| Review of transfer policy needed this summer 20:22 - Feb 3 with 6286 views | Blue_Heath |
Sorry to be negative but in the main it appears we overpay on top end Championship players who are not good enough for the premier or fixate on positions that are not needed or where previous recruitment was poor. Other than that it is relegated players from the previous season. We have a seriously imbalanced squad and Delap aside who apparently has a low buy back clause none of the others have added value for re-sale which I can only assume is our strategy?
Fair play to gamechanger for splashing the cash but if we get back to the premier league let's do the eye test rather than data and buy in the positions where it is actually needed for the first 11. We have a dearth of very similar players with little to choose between most of them.
In January we get Godfrey and Philogene both totally unnecessary and not needed. The keeper is a panic buy albeit probably an upgrade on what we have already.
In addition our scouting network needs to look further afield, we could have got much better value shopping abroad although appreciate it's more of a risk.
I feel squad harmony will be difficult to maintain next year and we'll be moving many on at a loss. |  | | |  |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:37 - Feb 3 with 3620 views | Guthrum |
Thing is, we can't just produce a list of the positions we need to strengthen, then go out and procure players at will to fill them.
The individuals need to be available, of suitable standard, at clubs open to being persuaded to sell, within our price range and willing to come to Ipswich*. That's a lot of variables which need to line up.
People say "well, other clubs can do it", but those are more established Prem teams. Leicester and Southampton haven't done any more business than us this window.
Do we perhaps get better value for money by hiring top Championship players than taking those on the fringes of less-good Prem teams?
* Particularly where it may involve moving countries and perhaps language barriers. |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 with 3575 views | Blue_Heath |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:37 - Feb 3 by Guthrum |
Thing is, we can't just produce a list of the positions we need to strengthen, then go out and procure players at will to fill them.
The individuals need to be available, of suitable standard, at clubs open to being persuaded to sell, within our price range and willing to come to Ipswich*. That's a lot of variables which need to line up.
People say "well, other clubs can do it", but those are more established Prem teams. Leicester and Southampton haven't done any more business than us this window.
Do we perhaps get better value for money by hiring top Championship players than taking those on the fringes of less-good Prem teams?
* Particularly where it may involve moving countries and perhaps language barriers. |
I appreciate it's not easy but seems to me we have gone quantity and lost our team our spirit in the process. We now have so many options no one knows our best 11 not even the manager.
We will be the Chelsea of the Championship next year if we hang on to them all! [Post edited 3 Feb 20:40]
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 with 3572 views | ITFCSG |
I cannot understand why we didn't go for Moder at Brighton at only £1.2 million. Instead once again we obsess ourselves over one player (Downes) who may or may not perform at PL level and miss the boat. We need to cast out net wider and look where the bargains are.
Ditto for the ST position, shouldn't we already be putting feelers out before the window opened?
Instead we obsess ourselves with buying more youth players who aren't ready to step up to the PL in a position already stacked to the gills at sky-high prices. Fair enough if we are stocking up on these players for future resale but the way MA and McK has gone about this transfer window seems very likely that they have already accepted that relegation is inevitable. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 with 3557 views | Blooos |
We absolutely must start recruiting abroad, I’m slightly baffled by our lack of it since promotion. We will look at Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth etc and want to be the next club like them, those clubs all tend to recruit from overseas. I can’t help but feel that someone like Philogene for example, you could get someone with the same ability and potential for half the price if you look abroad. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:43 - Feb 3 with 3516 views | Blue_Heath |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 by ITFCSG |
I cannot understand why we didn't go for Moder at Brighton at only £1.2 million. Instead once again we obsess ourselves over one player (Downes) who may or may not perform at PL level and miss the boat. We need to cast out net wider and look where the bargains are.
Ditto for the ST position, shouldn't we already be putting feelers out before the window opened?
Instead we obsess ourselves with buying more youth players who aren't ready to step up to the PL in a position already stacked to the gills at sky-high prices. Fair enough if we are stocking up on these players for future resale but the way MA and McK has gone about this transfer window seems very likely that they have already accepted that relegation is inevitable. |
Yes forgot that point too we do seem very obsessed with certain players.
Sorry but Downes has been here, choose to leave and was unlikely to want to come back. Agree Moder is the type of player that would gradually improve us.
Not sure how all these players will be happy next year when half of them are not playing. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:52 - Feb 3 with 3412 views | Guthrum |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 by Blue_Heath |
I appreciate it's not easy but seems to me we have gone quantity and lost our team our spirit in the process. We now have so many options no one knows our best 11 not even the manager.
We will be the Chelsea of the Championship next year if we hang on to them all! [Post edited 3 Feb 20:40]
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Yes, but on the team spirit thing we were never going to be able to carry on with the same bunch of players who got us to the Prem. In reality, we discarded (mostly on loan) several in going from L1 to the Champ.
