Great post Saxon! Getting the right players in, isn't going to be easy, there wage demands, the transfer fee, does the player want to come and fit into our club? Ashton has said more than once, if a player isn't going to buy into our club then he isn't coming! there are so many moving parts to successful signings, one wrong player could ruin the whole balance in the squad. The lack of signings won't be down to lack of effort that's for sure! The Scarlet signing was in progress for weeks as I am sure Williams and Hutchinson were!

Whilst I was desperate to see that top quality CB arrive, I would rather sign no one than a wrong un, could actually work out well, might mean Baggot gets a game or 2 and proves to be up to it.

So rather than slate Mark Ashton, I say well done for sticking to the guidelines on who and how we sign players. I would imagine Ashton is a hard negotiator, and will not be a pushover!

Have people forgotten the old days? were we desperate to sign any old has beens who nobody else wanted, hardly ever beat anybody who we were competing with for signatures!

COYB's

We had the quality for top 6 before the last 2 or 3 came in.
Nobody leaving was my wishes granted…..

Bottom line, it has been a disappointing transfer window for us, despite what some revisionists will tell you. Yes there are positives, but overall if we are honest, with ourselves as much as with others, the reality of the outcome is far less than what our expectations were upon achieving promotion, and what from what Mark Ashton/the club had indicated it would be.
Our transfer window in January, when we were still a League One club uncertain as to whether we'd get up or not, was far more impressive that the whole of this summer, as a well financially backed full Championship club with a top coach as manager, including the period of the last few weeks where we started with a 100% record & looked like potential promotion challengers.
Yes we bought with an eye on having players that could play a level up then, but we could reasonably have expected to have at least matched that now, given our definite exhaulted status & our manager's now proven track record.
As of this morning, with the transfer window shut, we have a real worry at centre back; Edmundson is unreliable & Burgess is carrying a knock. Many on here are talking about Baggott as though he is ready to step in at Championship level without a problem, against some strikers of Premier League quality even, because of some decent performances in warm up friendlies; but this is a different level & 6 months ago he struggled to get into a weak League One side. That is too much pressure to put on a young improving player, that McKenna clearly wanted (and expected) to send out on loan again for gametime experience. Even a fully fit Burgess and Woolfenden still have question marks over their ability & concentration at this level.

We lost out on McNally to Stoke, when we thought we had him - that was the player who Ashton blamed the media & fans for reporting on early & therefore costing us his signature, in his view. We were also in for Trusty but then lost out to a Premier League club. We wanted to bring in a better, stronger, Championship experienced, left-sided centre back; that was arguably our most important transfer target this summer, and we have missed out.
Will Alex Tuanzebe be the answer? Maybe, he has some of those qualities, although like Edmundson, would be very much a right sided centre back playing on the left. Also, he is not who we were looking to bring in on a permanent deal anyway; we could have had him in long before now if so, given that he is a free agent. His salary expectations will no doubt be matching Brandon Williams', but we won't have Man Utd around to pay the majority of it as part of a loan deal. We'll see, but given how exposed we are now, we may be forced into paying wages outside our structure.
The other area of concern is in the forwards. We didn't get Rak Sayki (or Philogene who went to Hull), but we did bring in Omari Hutchison while losing Kyle Edwards; I am not convinced that we have improved by that transaction. Yes he has plenty of skill & potential, but I don't see him as someone who will challenge Wes Burns for the starting position - which was what we thought we would get - particularly because of a weakness in his defensive game compared to Burns, & indeed Edwards, and a tendancy to lose possession in dangerous areas.
Then we move to the centre forward position; what happens if Hirst breaks down in the warm up later & is out until Christmas? I really like Dane Scarlett & am delighted with his arrival - a real positive from this window - but he is not a replacement for Hirst in how our team is set up with a 'focal point' centre forward. He can come on to change it & even start playing off Hirst in certain games that merit it, but he can't do that other role. Unfortunately, neither can Ladapo or Jackson, so we are looking at playing a different style to what is our natural, well coached one without him.
Hopefully he'll be alright & it won't be an issue, but I could have seen Freddie moving on with a better fit replacement coming in.
All that been said, we did come up as a more Championship ready side that most before us have, we did have a good January window & the side is well coached & understand their individual roles, all of which should keep us well above the relegation zone & into midtable; it's just that it's all been a far cry from the giddy talk of 'we signed established Championship players in League 1, so we'll be signing established Premier League players now that we are back in the Chamoionship' from a few months ago.

a few on here want to make chips before theyve planted the spuds.

waiting eagerly for Bossman to name the players he reckons we could / should have signed, i need some more popcorns .

