And Conte on loan to Woking. Apologies if already mentioned. No mention of Fagan-Walcott yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluebirdman Of Alcathays
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And Conte on loan to Woking. Apologies if already mentioned. No mention of Fagan-Walcott yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluebirdman Of Alcathays
Wow
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We are delighted to confirm the signing of Jay Stansfield. ��<br><br>The 20-year-old attacker joins from Fulham for an undisclosed fee and has agreed terms on a seven-year contract.</p>— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCFC/status/1829649415021211696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So nobody then ?
MFW to York in the National League. Thought he could've stayed in the league but better than waiting around here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loramski
I'm a bit surprised too but what can he do? He threw himself into the Dunfermline loan and I'm sure he'll do the same at York but I doubt he saw his career panning out like this when Mourinho brought him on in a Champions League game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluebirdman Of Alcathays
It’s become popular to rate City’s transfer window out of ten, when it was done on Twitter two or three weeks ago and people were asked to respond with just a number to how we’d done up to then, I responded with “4”. Now, I accept that was a harsh judgment, I like a lot of the business the club has done and they surely must have pushed the boat out further wages wise (and probably in transfer fees as well) than many were expecting.
However, I was judging the club by the standards they had set for themselves, the standards their unofficial spokesmen on social media hinted very heavily we would be pursuing. Wherever you looked back in April and May, you were being told by these spokesmen and others in the media that the priority was a striker or, more accurately, two strikers because the lack of forwards of sufficient quality at the club had become a running sore dating back to the departure of Kiefer Moore (actually, it goes back to pre Moore days as well). I can remember it being said on social media that you would be shocked at the quality of striker City were pursuing.
I shouldn’t forget that we have signed a striker this summer and, you never know, Wilfried Kanga could become a twenty goal a season striker yet - I fully accept that it’s too early yet to judge him, but you look at what he’s done in a City shirt so far, his patchy career record so far, the fact that he cannot get into a Bundesliga 2 mid table side’s first team and that his stay here is only on loan, then it’s hardly a signing that shocks and awes us, it’s certainly not a signing that left us amazed at the club’s level of ambition.
Given the hype from the club’s unofficial social media representatives, I think it was perfectly reasonable for supporters to believe there was more, and better, to come and, in the event, there was and there wasn’t. On Thursday news broke that City had negotiated a move for a striker with Champions League experience at a more than reasonably rated club, a striker who is an under 21 international for a country that reached a World Cup Final six years ago and a striker who, we were told, was a prime target for the team that currently lead the Championship.
When our manager was asked about this new striker, he was light on details, but it’s hard to blame him really because, as he said, this was a “club signing” and he was going to be loaned out to Vincent Tan’s Belgian club for the season! How strange, but it must mean we’ll be announcing a better signing still surely?
Except it didn’t, we were informed that the club that sits at the bottom of the Championship were “relaxed” about the fact that, when you consider that two strikers currently at the club are out with long term injuries, you could reasonably argue that we are now worse off for strikers than we were last season!
I got it wrong when I gave a marking of four - after the Roko Simic farce, it’s a three. Typically, Cardiff City managed to turn what had been a good transfer window into a failure if you judge it by the standards they set for themselves. Not only that, they have, seemingly spent up to two and a half million pounds on a striker who could end up making his debut (if, indeed, he does make a debut for us) in League One.
Like your bit about the unofficial spokespeople, Bob. They’ve been doing my wick in.
We’ve got about 35 senior pros. This is an incredible position that the club has got itself into. Remarkable, and this is where the budget is going, spread very thinly on journeymen with the odd talented youngster thrown in. Let’s hope Daland, Fish, Robertson and Simic (I still can’t believe he’s gone on loan) come good.
The loan exits are bizarre, they can’t play for anyone else as we can’t recall them. I don’t get the clubs thinking at all. How we’ve not signed anyone quick and then loaned out a £2.5m striker when we are desperate is crazy.
We have got to sell players in January, this position is absolute lunacy. On top of which, we’ve managed to have 35 players and one right back. Fairly impressive work.
