all part of the plan to "box smarter" now we're no longer the biggest fish in the pond. We'd have liked to have kept Touray and Collar on short term deals (good, reliable, settled L1 pros for squad depth but not capable of Championship level) but set ourselves limits based on what we thought their market value was and said no - you go elsewhere with our blessing - when they got better offers. Similar for not matching Blackpool's offer to Horsfall of a four year deal (though I don't think that's ever been confirmed by Sam or the club). |
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Post by 1994hatter on Aug 15, 2025 8:45:21 GMT
The advantage of having a very successful business man with real ambition in charge. If he sees an opportunity he doesn’t let it slip though his fingers despite the budget. He’s done it a couple of times now Makes me wonder now where the talk of cutting the budget came from in the first place. Was it definitely said in the context of the budget being cut? Or was it meant more in terms of just actively trying to spend less than previous years? I can aim to spend less on my weekly food shop but it doesn’t mean my budget has necessarily changed. Edit: basically what BBA has said above. |
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Post by desmond on Aug 15, 2025 8:51:34 GMT
Did he actually say those words or another case of disecting every word he said and adding 2 an 2 together and getting the wrong answer. Personally, I think it got a little lost in translation or simplified. The word "cut" wasn't used IIRC and sends out the wrong message. Yes, he said we had a lower budget - at the time - but that was a challenge we set ourselves (rather than Stott dictating was the subtext in my head) and we felt that we had got better players for it. Then he went on to say that injuries can blow your budget with the need for replacements which is what I suspect happened last season. I think it's all part of the plan to "box smarter" now we're no longer the biggest fish in the pond. We'd have liked to have kept Touray and Collar on short term deals (good, reliable, settled L1 pros for squad depth but not capable of Championship level) but set ourselves limits based on what we thought their market value was and said no - you go elsewhere with our blessing - when they got better offers. Similar for not matching Blackpool's offer to Horsfall of a four year deal (though I don't think that's ever been confirmed by Sam or the club). I wonder if the challenge was set against the backdrop of what seems to be less commercial income from Together Stand and no back of shirt sponsor. Obviously other sponsorship value could have increased overall but maybe they set themselves the goal of effectively saving the value of the lost sponsorship. |
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Post by bigmartin on Aug 15, 2025 8:52:17 GMT
Broadly agree with that and it's why I said previously we'd gambled and 'not won'. I think this will go down in the annals of received wisdom as one of our worst ever signings and I really don't think it is. It didn't bear the fruit the money demanded, but it was an educated gamble. As with people getting overly worked up about transfer windows when we're weeks from the end of one, our management and recruitment team rarely make massive errors and deserve for things to be seen in that light. They don't get everything right, but we know that's the case for every club, everywhere ever. But I suspect they knew what they were doing with Powell. They'll have hoped for more than we got, but they'll also have planned for it to have been worse. This man is not even in our top 20 worst signings. Not the best value for money, but his performance for the team in the L2 run in and the pass against Grimsby and the one above, he's miles ahead of loads of players we've signed in the past. You're absolutely right. People are forgetting some of the bilge we've purchased over the years. Some of those Scandinavian donkeys we signed, in what seems a different timeline ago, who we all expected to be great, because they were foreign, but who were absolute kak. And Peter Thompson. Jesus effing Christ. Who I'm convinced is, on a ratio of fan support to player payback, one of the luckiest players we've ever had here. |
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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Aug 15, 2025 9:02:50 GMT
Makes me wonder now where the talk of cutting the budget came from in the first place. To be fair we did sell Tanto (seems a lifetime ago that now). It wasn't a totally unreasonable assumption that the spending might be a cut back a tad. Obviously that assumption has proved to be completely false. There's no way our wage bill is reduced from last season and the outgoing transfer fees this season have been a record for us. On pure wages I'm not so sure. Particularly if you look at across the last season and not just where stood last summer - although that's a little unfair as we'll probably make a few Jan signings again. Like for like below: 24/25 - 25/26 Horsfall out - Hoskonen in Touray out - Edun in Tanto out - Mothersille in Cosgrove out - Lowe in MSH and Knoyle out - OK and Dixon in Rydel out (loan) - Dodgson in Hills loan converted into permanent - bigger wages? Fiorini no longer on loan but then Powell off the books and Collar too. Hughes loan into permanent transfer to Posh but I expect they paid the vast majority of his wages last season. That leaves Olowu in but I can see Mingi going out on loan to offset that. There's also various loans last season that will have cost us Barry (of course!), Hamilton, Onyango (to return?) and Mellon (probably paired with Cosgrove and offset against a season of Lowe, hopefully!). |
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Post by Count de Stockport on Aug 15, 2025 9:11:49 GMT
