The current transfer window is due to close on 6pm on Tuesday 1/Sep/15 and this provides an opportunity to take stock of what the club has delivered over the summer and with the squad available to Steve McClaren what it might be able to achieve over this current season.
We are having a true faith : PODCAST Transfer window special which will feature Podcast impressario, true faith’s very own Alex Hurst as well as the true faith editor, Michael Martin.
But our very special guest is highly respected and locally based football writer, George Caulkin of The Times.
We would like to invite contributions to this Podcast so we invite anyone who would like to ask a question of George, Alex or I to post it in the comments boxes below and we’ll attempt to pick it up when we get to record the thing on Thursday evening. We will be working to have the fully recorded PODCAST available to you later on Thursday evening as soon as possible after the last word.
Please try and keep your questions, observations and other musings reasonably short (and clean) so we’ll be able to cover as many as we possibly can in the time available.
That is all.
What is the view on the board in terms of autonomy. Ashley made a bold statement about winning something, is that possible if we continue the stratrgy of selling our best playeirs and replacing them with younger, overseas players.
With a suggested loss on Cabella, santon, mbiwa who is accountable for transfer deals that go wrong?
Do you think playing Anita and Colback limits us in an attacking sense? I know this is a balancing act and we’ve looked far more solid for having them plus Gini playing in the middle. I just think there’s a case (especially at home) for playing one of them behind Gini and Sissoko, allowing either Perez or De Jong to come into the three alongside Thauvin and Mitrovic/Cisse. I say this because we’ve not scored in our last three prem games (ok we had a man sent off in two of those) and clearly we need to get support to the striker.
When McClaren spoke of wanting to sign players with “character” he mentioned if you stand still you go backwards. Do you think, considering the players sold / dumped by Carver from last season that we’ve got enough to not stand still? Secondly when McClaren said he wanted “character” do you reckon Mitrovic misunderstood and thought he’d said “card attractor”?
Newcastle’s new transfer window strategy is ‘apparently’ to spend big across consecutive windows- with a rumoured £100m to be spent in the next two. Does this suggest that they have transfer targets already lined up for January with groundwork already done? If so – why not buy them now?
Do you (any of you) think Ashley would’ve released so much for incoming players if it hadn’t been for the protests, boycotts and non-renewal of STs? Okay, I know the wretched thing hasn’t shut yet and he could still offset his spending with a bit of last minute selling but I’d like to think his hand was forced. I welcome the additions and the improved mood on and off the pitch but worry a few injuries (I won’t mention suspensions) will hold back any steps forward.
How should SM handle Mitrovic?
While significant spending on players has happened, have squad deficiencies actually been resolved? E.g. No aerial presence at CB, no proven CF, no credible left back?
I think NUFC are right not to get involved in deadline day madness. I think sometimes as fans we feel left out but let’s face it how many very good players move on deadline day?
Who is arsed about the destination of Adenayor, Victor Moses and Aaron Lennon, for me it is a lot of thoroughly average players moving to average clubs.
As for our business 8/10. Another CB would have made it 10/10. Pleased the club seemed to have signed their main targets and gone for quality over quantity. Also the likes of Sissoko etc are still at the club.
Have the club done enough this transfer window or have we attempted to paper over the cracks enough to ensure season ticket sales in an attempt to wing it to the next transfer window (best case) or next summer (worst case) before looking to refresh the squad again?
At least three more players ( left back, centre half and a centre forward) are needed to strengthen the squad. Stan Collymore suggested recently that for any club to bring in more than two or three players would be disruptive to the dressing room dynamic. If true have we taken the best route?
Was the decision to move Cabella on taken too hastily could he have benefited from better coaching? Might it have been better to give him more time or does this look like an accountancy led decision?
We appear to have abandoned the sell to buy route, for now, is this a result of McClaren being on the board?
Who made the decision to sign Obertan and has there been any active attempts by the club to get shot of him?
I suppose the most obvious question is why the club decided against signing Charlie Austin, and what each of you think about him, whether he’d be a better bet than Mitrovic etc. I think Mitro looks like a promising player if he can calm down slightly.
Another one that is not related to transfers at all. I wondered whether Michael/George in particular had noticed any shift in fans’ attitudes towards diving, rolling around, and screaming over the last few years? Might seem a strange question, but following the Arsenal game, masses of their fans seem to have absolutely no problem with players like Coquelin throwing themselves up in the air and crying out in agony, only to be restored seconds later. In the past it always seemed to be the fans who objected most to this kind of behaviour, but are fans just starting to accept it as a part of the game?