January Window

[RicoS321]

3 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Pure speculation on your Macdonald take instigating the short term, perhaps he gets the long term after we punt Stewart and scales returns to Celtic? Who knows, but we seem to have found two decent defenders……for now!

Yep, pure speculation, based on his reasons for leaving Swindon. It probably makes just as much sense that the club instigated the short term deal because they hadn't had the chance to give him the once over. Or both parties agreed that without a manager, they wouldn't be keen to make it a longer deal. Either of the above, it concerns me greatly that we don't have any decent defenders at the club for next season and I'd hope that if we see another few good games from MacDonald then we look to sign him on a longer deal regardless of whether we've got a manager in place or not. The new manager is on a hiding to nothing already, one less centre back to think about would be a god send.

[OrlandoDon]

41 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Yep, pure speculation, based on his reasons for leaving Swindon. It probably makes just as much sense that the club instigated the short term deal because they hadn't had the chance to give him the once over. Or both parties agreed that without a manager, they wouldn't be keen to make it a longer deal. Either of the above, it concerns me greatly that we don't have any decent defenders at the club for next season and I'd hope that if we see another few good games from MacDonald then we look to sign him on a longer deal regardless of whether we've got a manager in place or not. The new manager is on a hiding to nothing already, one less centre back to think about would be a god send.

Said that to a mate the other day. Last game it was three loaners at the back, add coulson and Richardson, that’s 5 who may not be here next year, although wishful thinking on Richardson. Mackenzie is our best under contract defender and he can’t get a game for us. Then again, what do we do with mccrorie, someone I prefer in midfield? especially if we keep shinnie past the summer, mccrorie is a defender by default. He’s not making the necessary progress being constantly moved to a variety of positions, I’d make him right back and commit to it. 
the more I think it’s hard to expect anyone so sign past the summer until we have a manager in place, if I were Macdonald I’d want to know who the manager is first and the managers take on him. Short term makes sense for now.

[RicoS321]

10 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Said that to a mate the other day. Last game it was three loaners at the back, add coulson and Richardson, that’s 5 who may not be here next year, although wishful thinking on Richardson. Mackenzie is our best under contract defender and he can’t get a game for us. Then again, what do we do with mccrorie, someone I prefer in midfield? especially if we keep shinnie past the summer, mccrorie is a defender by default. He’s not making the necessary progress being constantly moved to a variety of positions, I’d make him right back and commit to it. 
the more I think it’s hard to expect anyone so sign past the summer until we have a manager in place, if I were Macdonald I’d want to know who the manager is first and the managers take on him. Short term makes sense for now.

The club has to make it's position clear about who is in charge of what part of the business. If we can convince the player that the club has the majority say in signings regardless of the manager then the player might stay. In other words, he'd be no less likely to be signed by a new manager or no manager as the manager is just the guy doing the coaching and management, with all else being the club's focus. Never was there a greater need to enforce that segregation in my opinion, stagnation does nobody any good.

McRorie is a utility player. All things equal, he's not good enough at football to be playing every week. He's second best to everyone in the positions he can play. He's a better right back in a four than Kennedy, but dubious as to whether he's a better wing back - I think that'd depend on the opponent. The confusion surrounding McRorie has existed since he joined, and even at that point he was playing right back for the u21s. He's played every week he's been fit, so his development isn't really something the club has been shirking in any way. At some point we have to decide that he's not going to be the guy that bosses our midfield or marshalls our defence, or bombs up the right and puts in a fizzing cross. He's technically deficient, with a fantastic work ethic and drive. He's basically Ricky Foster. Right back should be his role, but we should also be looking for a right back in the summer. I think he could do an excellent job of man marking someone good in midfield too, if we ever need to try that against a good team.

[Jute]

Not really January window but Coulson signs contract extension with Middlesbrough.

https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2023/february/06/hayden-coulson-pens-new-deal/?fbclid=IwAR1fjHJe14GT6cngiMpFe-foNZo13ODMvGmsXSKTGMsYfLWD2B76T5-R7KY

This summer there should be no loans unless there is an option to buy. Fuck developing other teams players. 
 

ETA - Not that I would have signed Coulson as a left back anyway. 

[Panda]

Hayden Coulson has signed a new contract with Middlesbrough, so we can rule out a permanent deal for him.