Great post Len.
Anyone who went to Reading would see we need strengthening at the back, our centre halves are either not good enough or ready for Championship level.
There is a big backroom staff at PR who work on analysis and recruitment, surely they could have found someone who isn't out of contract and nobody wants, which is the case with Tuanzebe. Or could Richard Keogh come back? (That's a joke, by the way!)

Carberry, sorry a move for Keogh is out of the question as he is contracted to some other team, as much as we would all want him back to continue to flounder against pace it cannot happen (also tongue firmly in cheek).

All those sayinh we havent signed a CB. Tuanzebe will be added in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure a decision has all but been made.

We signed 6 players ! Some with Premier league experience ! Some of you have forgotten the lack of quality signings under the old regime.

SussexTractor - the idea is not to compare us now with the old regime that stranded us in the Championship until we were weak enough for relegation. The idea is to compare us with the teams at the top of the Championship. If you like history, compare us to Bobby Robson's era.

I am absolutely shocked by some of the comments on here. For what the club has done in the last 18 months, comparing where we were to just 3 years ago, it’s simply staggering. People have short memories and to make ANY criticism is so unjust.

I really hope the club don’t read many of these comments, they feel so much unappreciated.

If they do read them, I for one and I know I speak on behalf of thousands of supporters thank you for everything you are doing.

Some of the negative comments on here are just plain ridiculous. Our club is being run superbly. Ground improvements, new pitch, training ground pitches etc etc. We have a list of target players and we've got some but not others because deals could not be done that were right for our club. I think I heard last week that Leeds had signed a player 3 years ago for 27 million and sold him again for 3 million? I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's what I heard. Is that what we want for our club? Our owners want to build this club sustainably and we have a tremendous coaching staff to bring the very best out of players. Personally I'm loving the way our club is run now and I have faith that we will get back to the top flight and we will be ready to hold onto our place once we get there.

the usual suspects hovering over the keyboard just waiting to get first post on when we lose a game .

It's obvious McKenna didn't get the players in he wanted in the transfer window because the owners weren't prepared to spend that big. There's a danger McKenna could become disenchanted with the lack of ambition by the owners. Let's face it if he was happy with the squad he wouldn't be after more quality additions. Anyone who saw the game at Reading will know the strength in depth is no where near good enough. Settling for what we've got thinking it's ok mid table this season and then push on next season is a very dangerous game.

@dirttydingus - That's a very simplistic view to take on those who are looking at the transfer window in a different way to you, and it is a wrong one at that, certainly for the vast majority of posters in any event. I'm sure there are a couple of fans of other clubs that come on here to stir it up, but there are plenty of legitimate posts by those of us who love this club & want the best for it, identifying genuine concerns/disappointments out of this window.
The first team players that were going to come in, improve the team & bring us to the next level have not arrived. Our best possible starting XI, when all are fit, is the same XI that played most of our games from February/March lsst season in League 1. Now that is not a bad team by any means, and we won't be fighting relegation, but it is not the side that we were led to believe we would have, where new players were going to come in to make us better than we were. The talk of how we have to keep progressing & how many of the players that got us here won't be the ones to take us forward etc. has gone cold.
George Hirst has become a permanent signing; that was brilliant news & certainly not to be dismissed in the overall assessment of the window, Luongo the same, but this conversation is wider than just stablising what we had last season at a level below. We had legitimate expectations based on what was coming out of the club (Ashton & McKenna) which have not been met.
Fair enough the market was tough & I'm glad we haven't spent £8m on Ellis Simms, so the club were right not to get caught up in that; but by the same measure, we are now left depending on an injury prone right sided centre back, out of contract, who has been used to serious wages & who Luton were not prepared to gamble on, for a position which had been identified as key back in May. He's here on trial now, the day after the transfer window shuts, & unavailable even as Burgess is carrying a knock. Meanwhile our young 'prospect' centre back cannot go out on loan, despite the manager wanting him to for gametime, because we haven't been able to bring in any centre back that we actually wanted to during the window.
It's not unreasonable to point out that that is not a succesful piece of transfer window business by the club. That doesn't take away from what was achieved last season, nor the improvements with the pitch & ground etc, but surely we have to be able to raise this points & discuss them honestly, without being dismissed as though we want our team to lose matches?

