Sinclair Armstrong - OFFICIALLY SIGNED

[Mr Popodopolous]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

Stop worrying about profile, age and fee, Mr P!

We are recruiting in a different market to the one you’re suggesting we should be.

Ah fair, I had 2 or 3 more in mind Dave but perhaps I need a small downward expectation tweak again..I hope he hits Semenyo type form within a year or 2, and everyone adjusts nice and quickly.

I will say this, the new signings are intriguing.

My gut feeling is that it may not propel us this season.

Edited July 15 by Mr Popodopolous

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Ah fair, I had 2 or 3 more in mind Dave but perhaps I need a small downward expectation tweak again..I hope he hits Semenyo type form within a year or 2, and everyone adjusts nice and quickly.

I will say this, the new signings are intriguing.

My gut feeling is that it may not propel us this season.

I’m gonna wait for a few preseason games to get a feel.  Even then, it’s gonna be end of September before we’ll have any idea how we are gonna do.

[Tom]

Looks a very exciting player (from YouTube), and my QPR mate was exasperated when I mentioned it this morning over here in Oz. I wonder if some insight from Gary Johnson who managed him at Torquay on loan might have pushed us towards this somehow.

[Rudolf Hucker]

1 hour ago, petehinton said:

Your love for that guy is unmatched

Think you mean “unhinged”, Pete. 

[MythikRobins]

I am really a big fan of the approach we've taken in this transfer window. I dare say we have been rather intelligent this window with some well calculated risks on all these players. 

Everytime, I've seen Armstrong I've been a fan of what he offers and if we can just take him to the next level we have a serious player on our hands. 

I'd love for us to finally be that club that takes lesser known players and players who've had a tough time and pull out their "hidden" potential.

Really hope we get this one over the line.

[95red]

For all us older lot, Steve rambo johnson  springs to mind !!!!

[richwwtk]

43 minutes ago, 95red said:

For all us older lot, Steve rambo johnson  springs to mind !!!!

Hope not, he still stands out for me as the worst striker I have seen play for us!

[Nugget]

QPR young player of the Year so can’t be that bad, just a bit raw 

[mozo]

6 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Ah fair, I had 2 or 3 more in mind Dave but perhaps I need a small downward expectation tweak again..I hope he hits Semenyo type form within a year or 2, and everyone adjusts nice and quickly.

I will say this, the new signings are intriguing.

My gut feeling is that it may not propel us this season.

I think that's a valid concern. With the age profile and experience levels of our signings, it's as though we are recruiting for success in the 2027/28 season, because by then the lads will all have reached their potential. 

I'm obviously not saying, 'you can't win anything with kids' but they'll need some incredible guidance to all hit the ground running.

[westonred]

Looking at that footage of his goals reminds me very much of Ade Alinbiyi

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, richwwtk said:

Hope not, he still stands out for me as the worst striker I have seen play for us!

You don't remember John (Jo) Kerr?

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, 0606 said:

I was a fan last year too, even the Mabude signing - in years gone past we would’ve paid a fee and a 4 year deal. By doing a loan if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t matter! Unlike Engvill etc.

He still cost us.  It’s still money wasted.  

[RedRoss]

Just now, Davefevs said:

He still cost us.  It’s still money wasted.  

The point he's making is that it was damage limitation on an unknown quantity. Ultimately it didn't work out but we at least don't have a large transfer fee and a 3/4 year contract to contend with i.e Engvall. Not good business but better business. 

[Loco Rojo]

Just a bit of persepective...

Before we signed Dickie, QPR fans weren't very complimentary of him. Look how that turned out.

Lets just see how he fits in with the team, coaching etc before people write this off. 

 

[Davefevs]

21 minutes ago, RedRoss said:

The point he's making is that it was damage limitation on an unknown quantity. Ultimately it didn't work out but we at least don't have a large transfer fee and a 3/4 year contract to contend with i.e Engvall. Not good business but better business. 

