January transfer window

[Biscuit goalie]

Well! I think we did OK after all the talk of everyone leaving, 2 out and 1 in seems a good window to me. Now to secure safety and continue to try and rid RFC of this awful owner.

[Hendo]

It was said so much that there was going to be a massive fire sale, so many people were so sure of it. Didn't materialise, did it?

Losing Smith is a big blow, there is no doubt about that. But if the fee was anything close to £2m, you'd be stupid to turn it down. Even if he hung around for another 6 months, I don't think we're getting anything close to that in the summer. Wrexham pushing for promotion pushed the fee up.

The Bindon sale was inevitable, the guy is going right to the top of the game and was never going to sign another deal, so to get any fee, any sell on %-age and for him to be loaned back for the rest of the season is a win for all parties involved. Like Olise, will be watching his career keenly and I really hope he kicks on. Saw some people on Twitter say they can't understand why we didn't get a similar amount for Bindon when compared to Smith. I mean, it's not hard to work out when one player has 18 months left on his contract and one has 6.

Keeping hold of Garcia does seem a little bit of an odd one, especially if the fee mentioned was banded about, but we may have rejected it due to Saints not willing to loan him back - feel like that may have been a deal-breaker due to our lack of cover at full-back. He is young and pretty raw, but the sky seems to be the limit for him as well, and could well command a bigger fee in the summer, or this time next year - this is exactly how the academy should work and funds it's own running.

Bringing in Bodin, don't really know a lot about him - will be interesting to see how he goes. If he chips in with anything more than 5 goals over the next few months, I'd deem that a success.

Bouzanis leaving - yeah, should've happened about a year ago, really odd signing, but there we are.

All in all, could've been an absolute car crash of a month, but in the end, we've come out of it with the majority of the main players still in place, so I'll be taking that as a win.

[Hound]

No fire sale no, but we’ve pulled in a huge amount of money

Still can’t really believe we got 2m for Smith as seems to be the case. If Wrexham hadn’t made that offer suspect we may have had to offload a few more

Bindon was always going to go and it’s worked out well for us, esp if we have a sell on. Again can’t quite believe we managed to get that in there as we were hardly in a strong negotiating position - maybe other clubs were interested as well

Either way it’s fantastic work from Carey if he is behind this. It’ll keep us going for the rest of the season and quite possibly into next. How successful Abbey, Holmes etc have been shows we did pretty well there as well

Inc the Olise money we’ve had some serious money coming in for transfers for a L1 club

[Sutekh]

No fire sale no, but we’ve pulled in a huge amount of money

Still can’t really believe we got 2m for Smith as seems to be the case. If Wrexham hadn’t made that offer suspect we may have had to offload a few more

Bindon was always going to go and it’s worked out well for us, esp if we have a sell on. Again can’t quite believe we managed to get that in there as we were hardly in a strong negotiating position - maybe other clubs were interested as well

Either way it’s fantastic work from Carey if he is behind this. It’ll keep us going for the rest of the season and quite possibly into next. How successful Abbey, Holmes etc have been shows we did pretty well there as well

Inc the Olise money we’ve had some serious money coming in for transfers for a L1 club

Shame it can’t be used for what a normal club would use it for. Thanks Dai.

[stealthpapes]

It was said so much that there was going to be a massive fire sale, so many people were so sure of it. Didn't materialise, did it?

Losing Smith is a big blow, there is no doubt about that. But if the fee was anything close to £2m, you'd be stupid to turn it down. Even if he hung around for another 6 months, I don't think we're getting anything close to that in the summer. Wrexham pushing for promotion pushed the fee up.

The Bindon sale was inevitable, the guy is going right to the top of the game and was never going to sign another deal, so to get any fee, any sell on %-age and for him to be loaned back for the rest of the season is a win for all parties involved. Like Olise, will be watching his career keenly and I really hope he kicks on. Saw some people on Twitter say they can't understand why we didn't get a similar amount for Bindon when compared to Smith. I mean, it's not hard to work out when one player has 18 months left on his contract and one has 6.

Keeping hold of Garcia does seem a little bit of an odd one, especially if the fee mentioned was banded about, but we may have rejected it due to Saints not willing to loan him back - feel like that may have been a deal-breaker due to our lack of cover at full-back. He is young and pretty raw, but the sky seems to be the limit for him as well, and could well command a bigger fee in the summer, or this time next year - this is exactly how the academy should work and funds it's own running.

Bringing in Bodin, don't really know a lot about him - will be interesting to see how he goes. If he chips in with anything more than 5 goals over the next few months, I'd deem that a success.

Bouzanis leaving - yeah, should've happened about a year ago, really odd signing, but there we are.

All in all, could've been an absolute car crash of a month, but in the end, we've come out of it with the majority of the main players still in place, so I'll be taking that as a win.

Solid win.
I'm guessing we're on a one-in one-out basis with playing staff, so replacing Smith had to be the priority.
Hopefully the removal of some of the doubt and uncertainty helps on the pitch as well.

[Snowflake Royal]

Although the circumstances requiring it so urgently, and the timing, are far from ideal. This is really how the club should be run moving forward.

A sale or two a season help fund the club.

[Hendo]

It was said so much that there was going to be a massive fire sale, so many people were so sure of it. Didn't materialise, did it?

Losing Smith is a big blow, there is no doubt about that. But if the fee was anything close to £2m, you'd be stupid to turn it down. Even if he hung around for another 6 months, I don't think we're getting anything close to that in the summer. Wrexham pushing for promotion pushed the fee up.

