Would we strengthen further in January if leading?

For me, the January window is a chance to wheel and deal a bit. Think Hagi last season and Kamara the season before that. Doubt we'll see anything drastic but we may use it as a chance to pre plan for the summer.

Squad is in a great place at the moment but we may well strengthen, if the opportunity arises of course. If we reach the last 32 of the Europa League, that may well free up some funds to strengthen.
 
The_Irrepressibles said:
At the risk of sounding pretentious, as if I'm one of the staff or something, I think we've made our position clear. We are always looking to strengthen and if needed (injuries, sales etc), or if the right player becomes available at the right price, then we'd make a move.

Think it's a never ending process.

So would we? Yes. Will we? Too many ifs, buts and maybes to answer that right now.
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Alright Stevie.
 
The_Irrepressibles said:
Not so sure about that The board have shown a willingness to sanction moves and provide funds IF it brings value to the squad, and in turn value to the business. Speculating to accumulate on future transfer fees. I know when DK stood down, there was the announcement that from now on we'd need to start balancing the books (which I'm sure we all agree with, normalising the club), but if a real bargain became available, I don't know if they would pass it by.

Edit: and just to add, for every player we bring in now, there's probably a sellable asset to go the other way too.
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Take your point.
I just don’t think there will be activity below the rich clubs.
Alfie and Borna for example could be wanted, but they are the ones we need to keep.
Players who are talked down on here Jones, Barker, Stewart won’t attract money offers during no fans, no income from the next level down.
 
If we can find a comparable right sided winger of the standard of Kent, absolutely we should strengthen.

Pretty content with the rest of the squad.
 
With the squad we have, unless someone leaves for silly money, I doubt there will be any permanent incomings. We've dipped into the January loan market several times, but we're already there with the "2 players for every position" that the gaffer wanted.
 
Fat Larry White said:
With the squad we have, unless someone leaves for silly money, I doubt there will be any permanent incomings. We've dipped into the January loan market several times, but we're already there with the "2 players for every position" that the gaffer wanted.
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We can’t risk burnout again
 
If the right player is identified and available, then you would think we would act.

Can still see the likes of Jones, Stewart, Middleton possibly leaving.

Katic maybe even on a loan depending on recovery too.
 
I think we have an actual strategy in place now, which is nice. Not just looking around the bargain basement but about filling positions and strengthening areas as required, whilst trying to operate in a profitable way.

Therefore, it depends entirely on the state of the squad and who is available come January. I think it's entirely plausible that even if we're winning well that we would invest if it's deemed the right thing to do in the footballing and business sense.
 
The_Irrepressibles said:
At the risk of sounding pretentious, as if I'm one of the staff or something, I think we've made our position clear. We are always looking to strengthen and if needed (injuries, sales etc), or if the right player becomes available at the right price, then we'd make a move.

Think it's a never ending process.

So would we? Yes. Will we? Too many ifs, buts and maybes to answer that right now.
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Agreed, someone gets injured or attracts an irresistible offer, or a long term target becomes available then we will move. We will have a moving list of targets, just as our squad will have a few that are on the radar of other teams.

At this point you'd have to say we would be happy without changing the squad, all things being equal.
 
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Hopefully we don't have to as there are usually limited options in the winter break. If we had to I suppose the quality of the buy would depend on how much money we made from Europe.
 
If the right player becomes available, i would expect Ross Wilson would be interested.
Especially if we have an injury to an important player, or we sell and need to replace a player.
 
Kimarcus said:
True BUT if we win the league suddenly we have a pretty good chance of making the Champions League group stage which would greatly increase the funds available to us. From that point of view we wouldn't want to strengthen the squad with a £2m player in January only to have him take up the place of what could have been a £5m+ player in the summer.
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Sell the £1m player he's replace in the squad then.

If we could get someone better than Jones or Barker in January for two million, I'd happily take them and have that playe drop down the pecking order with a £5m player in the summer if funds allow.

Its simply showing we're progressing again at that point.
 
Think we will only replace players who are sold maybe some forward planning to be done and snap up some players on precontracts
 
No manager is gonna pass up a chance to strengthen. But I cant see any big money getting spent unless Alfie goes.

What we need to concentrate on is not shooting ourselves in the foot the way we did last time.

When do we expect Katic back. He’s been out long enough to to be like an addition to the squad when he comes back.
 
No such thing as perfect think if he could get rid of some fringe players they would strengthen the squad.
 