He shouldn’t have been an unknown quantity!

”Better” - you mean “less shit”!!!

He was sold to the fans as a real coup. I get not all will be a success, but if we are gonna try before we buy, we still need to do better due diligence. 

[NcnsBcfc]

2 hours ago, 95red said:

For all us older lot, Steve rambo johnson  springs to mind !!!!

Favourite colour: "Pink"

Never got over that article 

[RedRoss]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

He shouldn’t have been an unknown quantity!

”Better” - you mean “less shit”!!!

He was sold to the fans as a real coup. I get not all will be a success, but if we are gonna try before we buy, we still need to do better due diligence. 

Fair I agree he was clearly way off it. How it got to the stage of being a loan in the first place is poor I must admit. 

and basically yes 

[astrondrew]

Looks big, strong and quick with a potential to improve his goalscoring and assists.

If he were big, strong and quick and loads of goals and assists, we wouldn't be able to afford him.

Patience, perspective and the hope that we are gutted to lose him in 4 years for a hefty fee (if he signs).

[NcnsBcfc]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

He shouldn’t have been an unknown quantity!

”Better” - you mean “less shit”!!!

He was sold to the fans as a real coup. I get not all will be a success, but if we are gonna try before we buy, we still need to do better due diligence. 

I think Manning will realise he got burnt a bit with the Mebude deal in the eyes of the fans. It was one of those deals that looks very good on Wyscout, we definitely didn't watch him 30 times, as he only played about 3 for Westerloo.

I quite like the Armstrong deal to be fair. Their young under 21 player of the year (whatever the QPR fans say about him). Very raw and needs work of course, but of the players I've seen in the Championship over the last few years it was only him and Ogbene (when at Rotherham) that I thought of as Semenyo replacements.

Even Antoine of course had rough patches in the last few years. I think when he came back from Newport and just looked lost and then got sent off against Derby, none of us come have imagined he would go for £10m+ to the Prem.

Taking a chance on the lad, but he gives us something different. One criticism of our forward line last season was they were all a bit samey. The substitutions felt like for like all the time. As an impact sub against tired defenders, he would be a nightmare (not unlike Semenyo was of course).

Finger crossed, he's able to develop in the same way Antoine was.

[hinsleburg]

12 minutes ago, astrondrew said:

Looks big, strong and quick with a potential to improve his goalscoring and assists.

If he were big, strong and quick and loads of goals and assists, we wouldn't be able to afford him.

Patience, perspective and the hope that we are gutted to lose him in 4 years for a hefty fee (if he signs).

Yeah think patience is key, I think if he gets an early goal he'll explode and we'll think we've got a £20m player.

But if he doesn't hit the ground running we need to make sure we are patient, clearly not the finished article yet and lots of work left to go.

I do echo some of the concerns in this thread, whilst we've added attacking players statistically we've not really added many goals yet. If Conway were to leave, and even some ways if he stays as feels like he's being manoeuvred out so may not play, I'm struggling to see where the goals are going to come from. Feels like we've added depth and options though which over the course of the season is huge, we could conceivably go into the season with a better squad but worse starting 11 which could make for an interesting season

[Davefevs]

15 minutes ago, NcnsBcfc said:

I think Manning will realise he got burnt a bit with the Mebude deal in the eyes of the fans. It was one of those deals that looks very good on Wyscout, we definitely didn't watch him 30 times, as he only played about 3 for Westerloo.

I quite like the Armstrong deal to be fair. Their young under 21 player of the year (whatever the QPR fans say about him). Very raw and needs work of course, but of the players I've seen in the Championship over the last few years it was only him and Ogbene (when at Rotherham) that I thought of as Semenyo replacements.

Even Antoine of course had rough patches in the last few years. I think when he came back from Newport and just looked lost and then got sent off against Derby, none of us come have imagined he would go for £10m+ to the Prem.

