Stickied League 2 Transfer Rumours/Confirmed Transfers 2023/24

[Luke Imp]

I read that as the signing on fee was us, not the League 1 wages and that bit was just a general comment.

No surprise if it was Green. He was always likely to command some sort of signing on fee, given he was available on a free and a good free at that.

 

[Luke Imp]

Look at our squad ffs, average age is about 14. We're gambling massively that 3/4 experienced players will someone gel together a ridiculously young and in experienced side. Our wage bill has been cut again and probably isn't in the top 8 n this league anymore.

Depends what your wage bill was before.

Does it not sit slightly uncomfortably that you've got a handful earning way, way more than anyone else and in Chris O'Grady, someone whose deal is apparently the biggest outlay in Chesterfield's history? I mean, that's got to be some mega money.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Depends what your wage bill was before.

Does it not sit slightly uncomfortably that you've got a handful earning way, way more than anyone else and in Chris O'Grady, someone whose deal is apparently the biggest outlay in Chesterfield's history? I mean, that's got to be some mega money.

Even more than the big money they paid Marc Richards to lure him from Port Vale a few years back?

 

[SVH]

It would seem the Berry deal to Hibs is off as they failed to agree personal terms.

Good news, for now.

 

[AmberRich]

It would seem the Berry deal to Hibs is off as they failed to agree personal terms.

I'm not sure if this means Berry doesn't want to leave Cambridge or he's waiting for an offer from another club.

 

[jacobncfc]

Any more speculation on Pierre?

He's got an offer on the table from us, I know that much.

Also, the absolute state of Keith Curle.

 

[OneDecentLester]

Depends what your wage bill was before.

Does it not sit slightly uncomfortably that you've got a handful earning way, way more than anyone else and in Chris O'Grady, someone whose deal is apparently the biggest outlay in Chesterfield's history? I mean, that's got to be some mega money.

Not really no... Chris o'grady is a top top professional so I doubt he will cause any unrest within the squad due to him being on more money than anyone else. He's rumoured to be on about £4.5k a week so I wouldn't call it 'mega money'..

What people seem to be forgetting is we released 12 players in the summer which included some of our highest earners such as Ebanks-Blake, Angel Martinez, Dan Jones etc, aswell as receiving £500k for Ched Evans, and we've also sold Jon Nolan for an undisclosed fee...

I don't understand why people seem to think we've got absolutely no money. Whilst it's true that our budget has been slashed and it's not as big as it has been in recent seasons, we will still have a top 10/7 budget this season. I also have no fears whatsoever of getting into any serious money problems (Windin up orders for example) whilst Dave Allen is owner of the club. He's an extremely wealthy man that has ploughed millions into our club, and although its a well known fact he wants to sell the club, he would never put the clubs future at risk because if he did, he would lose out on millions.

 

[hellogregory]

Great....

i thought Bailey was ok once he got fit. Not outstanding but decent enough for this level.

 

[jacobncfc]

£4.5k a week is batshit mental money for this league. More than double our best paid player and we'll have one of the bigger budgets.

 

[hellogregory]

A bit from Curle's interview yesterday..
"We won't be able to compete with people buying players for a quarter of a million quid, like Luton - we haven't got that sort of finances.

"We can't go out and sign 14 players and put them all on top League Two money like a Mansfield. We can't offer extortionate signing-on fees to centre-forwards like a Lincoln have done, and paying League One wages."

Defender, probably Parkes, close to signing and maybe a striker to arrive later this week.

He's turning into Greg Abbott in interviews.

Hopefully he doesn't turn into Abbott when it comes to tactical fuckwittery

 

[OneDecentLester]

£4.5k a week is batshit mental money for this league. More than double our best paid player and we'll have one of the bigger budgets.

Well think of it this way... Considering we've saved Ebanks Blakes and Evans wages from last season (£2.5k and £2k respectively) it's not exactly breaking the bank is it... Especially as Ebanks Blake was absolutely useless and Evans was more of a regular in the treatment room than he was on the pitch!

 

[PoolieTom]

I feel that a move away from his comfort zone of the North East will do him the world of good. Also worth noting that Dave Artell has got the best already out of a bunch of underachievers who were more arsed about getting wasted than playing football to the best of their ability (George Ray is the prime example of this!) and I'm pretty sure he could do the same with Brad Walker if Ray has come on leaps and bounds since January to the point where he's likely to be named our captain for this season!