4 out for me namely Edmundson, Stewart, Jones and Barker
Replace with one top quality wide man who can deliver a decent cross consistently
 
Yep, if we have the funds and the right player(s) were available. The Gaffer said he's always looking to strengthen the starting 11 and it's an ongoing project, quality over quantity. Or words to that effect
 
Coisty09 said:
I think the last two seasons have shown us that some of our players have a tendency to drop off in the second part of the season, possibly due to fatigue with European matches coming thick and fast as well as league and cup games.
Therefore, hopefully the management team will have that in mind when we hit January as a bit of freshening up may well keep the momentum going and help us over the line when it really matters.
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Fatigue doesn’t explain the magnitude of our collapse last season. I’ve no idea what causes it, hopefully the management have nailed it this time.
 
Woodsy said:
It depends on a lot of factors.
How strong we are, who is available and at what price, what business celtic do, how close they are to us etc
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It will also depend on any bids that we can’t refuse for our stars
 
The Gooner said:
Or would we be worried about upsetting the balance of the side. I don’t doubt the filth would be under enormous pressure to buy but would we?
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If Steven Gerrard gets the opportunity to improve his favoured first eleven, or even his squad, and doesn’t take it because he upsets somebody, he is being negligent.
I get the feeling he wouldn’t want to be negligent.
 
Raumdeuter said:
Gerrard & Ross Wilson would never make a conscious decision to stand still, we will strengthen if it makes sense for us to do so.
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An old adage in business “to stand still is to accelerate backwards”.
We should always be looking for the opportunity to improve.
Actually, we should be creating the opportunity to improve.
 
Graemeh89 said:
Would hardly say criminal if we are still playing really well and leading by a good few points , I can’t see point in us spending any money for them to sit on the bunch , unless it’s someone who would come straight into the 11 and we probably would struggle to find a player good enough to do that right now who we could afford.
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Apart from that no real crime has been committed, and we’re not playing word games, I’d say criminal is as good a description as any.
There is no doubt it’d be negligent.
A new signing when we’re on top, especially one that’d be looking to be starting most weeks would drag the team forward.
It would spur the true professionals amongst the players to greater efforts.
Look at how Hateley responded when we signed Ferguson.
 
Russ H said:
If the right player came along as a 20yr old that would be blooded into the team over the next 18 months then yes, a 32+ yr old then no unless needed for short term to cover an injury!

Any player we should be signing from now on should be resalable at a profit!
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I suppose somebody had to mention this drivel.
 
Kimarcus said:
We've got a big squad of 28 players now. I can't see anyone coming in unless we sell or pick up long-term injuries.
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That’s part of creating the opportunity.
The players at the bottom of the 28, the players who have contributed, all things considered, the least, get moved on and others sourced to take their place.
The source might be our youths of course but may need to be purchased.
 
AppleBear said:
I think we have an actual strategy in place now, which is nice. Not just looking around the bargain basement but about filling positions and strengthening areas as required, whilst trying to operate in a profitable way.

Therefore, it depends entirely on the state of the squad and who is available come January. I think it's entirely plausible that even if we're winning well that we would invest if it's deemed the right thing to do in the footballing and business sense.
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You touch on one of the points I was looking to make.
I reckon, maybe not in January unless it’s Morelos leaving, we’re not to far away from our transfers in and out being almost self funding.
 
The way we're playing just now, wouldn't imagine it to be likely, but if our form dips or pick up a few injuries you'd imagine may force our hand a bit, also you've got to imagine the gaffer and his team are always looking at players, so maybe if the right player became available then I guess that's a possibility, but if we keep most fit and maintain our form I wouldn't really want to unbalance the squad by adding any unnecessary new players.
 
Only if a player became available the manager thought he could not let pass us by. Especially with Champions League bounty on the line this season.
 
Graemeh89 said:
Would hardly say criminal if we are still playing really well and leading by a good few points , I can’t see point in us spending any money for them to sit on the bunch , unless it’s someone who would come straight into the 11 and we probably would struggle to find a player good enough to do that right now who we could afford.
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It would be short sightedness if we didn’t bring in at least one player in.
Bringing players in is not just about this season but beyond
New players would challenge the current squad for their positions and keep everyone on their toes
 
I'm happy with the squad at the moment the only position I'd say that needs an upgrade is when we play our wide forwards wider meaning Barker/Jones start I think we should look to find a better quality version of them to really challenge Hagi and Kent for a starting spot don't also see Greg Stewart hanging around looks to be out of favour and I can see one of Edmundson/Katic leaving either on loan or permanently as Balogun has looked an upgrade and the option on his deal will probably be taken up.
 
January is potentially a better window for us given the players we have on our books that were signed on pre contract agreements.

Lundstram for one however there are several that will be available next summer and we should be looking towards them as I would expect some of our first team will move on at the end of the season.
 
Any upgrade to the squad is always welcome. No one in that team isn't replaceable. If someone who is better quality is available at an affordable price then I would take them in.
 
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