Taking a chance on the lad, but he gives us something different. One criticism of our forward line last season was they were all a bit samey. The substitutions felt like for like all the time. As an impact sub against tired defenders, he would be a nightmare (not unlike Semenyo was of course).

Finger crossed, he's able to develop in the same way Antoine was.

Trust me, he didn’t look good on Wyscout!

Yep, there aren’t many young players with power and pace, Ogbene was one.  Will be interesting to watch him for Luton this season, playing in a better team than Rotherham at this level.  Armstrong appears to be another, they are few and far between.

Antoine was also getting stick, even in 22/23 before we sold him.  He struggled coming back from injury having been excellent the second half of 21/22 as part of WSM.  Had to come off the bench a bit because Conway and Wells were doing well.

Armstrong will be frustrating at times, he’s not a technical footballer, but he’ll batter a few defenders and the fans will like that.  Semenyo was one to get me of my feet, facing up a defender in the half-space was one of those “go on Antoine, skin him” moments for me.

 

[Selred]

47 minutes ago, Loco Rojo said:

Just a bit of persepective...

Before we signed Dickie, QPR fans weren't very complimentary of him. Look how that turned out.

Lets just see how he fits in with the team, coaching etc before people write this off. 

 

I'm not sure this is true. I think they really rated him when he first joined, and he was linked to Prem clubs, but then he lost form and never recovered it.

[1960maaan]

47 minutes ago, Loco Rojo said:

Just a bit of persepective...

Before we signed Dickie, QPR fans weren't very complimentary of him. Look how that turned out.

Lets just see how he fits in with the team, coaching etc before people write this off. 

 

I agree with @Selred . From the QPR I spoke to , they rated him and it was only about 12 month previously they were talking £10m if he left. Bit of lost form , circumstances change or whatever and he lost his way a little. Even when we signed him I was told with a new challenge we could have got a very good player, as it turned out . 

[Nugget]

Was reading the tweet where QPR triggered the 1 Year contract renewal for Sinclair recently, their fans were generally relieved & positive that he just needs that breakout season, apart from those that saw through that it wasn’t his decision & likely sold, which now seems likely! Hopefully with a new setting & patience he can be a Semenyo type we can develop, not a Mebude 

[mozo]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

He still cost us.  It’s still money wasted.  

That's kind of like saying that an insurance policy is a waste of money if you don't have to use it. He was still and extra body in the event of an injury crisis. It was also an opportunity to see under bonnet before taking a punt on the car. 

He was oversold, but that's quite typical now. I wouldn't mind betting that his issue is more his mindset than his technical ability, but who knows.

[GrahamC]

12 hours ago, Davefevs said:

you’daman Mike!

My guess is this is the 2nd striker signing to replace Conway.

i have little worry about a 21-year old, a 22-year old supported by Wells and backed-up by Cornick.

Gutted that I’ve complemented Mike on his sartorial elegance before & he still didn’t share with me…

Don’t forget Sam Bell, think we see him as a striker now & a viable option alongside (say) Mayulu..

[Davefevs]

Just now, mozo said:

That's kind of like saying that an insurance policy is a waste of money if you don't have to use it. He was still and extra body in the event of an injury crisis. It was also an opportunity to see under bonnet before taking a punt on the car. 

He was oversold, but that's quite typical now. I wouldn't mind betting that his issue is more his mindset than his technical ability, but who knows.

I think the “oversold” bit is probably the worst bit (not best bit @Silvio Dante) of this.  There was lots of virtual back-slapping about how good this kid was, the fake back story of visa issues, how they’d been monitoring for a long time, and how everything was lined up / agreed to sign him this summer.

I don’t wanna know the financials of the deal, but a play signed for £1.6m on a 4-year deal, isn’t gonna be given up cheaply.

I can live with a one-off deal being a bit crap, but I don’t wanna see this repeated very often.  We’ve yet to see whether Twine was a good loan either, especially in the context of it smoothing a path to signing him permanently.  Some lessons to be learned re January windows possibly?

