Stickied League 1 Transfer Rumours/Confirmed Transfers 2024/25

[hellogregory]

Most of our squad in place?

Errr we only have two forwards one of which was totally out of favour at Fleetwood last season at this level. Plus we just have a kid as a right back, one goalie and not enough centre backs seen as we play with three and we could do with another midfielder.

We'll just end up with the usual shitty lightweight 19 year old loanees from Premier league/Championship u23 teams.

Yeah most of our squad in place, that’s what I said.

“Not enough centre backs” We have four, five if you include Ellis. We could do with one more yes and we need a right back and 2 or 3 forward players. So yes we have most of our squad in place.

 

[The Evil Dead]

From what I hear ref Forrester, his family are all stoke fans, and they don’t particularly like that anti stoke stuff they get ( not just from fans!)
It’s a deep rooted hate, that goes right through the club

Yes, they're all Stoke fans.

The rest is nonsense though. His Dad is old school Stoke and proper hates Vale. It's nothing malicious though. Will gets a bit of stick from close friends and family for playing for Vale, which is perfectly normal given the circumstances, but anything suggesting otherwise is daft.

 

[Moomin]

Blackman is a good ‘keeper and I’d like to have kept him, so that’s decent business for Exeter City B.

 

[Gassy]

Apparently we’re also in for Alfie May.

If that happens I think I’m gonna faint

 

[leedsvaliant]

Our signing of Lowe from Salford is the first one that I've found odd. Only played in about half the games in the league below last season.

Can only think it's because he's an older head around the dressing room and is versatile enough to play in a number of positions. Seems like a squad player to me.

 

[Si Robin]

Apparently we’re also in for Alfie May.

If that happens I think I’m gonna faint

Show us the money and he's yours.

You'll need to show him the money as well of course.

 

[valefan16]

Could be a decent deal for both clubs......Play in Early cup games, Sub in the league games and steps in for injuries
Might get 10/20 games and the same off the bench

If we get the rumoured 200k for him (plus a sell on) then I would be happy, he's currently behind Smith and DJ in terms of our best defenders so its not catastrophic in terms of the squad we currently have but the quality of the deal would depend on what we do with it.

If say we see 150k of that after Stoke get their cut then that goes into funding a striker which means we can offer £1500 p/w more over 2 years than budgeted that opens more doors for us, if that say got us into contention for Alfie May or Sam Smith and got one over the line as examples then it would be a great deal for us overall and Bolton have a very good prospect to develop.

Would like to see us go to our strong ties with Forest and try and get Harbottle on loan to cover us this season mind.

With Newcastle signing one of our youths apparently for 200k then its been a profitable summer and that's the route we are looking to take to compete hence the investments we have made under Flickers.

 

[valefan16]

Our signing of Lowe from Salford is the first one that I've found odd. Only played in about half the games in the league below last season.

Can only think it's because he's an older head around the dressing room and is versatile enough to play in a number of positions. Seems like a squad player to me.

Looks a squad player, you'd expect the back three to be Smith - Iacovitti - Jones as it stands.

 

[Carver]

You are a moaning cnut

Hey boy.

It must be nice to have a big budget and adequate training facilities mustn't it.

 

[Carver]

Yeah most of our squad in place, that’s what I said.

“Not enough centre backs” We have four, five if you include Ellis. We could do with one more yes and we need a right back and 2 or 3 forward players. So yes we have most of our squad in place.

We play with 3 centre backs so we will only have 1 back up centre back who would be Whelan and let's be honest he isn't good enough for L1 and come on mate Ellish is not a centre back no way.

We had our first promotion in 17 years which was great, but now it's going to be back to doom and gloom again as our off the field problems are becoming more clear again.

 

[valefan16]

We play with 3 centre backs so we will only have 1 back up centre back who would be Whelan and let's be honest he isn't good enough for L1 and come on mate Ellish is not a centre back no way.

We had our first promotion in 17 years which was great, but now it's going to be back to doom and gloom again as our off the field problems are becoming more clear again.

We won the Play Offs, struggled to get signings in (far more condensed close season than this year for you), started the season with a youth midfielder debuting up front with a one legged Jamie Proctor and struggled to make any signings until deadline day (think we made 3 or 4 before of which one was with us the season before and Harrison who came in ahead of MD3 by which point Proctor was done.

