The January Transfer Window thread 2022 - That's all folks!

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

Just now, Humpty said:

The U23's are stationed in Rockliffe along with the first team. Do you think his attitude is going to improve after we drag him away from Forest?

Is it really 'dragging away' when he's literally our player? We are not throwing him in a gulag... We're asking him to come and play football in his favoured position, in an improving play-off chasing team, for the club that pays his wages. 

What's happened to him that's so bad he would refuse to play for us anyway... Warnock being an ***? He's gone now. If he flat out refuses to play for us I'd rather he sulked around Rockcliffe if it means weakening Forest tbh... We'd look pretty silly if they finished 6th with him as a key player. 

[Humpty 3,261]

To me and you, of course it's not akin to throwing him in the gulag, but you have to consider the situation in context. He's wanted to move back to London for a while now. He's received a lot of stick from Boro fans and he's playing the best football of his career at another club. Could you imagine bringing him back just so he's no longer an asset at Forest? He'd never want to play for us again, we'd have a dud asset on our hands and his market value would drastically decrease. Even if we brought him back with a view to playing there's no guarantee he'd be a starter. If we finish outside the top 6 it's not going to be because of Djed Spence.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

Just now, SouthernSmoggie said:

Is it really 'dragging away' when he's literally our player? We are not throwing him in a gulag... We're asking him to come and play football in his favoured position, in an improving play-off chasing team, for the club that pays his wages. 

What's happened to him that's so bad he would refuse to play for us anyway... Warnock being an ***? He's gone now. If he flat out refuses to play for us I'd rather he sulked around Rockcliffe if it means weakening Forest tbh... We'd look pretty silly if they finished 6th with him as a key player. 

If he's completely done with us then we need to make the most money possible for him. If that means selling him to Forest this January then so be it, we could use that money to improve our squad with players who want to be here and not need to worry about how it improves Forest.

But I do agree that if they don't have much to offer and we think we can get more, either in the summer or by trying to get him back onside, we might as well chance bringing him back and seeing if Wilder can get round to him.

Last thing I want to see with Spence is for Forest to bring him in for at most a couple of mill and then make significant bank on him in a year or so's time. That would really show us up for how we've managed him since he first came onto the scene.

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

I get forcing an unhappy player to stay is never good, but does anyone have any inside track on why he would be completely done with us anyway...? Can it really be the London factor if he's happy 3 hours away from there in Nottingham?

I always assumed he was out of favour with Warnock (who didn't like his attitude) so he moved for playing time. But surely the arrival of Wilder completely changes the situation. I'm happy to trust Wilder's call on whether we need/want him back here tbh.  

[Humpty 3,261]

He’s been a bad influence in the dressing room for a while now. Before he broke through into the first team, he was about to be let go in the January window but he was given another chance. No movement from the decision not to bring him back from what I was told originally. Keep an eye out for rhetoric in the media, from our end, which is designed to enhance his transfer fee.

[Redcar Rioja 5,976]

10 minutes ago, Humpty said:

He’s been a bad influence in the dressing room for a while now. Before he broke through into the first team, he was about to be let go in the January window but he was given another chance. No movement from the decision not to bring him back from what I was told originally. Keep an eye out for rhetoric in the media, from our end, which is designed to enhance his transfer fee.

I've heard similar tales but is there any truth in them or are they all just urban myths from some bloke down the pub whose missus works as a cleaner at Rockliffe and emptied Warnock's bin?

[Foogle 2,104]

I wouldn't be particularly worried about strengthening rivals if it strengthens us too, there's 24 teams in this division and the point of trade is to make both parties stronger. If we boost Forest a couple of percentage points and give ourselves the resources to do the same then that's all the better. Spence's value is waning for us the closer he gets to the end of his contract.

[Humpty 3,261]

3 minutes ago, Redcar Rioja said:

I've heard similar tales but is there any truth in them or are they all just urban myths from some bloke down the pub whose missus works as a cleaner at Rockliffe and emptied Warnock's bin?

Can’t speak for other rumours.

[Changing Times 12,347]

1 hour ago, Humpty said:

He’s been a bad influence in the dressing room for a while now. Before he broke through into the first team, he was about to be let go in the January window but he was given another chance. No movement from the decision not to bring him back from what I was told originally. Keep an eye out for rhetoric in the media, from our end, which is designed to enhance his transfer fee.

Lol.  I like the idea of a kid without much experience being a bad influence in the dressing room.  Must be easily lead our lot in that case.

Incidentally, when we got rid of the other bad influences we seemed to get worse not better, which is weird when you think about it.  Unless it's all a load of *** of course.

[ScarBoro 857]

4 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

Lol.  I like the idea of a kid without much experience being a bad influence in the dressing room.  Must be easily lead our lot in that case.

Incidentally, when we got rid of the other bad influences we seemed to get worse not better, which is weird when you think about it.  Unless it's all a load of *** of course.

