The Hotel End

Transfer rumours, speculation and confirmations in here:

Starting off with Harry McKirdy who I believe, has been released by Carlisle. Although he occasionally frustrates home fans, he's only 23 and he gets bums off seats... A bit of an X Factor/Marmite player.

Didn’t he make some kind of disparaging comment about the atmosphere at sixfields when he was on loan at Newport after we beat them? To be fair he was probably right as it was a cold Tuesday night.

We'd probably be the best crowd and atmosphere he's ever played in front of if he was here...footballers normally know what to say and when to say it in that regard... ;D

Charlie Goode to mk dons

Kelvin Thomas on a free to Inter Miami CF

Source??

Hopefully just a rehash of the rumour in the January window - he’s far too good for them, probably could do a job in the championship. Having said that money talks.

yes

Danny hylton and Elliot lee  ;)

Neil Frampton - AFC Dons; fee maybe required.

There’s no one by that name at AFC Wimbledon - there’s an Andy frampton but he’s in his 40’s!

So far not a lot of quality being released from League Two - I agree with Deepcut that McKirdy is a interesting player and potentially would work well for us in the no.10 role. Also I think he is from the midlands so could be tempted?

I had a look at some players that might be a good fit + would improve us in League One. All appear to be out of contract

- Ali Crawford (Bolton) - A talented Scottish central midfielder. Maybe slightly out of our budget
- Janoi Donacien (Ipswich) - A pacey central defender previously at Accrington that hasn't really made an impact at Ipswich
- Alex Gilbey (MK Dons) - A technical box-to-box midfielder, probably wouldn't be interested in us but it is a local move so maybe
- Jordy Hiwula (Coventry) - A pacey striker who scored 12 league goals last year but hasn't played much for Cov this year
- Max Ehmer (Gillingham) - A powerful centre back at a good age
- Ollie Banks (Tranmere) - Although he wasn't very good before on loan here apparently he has become a good little playmaker
- Jerry Yates (Rotherham) - A forward that we were supposedly close to signing in January
- Oliver Hawkins (Portsmouth) - A target man, not that we necessarily need more of them...
- Josh Laurent (Shrewsbury) - A good forward thinking midfielder, but probably out of our league
- Josh Vickers (Lincoln) - A keeper who made some incredible saves against us in opening game of last season
- Alex Woodyard (Peterborough) - Very highly rated for Lincoln but not made it at boro so will probably become available

Not sure quite how many of these will become free agents or who would actually consider a move to us but some there are some decent players around for sure

Presuming any new signings are delivered by DHL (APC and they'll never arrive)...dropped at the bottom of the steps at Sixfields, photo taken and then onto Trust Pilot to review their performances!

Hopefully it'll be Hermes* - we'll get all the individual notifications that they are coming to build anticipation but they don't arrive. Then, just when you think none of them are going to happen, they all turn up at the same time when the lazy bastard delivery driver decides he has a big enough pile to make it worth the trip. It'll be Like Forrester, Gabbiadini and Hargreaves all over again!

* This is the only context that phrase will ever be used. ;D

Andy as you say - thought he was in his 30's! Fine footballer and played for English Schools. Captain material but now too long in the tooth! Pity!

Great Trust Pilot review of Hermes!  ;D

DHL. Where I live, there a couple of commercial premises over the road, they have been closed for obvious reasons. DHL turn up, and dont know what to do. Running around and banging on doors. Now this I can understand, but I had been down the shop for essential supplies (beer). The driver saw me walking down the road, and jumped out begging me to sign for a parcel. Who I was, or where I lived didnt matter. He just wanted a signature. That is wrong. Anything of value could have been in that parcel. I declined his request, and he was not happy.

Given the financial situation in football due to the pandemic, I think it will be a buyers market this summer that is for sure.

Shame, might have been drugs? Next time, sign Micky Mouse, no Micky Mellon and leg it. Win win!

As you say, they don't care, grab the parcel, could be anything? (A secret scouting video to keep on topic)

Are you selling anything?

As a side note it might be good for members here to connect if financial issues arise, it's always better to talk. It's clear some here do have some expertise and why not help a fellow Cobbler first? Difficult times ahead.

Good man for raising this!

Lloyd Jones has now left the building, he will not figure in the play off games.....he will also not play for Luton again. Quite a few teams in for him including Plymouth but a couple of foreign teams have offered contracts to him also (one team if I told you, you would be shocked at, considering their stature in the world game).

If the other defenders are fully fit then I think that's not such a big loss.

It would be good if the Arsenal midfielder was available though...

It’s a shame as I don’t think we saw the best of LJ but it probably wasn’t his fault as you could argue that he was never fully match fit/sharp. As clarkeys says, if Wharton, Goode and Turnbull are all fit/available then Lloyd would have been on the bench anyway. Regarding olayinka I think it’s a different case to jones in that jones is going to be out of contract with Luton whereas olayinka and Morton are both still under contract with their parent clubs.

Believe it or not he has been offered 2 grand a week at Inter Milan and also 1 grand a week at a Finnish team.....I spat my tea in shock when his brother told me about the Inter link. He was massively rated when at Liverpool and I guess their scouting team have identified him as a very cheap option which could come good!

These sorts of rates of pay are not that unusual for League 2 players. The £1k is bog standard ordinary for a 1st teamer and £2k better than average but I bet we have at least 6 players on that or more.

no one believes the inter milan link

Nor do I.....but his brother is adamant the offer has been made! I also disbelieve him when he said lloyd was signing for cobblers....we shall see! I am not attention seeking just stating what I've been told!

Some of the retained lists make interesting reading - Sc***horpe getting rid of Cameron Burgess, Andy Butler, Adam Hammill, Rory McArdle and James perch, and Mansfield releasing Neal Bishop, Craig Davies, Otis Khan, Alex MacDonald, Bobby Olejnik, Krystian Pearce and Matt Preston. Most interesting is Colchester who are in the other playoff - they have announced that Luke Prosser, Frank Nouble, Ryan Jackson and Brandon Comley will all be released - I’m pretty sure that they are all key men in their first XI so it will be interesting to see if any of them refuse to play a la Lyle Taylor.

He wasn't very good. An average league 2 CB.

Certainly didn't live up to your hype.

High earners = no new contracts.

Clubs will be reducing expenditure on wages at a rate of knots this summer.

yep - there will be a lot of big earners in lower leagues dissappointed with offers and looking to move elsewhere, before finding out no clubs have any money and being out on their arse!

This must mean Charlie goose is going to Barca then, because Lloyd Jones is half the player Goode is

Resign bayo?

Resign bayo? Why because you think Charlie is a goose....we shall see where Lloyd ends up....I will categorically state he will end up playing above league 2 next season. I just hope we will jump a division also via the play-offs!

Good luck to him in the league one play offs, chance to add another promotion to the two league two ones in recent years.

Charlie is a goose?

I must admit, as the season went on the more and more I resigned myself to the fact that it will be a miracle if Goode is still with us next season. I just hope we get what he’s worth (whatever that may be) but it’s typical that the ar*e has dropped out of the transfer market.

I wouldn't do the club and Curle down so much. It didn't work for him at Scunny and he's certainly enjoying his football with us. He's club captain and there's no reason he should risk all that by jumping ship. I'm looking forward to wincing at his gamesmanship when we are next allowed in Sixfields.

 ;D yu are on fire now - keep it up 8)

Yu are emerging as top comic on here - keep it up....please

Can’t tell if ur taking the piss to be honest, from what I’ve seen you’ve always been quite sarcastic 🤷🏻‍♂️

definitely not as its good to have a bit of humour on here. Always the same ; easy to get wrong end of stick as I often do  ;)
 

🙏🙏

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to be doing the club and Curle down in my original post, I’ve no doubt that he’s loving it here but my point was that he is - in my opinion - head and shoulders the best centre back in league 2 and there is bound to be plenty of interest in him whenever the transfer window reopens.

I wouldn't say that he is 'head and shoulders the best centre back in League 2', he still has a number of faults that would be exposed to a greater extent than they have been with us, but he's got stacks of potential and should eventually play at a higher level. 
Even if we are promoted, I can see other teams in League 1 and even the Championship coming in for him.
Remember that he is still only 25 in August, we'll do well to keep hold of him...

That was the point I was trying to make - I’m probably getting a bit carried away but I honestly can’t think of many centre backs better than him at this level. I would have thought that training under Curle who was a top level, international centre back has improved him and will hopefully continue to improve him next season. I don’t know what his contract situation is but we wouldn’t want to be going into the last year of his deal. Hopefully I haven’t put the kiss of death on him for Thursday!

If we win the playoffs he will stay no question

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/teams/first-team/defender/charlie-goode/

3 year contract from last Summer 2019.

Keep if we are promoted I would have thought. If we stay in League 2 it changes things considerably for him if other better placed clubs are interested.

Think Charlie is overrated myself. Its poor division, wait till he comes up against better quality strikers. Blood and guts, and an ability to go down and win fouls won't always get him through.
That said, I'm pleased we've had him this season.

It would be strange for him to turn down the offer from Inter Milan  :o :o

What we need is an Emile Sinclair esc player, he would do wonders in league 1 next season with his pace and raw goal scoring ability

And the ability to fall over at a sniff.

Not if he gets the call to go and play abroad at Wrexham. With a name like Lloyd Jones.

He did ok against Derby, Exeter and Plymouth ::)

Merely my opinion Evers, that's all.

Just saw a report about Rhys Bennett from posh, not sure if there’s any truth in the link however

Just a counter opinion from me.

So now we've heard the retained list... Whos got the insider knowledge on Curles wish list!?

It is reported that approaches have already been made to some players and will be stepped up now we know what league we are in.

Complications like not knowing when the season will start makes planning uncertain.

My priorities would be the signing of the two loan players Wharton and Morton. Adding two more strikers with pace, two footballing midfielders and a left back...........easy?

Rumours i've seen so far are...

George Thomas (ex Cov/Leicester)
Jamie Devitt (again! - still got a year left at Blackpool so not sure we would pay a fee for him)
Emmanuel Osadebe

Probably all bollox with their agents just touting them about

Plus another centre half to replace Turnbull
 

Probably will need three new centre backs won't we, if three at the back is retained?

Jay Williams gone too, remember.

This is somewhat tongue in cheek, but he just helped me get promotion to the Championship in football manager, so knowing nothing about him in real life I'd be a fan of that.

Just seen via the Chron that Curle's already met with one player about signing and has started other convos

"I met with a player on Wednesday and I'm due to have another meeting with him, either on Friday or Monday, but ultimately the decision comes down to - does he see this as the right move for him?"

Have to say one thing I have liked about Curle has been recruitment. JFH winter window of madness saw a lot brought in for a payday or ridiculous contracts at this level. Curle has genuinely looked strict on signing players who want to be there and will listen to him.

We have lost 16 players, 13 released and the 3 loans going back to their parent clubs. Of these 16 I would only expect 8 to be replaced as 6 of the released players were youngsters  and together with Hall-Johnson and Waters and not close to the first team. This also takes 8 players off the wage bill but most would have been low earners.
KC has peviously stated wanting 2 players for each position so with this in mind I see us wanting the following replacements based on the following criteria:-
1.The 3 players offered new contracts accept.
2.The players already under contract for next season remain. If we are successful in moving any of them on then they would also need replacing.
3.We continue to play 3-4-1-2 as per the last few games.
Goalkeeper. I hope that Cornell's replacement is going to be someone who can challenge Arnold for the jersey and not a cheap understudy to sit on the bench. Cornell had faults but also made some stunning instinctive saves, have not yet seen these from Arnold but he coped admirably with what little he had to do in the last 2 games. I prefer a keeper who is going to come for crosses and command his area rather than one who does not come off his line.
Strikers. 2 needed with hopefully 1 being the return of Morton, the other being a similar type of player as we have 2 target men.
Player behind the front 2. I assume this will be Hoskins role now with Warburton as back up.
Wide men. We have Harriman who has performed consistently, usually on the right. Marshall also usually on the right but either capable of playing on the left. Assuming Adams maintains form and remains injury free he will be a fixture on the other side. Young Roberts and Martin also left sided. With some players being flexible which side they play and also Hoskins can play wide will KC think he has enough cover?
Midfield 2. Watson will continue to be first choice providing he maintains form and fitness.which means we need a replacement for McCormack - preferably a similar tough tackler. Lines, McWilliams and Pollock as back up.
Defensive back 3. Only Goode remains and apart from Jones being here for a few weeks we have not had cover but Harriman and Martin have both played there when needed. In fact I know that we have not seen Martin play much but I thought when he played in the back 3 he probably had his best game. Overall I think we need to sign 3 with 1 hopefully being the return of Wharton.
Comments have been made regarding some of the players contracted for next season but we have had past players who have not impressed in their first season but then come good. Remember CW put JJO't on the transfer list.

Has Keith allowed Turnbull  to go (surprised me) to free up wages to allow us to make an offer for Wharton?  He would be an excellent permanent  signing and Blackburn do not seem to need  him.

Turnbull was the last big money signing by JFH during the 5U Sport era - where the money never actually materialised!

KC said Turnbull has been on "high end L1 wages" ever since signing and thought it would be insulting to offer him such a reduced wage and that he probably would not have been incentivized like he has been on a reduced wage.

I absolutely love Turnbull and would have offered him something but completely understand the reasoning behind it.

KC has dramatically reduced the wage bill since coming in, and has now got us promoted on a significantly reduced budget from the one he inherited. He's maintaining good house keeping which is exactly what's required more than ever in the current climate.

There are going to be hundreds of quality players out of contract so it's up to Simon Tracey etc to find us another Morton/Wharton etc.

At least we ain't got Melville shopping for us!  ;D

Turnbull could come back if he can't find a suitable club, to play for us on that reduced contract?  A possibility?

You'd think that one year contracts at an affordable level would be popular for both player and club. Player and club benefit and next renegotiation at a point in time when we've got a clearer picture with regard to the virus going forward.

Chambers to return to finish his career, as Ipswich are looking for a replacement Championship-level central defender.

Jacobs to pop back on loan (or permanent), as Wigan are up the spout.

A random signing of McGeady from Sunderland, so that we are over-blessed with wide players.

A mad signing of Ravell Morrison on loan from Sheffield United.  (he is not mad.... and he is real quality.  He needs a manager that will take his time with him. A perfect match with Curley-Cobblers).

