Thetownend.com

January transfer window doesn't worry Swindon Town boss Cooper
           
           


  MARK Cooper has not even contemplated how the January transfer window could impact on his Swindon Town squad.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10903503.January_transfer_window_doesn_t_worry_Swindon_Town_boss_Cooper/?ref=rss
           
           
           

Bollocks.

My thoughts exactly.  He wouldn't be much of a manager if he hadn't considered the implications of certain players leaving and who would replace them.

Doesn't Mark leave all of that to Lee Power though?  Personally, I've always thought of him as more of a Coach than a Manager.

Whoever decides on possible transfer targets, the last thing you want to do is tell the media who they are before any deals are done.

Non story

Cooper and Power as likely as not know who is coming in and who is going or likely to go and where. We all just have to sit back and wait for the bombshells and surprises.

I can't make the Crawley game, however any player absentees may well be tactical or they maybe because of ongoing negotiations, you never know. Maybe, just maybe no-one goes anywhere and we actually end up strengthening the squad! Mind you that would fall into the bombshell and surprise box.

Well If anyone does go, it wont be on the cheap. Power/Cooper whoever have shown they have an eye for a player, so whatever happens happens, I'm not unduly worried.

I don't think much will happen with outgoings until the end of Jan anyway as we are likely to hold on for the best offer as are spurs with Pritchard.  Therefore we probably got another month with most of what we got except ajose

I guess its not a bad strategy. Get a few decent loans and young kids in at the beginning of the year. Get the team safe of relegation (hopefully) and then sell for a profit. Give the next lot a chance so that they are ready to be supplemented by some decent loans the following year and repeat the plan.

Whether that is what will happen or not is anyone's guess.

would people be happy with this?

It's the same philosophy employed by Fitton, and whether we are happy with it or not, it will probably come to pass.  The only differences with Fitton's regin seems to be that are linking much mroe closely to Prem teams as a source of players than he managed to do and that a style of play seems to have been inprinted into the Managers role (a bit like Swansea to some extent).

No thanks. personally I'd rather we succeeded or failed with our OWN players - not a team whose heart is made up of other club's young starlets who will invariably depart.

How can anyone build and sustain a team when every 6 months the process has to start again.

Based on the fact that it is our stated philsophy from our Chairman, and that nearly all clubs from the top 4 in the Prem down now staff this way (see Everton as a higher profile example) since the Academy sytem came into play so the big boys hoover up all the potential talent and then loan them out, then I'd suggest you might not like football.

Yeovil have been doing this ever since they got into the football league. In that time they have been promoted twice and never relegated while we....

I don't think the concept of a team having its 'own' players holds as much water as it used to though.  Go back a few years, and your own players would probably hang around for longer than they do now before moving on; while loan players were the exception.  I think there is much less of a distinction now.  Season long loans are more common for a start.  To me, any player who spends the season with us on a season long loan is every bit as much a Swindon player as one that we sign outright and then moves elsewhere after a short period.

There is a difference tho between loan and own
Dont know if anyone else has noticed but IMHO our spurs loan players tend to pull out of a 50/50 challenges - Pritch and Mason moreso than Hall

But we are talking about Swindon. I can understand if, and why, we may sell Wes and Massimo as it will benefit our coffers at least.

What I struggle with is the talented loan players who may well disappear in January - not even a full season to either get us in the POs or stave off relegation (whichever camp you may be in).

If this is the only way we, as a club, can operate, so be it. Just I would prefer to take our chances with a side made up of players 'owned' by the club. Doesn't mean I don't like football at all - and certainly not something g that would make me stop going.

Just my preference, that's all

Two attacking midfielders not diving in full blooded. SHOCK.

And fwiw, your wrong on Pritchard. His work ethic is immense

Not on about his work ethic which sometimes is questionable anyway
I said they pull out of 50/50 challenges
And not talking about diving in but the times they pull out last minute instead of following through with a challenge.

Am sure am not the only one who has seen it happen

I agree with Bogus Dave,Pritchard worked his proverbials off yesterday and chased tirelessly. I for one intend to enjoy watching him whilst we've still got him

I think this is the nub of the matter.

Post Bosman, you only ever own a player for the term of his contract and that makes him a depreciating asset.  At the end of the term he walks free.  If he finishes with a good season,  the absence of any transfer fee applicable to an "owned" player, means he is able to enhance his contract terms - perhaps a signing on fee or a longer term contract?  Billy Paynter, anyone?

On that basis the difference between a season-long loan and a two year contract for our own player isn't so great.  We'd be looking to sell a successful "owned" player after one season anyway but paying his wages through the summer or,  in the following January transfer window at the latest.

