Darnell Furlong

[Gen.Disorda]

He is Paul Furlongs son, he was still scoring goals at 43 so he probably has few years left in him.

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

This lad is class, he was getting raved about when I saw him play.

One of the commentators was close to QPR (cant remember who it was) and was waxing lyrical about him.

Top Signing imo

I know a QPR fan that has backed this up

[HallamCobbler]

You're getting my hopes up now.

[Artlenock Cobbler]

Fantastic debut today.

[Grove]

The bloke ooozes composure, great addition

[guest168]

yep on first showing looks a good un

We struck lucky, which is great.

Loan players from Prem / Champ clubs are usually not bad, it's the ones from the likes of Cheltenham, Wycombe and the like that get me

[guest47]

I thought he had an excellent debut.
It's also great he's got a decent long throw, I'm a sucker for that. Woooosh!

[New Dawn Fades]

Solid debut. Not afraid to get stuck in, composed and with decent pace.

[TbananaG]

He was fantastic, even if he did look dead on his feet after about an hour.

[j20cobbler]

I thought he had an excellent debut.
It's also great he's got a decent long throw, I'm a sucker for that. Woooosh!

Yep agree, and at last we have (briefly) a defender with genuine pace.

[DrillingCobbler]

A player you knew was gonna be a good 'un...

To be fair, the 2 loans we signed on Friday both have excellent cv's...and were both polished.

Unlike pub team defender who is on a contract!

[Wolvo]

More loan signings. When oh when will we ever ever learn?  Loans very very rarely ever work and are certainly not the cheap option.  Hopefully we get new owners and we can actually start building for the future. How many players will we have used by the end of tomorrow? 23 or 24 something stupid like that.

yep on first showing looks a good un

We struck lucky, which is great.

Loan players from Prem / Champ clubs are usually not bad, it's the ones from the likes of Cheltenham, Wycombe and the like that get me

 

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Very Random...

[guest168]

You don't know how very lucky we got, could have so easily been one from Stevenage for example

Sorry you ain't going to win the loan argument with me even if we signed Rooney and Ronaldo on loan   

1 or 2 successes against 10 crap, no better than we already have within the club

But hey ho, i must be wrong as I thought we had struggled in the bottom division for the last 6 years ??  and must have used the highest numbers of players in the whole of the football league in that period.  yeah clearly another fantastic business / football strategy by that great Chairman of ours. But then again at least it fools some of the fools into thinking what a great plan.

[Montgomery Eypoke III]

And when sign players permanently they are always great acquisitions I suppose...

At least we are able to send back the sh@t ones with little financial consequence. OToole will be a massive drain on the wage bill for another 2 years yet.

[DrillingCobbler]

What gets me is that every year and Im going back pre-DC days, we always seem to stock up our squad with a few players whose cv's just do not seem to justify a contract.

This season we've done it again. Lelan, McDonald, *Corry and Hoskins. Early days, Hoskins looks good. But the other three?

Lets put it into prospective. McDonald and Lelan were signed up as back ups for our first choice right back and first choice centre backs. Both have come in, looked dodgy and we've had to sign two loanee's to cover for them. We've also brought in a loan midfielder whose jumped ahead of the players we've got.

So we are now paying the wages/part wages of 6 players to cover 2/3 holes.

Surely it would be better to just sign decentish players in the first place? A top notch squad of 18-20 players with a few utility lads within it. We then sign loans as a last resort.

*to be fair he looks ok but at this stage isn't perhaps ready for starts.

[clarkeysntfc]

Hoskins looks tidy, could be this season's D'Ath.

Corry looks like a decent prospect, even as a squad player he's perfectly decent.

McDonald simply is not a league standard footballer. I can only assume that CW believed that Diamond would be fit enough to play 40+ games this season, which clearly isn't the case and McDonald would be good enough to see us through the occasional appearance.

Lelan is clearly the understudy right back, but Maloney's injury was worse than thought so he's been chucked in. Unfortunately although he's better than Alfei he's not good enough for regular football right now.

I doubt we are paying much if any of the wages towards the 2 loan players.

[GrangeParkCobbler]

What gets me is that every year and Im going back pre-DC days, we always seem to stock up our squad with a few players whose cv's just do not seem to justify a contract.

This season we've done it again. Lelan, McDonald, *Corry and Hoskins. Early days, Hoskins looks good. But the other three?

Lets put it into prospective. McDonald and Lelan were signed up as back ups for our first choice right back and first choice centre backs. Both have come in, looked dodgy and we've had to sign two loanee's to cover for them. We've also brought in a loan midfielder whose jumped ahead of the players we've got.

So we are now paying the wages/part wages of 6 players to cover 2/3 holes.

Surely it would be better to just sign decentish players in the first place? A top notch squad of 18-20 players with a few utility lads within it. We then sign loans as a last resort.

*to be fair he looks ok but at this stage isn't perhaps ready for starts.

And every year we say that we will have that quality core of 18-20 players....I thought we were getting their this pre-season but then the plug was pulled, the four promised signings never materialised so here we are again, seven games into the season with five loan players on the books (nothing anywhere saying Yates has gone back to Port Vale).

If we are going to go down that route season after season then fine, its the way plenty of clubs work, I don't personally agree with it but hey ho. What gets me is that every season the club "promises" that quality squad but fails to deliver for one reason or another. To dismiss the injuries is not on either, there must be some reason why NTFC have such a high injury rate. Its something Wilder said he would look into, but again nothing changes!

And if you want Wilders "opinion" of loan players and the loan system then look no further than this......

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/manager-wilder-planning-long-term-loans-to-bolster-cobblers-squad-1-6731599

[everbrite]

You don't know how very lucky we got, could have so easily been one from Stevenage for example

Well done for attending your first game for two years, but more often than not you make your own luck. Of course you can say we got lucky but the reality is that CW chose well and credit to him. If you don't mind me observing you appear a bit short changed on this particular issue.....you say loans are generally failures. You are then promptly supplied with a list of successful "loanees". Of course we all know there are duds and failures but to invoke the luck excuse is pretty limp for you. What would you say if we got Bayo back on loan?

[Sid]

I think CW's view of loans is true and valid, however we don't know what's in the pipeline for us and what the player's story is.

- Brisley was subject to rumoured Rotherham United moves on Deadline Day not two weeks ago, so probably wasn't available then, but now is on loan. With takeover going through, perhaps CW is pushed into acquiring him for just a month, maybe with a view of extending. Football changes quickly however.
- Furlong was getting rave reviews back in Feb/March in the Prem, but clearly needs a confidence booster. Again, Moloney injured, Lelan not up to scratch yet (better than Alfei!) and Yates going back to Vale injured, we can justify strengthening that area, but not until January because Moloney may be back in the next month or 2. So sometimes even when fans are getting frustrated with a position, and it all makes sense to get someone in short term, I don't see why not.

However, it cannot be a habit made of these loans. Cover, strengthening, timing and availability all factors. I suspect the takeover has restricted CW's move in the market, and playing the waiting game to see what happens post window closure was his only way.