Transfer window success rate. Marks out of 10.

[number4]

8 very satisfied with the people brought in -others would have liked another striker but we have addressed areas that needed it.

[Pelle]

The success of the transfer window can only accurately be judged come May (or come what may?).

In previous transfer windows, a lot of posters criticized Martin O'Neill for his lack of activity, or his sloth-like approach, or his poor choices. I, along with some others, defended him claiming that you cannot divorce a transfer window from the performance on the pitch. You can buy very few players, and players who are not deemed "shit" by some supporters, but if you're scoring the goals, winning the games, and finishing up in the UEFA Cup, you're probably doing something right.

Now that we have spent 40m quid and there are claims that the transfer window is a success, I offer the same advice: we should not divorce the transfer window from the performance on the pitch. You cannot judge a transfer window simply by looking at how many players were bought and what the names were. If our higher profile signings turn out to be rubbish in the claret and blue, or disrupt team spirit, and we consequently fall down the table, then the manager's transfers will not have been good. If the players gel and we turn out to be world beaters and we continue to improve, then that would be bloody marvellous!

Viewing a transfer window in isolation and judging a manager's performance based purely on who they buy and sell is not necessarily all that wise. Transfer activity is just part of the package we have got with Martin O'Neill... and by God aren't we damn lucky to have him!!

I agree. But voted anyway. For me it's more like rating the possibility of how good this transfer window has been than judging it as such. The season will tell the true story.

Gave it an 8. Would've liked to see a new striker too, but we've still got the same striking force that took us to the 6th. Maybe you could say that Maloney has left and was part of it, and I'll miss him, but instead we've got Milner who can play there in the same way and who I think is more consistant and have MON's faith.

And agree with Tric that we could do with another creative player. We can't depend too much on Young and Milner. Maybe flair player is more the right word, as I think that both Barry and Carew can be quite creative too, and maybe Petrov and Sidwell.

Still feel the squad is so much better than last season anyway. And now we've finally got that natural rb. :nod:

[Hanky]

Another 8 from me.

[momo]

Good buys to strengthen our squad, but have they really strengthened the team?

[Demitri_C]

8, would have been higher had we signed a striker

[The_Rev]

9. We kept Barry, we bought more players in than i dared hope. Would have been a 10 if Olly had stayed or we had signed a class striker.

[Stevo985]

I gave an 8. Had we bought a quality striker I would have gone to 9. it would have taken something very special to get a 10 out of 10. if we finish in the top 4 I will gladly change my mark to 10.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

A 7 from me.

I'm disappointed we didn't bring in some competition to Gabby and Carew, or perhaps even just a capable back up plan. Delfouneso better be ready.

Aside from that, it's been a fantastic summer. Some genuine quality in every position and competition for places in some key areas. Delighted.

[stevenjos]

7/10

did what was needed. But not added that "X Factor" we was looking for.

[pamparius]

i went for 7/10

still remain unconvinced by Shorey (although its very early days of course) and Friedel's already had a few unchracteristic flaps too

only time will tell if Cuellar, Sidwell and Milner will push us forwards

what i do know however is we've still got no out and out goalscorer and we still have no cover (of sufficient quality) on either flank or at right back

i guess some creative flair would've been nice too

[Denis_B]

Went for 8 due to the Barry saga being temporarily resolved.

[rjw63]

I wonder why the persons that voted "1" and "4" haven't disclosed their reasons?

[Denis_B]

Probably crying in their milk coz Cittee have rich owners and we haven't?

[rjw63]

Probably crying in their milk coz Cittee have rich owners and we haven't?

Unfortunately you're probably right Den

[Rocafella]

I don't really count in Curtis Davies as he was brought in last season - we paid for him now kind of, even though none of us knows if the payments went now or last season. Even so, most deals have payment plans etc, at least when it's down to big purchases. So, Curtis was our player last season, not this one (IMO).

Brad Friedel - 8 - starter

His ability last season and the years before that was a 9, no doubt about it, his age brings my rating down to an 8 because we know that the chances of him suddenly being a little weaker are natural - and we won't get a hold of him for more than two seasons max which is a shame. A player and person that will bring lots of good things to the club, he must be a real leader within the dressing room. I wanted Artur Boruc before the summer - but I guess Celtic isn't the place where MON will pick his players anymore.

Brad Guzan - 6 - reserve

Keeper for the bench, a move that won't make any difference this season or the next.... but who knows how good he will become. Most likely he will not become our first pick keeper after Friedel, but at this price it's definetely worth a shot.

Nicky Shorey - 7 - cover when Bouma was/is fit

Good little player who will give competition to the injured, and older Wilfred Bouma. I have been a little bit disappointed with Shorey so far but what is three games anyway.

Cuellar - 8 - cover for now I would guess

I have never seen the guy and I am only speaking on behalf of expectations and reports from other people. How good he really can be is a question we will answer in the end of the campaign, let's hope is something in the Lescott category. Cuellar and Davies together the next 5 seasons after Laursen retires isn't bad at all.

Like I have said, never seen him play, but he really looks like the kind of player who understands the game, makes hard tackles and wins everything in the air. If his mobility is decent for a tall bloke we have something to look forward to.

