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given the situation they are in of course they need a short term fix but it was never going to take much to be in this position, all it took was one injury to Dykes so why they didn't prepare for this last summer rather than use the budget on loan players in positions we already had numbers in is beyond me.
Good point, I thought we had a target but Bonne screwed it up but I forget the details. Looking on the bright side we may just be filling gaps until a target of ours becomes available in the summer.
Brian where is the pathway for our young players ? What message does it said to Armstrong ? What must Kelman think ? What is the point of Tyler Roberts what a complete waste of money that was I thought the whole ethos for the club was to bring through youngsters and never have to go down the route of signing journeyman strikers to bail us out
I broadly agree with you, Paul but not sure about this instance - Roberts isn't a No. 9, Armstrong really doesn't look ready to lead the line and Kelman's out on loan.
I'd like to see us bringing through more young players as well - Dickie and Dunne, not Balogun, for instance - but with Dykes out, I can see why we had to get another No. 9.
"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
Brian where is the pathway for our young players ? What message does it said to Armstrong ? What must Kelman think ? What is the point of Tyler Roberts what a complete waste of money that was I thought the whole ethos for the club was to bring through youngsters and never have to go down the route of signing journeyman strikers to bail us out
Well, Kelman must think 'I've only scored once since August and just four times in total for the runaway League 2 leaders, I better get my act together in the last three months of the season or I may drop of out league football.' Armstrong probably thinks 'thank Christ they're not hoping I'll carry the number nine on my own for the last three months of the season, I haven't scored a professional goal yet!' And the club probably think 'we've got someone who can step in for Dykes for the next few weeks, take the heat off Armstrong and let Lowe play in his natural position, here on a short-term signing on an incentivised contract who'll be gone in May.' He'll probably play four or five games, a few sub appearances and who knows, might even score and help the three behind him play. Then again, he might not. Either way, it's very hard to get bent out of shape by it. He'll be gone in three months and all the youngsters will still be there. They just won't have been ruined playing for an impotent team in a terrible run in front of a poisonous support at the end of its collective tether.
Good point, I thought we had a target but Bonne screwed it up but I forget the details. Looking on the bright side we may just be filling gaps until a target of ours becomes available in the summer.
Pretty sure this was Jamal Lowe on loan for the whole season - which was why it happened so quickly when the Bonne situation was sorted out in early Jan. Think Clive mentioned this in the signing write up.
My main gripe with the Chris Martin signing is knowing Nick London is going to go all-in on the Coldplay jokes after his JLowe from the block crime recently.
Can already hear it when Martin goes in hard on a Millwall player on Sat..."A Rush Of Blood To The Head" from Chris Martin there, he's pleading his case to the referee saying he never meant to cause him trouble, but don't panic, the card is out and it is all yellow.
asking him if he planned to retire was being polite?
Look I get why they released him and not for a second suggesting he should have stayed but from his point of view to be told that he was basically finished and then see us sign a 34 year old 6 months later is quite funny
Well, from what I saw of Austin last season, I am AMAZED he is still playing. Off the pitch he and his family were stars, on it, he was toilet with a terrible attitude to boot. Spent a lot of the time on the pitch trying to kick the oppo and couldn't even run for longer than 40 minutes.
Martin is a much better holder up of the ball and fitter than Charlie Austin was last season even if he is older.
Face it, Austin SHOULD have retired when he left us...
Living in the South West I have a lot of Bristol City fans nearby, they are amazed he has gone to a Championship club and thought he would either retire or drop down a couple of leagues, they also have almost no positives and mainly highlighted how incredibly slow he was.
But he did score 12 last year and a few assists. Across his career almost entirely played in the championship he's a 1 in 3 man. He's clearly not a world beater but if he helps us get the 3 or 4 more wins we need to avoid relegation then we can consider it a job well done.
The thing I don't really understand is why Dykes has gone up in so many people's estimations. A little while back most were ready to cut our losses with him. He's not really torn up any trees yet his stock seems to be rising. 26 goals in 100 odd games isn't terrible but it's not great and is a worse scoring rate than Chris Martin.
Avoid relegation, sell Dykes and start afresh with a couple of new strikers if there's anyone we can bring in at a reasonable price.
That would be attempting to stick to the plan, and what I’d prefer too. Probably wouldn’t win many more but hopefully still stay up. If like me, you’re comfortable with that, this signing does rankle.
I wanted mouthy bastards to add some bollocks to this side, but ideally I was hoping we could sign some from the lower leagues who were still mobile and might become sellable, not go down the VERY short term path again.
Agreed, but this is much less worse than the signing of Beale's mate Leon, who, as well as taking a wage, blocking OUR players from playing earlier in the season, has now "downed tools" with an injury the Specialist effectively said was non-existent just because his oily mate left us in the lurch.
But he did score 12 last year and a few assists. Across his career almost entirely played in the championship he's a 1 in 3 man. He's clearly not a world beater but if he helps us get the 3 or 4 more wins we need to avoid relegation then we can consider it a job well done.
The thing I don't really understand is why Dykes has gone up in so many people's estimations. A little while back most were ready to cut our losses with him. He's not really torn up any trees yet his stock seems to be rising. 26 goals in 100 odd games isn't terrible but it's not great and is a worse scoring rate than Chris Martin.
Avoid relegation, sell Dykes and start afresh with a couple of new strikers if there's anyone we can bring in at a reasonable price.
"sell Dykes and start afresh with a couple of new strikers"
How much do you reckon we'll get for Dykes then? This being the Dykes who hasn't really ripped it up in his time with us consistently (unless in a Tartan Army shirt), was rumoured to have long COVID even BEFORE he signed for us and has (probably) missed the back end of this season due to pneumonia.
