The January Transfer Window 2021 AKA "Didn't we do well"

[Robin Johnson 616]

I wish someone would enlighten me on the enthusiasm for Bolasie. 
 

Why am I against him? 
 

Turned us down Twice.

Thinks he is Prem level and ideally wants a move there.

 

Has not played in our division for well over 2 years.

Did not cover himself in glory at Villa. 2 goals in 20 appearances and, allegedly, played well in just 2 games.

Pace is bound to have gone down from 2 years ago.

I cannot see why paying him loads of money will help either

[Borodane 6,301]

5 minutes ago, Robin Johnson said:

I wish someone would enlighten me on the enthusiasm for Bolasie. 
 

Why am I against him? 
 

Turned us down Twice. He didn't turn us down in the summer. He wanted to come only for his agent to *** it up be apparently forgetting some red tape.

Thinks he is Prem level and ideally wants a move there. Which current Prem player doesn't and would ideally stay in that league if they have the offers.

 

Has not played in our division for well over 2 years. Correct. He played a season at Sporting Lissabon last season until Corona ended that in April. Played 25 games, scored 2 and assisted 5 including 7 Europa League games. That's a hell of lot more promising than what we currently have.

Did not cover himself in glory at Villa. 2 goals in 20 appearances and, allegedly, played well in just 2 games. I'll give you that.

Pace is bound to have gone down from 2 years ago. Maybe. Was a regular in a big team last year though.

I cannot see why paying him loads of money will help either He will only come here if he fits within our budget. Just like Roberts has. Everton will cover the rest. If it's a player that Warnock will actually use it's a hell of a lot better than having Roberts sitting on the bench every game.

 

[edinboro 815]

I bet clubs are expecting a full lockdown in days which probably means suspension of football. No point in signing players if you don't know whether the season will even finish.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

The rumours were also that he wanted to play for Villa as much for the geography of being closer to London as well as anything related to money. That move made sense for him. Not only that but when it comes to playing for Tony Pulis or anybody else as an attacking player, it's not really a choice is it?

I'm not concerned about him scoring goals, creating them is much more what I'd look for from Bolasie.

But at the end of the day, I think the only reason anyone is talking about him right now is not exactly that they're extremely excited by him, just that you'd expect after the summer that we'd try to sort out that transfer again. We had a deal lined up and all but done in the summer, things may have changed slightly in the 2.5 months and Everton might be willing to wait for a better offer again until the end of January. I think we can probably afford to wait as things stand. I'm more concerned about ensuring Watmore stays than bringing in Bolasie. I wouldn't say no to both, though.

Edited January 4, 2021 by wilsoncgp

[RiseAgainst 3,793]

24 minutes ago, edinboro said:

I bet clubs are expecting a full lockdown in days which probably means suspension of football. No point in signing players if you don't know whether the season will even finish.

I think suspending football will be an absolute last resort, given the chaos it's already caused and the fallout that would ensue. The 2020 Scottish League Cup Final was played a fortnight ago, which is extraordinary in itself. Then you've got the rescheduled Copa America and Euro 2020 tournaments starting in June, plus the Olympics with its own football tournaments, plus World Cup qualifiers, plus domestic leagues which have already been compressed into a very tight timeframe.

Given the billions in TV revenue involved in football, I really can't see another blanket suspension taking place. It feels like all the available wriggle room for rescheduling has already been used up, and I can't see how FIFA/UEFA members could complete their domestic seasons with another lengthy lay-off. Equally, I can't imagine how much it would cost (and how many legal fights it would invoke) to scrap the leading domestic leagues or abandon the Euros - and it's not like we can delay international tournaments til next year again.

[TeaCider24 12,639]

I'd sooner we didn't sign him, personally.

Big time Charlie, clearly doesn't actually want to come except as a last resort, and most importantly he's past it.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

15 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

I think suspending football will be an absolute last resort, given the chaos it's already caused and the fallout that would ensue. The 2020 Scottish League Cup Final was played a fortnight ago, which is extraordinary in itself. Then you've got the rescheduled Copa America and Euro 2020 tournaments starting in June, plus the Olympics with its own football tournaments, plus World Cup qualifiers, plus domestic leagues which have already been compressed into a very tight timeframe.

Given the billions in TV revenue involved in football, I really can't see another blanket suspension taking place. It feels like all the available wriggle room for rescheduling has already been used up, and I can't see how FIFA/UEFA members could complete their domestic seasons with another lengthy lay-off. Equally, I can't imagine how much it would cost (and how many legal fights it would invoke) to scrap the leading domestic leagues or abandon the Euros - and it's not like we can delay international tournaments til next year again.

Why can't we delay them again? Financially, sure it's awkward, potentially really bad. But theoretically if it can survive financially, the entirety of the footballing calendar can be postponed. Club football in particular doesn't really need to start or end at any specific time of the year for what I'd say was most nations. It's not like the whole world works to the same domestic calendar as it is.