Luke Young - 6 - starter

6 isn't bad - it's OK, it's good. He is a good player, a solid player who will give us just that. Solid performances. I wouldn't say I am disappointed, to be frank, who else is there in the market? He is obviously the player with the least ability in our back four IMO, but let's hope he develop some more assets to his game and make me look like an ass. The price was steep, but that shows we are not afraid of spending some money. After all, who are we to judge a deal when most of us aren't a) economists or behind the money spent anyway. A step down from Olof Mellberg (even at right back) but he gives us stability non the less.

Steve Sidwell - 7 - cover

Just like Shorey he is the best cover we could have gotten. Well, we could have gotten a much better player and made Petrov/NRC our cover but that isn't MON's style after all. Competitive and great for our games in Europe, he will not give us any spectacular performances but it will be gritty and tough. After all, that's what we need away to Stoke and Hull, teams that will win the game playing rugby and not football.

James Milner - 8 - starter

A young, good player with a terrific machine. He runs and makes tackles, never gives up. I think he is fairly limited in attack - as his shot is kind of non-existent and his crossing seem to be a little bit off at times, but he gives us another option taking corners and free-kicks. Taking set-pieces is something totally different from crossing in the heat of the moment mind, you can be a good corner taker and a crap crosser of the ball at the same time. Milner had a lot of assists for us when he was 20 years old, I would love it if he turned his game around a bit and hit that higher level, because I think he has stagnated a bit since returning to Newcastle. Saying that, this is the perfect place for him and he has been welcome since day one. I wanted Bentley and SWP before him to be honest, but now that's history.

Striker situation

Good teams with good defensive units such as Liverpool and Carragher love to play against us because they know how to shut us out. Mark Young and put the tough guy on Carew as well as leaving no holes for Gabby. When it happens it's frustrating and to be honest - I think we will score less goals this season because teams have learned about us better this time around. With another striker we could have had other options and systems, but it wasn't materialised and I am frustrated. My first pick was Darren Bent (this was waaaay back in May/June when he was still "crap") so it could have been an option. Dean Ashton, a great player and probably going to be better than Carew at lots of things, but right now it seems a little bit strange. We need a poacher, with a clean injury record. Well, needed. Rumors on the net say we have failed in an attempt to sign Emile Heskey..... I am pretty certain MON will not go our and comment on that. A) Heskey is utterly crap and he failed to sign him (if true)

All in all I am relieved we have strengthened in numbers, which makes our UEFA campaign a little bit easier to endure. Our first team has been strengthened with Friedel and Milner, but we have also lost a very good player in Olof Mellberg. So my conclusion is that we will fight for the same stuff as last season, we are a little bit better on paper (first XI) but other clubs are getting better as well. My expectation this season would be to finish 7th, I would be thrilled with 6th again. 4th is not possible and 5th will be within a 10 point grasp. I remember I said last season that we were going to finish around 15 points behind Liverpool because squad size and ability always come out in the end. People were laughing of course, since we were only 2 points or so behind them then.... we actually ended 16 points behind them.

All in all - a fairly good transfer window, perhaps because we aren't exactly blessed with good ones in the past ----> 7+

[itdoesntmatterwhatthissay]

8 for me too, great window but not complete. Looks like Man City are going to build and Everton drop some points.

Quite a few team strengthened and we did enough to move into a new gear.

I think we have put ourselves in contention but due to other signing around the country could find ourselves slipping somewhat without a fuller squad.

I feel we needed some more wing cover, unless we do not use wingers exclusively of course, some cover at the back and most certainly a striker, however we do not know how much the youth are going to step up (fair play to Everton playing the kids, even if they had no choice).

We did well, added to the team and the squad looks more uniform. We want players to gel quickly and 4months will fly by until the next window so hopefully we shall see some positive scouting and strong squad assessment from the coaches in order to prepare us for January.

All in all I am very happy, a few players could/should have come our way to beat off the chasing pack but I feel we have made positive and important steps to achieving and with the squad size plenty of headroom for the right type of improvement.

[irishvilla1874]

7 because I don't think we increased the squad by that much in all honesty. I am very happy with the players we got in but imo, the striker issue could really hurt us - there are some amount of games to be played this season...

[b6bloke]

come on! i want to hear the reasons behind the 1 point mark given

[Clarry]

6

All the players were the bare minimum we needed in numbers to stand still, but the quality is better. So Mon gets a 6 for that - doing the bare minimum but upping the quality.

If we'd had another striker it would have been closer to a 10, but that would depend on the signing.

I think the phrase I would use is "lack of imagination".

[Grant(aka_eddy)]

Transfers in and out = 6

Plus keeping Barry = 7 overall.

We had alot of essentials to do, which we did to the standard i expected, solid progress.

There was room to do something a bit more exciting but for whatever reason we didn't/couldn't.

A new right side was an important thing to get done and Cuellar could potentially replace Mellberg.

Losing Maloney was a blow to cover on the wings.

Buying Sidwell (which was entirely justifiable at the time) has probably left us heavy in central midfield, good player though.

But of course not signing another striker was probably the biggest disappointment.

Overall it was a window of filling holes with good quality players. No spectacular signings, no big leap in quality, just a more solid & balanced looking squad. Future windows can now concentrate on strengthening a particular position and improving our quality.