To be fair we did sell Tanto (seems a lifetime ago that now). It wasn't a totally unreasonable assumption that the spending might be a cut back a tad. Obviously that assumption has proved to be completely false. There's no way our wage bill is reduced from last season and the outgoing transfer fees this season have been a record for us. On pure wages I'm not so sure. Particularly if you look at across the last season and not just where stood last summer - although that's a little unfair as we'll probably make a few Jan signings again. Like for like below: 24/25 - 25/26 Horsfall out - Hoskonen in Touray out - Edun in Tanto out - Mothersille in Cosgrove out - Lowe in MSH and Knoyle out - OK and Dixon in Rydel out (loan) - Dodgson in Hills loan converted into permanent - bigger wages? Fiorini no longer on loan but then Powell off the books and Collar too. Hughes loan into permanent transfer to Posh but I expect they paid the vast majority of his wages last season. That leaves Olowu in but I can see Mingi going out on loan to offset that. There's also various loans last season that will have cost us Barry (of course!), Hamilton, Onyango (to return?) and Mellon. Is Dixon confirmed yet? edit: I mean officially, not like Half Life 3 |
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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Aug 15, 2025 9:12:46 GMT
On pure wages I'm not so sure. Particularly if you look at across the last season and not just where stood last summer - although that's a little unfair as we'll probably make a few Jan signings again. Like for like below: 24/25 - 25/26 Horsfall out - Hoskonen in Touray out - Edun in Tanto out - Mothersille in Cosgrove out - Lowe in MSH and Knoyle out - OK and Dixon in Rydel out (loan) - Dodgson in Hills loan converted into permanent - bigger wages? Fiorini no longer on loan but then Powell off the books and Collar too. Hughes loan into permanent transfer to Posh but I expect they paid the vast majority of his wages last season. That leaves Olowu in but I can see Mingi going out on loan to offset that. There's also various loans last season that will have cost us Barry (of course!), Hamilton, Onyango (to return?) and Mellon. Is Dixon confirmed yet? edit: I mean officially, not like Half Life 3 No but I think he was in County training gear at the Crewe game and DC has mentioned him a couple of times. |
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Post by gibbo on Aug 15, 2025 9:25:37 GMT
I'd hope they aren't "fairly chilled" about giving a substantial contract to a poor profile player and have to pay up large part of his final year of his deal having only got half a season of remote value across those 3 years If there were 3 or 4 Powell's (older / poor profile players) then I'd agree, but he's a one off in terms of that scenario, hence I doubt we'll be that concerned. |
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Post by Stranded Hatter on Aug 15, 2025 9:27:11 GMT
I've heard Bradford. If so, lets hope not before next Tuesday as you can guarantee he'll fancy playing that one and score. Surely we'll have this covered as a professional outfit (unlike the Kristian Dennis Fiasco - extra points for anyone who has seen this band). I'd imagine that any contract settlement will be completed post Powell either finding a new club or job as he'll want to know his income for the next 12 months - i.e. payoff + new salary at a lower rate. If we know he's going to Bradford, you'd imagine we'd hold off completing until the day of the game to prevent him playing. Having a player going to an upcoming opponent didn’t stop us selling Whitfield to Barrow when we did. Though it’s probable lessons have been learned. |
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Post by Mr White on Aug 15, 2025 9:31:33 GMT
Fantastic signing and though we’ve now gone from working with a slightly smaller budget to no doubt going way over it I think it’s a great investment long term. Nothing’s guaranteed but at 21 with so much room to improve and already a top L1 defender he’ll be worth a lot more whenever he moves on. Are there still people on here that would have rather signed Onyango? There were quite a few saying in the last two weeks. Or were they just trying to convince themselves because that’s what we thought was going to happen? I can't recall anyone saying Onyango was a better player. I think the debate was more around would you prefer Hills on loan or Onyango permanent. The former being best for immediate success, the latter likely the better for long term sustainability efforts. Looks like we have the best of both though! There was at least one prominent poster who said they would rather we signed Onyango. I’m not going to call out individuals for expressing a valid opinion, even if I don’t agree, but it did happen and there were long discussions about it . There was also quite a bit of talking Hills down, including from me. Just talking about his deficiencies. I’m happy to now say that was bullshit, he’s magnificent and will lead our back line to the title this year |
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Post by 1994hatter on Aug 15, 2025 9:32:29 GMT
To be fair we did sell Tanto (seems a lifetime ago that now). It wasn't a totally unreasonable assumption that the spending might be a cut back a tad. Obviously that assumption has proved to be completely false. There's no way our wage bill is reduced from last season and the outgoing transfer fees this season have been a record for us. On pure wages I'm not so sure. Particularly if you look at across the last season and not just where stood last summer - although that's a little unfair as we'll probably make a few Jan signings again. Like for like below: 24/25 - 25/26 Horsfall out - Hoskonen in Touray out - Edun in Tanto out - Mothersille in Cosgrove out - Lowe in MSH and Knoyle out - OK and Dixon in Rydel out (loan) - Dodgson in Hills loan converted into permanent - bigger wages? Fiorini no longer on loan but then Powell off the books and Collar too. Hughes loan into permanent transfer to Posh but I expect they paid the vast majority of his wages last season. That leaves Olowu in but I can see Mingi going out on loan to offset that. There's also various loans last season that will have cost us Barry (of course!), Hamilton, Onyango (to return?) and Mellon (probably paired with Cosgrove and offset against a season of Lowe, hopefully!). Clearly not the main point of the post but your insistence on referring to Corey O’Keeffe as OK is really getting to me 🤣 |
