Winter Improvement Thread (aka Winter Squad Weakening Thread and TWF Suicide Watch)

[Deleted Cyber]

To be fair it doesn't really matter that Williamson isn't signed yet. As he isn't fit so wouldn't have played a single minute even if he'd joined on New Year's Day.

If he's expecting anywhere near parity on his Newcastle deal then he isn't going to get it, not from us, not from anyone. I suspect he wants to come to an arrangement with them to pay him off with a portion of what he's owed until the end of June before he goes anywhere.

I'm honestly not that fussed about him. If he signs then fine, we know he fits in ok and does a lot of what we need. But it's a signing with absolutely nothing long term about it and he's hardly so good that we couldn't find someone younger, possibly cheaper as well (I know this is anathema to many, but I don't see the need to be wasteful whether we're running on a shoestring or have £10m burning in our pocket) to do the exact same or better job. I will however be annoyed if we can't come to a deal and then don't sign anyone at all.

Williamson is not the only option but it would have been a good start. But we have all debated and identified enough talent between us to have satisfied most of our transfer appetites. I like others am concerned we will do very little and wing it

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

But he is injured. Why sign an injured player unless someone else tries to muscle in

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I don't know how long the injury will keep him out What happens on 1st Feb? Better to have him signed and available from mid Feb than to miss out. Unless his injury is season ending. Is it?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Oh yes - but the injury is likely to keep him out until maybe the last week of January. Make the signing then. No hurry now unless someone else tries to move in, when we would have to make the signing and live with the wages of an injured player for a week or so.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Fair enough. I just get jumpy with our recruitment. Its a box of chocolates you never know what you're gonna get :run:

 

[Paul]

But we have all debated and identified enough talent between us to have satisfied most of our transfer appetites. I like others am concerned we will do very little and wing it

Do you automatically assume that if very little or no transfers happen then nothing has been attempted ?

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Do you automatically assume that if very little or no transfers happen then nothing has been attempted ?

No Sir I dont. However If as currently , we have no-one arriving there must be a reason it could be

1. We cant agree price
2. We cant agree wages
3. Players dont want to come here
4. We havent identified anyone

My hunch is that 1 and 2 apply and maybe even 4. I wont give up hope til 1st Feb but willbe posting like a teen on chocolate if we fail to sign anyone who could not walk into the first team, in fact 3 who can walk into the first team is the minimum requirement having sold BA and keeping KJ with Dicko and JG injured.

 

[Aikiwolf]

Do you automatically assume that if very little or no transfers happen then nothing has been attempted ?

Same net effect.

It's either we don't identify good enough talent or we don't have the a good enough budget, in which case we are scouting the wrong players.

Either way I think it's obvious our recruitment has been very poor during this window (so far) and last summer. We have not identified/signed players that improve out first team.

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

I am a little surprised, that so many people (without the benefit of cypro) can get so wound up about points relating to something, that clearly no one on here knows anything about, for certain.

There is clearly an underlying problem at the club, whether it's money for fees, wages, or the simple fact that players don't want to come here until the ownership situation is resolved. (god forbid signing for Leeds for example , a week before Cellini rides into own).

For me, the answer I want from the club, is why are the likes of Byrne and Wallace , to name but two currently, signed amidst all the hype and broo ha ha , and not only are they no playing, but have never been given the chance to play for more than 30 minutes a month?.

I would ask messrs, Moxey, Thelwell and Jackett to answer that one, before I would allow them to spend the cost of a transfer phone call, or even thought about buying the club myself.

History suggests to me, that we may be better off signing no one by default in this window, while KJ sorts out which of his poker hand of playing styles we might stick on.

But I ain't offering good odds on that happening, that's for sure.

 

[North West Wanderer]

We did enquire re Washington from posh, but never went any further than that.

 

[wordsleywolf]

We did enquire re Washington from posh, but never went any further than that.

If I was suspicious I'd suggest the asking price was decisive in that. Arguably correctly but we clearly need a striker and that is not going to be cheap.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If I was suspicious I'd suggest the asking price was decisive in that. Arguably correctly but we clearly need a striker and that is not going to be cheap.

