Potential New Strikers?

[usagullmichigan]

As SG said but to be honest this has been the case in my entire TUFC supporting life 28 years. No point in moaning now.

[Dave]

Totaly agree U.S.A.M , our club had a limited budget when I saw my first game back 1980, in fact I now realise back then the club was living on borrowed time. The club had the same limited budget in 1991, 2004, it had the same limited budget during the course of our 5 trips to Wembley and our visit to Old Trafford. Our wage structure and location has not stopped us from atrracting both Scottish and Northern based players in the past or present nor has it stopped from signing the odd player many would agree was slightly out of our league, for me we do have an awful habbit of playing the victims, there are many league 2 clubs in the same boat, some even worse off than us.

That said you will not find me arguing with Dave SG on his main points about the clubs finances or the way it is managed by the board, our club does have to live with in it's means and thankfully our board will not put our club at risk which is what we want long term. For me the future of the club is bright, infrustructure is now built so the club will be able to commit little more money towards the playing side, and the youth system is now starting to deliver big time which is vital for us.

I dont buy into this spinal surgery argument, yes we lost good players however the replacments are either better or good enough, I did not believe this at the start of the season but do now, the only real loss that has not been properly replaced is Eunan O'Kane.

Despite what I may have said I am not entirely convinced that a striker is the answer, Cheltenham play with a very similar one up front system, the difference is they hung on the Marlon Pack, they also have two out and out wingers with genuine pace and both direct in Mohamed and McGlashen. they are the auto promotion race and their top goal scorer with 6 goals was Zebroski and they have sacked him.

We have been unlucky this time around with injuries, and maybe if we had not commited a slice of the budget on Cruise and tried to fill the hole left by Eunan long with a bit more luck as said on the injury front we might be 10 points further up the league now.

[Yellow4life]

Jason Scotland? Yes, highly likely to cost to much but I thought I'd add his name in... Just been released at Ipswich.

[Richinns]

Only in a dream Yellow! - likely he will end up at a rich League 1 club

[stevegull]

No chance would Scotland end up here. As Ling says, "get real."

We can always hope though Y4L!

I wouldn't be surprised if Ling went North of the border to try and find some untapped and cheap talent plying their trade in the Scottish Leagues.

[CP Gull]

A bit disappointing that after seemingly looking for a loan striker to bring in for quite literally months now, that our first target apparently isn't keen on a move down here, albeit only a temporary one.

You would like to think with all the free time on our hands during December and January - after all we really didn't play that many games - that we would have done all our research and identified suitable targets who we knew would be happy to move down here!

Of course, typically, we are now left in a situation whereby with Martin Ling rather worryingly still poorly it seems, that we are now left with Simon Baker and Shaun Taylor to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately they don't exactly fill you with confidence that they will be able to get someone in in time - either way even if we do, then whoever does arrive will have had little or no time at all to train/bed themselves in. Personally I would have liked to have seen TWO additions brought in as we are ridiculously light up front now that Howe is out, but I guess we will be lucky to get one in for Saturday now.

It all seems a little too little, too late, to me. Personally I think we should have made our move in early January and unfortunately our " penny pinching" looks like catching up with us. Ultimately the cost of 1 months extra wages doesn't amount to much in the big scheme of things - we earnt £10k from Sky which was an unexpected windfall for one thing, and now we are left scrambling around it seems trying desperately to bring someone in, without the Manager being fully involved in negotiations, albeit no doubt being consulted at every turn.

With some very tough looking games coming up and us still playing catch up in terms of games played, we are running the real risk of getting sucked in to the relegation battle if we are not very careful and if we do then you feel we only have ourselves to blame as I really don't think we should have had any concerns with the squad we have got, but it's clear we lack real strength in depth and we are weak in one or two areas but despite all that, you feel if we had pushed the boat out just a little with 2 or 3 sensible additions we wouldn't have any worries.

Actually I think we could, and perhaps should, have made one or two tough decisions last month to release some of those fringe players who are out of contract in the summer. This would have cost us some money up front but would have freed up place(s) in the squad and more importantly free up some wages. You only have to look at what the likes of Cheltenham, Rotherham and one or two others have done to see that not only did they bring players in but they also made some big calls with moving players on, and not just "fringe" players either.

Our lack of decisive action on both counts I.e. moving players in and moving players out last month could end up costing us if we are not very careful. The lack of any news on new contract negotiations with the likes of Howe, Saah and Downes (all FREE to leave in the summer) is also a major concern.

[Richinns]

A bit disappointing that after seemingly looking for a loan striker to bring in for quite literally months now, that our first target apparently isn't keen on a move down here, albeit only a temporary one.

You would like to think with all the free time on our hands during December and January - after all we really didn't play that many games - that we would have done all our research and identified suitable targets who we knew would be happy to move down here!

Of course, typically, we are now left in a situation whereby with Martin Ling rather worryingly still poorly it seems, that we are now left with Simon Baker and Shaun Taylor to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately they don't exactly fill you with confidence that they will be able to get someone in in time - either way even if we do, then whoever does arrive will have had little or no time at all to train/bed themselves in. Personally I would have liked to have seen TWO additions brought in as we are ridiculously light up front now that Howe is out, but I guess we will be lucky to get one in for Saturday now.

It all seems a little too little, too late, to me. Personally I think we should have made our move in early January and unfortunately our " penny pinching" looks like catching up with us. Ultimately the cost of 1 months extra wages doesn't amount to much in the big scheme of things - we earnt £10k from Sky which was an unexpected windfall for one thing, and now we are left scrambling around it seems trying desperately to bring someone in, without the Manager being fully involved in negotiations, albeit no doubt being consulted at every turn.

