| Ashton 11:47 - Aug 15 with 8624 views | Wickets |
I have seen some mild but none the less there has been some criticism of Mark , i think that's simply rather silly i'm more that happy with the job he has done while he has been at Town . Transfer dealings are always going to be difficult both in and out as its not a perfect science . We know he has been going all out and perhaps things have not quite gone to plan . I am of course still hopeful that he can get the one or two deals we want over the line in the next couple of weeks but if not better to wait until the next window then settle for lesser than what we really want . Well that's my take . |  | | |  |
| Ashton on 12:44 - Aug 15 with 1758 views | Wicksy |
| Ashton on 12:02 - Aug 15 by the_toff |
We really couldn't have asked for any more. He talks a good game but he's backed it up with tangible results. We've got a much better manager than we did when he joined, a better squad, higher league status, higher revenues, new pitch, improved links to the community, loads of love of PR and training ground, Sheeran links etc. The list goes on and on, he's delivered at just about every metric.
As someone said on here recently, if you get all your transfer targets you're probably not aiming high enough. I would rather aim for the moon and at least hit the stars. Previously we weren't even aiming for the stars and were hitting row E of the Cobbold. |
Agree with the sentiment - but you might want to brush up on the astronomy! |  |
| |
| Ashton on 12:46 - Aug 15 with 1758 views | itfcjoe |
Fortunately, I'm sure Mark Ashton sets himself higher targets than some of the fanbase do - and he will be very frustrated at how this window has gone so far and know he has a lot of work to do in the next 16 days |  |
| |
| Ashton on 12:49 - Aug 15 with 1720 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| Ashton on 12:46 - Aug 15 by itfcjoe |
Fortunately, I'm sure Mark Ashton sets himself higher targets than some of the fanbase do - and he will be very frustrated at how this window has gone so far and know he has a lot of work to do in the next 16 days |
Quite.
Important to note, he was the one who set expectations so high by repeatedly saying we will be relentless and not stand still in the transfer market. Not sure why its being looked on by so many that to say we would have wanted more and better right now, that is a super negative thing to say. |  |
| |
| Ashton on 12:51 - Aug 15 with 1702 views | J2BLUE |
No one who has criticised him is worth responding to. They are trolls or idiots.
Can anyone name a club who has got all of their business done?
In a world where average players are going for tens of millions we have got what could be our two top targets in the door for £3m as well as useful squad players in Slicker and Hutchinson.
Worth remembering that McKenna may well have said I trust this squad and quite happy to wait for the right player. |  |
| |
| Ashton on 12:54 - Aug 15 with 1685 views | SlippinJimmyJuan |
It seems a bit silly to try to assess the window while it is still open. The only thing I have really thought about was whether we have been caught off guard by the relaxation of rules regarding the signing of overseas players. Basically every player we have been seriously linked with has been based over here while other clubs have been casting a wider net. Will be interesting to see if strategy looks different in January or next summer. [Post edited 15 Aug 2023 13:05]
|  |
| |
| Ashton on 13:01 - Aug 15 with 1653 views | blaggers |
I think you have to remember that the character and ethic of potential signings is now almost as important as a player's on pitch qualities. Our current unbeaten run is as much down to team spirit as tactical impetus. If the players that MA/KMc identify don't have that desire to play for us or to buy into the group, then I for one wouldn't want them here. |  |
| |
| Ashton on 13:05 - Aug 15 with 1638 views | backwaywhen |
Bed wetters move on …….. | | | |
| Ashton on 13:14 - Aug 15 with 1580 views | DanTheMan |
| Ashton on 12:02 - Aug 15 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Yeah, but that has generally been from posters that think arranging a transfer in real life is just like it is in FM23.
When the more sane posters start criticising Ashton then I'll take some notice. He was asked a question about where transfers are, as we all want to know, (regularly and repeatedly), and he gave an honest answer as to where we were at that point in time.