Len Brennan - I totally agree with your worded post - in some Supporters eyes, it seems we are never allowed to question anything the Club does, and must agree with everything !
I am disappointed at the result of this Window - my expectations of our potential this season is now lowered, therefore I will not expect us to finish higher than Mid Table, and sadly expect to finish below Norwich. I therefore see a tough time ahead.
Anything above such achievements I will be surprised at, and most happy.
I think our Club has made a statement - without any words … !!!

Dissboyitfc - the Ever Deluded Hissy Fit Conductor - we wait to see where the Team finishes this season - conveniently forgotten the Leeds game already have you ? - or in another Hissy Fit expecting our ‘wanting’ defence to suddenly become Championship Standard ?
Time as always will tell - as accepted, it did last season …. but that squad was / is not up to Championship requirements !

I'm relieved we didn't fall into trap of spending stupid money on players that aren't going to improve what we have got in squad. I wouldn't look too much into Reading as this can happen in a cup at a stadium that had zero atmosphere. We have a style of play that are going to get plenty of results in this league and in the whole set of this club in the last few years I trust and so should the doubters. Enjoy the ride !! COYB

@len Brennan thank you for your first post, whilst I may not completely agree with all your points I like people to express their thoughts in a very reasoned and thoughtful way which you have done very well and which supports the validity of some of your Points and I enjoy a debate that can be intelligently put without letting the passion get the better of us or the civility of the tone damaged. My response would be I am not getting carried away with the hype of jumping to the premier league straight away, I limit my expectation to hopefully a comfortable mid table finish, a win against them up the road and a couple of good cup runs. I think the squad with this manager is in a good position to achieve that. I personally would have liked Baggott who is a tremendous prospect have a season with Blackpool and learn from his mistakes there and get to grips with the more physical side of the game which his 6’5” frame positions him well to do that. We may have improved the squad a bit but I do agree that we haven’t necessarily improved the first 11 which I suspect Kieron is being diplomatic about, given some of Mark Ashtons earlier rhetoric. To a certain extent the first 11 nearly picks it self when everyone is fit which for me is a bonus because whilst most of the individuals playing at Reading are individually more than capable of plugging a gap and playing well in the first team, I think collectively that second 11 may struggle to hold their own at championship level, they must know however, they have to work extremely hard to displace those that have the shirt and it is difficult to have a strop when if they are honest to themselves about the player they would be nominated to cover for is a hard act to follow and deserves the shirt.

Having said that I am less nervous about Humphreys and Baggott playing, Humphreys has enough talent to make a significant contribution at this level, Baggott may not be quite ready but under the Bobby Robson days, I remember seeing the debuts of Kevin (Tom) Beattie, George Burley (the home one not the George Best Man U away one) and early games of other youngsters like Wark, Osman, Whymark, Peddelty, etc and at times being nervous as hell biting my finger nails thinking we were lightweight in some departments, yes there were mistakes but to see those players grow in statue was exciting and when I first saw Robsons earlier teams the expectation was survival in the top flight. We saw an evolution not a revolution and Mr McKenna never fails to impress me, it is the manager that gives me the greatest hope not necessarily the 11 players that are selected each week. At the moment I can get excited by a comfortable mid table finish with lots of good football and performances and seeing players improve rather than perhaps looking for the finished article at an over inflated price. This would be a great springboard for a good few seasons ahead of us.

Danny Bath - Sunderland Centre Back highly rated - now signed for Norwich !
Would have been an ideal signing for us !

What on gods green luscious flat earth is wrong with people...? Cardiff...lets smash em up! Coybs!

how deluded is that Blueboy! 0nly a person with no understanding of football, thinks one loss in 6 is an unacceptable disaster! Especially when moving up a division. had it have been 1 win and 5 losses I could understand your hissy fit.

You were wrong last year and you will be wrong again, you always are, very surprised after how silly you looked last season that you are not laying low!

You do make me Laugh the best one is you describing yourself as a winner, comedy gold!

A bit disappointed to be honest...we've got in 3 young loanees with 'potential' but not really tested at this level but really needed a quality back up centre back.

Good posts! - Len Brennan...everybody as a fan should have an opinion good or bad and ask questions.

Bobby signed just 14 players in his 13 years in charge at Portman Road....