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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Aug 15, 2025 9:39:21 GMT
On pure wages I'm not so sure. Particularly if you look at across the last season and not just where stood last summer - although that's a little unfair as we'll probably make a few Jan signings again. Like for like below: 24/25 - 25/26 Horsfall out - Hoskonen in Touray out - Edun in Tanto out - Mothersille in Cosgrove out - Lowe in MSH and Knoyle out - OK and Dixon in Rydel out (loan) - Dodgson in Hills loan converted into permanent - bigger wages? Fiorini no longer on loan but then Powell off the books and Collar too. Hughes loan into permanent transfer to Posh but I expect they paid the vast majority of his wages last season. That leaves Olowu in but I can see Mingi going out on loan to offset that. There's also various loans last season that will have cost us Barry (of course!), Hamilton, Onyango (to return?) and Mellon (probably paired with Cosgrove and offset against a season of Lowe, hopefully!). Clearly not the main point of the post but your insistence on referring to Corey O’Keeffe as OK is really getting to me 🤣 Haha. I'll stop. It's just identifiable (even without his first name for obvious reasons...), much quicker to type and less likely to misspell! Am I allowed it for match updates.... just not carefully constructed, proofed (*cough*) and well-thought squad posts...? |
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Post by countyingermany on Aug 15, 2025 9:40:16 GMT
This man is not even in our top 20 worst signings. Not the best value for money, but his performance for the team in the L2 run in and the pass against Grimsby and the one above, he's miles ahead of loads of players we've signed in the past. You're absolutely right. People are forgetting some of the bilge we've purchased over the years. Some of those Scandinavian donkeys we signed, in what seems a different timeline ago, who we all expected to be great, because they were foreign, but who were absolute kak. And Peter Thompson. Jesus effing Christ. Who I'm convinced is, on a ratio of fan support to player payback, one of the luckiest players we've ever had here. Lamin Coley, Gonzalez, Harpal Singh, Chris Adamson....need I go on? |
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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Aug 15, 2025 9:46:31 GMT
You're absolutely right. People are forgetting some of the bilge we've purchased over the years. Some of those Scandinavian donkeys we signed, in what seems a different timeline ago, who we all expected to be great, because they were foreign, but who were absolute kak. And Peter Thompson. Jesus effing Christ. Who I'm convinced is, on a ratio of fan support to player payback, one of the luckiest players we've ever had here. Lamin Coley, Gonzalez, Harpal Singh, Chris Adamson....need I go on? It's all relative to the level we were at then and our budget though. Warburton, Lloyd, Palmer, Minihan etc. would be bad signings now. There's always a risk but at our level we're no longer going to sign someone who can barely kick a ball. Powell was undoubtedly a bad transfer imo. The warning signs with injuries were there - in fact screaming at us - and straightaway you were unsure where he fit in a DC side. That's before you consider a 3 year deal as likely our top earner. He got nowhere close to performing what the financial outlay demanded. However, he did have his moments and contribute to a L2 title having his best spell in the diamond midfield at a key time (so could any alternative though). On his day he looked class, just they were few and far between and he was only available for marginally more games. Definitely not his fault and it looked like he tried and cared, especially clicking with CLE at one point. Not a complete disaster, but not a success, which we should learn from. |
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Post by Mr White on Aug 15, 2025 9:46:58 GMT
On pure wages I'm not so sure. Particularly if you look at across the last season and not just where stood last summer - although that's a little unfair as we'll probably make a few Jan signings again. Like for like below: 24/25 - 25/26 Horsfall out - Hoskonen in Touray out - Edun in Tanto out - Mothersille in Cosgrove out - Lowe in MSH and Knoyle out - OK and Dixon in Rydel out (loan) - Dodgson in Hills loan converted into permanent - bigger wages? Fiorini no longer on loan but then Powell off the books and Collar too. Hughes loan into permanent transfer to Posh but I expect they paid the vast majority of his wages last season. That leaves Olowu in but I can see Mingi going out on loan to offset that. There's also various loans last season that will have cost us Barry (of course!), Hamilton, Onyango (to return?) and Mellon (probably paired with Cosgrove and offset against a season of Lowe, hopefully!). Clearly not the main point of the post but your insistence on referring to Corey O’Keeffe as OK is really getting to me 🤣 On a semi serious point, some people’s brains are not so good at remembering how to spell names - neuro diversity such as dyspraxia, dyslexia, adhd, dysgraphia, and also simply people who haven’t benefitted from great education Using these abbreviations helps bypass, what can be perceived as highly condescending feedback on spelling that is quite prevalent on here. I make a lot of mistakes in my posts, sometimes I go back and correct them but sometimes I just don’t see it. I would encourage people to be more considerate before pointing out the mistakes of others. This isn’t an English exam Sorry, been wanting to get that off my chest for a while. |
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