We then played from January to mid/late February with no strikers fit at all, played from March onwards with only 3 fit centre halves and conceded 3 goals most games and had two of the worst performing goalkeepers statistically all season.

Despite that we managed to sit 9th come Christmas and in the end stayed up fairly comfortably so it isn't all doom and gloom but need to ride the wave.

 

[leedsvaliant]

We won the Play Offs, struggled to get signings in (far more condensed close season than this year for you), started the season with a youth midfielder debuting up front with a one legged Jamie Proctor and struggled to make any signings until deadline day (think we made 3 or 4 before of which one was with us the season before and Harrison who came in ahead of MD3 by which point Proctor was done.

We then played from January to mid/late February with no strikers fit at all, played from March onwards with only 3 fit centre halves and conceded 3 goals most games and had two of the worst performing goalkeepers statistically all season.

Despite that we managed to sit 9th come Christmas and in the end stayed up fairly comfortably so it isn't all doom and gloom but need to ride the wave.

Yep, it's amazing really that we didn't get relegated looking back. We were basically playing our league 2 team minus our best player in Wilson for a lot of the season.

The general standard isn't that much better. The teams with bigger budgets have the odd player or two who are consistently good and you'll get the odd spanking, but if you ride the wave like we did then you might be fine.

 

[Carver]

We won the Play Offs, struggled to get signings in (far more condensed close season than this year for you), started the season with a youth midfielder debuting up front with a one legged Jamie Proctor and struggled to make any signings until deadline day (think we made 3 or 4 before of which one was with us the season before and Harrison who came in ahead of MD3 by which point Proctor was done.

We then played from January to mid/late February with no strikers fit at all, played from March onwards with only 3 fit centre halves and conceded 3 goals most games and had two of the worst performing goalkeepers statistically all season.

Despite that we managed to sit 9th come Christmas and in the end stayed up fairly comfortably so it isn't all doom and gloom but need to ride the wave.

And now you are sneaking around nicking new signings off other clubs at the last minute instead of setting up your own scouting and recruitment process.

 

[leedsvaliant]

And now you are sneaking around nicking new signings off other clubs at the last minute instead of setting up your own recruitment process.

It's the first time in a long time that we're an attractive prospect for players. We actually have a top class coaching, medical and analysis in place. We actually pay the going rate and look after our players properly which never happened before. It's the first time in a long time that we seem to be signing people that other teams want!

 

[LancashireTrotters]

Forrester confirmed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1676184125416558592

 

[hellogregory]

Carver we maybe need 6 signings in, 2 or 3 of which I’d expect to be loans. Most of the squad is in place despite what you say.

I honestly don’t know why you’re panicking so much with 2 months to go of the transfer window. If it was deadline day next week I could understand, but come on.

 

[Soz]

Forrester confirmed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1676184125416558592

Good player when he got in the team and improved with runs of games but struggled to string 10 games together without pickingnup a knock and missing the next 4-5.

I thought he would kick on this season if he stayed fit and so shame to lose him but if we have got 200k as rumoured then I think its probablybthe right call to let him go

Needs experience desperately as he is green defensively but comfortable passing and dribbling out of def. Can see why a money ball style team has gone for him

 

[valefan16]

Happy with that substantial fee and number of achievable add ons and will be re-invested so good for the club and player.

 

[Carver]

Carver we maybe need 6 signings in, 2 or 3 of which I’d expect to be loans. Most of the squad is in place despite what you say.

I honestly don’t know why you’re panicking so much with 2 months to go of the transfer window. If it was deadline day next week I could understand, but come on.

All the good players usually get snapped up early on in the window and all what's left by the end are scraps.

 

[Gassy]

Show us the money and he's yours.

You'll need to show him the money as well of course.

Our local rag is reporting we will match Gills’ offer on wages, they also reckon £250k would seal the deal. I know you rejected £200k already, what do you think?

I’m other news, we’ve just George Friend - sorry Exeter

 

[kieran_vale]

Will Forrester to Bolton confirmed. All the best to him on what’s a good move. Give him time to develop and get through some growing pains at this stage of his career you’ve got a sound investment there Bolton fans. By all accounts from Flitcrofts comments it’s a deal that works well for us too with add-ons.

As I say I want to see Lewis Cass step up now. A good start there would be avoiding the usual injuries that have plagued him going back to his time at Hartlepool.

 

[thewwfc]

We've finally made a signing.

