Stickied League 1 Transfer Rumours/Confirmed Transfers 2024/25

[Indian Dan]

I thought we signed Jack Shit - and we did.

 

[Guernica]

No one in for us yesterday, but have to say extremely pleased with our business in this window bringing in some exciting and promising youngsters on loan whilst signing players of quality like Graham and Dempsey on permanent deals, definitely our best transfer window in many years.

Is Evans still banging on about having the lowest budget? See he lost today and was saying he's in a different world to MK Dons who according to him were trying to sign Grigg. He doesn't lose gracefully and seemingly never mentions he spent 6 figures on John Akinde.

 

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Is Evans still banging on about having the lowest budget? See he lost today and was saying he's in a different world to MK Dons who according to him were trying to sign Grigg. He doesn't lose gracefully and seemingly never mentions he spent 6 figures on John Akinde.

And made an offer to Vadaine Oliver that he 'couldn't turn down'?

 

[GFC4EVA]

Is Evans still banging on about having the lowest budget? See he lost today and was saying he's in a different world to MK Dons who according to him were trying to sign Grigg. He doesn't lose gracefully and seemingly never mentions he spent 6 figures on John Akinde.

Still mentions it occasionally, it's all about having the smallest and youngest squad in the league now.

 

[GEORGE]

Is Evans still banging on about having the lowest budget? See he lost today and was saying he's in a different world to MK Dons who according to him were trying to sign Grigg. He doesn't lose gracefully and seemingly never mentions he spent 6 figures on John Akinde.

Mind you -- Would you mention you spent 6 figures on Akinde ???

 

[Guernica]

Mind you -- Would you mention you spent 6 figures on Akinde ???

We did! Mind you he did his job for us in getting promotion.

 

[AusGill]

Is Evans still banging on about having the lowest budget? See he lost today and was saying he's in a different world to MK Dons who according to him were trying to sign Grigg. He doesn't lose gracefully and seemingly never mentions he spent 6 figures on John Akinde.

Shhhhhhhh!

Mind, you, if the gashead above is right about them having a squad of 33 players, there's possibly some truth.

I think we have about 21 at Gills. That includes 2 of our youth in GK Walsh and midfielder Henry Woods. 6 of them are teenaged loans and I doubt we are paying much for them. We do now have a full complement (apart from O'Keefe who is out for the season), but a couple of injuries last few weeks meant we only had 5 or 6 on the bench at a couple of games.

How many have other clubs got in their squad?

 

[LeonTheGreen]

Shhhhhhhh!

Mind, you, if the gashead above is right about them having a squad of 33 players, there's possibly some truth.

I think we have about 21 at Gills. That includes 2 of our youth in GK Walsh and midfielder Henry Woods. 6 of them are teenaged loans and I doubt we are paying much for them. We do now have a full complement (apart from O'Keefe who is out for the season), but a couple of injuries last few weeks meant we only had 5 or 6 on the bench at a couple of games.

How many have other clubs got in their squad?

We’ve got 26. Only 1 or 2 of those are kids. Largest squad we’ve had in a long time.

 

[Luke Imp]

We're similar - 26 (20 contracted and 6 loans).

Three of the contracted players are just turned 17 year olds, two of which won't get any real game time this season (one is a GK, the other a CB who had a couple of minutes at Mansfield in the Checkatrade. One of the extra loan signings was to cover a long term injured loan signing, so realistically we're 23 to choose from, which is still one or two bigger than I thought we'd be.

 

[Indian Dan]

26 here, too.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

24 in our squad with an average age of 23

 

[Boletus Edulis]

We’ve got 26. Only 1 or 2 of those are kids. Largest squad we’ve had in a long time.

Lowe said Lolos will be going out on loan so down to 25. but as you say bigger than I can remember for a while.

 

[Luke Imp]

24 in our squad with an average age of 23

It'd be interesting to see the difference in average ages this season compared to last.