Depends on who he is supposedly influencing. If it was happening for a while then it was possibly around the academy and U23 players. In that case I could easily see some of them being influenced, particularly if he was bragging about his pay or new contract after threatening to leave. Bad influence is maybe not the best description , but he could be unsettling younger players with talk of grass bring greener elsewhere for example.

I suspect he is one of those players that wants to be the star and thinks he is better that he is. If Forest are talking him up now, he will love it, but if they sign him, it might not be too long before he decides he is too big for them and starts acting up. If we do decide to get rid, I would get the biggest percentage of any resale value I could.

Anyway, getting rid of a bad influence isn’t always a disaster - we got rid of Warnock, didn’t we?

[boro-unger 3,870]

9 minutes ago, ScarBoro said:

He could be unsettling younger players with talk of grass bring greener elsewhere for example.

To be fair, the grass probably is greener in a forest than in an old industrial town...

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

1 minute ago, ScarBoro said:

Depends on who he is supposedly influencing. If it was happening for a while then it was possibly around the academy and U23 players. In that case I could easily see some of them being influenced, particularly if he was bragging about his pay or new contract after threatening to leave. Bad influence is maybe not the best description , but he could be unsettling younger players with talk of grass bring greener elsewhere for example.

I suspect he is one of those players that wants to be the star and thinks he is better that he is. If Forest are talking him up now, he will love it, but if they sign him, it might not be too long before he decides he is too big for them and starts acting up. If we do decide to get rid, I would get the biggest percentage of any resale value I could.

Anyway, getting rid of a bad influence isn’t always a disaster - we got rid of Warnock, didn’t we?

There's a lot of probably made-up things in this though to make a character assassination over. If this, if that, could be this, could be that.

I'm not sure what makes anybody think Spence is 'one of those players that wants to be the star and thinks he is better than he is' either? That seems pretty manufactured, to me.

All I know about him is he had a bit of a poor season for us last time out primarily playing out of position despite being decent when played in his right position previously. Not a world-beater but you celebrate every little win when they're a young player coming through the ranks as the expectation is minimal.

Then he got pelters, got fans saying they'd sell him for peanuts, they'd drive him there themselves, bad influence, all that this summer. Now he's at Forest, apparently playing really well and he's now someone people want to try and make some money off. It's all a bit daft to me.

[Humpty 3,261]

1 hour ago, Changing Times said:

Lol.  I like the idea of a kid without much experience being a bad influence in the dressing room.  Must be easily lead our lot in that case.

Incidentally, when we got rid of the other bad influences we seemed to get worse not better, which is weird when you think about it.  Unless it's all a load of *** of course.

No skin off my nose mate 👍

[Changing Times 12,347]

1 hour ago, ScarBoro said:

Depends on who he is supposedly influencing. If it was happening for a while then it was possibly around the academy and U23 players. In that case I could easily see some of them being influenced, particularly if he was bragging about his pay or new contract after threatening to leave. Bad influence is maybe not the best description , but he could be unsettling younger players with talk of grass bring greener elsewhere for example.

I suspect he is one of those players that wants to be the star and thinks he is better that he is. If Forest are talking him up now, he will love it, but if they sign him, it might not be too long before he decides he is too big for them and starts acting up. If we do decide to get rid, I would get the biggest percentage of any resale value I could.

Anyway, getting rid of a bad influence isn’t always a disaster - we got rid of Warnock, didn’t we?

We'd have never offered him a new contract if it was that bad, and he'd have been shipped out before he ever made a first team appearance if he was causing issues with the U23 players.

I suspect that what has happened is that he *** about sometimes in training and it's rubbed some of the coaches up the wrong way.  That and he'd like to play regularly, same as every other player.

It's worth pointing out that he came off the bench at Fulham, and then started the next three games.  It was only after QPR, where he somehow got the blame for us conceding a couple of those goals, despite the fact that none of them were his fault, that he was left out and moved out of the club shortly after.

[ScarBoro 857]

1 hour ago, wilsoncgp said:

There's a lot of probably made-up things in this though to make a character assassination over. If this, if that, could be this, could be that.

I'm not sure what makes anybody think Spence is 'one of those players that wants to be the star and thinks he is better than he is' either? That seems pretty manufactured, to me.

All I know about him is he had a bit of a poor season for us last time out primarily playing out of position despite being decent when played in his right position previously. Not a world-beater but you celebrate every little win when they're a young player coming through the ranks as the expectation is minimal.

Then he got pelters, got fans saying they'd sell him for peanuts, they'd drive him there themselves, bad influence, all that this summer. Now he's at Forest, apparently playing really well and he's now someone people want to try and make some money off. It's all a bit daft to me.

Well, the first part was simply a response to give examples of how he, or any other young player for that matter, could influence others in a dressing room. I never actually said he was doing any of those things - it’s up to others to decide whether they think it likely.
As far as thinking he is “too big for his boots”, I think there’s lot of young players this probably applies to - often egged on by agents. We all have our own opinions, but I don’t think suggesting that he is that is exactly character assassination.