Richard Keogh - ex-Brizl City, Carlisle, Derby, Coventry, Franchise, even us (on loan) at one point - although he only played for us for 3 games last time.

Bit underwhelming - he can probably still do a job, was on Ipswich's books last season...but only made 16 apps. I'm guessing he's expected to be more of a squad player, but we'll see.

 

[The Terminator]

Joe Piggott now available for nothing. Interesting to see who takes a punt on him down here, we tried to sign him two summers ago.

 

[Si Robin]

Our local rag is reporting we will match Gills’ offer on wages, they also reckon £250k would seal the deal. I know you rejected £200k already, what do you think?

I’m other news, we’ve just George Friend - sorry Exeter

I think £250k is a joke, but I'm not the one in the boardroom.

He may be 30, but this is the top scorer in League 1 for the past two seasons combined and he still technically has 2 years left on his contract (1 year with an option should we wish to extend for another year). I've never thought we'd be pushing for £750k-£1m, but I do expect in the region of £350k-£400k.

 

[kieran_vale]

I think £250k is a joke, but I'm not the one in the boardroom.

He may be 30, but this is the top scorer in League 1 for the past two seasons combined and he still technically has 2 years left on his contract (1 year with an option should we wish to extend for another year). I've never thought we'd be pushing for £750k-£1m, but I do expect in the region of £350k-£400k.

To me and luckily for any club it’s not me making the decisions on this but the reason I’d be hesitant over any higher is the age thing you mentioned there. There are two reasons you’d spend that sum at this level, one is if you think you can spin it round into a profit (realistically I think that unlikely with him being 30) or secondly if you think he is the one thing that gets you over the line with a promotion.

 

[valefan16]

Will Forrester to Bolton confirmed. All the best to him on what’s a good move. Give him time to develop and get through some growing pains at this stage of his career you’ve got a sound investment there Bolton fans. By all accounts from Flitcrofts comments it’s a deal that works well for us too with add-ons.

As I say I want to see Lewis Cass step up now. A good start there would be avoiding the usual injuries that have plagued him going back to his time at Hartlepool.

Big season for Cass I would say, just needs to stay fit as you say to get a run of games.

Expect us to be less soft this season though so expecting the huge shithouse pairing of Smudge and Iacovitti and then DJ in to be the ball playing centre half.

 

[geg1992]

Joe Piggott now available for nothing. Interesting to see who takes a punt on him down here, we tried to sign him two summers ago.

Where did you see that? We added him back onto our website team today haha.

Although he will definitely be leaving, we told him to not bother returning to training. I assume they're working on a settlement, but due to his high wage, it will be difficult.

 

[Si Robin]

To me and luckily for any club it’s not me making the decisions on this but the reason I’d be hesitant over any higher is the age thing you mentioned there. There are two reasons you’d spend that sum at this level, one is if you think you can spin it round into a profit (realistically I think that unlikely with him being 30) or secondly if you think he is the one thing that gets you over the line with a promotion.

This is why I'm not expecting a huge fee.

If Alfie was 21/22 we'd be looking at a 7-figure fee. There's no doubt about that - we got 7 figures for Mo Eisa who scored 23 goals in one season in League 2. Alfie has 23 and 20 in the last two League 1 seasons.

Last summer, the argument was the same as why no-one took a punt on Cole Stockton - it was his first season of being prolific some years into his career. Unlike Stockton though, Alfie did it again this past season.

Charlton got £250k for Jayden Stockley (32 goals in 4 years) and apparently Fleetwood paid the same for Jack Marriott (23 goals in the last 5 years) from Peterborough. Stockley is 30 in two months (Alfie was 30 yesterday) and Marriott is 29 in two months. I can't believe he's not worth more than those two in the current market. Not a lot more, but more nonetheless

 

[hellogregory]

All the good players usually get snapped up early on in the window and all what's left by the end are scraps.

That’s the nature of having a low budget.

Think of us like a pack of Hyenas. There’s no point in trying to compete with the Lions, Leopards and Tigers for the prime kill. We just need to sit back, wait, and let those boys feast, then once they are done, see what scraps are left for us Hyenas to feed on.

It’s not a new thing. It was the same in L2. It’s up to our management team to hopefully find some gems in amongst it and get the best out of them.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Well I think Marriott is at least as good as May, so maybe that's the benchmark

Can't believe Rovers would have a top three of Brown, May and Collins though - one of those would miss out