Crawley v Swindon pre match chat and matchday thread

[dogs]

The powers above need to sign Doyle and fork out a bit if necessary. We cannot risk him being recalled.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

The powers above need to sign Doyle and fork out a bit if necessary. We cannot risk him being recalled.

I think that if push comes to shove, Power will find a way to sign him permanently if that turns out to be the only way we can hold on to him.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

On to Walsall Saturday - they’ve lost 5 on the trot.

One thing is for sure - there is no one outstanding team in this league this season. No Luton or Lincoln. Everything is up for grabs for whoever can be less shite than the others.

I’m a bit wary after yesterday as Crawley we’re unbelievably poor. The question is whether that was more down to us than them.

[ferret]

On to Walsall Saturday - they’ve lost 5 on the trot.

One thing is for sure - there is no one outstanding team in this league this season. No Luton or Lincoln. Everything is up for grabs for whoever can be less shite than the others.

I’m a bit wary after yesterday as Crawley we’re unbelievably poor. The question is whether that was more down to us than them.

It really is open - compared with L1, where there appears to really only be 1 of the 4 relegation spots up for grabs, despite the genius that Bolton have had the foresight to appoint as their assistant manager. On the other hand Stevenage, who have spent most of the season bottom of our league, are hard to beat (they’ve conceded 21 in 16 compared to Southend’s 43 in 15) and have only lost half their games.

Crawley seem to be in the Macclesfield bracket - they’ll work hard to get into the top 10, then relax and start getting spanked by a good team such as ours. Because they know, and I expect subconsciously accept, that they’re not going to get promoted.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

I think that if push comes to shove, Power will find a way to sign him permanently if that turns out to be the only way we can hold on to him.

Thing is, nobody knows what the terms of his loan are. Neither club, for whatever reason, seem inclined to let anyone know.

Could be season long with no recall, option to sign perm in January or a renegotiation completely.

I’d imagine it’s more down to Bradford not wanting the terms made public. Their fans are already spitting feathers.

[bigbobjoylove]

Not just Doyle but isn't Grant's loan up in January? The new left-back is also only on a short-term deal.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

So many imponderables...as a wise man once said 

On a side note - Credit where it is due, the pitch yesterday was superb. I know it's still fairly early in the season but it rained constantly for 90 minutes yesterday - lashing it down, not just a bit of drizzle. But it didn't cut up in the slightest and the ball was still bouncing and running true, even at the end of the game. Certainly helped our passing game, that's for sure.

[JoeMezz]

Not just Doyle but isn't Grant's loan up in January? The new left-back is also only on a short-term deal.

Believe Grant's is. Would be a massive loss because he's been MOTM in more or less every game he's played. I presume we will try get Dave off the wage bill again and go in for Grant, who completely fell out with everyone at Shrewsbury.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

The Eoin Doyle thread is currently at 23 pages on the Bantam Talk forum...it's a rather strange situation, that's for sure...

https://bantamtalk.com/index.php?threads/eoin-doyle.2889/page-23

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Believe Grant's is. Would be a massive loss because he's been MOTM in more or less every game he's played. I presume we will try get Dave off the wage bill again and go in for Grant, who completely fell out with everyone at Shrewsbury.

I don't care if we don't make a single solitary 'new' signing in the window as long as we can tie up Doyle, Yates, Grant and Donohue (who I thought was excellent yesterday) until the end of the season at least, preferably longer.

[Reg Smeeton]

Is anyone else having problems with Sky Sports match report? It cuts out at 44 secs for me..

Try this....

[Wobbly Bob]

It's a pity that the highlights don't show the passing moves that led up to a couple of the goals in full.
Things of beauty.

Bad mistake from Crawley in letting us play out from the back, with little or no pressure for pretty much the whole game.
Regardless of them having an off day or minds being elsewhere, that was our best performance of the season.
Two wins in a week, hopefully back on track and with an opportunity to improve the home record coming up.

[DiV]

The Eoin Doyle thread is currently at 23 pages on the Bantam Talk forum...it's a rather strange situation, that's for sure...

https://bantamtalk.com/index.php?threads/eoin-doyle.2889/page-23

Reminiscent of the Us-Colchester-Cureton-loan saga of 05/06.

[Kinky Tom]

I'd say we have 3 we need to get off the wage bill, TD, Broadbent and perhaps Sanokho.

Zakuani is only on until January and is clearly ahead of Broadbent so we either part ways with both and get another in or keep Zak, probably keep him, good experience and probably happy with squad player status.

Sanokho could well be a gem but hasn't made it onto the pitch once and midfield is an area we're OK in so could be sacrificed, Wellens has said good things about Ralph Graham too so could come into it if needs be.

Toums is a given, we really have to hope someone somewhere is desperate for a player like him and we can negotiate his exit.

I really don't think Doyle fits in to how Bradford want to play so think it would be unfair on him to recall him and unnecessarily frivolous on their part, if a team like Bradford have to worry about hampering us then they've failed.  He can't go elsewhere so they would have to break their budget for him to probably sit on their bench.

Grant absolutely has to be kept on, like others said he was MOTM by a mile yesterday despite a Doyle hat-trick and other very strong displays throughout the side.  He looks like he's enjoying himself and was the last player to leave the pitch yesterday.

Benda is really coming into his own and is similarly enjoying himself, geeing the crowd up and hugging fans at the end, if there is any way at all we can sin him permanently then we should.

Donohue has a brilliant left peg and is defensively sound too.  I assume insurance money from Conroy's wage (something mooted at the time of his injury) is covering his and Zakuani's so now that we know his season is written off we should be able to keep them both (or another CB) regardless of outgoings.

I imagine we'll look to send Twine out on loan too.

The starting 11 from yesterday, replacing DJ with Anderson, is probably our strongest team and is backed up with a really strong bench.

[DiV]

I know nothings about Bradford’s ins & outs but I imagine once Doyle’s wages (or a percentage of) were off they’re wage bill they *probably* spent them elsewhere.

So, I guess they’d probably have to move people off their wage bill first before they took Doyle back.
Let’s say they’ve used Doyle’s wages to bring a defender in on loan - will it unbalance their squad to send a defender back to call a striker back?


I know if I were a Bradford fan I’d expect the club to do what was necessary to bring back the leagues top goal scorer...