January 2025 - Transfer Window Rumours and Discussion

Greenwood has great potential he needs wanting and nurturing along. 10x the footballer Rhys is and a million times better than Hugill was and people raved about him. He was never a footballer while I had a hole in my A£#@

Eh?

Greenwood doesn't play the same position as either 'Rhys' (first time I've ever seen someone spell it that way - impressive!) or Hugill.

Greenwood plays as a 10, behind the striker, or on the left. Hugill and Riis are both out and out strikers. Greenwood can play there but its certainly not his best or preferred position.

Not sure what you even mean by the last point.
 
Significant news in this:
  1. Okkels. Fee lower than reported. Aberdeen buy option gives us our money back. (He’s been one of their better players in their last two matches. If they don’t want him, someone in Europe likely will, at the lower fee. We likely won’t lose much on him after all).

  2. Gibson. Fee 7-figures, but lower than reported.

  3. Bowler. We did a good job finding a taker and setting up the deal, given Forest had no interest in doing so.

  4. Osmajic. More than one club enquired about paying us a loan fee for him. A sign he’ll be a saleable asset, at a good fee, in one of the next few windows, given he has more than bigger club suitor already.

  5. Contracts. PH hasn’t wanted to push contracts for the remaining players. But PR believes they'd all likely sign if he did. So PH has the option to retain 1 or 2 if he decides to. Suggests players happy and into what PH is doing. One exception doesn’t want to discuss (I assume it's Best, but could be Woodman).

  6. Forward planning. PH sounds much more organised than Lowe. PR had made calls to set up Gibson and Maghoma deals before the window opened, so we could do them quickly and quietly in the first few days. Porteous already identified as no.1 target for RCB so was easy to move quickly when needed. There is a regularly updated list of targets in every position which PH approves.
Plenty of interest in here and lots of other clubs fans would appreciate this sort of transparency.

What a shame about the tone though. We're much improved in the last 4-5 windows with Osmajic, Thordarson, Frokjaer, Kesler-Hayden, Greenwood, Maghoma, Holmes, Millar, Gibson, all found at relatively low cost and under the radar of other clubs.

Continue this improvement in recruitment and we'll be finishing 8th instead of 16th again before we know it!
 
Significant news in this:
  1. Okkels. Fee lower than reported. Aberdeen buy option gives us our money back. (He’s been one of their better players in their last two matches. If they don’t want him, someone in Europe likely will, at the lower fee. We likely won’t lose much on him after all).

  2. Gibson. Fee 7-figures, but lower than reported.

  3. Bowler. We did a good job finding a taker and setting up the deal, given Forest had no interest in doing so.

  4. Osmajic. More than one club enquired about paying us a loan fee for him. A sign he’ll be a saleable asset, at a good fee, in one of the next few windows, given he has more than bigger club suitor already.

  5. Contracts. PH hasn’t wanted to push contracts for the remaining players. But PR believes they'd all likely sign if he did. So PH has the option to retain 1 or 2 if he decides to. Suggests players happy and into what PH is doing. One exception doesn’t want to discuss (I assume it's Best, but could be Woodman).

  6. Forward planning. PH sounds much more organised than Lowe. PR had made calls to set up Gibson and Maghoma deals before the window opened, so we could do them quickly and quietly in the first few days. Porteous already identified as no.1 target for RCB so was easy to move quickly when needed. There is a regularly updated list of targets in every position which PH approves.
Plenty of interest in here and lots of other clubs fans would appreciate this sort of transparency.

What a shame about the tone though. We're much improved in the last 4-5 windows with Osmajic, Thordarson, Frokjaer, Kesler-Hayden, Greenwood, Maghoma, Holmes, Millar, Gibson, all found at relatively low cost and under the radar of other clubs.

Continue this improvement in recruitment and we'll be finishing 8th instead of 16th again before we know it!

Thanks for the summary Peter.
 
Significant news in this:
  1. Okkels. Fee lower than reported. Aberdeen buy option gives us our money back. (He’s been one of their better players in their last two matches. If they don’t want him, someone in Europe likely will, at the lower fee. We likely won’t lose much on him after all).