If the player then changes his mind....There isn't much MA can do about it. Now if he says, "we missed out on one", the same posters will be whining that we can't outbid every club in the division. [Post edited 15 Aug 2023 12:08]
|
I think a few of the sane ones have, it's just been pointing out the obvious though. Joe and Kieran_Knows have said similar, the window hasn't gone as anyone hoped. We don't have all the details and it might be that we've been priced out of a lot of targets but as I said, I doubt Ashton is happy with things either.
I've really not seen any major criticism with him beyond a little frustration. |  |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| Ashton on 13:19 - Aug 15 with 1551 views | Gogs |
| Ashton on 12:02 - Aug 15 by the_toff |
We really couldn't have asked for any more. He talks a good game but he's backed it up with tangible results. We've got a much better manager than we did when he joined, a better squad, higher league status, higher revenues, new pitch, improved links to the community, loads of love of PR and training ground, Sheeran links etc. The list goes on and on, he's delivered at just about every metric.
As someone said on here recently, if you get all your transfer targets you're probably not aiming high enough. I would rather aim for the moon and at least hit the stars. Previously we weren't even aiming for the stars and were hitting row E of the Cobbold. |
Sorry, the pedantic amateur astronomer in me is thinking shouldn’t the analogy be ‘aim for the stars and at least hit the moon’?
The sun, our nearest star is rather a lot further away than the moon after all.
Anyway, carry on 😁 |  | | |
| Ashton on 13:24 - Aug 15 with 1530 views | J4ck22 |
Something else to keep in mind is that last season we were desperate to get out of League One, so nailing the transfer window was pretty crucial to that.
This season, now that we are back in the Championship I think that we are in a position to be more patient with our signings. Obviously we'd all love the team to be ready to go ASAP, but it's not the end of the world if we have to wait a little while for the right signings. Like others have pointed out, there's no point signing people for the sake of it. | | | |
| Ashton on 13:26 - Aug 15 with 1526 views | davblue |
| Ashton on 12:23 - Aug 15 by LankHenners |
The other end of the scale is that some seem to worship him like he's actually on the pitch scoring 30 goals a season.
He's a suit and he's doing the job a suit should be doing and should have been doing here for years if we had anyone in charge who had half a clue about running a football club. He's done a very good job of cracking on with things that need doing and is clearly well supported (in terms of finance and advice) by the ownership group.
Seems to be anything that isn't treating him as the messiah is viewed as blasphemy in some quarters.
The club would have wanted more players in by now and will be frustrated to have missed out on targets. That is true as true can be and I don't know why people seem to be so invested in disputing that.
People can have opinions on it but I don't think it was very sensible to say we were close to getting '2 or 3' signings in and now be here almost 3 weeks later with no additions since that was uttered.
Essentially, he's done a good job but it's a bit strange to act like everything's been perfect and he's free from the mildest of criticism, and it's arguable that it counts as 'criticism' to be honest. |
spot on.
He's done a good job so far, but he's been well funded in league 1, the Championship is a whole different ball game with the FFP rules, that's where he is going to have to excel getting good deals done, in and outs to make us a competitive as we can be. |  | | |
| Ashton on 14:16 - Aug 15 with 1467 views | FrimleyBlue |
No real critism has been said about him really.
Some don't agree with this deflection of transfer failings. But that's still not a critism of everything else he's done.
Let's be honest however. A league 1 midfielder and a first loan of a youngster aren't the 'New' signings we thought we'd only see by this point. That's not a moan at ashton personally its just how some feel. After all there's more than 1 person involved in player transfers. |  |
| |
| Ashton on 14:23 - Aug 15 with 1457 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Ashton on 13:14 - Aug 15 by DanTheMan |
I think a few of the sane ones have, it's just been pointing out the obvious though. Joe and Kieran_Knows have said similar, the window hasn't gone as anyone hoped. We don't have all the details and it might be that we've been priced out of a lot of targets but as I said, I doubt Ashton is happy with things either.