It's proven to be a much bigger step up than I had thought. Plus there isn't the outlet of sometimes bossing a game or having a multi-goal romp like we have done the last two seasons. Despite fewer matches, each and every one is hard. No slips go unpunished (mind you, we've done that to others, too). It adds massively to the exhaustion factor.
I think there is a contingency plan at the back of people's minds that should we go down, we want to be in the best position to bounce straight back up again. | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:55 - Feb 3 with 3356 views | textbackup |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:37 - Feb 3 by Guthrum |
Thing is, we can't just produce a list of the positions we need to strengthen, then go out and procure players at will to fill them.
The individuals need to be available, of suitable standard, at clubs open to being persuaded to sell, within our price range and willing to come to Ipswich*. That's a lot of variables which need to line up.
People say "well, other clubs can do it", but those are more established Prem teams. Leicester and Southampton haven't done any more business than us this window.
Do we perhaps get better value for money by hiring top Championship players than taking those on the fringes of less-good Prem teams?
* Particularly where it may involve moving countries and perhaps language barriers. |
And LCFC and Soton will go down too. Not sure the point you are trying to make? |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:58 - Feb 3 with 3300 views | bsw72 |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 by ITFCSG |
I cannot understand why we didn't go for Moder at Brighton at only £1.2 million. Instead once again we obsess ourselves over one player (Downes) who may or may not perform at PL level and miss the boat. We need to cast out net wider and look where the bargains are.
Ditto for the ST position, shouldn't we already be putting feelers out before the window opened?
Instead we obsess ourselves with buying more youth players who aren't ready to step up to the PL in a position already stacked to the gills at sky-high prices. Fair enough if we are stocking up on these players for future resale but the way MA and McK has gone about this transfer window seems very likely that they have already accepted that relegation is inevitable. |
Is that the Moder that’s only played about 30 games since rupturing his Achilles in 2022? |  | | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:58 - Feb 3 with 3295 views | Horsham |
I wonder if our management just lacked the collective know how to operate in the transfer market at this level. We’ve seen on the pitch the jump from championship to premier league is enormous and it will be off it as well. No doubting McKenna’s coaching and tactical credentials personally and Ashton is clearly brilliant commercially but maybe this is where a proper Director of Football comes into their own? Maybe that would be the best signing we could have made? |  | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:59 - Feb 3 with 3277 views | pointofblue |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 by ITFCSG |
I cannot understand why we didn't go for Moder at Brighton at only £1.2 million. Instead once again we obsess ourselves over one player (Downes) who may or may not perform at PL level and miss the boat. We need to cast out net wider and look where the bargains are.
Ditto for the ST position, shouldn't we already be putting feelers out before the window opened?
Instead we obsess ourselves with buying more youth players who aren't ready to step up to the PL in a position already stacked to the gills at sky-high prices. Fair enough if we are stocking up on these players for future resale but the way MA and McK has gone about this transfer window seems very likely that they have already accepted that relegation is inevitable. |
Moder joined Feyenoord, who are in the Champions League knockout stages. It's the same as Malen joining Villa for £18m - yes, the fees themselves make the likes of Downes and Philogene for £20m each look ridiculous. But Moder and Malen would never chose us ahead of their other options. | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:05 - Feb 3 with 3229 views | olimar |
I think the policy was absolutely fine. Buying players who know the English game, speak the language and are young with loads of development potential, and therefore potential increased value, is exactly the sort of profile that every club in England would take if the players they needed were available.
Clubs like Palace, Brighton have gone down that route plenty of times in recent years.
Players like Greaves, Omari, Philogene, Clarke, Delap were all generally seen as some of the best in the championship who fitted that profile. Szmodics fitted that profile with the exception that he was older.
O'Shea and Johnson had performed well in the PL and also fitted that profile.
Townsend was always going to be a back up and didnt cost much.
Cajuste, Phillips, Enciso, Godfrey are all loans that come with good experience at the top level.
Muric has struggled, but had been strong in the Championship, is young and had PL experience.
Ogbene got injured,
I dont think any of them are crazy signings, or for ridiculous fees, that seemed poorly thought out. All of them feel like sensible decisions for various reasons for a club in our position. And nobody can question the ambition of the club in the amount they have spent, collectively.
We had to make a lot of signings and its a given that they wont all be succesful and putting them all into a side that is inevitably going to be down near the bottom end of the table makes that harder.
We could have signed different players, but its easy with hindsight to say they are the wrong ones because they didnt work. Very few, if any, fans were saying any of these signings were bad ones when they were made.