Sheffield Weds prospect on loan....  Hunt.

Non-league prospects..... Holohan from Hartlepool (like for like with Warburton).  Reprise of Kane Ferdinand.  Adams from Barnet.  Plus... top-tip.... Nolan from Halifax.

You heard it here, first.

That is, aside from my predictions of the success under Curle.  Eat my sh(ee)t, you message-board tw@ts.

Are you off your meds?  Try going and lying down in a dark room.

Thank you for your input.

That's what I heard

McGeady is 34yrs winger
Hunt is possibility only 20yrs midfielder
Chambers is 34yrs central def
Jacobs a possibility especially if Wigan go bust
Ravel Morrison aged 27yrs - midfielder cant see KC entertaining this guy.
Holohan Midfielder doubtful 
Kane Ferdinand - no chance Ex Cobblers who failed here
Charlie Adams - Barnet, another Midfielder  - doubtful
Nolan Halifax - another mid fielder also doubtful

Interesting set of names too many wingers and midfielders not enough scorers let alone defenders.

Keep 'em coming tho'.

Old heads required at this level for us to gain stability.

Playing 3-5-2 requires a flood of midfielders.

If we finish next season above 17th, then, that is success.

A couple of big names will come in.... the type of names you think "why did they sign for us?"  But most will be players that you have never heard of (and wished you did, once they play).

My sources?  Usually Mayonnaise-based......

KC has said that he has spoken to WBA and Blackburn about the possibility of Morton and Wharton returning next season. Noticably he has not mentioned Olayinka.

My prediction is Curle will opt for players who look underwhelming on paper but can thrive on our style of football. (i.e. hardworking and physical) I don't think anyone could have predicted Oliver to be as integral to our season as he was.

And as has been commented elsewhere, given Covid we're likely to see much tighter squads across the league than before. This might mean we'd potentially be able to secure players of a higher calibre just from the allure of job security, especially those getting into their 30s.

Aside from the obvious CB requirements, the priorities for me;

Defensive wing-backs (x2): both as cover for Harriman and a defensive alternative to Adams against bigger clubs.

Energetic DM: straight replacement for Macca but ideally with more mobility. Fitness permitting I reckon McWilliams is more than capable, however we'd still probably want a more senior player as well.

Mobile strikers (x2): one loanee, one permanent. Ideally Morton, but if not a player of that ilk that runs the channels all game and feed off Oliver. Smith wont be good enough for League One, but adequate cover for Oliver.

Utility men (x2): players that can fill various roles as injury covers. Thinking of someone like David Hunt, or more recently the role Hoskins has done for us. Don't need to be technically brilliant, just hard working and stick to Curles gameplan.

I'm genuinely optimistic about next season and think we'll surprise a few. Say what you want about Curle, but if we do go down you know it will be with a fight rather than the complete capitulation like the previous two relegations.

Will say any idea of Ravel Morrison joining us is complete fantasy. Huge wages, absolutely no inclination or motivation to play for a club our size, and completely at odds with the style of football and personality Curle likes.

Probably one of the most interesting close seasons in many a year due to various clubs financial position? Doing business early may be regrettable, as I expect quite a few quality players may hold out for big money and then struggle to find a club? On the other hand if you delay you may miss out altogether, so do you stick or twist? The holy grail of signings is a 20 goal+ a season striker so any deal for Morton has to be a priority, obviously along with replacements for McCormack and Turnbull? A big ask but as others have said KCs recruitment to date has been exceptional, so I am personally very hopeful there is some real quality on the horizon?

Rhys Bennett was mentioned earlier in the thread and has been released by Posh

1,400

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53282799

So we have 14 players under contract with a further 3 offered new contracts, however 2 of the squad were academy players last season.

Full list (Under contract):

Joe Martin, Charlie Goode, Ryan Watson, Harry Smith, Nicky Adams, Scott Pollock, Chris Lines, Shaun McWilliams, Matt Warburton, Morgan Roberts, Steve Arnold, Jacob Ballinger, Ethan Johnston & Mark Marshall.

Offered contracts:

Sam Hoskins, Vadaine Oliver & Michael Harriman.

The latest Chron interview with KT suggests that no players will be announced until registration opens, which he guessed to be 1st August.

He also - and I maybe am being cynical here - seemed to pave the somewhat for a sale for Charlie Goode this summer. Personally I don't think we should entertain any offers unless they are in the sort of territory that other League One clubs command; ie comfortably upwards of £1million. You only have to look to Aaron Pierre who is now wanted by Championship sides to know that we don't hold on to our talented players long enough nor put up enough resistance to get true value for them.

Fairly versatile as tho he’s mainly a CB he can also play as a defensive mid or a full back which would be ideal for us. Would hope he’d be keen to do over Posh for releasing him too. He does stream on twitch so you could go ask him directly if he’s had Curle on the phone 🤣

Hard agree on keeping hold of players like Goode. We are always terrible at keeping hold of people and then it comes back to bite us... An even more pertinent example is Toney. Boro looking for about £8m for him this summer and there’s not only prem clubs but even RB Leipzig battling to get him. I don’t know how much we got for him but I’m going to wager it was nowhere near £8m, or even £1m.

I'm fairly sure £250k has been widely quoted on here.

Regards the players we’ve offered contracts to...
I’m not fussed whether they sign or not
Personal opinion oliver has played well but we have smith who is younger and if Oliver left there will be plenty of more experienced higher level target men available for nowt.
That said if he signs then I’m fine with that

Harriman I’d quite like to keep but again there will be plenty of options available who have played championship league one level

Contentious but I wouldn’t give to figs if sam Hoskins goes elsewhere for more money , he has been found to not be league one standard last time round and I hope we don’t feel that we have to push the boat out as he is easily replaceable with a better standard of player imo

For example george Thomas or sam Hoskins for the same money??

I'm pretty sure we would have only got a sell on when he moved to boro'. Any sell on clause regarding Toney would be to Newcastle's benefit not ours.

I'd love to see us go for Frank Nouble, who has recently been released by Colchester. I thought he looked great for them in the playoffs, really strong, quick, brings others into play, and is a very decent dribbler. He'd do great in our system.

Shay McCartan is another good option - nippy forward released from Bradford who could replace Morton if we are not able to bring him back.

Mickel Miller, who we were rumoured to be interested in has signed a 2 year deal at Rotherham United.

Remember when we played Lincoln first game of season 2018-19 and they beat us 1-0 after we had been by far the better team. Their played a blinder saving about 5 one on ones amongst other saves, his name was Josh Vickers and he has been released and still only 24.
A number of our former players have been released including Joel Byrom, Joe Bunney and Rod McDonald.

You have got to be kidding or a troll, Sam Hoskins has grown into practically being the beating heart of the club. Top scorer and top bloke - crap haircut though.

Rod McDonald to come back please. That'd be lovely

Seemingly signing players with oodles of talent hasn’t been a problem for us over the last 4 seasons? Signing players with the right mental attitude who are prepared to play for the shirt is entirely another matter? Saying it doesn’t matter if this or that player leaves because there are many more quality fish in the sea isn’t entirely true at this level. No one wants to see an influx of hands down the shorts pitch amblers and dressing room wreckers do we? I personally think KC is a different proposition in the recruitment stakes, but I can’t help fretting.

Chris Solly right back released by Charlton maybe in the frame. Would have thought salary might be a big ask?

Losing Goode would be a serious blow , especially with Turnbull and probably Wharton going as well .
I think the recruitment team are much better under Curle and I have more faith in us making the right decisions this time around . Having said that , we have been left with some pups on contract this season that are his higher profile signings .
There will be a lot of surplus players available this season though and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the loan system relaxed to help clubs in difficulty

Vickers always looked good whenever I saw Lincoln play over the last 1-2 years. Was surprised he'd been released, but having looked at the story it seems the financial situation has mean Lincoln couldn't risk offering new contracts. Bostwick and Eardley have been released by them as well for the same reasons, both good players for League 1 and up for grabs.

With the fallout from the COVID situation this is going to be one of the strangest transfers window and probably seasons as well.

I'd love Vickers in to compete with Arnold. Don't know how realistic that is

To be honest I'm so excited about promotion and what will be a very interesting window, I will take literally any rumours right now

Come on, surely someones aunties dog walkers best mates heard from their neighbour that some footballers wife is shopping for a house in Kingsthorpe or something rogue. FEED THE RUMOUR MILL

Did Joe Bunney ever make an appearance for Bolton in the end?

2 according to Wiki.

Could we be interested in Nathan Smith from Port Vale who has rejected a new contract as he wants to play in a higher division. Came through their youth system, centre back who in the last 4 seasons has played a total of 199 games and scored 11 goals. Still only 24 and could be a shrewd addition to our squad if we could get him.

I don’t know the player but I do know Port Vale defended superbly against us at Sixfields and KC would have taken a lot of notice that day

Can't see it. He's been touted by Championship clubs for a couple of years now, he's out of contract so he'll have his pick.

We won't be paying silly wages again (thankfully!) nor should we as there'll be plenty of unattached half decent players available.

I agree that port vale defended very well in that game but Nathan smith only came on for the last 5 minutes, I think he was coming back from injury.  I’ve always been impressed by Leon legge but at his age I can’t see him playing at a higher level.

The one thing I do think we need going up a level is experience as we’ve lost McCormack,Turnbull and Williams and I think that experience will be missed in league one if not replaced...

Had that car crash and did not return until January.


https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/18188912.bolton-defender-joe-bunney-battling-back-car-crash-injuries/

I agree that having an experienced pro around who is a good character Is so important and can bring up the performances of those playing around him which is why releasing McCormack was a big disappointment.

As great a player McCormack has been, he is past his best, hardly managed to keep fit to play in League Two, League One would be too far a jump for him in terms of fitness.

We definitely need a player of that type. Shaun McWilliams may yet grow into that role but I think we need someone experienced in now. Could we ask Wilder/Knill for suggestions?

I think it’s very harsh to say he’s past his best, when he plays I think he’s one of the better players and still easily capable of playing at league 1 level. While I appreciate there are issues relating to fitness and injury as I said before I think the impact he probably has on younger players both when on the pitch and in the dressing room can’t be underestimated. When I look at the rest of the squad I do wonder where the characters are that can have that impact on other players maybe when things aren’t maybe going well.

Our best performances all came when McCormack was in the team. He's still a terrific player that could easily do a job at League 1 level... if fit. And therein lies the problem. He isn't fit enough, which isn't his fault, it's just those niggling injuries that come with age. It'll be sod's law that he signs for someone else, stays fit, plays 40+ games for them and we'll be kicking ourselves this time next season but I'll bet he isn't cheap and, with finances as I'm sure they are going to be for now, I guess he was just too much of a risk to take.

And risk another Rob Page?!

Not ALL our best performances. Crawley away?

Shay McCartan linked...

http://d3d4football.com/northampton-town-close-in-on-versatile-forward/ (http://d3d4football.com/northampton-town-close-in-on-versatile-forward/)

Ok, all the best performances I saw.  ;D

Although if I recall correctly, Steve Arnold had a bit to do with that one...

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=crawley+v+northampton+youtube&docid=608024123225343100&mid=5A7953D2FED399C121CE5A7953D2FED399C121CE&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

Our worst performance of the season. 

 ;D ;D
I think Wilder and Knill were better at recruiting players than managers :-\

😂😂 touché. Whilst I am on most of our problems post Wilder we’re down to mental attitude regarding the players we recruited. Loads of us pointed out we needed a general on the pitch and we just didn’t get it. As soon as we did look what happened? Say what you like about supporters and the nonsense we come out with, when you get a strong collective opinion it’s usually right? Anyway now McCormack has gone we are all getting twitchy because most can see we desperately need a direct replacement? I reckon Curle has it covered, at least he might have........hopefully?

The recruitment under Page was, bar one or two notable exceptions (Matt Taylor over the summer and then Boateng and Eardley in the January), absolutely terrible. Nyatanga, Hanley, Wylde, McCourt, Beautyman, Sonupe, Gorre and JJ Hooper were no-where near good enough. Revell, Zakuani, Anderson and Cornell were a little bit bit better than those, but still lacklustre signings for League 1.

I think KC's recruitment has been mostly spot on and I trust him to get it right again during the close season.

Hard disagree on Zakuani. I thought he was plenty good enough for League 1. Hard to argue that there werent a loss of dross recruited though.

At our level of budget an amount of risk has to be factored in. Getting 2 out of 3 signings average proving to be a success is excellent, which KC and his team have done well.

Page managed 2 out of 12!

As with most teams, we need to sign 3 players with experience to start in the spine of the team.(centre half, playmaking defensive midfielder and a mobile centre forward)

Keeping Wharton and Morton, now we are in League 1, will be essential.

You may want to revise that opinion if you take a look at the Cheltenham thread and read through the pelters KC was getting after the side was announced for the second leg. Same as all the experts on here screaming for us to get rid of Bayo as he was past his sell by date. ;)

Zakuani was a great player for us - he just wasn’t available enough . He isn’t in the same category as the other lightweights from that season (Revell and Cornell excepted ).
One of the issues this coming season is the amount of players on contract that were not good enough last time around in league 2 . They are unlikely to improve next season as we step up and I wonder if conversations are going on about how much game time they will get .

You realise that we aren't going to have the squad depth of last season?

Shaun McWilliams is more than good enough to replace McCormack. I think he is vastly underrated by Cobblers fans and he has the potential to outgrow us within the next two seasons. Were it not for his injuries preventing him from playing a full uninterrupted season I think he would have already. On his day he can be unplayable due to his tenacity and timing in the challenge; he is the natural heir to McCormack.

To a lesser extent I think Pollock can be a good player for us. I'd have him as a rotation option providing cover to Watson/Hoskins in midfield. I think he showed great maturity this year and that he has good technique and composure. With his rate of growth he should be given game time too.

Totally agree.

It was rumoured Derby County wanted to  sign McWilliams before his injury, so they obviously think he has Championship potential.

Like Pollock and Morgan Roberts it will be interesting how they are intergrated into the first team.

The future should be bright.

Not seen enough of Roberts to judge. Also got Ballinger and Johnston now, as well as Harding and Chukwumeka, so interesting to see where they sit in the pecking order.

Shaun McWilliams is more than good enough to replace McCormack.