The Bindon sale was inevitable, the guy is going right to the top of the game and was never going to sign another deal, so to get any fee, any sell on %-age and for him to be loaned back for the rest of the season is a win for all parties involved. Like Olise, will be watching his career keenly and I really hope he kicks on. Saw some people on Twitter say they can't understand why we didn't get a similar amount for Bindon when compared to Smith. I mean, it's not hard to work out when one player has 18 months left on his contract and one has 6.

Keeping hold of Garcia does seem a little bit of an odd one, especially if the fee mentioned was banded about, but we may have rejected it due to Saints not willing to loan him back - feel like that may have been a deal-breaker due to our lack of cover at full-back. He is young and pretty raw, but the sky seems to be the limit for him as well, and could well command a bigger fee in the summer, or this time next year - this is exactly how the academy should work and funds it's own running.

Bringing in Bodin, don't really know a lot about him - will be interesting to see how he goes. If he chips in with anything more than 5 goals over the next few months, I'd deem that a success.

Bouzanis leaving - yeah, should've happened about a year ago, really odd signing, but there we are.

All in all, could've been an absolute car crash of a month, but in the end, we've come out of it with the majority of the main players still in place, so I'll be taking that as a win.

Solid win.
I'm guessing we're on a one-in one-out basis with playing staff, so replacing Smith had to be the priority.
Hopefully the removal of some of the doubt and uncertainty helps on the pitch as well.

Yeah, much like Azeez, had to replace like-for-like given the squad needs. Would imagine if a CM had left, we may have got someone else in a different position as we seem to be relatively ok there.

Yeah, hopefully so, they will hopefully have 1 single focus now.

Would also say, we did well to hold onto players with only 1 game left in the window, nearly maximised everyone's availability. Smith could've left right at the beginning of the window and it would've been much worse.

[Hendo]

Although the circumstances requiring it so urgently, and the timing, are far from ideal. This is really how the club should be run moving forward.

A sale or two a season help fund the club.

In a normal situation, 100% agree. At League One level, getting a striker on a free and selling him for £2m 18 months later, perfect business model.

Unfortunately, it our situation it's a little different, but that's the hand we've got to play at the moment.

[Hound]

I’d love to know who was behind the signings of Smith, Knibbs, Bindon and co and likewise the sales of Smith, Holmes and Bindon again

Whoever it is deserves a very big medal

[Hendo]

I’d love to know who was behind the signings of Smith, Knibbs, Bindon and co and likewise the sales of Smith, Holmes and Bindon again

Whoever it is deserves a very big medal

Would imagine Brian Carey played a massive role.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I’d love to know who was behind the signings of Smith, Knibbs, Bindon and co and likewise the sales of Smith, Holmes and Bindon again

Whoever it is deserves a very big medal

Dai and Kia.

[LUX]

[quote="Snowflak

In a normal situation, 100% agree. At League One level, getting a striker on a free and selling him for £2m 18 months later, perfect business model.

Plus that striker performed well ( swoon)

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

I’d love to know who was behind the signings of Smith, Knibbs, Bindon and co and likewise the sales of Smith, Holmes and Bindon again

Whoever it is deserves a very big medal

Would imagine Brian Carey played a massive role.

It was all down to Carey. He has a very good rep out there.

[Hendo]

I’d love to know who was behind the signings of Smith, Knibbs, Bindon and co and likewise the sales of Smith, Holmes and Bindon again

Whoever it is deserves a very big medal

Would imagine Brian Carey played a massive role.

It was all down to Carey. He has a very good rep out there.

Hi Brian!

[Hound]

I’d love to know who was behind the signings of Smith, Knibbs, Bindon and co and likewise the sales of Smith, Holmes and Bindon again

Whoever it is deserves a very big medal

Would imagine Brian Carey played a massive role.

It was all down to Carey. He has a very good rep out there.

Bowen certainly seemed to be some part of the original signings - but does seem Carey has been involved throughout

Obvs those signings of Savage, Elliott and even Perreira may one day bring us in a few quid as well for no original outlay

[Vision]

Would imagine Brian Carey played a massive role.

It was all down to Carey. He has a very good rep out there.

Bowen certainly seemed to be some part of the original signings - but does seem Carey has been involved throughout

Obvs those signings of Savage, Elliott and even Perreira may one day bring us in a few quid as well for no original outlay

I suspect for the most part Carey identified them and silver tongued Bowen sold them the horse shit of the club's vision to get them to sign.

Either way, under the circumstances could be regarded as one our best windows (couple of weeks between embargoes) ever.

[Snowflake Royal]

It was all down to Carey. He has a very good rep out there.

Bowen certainly seemed to be some part of the original signings - but does seem Carey has been involved throughout

Obvs those signings of Savage, Elliott and even Perreira may one day bring us in a few quid as well for no original outlay

I suspect for the most part Carey identified them and silver tongued Bowen sold them the horse shit of the club's vision to get them to sign.

Either way, under the circumstances could be regarded as one our best windows (couple of weeks between embargoes) ever.

Absolutely in the old days you generally brought in fewer players, and there's no stinkers, few meh and loads of hits.

[morganb]

Reading have the option of a free agent but won't rush anything

(Earnshaw via Hunt on Twitter https://x.com/james_e1871/status/188754 ... 96I7g&s=19 )

[stealthpapes]

If Bouzanis leaving means we can bring in someone who might contribute to wing back or centre midfield (defenisively), then I think he's done us an absolute sterling one there. Cheers.

[Crowbar6753]

Reading have the option of a free agent but won't rush anything

(Earnshaw via Hunt on Twitter https://x.com/james_e1871/status/188754 ... 96I7g&s=19 )

That's huge......it has to be either a LB or CB for me. With Yids and Abrefa gaining fitness then the RB spot is covered. Midfield is fine with plenty of options and the wide positions and now attack is just about covered.
LB has been our Achilles heel all season.
Really don't know who is out there though, need one of the experts to do some diggin.