  2. Gibson. Fee 7-figures, but lower than reported.

  3. Bowler. We did a good job finding a taker and setting up the deal, given Forest had no interest in doing so.

  4. Osmajic. More than one club enquired about paying us a loan fee for him. A sign he’ll be a saleable asset, at a good fee, in one of the next few windows, given he has more than bigger club suitor already.

  5. Contracts. PH hasn’t wanted to push contracts for the remaining players. But PR believes they'd all likely sign if he did. So PH has the option to retain 1 or 2 if he decides to. Suggests players happy and into what PH is doing. One exception doesn’t want to discuss (I assume it's Best, but could be Woodman).

  6. Forward planning. PH sounds much more organised than Lowe. PR had made calls to set up Gibson and Maghoma deals before the window opened, so we could do them quickly and quietly in the first few days. Porteous already identified as no.1 target for RCB so was easy to move quickly when needed. There is a regularly updated list of targets in every position which PH approves.
Plenty of interest in here and lots of other clubs fans would appreciate this sort of transparency.

What a shame about the tone though. We're much improved in the last 4-5 windows with Osmajic, Thordarson, Frokjaer, Kesler-Hayden, Greenwood, Maghoma, Holmes, Millar, Gibson, all found at relatively low cost and under the radar of other clubs.

Continue this improvement in recruitment and we'll be finishing 8th instead of 16th again before we know it!

Your point on Okkels is extremely optimistic. It's all rainbows and butterflies if someone actually comes in for him... What if we're lumbered with him for the full length of his contract? Like we have been with Bauer, Harrop and Bayliss in the past?
 
Significant news in this:
  1. Okkels. Fee lower than reported. Aberdeen buy option gives us our money back. (He’s been one of their better players in their last two matches. If they don’t want him, someone in Europe likely will, at the lower fee. We likely won’t lose much on him after all).

Given the figures we have heard being thrown about, I assume that the fee for Okkels was a guaranteed £1m with the remaining £700K made up of various performance / apperance-related clauses.

So I imagine Aberdeen's option is the £1m.
 
Significant news in this:
  1. Okkels. Fee lower than reported. Aberdeen buy option gives us our money back. (He’s been one of their better players in their last two matches. If they don’t want him, someone in Europe likely will, at the lower fee. We likely won’t lose much on him after all).

  2. Gibson. Fee 7-figures, but lower than reported.

  3. Bowler. We did a good job finding a taker and setting up the deal, given Forest had no interest in doing so.

  4. Osmajic. More than one club enquired about paying us a loan fee for him. A sign he’ll be a saleable asset, at a good fee, in one of the next few windows, given he has more than bigger club suitor already.

  5. Contracts. PH hasn’t wanted to push contracts for the remaining players. But PR believes they'd all likely sign if he did. So PH has the option to retain 1 or 2 if he decides to. Suggests players happy and into what PH is doing. One exception doesn’t want to discuss (I assume it's Best, but could be Woodman).

  6. Forward planning. PH sounds much more organised than Lowe. PR had made calls to set up Gibson and Maghoma deals before the window opened, so we could do them quickly and quietly in the first few days. Porteous already identified as no.1 target for RCB so was easy to move quickly when needed. There is a regularly updated list of targets in every position which PH approves.
Plenty of interest in here and lots of other clubs fans would appreciate this sort of transparency.

What a shame about the tone though. We're much improved in the last 4-5 windows with Osmajic, Thordarson, Frokjaer, Kesler-Hayden, Greenwood, Maghoma, Holmes, Millar, Gibson, all found at relatively low cost and under the radar of other clubs.

Continue this improvement in recruitment and we'll be finishing 8th instead of 16th again before we know it!


This reads so much more accurately when you read it as; "lower than reported by idiots on Twitter" because that's all Peter has spoken to about it.

Christ, has it taken Ridsdale 14yrs to discover "forward planning" and to do things before a window opens? 😲
 
Significant news in this:
  1. Okkels. Fee lower than reported. Aberdeen buy option gives us our money back. (He’s been one of their better players in their last two matches. If they don’t want him, someone in Europe likely will, at the lower fee. We likely won’t lose much on him after all).