Internationally, of course, in some scenarios (Qatar) we need to look at a specific time of the year to play. But at some point, surely all that changes is one tournament gets an extra year or two to plan what they're delivering? For the upcoming EUROs, it's awkward. For the Qatar World Cup, it's awkward. For everything that comes after it, what's the issue in them being delayed really? Why not push the international tournaments back to free up some of the domestic schedule, too? Push qualifiers back, get shot of friendlies for now. Correct me if I'm wrong but I would imagine domestic football is more reliant on time-frames so could we not just prioritise them over International football in some manner?

[Borodane 6,301]

Football in itself doesn’t generate many infections though, does it? Do you think the infection rates will drop by any significant number because professional football is abandoned? I just can’t see it outweigh the financial and logistical implications. By all means scrap the international tournaments for the season to avoid cross boarder traveling but keep the domestic leagues running. 

[Redcar Rioja 5,975]

International and European tournaments should never have restarted while the world is fighting a pandemic. International sporting tournaments can be delayed indefinitely and recommenced when it is more sensible and safer to do so.

If that means putting the World Cup and the Olympics (as just two examples) back two years or even skipping them altogether then so be it. The history books will have a blank or they will just jump to the next time the competition was played. A simple asterisk with "Pandemic" beside it will suffice. The last time it happened was because of a World War, football and sport came through that and it will survive this but in the meantime Internationals don't add value and more importantly spreads the risk. International FA's and governing bodies can be mothballed, their value is questionable even at the best of times.

Domestic football needs to continue if Clubs are to survive in whatever capacity they can although I can accept arguments that maybe it shouldn't. Entertainment of some sort is crucial for mental wellbeing in helping us through this.

[TeaCider24 12,639]

Just cancel the Qatar World Cup.

But I'd be saying that even if there wasn't a pandemic.

[Smogzilla 7,484]

Sport in Scotland is continuing so I imagine it will be unaffected in England.

[Dynamo Kev 1,557]

1 hour ago, TeaCider24 said:

Just cancel the Qatar World Cup.

But I'd be saying that even if there wasn't a pandemic.

hey black lives matter lets take a knee. oh yeah them slaves in qatar dying during construction. no one gives a *** about them because its not on TV.

 

[Erimus 63 481]

Quote

 Entertainment of some sort is crucial for mental wellbeing in helping us through this.

Well said Redcar Rioja.

The nation definitely needs football to continue just as a mental diversion to help get us through this corvid pandemic. The government should not underestimate this factor.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

1 hour ago, Dynamo Kev said:

hey black lives matter lets take a knee. oh yeah them slaves in qatar dying during construction. no one gives a *** about them because its not on TV.

Whataboutism never solved anything, mate.

The problem regarding human rights violations in Qatar is people did give a toss but it didn't matter to people who could make changes, it certainly didn't matter to FIFA when considering awarding them the World Cup. And whilst BLM and associated movements are essentially worldwide, being thrust into the faces of all sorts of politicians and important/powerful people as it attempts to challenge racism localised to each country, Qatar is, for the most part, an external problem.

We aren't affected by it the same way we aren't affected by causes our country seeks to remedy in third world countries through yearly charitable events. Even if people did give a toss about it and we had people in every constituency mailing into their MPs to tell them to tackle this issue, nothing much would change. What action we can take is relatively limited. It doesn't stop it being horrid though.

For what it's worth, in case you haven't seen it, Gary Neville actually did a documentary on it though that was as decent a watch that something could be that was hosted by Gary Neville. There's probably better stuff on Qatar in general that is better at educating but naturally, his focus was on the progress towards the Qatar World Cup.

 

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

41 minutes ago, Erimus 63 said:

Well said Redcar Rioja.

The nation definitely needs football to continue just as a mental diversion to help get us through this corvid pandemic. The government should not underestimate this factor.

The mental health of our country is an important factor, I'm sure plenty on here are aware of just how important positive mental health can be in a situation like this, myself included.

I would seriously contest though, that in this day and age, football is the only potential entertainment for our brains and that it is a good reason to keep it going when balancing risk and reward. There's so many potential avenues for entertainment that don't involve us forcing people to work in potentially unsafe environments. Technology does its best to counter that, we've not just got physical media like DVDs, we've got streaming networks offering all sorts for relatively less than the cost to watch a match a month. Generally more expensive but we've also got video games, so many video games and so many ways to play them.

My personal suggestion of entertainment, especially if you're living with a small family, is that people look into board games. Especially if you're sick of looking at a screen or sick of your kids looking at a screen. It's not all Monopoly and Cluedo, those games are actually pretty dull in comparison, I've only just got into the hobby in the last couple of years and some of these things blow my mind. I'd be happy to recommend some too! 😅