Cannot agree to this assertion; the only thing he has in common with McCormack is that he too is injury prone and lasts about the same time in a game - pitch wise. Based on current situation/form Pollock appears to be the better prospect.

That's fine, but I feel very confident you will be proven wrong on that.

As for them having nothing in common but injuries... Watch closer and you will see. Tenacity, composure, demanding more from others around him, dogged determination, etc. If you can't see the similarities, then I don't know what to say.

I don’t think it’s as simple to replace McCormack with someone in just terms of ability, it’s the other maybe less noticeable aspects of experience and character that effect the rest of the team that also need to be replaced.

correct - he bossed the last 2 games this season. experience and nous alongside his ability.

comparing mcwilliams to him is madness - i think he will make a good player when he is fit and gets a run of games in one position - but i dont think holding midfielder is his place - his energy is his biggest plus currently, and that was the one thing 53 year old mccormack didnt have - but i know on current form who i would rather in my team

FACT: Shaun has played nearly 80 games (when selected) in the last 3 seasons, so where do you get your quote 'too injury prone' from?

Surely your memory goes back more than the last 4 months!

True that there were a lot of critics, not sure it was a strong collective opinion though? I for one thought we would go through no problem and said so at the time. For which by the way I have shockingly received absolutely no credit for whatsoever on here? Just shows how high the bar is when trying to impress this lot?

Might be a tad controversial, but I think clubs that recruit African Internationals are bonkers at this level? It’s bad enough in the prem when one of your star players buggers off to the African Cup of Nations, but in Div1/2 it’s insane? Fifa need to sort the timing of that competition out because I reckon it’s on a few clubs minds when dealing in the transfer market and may impact on the opportunities for some players from African countries?

Perhaps my assessment of Zakuani seems a little harsh, I just found him to be particularly mistake prone however and that was when he wasn't injured or on international duty. I still remember his last game, which ended early due to his getting injured by bizarrely tripping himself up while trying to make a simple clearance. The fact that it can be argued he was one of the 'better' Page signings says it all about his recruitment really.

With regards to McWilliams I do think he has stalled a bit in the last season or do. That said this is probably because he set such a high standard for himself when he first hit the first team.
 He also has a slight curse or benefit depending on how you view things. He is a utility player that’ll do a job wherever you ask him so this doesn’t always give him a clear identity. Thought when he filled in at fullback he looked good but really think a centre midfield position he could shine. It’s a big season for him.

Sorry, but I liked McCormack, for you would know the opposition would be scared about being ‘taken out’. I think you need someone who has this fear factor, and so far of what I have seen of McWilliams, although good technically, is someone who is a bit light weight... and who likes could be easily run off the ball..

Shame we no longer have the services of Turnbull. A very capable holding midfielder as well as a very good defender.

Not in the same class at the moment.gives the ball away far too easily. Doesn't read the game and gets bypassed in midfield. He badly  needs to pick his game up this season

That will get a response or two ;)

Shaun McWilliams has a lot to prove this season .
No way is he a replacement for McCormack currently and neither is he the same sort of player .
His link play is nowhere near the level of McCormack .
There is a player there though and Norwich were interested in him a few seasons ago .
He just needs to kick on , score more goals and create more chances .

As I said to Everbrite, you see what you see and I see what I see. I think he will prove you wrong this season.

Every successful Cobblers team needs a hard, bald, beardy bastàrd in it - McCormack, Taylor, Dyche, Rennie... I don't care who Curle signs over the summer, as long as someone bald and beardy is at the top of his shopping list we'll do OK. ;D

He still isn't quite good enough, lacks consistency and again has a history of injuries the last being a lengthy spell out of the first team squad.

Yes we don't want some young lean footballer he has to be bald and beardy, I think this should be Curle's main aims in that role.  ;D ;D

I agree,

Sean has the tenacity to break up midfield but his youthful enthusiasm can cause him to get sold in a challenge too early unlike McCormack, but that is definitely something that comes with experience.

I really want to see Sean push on this year, but I don't see him as a natural heir to McCormack, they are different types of player.

For me Turnbull was the 2nd best DM, Best LB and 2nd best CB.

If McCormack was not there we always looked better when Turnbull was in front of the defence. It's a shame he was on the contract he was on as he would be perfect for a smaller squad.

It’s deja vu for me as far as Shaun is concerned, he has undoubted quality but every close season I say that he needs to get bigger/fitter - if he was at a premier or championship club the first thing they would do is bulk him up. I appreciate that he also hasn’t had much luck with injuries but he needs to progress this season.

I almost entirely agree, I had him as 2nd best DM and best LB, CB.
It might be even harder finding a replacement DM than CB though so an even bigger miss with MacCormack also gone.

Turnbull was not a midfielder - part of his problem was that he seemed to think he was - very much a case of thinking he was more of a footballer than he was. we used him as a stop gap centre midfielder, and he was our 3rd best centre half of the three - certainly wasnt justifying the money he was on. i am sure we will see him at a big spending club in league 2 or sitting on the bench playing for someone in league 1.

Starting to hear a few whispers here and there, think it’s picking up a bit

Shay McCartan one of the whispers?

Are you "excited" by any of the whispers?

Any of them "close" to completing?

Keep up the good work!

Don't tell him Pike!   ;D

Has anyone found the sixfields pen yet??

The players who’ve been offered contracts don’t seem in any hurry to commit do they??

Surely the club should set a deadline so that they can get on with recruitment.

They will not sign until the transfer/registration window opens, probably 1st August. No registrations for transfers or new contracts will be accepted until then.

Turnbull expected to sign for Crewe shortly. £1.6k a week 3 year deal

Mistake to let him go if that is true, Curle makes it sound like he would demand 3K+ Pw.

So how come transfers are happening now?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/transfers (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/transfers)

I dont think anyone actually knows the wages lower league players are being offered unless theyre exceptional

Nothing on Crewe web sites- zilch. They were looking at David Turnbull of Motherwell I think? Crewe have like us awaiting on 3 top players to resign. One of them Jones has left the Club and has signed for Lincoln. They are apprehensive about Porter who some think will sign for another L1 Club. Gillingham seem keen to splash the cash as well. What is your source for our Turnbull anticipated signing.

Not sure about that as Jones of Crewe has according to their web site signed for Lincoln?

Same source that told me Powell was going to join, offer is on the table. As I say rumoured, whether he will sign, time will tell but I wouldn't post if there wasn't smoke.

I assume that they are agreed/proposed transfers that have not been registered. The transfer window will not open until after the end of the current season and is not expected before 26 July. The EFL committee meet on the 24th of July to agree dates, it is anticipated that registration of players will be from 1 August for a period of 12 weeks.
It sounds like KC is already doing a lot behind the scenes in anticipation of the window/registration opening which, unless he has a cast iron agreement, will probably prefer not to publicise.

big old pay cut

KT has stated that clubs are unable to make signings until 1st August, therefor those that have already been stated as signings will be players signing pre-registration agreements which will be made permanent next month.
This is obviously a result of covid and the late finish to the season as players have previously been able to sign before August. Effectively any player out of contract on 30th June will not have a new contract until 1st August and would appear to have lost a months earnings.

Thanks for confirming.  ;)

Harriman sign new 2 year deal.

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/20202/july/harriman_new_contract/ (https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/20202/july/harriman_new_contract/)

Thoroughly deserved!

One down...2 to go (or hopefully stay!) ;D

Frank Herman Nouble (still only 28)

Us & Mansfield apparently interested...

He’s a bit of a journeyman and doesn’t score many - if Oliver resigns then I don’t think we need 3 target men.

Journeyman yes, but it's a bit of a lazy assumption that because he is tall and well built he must be a 'target man' type player.

If you watched the playoffs you would have seen that Nouble is a pacy player, faster than Oliver and every bit as fast as Morton. He is a skillful player with quick feet and an element of unpredictability. That he is strong and can bring others into play on the floor is an advantage to his game - but he isn't strong in the air like Oliver or Smith. I've already said a couple of time that I think he'd be a great addition to our side, and I think he could play alongside Oliver not instead of.

Watch this too if you don't agree with what I said - not many players at L2 level can do this with a ball!


https://twitter.com/i/status/1131160971668598784

Played left wing mostly for Colchester. Always impressed me when he played against us.

Fair play, I wonder if he can play left wing back?! I see that Newport released Jamille Matt the other week - I think we’ve been linked with him before?

Nouble is decent but he's more of a winger or striker and  I don't really see how he would fit into our system.

No, Adebayo Akinfenwa is not signing for us.

Are you sure? ;)!

Jeez, all that farting about and never scored a goal.

Definitely don't need him.     ::) ::)

Oli Hawkins latest rumour...

Would be an decent option if Oliver doesn't re sign

Is that the guy who can play centre back or centre forward? I’m pretty sure it was him that they said when he stepped up to take a penalty in the playoff semi that he hadn’t scored all season. I know it’s silly season but one of the transfer news sites has it that Fleetwood are sniffing around Callum Morton.

Yes Ollie Hawkins has played at the back when Portsmouth had injury problems. He only made 7 appearances last season and did not score and his record at Portsmouth is a goal every 5 games. If Oliver signs his new cotract we will not need Hawkins.

Luke hyam

Released by southend

That looks a more realistic rumour

I am not sure it would even depend on that.

If you want to have forwards run them selves into the ground every game you really need 4 strong options, If you look at Wilder he commonly subs both strikers in every game. They don't get huge individual numbers and its often the 2nd pair that grab the goals after the defence have been run ragged for an hour.

Luke Hyam only made 6 appearances for Southend last season, I wonder why. If he was unable to get in their relegation team it does not look promising.

Was told yesterday evening both Oliver and Hoskins will be here next year

That sounds positive news providing they both carry on their form of the second half of the season and particularly the playoffs. Any whispers on possible incomings?

Nothing else concrete at the moment. We’re linked with a player every day on Twitter and Facebook but I wouldn’t pay much attention to those rumours

My pal here on the island is from Torquay and his family know the Mortons. Seems he wants to be here for another year if all things allow.

Mind you, my mates always smashed on mushrooms so read into that what you will.

Ah, knew this would surface again...I do wish we had signed him on a 10 year contract when he first signed for us though...absolutely love him!

Northampton Town are set to sign striker Adebayo Akinfenwa after his Wycombe Wanderers contract expires #ntfc #wwfc https://twitter.com/TransferCentre9/status/1282706098261303296/photo/1

Every year! He'll sign for a League 2 club probably, someone like Cambridge.
I hope Curle has better plans, but know im probably in the minority

having watched the league one play off final yesterday, when he came off the bench - he contributed absolutely nothing to the game at all.

.......but over the season scored 10 league goals and got 5 assists.......at 38.

Ironic you post has contributed nothing now ay.

Much as I love the bloke there’s no way we should be looking to bring him back for a third spell unless he was on a vastly reduced wage. He’s 38 and was never very mobile in his pomp - even less now. As a poster above stated, if he continues to play he will no doubt find another club in league 2 that will take him on and he will continue to cause chaos. You have got to feel for him - how many times is that now that he has been in teams that go up only for his contract to not be renewed (I’m assuming he will be released by Wycombe)?

Reckon Wycombe will now offer him a token one year deal now anyway. Still a good option off the bench at any level & he deserves a season in the championship....

For us, more important that big Vadaine re-signs...

I think ntfclad said that oliver’s either signing or signed for another 2 years the same as Hoskins - I assume it might be announced in due course?

good sentence.

he still contributed nothing last night

Not in the match, but gave one of the best most match interviews I have seen in a while.

In the 35 minutes he was on the pitch he contributed absolute zero and it was painfull to watch. If we are not offering a cotract to a 36 year old tough tackling midfielder why the hell would we offer one to a 38 year old immobile, lumbering striker who cannot jump. Time he hung up his boots but somebody like Crawley, or similar, will probably be daft enough to offer him a contract.

Charles Vernam has been released by Grimsby
He sounded as if he played well towards the end of the season and would offer something different.

Rumours that Charles Vernam is going to Burton.

Wycombe Chairman says he is going to offer Bayo a new contract!

Prem at 40?

Anyone heard if Jordan Turnbull speaking to another club? My mate said Coventry might be interested? ???

Wattie claims that Turnbull might be signing for Crewe; maybe plausible!

Might be better option
Division 1 regular compared to Championship reserve. Suppose it depends on whether he sees himself as a Championship player...He looked sound  but not match winning performances however when playing with Goode and Wharton.

The EFL has today confirmed the opening and closing dates for the 2020 summer transfer window.

Subject to formal ratification, the transfer window will open fully on Monday 27th July, although any player registered before the completion of the 2019/20 season will not be eligible to play for their new club until season 2020/21 commences. This is applicable to clubs involved in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs.

The window for international registrations closes at 11pm on Monday 5th October, with an agreement in place with the Premier League for an extended two-week domestic only window which will close at 5pm on Friday 16th October.

Jordan Turnball apparently in talks with Bolton.

Shame, their gain our loss

Yes but despite despite not paying creditors and being under a transfer embargo they are paying fortunes in wages.  Outbid Swindon on wages for Eoin Doyle

Any player in big demand signing for a club in a critical financial position needs a check up? Say what you like about footballers, you can’t deny that a fair few have the brains of a rocking horse?

A couple of friends have said that we're in for James Garner on a season long loan from Man United. We're up against some other L1 clubs though.

Longer it goes on without big Vadaine signing, the more I fear he's possibly had his head turned (agent?) and is exploring other options (which he's entitled to do) before accepting our offer...

He is pivotal to the way we play (as he pretty much wins every header) so I think it would be a massive loss should he sign elsewhere. Think he'll be an even better player next season so hopefully he'll re-sign.

I hear he is a bit of a Maverick!

Just to add a bit of realism
He’s hardly irreplaceable though....
All we need is a tall striker who wins a lot of headers and doesn’t score many goals and has a knack of missing easy chances....
I’m sure there are plenty available for nothing most with a better scoring record than vadaine

Kyle Lafferty for example.

If vadaine resigns then that’s fine
If he doesn’t it’s not as if we are trying to replace the skills of messi or the goal scoring power of messi.
We are looking to replace a journeyman striker.