  2. Gibson. Fee 7-figures, but lower than reported.

  3. Bowler. We did a good job finding a taker and setting up the deal, given Forest had no interest in doing so.

  4. Osmajic. More than one club enquired about paying us a loan fee for him. A sign he’ll be a saleable asset, at a good fee, in one of the next few windows, given he has more than bigger club suitor already.

  5. Contracts. PH hasn’t wanted to push contracts for the remaining players. But PR believes they'd all likely sign if he did. So PH has the option to retain 1 or 2 if he decides to. Suggests players happy and into what PH is doing. One exception doesn’t want to discuss (I assume it's Best, but could be Woodman).

  6. Forward planning. PH sounds much more organised than Lowe. PR had made calls to set up Gibson and Maghoma deals before the window opened, so we could do them quickly and quietly in the first few days. Porteous already identified as no.1 target for RCB so was easy to move quickly when needed. There is a regularly updated list of targets in every position which PH approves.
Plenty of interest in here and lots of other clubs fans would appreciate this sort of transparency.

What a shame about the tone though. We're much improved in the last 4-5 windows with Osmajic, Thordarson, Frokjaer, Kesler-Hayden, Greenwood, Maghoma, Holmes, Millar, Gibson, all found at relatively low cost and under the radar of other clubs.

Continue this improvement in recruitment and we'll be finishing 8th instead of 16th again before we know it!

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One other comment that stood out to me in the Riddler interview. "He [Heckingbottom] is more 'pre-planned' than any other manager we've had, in the sense he's already looking to the summer recruitment".

Not the verbatim quote, but that's effectively what was said. I don't understand why it took Paul Heckingbottom to come on board for this to happen. Surely that's what we should have been doing for a long time now? It's no wonder we struggle in transfer windows if no one thought to do any transfer preparation beyond the present window.

Really surprised AN wasn't like that. Guess he's more leaving the signings up to others and then I'll just coach them but we saw real limitations to that approach if the manager isn't involved. Dumping Nugent on him in the summer of 2019 was the beginning of the end for him here given he wanted Adam Armstrong and Kieffer Moore around that period. Got Nugent and Stockley instead.
 
With Okkels I get it's tricky when documents have all been signed but Ridsdale is making out this was the last ten minutes of the window when some transfers can fall through with dodgy fax machines and then player is stuck in limbo for six months. It was early August.

I'm sure Okkels would've been disappointed a club had pulled out last minute but he'd still have weeks to get another move and he'd probably have just gone to Aberdeen six months earlier which would've been better for his career.
 
Concrete"Bob" is definitely Robert Peter Ridsdale.

Serious (off topic) question: why doesn't Peter do a (moderated) AMA?

You see it all the time in other verticals/platforms, and he could (for once) come on here in his own name, and answer (moderate) questions.

Or is that too much of a modern proposal?
 
Well that might not be a bad thing….

Hecky tells Wallace what type of player he needs and then Wallace goes and does the Scouting and PR signs the cheques…

That reminds me , I watched Damned United again the other afternoon ( isn’t retirement great ) and when Cloughie was manager at Derby he just brought players in without consulting the Chairman, Sam Longson ….

If the film is to be believed, he brought in Dave Mackay, Kevin Hector , John O’Hare and John Mc Govern without getting approval from Longson…. And then had the row with him afterwards !!

Go on Hecky, I dare you….😂😂

Dean Saunders tells a great story of how Brian Clough and Archie Gemmill turned up at his mother's house with flowers and, after about half an hour of flattery towards his mother, they spent five minutes persuading him to sign for Derby.
 
Serious (off topic) question: why doesn't Peter do a (moderated) AMA?

You see it all the time in other verticals/platforms, and he could (for once) come on here in his own name, and answer (moderate) questions.

Or is that too much of a modern proposal?

Mainly because people would use facts and quotes, and Peter doesn't like that sort of thing.
 
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