2025/26 Ins & Outs Discussion

[thewelllfan]

4 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Not signing a left back doesn't concern me too much as Johnny K can play that role as can SOD if required.  We have a good cushion over Falkirk and Hibs and be great to maintain that.

Sellik cup tieing Welsh makes no sense to me but he is going to be crucial for all of our league games

Is JK not also injured or am I imagining him coming off against Livi. 

[weeyin]

13 minutes ago, thewelllfan said:

There were definetly Lb's available we could of got James Furlong was looking for a loan move from Hull that he never got I'd of taken him to the end of the season.

As JBA said, the problem with any player is that, in January, they need to be able to immediately fit into the system. Otherwise they are better off being summer signings with a full pre-season.

Does Furlong fit into that category? I remember him bombing up the wing, but under Kettlewell he certainly wasn't coached to play all the short passes across the penalty box, or to find a man rather than punt a clearance.

As the manager said, however, clubs don't just start looking for players during the window. It's a 365 days a year process. So if we didn't bring in a new left back it's either because we couldn't find one that was ready and available, or that JBA didn't think we needed one at this point.

[joewarkfanclub]

1 hour ago, Spiderpig said:

A slightly negative assessment of the transfer window, we needed a big strong striker and we got one, we wanted to hold on to our prize assets like Maswanhise, we did and as a bonus we got a very good CB back and ready to hit the ground running, so for me it was a good window.

You mention Robinson, he is obviously still not fit and will be moved on as soon as he is, he has no future at Fir park under Askou. As for signing a left back if there is nobody available at the standard we require then we dont just sign a player for the sake of it.

We have a strong squad that has been made stronger this window getting Thor and Welsh back so we are in great shape to kick on and secure a great finish to the season, my rating for the window B+

Only slightly negative because Jens is very meticulous and hinted at getting at least one more in.

If we had covered left back it would be a B+ from me.

FWIW, Im not convinced Robinson will be straight out the door. Obviously depends if he is able to come back to peak fitness. But he is young enough and his attitude wasnt in question. I think Jens will at least have a look at him or at least test the data.

Id like to see what he is like without the ball bouncing around his ears....

[well_said]

32 minutes ago, weeyin said:

As JBA said, the problem with any player is that, in January, they need to be able to immediately fit into the system. Otherwise they are better off being summer signings with a full pre-season.

Does Furlong fit into that category? I remember him bombing up the wing, but under Kettlewell he certainly wasn't coached to play all the short passes across the penalty box, or to find a man rather than punt a clearance.

As the manager said, however, clubs don't just start looking for players during the window. It's a 365 days a year process. So if we didn't bring in a new left back it's either because we couldn't find one that was ready and available, or that JBA didn't think we needed one at this point.

Did Furlong play under Bellend?

[thewelllfan]

20 minutes ago, well_said said:

Did Furlong play under Bellend?

Furlong was the LB we signed to replace Penney when he went back to Ipswich, he played LWB for us and the delivery from wide areas from him and Max Johnston and the switch to the back 5 was basically the reason for us staying up.

[Jonesy]

I loved the relative peace and quiet of that window. That's what the January window of a properly functioning team looks like. 1 or 2 additions to add a bit of quality or something different and keeping hold of all the main squad (despite all the paper/social media talk it never felt likely to me anyone was in danger moving on). All while managing to trim the numbers down slightly getting rid of guys on the periphery, after a few seasons of having a stupid number of players on the books, and still with time for Robinson (if fit) or Halliday etc to go out on loan and cut that further.

Much better than scrambling about signing any old Eddie Nolan, Luke Plange or Steven Lawless that you can get your hands on just for the sake of it or out of sheer desperation.

[fizoxy]

7 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

I think we are in decent shape, but we will have to see how the business our peer clubs have done pans out before we can assess our expectations for the rest of the season.

C+

Who are you defining as our peer clubs? I assume you mean the likes Killie, St Mirren, and Falkirk? The first two brought in numbers because they're bad, and we're miles ahead of them. We have our best squad in years. Falkirk are loaning a bunch of players from England, which is a mixed bag. 

If you're counting the current top 5 as peer clubs, that's a different question. For us to compete with them we'll need silly money, and we dont knownif any of theor signings are any good. They were in a similar position as the other teams above, outside of hearts they all had glaring holes that needed fillers, and they all seen themselves as significantly underperformed. Our biggest concern was keeping our excellent  squad together, and we did it - that's shouldn't be understated as im sure there were decent offers flying in.

Id say the backup left back is where we missed out, but Johnny K has done well there, and no doubt we cluld shift SODs there of necessary. After that it looks like Luca Ross 

[Spit_It_Out]

Best transfer window ever and listening to JBA Dundee presser we held firm and didn't buckle to any nonsense pennies in the pocket bids instead of pounds!

What a time to be a Well fan more than happy what has went on same faces that's took us to where we are instead of a team filled with loan faces we shall forget ever came through the doors of Fir Park

Pretty disappointed to hear disgruntled voices we don't need another left back why?Cause big Jens says so!

Up the Well!

[fizoxy]

Adding to the above, I think the marketing of the transfer window has conditioned fans to expect something on deadline day, and to be disappointed if we dont get an announcement. Transfer speculation is a big part of being a fan, so I get it. 

However, if you need to sign a bunch of folk in Jan, it's usually because the first half didnt go well, and having to sign players on the last day of any window seems like bad organization and scraping the bottom of the barrel.

There was similar disappointment at the end of the summer window, even though we had done significant business early so that the team could bed in (although no one could have predicted the success rate we got from that signing group). So I think some people just like announcements.