That’s my take on it

i agree with all that - its who he is replaced with that is key - he has one good (for him) season in his career - last year, under KC - if someone is willing to pay him more than us then up to them.

same as turnbull - not a matchwinner - up to bolton if they want to continue their financial decline by paying over the odds for an okay league 2 centre half

Signed a new 1 year deal

Good one Cordy !  For those with long memories. 8)

He’s div2 at best
He has done well for us but he is not a player that will pull up trees in div1
No sleep list if he goes , unlike Wharton , Goode and Morton

Oliver was outstanding in the playoffs and against Burton. He went missing in a lot of other games. The fact he went from club to club and ended at Morecambe might be an indicator? On the other hand, when he wants to, really good in the air. Not sure about him.

Oliver is a "back to goal" front player. One of the best I have seen at the Cobblers.

He suits the Cobblers current style and if he wins the ball in the air in League 2 then he'll probably win in it League 1 as well.

Perhaps other clubs look at his goal-scoring record and decide he is not worth the risk. Personally I think he is an important cog in the Cobblers machine and I would be sad to see him go - as I'm struggling to think of any ready made replacements that are (cheaply) likely to fall in to our lap. He is also the dream type of player to combine with Morton if we are lucky enough to have him next season.

Smith is a different type of player who likes to get on the end of crosses. When the ball is belted forward to him it is just as likely to come straight back. It is not his style of play.

I thought his work rate was always good. Strikers are often wanderers. Oliver has been at 8 clubs, the same as Ibrahimovic. Bayo and Andy Cole, for example were both at 13 clubs.

He’ll be at 9 soon  ;)

It's impossible to predict without knowing the offer from the club but I would be surprised if he left. He only played briefly in League One at the start of his career so I guess would relish the challenge. He suits our style of play and is popular with the fans desire not having a great scoring ratio. It would be a big gamble to move on.

If it’s true that he’s only been offered a one year deal then of course he will be off.
He’s uphill for 29 and this is potentially his last decent contract....
He’s bound to find a two year deal somewhere and good luck to him.
You can’t blame him for holding out for a decent last pay day.

Any new players in yet? Only weeks till new season kicks off.

Wait until August 1st?

The window is open on 27th July surely.

Were definitely trying to move some of the fringe under contract on, but whethet anything comes from it is another matter.

Anyone else heard Jack Marriott of Derby rumours. Ex P@sh but a local boy. Apparently wants more regular football.

Dream on

Pretty sure they’d want 7 figures, not 5

Classic!

Unproven above League 1. Perhaps they need to dream on!

 ;D  made me chuckle and a fair point too! Who in L1 is going to pay even a 6 figure transfer fee let alone of course the Championship.

The way finances are looking generally, big fees and wages outside of the Championship are going to be few and far between. There are going to be plenty of squad players released that will be coming out of the Championship that will struggle to cover half their current salary, let alone command a fee? Anyone who doesn’t think the current market expectations are going to change dramatically are the ones dreaming? Depleted income = smaller squads = fewer contracts. Fewer contracts on offer to the same number of full time professionals means the bottom drops out of the market along with salary expectations, that’s the theory anyway? This may mean a game of musical chairs where professionals who hold out for big money are left out of work come the start of the season? I reckon this will be a close season like no other and the smart thing to do may be leave a couple of slots open till the last minute because there will probably be some real quality desperate for a contract? Just depends how big a tw@t their agent is and how much sh1t they have between their ears?

If Marriott left Derby he'd be snapped up by another Championship club.

Wycombe.

 ;D  belated one mind!

I don't

Talk of signing Marriott is very unrealistic..

Footballers of his stature in the Championship earn close to or more than a million annually - particularly at free spending clubs such as Derby. The vast majority of L1 clubs likely couldn't even pay him 1/5 of what he is probably currently earning, in these challenging times. As he is still under contract, why on earth would he take a giant pay cut to come back to a division that he has already proved he is too good for?

Year after year I read the same sort of unrealistic speculation, like we are playing championship manager. Cant we just sit tight and see what comes through the door. Ive been largely impressed with Curles recruitment. Fact he had been tracking Morton for a while, has given Oliver a new lease of life, brought back a player who should never have left in Adams, brought in experienced head in Alan McCormack, is more than the previous 3 managers put together.

Im looking forward to it all

Jack Marriott 😂

Spot on. People start floating round established championship players or players who are clearly about to make a step up then get upset when we dont get them.

Good post from Gen Disorda. Spot on lets trust the Manager to get it right, he has done so far... :)

Let’s hope for more Morton’s & Goode’s and less Lines & Martin’s

No idea whats going on now........ Charles Vernam (contract expired at Grimsby) was mentioned earlier in this thread about being a possible target for us....signed for Burton yesterday.

Jerry Yates, left Rotherham and signed for Blackpool today for a six figure fee. George Taft moved from Cambridge to Bolton yesterday, Jack Baldwin went from Sunderland to Bristol Rovers and Jamille Matt joined Forest Green yesterday too......

Plenty of moves happening considering the Window is not "open"......

Both brought in to add experience to the squad and no reason why they shouldnt have worked out. Even Wilder had Tom Newey.

My reaction when I heard the rumour too but thought I'd ask all the ITK's on here to comment. Personally I think Callum Morton is a better fit for us anyway.
I don't think anybody predicted any of Keith Curle's best signings so let's hope he keeps on surprising us, he's proved he knows how to build a team.

We dont leak transfer rumours alot under Curles regime, we didnt hear much last year until the official site tweet came out that a signings upcoming that day, so be surprised if we hear much from anyone before the signings happen.

ntfclad knows his stuff. When there's some interesting news on the horizon I'm sure he'll let us know. At the moment there's obviously nothing imminent.

On Oliver, hearing the club are relatively relaxed about his prospects of resigning and they still expect him to be here next year

As for Marriot, lol

Anything exciting in the works?

As I said. He knows his stuff.

Interesting round up of league one club current squads and aspirations.

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/league-one-round-up-summer-2020-1-6751466

Whilst we are on the subject of reading material there are some truly staggering figures in here. Standout one for me is that the Championship has a current combined debt of 1.1 billion. That’s more than the national debt of about 14 countries? All against a back drop of Covid, grit your teeth and clench your bowels, this is going to get rough.

https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/annual-review-of-football-finance.html

Average £50 million per club. Key = being able to service the debt (pay the interest). Same solution = slash players salaries until income streams return to normal. Don't pay daft transfer fees for new players.

Comparison - Manchester United have over £ 0.5 Billion debt on their Balance Sheet.

Sounds like common sense - but I guarantee there will still be chairmen willing to g@mble on capitalising on not cutting back to gain an advantage as a promotion candidate.

I think that's the main problem in football currently. People with no attachment to the community can purchase clubs without any of their own capital, saddle them with huge debt to try reach that PL pay-out, then completely bail with no accountability if it doesn't pan out.

If anything good could come from Covid in a footballing sense, it will be The FA finally clamping down on owner liability and spending thresholds. Sad it will probably take another half a dozen traditional clubs to disappear before that is the case.

Notice Bolton are still offering ridiculous wages.

I see Byron Webster has been released by carlisle
He’s a veteran now at 33 but he’s had experience at a higher level is a 6’3 lump and strikes me as a short term one year contract option to replace Turnbull.
We could do a lot worse imo

It’s not complicated is it? I’m as thick as pig 5h1t and I get it. The intellect of an amoeba and they end up running a football club? Mind you, they shine like beacons of wisdom compared to the cunnts running the show?

KT spoke about this, any players that are being 'signed' cant be registered and finalised until the window opens and gets ratified with the EFL / FA. I guess in theory until its registered they can change their minds but would be in breach of contract? He hinted that we wouldnt announce until the window was open and everything was finalised, even if we have agreements with players.

I imagine a lot of clubs will be the same and there will be a lot of announcements on the day it opens.

Sensible to be honest, I have only just got over Giles Coke's treachery  ;D ;D

if that EFL Hub account on Twitter told me my name, I would check my passport

However, they have just mentioned that Sheffield Wednesday are interested in Goode

I would have thought theres a much longer list than that interested but let's see!

I wouldn’t worry too much we all know the score anyway...
Sold to higher level club
Undisclosed fee...
Not until the end of the window though as still on a season ticket drive...

Nearer the start of next season we will sign a load of loans and free transfers with no long term ambition whilst trotting out excuses about coronavirus etc..

All very plausible if it weren’t for the fact that Swindon for example were prepared to pay £200k plus for a striker but lost out to blackpool.

It’s also worth remembering that Swindon didn’t have a record breaking cup run that pulled in roughly £750k (250k of which was definitely a bonus that was conveniently forgotten about especially now we need to strengthen for a higher level)

Last time we were in this league KT proclaimed this club needed extra investment to be competitive in this league...
The chinese shambles ensued.

This year it’s obvious from his own mouth that KT isn’t the man to help make us a league one club as he hasn’t the money.
This year it’ll be even more stark as owners can invest in clubs in order to buy players but can no longer claim the money as loans to the club that need to be paid back

The stadium needs addressing by the end of the month and better players need signing to help us stay in this division.

It won’t be long before we find out if our owners can compete with the likes of Swindon and actually go after decent signings or string us along on the way to a quick relegation.

I know what I think but I very much hope I’m wrong...

Let’s hope KT makes a better job of getting investors on board this time so we have a fighting chance or maybe just maybe he will fund things himself....

Who do you suggest takes over the club with the investment needed?

It is a VERY short list!

Which would you say you dislike least?

a. Kelvin Thomas
b. The Cobblers
c. Football

If the answer is c. perhaps you should move to Swindon ;) ;D

I’m only posting facts.

Under KT we cannot sustain league one football without extra investment.

Not my words but KTs

He said that extra investment was needed to take us to the next level and make us a competitive league one club....

Nothing’s changed finance wise since the last time we were in this division(especially the redevelopment)

These are facts.

Given this what are people’s expectations for the season ahead.

I’m afraid I see a season of struggle with an uncompetitive squad , low on the required quality leading to an instant return to league two.

We get into league one can’t afford to compete in this league, don’t spend and go back down

Nothing will be different to the last time around imo
Player sales for undisclosed fees , minimum investment in the squad with no long term plan on league one stability and a quick return to league two.

Sorry for the negativity but I see us as the Norwich of league one (happy to make up the numbers but not prepared to invest to stay in the division and build for the future)

It’s always been the same and I’d love the chairman to come out and state what he plans to do differently this time around.

Maybe we will see a couple of ‘statement of intent permanent signings’ but it’s more likely we will sell anyone of value and meekly accept a season of struggle...

What do others actually think will happen??
Will we start the season with a stronger squad than the one that came up or will we be cannon fodder??

Wycombe Wanderers, Accrington Stanley, Burton Albion? They managed it.

I couldn’t agree more but how do they do it?
Do they break up a team each time they get promoted?
They’re doing something we can’t do as I can’t remember us spending more than two seasons in league one before coming back down.
In the case of burton they spent money to progress again to the championship and I’m not sure if Wycombe broke up their team when they got promoted to league one
Either way we as a club seem incapable of sustaining league one football
That is something I’m sure we all can agree on given our recent history

Maybe this time it’ll be different but I’ve no idea why?

Slightly stronger squad but think we'll do well to keep Goode. Hopefully get enough for him (will be undisclosed) to find a good enough replacement.
I think it'll be a boring mid table season. Start brightly and then hover around the middle. Win as many as we lose but a lot of draws.

The undisclosed annoyance (not just from you) is one that I dont understand. Pretty much every sale outside of the premier league seems to be undisclosed now. Apparently its the buying clubs decision, so if Goode is sold for undisclosed it wont be KT or KC decision.

The problem is conflict of interest. It's common sense if your primary motivation is securing a sustainable future for the club. However, a lot of directors will be far more interested in either extracting a salary from the club or gaining a return in investment. For the latter, it makes sense to risk spending vast amounts (via loans against the club) to secure promotion then look to subsequently resell the club at a higher value than you bought. If it doesn't pan out and the club goes bust, you just exit without any liability. 

That's the main issue, and why the FA need to step up and offer clubs more protection from the mercenaries.

However - fans are also need to realign their expectations. If we're constantly hounding owners to offer better wages to attract players we can't sustain off the club's own revenue, it's not rocket science to see where that leads....


OK - so what benefactors do you know are happy to subside us for a couple million a year to do this? What's their incentive? What happens if we don't give them a return on investment and we're saddled with the subsequent debt?

I dunno maybe we can ask a Chinese sports company or something.....

Or one of the 40 interested parties interested in buying Wigan who have substantially higher debt and a higher wage bill??

#noownersoutthere

Look, you're probably not far off the mark. The lot of a Cobblers fan is to hope for the best but expect the worst. But don't be too down, we've only just got promoted. First requirement for sustainability in League 1 is to get there,  :). Next is to recruit well to avoid relegation, KC has done well on this score so far,  :). To push on then needs more investment as KT said, still true,  :-\.
Last time in League 1 we did throw money at the squad, unfortunately they proved to be the wrong players and the money didn't exist. I'm sure KT learned a lesson by getting his fingers badly burnt and the club appears to be better run now.
So let's hope for the best, many people predicted a season of struggle last year, I'd be thrilled if we struggled into the play-offs again. :)

Does that mean we’re not going to get Jack Marriott now ? 😉.

As I said, I never thought we would ;)

Only joking mate, I forgot how much I hate silly season - all the usual suspects come out of the woodwork with their stories of woe. Thankfully it’s not as long a window this year.

With the amount of players already / soon to be released & available it really is a buyers market.

I'd rather we take out time to bring in the best quality / characters we possible can for the best value.
I have much more faith in our scouting team since Melville left.

I still don't understand how the proposed salary cap will work as I believe it's gonna be 1.5M in L2 & 2.5M in L1

Yet, Bolton are allegedly paying stupid money for players already...

Still, I guess if it's down to the ELF to manage this they'll be fine!  ::)

Agreed  :)

You mean Wigan who got bought by a hedge fund that then put the club straight into admin a month later?

Or maybe Bury, Wimbledon, Scarborough, Halifax, Hereford that no longer exist.

Or the multitude of existing FL clubs absolutely riddled with debt as we head into a financial crisis.

Tell me, exactly why would a non-fan investor subsidize us for millions per year? What motive have they got that is aligned with the future sustainability and benefit of the club? How do we ensure they aren't another dodgy Chinese company, or Cardoza?