I'd be amazed if anyone offered anything over £500k. Another brilliant bit of transfer business that MIGHT prove to be by this clown show of a club.
Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal
"sell Dykes and start afresh with a couple of new strikers"
How much do you reckon we'll get for Dykes then? This being the Dykes who hasn't really ripped it up in his time with us consistently (unless in a Tartan Army shirt), was rumoured to have long COVID even BEFORE he signed for us and has (probably) missed the back end of this season due to pneumonia.
I'd be amazed if anyone offered anything over £500k. Another brilliant bit of transfer business that MIGHT prove to be by this clown show of a club.
I don't think we'll get much for him but I also don't think we'll go anywhere as a team if we stick with him. I've no idea if we'd be able to find any affordable replacements, probably not, but I'd like to see us try.
Well, from what I saw of Austin last season, I am AMAZED he is still playing. Off the pitch he and his family were stars, on it, he was toilet with a terrible attitude to boot. Spent a lot of the time on the pitch trying to kick the oppo and couldn't even run for longer than 40 minutes.
Martin is a much better holder up of the ball and fitter than Charlie Austin was last season even if he is older.
Face it, Austin SHOULD have retired when he left us...
We all recognise that Dykes’ illness means we are very short up front. We all recognise our current team is soft as sh*t and needs some mouthy, physical bastards.
As such, we understand the reasons for the signing and we all want Martin to be effective and score goals.
The issues are: We should not be resorting to signing a 34 year old on a free in Feb let go by a competitor in the league as surplus to requirements, for just a few months. It is the definition of a short term, quick fix. Whether we think they are ready or not, good enough or not, it restricts chances for our own young players. Make do was something we accepted we’d have to do… It is not part of the “sign players that have resale value” strategy we keep being told is the strategy and the only on available to the club. It certainly is not a Belk data based signing! The bloke doesn’t move much and has 1 in 17 this season. It can only have happened because Critchley has pushed for this, and, like Warburton in his last 12 months, and Beale this summer, here we are signing a player because manager wants. That isn’t the DoF model or at least what it is meant to be.
Brian where is the pathway for our young players ? What message does it said to Armstrong ? What must Kelman think ? What is the point of Tyler Roberts what a complete waste of money that was I thought the whole ethos for the club was to bring through youngsters and never have to go down the route of signing journeyman strikers to bail us out
Armstrong is fast, strong and a nuisance to defenders, but clearly isn’t ready at this level. He doesn’t have any composure nor does he make the right decisions. That late chance at Huddersfield typified this. He could have gone for goal himself or picked out Chair, but did neither.
As for Kelman, he had a great start at Leyton Orient in L2 but his form has dipped since then. He is not Championship level.
We don’t appear to have any other centre forwards at the club to promote.
As others have pointed out it was bad recruitment in the summer that left us with just Dykes and the unwanted Bonne as senior centre forwards.
Living in the South West I have a lot of Bristol City fans nearby, they are amazed he has gone to a Championship club and thought he would either retire or drop down a couple of leagues, they also have almost no positives and mainly highlighted how incredibly slow he was.
They were cheering his 12 goals last season. Fickle lot us fans.
Armstrong is fast, strong and a nuisance to defenders, but clearly isn’t ready at this level. He doesn’t have any composure nor does he make the right decisions. That late chance at Huddersfield typified this. He could have gone for goal himself or picked out Chair, but did neither.
As for Kelman, he had a great start at Leyton Orient in L2 but his form has dipped since then. He is not Championship level.
We don’t appear to have any other centre forwards at the club to promote.
As others have pointed out it was bad recruitment in the summer that left us with just Dykes and the unwanted Bonne as senior centre forwards.
How do we know he's not championship level? been here 3 seasons started 1 league game. We spent money on him as well. So much for the club giving players a chance, our idea of developing players is to send them somewhere else, it's laughable
Armstrong is fast, strong and a nuisance to defenders, but clearly isn’t ready at this level. He doesn’t have any composure nor does he make the right decisions. That late chance at Huddersfield typified this. He could have gone for goal himself or picked out Chair, but did neither.
As for Kelman, he had a great start at Leyton Orient in L2 but his form has dipped since then. He is not Championship level.
We don’t appear to have any other centre forwards at the club to promote.
As others have pointed out it was bad recruitment in the summer that left us with just Dykes and the unwanted Bonne as senior centre forwards.
Kelman not been given a chance and Armstrong has been a sub here and there How will we ever know what they can do if you don’t play them , now is the chance to give them a run of 5-10 games but no we are going for a big fat waste of space Been here before with BOS and Manning and looked what happened there
And Bowles is onside, Swinburne has come rushing out of his goal , what can Bowles do here , onto the left foot no, on to the right foot
That’s there that’s two, and that’s Bowles
Brian Moore
I look forward to the puff piece on this one. Especially after the comments you've previously aimed at both him, and the strategy that allowed Beale to bring in Balogun. The level of invective should be explosive.
Theres short term and then this. It only makes sense if Dykes is out for months. Which seems likely.
[Post edited 6 Feb 2023 22:29]
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This signing tells you all you need to know about what the club thinks about the likes of Armstrong and Roberts. Armstrong is, as someone else pointed out, “an athlete with boots on”. Personally, I don’t think he will cut it at this level. Roberts, I have concluded, is a footballing ponce and needs to sling his hook.
Martin can hardly be any worse than what we have had to put up with for the last few months….and that really is depressing.
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