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Oscar says we were weaker after the transfer window



Guinness Boy

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Jul 23, 2003
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A couple of people mentioned it on the official match thread but thought it deserved its own. A quote from Oscar after the game yesterday was:

"we are the only team in The Championship to be weaker after the transfer window"

Clearly unhappy with what went on (and his English was perfect btw so not sure why Jones has been doing all the press recently). Is this just providing context for our performance in the second half of the season or is this phlegmatic Oscar for "hit the ceiling"?

FWIW I don't think it is quite "hit the ceiling" yet but clearly Oscar was as unhappy with the window as a lot of us on here.

Thoughts?
 


dougdeep

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May 9, 2004
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The club had to make some money. I don't think any fan was pleased with the movement of players on a footballing front.
 


Beach Hut

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Jul 5, 2003
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I suspect Oscar was wanting to put his marker down and create his team a lot earlier than he anticipated.

No doubt Barber spun the FFP rules to the limit thus the money for the three sold players was only re-invested in one - Dale Stephens.

Perhaps the money has been put aside for next season or will have to be used to balance the books, who knows.
 


Bozza

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Jul 4, 2003
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The club had to make some money. I don't think any fan was pleased with the movement of players on a footballing front.

I really don't think they did. I genuinely believe it was a matter of club valuations being met/exceeded in order for both Barnes and Bridcutt to move on. The problem was more one of being able to find suitable replacements at that time, and we couldn't.
 


El Presidente

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Jul 5, 2003
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It's in Barber's best interests for us to be promoted too though.

We had the £1.1m offer for Grabban accepted, we bid a similar amount for Clayton which was turned down by Huddersfield.

Money was available but the club won't pay silly wages and that's fine by me.
 




stss30

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Apr 24, 2008
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It's hardly surprising that he thinks we got weaker. I think that was pretty evident to everyone, sold one of our best players in Bridcutt and Barnes, although I didn't rate him as much as some on here, chipped in with a few goals. I believe the fee we got for Barnes was a good deal but I expected us to get in another decent striker (Grabban deal unfortunately fell through), it's no way near equivalent to Gus's disrespectful comments, I think he's just saying 'why aren't we reinvesting on the playing budget with the income we are making, compared to other clubs?' But there's no point in rushing to spend money on players we're not sure about and after our bids for Grabban and Clayton got turned down I can understand the club taking a patient approach. I just hope we have identified several targets for the summer.
 


Paul Reids Sock

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Nov 3, 2004
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He was definitely frustrated by it and I think it also backs up what that Spanish journalist was saying about Spanish Rodney not being Oscars signing

I was very happy with the Stephens purchase and am sure there is money to spend on the summer. As others have mentioned we had the £million + bid accepted so were trying but just didn't succeed.

Hopefully the club and Oscar already have a list of players in mind and some free transfers and we can see a good summer of early transfers giving the new boys a chance to settle in
 


OzMike

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Maybe that's why he plays players like Spanish Rodney, to expose them for the mediocre players that they are.
 




One Teddy Maybank

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Have said it on other threads, but I still wonder if Oscar was 'duped' by the club when he came, and equally wonder whether he'll be here at the start of next season.

Looking back at last season, he was probably sold by our 'near miss' in getting up and the promise of an increased transfer budget but........ in reality, he inherited a team with a couple of unhappy players and a club intent on hitting FFP targets, that might have impacted on the wages we are prepared to pay. Plus what can only be described as a 'strange' transfer policy in terms of selection of targets......
 


Lawro's Lip

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Feb 14, 2004
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Have said it on other threads, but I still wonder if Oscar was 'duped' by the club when he came, and equally wonder whether he'll be here at the start of next season.

Looking back at last season, he was probably sold by our 'near miss' in getting up and the promise of an increased transfer budget but........ in reality, he inherited a team with a couple of unhappy players and a club intent on hitting FFP targets, that might have impacted on the wages we are prepared to pay. Plus what can only be described as a 'strange' transfer policy in terms of selection of targets......

Hope this is not the case but more likely that when players left there was an expectation that other targeted replacements would come in. This obviously did not happen so the playing strength ended up weaker by misfortune rather than intention.
 


Rugrat

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Mar 13, 2011
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I'm not so sure about him being pissed off. It might well be that TB prefers to amass a war chest for Oscar now he has a full season under his belt. January is a notoriously difficult window in which to do business, we had a look but may have just preferred to wait.

Oscar will be far better equipped to deal in this window, he's a much better idea what this league is all about and who he wants to keep in the current squad. He will have the time to work with the "new" squad through pre season and hit the ground running in August vs the rushed in January signings.

