Smoulds was inevitably evasive in his post match interview today, although a little more open than he often is. He seemed to suggest that there is likely to be a player leaving over the next week before the transfer window closed, as well as refusing to rule out somebody coming in the other direction.
The rumours on the boards suggest Scunthorpe have expressed an interest in one of our strikers (surprising, they’ve hardly set the league on fire this year!), although as for which striker, nobody seems to know. Grant Holt seems the favourite amongst the theorists, given his previous almost-leaving incidents and apparently poor relationship with the manager.
Times of transfers are incredibly frustrating for us mere fans - whilst I understand that you can’t just snap your fingers as a manager and bring in players of a sufficient quality to improve the squad, the problems in certain positions to us have been so blatantly obvious it does make you wonder why we haven’t been more aggressive in the transfer market.
Look at Leeds, as a case in point, they couldn’t sign players until right before the season started - yet they have a keen squad with players for every position, which we just don’t quite seem to have right now. Certainly injuries play a part of this, but the idea of having a squad is to be able to absorb injuries.
So keep an eye on the news feeds this week, and wait for the inevitable rumour-mill furore as the transfer window draws to a halt. Certainly if we let a striker go, I’ll be very unhappy if we don’t sign at least one to replace him, preferably two really. It would be nice to have some cover for the right wing whilst Davies is out, wouldn’t it?
25 August, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Apart form Dobbin I cant see who else it is in our interest to let go ….
Today was an improvment on B’mth but we are still lacking another top striker …
What happened to the interest we had apparantley in Leon Best …didnt we have a plan b,c ,d etc why dont we ask
old Pleaters to smooth in and find us a young up and comer from a prem outfit acadmey or something …
Grant H did a lot better in the 2nd Half …and works hard for the team …we shouldnt
contenance moving him on unless WE HAVE A DEFINITE AND BETTER REPLACEMENT … cheer up a win at Bristol Rovers and things will look a lot better !
26 August, 2007 at 12:46 am
tyson or agogo just you watch…..carnage is about to happen n i think its tys.
26 August, 2007 at 1:11 am
There’s a groundswell of suggestions that it might be Commons. Interesting. I suppose we don’t have to wait too long to find out!
26 August, 2007 at 5:51 pm
heard a rumour its dobie and thats why he didnt play on sat?
26 August, 2007 at 5:57 pm
(Unsurprisingly) I heard Dobie had picked up a knock, although it’s not been reported anywhere official to my knowledge.
Maybe Millwall will be tempted by him? They took our last maligned striker off our hands, after all!
26 August, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Neil Lennon? I get the feeling he came here seeing a big club in a little league ala Celtic and expected an easy time.
Now he’s found out thats not the case maybe he wants to jump ship.
26 August, 2007 at 6:54 pm
It’s possible I suppose, but I don’t think so.
I get the sense that Lennon is relishing the challenge the Forest situation presents, and if results continue to be bad, he probably has half an eye on an opportunity to get into management should Smoulds get the boot.
26 August, 2007 at 11:21 pm
When I saw your headline I thought you meant Smoulds himself! If we lose to the Foxes and Pirates next week it just might be! Even Man U are doing better than us now (although not Derby)
26 August, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I can’t see Smoulds getting the boot for a while yet, but who knows!
There’s all manner of rumours starting now, inevitably - the most disturbing I heard so far was Clingan to Fulham for 500k! That would be a travesty as Sammy has really impressed so far this season…
27 August, 2007 at 12:13 pm
I can see the Clingan rumour being true, the Northern Ireland connection with Lawrie Sanchez makes it believable. I can’t see why Calderwood just came out and admitted it though, may be he’s preparing the fans for the worst. Without Clingan, Cohen or McGugan for the next couple of months we’d be too weak in midfield to mount a serious challenge for the top two, or on current performance, even the playoffs.