Phil SumblerIt is always the same at the end of a transfer window, you take a step back to look at the month as a whole with the overriding viewpoint this time being that it was a month where reality set in and the financial restraints within which we operate were clear for all to see.
It would be exceptionally easy this morning to point the fingers at a lack of “investment” and the lack of backing to the manager but we also have to take this season as a whole picture and remember that we did invest hugely in the squad over the summer with the likes of Joel Piroe and Flynn Downes and that should not be forgotten.
That last paragraph is not intended as a show of support for our ownership group but every club has a transfer budget to spend over a season and we did appear to have spent the very largest chunk of ours back in the summer which has caused natural frustrations now, especially as we as fans can see us languishing in 18th place in the Championship.
That in itself makes as an unattractive proposition to potential targets. Whilst I don’t suspect too many of us see us getting dragged into a relegation battle we cannot completely be blind to the fact that we have won just twice in our last ten league games and were in desperate need to strengthen the squad in certain places.
All month we were all clear in our view that the club needed exits to fund incomings. It was easy to get carried away with the interest in the likes of Harry Darling and Matt O’Riley but the simple fact is these players were commanding £1m+ fees and we simply did not have that kind of budget to spend in this window. There was references to a loan taken out to cover the Joe Rodon installments still due from Spurs but this was money needed to cover pretty standard running costs, the timing just made people wonder if it was linked to a transfer window. Rumours as well of potential further loans – loans that Julian Winter suggested should happen – never materialised from the ownership group which is probably a good thing in itself.
That left us in the position that we found ourselves in that, in the main, permanent deals had to be funded by exits otherwise it was loan deals as the way forward. There were exits on loan – most notably Liam Cullen, Morgan Whittaker, Liam Walsh and Steven Benda whilst Ethan Laird and Rhys Williams were both recalled early from their loan spells for two very different reasons.
In came Andy Fisher relatively early in the window as a long term first choice keeper for Russell Martin whilst loan deals for Cyrus Christie (permanent in the summer?) and Hannes Wolf were followed in the last two days by a loan deal for Finley Burns and a permanent deal for Nathaneal Ogbeta was completed in the final hour of the window.
On the face of it the deals in could well be good for the club although to date it would only be fair to judge Cyrus who appears to be an upgrade on Laird. The rest we would have to wait and see on.
There were loads of links during the month – outside of the two MK Dons players mentioned earlier there appeared to be interest in Scott Fraser, James McAtee, Josh Wilson-Esbrand as well as others but ultimately none of the interest came to anything and the facts in the public domain suggest that very few bids were placed which possibly tells its own story about what happened and what we were really trying to do.
Russell Martin seemed frustrated halfway through the window when he talked about how he “wasn’t asking for the world” and we can only speculate at this stage as to whether the budget goalposts had moved or whether he was asking for more than anybody at the club was willing – or able – to deliver. That is a discussion for the boardroom and not for the public domain is the right, and only, way for that to play out.
What the window does tell us is that the seven years in the Premier League are long since gone. We have probably now balanced the books from the dreadful financial decisions of the last couple of years there but sadly it also tells us that we don’t even now have a Joe Rodon, Dan James or Connor Roberts to be able to bring in financials to the club that allow for future strengthening. And that in itself makes us start to wonder as to what the summer window could bring.
This is not a call for huge investment into the club but more of a reality check that a club at our level in the Championship has a tough job to balance the books and nothing tells us that more than the window that closed last night.
Time will tell on the playing side of the January signings whether they are the right ones for us or not but we did get five new additions all of which we hope make us stronger as a club than we were going into the window. And that is the main thing.
Overall, a sad window for us and a reality check for many but the end result should probably not have been a surprise as the writing was on the wall very early in the month, if not before.
I am sorry but the writing was on the wall a long time before this transfer window.
The current situation is in part down to a sustained lack of investment but also to very poor decision-making by these owners, which came on the back, as you say, of the appalling decisions made during the last couple of years in the PL.
The downgrading of the academy is now coming home to roost as we don’t have the quality of youngsters coming through who can be sold for high value fees in the future. Therefore, there is no escape route out of the hole into which we which have been rapidly falling for the past few years.
We can expect the downward trajectory from the past 5yrs to continue and next year promises to be a real relegation battle.
Russell Martin is probably realising now (as did Graham Potter and Steve Cooper before him) that he is in a no win situation with these owners. Both Potter and Cooper left with their reputations enhanced (despite the vitriol directed a Cooper by some) but I suspect Martin is going to struggle in this aspect and may well be doing damage to his own career prospects.
Ultimately, the owners are protecting themselves. For those supporters who love the club (and I have for 60yrs), the most searing indictment which can be made is that these owners lack ambition for the club. This lack of ambition and any clear strategy for returning the club to its former glories of the recent past, will lead us into League 1. And Russell Martin will be back where he came from.
I agree with what most has been printed above by Phil Sumbler and Blujack. Owning a football club is a precarious business, just look at Derby, and Newcastle who will still be lucky to escape relegation even with extra money from new owners. I just wish that we were on a level playing field with a Board that actually cared for us. I still don’t understand what the Yanks would gain. Their 27 shareholders may have had Payback from our time in the Premiership and money from the sale of our players, but the well has dried up now, so what’s next for them ? They will have to sell up surely, very shortly! And we can only hope that we have new owners who actually have SCFC at heart ?