[Davefevs]

8 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Don’t forget Sam Bell, think we see him as a striker now & a viable option alongside (say) Mayulu..

Was mainly replying on the basis of Armstrong and Mayulu being young, hence counterbalance of the oldies!

[W-S-M Seagull]

2 hours ago, mozo said:

I think that's a valid concern. With the age profile and experience levels of our signings, it's as though we are recruiting for success in the 2027/28 season, because by then the lads will all have reached their potential. 

I'm obviously not saying, 'you can't win anything with kids' but they'll need some incredible guidance to all hit the ground running.

I think the only 'bad' bit of buisness we've done is not renewing Matty James contract. 

I felt like he would have been that all important ingredient to bind it all together and offer that experience and guidance to the younger ones. 

[Major Isewater]

12 hours ago, HengroveReds said:

I’m think it’ll be upwards of million fee, with sell on clause and additional goal scoring / appearance clause / promotion clause maybe. 

So it’s in our interest financially that he doesn’t score . 

[Ashton Fete]

2 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I think the only 'bad' bit of buisness we've done is not renewing Matty James contract. 

I felt like he would have been that all important ingredient to bind it all together and offer that experience and guidance to the younger ones. 

Agreed

Interesting he still hasn’t signed for anyone, my money remains on Derby, newly promoted clubs should be fighting over him or Preston

[W-S-M Seagull]

5 minutes ago, Ashton Fete said:

Agreed

Interesting he still hasn’t signed for anyone, my money remains on Derby, newly promoted clubs should be fighting over him or Preston

Does seem a bit strange how he remains unattached. Thought he'd have been snapped up quickly. Highly dependable experienced midfielder at this level. 

Maybe injured? Don't we have to pay him up to the end of July? Maybe something to do with that? 

[Selred]

14 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I think the only 'bad' bit of buisness we've done is not renewing Matty James contract. 

I felt like he would have been that all important ingredient to bind it all together and offer that experience and guidance to the younger ones. 

Surprised he's not at another club?

[phantom]

8 minutes ago, Ashton Fete said:

Agreed

Interesting he still hasn’t signed for anyone, my money remains on Derby, newly promoted clubs should be fighting over him or Preston

Does he actually still want to play?

[HengroveReds]

4 minutes ago, phantom said:

Does he actually still want to play?

Yes, saw him on social media pre season training 1-1 in Marbella.  Probably hanging out for the right move closer to home in Manchester. Someone like Blackburn would suit him, maybe even a Stockport if there showing ambition for back to back promotions

Edited July 16 by HengroveReds

[Ashton Fete]

4 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Does seem a bit strange how he remains unattached. Thought he'd have been snapped up quickly. Highly dependable experienced midfielder at this level. 

Maybe injured? Don't we have to pay him up to the end of July? Maybe something to do with that? 

I think all contracts finish on 30th June

He’ll have offers I’m sure so maybe just weighing it up but there’s been zero links in the media as far as I’m aware.  Perhaps as you’ve said he’s had an operation so in recoup

[Betty Swallocks]

4 minutes ago, Ashton Fete said:

I think all contracts finish on 30th June

He’ll have offers I’m sure so maybe just weighing it up but there’s been zero links in the media as far as I’m aware.  Perhaps as you’ve said he’s had an operation so in recoup

Contracts finish on the 30th June but if a player hasn’t signed on at a new club, you have to pay them at the end of July as well. 

[Rossi the Robin]

Seems like a sensible step, not a giant leap 

 

[slartibartfast]

2 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

You don't remember John (Jo) Kerr?

Really, I thought he was ok for where we were at the time (Div 4) .

[W-S-M Seagull]

5 minutes ago, 0606 said:

Wouldn’t get in the side - an expensive 5th? Choice. With the likes of Bird, Williams, Knight and TGH made no sense to keep him on - wouldn’t be cheap either.