I've really not seen any major criticism with him beyond a little frustration. |
"the window hasn't gone as anyone hoped"
It hasn't closed yet..... |  |
| |
| Ashton on 14:26 - Aug 15 with 1447 views | DanTheMan |
| Ashton on 14:23 - Aug 15 by Cheltenham_Blue |
"the window hasn't gone as anyone hoped"
It hasn't closed yet..... |
Sure, but I would have thought we wanted players in for some of pre-season at least. | |
| |
| Ashton on 14:29 - Aug 15 with 1438 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| Ashton on 14:23 - Aug 15 by Cheltenham_Blue |
"the window hasn't gone as anyone hoped"
It hasn't closed yet..... |
I think its a pretty fair assumption to make.
If you go by reliable posters, journalists etc. We have missed out on a few targets that we clearly wanted and given how we are repeatedly told that McKenna is very specific with his targets I'm sure Ashton and McKenna are disappointed by that.
Its ok to say that. Its not slating Ashton, its not being overly negative. I just struggle to believe Ashton and McKenna are happy to only have 4 in right now, one of those being a reserve goalkeeper and two were here last season. [Post edited 15 Aug 2023 14:30]
| |
| |
| Ashton on 14:29 - Aug 15 with 1437 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Ashton on 14:26 - Aug 15 by DanTheMan |
Sure, but I would have thought we wanted players in for some of pre-season at least. |
Of course we did. Every club did.
Almost every club failed. | |
| |
| Ashton on 14:33 - Aug 15 with 1423 views | Kieran_Knows |
| Ashton on 14:29 - Aug 15 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Of course we did. Every club did.
Almost every club failed. |
The one thing I can never get my head around, and this isn't just Ashton, it's pretty much all CEO's/owners is when they say 'we're just waiting for the big boys to spend money, and that'll help filter down the leagues'.
Arsenal spent £170m last month alone on Havertz and Rice, Chelsea spending money like it's going out of fashion on any Tom, D!ck and Harry, United spending £120m on a keeper and striker in the last few weeks .... at what point does this 'help' other clubs with their signings? |  |
| |
| Ashton on 14:37 - Aug 15 with 1409 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Ashton on 14:33 - Aug 15 by Kieran_Knows |
The one thing I can never get my head around, and this isn't just Ashton, it's pretty much all CEO's/owners is when they say 'we're just waiting for the big boys to spend money, and that'll help filter down the leagues'.
Arsenal spent £170m last month alone on Havertz and Rice, Chelsea spending money like it's going out of fashion on any Tom, D!ck and Harry, United spending £120m on a keeper and striker in the last few weeks .... at what point does this 'help' other clubs with their signings? |
You need to ignore the Arsenal and Chelsea stuff, and wait for Brighton to start to buy players from the Championship to replace the players they've lost or for the likes of Bournemouth, Fulham, etc to lose players. That triggers player trading in the EFL, not the top six, or even twelve.
But if it doesn't start imminently, and I mean today/tomorrow, then I fear we will be heading into a panicky final day. | |
| |
| Ashton on 14:40 - Aug 15 with 1393 views | Naylorsrightboot |
| Ashton on 12:23 - Aug 15 by LankHenners |
The other end of the scale is that some seem to worship him like he's actually on the pitch scoring 30 goals a season.
He's a suit and he's doing the job a suit should be doing and should have been doing here for years if we had anyone in charge who had half a clue about running a football club. He's done a very good job of cracking on with things that need doing and is clearly well supported (in terms of finance and advice) by the ownership group.
Seems to be anything that isn't treating him as the messiah is viewed as blasphemy in some quarters.
The club would have wanted more players in by now and will be frustrated to have missed out on targets. That is true as true can be and I don't know why people seem to be so invested in disputing that.
People can have opinions on it but I don't think it was very sensible to say we were close to getting '2 or 3' signings in and now be here almost 3 weeks later with no additions since that was uttered.