Edit: Beaten to it by Jute. 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Panda

[RicoS321]

2 hours ago, Jute said:

This summer there should be no loans unless there is an option to buy. Fuck developing other teams players. 

Clarkson has worked out well for us. I don't think it's fair to say that there should be no loans this summer, but we should be working towards a position where loans are phased out for the most part. We are in no position to be signing the 6-10 new signings we're going to need, regardless of how good our recruitment team is. Loans are really useful when you have used up all your recruitment resource on various players that have either gone elsewhere, or are signed but quickly turn out to be shite. With the best will in the world, you're not going to be able to commit the time and effort into checking out any new guys halfway through a window, and you probably don't want to commit to anything long term. Coulson was a guy who was struggling to find a way in his career, like Hoban, Lowe, Logan etc and we utilised them in the hope that we might get them to stay (Coulson might have had the manager not changed here, and there!). They're experienced enough to go into the team and perform a role, and they're not playing for another SPFL team. Young players are fine if they are exceptional talents like Clarkson, but I'd rather we forced our own youngsters on our manager where possible. We've had too many shite ones to balance against the good. Scales was a signing made really early in the window for a key position and should never, ever have happened. He's like the poster boy for terrible loans, despite not being too bad a player - just a lose:lose for the Dons. I'd be comfortable with 2-3 loans per season. Those in January probably need to be supplemented with pre-contract agreements to ensure that we're not lagging with the squad. Overall though, we just need to be much, much better at recruitment.

[BigAl]

4 hours ago, Jute said:

Not really January window but Coulson signs contract extension with Middlesbrough.

https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2023/february/06/hayden-coulson-pens-new-deal/?fbclid=IwAR1fjHJe14GT6cngiMpFe-foNZo13ODMvGmsXSKTGMsYfLWD2B76T5-R7KY

This summer there should be no loans unless there is an option to buy. Fuck developing other teams players. 
 

ETA - Not that I would have signed Coulson as a left back anyway. 

Can't in all honesty say I am remotely phased by this.

Not worthy of a deal at AFC.

Thanks for your input Hayden 

[sheepheid]

I think there’s a good player in Coulson. He’s been poor of late but a better manager and coaching team would get more out of him.  He’s not getting a new contract with a team pushing for promotion to the EPL for nothing. 

[BigAl]

Hugely inconsistent and made of glass.

Looked good in his early games but has faded badly in my opinion.

Nae harm to the lad and no doubt he'll go on to prove me wrong.

[tlg1903]

7 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Hugely inconsistent and made of glass.

Looked good in his early games but has faded badly in my opinion.

Nae harm to the lad and no doubt he'll go on to prove me wrong.

He did well when he came on for Hayes on Saturday 2bf

[Jute]

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

He did well when he came on for Hayes on Saturday 2bf

Against a rotten Motherwell side. One of those who looks good when team are on top but disappears when team are doing badly. 

[BigAl]

6 hours ago, Jute said:

Against a rotten Motherwell side. One of those who looks good when team are on top but disappears when team are doing badly. 

Nail squarely on head Jute.

[BigAl]

7 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

He did well when he came on for Hayes on Saturday 2bf

Wouldn't deny that but stand by my too inconsistent comment

[tlg1903]

11 hours ago, BigAl said:

Wouldn't deny that but stand by my too inconsistent comment

I don't disagree he's been inconsistent but you could argue that was a squad problem during the previous regime.  It will be interesting to see what kind of role he plays for the rest of the season.  Now he's signed a new contract with boro we might see mckenzie starting over him perhaps. 

[Elgindon]

Coulson could do a lot of damage further forward on the left,...or possibly in place of Clarkson if unavailable. A few useful tricks up his sleeve for a stuffy defence

[Slim]

Still not convinced by Coulson. He has a ratio of 50/50 good games to terrible games at best and in his good games he’s still not nearly as effective as an uninjured 35 year old Jonny Hayes. 

[OxfordDon]

On 31/01/2023 at 14:29, Panda said:

Atlanta to sign Giakoumakis then loan him to us would be acceptable. They owe us one.

Giakoumakis now signed up with Atlanta until 2026.  Any way we can get him in before the Celtic game?

[manc_don]

16 hours ago, OxfordDon said:

Giakoumakis now signed up with Atlanta until 2026.  Any way we can get him in before the Celtic game?

Imagine the seethe from the Tim’s, I want it to happen just for that