We're 22.5 and at the opposite end, Fleetwood seem to have an older side - Evans, Madden, Coutts, Duffy, Whelan and Mulgrew.

 

[Fedora Dale]

No official confirmation yet, but apparently we've signed England U18 International defender Haydon Roberts on loan for the season from Brighton.

Eventually confirmed.

Squad size? Including loans in, but excluding loans out, we have:
Bazunu, Lynch; Keohane, McLaughlin, O'Connell, Roberts, McShane, McNulty, Bola, Dunne; Morley, Lund, Ryan, Rathbone, Dooley, Hopper; Done, Humphrys, Newby, Beesley, Tavares, Baah. 22, plus the injured Yeboah Amankwah - on loan from Man City, but they're looking after his injury. Three of our younger professionals are out on loan at non-league clubs, whilst 3 of our youth teamers have played/been named on the bench for the first team. It's a moving and arbitrary figure, but 23 remains the best estimate!

 

[DearneValleyRover]

It'd be interesting to see the difference in average ages this season compared to last.

We're 22.5 and at the opposite end, Fleetwood seem to have an older side - Evans, Madden, Coutts, Duffy, Whelan and Mulgrew.

It will, if we take Andy Butler and the evergreen Coppinger out of ours the average age drops to 22. I can see most clubs having younger squads in the future given the wage cap.

 

[AusGill]

It will, if we take Andy Butler and the evergreen Coppinger out of ours the average age drops to 22. I can see most clubs having younger squads in the future given the wage cap.

Same here for age. Don't know what it was before, but definitely younger this season and I think it was worked out under 24 average. I think our starting XI is a lot less than that since the older players aren't always making the XI - Akinde, MacDonald, Mellis (and O'Keefe out for the season). Only regular starters over 26 are Oliver and Jackson.

And from the replies above, it seems we possibly do have the smallest squad, and that might translate to lowest budget. And we've paid no transfers apart from Akinde last season. Bugger....shhhhhhhh!

Anyone know squad size and budget for Accy, Dale and AFCW? They are the usual suspects for being down there with us for budget.

 

[GeneralLee]

We're in the market for free agents meaning we will need to remove at least one member of the squad to qualify a new signing.

We are desperately short (and a bit pants defensively, so we're looking to correct this by introducing a winger instead despite having seven already.

 

[Luke Imp]

We're in the market for free agents meaning we will need to remove at least one member of the squad to qualify a new signing.

We are desperately short (and a bit pants defensively, so we're looking to correct this by introducing a winger instead despite having seven already.

Have you got 22 (is it 22?) over 21's?!

 

[GeneralLee]

Have you got 22 (is it 22?) over 21's?!

Yeah, we have removed our new French signing, Osei-Yew who actually has an impressive goals to game ratio. However he is still incredibly raw and his overall impact isn’t quite there. We are however now in the market for another forward player, an area we are already well stocked in. I’d hazard a guess we have more forward players than most sides on the division as it stands without a new addition! It does seem a little bizarre.

 

[LadyWomble]

Same here for age. Don't know what it was before, but definitely younger this season and I think it was worked out under 24 average. I think our starting XI is a lot less than that since the older players aren't always making the XI - Akinde, MacDonald, Mellis (and O'Keefe out for the season). Only regular starters over 26 are Oliver and Jackson.

And from the replies above, it seems we possibly do have the smallest squad, and that might translate to lowest budget. And we've paid no transfers apart from Akinde last season. Bugger....shhhhhhhh!

Anyone know squad size and budget for Accy, Dale and AFCW? They are the usual suspects for being down there with us for budget.