I feel that Artell will probably play him as a sitting ball winning midfielder because our other starting midfielder, James Jones, is more of a box-to-box midfielder and he hasn't been able to play his natural role since Danny Hollands got injured in February. He could also be used as cover at CB as well given our reasonable depth at CM if he signs so that'd mean we'd only need one more CB on that part. I think he could be a very good signing for us because there's obviously something there that Artell sees in him after all...

Brad Walker is never, has never, and will never be a centre midfielder as long as I have a hole in my arse. If you seriously plan on signing him as a first choice, you are going to struggle big time this year. I hope your other 10 players are good.

He has the turning circle of a bus, he's very slow, he needs 5 seconds to control the ball, look at the ball, decide which foot he is going to kick it with, look at the ball, pass the ball.

Strangely, he has a very good right peg. Scored a few decent free kicks before he tried to imitate his idol Christiano Ronaldo's technique. He can ping a ball across the field easily, and he can tackle, but by god he is slow, and you will certainly notice is playing him defensive mid.

Stick him CB and you might have a decent player, but as a CM, he wouldn't look out of place in the over 60's walking football.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

£4.5k a week is batshit mental money for this league. More than double our best paid player and we'll have one of the bigger budgets.

Almost treble the going rate for our highest earner too and we'll comfortably have a top-half budget this season.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Brad Walker is never, has never, and will never be a centre midfielder as long as I have a hole in my arse. If you seriously plan on signing him as a first choice, you are going to struggle big time this year. I hope your other 10 players are good.

He has the turning circle of a bus, he's very slow, he needs 5 seconds to control the ball, look at the ball, decide which foot he is going to kick it with, look at the ball, pass the ball.

Strangely, he has a very good right peg. Scored a few decent free kicks before he tried to imitate his idol Christiano Ronaldo's technique. He can ping a ball across the field easily, and he can tackle, but by god he is slow, and you will certainly notice is playing him defensive mid.

Stick him CB and you might have a decent player, but as a CM, he wouldn't look out of place in the over 60's walking football.

In fairness he did play alongside the woeful Nicky Featherstone whose an absolute crab of a footballer as I've seen him play for Hereford and Walsall. James Jones is a very different midfielder to Brad Walker and would complement him too but I wouldn't expect Walker to play every game this season. Big rumours that Callum Cooke will be back in a red shirt by the end of the month and we have Ryan Wintle progressing nicely in the CM role too. I think Artell may look at him to play as a CB were we to lose Ray or Raynes to injury which would also be worthwhile so he could well be a decent signing.

Show me defensive midfielders in the fourth tier of English football though who have a full combination of pace, tackling ability, spacial awareness and the ability to pick out a pass mind. Because if they did, they wouldn't be this low down unless they're very young and they're destined for a move up the ladder...

 

[Luke Imp]

Not really no... Chris o'grady is a top top professional so I doubt he will cause any unrest within the squad due to him being on more money than anyone else. He's rumoured to be on about £4.5k a week so I wouldn't call it 'mega money'..

What people seem to be forgetting is we released 12 players in the summer which included some of our highest earners such as Ebanks-Blake, Angel Martinez, Dan Jones etc, aswell as receiving £500k for Ched Evans, and we've also sold Jon Nolan for an undisclosed fee...

I don't understand why people seem to think we've got absolutely no money. Whilst it's true that our budget has been slashed and it's not as big as it has been in recent seasons, we will still have a top 10/7 budget this season. I also have no fears whatsoever of getting into any serious money problems (Windin up orders for example) whilst Dave Allen is owner of the club. He's an extremely wealthy man that has ploughed millions into our club, and although its a well known fact he wants to sell the club, he would never put the clubs future at risk because if he did, he would lose out on millions.

Apart from the commotion from Chesterfield fans last season, selling all your players, people wondering where said money was going and your Chairman resigning? Since then, he's obviously back-tracked a bit but the sound-bytes coming from Chesterfield over the last few months have hardly screamed a happy camp.

 

[OneDecentLester]

£4.5k a week is batshit mental money for this league. More than double our best paid player and we'll have one of the bigger budgets.