Personally he's one of the 1st names on the team sheet for me. 

It's likely that at any one time one of those are likely to be injured/suspended. 

[BCFCGav]

With Pete O'Rourke saying this was in an 'advanced' stage, and with how much easier you'd imagine a deal is to conclude with QPR rather than Rapid Wien or Machida Zelvia due to no worries about international clearance etc., I wonder if this will be done in the next day or two. Our first friendly is in a week so we want everyone in nice and sharpish. 

[Merrick's Marvels]

7 minutes ago, 0606 said:

Wouldn’t get in the side - an expensive 5th? Choice. With the likes of Bird, Williams, Knight and TGH made no sense to keep him on - wouldn’t be cheap either.

At least 3 of those players (I don't know much about Bird) are inferior in all respects - bar one, mobility. And seeing as we're shifting towards pacy, mobile forwards, I suppose it makes sense to have midfielders who can keep up. But that's the only thing those players have over James. Imo. In terms of technique and know-how, he's infinitely superior. But I get the wish to move on to something else.  

[Ian M]

12 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

4-2-3-1 then?

             O'Leary

Tanner Vyner Dickie Pring

    Knight Bird/Williams

                Twine     

Sykes Fally/Armstrong/Wells Yu

You need to stop thinking of Best XIs and best formations. Players will have areas to control dependent on the phase of play and this will differ across a single match let alone a 46 game season.

12 hours ago, GrahamC said:

 

Reality is we’ll never know, unless Tinnion blurts it out in an interview in the next few months, that is..

Graham, your device’s autocorrect feature changed until to unless

11 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I wonder if someone like- obviously not him but someone akin to Latte-Lath could be the correct profile.

He cost £4.3m iirc. Although seen claims of £4m too.

A marquee or more established striker for the level probably costs in the £4-5m bracket- if you can find one for cheaper or produce one of your own, great.

So about £2m more than we are willing to spend on a striker.

————————————————————

I see quite a lot of mention along the lines of “these types of signings aren’t gonna get us top 6”. I know a few players have mentioned promotion but I don’t believe I have seen any comment from the hierarchy saying that’s the goal for this season this Summer (rightly imo).
 

We cannot go out and buy our way to promotion, what we can do is buy younger players with almost uncoachable positive attributes (such as pace and frame) and try to coach them to be better in other areas. That may work straight away but more likely it is incrementally moving us up the table, as Manning’s predecessor was doing but let’s not go down that road! I only mention it as I feel it is the right approach for a club like our’s.

We have a solid base defensively (noting that defence starts from the front) so we shouldn’t really struggle with relegation and this should really be viewed as a development season with an outside chance of success if that development is faster than expected.

[Ian M]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

I think the “oversold” bit is probably the worst bit (not best bit @Silvio Dante) of this.  There was lots of virtual back-slapping about how good this kid was, the fake back story of visa issues, how they’d been monitoring for a long time, and how everything was lined up / agreed to sign him this summer.

I don’t wanna know the financials of the deal, but a play signed for £1.6m on a 4-year deal, isn’t gonna be given up cheaply.

I can live with a one-off deal being a bit crap, but I don’t wanna see this repeated very often.  We’ve yet to see whether Twine was a good loan either, especially in the context of it smoothing a path to signing him permanently.  Some lessons to be learned re January windows possibly?

This is really really rough calculations just glancing at Sofascore but it looks like we got 19 points from the 12 games Twine was involved in in some form. If this return was continued over a full season that would translate to 73 points before making any other attacking improvements. It might be that without necessarily having many stellar games, just having someone fairly competent in that role helped us become better than the sum of our parts? Or it was just too small a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions

[Simon bristol]

4 minutes ago, Ian M said:

This is really really rough calculations just glancing at Sofascore but it looks like we got 19 points from the 12 games Twine was involved in in some form. If this return was continued over a full season that would translate to 73 points before making any other attacking improvements. It might be that without necessarily having many stellar games, just having someone fairly competent in that role helped us become better than the sum of our parts? Or it was just too small a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions

Having twine in also moved knight back to his preferred role, which improved us in 2 areas, we know what we are going to get with twine if he stays fit, and he is mannings first pick, its a no brainer to bring him back, if we cant afford this deal but spend 1-2 million on a striker with 3 career goals instead, we might as well give up, after signing the new star striker for another few million too.