That may be fanciful but we'll get to see pretty early on by which contracts are renewed and the sorts of targets we are talking to
 




martin tyler

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Jan 25, 2013
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It was fairly obvious we were weaker after the window and Oscar has done well to keep us in touch for the final day of the season.
January is not always the easiest window to get quality players in from. I hope the money is still available for the summer window and Oscar can improve the squad as a whole and mould it in to something like he wants it to be.
 


Barham's tash

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Jun 8, 2013
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I really don't think they did. I genuinely believe it was a matter of club valuations being met/exceeded in order for both Barnes and Bridcutt to move on. The problem was more one of being able to find suitable replacements at that time, and we couldn't.

Exactly this. Barnes for c£1m (hope we had a promotion clause), and Bridcut still look like good business to me. Purely and simply two sensible business decisions.

It's in Barber's best interests for us to be promoted too though.

We had the £1.1m offer for Grabban accepted, we bid a similar amount for Clayton which was turned down by Huddersfield.

Money was available but the club won't pay silly wages and that's fine by me.

Yep, would've been interesting to see how those two would have fitted in - Grabban would have been played wide in the Lingard type role which may have influenced his decision not to come, and Clayton is clearly a similar player to Stephens.

I don't mind us going for players and being knocked back by player or club because at least it shows intent but people have to get past the idea that a lack of transfer activity is a lack of belief or backing in a manger. We don't have managers any more we have head coaches who are given some influence in squad development but not all because quite simply football is run more and more as a business and you have to potentially see past who is currently running team selection at any one time and look to the future from a business perspective.

Maybe that's why he plays players like Spanish Rodney, to expose them for the mediocre players that they are.

Not sure he does this on purpose as its slightly cutting off his nose to spite his face and we had enough of that with Gus to last a lifetime.
 


hybrid_x

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Jun 28, 2011
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I don't think he is digging at the club - he's just stating facts - Bridcutt, Barnes, and El-Abd WANTED to leave.
 




yxee

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Oct 24, 2011
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I really don't think they did. I genuinely believe it was a matter of club valuations being met/exceeded in order for both Barnes and Bridcutt to move on. The problem was more one of being able to find suitable replacements at that time, and we couldn't.

I would hope in the next transfer windows that the club starts to modify is valuations to reflect the state of the market.

If your valuations leave you with a weaker side then they're wrong
 


BensGrandad

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Jul 13, 2003
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The rumour going around last night, yes I know, is that Oscar has been told no funds available during the summer if we do not get promoted he must rely on free transfers or selling players. I hope that is not a true reflection of our financial situation and just another wild rumour.
 


backson

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Jul 26, 2004
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The rumour going around last night, yes I know, is that Oscar has been told no funds available during the summer if we do not get promoted he must rely on free transfers or selling players. I hope that is not a true reflection of our financial situation and just another wild rumour.

Thats good

The rumours a couple of weeks back were that Kuszcak went off in a strop after a fight, and THAT turned out to be bollocks, so I'm assuming this will be too.

Good old rumours, based on nothing, but enough to start to get people worrying
 


WATFORD zero

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I don't think he is digging at the club - he's just stating facts - Bridcutt, Barnes, and El-Abd WANTED to leave.

Taking a deep breath ............... I agree with hybrid_x

We sold players because it made good business sense to (didn't want to play, wouldn't sign contract terms, wanted 1st team football). We were looking for replacements but couldn't agree value/terms. We don't like doing business in January (been repeated many times), hence we have weaker squad. It's simple business but is it really a story ?

And as for BensGrandad, i won't even waste the wear on my keyboard :facepalm:
 






Seagull over Canaryland

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Feb 8, 2011
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We sold players because it made good business sense to (didn't want to play, wouldn't sign contract terms, wanted 1st team football). We were looking for replacements but couldn't agree value/terms. We don't like doing business in January (been repeated many times), hence we have weaker squad. It's simple business but is it really a story?

I try to imagine the sort of quotes we would have heard from Gus in similar circumstances.................

I feel Oscar is being honest, but also seems to know not to do his dirty washing in public so is speaking in far more measured terms. There is a message for various audiences in what he said - media, fans and his Chairman. Not bad for someone who still struggles with his English speaking and could so easily say something inappropriate - but does not.

I also wonder if Oscar's feelings had been somewhat tempered by Bloom's earlier appraisal of him. I think Bloom's comments were very timely and looking to diffuse the situation should we not make the play offs. If Tony is relatively happy at this stage of Oscar's contract then we probably should be too.

I sense that Tony has also learned from this time last season when he maintained his traditional low media profile but Gus probably had too much centre stage, which he milked often for his own agenda.
 



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