Edit- should have added that its a massive mistep not getting an extra forward though which, to me, undermines a lot of the good work. [Post edited 3 Feb 21:05]
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:05 - Feb 3 with 3210 views | ITFCSG |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:58 - Feb 3 by bsw72 |
Is that the Moder that’s only played about 30 games since rupturing his Achilles in 2022? |
Ditto Tuanzebe before he joined us, but at £1.2 million definitely worth the risk for a proven PL player and Polish international | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:09 - Feb 3 with 3157 views | olimar |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:52 - Feb 3 by Guthrum |
Yes, but on the team spirit thing we were never going to be able to carry on with the same bunch of players who got us to the Prem. In reality, we discarded (mostly on loan) several in going from L1 to the Champ.
It's proven to be a much bigger step up than I had thought. Plus there isn't the outlet of sometimes bossing a game or having a multi-goal romp like we have done the last two seasons. Despite fewer matches, each and every one is hard. No slips go unpunished (mind you, we've done that to others, too). It adds massively to the exhaustion factor.
I think there is a contingency plan at the back of people's minds that should we go down, we want to be in the best position to bounce straight back up again. |
Not sure we dont know our best team either....
GK
Tuanzebe DOS GREAVES Davis
CAJUSTE Morsy
OMARI ENCISO Broadhead
DELAP
I think KM has at least 7 of his new signings in his preferred team. Several of the others have settled into occasional starters or subs. We dont particularly make sweeping changes through the team game by game. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:12 - Feb 3 with 3124 views | Guthrum |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:55 - Feb 3 by textbackup |
And LCFC and Soton will go down too. Not sure the point you are trying to make? |
That the teams which are already in the Prem (even the strugglers) have an advantage in transfer-hunting over those just come up. Doubly so as they had all been there more than one season already - "established". | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:14 - Feb 3 with 3096 views | Horsham |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:05 - Feb 3 by olimar |
I think the policy was absolutely fine. Buying players who know the English game, speak the language and are young with loads of development potential, and therefore potential increased value, is exactly the sort of profile that every club in England would take if the players they needed were available.
Clubs like Palace, Brighton have gone down that route plenty of times in recent years.
Players like Greaves, Omari, Philogene, Clarke, Delap were all generally seen as some of the best in the championship who fitted that profile. Szmodics fitted that profile with the exception that he was older.
O'Shea and Johnson had performed well in the PL and also fitted that profile.
Townsend was always going to be a back up and didnt cost much.
Cajuste, Phillips, Enciso, Godfrey are all loans that come with good experience at the top level.
Muric has struggled, but had been strong in the Championship, is young and had PL experience.
Ogbene got injured,
I dont think any of them are crazy signings, or for ridiculous fees, that seemed poorly thought out. All of them feel like sensible decisions for various reasons for a club in our position. And nobody can question the ambition of the club in the amount they have spent, collectively.
We had to make a lot of signings and its a given that they wont all be succesful and putting them all into a side that is inevitably going to be down near the bottom end of the table makes that harder.
We could have signed different players, but its easy with hindsight to say they are the wrong ones because they didnt work. Very few, if any, fans were saying any of these signings were bad ones when they were made.
Edit- should have added that its a massive mistep not getting an extra forward though which, to me, undermines a lot of the good work. [Post edited 3 Feb 21:05]
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I think in all honesty the policy has worked well if we either stay up or go up next season. Ultimately as long as the FFP stays under control (and I think it comfortably is) we shouldn’t be in a fire sale scenario so have a strong hand. That will help keep the club moving forward. I agree a major misstep not getting a striker and we’ll be back needing one in the summer regardless of what division we’re in. The foreign markets hold potential for us and simply by not using them we’re at a disadvantage to those that do it effectively.
The club has come a long way and it’s got a long way to go to catch the Brighton’s of this world. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:14 - Feb 3 with 3087 views | textbackup |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:12 - Feb 3 by Guthrum |
That the teams which are already in the Prem (even the strugglers) have an advantage in transfer-hunting over those just come up. Doubly so as they had all been there more than one season already - "established". |
I’m sure even the most blue tinted of Town fans will look at our summer transfer dealings and not be able to praise it. | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:15 - Feb 3 with 3090 views | ITFCSG |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:59 - Feb 3 by pointofblue |
Moder joined Feyenoord, who are in the Champions League knockout stages. It's the same as Malen joining Villa for £18m - yes, the fees themselves make the likes of Downes and Philogene for £20m each look ridiculous. But Moder and Malen would never chose us ahead of their other options. |
Fair enough if he enjoys playing the occasional European game, but I don't believe playing in the PL is a less attractive option than the Eredivisie which outside of the top 4, 5 teams the rest of the division are Championship or League One quality
Never try, never know. We lack an PL version of Aluko and Keogh this season. We are overpaying for a lot of players that are currently not fit for purpose in the PL with little or no experience. J Clarke, Philogene, Hutch etc. need time to be bedded in and we are throwing them into the thick of the action. [Post edited 3 Feb 21:30]
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:16 - Feb 3 with 3072 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
Its no coincidence that two of the best signings (O'Shea and Cajuste), were effectively signed by hanging on the coat tails of Brentford.