I've followed the forum for over a decade and you've always been the first to chirp up over signing 6 figure strikers. Every bloody window.

they had 5 genuine offers.


Isnt clear if the developers were included in the 5 offers though

Just pointing out that the likes of peterborough our local rivals spend money and stay up and we don’t and go down
I’m sorry if the reality is lost upon you.
Anyway let’s compare our squads with other comparable clubs come kick off
You never know we might show some ambition....
Currently we have just one contracted striker (two if you count Hoskins) and one first team centre half.
We certainly need some decent additions in this division....

Congratulations on following the forum for ten years your post rate is very low for that amount of time but maybe you’ve had ten different log ins  ;D
Anyway let’s see what things are like next month....

Halifax are in the National League and won a play off place only to be beaten by Boreham Wood, so they are not far off. Boreham Wood have an average gate of 700 so if they get into League 2 they are going to find life difficult, unless there is some investment.

You are kidding yourself ... again. You have never posted a fact in your life; only a comment to suit your negative agenda.

The Royal 'We' again; as if you speak for all of us ::)  If you can sow as much discord and doomsday scenarios then that will make you a happy chappie.

In May, Swindon Town chairman Lee Power told a court that the club could go into administration as he failed to overturn an injunction preventing its sale.

Boss Ritchie Wellens will need to completely rebuild his front line following promotion.

Prolific striker Eoin Doyle (25 goals) and Keshi Anderson (six goals) turned down new deals to sign for Bolton and Blackpool respectively. Jerry Yates (13 goals) looks set to move elsewhere after his loan from Rotherham expired. The trio contributed 44 of the club’s 62 goals on the way to the title. If only they’d chucked some money at these 3? A fine example to all league 1 clubs looking for longevity in the division, apparently you’re being a bit selective with your facts? Stick to hammering tacks in shoes mate!

In fairness Swindon bid £200,000 for Yates but he went to blackpool for £250,000 plus add ons
Get back to me when we match that sort of ambition .....
We currently can’t get vadaine Oliver to re sign who would be on a fraction of Jerry Yates wage.
That’s where we are.
But who knows we need a couple of proven strikers to replace Morton williams and waters and who knows we may yet sign a couple of players of the quality of Jerry Yates.
Time will tell

IMO it’s a bit silly to draw comparisons without commenting on a clubs financial position and their ability to sustain their current spending? Lots of reckless behaviour out there that would be suicidal to replicate?

We will only know at the end of the season when the promotions and relegations are dealt out who has made the right decisions....

On a separate subject the clubs current owners were apparently 5 million in pre Covid? Should anyone be critical of the ambition of those running the club I would be curious to know the amount of investment considered reasonable on a league 2/1 club during the length their tenure? My personal advice is to spend at least 20% less than the income but I’m just a tw@t obviously?

Or who is still solvent, according to Bury fans anyway?

Shoemaker is an idiot sandwich.

Just posting facts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53492243?at_campaign=64&at_custom3=Match+of+the+Day&at_custom2=facebook_page&at_custom1=[post+type]&at_medium=custom7&at_custom4=FFA57C92-CB75-11EA-88E2-FB9DFCA12A29

No Michael Jacobs in the Wigan squad tonight....
No info whatsoever but could he be coming home or would he cost too much in wages??
Doesn’t look like he has a future at Wigan...
What do others think
Would he be a good signing??

WBA up to Prem, so is Callum Morton available for loan?

It’s just heartbreaking isn’t it? Some idiot with cash on the hip fancies a game of fantasy club ownership and this is the end result. I know I sound like a broken record but FFS. Anyone baiting their owners to spend millions in an attempt to indulge their own dreams and aspirations needs dragging onto the pitch at halftime, put into stocks and pelted with fruit? That’s  IMO of course? Sensible sustainable spending for division one please, and let the others jump off a financial cliff if they want to? That’s my view anyway.

I cant see us signing any Championship players such as Jacobs, i dont think people realise the gap in wages from league 1 to the champ, the average wage is around 16k for the division. I cant imagine we have ever paid anyone half of that.

There is a suggestion from a barrow fan we had a decent bid put in for 6'4 striker Scott Quigley but he has signed a new 3 year deal, no idea if our offer was true or not. Im not worried about Oliver re-signing, I think he will anyway, but i dont want us to push the boat out. This is a forward that I don't believe ever hit double digits in league, in fact I think his best total is 7 goals. You can argue that he is not in the team for his goals, but still, it wouldnt harm.

If he ever wants to play league one, it will be with us. If not I would happily go after another target man.

Much talk of players of the ilk of Jacobs “not interested” due to salaries being halved? Well most of the professional commentary I’ve heard talks of massive cuts in playing budgets and squads? Possibly 3 or 4 clubs minimum going to the wall by Christmas and a significant number of quality professionals left without a contract due to not taking the reduced deals on offer, because they were deemed laughable at the time? It’s like many supporters are completely oblivious to what is really going on? Lower league football was in crisis before Covid 19, and now it is facing the biggest test since its conception and that is a fact. If some of these so called “in demand” players and their agents think they are going to p155 clubs about whilst they weigh up the multiple big contracts on offer they are on drugs? IMO there is going to be a slow dawning realisation as to what’s coming and a mad panic to grab a chair before the music stops? Don’t be surprised if we end up with better players than Jacobs on our books in the January window playing for a fraction of what they were on before? People have to understand what’s coming, many of the clubs are owned by business people and many businesses are really struggling. The folly of football will go straight out of the window when these owners come under financial pressure and many undoubtedly already are? I can’t emphasise this point enough, some football clubs are probably already doomed? In the unlikely event players do pick up a bigger contract the real achievement will be getting it paid beyond Christmas? Take the pi55 and carry on fiddling whilst Rome burns if you like, but don’t be surprised if we are playing in the Championship next season because there won’t be enough full time professional clubs to make up a division below it? Overly pessimistic maybe, but not as anywhere near as unrealistic as you would believe? All that matters right now is solvency and just maybe we’ll still have a club to support in 3 or 4 years time?

Brilliant post in terms of people needing a reality check
Football and the rest of the world is a very different place to the one 6 months ago
I’d rather have a season of struggle and surviving for years to come than throw away the work of making us sustainable. We have all heard of clubs like Wigan, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield who could disappear yet through all this we haven’t had any inclination that the club could fold and that’s something we should be grateful to the board for.

Maybe we aren’t willing to meet his terms and it’s not a case of us failing. Remember he’s had a few clubs before us so doesn’t stick around.

Three things;

1; I'm sure MC is correct. We need prudence.

2: From the owner's perspective they are probably looking for clarity regarding Goode and any transfer fee offered (KT made it pretty clear he was interested in offers with his comments) and forming an effective Budget post that.

3; It's probably in both the club's and potential signings interest's to think one year contract only. Renegotiate next Summer when the Covid situation may be clearer.

One wonders how this whole situation has affected the income streams of the football industry generally.

Sounds sensible but Harriman and Hoskins have both already signed for 2 more years - I can’t remember who said it (it may have been Shoey in which case take it with a pinch of salt) but if Oliver is only being offered a year then he is probably entitled to be a bit peed off/considering his options. With Goode we are in a rare case of being in a strong position - his stock is never going to be as high and we have him under contract for 2 more years which should mean we are likely to get what he’s worth - it’s just typical that the ar*e has fallen out of the transfer market.

From what I've heard, 3-4 clubs by Christmas is very conservative, more like 3-4 clubs before the new season starts and a dozen by Christmas could be out of business.  The financial 'noises' coming from our club are currently positive, but there are a lot who aren't, some may/will be a surprise when it happens... ;)

I think he'll end up at Derby County - as a permanent signing.

Any reason behind those thoughts?

Anyone know when those Premier League to EFL clubs solidarity payments are actually paid over? Some/many clubs must be desperate for them.

Felt like I was walking a tightrope with the scaremongering, but yes it was conservative. How far do you go before you lose credibility? Not that I had any to start with or anything? On the list perchance?
https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc/leaked-accounts-show-sunderlands-staggering-ps205million-financial-hole-stewart-donald-writes-debt-2847651
https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2020/4/1/21199362/sunderlands-financial-future-where-does-coronavirus-leave-the-club

Did I recollect a comment from Kelvin previously regarding Toney, does anyone know if we are likely to get a further cash injection if he is sold by Pish?

I wouldn’t have thought so - he went from us to Newcastle and then to P**h, it’s only the previous club who usually gets a sell on. £11 million being floated about!

Not really, other than the opening lines of Wet Wet Wet or the Troggs famous little number!

Perfect fit though!

First rumour I’ve seen was on one football forum. Allegedly we put a £150k bid in for Barrows Scott Quigley.

You'd expect Bolton Wanderers to snap up any Barrow starlets!

Signed a new 3 year contract yesterday.

Agreement as part of Evatts exit that they couldn’t go after any Barrow players for 2 years!

https://www.thefootballforum.net/index.php?threads/league-2-transfer-rumours-confirmed-transfers-2020-2021.9/page-895 post no. 26830. Did see that he had signed that contract. I hope there wasn't any truth to it and am happy he has signed up. Never succeeded in the league.

Gout?

10-15 Critical and on the watch list according to the government Digital , Culture, Media and Sport (dcms) Committee. That’s 1 in 5.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/53496696

Why? We can offer better wages, plus, Derby face both a deduction and an embargo

An interview yesterday that suggests Scott Wharton is set to stay at Blackburn and fight for a spot in the first team

“League Two is more in the air and very physical, but in the Championship, there is more quality and I will have to step up my game.
I need to get on with my career, be the best I can be and play at the highest level I can play at.
I think now is the time to really give it a good go.”

https://omni-sports.co.uk/scott-wharton-defender-has-eyes-on-rovers-return-after-three-promotions-in-two-seasons/

Can't begrudge him that at his boyhood club after 3 successive promotions on loan. Welcome back anytime!

If we cannot get him back then Goode cannot be for sale at any cost.  3 new CBs, new DM, New LB and potential new GK has "slow start" written all over it.

Alistair Slowe is set to rejoin us on a six year contract making him the clubs highest earner.
Must be true cos I read it on a Facebook page and a Twitter thread...  ::)

We have Harriman at left back (or rather left-wing back) do we not?

I agree completely with your general point though. Continuity is very important, especially in defence.

Harriman usually plays on the right. He was switched to the left in the play off final to counteract the threat of Williams otherwise Adams and then Marshall would have needed to track back to do this.
We have Martin who plays left back but I thought his best game for us was when he had to play on the left side of the back 3.

Pre-season will be key.

Goode will leave if the price is right.

Arnold is our Goalkeeper and did well in League 1 with Shrewsbury.

When I saw Martin "live" he seemed ok though I've had my doubts when I've seen him on IFollow.

Curle's got a hell of a job to do but his (and his staff's) knowledge of the lower leagues should come in very, very handy.

I get the feeling Goode will be off to Wednesday, but its definitely not a certainly. It is however going to be massive rebuilding job, but if it happens to be in a climate where players are getting falling wages maybe we'll end up with some better value in.

Why do people think Goode will be off to Derby or Wednesday? You know, the two clubs that really can't spend any more money right now. That stupid rumour site could have at least done some research.

Plus, is he really in that class? Wayne Rooney, Barry Bannan, Curtis Davies, Dominic Iorfa... Charlie Goode. If I were Gary Monk and assuming I'd ever even heard of Charlie Goode, personally I'd want to see how he goes in L1 first, whilst worrying that I can't spend any money but currently have only ONE striker (who no longer scores) on the books for next season.

Derby are s***e. Wednesday are a mid-week club. Can't see what all the fuss is about.

Stop panicking. If Goode goes he goes. Remember Pierre? Jackman? Osman? Coke? Holmes? Anya? Bayo? All these player we had fret and speculate over and guess what they moved on and we are still here. Goode ain't going to be around for ever, so why waste time even thinking about it.

Right attitude- too many worriers!

Hope Goode does stay but if he goes I hope we get decent money for him. We seem to have a habit of not getting the best money for who ever we sell and we all know it will be an undisclosed fee

So how do you know it's not the best money?

Think we can rule out Sheffield Wednesday for the time being.

Isn’t that what this forum is for? To discuss options on all things cobblers, Whether that’s how good players are, potential signings, amongst a million other things. Yes players come and go, the team also goes up and down the league, but it would be insane to think the two aren’t linked. No player is irreplaceable but the better they are the harder and less likely it is they will be replaced by someone equally good.

While we might still be here (in the league) surely we're like a cat that’s used up 8 of its 9 lives, it’s not unrealistic to think in the future we could be the next Hereford, Stockport or Torquay. Having said that whatever happens with Goode (I‘d love him to stay) I’m hoping KC can pull a few rabbits out the hat in the transfer market this summer or else next season could be a struggle!.

I think 151’s comment is a cry to most of us to stop crying if Goode leaves. It’s happened before and the trend will continue with us and all clubs! Strangely enough your message seems to support 151’s comments
Particularly the final para’. The real good thing is that we have a manage who is committed to the Club and not jump ship.

Exactly that.

Jamie Proctor was with them for their end of season night out. Signing number 1 then.

I hope he’s not an out and out striker with his scoring record - then again I said the same about Oliver and he proved me wrong.

Now that is a signing of intent  ;D

olivers goalscoring proved you wrong?

No mate, his value to the team was more than the goals he scored.

You can breathe again - a cursory google shows him to be still under contract with Rotherham for another year plus he’s only just had an operation on his knee.

If Goode stays, the decision to release Turnbull looks like a strange but understandable exercise in cost cutting; if Goode goes, the decision to release Turnbull looks like a dangerous and unnecessary act of self-sabotage.

That to me is what is at stake.

Starting the season at a higher level with a completely new goalkeeper (probably) and set of centre backs would be a huge **** to put it mildly particularly as I would argue that our promotion was built on the strength of our back three. Obviously if we were to somehow to get hold of Wharton for another year it would put a different complexion on things.

Good, would have been an awful signing

Saw Fleetwoods retained list...

Wonder what Curle makes of Kyle Dempsey being released... former Carlisle player but not sure if their paths crossed?
Made a good chunk of Championship appearances at a young age for Huddersfield.
Plenty of League 1 experience and still only 24 years of age.

That’s a good shout - their paths did indeed cross at Carlisle, it will be interesting to see if we try to sign him.

Why did Kyle Dempsey make zero appearances last season?