Well think of it this way... Considering we've saved Ebanks Blakes and Evans wages from last season (£2.5k and £2k respectively) it's not exactly breaking the bank is it... Especially as Ebanks Blake was absolutely useless and Evans was more of a regular in the treatment room than he was on the pitch!

Apart from the commotion from Chesterfield fans last season, selling all your players, people wondering where said money was going and your Chairman resigning? Since then, he's obviously back-tracked a bit but the sound-bytes coming from Chesterfield over the last few months have hardly screamed a happy camp.

The relationship between board and the fans is certainly strained to say the least, and It definately hasn't been a happy camp over the past 24 months... However, what I said was that our clubs future isn't in doubt whilst Dave Allen is owner of the club, that's just a fact, the man has ploughed in millions... If we went under, it would have been a terrible investment by him, and considering he's a very successful business man, I very much doubt that will happen

 

[PoolieTom]

In fairness he did play alongside the woeful Nicky Featherstone whose an absolute crab of a footballer as I've seen him play for Hereford and Walsall. James Jones is a very different midfielder to Brad Walker and would complement him too but I wouldn't expect Walker to play every game this season. Big rumours that Callum Cooke will be back in a red shirt by the end of the month and we have Ryan Wintle progressing nicely in the CM role too. I think Artell may look at him to play as a CB were we to lose Ray or Raynes to injury which would also be worthwhile so he could well be a decent signing.

Show me defensive midfielders in the fourth tier of English football though who have a full combination of pace, tackling ability, spacial awareness and the ability to pick out a pass mind. Because if they did, they wouldn't be this low down unless they're very young and they're destined for a move up the ladder...

Unfortunately for Brad, he wasn't lucky enough to play alongside Featherstone very often. Brad has spent the best part of 2 years fumbling about in the reserves, and couldn't lace Nicky's boots in any department (other than being slow and tackling).

I mean, good luck to Brad, he seems an impressionable, nice lad. Hopefully he can do it, but there is no chance he will if he wants to stick to playing CM.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Unfortunately for Brad, he wasn't lucky enough to play alongside Featherstone very often. Brad has spent the best part of 2 years fumbling about in the reserves, and couldn't lace Nicky's boots in any department (other than being slow and tackling).

I mean, good luck to Brad, he seems an impressionable, nice lad. Hopefully he can do it, but there is no chance he will if he wants to stick to playing CM.

There's got to be something there if the likes of Celtic, Wolves and Wigan have been sniffing in the past though. In the past we've scoffed at the likes of Ryan Lowe (first spell), Joel Grant, Calvin Zola and Steve Schumacher leaving us when they were mediocre at best for us but they ended up doing well in all their respective careers. Sometimes a change of scenery can help.

I know for a fact that Dave Artell wouldn't spend good money on a dud. There's something there as his previous pedigree suggests and I'd back Artell to get it out of him. Orient fans laughed at us for signing Jordan Bowery and he proved to be a key cog in our improved form during the second half of the season in the end...

 

[Conker]

I read that as the signing on fee was us, not the League 1 wages and that bit was just a general comment.

No surprise if it was Green. He was always likely to command some sort of signing on fee, given he was available on a free and a good free at that.

Plus he was given one and a big wage at Mansfield. I bet he's easily Lincoln highest paid player.

 

[Luke Imp]

Yeah, I think he'll end up our highest earner (although if Raggett and Woodyard get new deals, they'll command decent wages on any new contracts as well).

 

[PoolieTom]

There's got to be something there if the likes of Celtic, Wolves and Wigan have been sniffing in the past though. In the past we've scoffed at the likes of Ryan Lowe (first spell), Joel Grant, Calvin Zola and Steve Schumacher leaving us when they were mediocre at best for us but they ended up doing well in all their respective careers. Sometimes a change of scenery can help.

I know for a fact that Dave Artell wouldn't spend good money on a dud. There's something there as his previous pedigree suggests and I'd back Artell to get it out of him. Orient fans laughed at us for signing Jordan Bowery and he proved to be a key cog in our improved form during the second half of the season in the end...

Not sure where the Celtic and Wigan names come from - don't think they've ever been in for him in the past. I think he's had two trials with Wolves now, and they haven't taken him either time. I do agree some players just don't fit in at certain teams etc. But Brad simply isn't a League 2 midfielder. He just doesn't have the right attributes. Apparently we would be due in excess of 100K for him if it went to a tribunal or whatever, which is about 100K more than I would have expected to get for him.

