Stickied Confirmed Signings 2024/25

[John Still]

It’s most definitely more difficult, there are several big clubs not just one or two and those that are not considered big have money behind them. Only a handful of teams are relegation fodder these days, last season was total one off in terms of teams not bothering and who can blame them as whole season was shit show thanks to the league.

 

[Clem Fandango]

Nah it’s nothing on the notorious Chesterfield/Gloucester City of last season believe me…

Clem Fandango not been seen since

Still here, somehow resisted taking the absolute piss when Notts scored in the last minute Good luck with the season ahead, see Rowe is making more friends there with the amount of staff heading out the door...

 

[Son of Cod]

not sure i agree, but fair enough and take your point, when you’ve the likes of dover and barnet basically giving up, chesterfield furloughing staff willy nilly as and when suits. the 3 instances make a mockery of the league

luton cambridge and lincoln didn’t even make the playoffs that season. certainly looks a poorer quality the last few seasons

Lincoln's budget was like 500k before The Cowleys invented football, that was the Paul Buckle season for Luton when they were pretty poor and Cambridge were never a particularly strong team for three or so seasons prior to them winning the playoffs. So I don't think those examples really back your argument up.

I'm not completely disagreeing with you though. The race for the top 5 was always very competitive last time we were down here. Some of the players that I've read on here that are apparently top players in the division now are very surprising. Obviously players can improve, but I think the top of the division getting weaker might also be a factor in this. EnglishRed has probably got it nailed on in his assessment in that the the lower/mid section of the division is now a lot stronger than it used to be.

 

[jacobncfc]

Lincoln's budget was like 500k before The Cowleys invented football, that was the Paul Buckle season for Luton when they were pretty poor and Cambridge were never a particularly strong team for three or so seasons prior to them winning the playoffs. So I don't think those examples really back your argument up.

I'm not completely disagreeing with you though. The race for the top 5 was always very competitive last time we were down here. Some of the players that I've read on here that are apparently top players in the division now are very surprising. Obviously players can improve, but I think the top of the division getting weaker might also be a factor in this. EnglishRed has probably got it nailed on in his assessment in that the the lower/mid section of the division is now a lot stronger than it used to be.

Think I’ve had this convo before, but I used to do a weird data collecting job at uni that involved going to loads of National League games, around the Luton/Mansfield/Cambridge time.

Taken as a whole, the league now is much stronger for me, but the top five or six probably aren’t (I wonder whether this might change this next year or two with a proper bottleneck forming). There’s basically no one left that just gets rolled over by everyone all the time. Chorley are probably the closest since we came down, and they got relegated by quite a big margin, but with some good players. I think they’d have been comfortably mid-table at this level a decade ago.

 

[Wooderson]

I have nothing to compare it to as it is our first stint here, but it feels pretty competitive to me. There are less than a handful of places you’d go fully expecting three points.

 

[batterrasea]

In at Weymouth:

Keeper - Ross Fitzsimons Ex Stockport
CB - Tyler Cordner Ex AFC Bournemouth and Southend (loan)
Fwd - Ahkeem Rose Ex Dover

 

[jacobncfc]

Fitzsimons is a decent ‘keeper at this level. Bit short and dodgy on crosses, but a good shot stopper and great distribution.

 

[Gladders]

Sounds like there are no rubbish sides anymore compared to previous, but the top sides are not as good as the top sides from before.

Resulting in a more competitive league.

 

[batterrasea]

Fitzsimons is a decent ‘keeper at this level. Bit short and dodgy on crosses, but a good shot stopper and great distribution.

Yes, I thought from his signing-on pic he wasn't the tallest. I Just hope having two big centre-backs in front of him will help. We've been spoiled the last couple of seasons, what with both Mark Travers (on loan from AFCB and now their No.2) and Ethan Ross being top-drawer keepers, so he's got a lot to live up to.

 

[Son of Cod]

Think I’ve had this convo before, but I used to do a weird data collecting job at uni that involved going to loads of National League games, around the Luton/Mansfield/Cambridge time.

Taken as a whole, the league now is much stronger for me, but the top five or six probably aren’t (I wonder whether this might change this next year or two with a proper bottleneck forming). There’s basically no one left that just gets rolled over by everyone all the time. Chorley are probably the closest since we came down, and they got relegated by quite a big margin, but with some good players. I think they’d have been comfortably mid-table at this level a decade ago.

I think I remember you mentioning that job before, was it one of those dodgy betting ones or more of a stat related one?

 

[Stocky]

Yes, I thought from his signing-on pic he wasn't the tallest. I Just hope having two big centre-backs in front of him will help. We've been spoiled the last couple of seasons, what with both Mark Travers (on loan from AFCB and now their No.2) and Ethan Ross being top-drawer keepers, so he's got a lot to live up to.

Fitzsimons didn't play a second for us. Joined mid season to add more back up to Hinchliffe but obviously never showed enough in training to push him at any point. We've got Ethan Ross at ours now and the feeling is he could really push Hinchliffe to be the number one.

 

[jacobncfc]

I think I remember you mentioning that job before, was it one of those dodgy betting ones or more of a stat related one?