Both have performed well in the Premier League, been an improvement on what we had, and have proved to be good value for money (assuming £10m for Cajuste if we stay up). |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:20 - Feb 3 with 3010 views | Guthrum |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:14 - Feb 3 by textbackup |
I’m sure even the most blue tinted of Town fans will look at our summer transfer dealings and not be able to praise it. |
We had one big hit (Delap) and several good additions (Cajuste, Greaves, O'Shea, Szmodics) out of last summer's crop. Plus some others which have been less successful or got injured. Given the turnover of players, it would be asking a lot for every one to have been a hit. | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:21 - Feb 3 with 2970 views | olimar |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:14 - Feb 3 by Horsham |
I think in all honesty the policy has worked well if we either stay up or go up next season. Ultimately as long as the FFP stays under control (and I think it comfortably is) we shouldn’t be in a fire sale scenario so have a strong hand. That will help keep the club moving forward. I agree a major misstep not getting a striker and we’ll be back needing one in the summer regardless of what division we’re in. The foreign markets hold potential for us and simply by not using them we’re at a disadvantage to those that do it effectively.
The club has come a long way and it’s got a long way to go to catch the Brighton’s of this world. |
I think the foreign market obviously has good value in it, but its a massive risk if the scouting network isnt quite good enough. Especially when getting new players to settle in the UK and in the PL.
And if we go down, they stand out as the first players who will likely want to get out. There is a sense that we arent going to get loads of our signings wanting to move on in the summer, given the commitments they have made at their ages.
It is frustrating that, yet again, we are going to be in a situation where we need to sign a forward just to get the numbers back up again. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:23 - Feb 3 with 2947 views | Swansea_Blue |
Why do you assume nobody at the club has seen the players we sign? |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:24 - Feb 3 with 2934 views | HighgateBlue |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:09 - Feb 3 by olimar |
Not sure we dont know our best team either....
GK
Tuanzebe DOS GREAVES Davis
CAJUSTE Morsy
OMARI ENCISO Broadhead
DELAP
I think KM has at least 7 of his new signings in his preferred team. Several of the others have settled into occasional starters or subs. We dont particularly make sweeping changes through the team game by game. |
I think if you can't venture a name for the first position on the teamsheet then no, we don't know our best team.
As for the outfield players, that team has only started together once, and we lost at home to a team who started the game with 6 points after 23 games. |  | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:26 - Feb 3 with 2917 views | Bellevue_Blue |
Honestly ....
The club shot the lights out for back to back seasons and because a few this season haven't worked out, we need to review the policy.
Ashton/ McKenna have more than enough credit in the bank.
It's not a seriously unbalanced squad we have 4 GK's, 2 LB's, 4 CB's. 3 RB's, 5 CM's, 7 to play the three behind the striker and 2 CF's. We have too many playing inside left but to call it 'seriously imbalanced' is just nonsense.
Of course our scouting network needs to improve, however we spent most of the last six years in League One. It's obviously not going to suddenly be PL standard ... that comes with resource and time.
We won't be moving many on for a loss (Muric the exception), they will be the foundation of our team next season because almost all of them have proven more than good enough for that division.
I know you're frustrated but please just tweak your expectations to align with where we are as a club and how far we have come. We have really talented young British players who will hopefully come good and be a part of our club for a long long time to come. [Post edited 3 Feb 21:36]
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:28 - Feb 3 with 2885 views | braveblue |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 by ITFCSG |
I cannot understand why we didn't go for Moder at Brighton at only £1.2 million. Instead once again we obsess ourselves over one player (Downes) who may or may not perform at PL level and miss the boat. We need to cast out net wider and look where the bargains are.
Ditto for the ST position, shouldn't we already be putting feelers out before the window opened?
Instead we obsess ourselves with buying more youth players who aren't ready to step up to the PL in a position already stacked to the gills at sky-high prices. Fair enough if we are stocking up on these players for future resale but the way MA and McK has gone about this transfer window seems very likely that they have already accepted that relegation is inevitable. |
When we are within one win of survival do you really think they believe relegation is inevitable? Really!! | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:31 - Feb 3 with 2846 views | textbackup |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:20 - Feb 3 by Guthrum |
We had one big hit (Delap) and several good additions (Cajuste, Greaves, O'Shea, Szmodics) out of last summer's crop. Plus some others which have been less successful or got injured. Given the turnover of players, it would be asking a lot for every one to have been a hit. |
I really like Cajuste, but that he can’t complete 90mins, I can’t have that as put in the good bracket.
O’Shea yes.
The rest are all championship players, and look it.
Hopefully they’ll still have fire in the belly when back in the champ next year, and we can make the most of them and look for a top 6 finish. | |
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