[chinapig]

22 minutes ago, Ian M said:

I see quite a lot of mention along the lines of “these types of signings aren’t gonna get us top 6”. I know a few players have mentioned promotion but I don’t believe I have seen any comment from the hierarchy saying that’s the goal for this season this Summer (rightly imo).
 

On the other hand we were told last season that we had a top end squad. Presumably the signings are intended to make the squad even more top end unless we are recruiting to stand still.

I don't expect the club to say what the objective is because keeping it vague allows them to claim retrospectively that it was achieved, as they did last season.

 

[Ian M]

3 minutes ago, chinapig said:

On the other hand we were told last season that we had a top end squad. Presumably the signings are intended to make the squad even more top end unless we are recruiting to stand still.

I don't expect the club to say what the objective is because keeping it vague allows them to claim retrospectively that it was achieved, as they did last season.

 

But did you believe them?

Would you prefer them to continue in that vein or be more realistic?

[Curr Avon]

Is it me, or does 'Sinclair Armstrong' sound a bit like a Sherlock Holmes type-character? 

Forgive me for trying to have some fun with this, but what about a series of detective fiction novels? - The Sinclair Armstrong Mysteries - by Arthur Thatchers-Bahman

Volume One: Murder at Sideways Pass

 

Edited July 16 by Curr Avon

[cider hoss rules]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I think the only 'bad' bit of buisness we've done is not renewing Matty James contract. 

I felt like he would have been that all important ingredient to bind it all together and offer that experience and guidance to the younger ones. 

That is assuming he wanted to stay.

It may well have been his choice to depart to move back north.

[Ian M]

1 minute ago, cider hoss rules said:

That is assuming he wanted to stay.

It may well have been his choice to depart to move back north.

I believe he wanted to stay. But once we had decided which areas we wanted new players, the budget only allowed for one of James or Williams to remain and we went with the younger of the two.

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Ashton Fete said:

I think all contracts finish on 30th June

He’ll have offers I’m sure so maybe just weighing it up but there’s been zero links in the media as far as I’m aware.  Perhaps as you’ve said he’s had an operation so in recoup

1 hour ago, Betty Swallocks said:

Contracts finish on the 30th June but if a player hasn’t signed on at a new club, you have to pay them at the end of July as well. 

Yep, players tend to get a payoff for a month (up to a certain amount) if they don’t get offered a contract, or the contract offered is less than what they’re on.

5 minutes ago, cider hoss rules said:

That is assuming he wanted to stay.

It may well have been his choice to depart to move back north.

Pretty sure he was keen to stay was what someone who’d know told me.

[Supersonic Robin]

5 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Having twine in also moved knight back to his preferred role, which improved us in 2 areas, we know what we are going to get with twine if he stays fit, and he is mannings first pick, its a no brainer to bring him back, if we cant afford this deal but spend 1-2 million on a striker with 3 career goals instead, we might as well give up, after signing the new star striker for another few million too.

Re Twine, I'm actually not sure we do know what we're getting. I thought he was hot and cold in his time on loan here. If anything, I'm slightly concerned that we're buying him based on what he could be rather than what he's shown himself to be so far. At the price being quoted, I don't think it is a no brainer.

[chinapig]

7 minutes ago, Ian M said:

But did you believe them?

Would you prefer them to continue in that vein or be more realistic?

I don't believe a word they say but presumably they would deny that they were lying. So I am entitled to judge them on their words.