Bob, I struggle to comprehend the end result! Baffled, bizarre, incompetence, negligence! Whilst I accept there are other areas of potential weakness our striker situation is dire. I can only think that the reemergence of Robinson maybe swayed the thinking over the last few days. 1 league goal in 3 games and we’re bottom of the league. Kanga had better turn into a super hero and bloody quickly otherwise it’s going to be a season long fight at the wrong end. My optimism of July has faded fast.
All summer, Bulut waxed lyrical about improving the attacking part of the squad.
It started promising.
It ended with us yet again not bringing in the striker we need.
I actually think Kanga will prove himself to be a decent finisher. But that’s not enough to be a good striker for Cardiff City. It requires anticipation, composure, effort, stamina and the ability to make the impossible happen.
Started optimistically and ended quite a shambles.
A club who struggle for goals, struggle with budget, bring in a promising enough looking striker for a decent fee for city and loan him out.
Has the loan been confirmed?
Maybe he will actually be starting today and it was all an elaborate ruse to confuse Boro.
It’s certainly confused us.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigger
We are a complete shambles of a club.
If we go down we deserve it.
I'm not DML, and don't ask me to make sense of everything that's going on, but absolute lunacy seems a bit over the top. 7 of those 35 are out on loan and 5 are currently injured. And, surely, most Championship sides would be happy to have Ng and Chambers as available right backs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa
And I am sure I saw that Fish can also play right backQuote:
Originally Posted by Loramski
Birmingham's American owners taking lessons from Boehly with that 7 year deal?Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Morris
£15m in League One is insane, he's highly rated but can't help but feel sentiment is playing a part here with his loan there last season. You could build a very solid League 1 winning side with £15m
Kpakio, and Spiers, seem to have potential there. I don't think we can have it both ways where we're moaning about the pathway to the first team being blocked for youngsters then criticising the club for not having three or more top end Championship players on long contracts covering every position.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elwood Blues
that is ridiculous, nobody should be doing really well on loan one season then get loaned out to a lower level then following season. the club have badly let him down here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluebirdman Of Alcathays
we need to get better at loaning out players.
how well would players going to York or Woking have to do to be trusted when they return?
It looks as if, and Bulut basically confirmed this is the case, there are 2 different groups making signings at Cardiff because a lot of these signings don't really make sense together if you look at the past few windowsQuote:
Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa
You've got what look to me to be "Bulut signings". Older, physical players who have often spent time in Greece/Turkey, players like Goutas, Sipopis, Meite, Diedhiou, Runnarsson. I think El Ghazi may be in this mould and the links to players like Bakasetas were clearly to do with him
Then you have the "recruitment team" signings, often younger, more technical players generally brought in from larger clubs with pedigree or lower down the pyramid - Fish, Robertson, Turnbull, Tsunoda, Daland. Previously players like McGuinness, Ng and Etete
Trouble is its hard to see how players from 2 different styles can mesh together, especially with the manager clearly preferring a certain way of playing. We've also, once again, ended up with journeymen and a bloated squad
We also now look significantly weaker at set plays.
Take that away and it's no wonder why we will find ourselves struggling as the actual football from our 1st 11 is dire.
I'm surprised about Fagan-Walcott too but I'm not sure how it's the club's fault if no one at a higher level wants to take our players. Surely every Prem and Championship club is trying to do the same with some of their youngsters, it's a crowded field. Maybe we are doing something wrong but it feels like there's a bit of luck involved too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rjk
Again, I'm not defending the club (it feels that the u-21 and Academy squads are bloated too, the pathway to the u-21s seems blocked for some youngsters here never mind the first team) but doesn't this happen to a degree at most clubs now? I agree it's crucial that the recruitment team and the manager are on the same wavelength, which doesn't always seem to be the case here, but surely we're not the only club operating like this?Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
We saw the problem of letting a manager have carte blanche on squad building when Warnock went and yet there'd be no point in having a manager at all if he didn't have any input so there has to be some kind of compromise I'd have thought.
We're sending a 1.7m player to Belgium just to keep within P&S Rules whilst a team in a division below ours is doing this?Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Morris
Make it make sense :shrug:
It’s been interesting talking to Cheltenham fans about Joel Colwill. Their opinion is that they would rather have proven L1/L2 experienced players than develop youngsters for other clubs. I do wonder if this is the problem that lower EFL clubs don’t want the risk or are not prepared to commit to playing youngsters on a regular basis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loramski