Dodgy betting ones! Just running the like ‘live screen’ you see on Bet365 and whatever, although they’re way more sophisticated than they were when I was doing it. Was a cracking job for a student in London, always a game on somewhere and they’d cover right down into the Ryman leagues. National League we had accreditation for though, so free food and the press box.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Boston United have signed Danny Elliott after his release from Pools. Some signing for National North

 

[AJS]

Boston United have signed Danny Elliott after his release from Pools. Some signing for National North

Thought we might have gone in for him. We could do with another striker imo

 

[Chief Rocka]

Boston United have signed Danny Elliott after his release from Pools. Some signing for National North

I mean we signed him from the NLN, so doesn't leap out particularly as a stand out signing, hope he does well though, done a job for us.

 

[Robshep]

Lincoln's budget was like 500k before The Cowleys invented football, that was the Paul Buckle season for Luton when they were pretty poor and Cambridge were never a particularly strong team for three or so seasons prior to them winning the playoffs. So I don't think those examples really back your argument up.

I'm not completely disagreeing with you though. The race for the top 5 was always very competitive last time we were down here. Some of the players that I've read on here that are apparently top players in the division now are very surprising. Obviously players can improve, but I think the top of the division getting weaker might also be a factor in this. EnglishRed has probably got it nailed on in his assessment in that the the lower/mid section of the division is now a lot stronger than it used to be.

Looking at the accounts for Tranmere when we were in this league we had a wage budget of around £1•3m average. 5,000 gates didn't stop us making losses although we were spending on infrastructure at the same time. Its hard to see how clubs with 1,500 or lower gates can be full time without a sugar daddy.

 

[Wooderson]

AdamStag - A few of our fans believe that Jamie Reid has been offered out to other clubs, any truth in this? He was rumoured to have been close to coming back to us in January before Clough took over. I don't expect him to come back here though seeing as he has just bought a house in Nottingham, maybe a target for Notts?

Just signed for Stevenage.

 

[EnglishRed]

Just signed for Stevenage.

Stevenage?

 

[Urban]

They’ve made several smart signings since they were awful at the start of last season, not surprised at him rocking up there. Must be some money behind them for the names they’re attracting though

 

[AdamStag]

They’ve made several smart signings since they were awful at the start of last season, not surprised at him rocking up there. Must be some money behind them for the names they’re attracting though

that’s not a smart signing it’s a bloody disasterous signing.

As said previously lovely lad and tries but not league standard.

 

[GTFCfish]

They’ve made several smart signings since they were awful at the start of last season, not surprised at him rocking up there. Must be some money behind them for the names they’re attracting though

Yeah they’re no longer the relegation fodder that we all thought they would be last season, also when they played us there was none of their usual shithousery too but just a decent footballing team.

 

[jacobncfc]

Joel Taylor signs for us from Chesterfield. Happy with that, sounds like his style will fit nicely with our ultra attacking approach.

 

[CFC91]

Sounds like a good signing this Khan - going off what the Daggers fan said and a couple of bits on twitter.

We’ve got 23/24 in our squad albeit with 3 long term injuries so definitely expect some outgoings.

It does feel a bit weird - players recently signed or who have recent signed new deals rumour to be leaving - Rowley, Mitchell and Taylor being 3 of them.

Rowe clearly has a ‘my way or the high way’ approach and looks to be pretty ruthless behind the scenes, which is the complete opposite of how he seems to the fans.

We were brilliant last season but the pressures on, we look to be 3rd-5th favs with the bookies depending on your bookmaker of choice, I’d say any of that won’t be deemed good enough unless we win the play offs. Pressure definitely on

(We have reduced our wage bill still this season quite a fair bit, and if we’ve shifted 3000 STs we will be ok financially)

Taylor now gone. Signed for county for an undisclosed fee

 

[CFC91]

Joel Taylor signs for us from Chesterfield. Happy with that, sounds like his style will fit nicely with our ultra attacking approach.

I think that’s why we didn’t want him, was decent going forward but not good enough defensively for Rowe who preferred Whittle at LWB.

 

[jacobncfc]

Seems like we’ve basically swapped left wing backs in the end, be interesting to see who has got it right.

 

[jacobncfc]

I think that’s why we didn’t want him, was decent going forward but not good enough defensively for Rowe who preferred Whittle at LWB.

But then you signing Miller makes no sense at all. Weird one.

 

[CFC91]

But then you signing Miller makes no sense at all. Weird one.

They seem very similar players, but Taylor would have been our 3rd choice LWB so definitely expected him moving on.
He’s now the 3rd player signed by Rowe to leave already after Smith and Whelan.

 

[jacobncfc]

They seem very similar players, but Taylor would have been our 3rd choice LWB so definitely expected him moving on.
He’s now the 3rd player signed by Rowe to leave already after Smith and Whelan.

You might’ve made a small profit on the £25k as well, I guess.

But it would be very odd for Rowe to decide a wing back wasn’t good enough defensively then go out and sign a converted winger who’s only ever played that role for like ten games in a team actively not doing any defending at all.

 

[spireite]

Interesting to get a fee for him, can't imagine it being much but would be interested to know. I always preferred him to Whittle but his positional defensive awareness was just awful, and he cost us a few goals. By the sounds of it Miller might not be much better on that front, so yea, see how they both play out. Taylor did arrive here with some glowing reviews

 

[GTFCfish]

James Hanson signs for Farsley Celtic, be a very good signing for them if they can keep him fit but unfortunately he spent his 2 years here mainly injured.