As to realistic, they are free to say so themselves e.g. that the aim is to consolidate a mid table position.

Their justification for replacing Pearson with Manning was that Liam would improve our chances of promotion. If that is no longer the position it seems to be pointless to have made the change in the first place.

As usual they have made a rod for their own back.

[chinapig]

13 minutes ago, Ian M said:

I believe he wanted to stay. But once we had decided which areas we wanted new players, the budget only allowed for one of James or Williams to remain and we went with the younger of the two.

I think this probably the case. I also reckon we are preparing for the eventual new 90/80/70% of revenue cost control regime by reducing our squad costs. A sensible thing to do imo, though we need to reduce non-football costs as well.

[BCFC31]

I think now our most important signing this summer will be by far a number 10 weather that's twine or not we have needed somone to knit things together in that final 3rd for years and twine showed when he was fit how vital his role was in getting better results I really hope we are looking at twine alternatives because somthing tells me he will be kept on at burnley.

[Puckle_red]

1 hour ago, 0606 said:

Wouldn’t get in the side - an expensive 5th? Choice. With the likes of Bird, Williams, Knight and TGH made no sense to keep him on - wouldn’t be cheap either.

Genuinely, I think James is the best of all of them. Certainly better than the 3 already here last season (Williams, Knight, TGH). Bird might be as good, but hard to say without seeing him for us yet.

[Sleepy1968]

49 minutes ago, Supersonic Robin said:

Re Twine, I'm actually not sure we do know what we're getting. I thought he was hot and cold in his time on loan here. If anything, I'm slightly concerned that we're buying him based on what he could be rather than what he's shown himself to be so far. At the price being quoted, I don't think it is a no brainer.

Aren't we getting Jamie Patterson with (arguably) better nashers?

[Roger Red Hat]

54 minutes ago, Ian M said:

I believe he wanted to stay. But once we had decided which areas we wanted new players, the budget only allowed for one of James or Williams to remain and we went with the younger of the two.

I also think James looked to have lost some mobility towards the end of the season. I'd have been happy to see him stay but can also see why he's not!

[Curr Avon]

1 hour ago, Curr Avon said:

Is it me, or does 'Sinclair Armstrong' sound a bit like a Sherlock Holmes type-character? 

Forgive me for trying to have some fun with this, but what about a series of detective fiction novels? - The Sinclair Armstrong Mysteries - by Arthur Thatchers-Bahman

Volume One: Murder at Sideways Pass

 

Volume Two: The Abominable Shirt Design 

Any more?

[cheese]

6 minutes ago, Curr Avon said:

Volume Two: The Abominable Shirt Design 

Any more?

The player who never joined, Volumes 1 to 55

[Silvio Dante]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I think the “oversold” bit is probably the worst bit (not best bit @Silvio Dante) of this.  There was lots of virtual back-slapping about how good this kid was, the fake back story of visa issues, how they’d been monitoring for a long time, and how everything was lined up / agreed to sign him this summer.

I don’t wanna know the financials of the deal, but a play signed for £1.6m on a 4-year deal, isn’t gonna be given up cheaply.

I can live with a one-off deal being a bit crap, but I don’t wanna see this repeated very often.  We’ve yet to see whether Twine was a good loan either, especially in the context of it smoothing a path to signing him permanently.  Some lessons to be learned re January windows possibly?

Biggest bit mate, biggest bit. 
 

I think we can agree DM was a catastrophic bit of recruitment and is the poster boy for why we need to watch someone in person 30 times before making a move. The rhetoric from the club for something clearly disproveable also created an unnecessary bit of bad feeling.