Oh dear - good question!

It looks like he played 30 times for them last season, picked up a back injury in February but then came back in the playoffs. He was offered a new deal which would have made him their highest paid player but it looks like he turned it down.

He got a move from Carlisle to Huddersfield in the Championship on the back of his best ever goal scoring season... under Keith Curle.

If this is true then suggests he may have visions of a return to Championship or a bigger team in L1...

Looked more into it this morning and would love to see him at Sixfields but seems less likely, lot of teams will be after that signature

Midfielder being announced today, unsure of time, could be tomorrow

Christopher Missilou - Just announced.

Defensive midfielder, 1 Year contract, previously at Oldham.

Anyone know if this chappy is any good

Yes ntfclad! Never wrong

Largely happy with that as a signing, Oldham fans online seem to have very much wanted him to stay.

Is the 1 year deal a sign he has only been added as squad depth rather than a starter or do you think thats more of a marker of what realistic contracts will look like post Corona virus?
He's 28 so can't say its much to do with age surely.

I often go on about better quality proven players needing to be signed but to be fair even I can see this chap will be a perfect fit for us and the way we play.
He is surely the McCormack replacement and looks to me to be a hybrid of o toole and McCormack what with the vision and passing range of McCormack and the ball winning of o toole.
I’ve never heard of him to be fair but he looks a proper 100% player that the northampton fans always take too.
I can see him becoming a fan favourite and it’s good we have found a midfield ball winner because they are surprisingly hard to come by.
I’d imagine he will start with McWilliams back up and still recovering/learning.

Welcome Christopher.
Give your all and the fans will back you.

Looks OK.

Oldham offered him something and their fans seem to have been fairly keen on him staying.

As with any new signing a lot will depend on who is brought in with him. IMO we need an experienced 30+ leader with League 1 experience to replace McCormack. (In previous years the likes of Ian Taylor and Matty Taylor have performed this role.)

I initially thought that the experienced head would be in defensive midfield, but I suppose it could equally be in the form of a centre back or attacking midfielder. I still think we need a play-maker with a bit of guille to give us another option in the midfield three. On the other hand, who knows: perhaps Lines will have a renaissance next year?

The Carlisle fan who posts occasionally on here told us that Curle is a massive fan of 'incentivised contracts' and I think we're going to see quite a lot of that in the present climate. Missilou will have a decent incentive to perform next year and may respond well to playing at a higher level. 

 

Agree with you and appears to be a player who will fit into Curles scheme of things

BBC report says he has signed a one year contract with option of another year.

As reliable as ever, well done mate.

I've seen a report suggesting we're about to sign Ikechi Anya on a 2 year deal (source transfer centre 9 twitter). Probably rubbish.

32 years old and hasn't had any game time with Derby this year. Stranger things have happened and would be a potentially outstanding signing for this level.

Adams as right wing back and Anya as left wing back would be a very interesting proposition.

I was pretty sad when he left last time round, but that was probably 10 years ago now & he was very reliant on pace.

I’ve no idea if he still has pace but he would bring outstanding hair to a squad that is sadly lacking in the hairstyles department.
I also think we need to recruit some more facial hair especially with the loss of Paul Anderson.

It’s not always the best team that wins promotion but it’s been proved time and time again that your chances of success on the pitch are greatly enhanced with special hairstyles and burgeoning facial hair.

Ikechi Anya would be an outstanding signing given this criteria.

Unusual up beat comment from you - so whats in your tea today ;D

That roller coaster of emotions

-Yes we are going to sign Anya!
-Oh no we missed out
-Wait what "Sevilla" , WTF ?

There were some extremely optimistic whispers around George Thomas to Cobblers, he's now signed for QPR yesterday

Anya would be a great but realistic signing, as pointed out low on game time but a proven Chamionship level player with decent Prem experience in the twilight of his career now.

Young, exciting wingers are the next most sought after players and some of the most expensive so finding some quality in ageing wide players and shorter deals is quite sensible. Adams, Anya and Marshall all 32+ but I'd be happy with that!

Anya is NEVER going to happen plus he's injury prone which goes against everything KC has stated he wants in a player.

He's stated he needs players available Saturday/Tuesday. Also, Anya will be on decent wages and we ain't (nor should we) pay big wages for anyone is the current climate.

I'd rather have that winger who tormented us at home playing for Morecambe last season.

Carlos Mendes Gomes but he already signed an extension with them.

Anya was on £27k a week at Derby apparently. Obviously hes not going to get offered anything close to that now he hasn't played in 2 years but he's not going to be cheap... and therefore a massive gamble given his age and recent fitness record. Will almost certainly have to drop to L1 to get a game though.

Well, we allegedly didn't give Turnbull a contract because we didn't think he'd be motivated to play with the lower wages offered, so I think we can discount offering something to someone on Anya's wages.

Exactly..................and surely Turnbull's position was more significant than Anya's especially as we already have Adams and Marshall and various others who can cover e.g. McWilliams, Hoskins, Martin ?

Turnbull also offered a potential transfer fee going forward.

Let's invest in youth and the up and comers with ambition.

I also note that there is now some evidence/plan that the whole of next season will be played out with significant restrictions to the gate. Lower anticipated income must mean lower player's salaries.

From what I am reading contract offers are only going to get smaller as more and more players become desperate to get signed. They shouldn’t be surprised if they end up taking half what they may have been offered at the end of the season? 1 year contract and if you don’t pull your weight you get the chop in January will be the norm for the foreseeable future? And that’s if you are one of the lucky ones who’s club doesn’t fold before the end of the season? The Bosman ruling playing out to its logical conclusion, it was only a matter of time!

Salford City have signed Jordan Turnbull on a 2 year contract.

Anyone know if there’s any truth in the ikechi anya rumour? And if he’s still rapid?

Only one person in this thread has any clue whatsoever, but I don't think it's likely, no. Think it'd have been more likely if it wasn't just yet another ex-player being linked, like Bayo or Holmes.

Valid point thanks pal, only happen in my eyes if it comes out of ntfclads mouth

You’ve made a few arsey comments about me, everything alright at home?

throwing money at an attempt at promotion

Keith Downie, Sky News NE England reporter said this afternoon that Middlesborough are seriously in for Charlie Goode

Neil Warnock has approached Northampton Town for their captain Charlie Goode. QPR also interested. The centre back is valued at £750,000.

If he was to leave, what is a realistic fee you'd be happy with..?

£750k would still be our club record transfer fee out yes!?

i assume jepson will know all the ins and outs of his contract - so that might be his release clause!

Am told the bids for Goode so far are just shy of £500k so a bit of work to do for any buying clubs

Also it’s both Boro and QPR who’ve bid

Goode is obviously a good centre back, but so was Pierre and we replaced him and Im confident we'll do so again for money that will keep us safe with during the danger times.

He's strong and confjdent on the ball, but hes not the complete defenser and does have to rely on the dark arts to bail himself out at times. So yeah, I think 750k would be a fair price for him.

If he played for peterborough they’d be holding out for well over a million.

What r u on about?

Could be that Pearson will soon be installed as the next manager at Middlesbrough, or Head Coach as Watford pedantically refer to the role as!

Is the touted £750k figure what the club value him at & the minimum they will accept?

If he goes to Boro, wouldn't mind Marcus Browne being part of the deal or even a season long loan...if only to pi55 off Poxford  ;D

Any other nuggets in or out ntfclad?

To be fair he'd have been playing in League 1 and impressing as well. He's impressed for us in L2.

I know I’m probably guilty of knicker wetting but it beggars belief that once again we have got promoted to league one and we are looking at a complete rebuild. If Goode goes (which looks very likely as KT is now on record as saying we won’t stand in his way if a big club comes in and 2 have now come in for him) and Oliver turns his contract down (I know he’s not exactly harry Kane but he has been very effective for the way we play) then we could be left with just 5 of the players that started the playoff final.

Those inside the club are a bit confused at the £750k figure and where it’s come from is what I’ve been told, potentially aware of the backlash on social media 

Not a good sign already


             Gone     Gone 

                 Hoskins
     
Adams   Gone     Watson        Harriman
     
         Gone   Gone  Gone
                  Arnold

Warnock has already accepted the job going forward (as of yesterday).

First mention of that figure I saw was Keith Downie on twitter to be fair
Perhaps thats the amount 'Boro and QPR value him at rather than on our sided

I don’t know why anyone is in the least bit surprised that the club have got promoted and are dismantling the squad.

There is no ambition to be anything other than a league two club

Same old same old.

Have i missed something? Who dismantling the club?

Goode still here and club stating they want to keep him.
Oliver offered a new deal. Obviously dont know how good
Wharton & Morton already talking to the clubs to get them back

McCormack (would have kept him) replaced

So you're saying that we value him for more than that then? I know he has two years on the contract so we have that on our side, but there can't be that many League Two centrebacks that go for north of a million.

As for the others, early days yet but Turnbull has gone..... Cornell who appeared in the majority of games last season has gone, and Andy Williams, our top scorer over the last two seasons has gone too.

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with "dismantled"....but you can see where he's coming from. The likes of Marquis and Collins returned to their parent clubs, and Adams and Holmes went off to pastures new in 2016, and Rob Page was also accused of "dismantling" the squad.

Turnbull struggled in L1 for Coventry didn't he?

Maybe Vadaine has already signed up and it just hasn't been announced yet?

Goode was always going to leave, we don't have the capacity to turn down bids of a certain amount and I also assume Goode would want to play in the Championship, it isn't always a lack of ambition to keep a player.

We know the club have said they have held conversations about Morton/Wharton - if one of both of them don't want to come back, what can the club do?

McCormack, too expensive for the games he plays but agree he would have been good to keep.

Ultimately, glass half full or glass half empty, right?

It's a very very different scenario to the Rob Page summer and if you can't see that then more fool you.

It's a difficult one because whilst under normal circumstances I'd want to play hardball & insist on a price tag of a million, these aren't normal times & I think there will definitely be a downturn in clubs paying big transfer fees in the EFL. The facts are that 750k would be a massive boost & possibly sustain us for a season with the prospect of other sides simply struggling to survive.

I do think Goode has massive potential though, so in some ways a decent sell-on clause may end up being the most important thing, I think he's a born winner & is likely to go right to the top.

Closer to a million apparently

Teams that keep the core of their first team and improve on it normally do fine, teams who throw the baby out with the bath water tend to struggle.

I personally think you need to keep about 75% of you back 5 together and most of the spine.

Players come, players go.
Likes to hoof it up top a lot, and when he played against Championship opposition in Derby, he got caught out and should have been sent off in the 1st leg.
And don't forget the 1st leg of Cheltenham when he didn't deal with the corner correctly for their 1st goal.
Call me cynical but whatever is offered we should take. As people on here have said there will be a lot of players looking for clubs, who may turn out to be better.

I disagree completely - he was immense in the home game against derby and there was a collective failure for the Cheltenham goal, you don’t mention how superb he was in the playoff second leg and final. He is only 23 and I agree with the club valuation of £1m, I’m far less confident that KC will get anywhere near that to invest in the team.

Andy Williams signs for Cheltenham, pleased that he has found another club.

I'm with you on this one.
He's had a good season for us, but he struggled at Sc***horpe and I can't believe he'll hold his own in the championship.

And me, not many better finishers at this level.

Williams scored something important goals for us this season, pleased he got fixed up.

 ;)

Exactly my thoughts.

I will be amazed if he holds his own week in week out in league 1, let alone the championship.

Take the money and run.

I think Charlie Goode would be fine in League 1 and can still improve a lot. Many of us thought Zander Diamond might struggle in that division but he was our player of the year. Last season Goode played against League 1 Burton and they couldn't cope with him in either box. I'd be sorry to see him go but wish him well at a higher level, as long as we get a decent (undisclosed) fee.

Not sure (either way, we signed him off the back of it!), but he definitely struggled in L1 for Northampton.

Add Marshall,Missi but Goode is still here? Possibly Oliver,perhaps Morton and Wharton. I feel that the most important player we would like back is Morton.

There is probably a correlation of teams being dismantled following promotion, before going on to struggle. We are probably a prime example of that. If we had the pedigree of a club likely to ride on the wave to future success we’d maybe keep a few more. However you view the PTS development saga, it doesn’t breed the confidence of a club about to push on to the next level.
We got relatively close with Carr, closer with Atkins but wouldn’t be surprised if we are looking down rather than up unless KC can work in his mysterious ways.
The positive is that financially we should keep our heads above water and hopefully we can hang around the third tier a bit longer than usual.

;D. Very good.

That's it, isn't it. Not saying KC should get the whole £1m if that's what he goes for but some of the funds would need to be reinvested back into the team, even half that amount should get us 2-3 great signings I'd have thought.

I've seen valuations on Twitter for Goode ranging from 'snap their hands off' for £500k to it will be a travesty for anything less than £3m!
What are your thoughts. Personally I think £500k is too cheap but would be happy with £750k.

I wouldn't be happy with anything less than a Christian Lee for him.

The club record is still 470k for Mark Bunn right?

So as long as we comfortably smash that then I think we have to be happy with the amount. The 1 mil mark seems about right.
It's not even what the player is actually worth, it's what he's worth to us

A young, very capable CB who Captained the side to promotion when we have no other senior CB options and it's an unpredictable market..

I also think how much of that cash KC gets into his coin purse is a massive factor.
If we got 500k but it all went to KC then fair enough. If we got nearer a million and it all went on a new drive for KT and some new paint in the boxes then you can be annoyed.

Saying all this, they may not meet the valuation and Goode may give us another year? He's been interviewing and posting about the promotion as recent as last night so who knows. We need to sign some CBs regardless?

Any realistic ideas or rumours on CBs KC has in mind? (looking mainly at ntfclad here  ;D)

I assume he will be off and think everyone has benefited from the whole thing (aside from Sc***horpe!). We have had 18 months of great service, 12 of which he led us to promotion as Captain. We get a club record fee and he gets a deserved move higher up the leagues, everyone benefits. Yes I would love to keep him, but who can blame a player for going to a club of that size. Will only have positive things to say about his time here. As a loanee playing with a facial injury and a mask showed his dedication to the cause, would have been easy just to sit it out.

I dont think selling Goode is similar to the dismantling of the league 2 winning side of a few years ago. Those players were largely frozen out by Page or let go oddly ala Adams (Holmes being the exception).

