Transfer rumours !

gloswhite wrote:Here I am, nearly midnight, and I still can't find confirmation that we have sold Clough. In fact, Sky is still saying that we rejected two bids, but nothing further.

Official BWFC twitter just posted this Glos -

#BWFC can confirm that @ZachClough has joined @NFFC for an undisclosed fee. #DeadlineDay

Everybody associated with #BWFC would like to thank Zach for all his efforts and wish him the very best in his future endeavours.

Iles -

12:00am
Confirmed - Zach Clough has signed a four-and-a-half year deal at Nottingham Forest. Fee reported to be around £3million.

Balls!

karlypants wrote:Balls!

You have to hope that KA knows what he is doing.  We now have lost two prized youngsters in two years.  Will today make our squad stronger or not?

I'm hoping that Clough's replacements provide the experience we need now, with immediate benefits, rather than wait for him to continue his development at a time we need to push on. We may not be in such a good position if we lose this charge we are in the middle of.

gloswhite wrote:I'm hoping that Clough's replacements provide the experience we need now, with immediate benefits, rather than wait for him to continue his development at a time we need to push on. We may not be in such a good position if we lose this charge we are in the middle of.

ALF is Clough's replacement. He might be almost 10 years older and not our player but he and Clough have an almost identical goal scoring ratio - and the club has netted a much-needed £3 million. Obviously that will be needed to find a permanent replacement for Clough at some point down the road, but for now it should keep the wolf from the door.

As for "this charge we are in the middle of" - we seem to be charging down the table and out of the cup recently so I think a full retreat is our best chance of returning to winning ways. My concern is that Parky has no intention of changing the system other than to try for a bit more width and pace so I think it will all come down to how good these guys turn out to be and whether they can be a genuine attacking threat or not.

gloswhite wrote:I'm hoping that Clough's replacements provide the experience we need now, with immediate benefits, rather than wait for him to continue his development at a time we need to push on. We may not be in such a good position if we lose this charge we are in the middle of.

I think this will only be a marginal improvement. Losing Clough is bad news- but as Nat says he drifted in and out of games, moments of excellence (like free kicks in front of goal) but rather lightweight on the ball. But losing him is a negative.
If Clayton and Vela can play better through the channels, and convince Spearing that passing forwards is actually allowed in the rules of the game, and we can add to this better use of Madines knockdowns by Alf then we might end up  tactically better.
But Clough was the one who had the guile and I can't see that being replaced by the signings he made.
But that's where we are at now and to be frank, I'm not particularly hopeful that we're much better of after the window has now closed.

Wander, we may have lost our way a little recently, but when you look at our overall situation, and compare it to recent years, I would still think its a charge, (for us anyway   )

gloswhite wrote:Wander, we may have lost our way a little recently, but when you look at our overall situation, and compare it to recent years, I would still think its a charge, (for us anyway   )

Bit of a stretch that amigo
I suppose we have less chance of relegation than we have had in recent years...

We are way way worse off than we were in December, we won 9 on the bounce at home, we had the best young prospect in Div 1 (Sheffield fans were praying we sold Clough in Jan) We had Ameobe the most unpredictable forward in the Division.

We let one go and failed to get the other back, Proctor & Taylor out, fine with that but just saying a player has pace doesn't mean anything.

Woolery had pace, Anderson had pace no impact, so Long the Jury is out, My fear is that ALF two years on may not produce, if i remember he needed a few games to get going last time, fine if we had the other two, but we don't.

 The kid from Brum i hope he does well but how many wingers come only to be a total let down.

Ok Clough was lightweight, ok he drifted out of games, but he had real quality he can turn a game in a split second. i cannot see how this was anything other than a really poor window, but except that finances dictate (sold cheap). To make things worse Omar Bogle the one player i would loved us to sign went to Wigan.

Sammy just come on as sub for Newcastle.

wessy wrote:Ok Clough was lightweight, ok he drifted out of games, but he had real quality he can turn a game in a split second.

How many games has Clough turned this season?

I'd say none.

Could have changed the game on Saturday. Missed a great chance to put us two up.

wessy wrote: To make things worse Omar Bogle the one player i would loved us to sign went to Wigan.

He's a unit and exactly the kind of lower league player worth a punt (£750k wasn't it?) to produce at Championship level. Untried at that level, but has passed every test so far and was phenomenal for Grimsby.
Sadly, we weren't in a position to offer a transfer fee and Wigan were. They may have gotten a bargain there.

Wigan got rid of a PROVEN goalscorer at championship level and replaced him with a risky bit of business in Bogle. Their loss our gain, they're going down regardless

With two squad slots still available now that Clough has gone Parky seems intent on moving for Morais - another winger who doesn't score many goals. I don't know why he's being signed other than the fact that Parky knows him. He's 31 and has hung around the lower divisions and Scottish League for years without doing much. Hopefully that will fall through. 
We have another space anyway - what can Parky do to fill it with someone who would add value to the squad? Is he allowed to take loans now that the January window is closed?

Morais has just signed on till end of the season.

Boggersbelief wrote:Morais has just signed on till end of the season.

Jobs for the boys...

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wessy wrote:Ok Clough was lightweight, ok he drifted out of games, but he had real quality he can turn a game in a split second.

How many games has Clough turned this season?

I'd say none.

Well without thinking how about Bury, Northampton, Oldham, Coventry.

Are you sure you actually go to a match.

wanderlust wrote:

Boggersbelief wrote:Morais has just signed on till end of the season.

Jobs for the boys...

Well it's a hell of an upgrade from Chris Taylor, so he'll do for me.