On a broader basis, I agree with subsequent posts that LM has probably been burnt by that signing - as I think it clearly looked like one of his. It’s one of the question marks on him for me - I’m in no doubt the three “choices” of his I’ve seen so far in Twine, Medube and Mehmeti (as he wanted to sign him and has thrown him in from day one) are good technical footballers but I’m yet to be convinced any are championship footballers. This is where the signing of Armstrong fascinates me a bit - he’s not a technical footballer, he’s a bulldozer. It’s against what you would associate with Manningball V1, and is one that makes me wonder how we’ll set up next year.

On subject - I’d be happy enough with this deal at a reasonable price.

[fly in the air]

I agree a class act

[Ashton Fete]

Stoke now interested apparently 

https://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/football-wls-bristol-city-and-stoke-among-clubs-chasing-qpr-man

[astrondrew]

He does look like the sort of player Stoke have and I wish we did.

[Finley_Smith10]

Hopefully the deal was concluded over the weekend

[slartibartfast]

34 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Biggest bit mate, biggest bit. 
 

I think we can agree DM was a catastrophic bit of recruitment and is the poster boy for why we need to watch someone in person 30 times before making a move. The rhetoric from the club for something clearly disproveable also created an unnecessary bit of bad feeling.

On a broader basis, I agree with subsequent posts that LM has probably been burnt by that signing - as I think it clearly looked like one of his. It’s one of the question marks on him for me - I’m in no doubt the three “choices” of his I’ve seen so far in Twine, Medube and Mehmeti (as he wanted to sign him and has thrown him in from day one) are good technical footballers but I’m yet to be convinced any are championship footballers. This is where the signing of Armstrong fascinates me a bit - he’s not a technical footballer, he’s a bulldozer. It’s against what you would associate with Manningball V1, and is one that makes me wonder how we’ll set up next year.

On subject - I’d be happy enough with this deal at a reasonable price.

What actually happened re DM, was it just that he was crap (although hardly got any minutes) or was a he a "problem" ?

[Davefevs]

31 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Biggest bit mate, biggest bit. 
 

I think we can agree DM was a catastrophic bit of recruitment and is the poster boy for why we need to watch someone in person 30 times before making a move. The rhetoric from the club for something clearly disproveable also created an unnecessary bit of bad feeling.

On a broader basis, I agree with subsequent posts that LM has probably been burnt by that signing - as I think it clearly looked like one of his. It’s one of the question marks on him for me - I’m in no doubt the three “choices” of his I’ve seen so far in Twine, Medube and Mehmeti (as he wanted to sign him and has thrown him in from day one) are good technical footballers but I’m yet to be convinced any are championship footballers. This is where the signing of Armstrong fascinates me a bit - he’s not a technical footballer, he’s a bulldozer. It’s against what you would associate with Manningball V1, and is one that makes me wonder how we’ll set up next year.

On subject - I’d be happy enough with this deal at a reasonable price.

My bad!  Must do better!

This appears to still be following the key principles for the player profiles put into place by Nige and Gould…power and pace (at least one, preferably both) first, technical second.  In fairness even Manning said that all successful sides are able to run, so you’d imagine he’d buy into that by and large.

So I still have hope that we less MKD-Manning and more-Easter-Manning.

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, Ashton Fete said:

Stoke now interested apparently 

https://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/football-wls-bristol-city-and-stoke-among-clubs-chasing-qpr-man

Wow, what an insightful article.

[Curr Avon]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Wow, what an insightful article.

Yeah, as insightful as one of my posts! (Damn, why did I say that?)

[Mr Popodopolous]

6 hours ago, mozo said:

I think that's a valid concern. With the age profile and experience levels of our signings, it's as though we are recruiting for success in the 2027/28 season, because by then the lads will all have reached their potential. 

I'm obviously not saying, 'you can't win anything with kids' but they'll need some incredible guidance to all hit the ground running.

I wouldn't go as far as 2027-28 but deferred gratification certainly is plausible.

Solid base is fine, a number of additions are exciting and intriguing...we must seek to hold onto them as long as possible to see them develop and grow together to give ourselves the best possible chance though, now that FFP isn't an issue.