This was my concern when some suggested selling Afobe to improve the squad as a whole. It's fine in theory but everyone in the world now knows a) you have the money and b) you are desperate. It's how we got stung on the Akinbiyi fee 16 and a bit years ago, the principle hasn't changed since then.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

This was my concern when some suggested selling Afobe to improve the squad as a whole. It's fine in theory but everyone in the world now knows a) you have the money and b) you are desperate. It's how we got stung on the Akinbiyi fee 16 and a bit years ago, the principle hasn't changed since then.

Yes there is that but , hypothetically, if the club knew that Afobe wanted to leave ( and given the club statements it is likely) and given the fact we are still in owner limbo I would have expected better planning and prep for this window. Randall and Zyro are hardly replacements for Afobe. It could also be argued that Washington is not a replacement for Austin at this level and only time will tell if the 3 mil invested proves value for money. What QPR have done that we have failed to do is act and act quickly to secure the target they wanted. That again, hypothetically, suggests to me that our ability to plan and recruit effectively is not working anywhere near optimum at the moment. As far as many Wolves fans can see there is about 8 million quid sitting in the bank and we dont appear to be anywhere near spending it, despite failing spectacularly on the pitch for the most part so far this season and despite having obvious holes in the squad in pretty much every area ( not going into detail with names but left back centre half striker number 10 and keeper are pretty much mentioned by most). However I would also argue that given the on field facts we 1. Do have money 2 And are desperate. Top dollar it is. Piss poor planning leads to piss poor performance.

 

[From Distant Shores]

Unlikely as it may seem, the club may consider Zyro as the long-term replacement for Afobe. He's a goal scoring forward who could well be seen as a better match to play with Dicko.

They could soon be saying we bought before we sold!!

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Unlikely as it may seem, the club may consider Zyro as the long-term replacement for Afobe. He'ss goal scoring forward who could well be seen as a better match to play with Dicko.

The could soon be saying we bought before we sold!!

That would be taking positive spin to the extreme. I like the way youre thinking though!

 

[Wolvensam]

Jackett in not being able to buy players at this level shocker. I'd really like Thelwell and Moxey to buy the players, tell Jackett they are buying the squad and if he doesn't like it he can go.

That way we would know who does what and who is to blame for recruitment/ tactics.

How does the recruitment work at other clubs with the DoF model? So Newcastle, WBA, Reading and so forth? I always assumed that the DoF shortlisted players and then the manager would have the final say, but I could be/am probably completely wrong. It seems here that we have Thelwell scouting one type of player and Jackett another, which is completely counter-productive if we're going to have a certain style of play: everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction (to use rubbish team building away day speak).

 

[Penk Wolf]

How does the recruitment work at other clubs with the DoF model? So Newcastle, WBA, Reading and so forth? I always assumed that the DoF shortlisted players and then the manager would have the final say, but I could be/am probably completely wrong. It seems here that we have Thelwell scouting one type of player and Jackett another, which is completely counter-productive if we're going to have a certain style of play: everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction (to use rubbish team building away day speak).

From my understanding, the head coach is told which players he has to work and the head coach has little say in the transfer.

 

[Jinky]

In terms of bringing players in, it's gone very quiet.

 

[Lord Knows]

In terms of bringing players in, it's gone very quiet.

In many respects its a good window for the fans to make a clear judgment on where the club stands regards ambition at this time. If Wolves fail to invest significantly you can see a high number of season tickets not renewed.

 

[Wolvensam]

From my understanding, the head coach is told which players he has to work and the head coach has little say in the transfer.

That makes sense.

I guess it's a bit rock and hard place: we could spend the money and end up with a total flop. There's no guarantee that Conor Washington will set the world alight at QPR despite his fee. Although by the same token if Afobe was "continually expressing his desire to leave" - as Jackett said - then we should have had a contingency plan in place long before now.

I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with someone like Tom Bradshaw, but maybe we just need to face the reality that we're not a very attractive proposition right now if a player wants a fast ticket to the Premier League.