Like I say, good luck to him. I wish him well, would be delighted if he made it, but most likely he will be sat on the bench of Spennymoor once you release him.

 

[jacobncfc]

I know for a fact that Dave Artell wouldn't spend good money on a dud.

Isn't this literally his first proper transfer window as a manager!?!

I know absolutely nothing about Brad Walker, but that seems a crazy thing to say about any manager, let alone Dave Artell after six months of his first job.

 

[Conker]

Yeah, I think he'll end up our highest earner (although if Raggett and Woodyard get new deals, they'll command decent wages on any new contracts as well).

Green was apperantly on around 2k a week with Mansfield, he had plenty of offers too so I bet he's still commanded a good wage.

 

[Imp in Branston]

Plus he was given one and a big wage at Mansfield. I bet he's easily Lincoln highest paid player.

Just hope Green repays some of that signing on fee with plenty of goals. Looks decent on paper and expect he will be one of the better forwards in League two this coming season.

 

[gijsbert_bos]

He's rumoured to be on about £4.5k a week so I wouldn't call it 'mega money'..

Christ. For a team with your financial problems that's bloody ridiculous. You could get three or four decent League 2 players for that, surely?

 

[mtfc26]

So Curle is not getting his own way again and blaming everyone but himself, sounds familiar.

No matter how you justify it £4.5k on one player on this league is madness. He could do his cruciate on day one and that's that. I'm not comfortable with our spending if I'm honest but at least we have spread it around.

I know Semedo will be a loan if it comes off but surely he will want about the same??

 

[Davidimp]

4.5k a week for 4TH DIVISION FOOTBALLER!!!!!
That's £234,000 a year!!!!!
I'm assuming that's his basic and doesn't include bonuses etc?
Easily get 3 very good players for that.
If he gets injured after September you've put all your eggs in that basket and you can't do anything about til January, huge risk imho.
I would think our top wage (Green) will be on around 1200pw plus bonuses. Last season we paid an ok wage but had a good bonus package in the contracts, the players did very well from the cup run! They got very good bonuses from beating Burnley.

 

[spireite]

Christ. For a team with your financial problems that's bloody ridiculous. You could get three or four decent League 2 players for that, surely?

At this juncture it's probably worth saying that the £4.5k p/w is just a figure someone on our board put out there, no-one really knows what he's on apart from him and the guys at the club. Whilst if it's around that, it's definitely a lot of money for L2, I'd rather spend that on one player who you know will play and give his all than the £2.5k p/w we were throwing on players who were just passengers. Angel Martinez was on a wedge and played 12 times for us in 2 seasons; SEB was on a wage and was useless; Evans on a wage and hardly played; Jones on a wage and hardly played etc etc. The rest of our squad is pretty cheap this year TBH.

And as has been said, Dave Allen would not sanction a deal that he couldn't be bothered to pay or thought would cause a problem. The man is tight. He stepped down as chairman and distanced himself from the club a while ago, so where the cash has come from to sign the COGfather and rumoured Semedo, who knows? Maybe he's getting interested again? Maybe he's decided to actually re-invest player sale fees? One thing is for sure, he is not about to walk away from his investment at this club without someone paying him enough to do so, otherwise he'll make sure his investment doesn't go to shit.

 

[gijsbert_bos]

I'd rather spend that on one player who you know will play and give his all than the £2.5k p/w we were throwing on players who were just passengers. Angel Martinez was on a wedge and played 12 times for us in 2 seasons; SEB was on a wage and was useless; Evans on a wage and hardly played; Jones on a wage and hardly played etc etc. The rest of our squad is pretty cheap this year TBH.

As others have said, it's pretty risky. A serious injury and you've wasted the wages of three or four solid League 2 players on a crock.

The bit about SEB, Evans and Jones is more an indictment of how shit your past recruitment was than anything else.

I understand the Dave Allen point but I'd be pretty unhappy if my club had made a £42k profit last year after recouping £2million in transfer fees, then went and blew nearly a quarter of a million a year on one player.

 

[B13EEV]

Luton Town have just signed Elliot Lee

one more signing then are we done???