The thing is now Curle has another rebuilding job to do. At least this time he dosnt have to move on as many big earners, he has a pretty clean slate and the players here are ones the majority of which i assume he wants to keep. Got to trust that he can build a side to keep us safe next season. Based on the year past, got to have confidence in him to do so. I think patience is going to be required now though as we need a LOT of players and I think in this window particularly, a lot of players will not be taken on until late on.

Wonder if Scunny included a sell on clause for Goode...

He was released so they couldn’t

I'm not sure what Goode is worth in todays probably somewhat devalued market but I sincerely hope KC gets a fair share of it to assist in finding a replacement or replacements?  Must admit that I'm a little concerned that we have had no news on Oliver resigning or not and perhaps more importantly the current situation on obtaining Morton and Wharton's services for next season.  I would have thought if getting either or both of those two back on loan was going to happen it might just have been decided one way or the other by now.  Also I thought some of our windfall from the FA Cup run would be used on strengthening the squad.  We did not use much of it in the January window so presumably some of that is also left?  If not where did that go? Keeping club afloat in these difficult times I suppose would be any reason given.  Please keep safe all of you, I don't think we are 'out of the woods' as yet with this awful pandemic.

As I understood it both Morton & Wharton may well be close to start of season before decisions are made, or at least until both of their clubs decide if they want them in the first team squad.

I think West Brom going up to the Prem probably did us a favour with Morton; had they stayed in the Championship they might have kept him around as a body to put on the bench but I don't think they will in the Premier League. Personally, I think he needs to bulk up a bit before he's ready for a regular berth in a Championship side so a loan to a League 1 club would seem the best option to continue his development. There are plenty of big sides in League 1 this year and after his show stealing performances on Sky in the playoffs, I doubt there will be any shortage of interest in taking him. Still, he knows it at Sixfields, seemed to like it here, developed very well and would be pretty much guaranteed a start with us, so I think we're probably in a good position to keep him for another year. Again, West Brom's promotion probably helps out here as Premier League money means any wage contributions probably won't enter into the equation and they will be more interested in the development opportunities for him.

For Wharton, I think we might not be so lucky; he's that bit older and has proven himself over several loan spells now, so I could see Blackburn seeing him as a worthwhile cover option in their Championship squad.

I hope we hang on to both of them though!

So, we didn't pay anything for him!?

https://www.sc***horpe-united.co.uk/news/2019/july/goode-completes-northampton-move/ (https://www.sc***horpe-united.co.uk/news/2019/july/goode-completes-northampton-move/)

Defender Charlie Goode has joined League Two side Northampton Town for an undisclosed fee.

The centre-back spent four years with United, making 85 appearances in all competitions and scoring six goals.

He was with the Cobblers for the final three months of last season, playing 17 times during his initial loan stint at Sixfields.

We wish Charlie well for the future and thank him for his efforts while with the Iron.

Just take a look at the sponsors in the Goode photo. You couldn't get more Northern!

if we sold goode and got in 3 centre halves to replace those gone - then that is good business.

if we were getting towards 1m then a striker would be top of the list - of a higher standard than morton or oliver!

it depends how he is replaced as to whether its good business or not

We are certainly in a strong position with Goode, 2 years still on the contract and a number of clubs after him, one of which QPR could be in with a huge windfall soon when they sell Eze.

I would push for a million

So, Blackburn have joined the que now, make em give us Wharton as part of the deal!  ;D

Northampton put record fee on star as four Champ clubs hover

https://www.teamtalk.com/news/exclusive-northampton-record-fee-charlie-goode-middlesbrough-qpr (https://www.teamtalk.com/news/exclusive-northampton-record-fee-charlie-goode-middlesbrough-qpr)

Northampton Town want a deal worth up to £1million for captain Charlie Goode, TEAMtalk understands.

Middlesbrough, QPR, Preston and Blackburn are amongst a host of clubs to have made contact with the Cobblers.

Add Sunderland to the list.

Think £1m is the tipping point.

Hopefully a chunk of this can be reinvested either through fees or wages, and I think it’ll need to be to give us any chance of staying up

The only problem with signing Wharton from Blackburn, a contracted player with a Championship club, is that we would probably end up having to pay him more than Turnbull would ever have wanted! To me this would be a rather self -defeating result.

I suspect that another loan is the only viable option for us.

Can we get daragh MacAnthony to  do the negotiating rather than KT that way we will get a decent fee.

Apparently we have not received any bid at all; not even the lowest figure quoted of £478k. Add Derby to the rumours. The rumours on Team Talk etc are just that unsubstantiated rumours. Some of the Championship Clubs will not be able to meet the 750k valuation let alone £1m.
Definitely Preston and Derby; almost certainly Sunderland who are in L1 ::)

My mistake! I saw a Scunny fan on Twitter saying they released him so just assumed!

You mean a man who turned down several £2m+ deals for Maddison who has just left for £0 and they are still in League 1? Ok they accepted one of them from Charlton but essentially lost £2m and no further forward for it

With so many clubs interested surely ebay is the best way with high reserve price

Ideal scenario for me (if, as seems likely, we are forced to sell) would be to sell Goode to Blackburn for 750K+ and then get Wharton back on a season-long loan as part of the deal. That way we would preserve that all important sense of continuity. I'm not at all keen on the prospect of starting the season with three new centre backs (and probably a new goalkeeper).

To put things into perspective
Oxford are holding out for 2M for their centre half rob dickie and have already turned down bids of over 1M for him

Having watched the play offs he isn’t fit to lace Goode’s boots and yet it seems we will sell him for an undisclosed bag of peanuts at the first whiff of interest.

Is it any wonder each time we go up we have zero stability and we never seem to learn from our mistakes

Reading between the lines of Wharton’s interview earlier this week it sounds to be like he’s had enough of loans (understandable when you get to 22 and you’ve already had 5 loan stints) and wants yo fight for his place at Blackburn. You can’t really blame him if that’s what he decides.

Based on what?

But you are comparing a CB who has excelled at L1 level compared to L2, surely you can see that? A striker that scored 20 goals at L2 Level is not going to be sold for the same price as one who scored 20 at L1 level. How many players have gone for over 1 Million from league 2? Not Many! Let alone defenders.

If we get 1 million for him than thats great business.

"Past form" perhaps?

Are we all agreed now that its pretty much a given that he's gone? If there are 6 or 7 clubs rumoured to be interested i'd assume at least 1 or 2 will follow up. We're not the type of club that offers him a new double your money five year contract in order to try and keep him here.

So no Goode, Wharton or Turnbull.....not forgetting Jay Williams (who I thought was a decent prospect) also released. Some (re) building work required.....pre-season training begins next week!

Completely agree he's gone, I thought when the season ended that we would do well to keep him and with clubs declaring interest then its almost impossible.
But the club seem, for the first time, to be playing hard ball a bit. Making clubs make an offer and not giving them a price, and seemingly not accepting the first offer.

One thing that is almost guaranteed is that it will be undisclosed. As I've posted before I'm sure its the buying clubs decision on whether to state publicly the fee

Interesting because a sizeable majority here (including me) suggested should we nick a promotion place the current squad wasn't good enough to stay up - two good results and suddenly most of that same squad are prized assets - fickle football fans at their best

True, and even after the first leg in the playoffs many thought the same. A lot of that stemmed from the style of play though....we'd seem occasions when they proved they were good enough to step up (Burton, both Derby games at least) but we still had the Crawleys and Scunnys to balance that out.

Whatever subtle tweaks were made for the second leg and the final worked, and we saw two very good performances from that set of players. That would have surely made people sit up and think "hang on, when we want to/are allowed to play a bit of football we look pretty decent".....

We just didn't see it consistently enough throughout our league 2 season to suggest we could survive in League 1 with the same personnel and the same tactics.

Really is quite laughable

The squad* is returning to training next week and it’s probable all of our centre backs and both of our play off final starting forwards will be missing.
It’s been a month now since the play offs and it seems we are hoping for the best recruitment wise rather than having any targets that we want to sign
If we have got targets then it’s obvious they are signing elsewhere and we are struggling to compete at league one level which is a point I raised a couple of weeks back.
We are the Norwich city of league one , happy to make up the numbers but no ambition or finance to try to stabilise and kick on.




*squad as in the handful of players left from the play off final including two or three who are surplus to requirements

If Blackburn really are in for Goode then it doesn't sound as if Wharton is likely to be in their long-term plans (signing another young centre back for decent money with a similar pedigree). Another option would be a part-exchange deal e.g. Wharton + 500K for Goode - which would potentially be a good bit of business.

Personally, I rate Goode very highly. An overlooked quality of his game which marks him out as a potential Championship player is his capacity to bring the ball out from defence and even to pop up on the overlap and get a cross in (in the the style of Wilder's centre backs at Sheff Utd). His relative ease on the ball and his leadership qualities is what gives him of the edge on Turnbull and Wharton (both of whom are excellent centre backs in their own right).

As a former England centre half himself, Curle has demonstrated a strong ability to develop and improve defensive players. Pierre certainly improved under him and Goode and Wharton came on leaps and bounds this year.

Well he hasn't as yet gone; plenty of rumours from not particularly good source(s). For so many interested supposed interested parties not one offer ::) You would have thought one of the quoted parties made an unacceptable offer. If somebody had made an offer the Chron would have been all over it!

Ps : News Now does not even mention Goode

Agree entirely bungle but there are still haters on here who don’t rate him because he occasionally engages in the dark arts.

What facts do you have to back up your statements?

Clubs have only signed the odd player, like us, because of the current situation. Also last season has still not finished in the Championship.

As previous pre-seasons fans will have to show a sign of patience and wait, as the club stated, for some of the signings to be close to the new season (whenever that is confirmed).

Trust in the recruitment department, as for once they have a successful track record!

Yep.. that right, we have no targets at all even though they have clearly said we do, but obviously they are bare faced liars, our player recruitment dept are treating it like a Sunday league team, whoever turns up on the first day of training can sign. Every other team have completed there recruitment and have all there squad in place already , we are the only ones who haven't.

Clearly Morton was going to be missing from the start of pre-season as he was on lone.

+1

Charlie Goode is worth £1m all day long, he’s young, strong, reads the game well and has a will to win.
As for Oliver, we can do a lot lot better IMHO.

There is a global pandemic, Shoemaker. Put your knickers back on.

Why do say the buying club makes this decision? Surely if we said we got 1m for Goode, every player we went in for IF they were under contract the selling club would be asking for an inflated transfer fee? Also if a player was out of contract their Agent would be asking for inflated wages, knowing the we'd got a few quid?

Agreed on Goode but Oliver now bit of a talisman! Still replaceable tho’.

You do realise that he was taking one...No? I thought not.  8)

I think it's a win-win for us anyway. Either Goode stays for another 6 months of a year and we have a good league one Centre back, or he goes and we get a decent amount of  money, probaly between a third up to half of our yearly playing budget. Only way we lose out if he goes for under-value, I think anything over a million is acceptable really.

Looking at Kelvins comments about the budget, I think my concern would be more along the lines of whether we can get some of the surplus to requirements off our books in the environment we're currently in. Either Martin, Lines, Smith and Warburton step it up a notch (which is far from impossible if anyone remembers the turn around Langmead had), or we're going to have a chunk of our budget taken up by players who aren't up to scratch. We've got 19 players under contract, 6 of those are first or second year scholars with no significant amount of game time, and 4 of them have struggled to make an impact in the league below, so that's a lot of strengthening to happen and probably not a great amount of finances to do it.

I do wonder if we'll try the Dean Austin experiment again and try and play the youth teamers a little bit more?

+1

Just saw a twitter post saying Goode to posh for 2.7million, pretty sure it’s BS tho

Surprised that a well meaning astute supporter like yourself gives the time of day to Twitter 8)

If the owners are 5 million in debt they have been blowing a million a season on average? I’m guessing they’re not that keen on adding to it? Although regularly chucking a million here and there at the club doesn’t seem a problem for some supporters? Unless it was their money of course, where they go beserk if the club stick an extra 10p on a cup of Bovril?

If you'd tasted the Bovril recently you'd understand. ;)

I agree that was have been unsustainable for the last few years, but it would have been in more particular around when the mysterious Chinese money appeared and disappeared, and with Van Veen, Crooks and now Turnbull gone and with money even come back to us for two of them, I imagine we're no longer hemorrhagging at the same rate any more. Probably still losing money, but at a rate that the owners can tolerate now.

I agree, but P*sh chairman, and I think Acrington chairman, has said it pretty much every transfer window when asked. I think there is a general consensus that it should be banned but it doesnt just happen to us

If transfer fees are undisclosed and media/social media reports say we got £1m for a player, but we actually only got £700k, then this could go against us when agents come around hawking their players.....they know we've got money, they just guess how much and would often think we had more than we actually got.

If the club have any sense they’ll be buying players before they sell Goode

The club have already said that we are going to be signing players later into the window. The window is open until October so I have no doubt there will be a few incomings after the season has started.

Over half the teams in League one havnt signed anyone yet, so I am not worried at all. Whoever holds their nerve is going to pick up some very good deals.

The point I am making is you buy your players before anyone has chance to know how much you’ve raked in from sales
Seems as we currently have half a team you’d hope they’d do that before the season is under way

Makes no sense.

Buy loads of players with the plan to sell Goode. Goode gets season long injury so nobody ends up buying him.

Other clubs also know that all income is soon swallowed up in running the club. Particularly with no or limited crowds. Big money players want big wages, can we do that?

One last time
You buy your players on Monday before anyone knows you’ve got x amount coming in for Goode on Friday.

You sell Goode for x amount on Monday and then the price of your targets goes up because everyone knows you’ve got cash in the bank to spend on Friday.

If Goode trips over his cat in between it’s hard luck I’m not suggesting you do this during pre season training...

If Goode’s off he won’t be doing a preseason with us anyway in case he gets a knock.

Hasn't stopped Peterborough from making some substantial bids then selling them on for big bucks! Sort of knocks your theory how to buy players!

Following that logic, I'm off to buy a Porsche on the assumption I'll win the lottery tomorrow night.

You would do if you knew you were going to win the lottery.

If there is a £1M deal that can be signed off on Friday and just needs the signature you can then buy players knowing that.

Isn't that similar to what was done when (5Usports) were on the horizon and why we have a debit column larger than it should have been?