Essentially, he's done a good job but it's a bit strange to act like everything's been perfect and he's free from the mildest of criticism, and it's arguable that it counts as 'criticism' to be honest. |
He’s a salesman at the end of the day and he does a good job of convincing most. Nearly all on here for starters. Dont get me wrong, l have nothing against the guy we have needed someone like him for years. But people hang on his every word and no one is allowed to challenge his words without being accused of being a scum fan etc……….The interview on Towntv was used as a deflection from the fact his words a few weeks earlier about signings being almost done made him look a bit of a numpty. So to blame the fans for second guessing players coming and putting it on social media was a great deflection, which again seems to have worked for most people. |  | | |
| Ashton on 14:51 - Aug 15 with 1360 views | LankHenners |
| Ashton on 14:33 - Aug 15 by Kieran_Knows |
The one thing I can never get my head around, and this isn't just Ashton, it's pretty much all CEO's/owners is when they say 'we're just waiting for the big boys to spend money, and that'll help filter down the leagues'.
Arsenal spent £170m last month alone on Havertz and Rice, Chelsea spending money like it's going out of fashion on any Tom, D!ck and Harry, United spending £120m on a keeper and striker in the last few weeks .... at what point does this 'help' other clubs with their signings? |
Takes a bit of pressure off them in terms of fan reaction I guess, especially when you've got a fairly credulous fanbase like we seem to have.
Obviously there are butterfly effect situations and clubs will want to sign players themselves before sanctioning moves but there are clearly deals to be done early on - we did a couple of them and tried for more!
Have said before that Ashton did this spiel last summer when we chased Hirst all window just to end up getting Ahadme on deadline day. Like any good salesman he's good at getting people to believe what he wants them to. |  |
| |
| Ashton on 14:57 - Aug 15 with 1344 views | pointofblue |
| Ashton on 14:37 - Aug 15 by Cheltenham_Blue |
You need to ignore the Arsenal and Chelsea stuff, and wait for Brighton to start to buy players from the Championship to replace the players they've lost or for the likes of Bournemouth, Fulham, etc to lose players. That triggers player trading in the EFL, not the top six, or even twelve.
But if it doesn't start imminently, and I mean today/tomorrow, then I fear we will be heading into a panicky final day. |
I agree. If we're looking at Kongolo and Rak-Sakyi, for example, then we're probably looking for Fulham to sign a defender and Palace a winger before they move on.
The market does seem a bit quiet at the moment. I do think we were under the impression McNally was done and dusted, so him moving to Stoke surprised us slightly. | |
| |
| Ashton on 15:00 - Aug 15 with 1340 views | Kieran_Knows |
| Ashton on 14:57 - Aug 15 by pointofblue |
I agree. If we're looking at Kongolo and Rak-Sakyi, for example, then we're probably looking for Fulham to sign a defender and Palace a winger before they move on.
The market does seem a bit quiet at the moment. I do think we were under the impression McNally was done and dusted, so him moving to Stoke surprised us slightly. |
'I agree. If we're looking at Kongolo and Rak-Sakyi, for example, then we're probably looking for Fulham to sign a defender and Palace a winger before they move on.'
But then that argument is flawed because Fulham have spent £20m on Calvin Bassey and Palace have spent £20m on a winger from South America.
You say that the market is slow, but according to this report, £1billion has been spent this summer by Prem sides, so far?
https://www.squawka.com/en/news/premier-league-net-spend-2022-23/ | |
| |
| Ashton on 15:08 - Aug 15 with 1323 views | braveblue |
Agree. He has been superb. | | | |
| Ashton on 15:10 - Aug 15 with 1309 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Ashton on 14:57 - Aug 15 by pointofblue |
I agree. If we're looking at Kongolo and Rak-Sakyi, for example, then we're probably looking for Fulham to sign a defender and Palace a winger before they move on.
The market does seem a bit quiet at the moment. I do think we were under the impression McNally was done and dusted, so him moving to Stoke surprised us slightly. |
It behoves clubs sometimes to delay sales until as late as possible into the window to push the price up when inevitable desperation comes from buyers. We are probably at the stage of the window now where most business that isn't done already isn't going to happen until the final days of the window. | | | |
| Ashton on 15:16 - Aug 15 with 1288 views | Freddies_Ears |
Great thing is,compared with a few weeks ago, we seem to have more players able to perform well in the Championship than we perhaps expected. So reducing the pressure on the need to do inwards business.
When we do bring someone in, it could well be to improve the bench. I am struggling right now to see how, at affordable cost, we improve the first XI... | | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