Obv. you can give a longer contract or try and renew early into a new contract but there are commensurately greater financial commitments and risks.  Fitton and Black incorporated this strategy I believe.

The devil is in the detail of any contract, loan or permanent signing.  With only modest financial underpinning, STFC is surely right to maximise the quality of the squad it can assemble, by combining a hybrid loan - permanent approach to player acquisition.

For now I'm a bit peed off that "season-long" seems to have "unless Spurs want to sell halfway through" written into it.  At least with Ritchie, when I howled with anguish at the give-away, we had had the benefit of a player with superb attitude who had been committed to the club through thick and thin under a permanent contract.  In that sense I fully understand Audrey wanting to distinguish between loanees and own players.

I expect a couple to ship out and nobody to come in.....

52 points ASAP please and a nice JPT cup on Powers desk.

Not saying I dont enjoy watching him or he doesnt have his days
Couple of good games and everyone forgets other poor games ( or didnt see them )


From Cooper himself yesterday

Personally would like to see him stay till end of season as his performances do seem on the up, depends who comes in with an offer and what it is whether Spurs will sell him.
Cant see them pulling his loan to send him elsewhere for the 2nd half of season as they know he is playing the way they want him to here.

Spot on.  I think this is what I was trying to say...but you made the point a lot more clearly.  Post-Bosman, we have exactly the same relationship with an 'owned' player at the end of a contract as we do with a loaned player returning to his parent club: none.

By the end of January we should know what to expect in the Power years. I think we're at a crossroads so was interested in what people thought.
I'm with Audrey on this. I'd rather have our own players and see what they're made of. Alternatively, take loan players with a view to see if they are worth signing or for emergencies.
Maybe I'm old school on this and maybe as stated already the football world has moved on. 
I'm not sold on a future of blooding other teams players. I'd rather give ours a go and find a level we can sustain.

Bingo.

Wes and Lluongo is the way to go.

Sign a promising young player on loan but with a view to signing him permanently if good enough and affordable.

If by flooding the team with exciting, but on loan only, players there is less of an opportunity for an 'owned' player to make a mark and thereby making the club some money if we have to sell.

Yes, it's great to see Pritchard, Mason, Ajose et al but they are essentially short term sticking plasters.

This has more or less been the strategy for as long as I've been a fan with the exception of the Di Canio era.

We assemble a squad of freebies, a few experienced heads and invest in promising young players before selling them - Parkin, Cox, Austin and Ritchie are all perfect examples - and then fill in the gaps with loanees wherever possible. Sometimes, these loanees become permanent signings. Often, they're the bastard lovechild of Moses Ashikodi and Frank Nouble.

The key difference here is that the majority of these loans/youngsters come from the same club - allows players to settle quicker and likelier to get a Mason/Pritchard than a Slabber.

I've got no problems as long as the individual player is putting in the effort. I've thought that Mason has looked a little lazy at times but only since the injury problems. Pritchard drifts out of games but never stops running.

Don't care where we sign players from and on what basis as long as the team is competitive and not just content to finish mid table every season with the odd sale bringing in some cash - which is what I fear we face but time will tell.

I have been a fan of Pritchard from his arrival and hope he stays for the season (I think he will) but he does bottle challenges (Pikeys at home an obvious one). That said I am sure similar flair players in League 1/2 are the same and would be regardless of whether they are on loan or have come through the youth team.

Lets face it, with the odd exception we don't bring quality through the youth set up so youngsters on loan from the Premier League is the way to go.

On a shoe string budget I dread to think of some of the lower league cloggers we may have signed if it wasn't for the Spurs link...

Completely agree with Sonic's post above, on the money.

Those exceptions brought in a fair amount of money. The likes of Tozer, Henshaw, Jjutkiewicz, the keeper that went to Liverpool,  etc. Not sure if it was enough to justify the outlay though. I think I read Oldham spend around £400,000 on their setup £200,000 paid for in grants)

How does EPPP affect our thinking.

I went to an FA Coaches conference at the awesome St George's Park a couple of weeks ago and the Tottenham / Swindon "model" was referenced positively by two separate FA bigwigs. 

Like it or not, it's going to become more common, so whilst we're currently ahead of the game, I'll be supporting it in the hope we reap the benefit while we can.

As an aside, Ooh Shaun Taylor was there, not right in Plymouth clobber, but still looking immense.

I'm ok with what's going on at the minute but I think I'll call it a day if it becomes apparent that another team is dictating how we play and who we play. At that stage as far as I'm concerned we'll have lost our identity and will be nothing more than a reserve team...... Hopefully it'll never happen but if it does, it's not for me!