+1

If Jadon Sancho is worth 60 million smackers then Goode must be worth at least 6 mill. Stands to reason.

But if you sit down to reality he is not.

On another subject I see that our former midfield wizard Jack Bridge is having trials with Bristol Rovers.

Exactly. The world is starting to reverse on its axis.

Would have thought big Vadaine had until today (end of the month) to sign his contract...

Can't hang around forever & I assume players will be back training from Monday...

A possible replacement for Oliver could have been Ollie Palmer who's turned down a new deal with Crawley but looks set to sign for Wimbledon.

How about Nouble?

Yeah, always rated him, more pace and a better goal threat than Oliver but not as good in the air.

Need a conclusion to the Oliver situation though, it's been a month since he was offered terms, so we are really just his back up option incase he can't get a better deal elsewhere.

Almost every club is a backup option if a better deal is on the table. Shame if he doesn't stay as I've liked him since Sileby, but I think he'll lose as much as we do if he leaves - Curles football certainly plays to his strengths.

No thanks

Only if Goode’s new club can expect £6 million worth of shirt sales with his name on the back

 ;D

I’ve heard that we were after a striker whose decided to stay at barrow, a striker whose chosen to stay at Luton and a striker who has chosen to sign for Wimbledon.
Also heard that we’ve been turned down by two strikers on frees due to wage demands.
One championship and one league one.

I'm pleased we're not giving it away if that's the case. It's more important the club survives than we chase unrealistic wage demands. From everything Curle has said he wants a proper wage structure. I can't help feeling there must have been massive resentment amongst the squad when we started splashing the Chinese money (that never arrived presumably). That led to a team that underperformed.

If those two are still under contract (which I assume to be the case as you have described them as available for transfer) they have pre Covid contracts. They'll want to sit out their contracts. There's a reason why they are available for free. We've found out something very useful - they'd prefer to wait for a better deal to leave their current clubs.

There was an article just a few weeks ago where Thomas talked about players and agents expectations were too high currently, so not super suprised by this. What's the issue with Barrow anyway, did they make it into the league through financial doping like Fleetwood, Crawley etc, or just well run like Stevenage were?

With the greatest of respect the only person on here with a track record of being ITK is ntfclad - all the rest could be cobbled together using groundless twitter rumours.

With the greatest respect though, this is a rumours thread and he has heard rumours  ;D

Quigley is the Barrow player. Guessing Danny Hylton is the Luton striker.

Aside from trying to create and spread alarm and despondency, what are you trying to say?

Saying we are actively looking to recruit a decent striker but seem to be being priced out of the market.
No idea of any names just passing on what I heard....
The only name I have heard I’ve forgot but it was a defender released by Lincoln , no idea if true or not but the striker info came from someone who’d know...

Both those players have signed new contracts at their respective clubs.

Both out of contract.

Blackpool striker Gary Madine seen his car turning into PTS

That's a long way to come for a valet.......

Has he called the police  ;D

He'd still have 12 months left on his contract.

They’ve signed Jerry Yates so he might not be a starter for them.

Hope not

Sounds very unlikely. He would cost a lot more a week than Vadaine Oliver!

Expect him to sign tomorrow then.......

Anyway, with Notts County failing to get promoted that might be one less option for Oliver.

'Hope' not to Nouble and Madine - so why(?) or is it just personal opinion. No problem with that! No real opinion on both for that matter.

I wouldn't mind that lad Roberts from Notts, or Diamond from Harrogate, albeit as he's on loan from Sunderland he'll probably be playing for them next season.

Congratulations to Harrogate, they were the best side, could easily have been 4 or 5 up at half time.

I fear this is going to be a transfer window like no other we have ever seen. As I see it, clubs can take two basic approaches:

1.   Sign players early, banking on getting in first, perhaps taking a hit on the wages front and, maybe, assuming spectators will be allowed in to grounds quite soon to cover some of the wage costs.
2.   Play the waiting game to see if this drives the cost of players wages down and leaves bargain signings to be made. At the same time, these clubs gain an opportunity for greater clarity as to whether Covid-19 is going to mean playing behind closed doors for much longer than some, (e.g. Boris Johnson), anticipated only a couple of weeks ago.

Perhaps due to some luck, and some judgement, I think the Cobblers are taking option 2, which I think is the sensible one, given all the uncertainty. It is clear, I believe, that many others will take the same route.

The minimum aim of next season is to finish above the other smaller clubs such as Accrington, Rochdale, AFC Wimbledon and so on, whilst avoiding being one of the clubs that, perhaps inevitably, end up having a 12 point deduction.

As for players like Oliver, well good luck to him for seeing if he can get a better deal. However, if one had turned up that was so good, perhaps he would have signed up somewhere else by now.

The result of all probably means a rush of last-minute signings at the bargain basement – although some players may decide to give in earlier as they will not have been paid since the 30th June.

To say it will be interesting to see how things pan out is something of an understatement!

A twitter account has linked us to Krystian Pearce, Mansfield fans have praised him a lot in the past, no idea how he has done in recent times.

Do we know when the lads are in for pre-season training ? Can't help thinking some of those not modelling the new kit will be back from holiday by then (to negotiate their part of any potential transfers).

Either Thursday or Friday this week.

Second signing of the summer is done and dusted

Won’t give the name but it’s a keeper and will be announced soonish (tomorrow/Weds)

for the 1st team , the future or backup ?

Excellent work, again.

Must be mark bunn

Bound to be. Who else could it be?  ;D

Hate to dampen the enthusiasm but it’s not Bunn  ;D ;D

Not saying we were ever in, but Nouble has gone Plymouth.

I’ll hazard a guess - Aaron Chapman?

Very decent defender, I’d be happy with that.

David Cornell is a good shot stopper and out of contract.

Manager Keith Curle made what the Nottingham Post described as a "shock decision" to place Pearce on the transfer list in May 2012, suggesting that the player had "not been able to recreate the level of performance [he] was hoping for and expecting". Curle said that Pearce would not be given a free transfer, and claimed that a £500,000 bid had been rejected during the season. He joined League Two club Barnet on a three-month loan on 14 September

Let’s see where he ends up..........

Good spot - appears to be a decent player in L1 and also did well with Mansfield for nearly 5 seasons. Seems to have experienced a fall out with
KC and also with Coughlan. Build and ability would appear to be suited to our style of play! Would have thought he was a more than adequate replacement for Turnbull. Whether KC still rates him is debatable. Played for Posh in the Championship and Huddersfield Town in L1.

Ntfclad is the keeper any good in your opinion?

Lee Camp's just left Birmingham.. Is now a time to start dreading what's to come?

Why is it that every time there is talk of signing a GK somebody has to speculate Mark Bunn is coming back?. He will be 36 in November and is GK coach at Cambridge. Whoever we sign I hope he will be pushing Arnold for the shirt and not a cheap bench warmer.

Can you elaborate? Lee Camp has had plenty of experience at higher levels. If its a pun on Camp .... ;D

His brothers will be happy anyway

Does he have any other brothers called Dopey, Grumpy, Doc  etc?

Evers: Lee Camp will be 36 this month.

Rod McDonald has joined Carlisle.

Ben Alnwick perhaps?

Given this clue il be most upset if it isn’t the Nuremberg out of contract goalie Lucas Marx  ;D ;D

Mr Chuckle?

Karl...Darlow coming back home to play regular football and take a significant paycut?

Phil or Grant ?

reasonable guess

Ben Alnwick is now 33 and I expect us to be looking for a younger keeper. Also can see no record of him playing last season after leaving Bolton mid season without making an appearance.

Not an issue 8)

Johnathan Mitchell derby county ??

If you had 2 options at this point in time, the identity of every player the club is to sign in the summer or the identity of ntfclad and sources which would you pick?

The first option.

Some of us know the identity of him and who his sources are.

On the keeper thing, any keeper with the surname Jackson?

John?

Seems a good shout

Great, I'm really happy for you. Thats even more annoying, I wish I was in the circle of trust.

I hear things they come on here, there’s no great magic circle  :)

Grimm?

Karamazov?

top work as always ntfclad! Someone mentioned Darlow, feels very ambitious but what a signing that would be!

It’s got to be jonathan Mitchell as Alfred and shoey have suggested - fits the bill as a backup keeper leaving Arnold in possession of the first team jersey.

Has Darlow got any brothers - he was born in Northampton!

I really don't expect it by the way...why would Darlow take a pay cut from circa 20,000 for a back up top division to 2,000?

Ex agent on Twitter reporting that the Gk set to sign is Aaron Chapman

Also the fact that Celtic have supposedly pulled out of trying to sign him when quoted £5m suggests it might be unlikely that he comes here! Still, like with Marriott he was born/raised in Northampton so he should come back home.

ah yes, the famous chapman brothers

Whoooooooo?  ;D

So, with the first team squad back training this Thursday, you'd think the deadline for Oliver to sign his contract would be tomorrow at the latest...

Aaron chapman is 6ft 7in so hopefully commands his box - would that make him our tallest ever player?

I’m out for a beer tonight so will hopefully know more then

Pretty sure he is Ken Leek's grandson.

According to "football insider" QPR are close to signing Charlie Goode For £1m.

Does anyone have any update on what Kyle Dempsey is up to?

Got too carried away after the chat when he was released by Fleetwood and now convinced myself he is the answer haha ;D

I also saw that on some twitter page, unsure of how legit the page is, but apparently they are beating Middlesbrough to his signing

Fixed it for you  ;) ;D

I meant Darlow but PC thought otherwise; Ref Ken Leek that’s well known. Ken was popular with the ladies!

Yes he has a brother,  I used to play village football with him

Mum Peggy has popped the champagne

You’re enjoying this aren’t you - I’ve gone back to thinking it’s Mitchell again!

You’d be right!

We now have more goalies than centre backs  ;D

Good job the season starts in six weeks and not tomorrow

Thanks again ntfclad!

So, any truth in the QPR rumours as several different platforms now quoting a deal is very close...

Have firm (decent) bids actually been received? I think for 1M plus sell on it would be decent business...

As much as I want him to stay of course!

Will find out later

Maybe I'm missing something but not sure why this makes his brothers happy haha!

At first thought that was a bit of a meh signing. Back up goalie on loan but thinking about it more, it looks smart.

Curle clearly thinks theres something to him. Looks like he's out of contract next summer so sure if we wanted him then theres something to be done then for a permanent deal after the loans up.

He's also worked with Arnold directly before during their spells at Shrewsbury.
Maybe a similar situation to Dai and Arnold this season just gone where we have 2 viable options at GK genuinely pushing each other

Either way, thats GK sorted now, we need some centre backs lets get signing KC!

Yes because of course they need no time to gel as a team.....
I can see us waiting until the last minute to see what’s left over and then signing a defence on Friday to play on Saturday  ::) ;D

I wouldn't be surprised with lots of teams starting the season without being able to field a full strength bench.
The financial situation being what it is currently puts the power back in the hands of football clubs rather than players and agents.
I can see a lot of good, quality players being without a club towards the end of the transfer window and thus reduce their demands in order to get a contract somewhere.

You keep stressing over hypotheticals then, save the public moaning until nearer the start of the season!

+1

Grant and Phil Mitchell? Nothing more important than faaaaaamily

Update

Charlie Goode - nothing imminent, nothing agreed, a million seems to be the ballpark to get talks started

Vadaine Oliver - club still relaxed about the prospect of him resigning, no mention of deadlines or anything

Good to hear thanks again

Sounds like you may have to miss your drinks/pub venue  ;D All good anti Cov 19 tho  8) 👍

Not a rumour just an opinion
If I was looking to replace Oliver I’d look at Armand grandulliet whose been released by blackpool as he’s the same type of player.

Gnanduillet

It’s now on Facebook as gospel that we’re about to announce his signing  ;D

Can’t see it anyway, wasn’t released he ran his contract down and teams like Sheffield Wednesday having a sniff

I saw that! It is amusing to see silly season in full swing though

Sheffield Wednesday, Preston, Ipswich, Sunderland, Hull......just some of the clubs i've seen linked with Armand.....

Yeah, we'll announce him tomorrow!!

Has no one picked up that one if our academy players deemed not good enough for us has signed for a championship club ?

Who’s that then?

What he said!

If not signed - certainly appearing for at a development level - along with another youth rejection .
Follow those that have left the set up ...

Can't you just tell us?

Who on earth is it

Steve morrison .... knows our development  players

To stop all the games, It's Jay Williams playing for Cardiff's under 23's joining up with Morison.

It's Cam McWilliams...

Very poor attitude by all accounts

just checked, and i dont think cardiff under 23's are in the championship!?

We don't have an U23 team, do we? I was a bit surprised that we let him go, but if he's got to the stage where he's grown enough to no longer need under 18s football, but not good enough to force his way into the first team yet, then maybe it's good for him that he got cut.

Michael Vennerholm saying Charlie Goode is close to finalising a near 1m deal, trusting ntfclad over this however!

Do we know any truth in the numerous links with Krystian Pearce..?
Some League 1 experience albeit 10 years ago... can't say I'd ever paid much attention to him before. 30 years of age too..

Pearce is a very decent lower division centre back but someone posted that he had a falling out with KC earlier in his career so who knows. These twitter sources are a load of b**locks - you only have to look at yesterday where some twitter ITK said the signing of Aaron Chapman was imminent only for Jon Mitchell to sign within minutes. Having said that it does look like the Goode situation has legs - as ntfclad pointed out though no fees have been discussed or offered.

We had a relatively young back 3 last year so maybe it would be prudent to have some experience in there, even if just an option.

If Goode does go which looks more likely each day then we need to sign 4 CBs so I'd have him as one!

6 days ago this Vennerholm chap said QPR had had a bid accepted of £500k. Either he’s full of s*** or QPR cancelled the deal and came back with double the fee....I wonder which

Oh dear! Shrewsbury fan on div 2 forum says he hopes for our sakes that Mitchell is our second choice keeper.
He was there on loan from january 2019.

Yet a Luton fan says he's a superb keeper!

We all remember what Pompey fans thought of Holmes...

I'll reserve any judgement until I see him play for us as on paper looks more than an adequate challenger for the number 1 jersey

I know what you are saying but Pompey fans thought a lot of Holmes (apart from his injuries) and couldn't believe that he had been allowed to leave.