I thought most clubs had gone younger and cheaper this season. Not sure how everyone is counting squad size but, by my reckoning, here's ours as a total, including loanees in/out:

Squad size 27 + 4 academy kids (17 yo) with first team squad numbers as they've signed pro contracts. The 4 will continue with the academy and/or be loaned out to non-league clubs

Of those (based on age at start of season):
17 of them are aged 20 or younger (based on 31 players; 13/27 if kids excluded)
6 are age 21-24
8 are age 25-29
Our oldest player (O'Neill) is 29

Happy to be corrected if I've got that wrong or can't add up ;-)

 

[GEORGE]

I think todays signing of Ali Koiki will be our last until January. Last week we bought Ryan Jones from Weston Super Mare and immediately loaned him back for the season and also let our third in line goalkeeper Alex-Andrei join Salisbury whils't recalling our 4th in line goalkeeper from them yesterday. Also 3 fringe players have been let out to Non league teams. Ogogo remains with us but will not be counted in the squad thus giving us a combined total of 28.

 

[Marked Ox]

Yeah, we have removed our new French signing, Osei-Yew who actually has an impressive goals to game ratio. However he is still incredibly raw and his overall impact isn’t quite there. We are however now in the market for another forward player, an area we are already well stocked in. I’d hazard a guess we have more forward players than most sides on the division as it stands without a new addition! It does seem a little bizarre.

I think Lofthouse and Elechi have impressed Karl Robinson so far freeing up Sam Long as a centre-back if needs be. I'm not sure personally as I can see the benefit in signing another wide player, especially with Cam Brannagan out for an indeterminate time, freeing up James Henry and Mark Sykes to go central when necessary. But then I can definitely see the point in signing a centre back.

Hopefully, Osei-Yaw gets a loan deal at a NL club and plays regularly so can improve his all round game. As you say, his goalscoring doesn't seem a problem so he should score fairly regularly at that level only based on his record for us.

 

[Shrimpurh]

Ricky Holmes training with Northampton for the past couple of weeks and looks to be signing. There's some news for you Cobblers

 

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Ricky Holmes training with Northampton for the past couple of weeks and looks to be signing. There's some news for you Cobblers

Hopefully a play as you play signing (he is 33 now) but we could do with a couple of decent CBs to stop the goals we are conceding.

 

[Marked Ox]

Hopefully a play as you play signing (he is 33 now) but we could do with a couple of decent CBs to stop the goals we are conceding.

You won't sadly be paying anything then. He is mad to still be trying to play and risk not being able to move around without pain etc or worse, based on his time at ours and the rumours of his injury issues.

I hope if he signs for you and does have further injury problems, he has the courage to retire.

The story of David Langan should be a warning here; although a different era, he continued playing when he should have stopped after bad injuries, he ended up struggling to walk/not being able to work.

 

[AusGill]

You won't sadly be paying anything then. He is mad to still be trying to play and risk not being able to move around without pain etc or worse, based on his time at ours and the rumours of his injury issues.

I hope if he signs for you and does have further injury problems, he has the courage to retire.

The story of David Langan should be a warning here; although a different era, he continued playing when he should have stopped after bad injuries, he ended up struggling to walk/not being able to work.

Echo that. We had him at Gills on loan (I think straight after oxford). We all thought he'd be a terrific signing if we could get him fit.

6 months later, left without a minute on the pitch. Not even sure he left Sheffield to visit Priestfield actually.

Best of luck to him though if he can make it back. In his position I'd be looking after my health first. Although maybe he doesn't have other options.

 

[Luke Imp]

Did I see that Alan Sheehan also signed for Northampton on a pay as you play deal?

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

He did. Legs have gone now so pay as you play probably as good as he’ll get at league 1 level.

Good character though and great set piece taker.

 

[PuB]

Joe Lumley, a keeper from QPR, joined us on an emergency loan the other day.

He’s going to be absolutely fabulous.

 

[Luke Imp]

He did. Legs have gone now so pay as you play probably as good as he’ll get at league 1 level.

Good character though and great set piece taker.

Unfair to judge him on his time here but he had a mare on his debut and I'm not sure whether he partnered Bolger in that game who of course is also at Northampton.