Agree with every bit of that. How are we supposed to play as a team when our focal point (if we get one that is!) will be a complete stranger!

[AustrianAndyGull]

A bit disappointing that after seemingly looking for a loan striker to bring in for quite literally months now, that our first target apparently isn't keen on a move down here, albeit only a temporary one.

You would like to think with all the free time on our hands during December and January - after all we really didn't play that many games - that we would have done all our research and identified suitable targets who we knew would be happy to move down here!

Of course, typically, we are now left in a situation whereby with Martin Ling rather worryingly still poorly it seems, that we are now left with Simon Baker and Shaun Taylor to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately they don't exactly fill you with confidence that they will be able to get someone in in time - either way even if we do, then whoever does arrive will have had little or no time at all to train/bed themselves in. Personally I would have liked to have seen TWO additions brought in as we are ridiculously light up front now that Howe is out, but I guess we will be lucky to get one in for Saturday now.

It all seems a little too little, too late, to me. Personally I think we should have made our move in early January and unfortunately our " penny pinching" looks like catching up with us. Ultimately the cost of 1 months extra wages doesn't amount to much in the big scheme of things - we earnt £10k from Sky which was an unexpected windfall for one thing, and now we are left scrambling around it seems trying desperately to bring someone in, without the Manager being fully involved in negotiations, albeit no doubt being consulted at every turn.

Good post CP. I pretty much said we needed one if not two bringing in 3 months ago and was tod to stop moaning. Also i highlighted a few of your points consistently in other posts before too and upset some people. Will you get the same now i wonder? You're post is entirely correct, valid and agreeable.

It's a total embarrassment.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Even if we get someone in now, it's too late.

[PlainmoorRoar]

Even if we get someone in now, it's too late.

why?

Dont understand all this constant negativity, the over achievements of the last 2 seasons have turned some people crazy!

[Richinns]

why?

Dont understand all this constant negativity, the over achievements of the last 2 seasons have turned some people crazy!

It is the lack of pro-activeness to the fact we are slowly but surely being sucked into the relegation equation. As a club (on the playing front alone I must add here) we are extremely re-active to certain circumstances (and we are even slow at that!).

All the recent good work off the field could be stupidly undone if we surrender our league status on it.

[CP Gull]

I should add that I don't think we have any real genuine concerns about getting relegated(not just yet anyway!), but I do feel the season is in danger of just fizzling out, when just a little prudent investment last month may just have seen us still in with a real shot at the play offs. The downside is that this will undoubtedly impact on crowds over the remaining 10 home games and of course will affect our income accordingly. Personally I am happy to settle for mid table consolidation this season after all the off field investment but I do think we could and should have acted more decisively last month, if only to keep the interest in this season alive for just a little longer. As in any business, you have to make these sort of decisions all the time, I just feel we could and should have been more proactive last month.

I also feel a little sorry for those guys in the squad who have performed really well for us this season, we all know who they are, some of those players would certainly not be out of place in a promotion chasing team, but unfortunately their commitment and consistency hasn't been matched by others in and around the squad and it makes you wonder whether they might decide that a move elsewhere might be in their best interests in the summer.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I should add that I don't think we have any real genuine concerns about getting relegated(not just yet anyway!), but I do feel the season is in danger of just fizzling out, when just a little prudent investment last month may just have seen us still in with a real shot at the play offs. The downside is that this will undoubtedly impact on crowds over the remaining 10 home games and of course will affect our income accordingly. Personally I am happy to settle for mid table consolidation this season after all the off field investment but I do think we could and should have acted more decisively last month, if only to keep the interest in this season alive for just a little longer. As in any business, you have to make these sort of decisions all the time, I just feel we could and should have been more proactive last month.

I also feel a little sorry for those guys in the squad who have performed really well for us this season, we all know who they are, some of those players would certainly not be out of place in a promotion chasing team, but unfortunately their commitment and consistency hasn't been matched by others in and around the squad and it makes you wonder whether they might decide that a move elsewhere might be in their best interests in the summer.

Again CP, a perfect post and without wishing to sound like a tw*t, i said this 3 months back. Like you say, just a little pro activeness in the right areas when required and we could be hanging on in there, instead total apathy in this area has got most people looking towards the bottom of the table when there was/ and still might be a realistic chance of going for a play off spot. I said it would be too late to bring anyone in now because, in terms of getting momentum going and going for the play offs, the calibre of player we could add in a matter of hours and with our (sick of saying this - limited budget) wouldn't help us at all. Like CP says, Lings inactivity will see the season fizzle out at best and at worst put us in some plop and he would actually be responsible for it when it could all have been avoided. I'd like to see the board and Ling if we end up in the BSP, hindsights a wonderful thing but in the hope that they don't have to reflect on it come the summer, they should've done some business well before Christmas. It's scrimping to the extreme and they should appear on that TV show. I'll chip in £50 towards a loanees weekly wage if it helps and i've not got a pot to relieve urine in.

CP is spot on so have a go at him please. :na:

[ROADRUNNER]

martin ling is trying hard to secure the signature of rene howe and has been for a while, also he is aware of people like downes and saah havent been forgotten, talks are ongoing, but there will be a clear out in the summer as martin ling is aware of the problems and where he needs to strenghen, he has a list of 6 names on his priority list.

[Plymouth Gull]

6 potential signings or 6 current players he wants to keep on? I really hope Rene stays on!