Stickied Transfer Rumours 2023/24

[Blue Lion]

Ex Macclesfield Town and Newport County defender Scott Barrow is on trial at Eastleigh tonight. Would be a great signing. Scored a great solo goal against our awful defence in our relegation season.

Scotty's a great player, surprised he's had to drop back down to this level to play regularly. He was one of the better players in our successful season a couple of years ago and our loss of form at the end coincided with him being injured. He started his career in midfield so he's very good in attackbas well as defence. Eastleigh won't find much better at this level.

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

Agree, and that's just based on seeing Scott play for 90 mins last night. Excellent distribution & never gave the ball away once.
In truth, im sure as the last few posts have referenced, he probably could still gets deals with L2 club, but if we do try and sign him, we would be paying him extra to get him to drop down a level. We'll see if he signs or not in the next few days, but if you want players of this calibre, you do have to pay more to get them to drop down. The flip side is, we will be selling him the vision that has us as a L2 club next season anyway, perhaps leapfrogging Newport County and other clubs that he may be considering in L2. It would be remiss of any owner trying to sign a player not to paint that picture, wouldnt it..?

 

[High Peak Blue]

The difference with us is that we had operated at just one level below this for years without any money. So if our money man did leave, is dropping back one level such a big deal for us?
I cant say i know with any conviction how high Chester once were, but suspect you have dropped at least 2 divisions, possibly 3 and good luck to you in finding your way back up. But for the record, we have only gone up one level, despite all this money we have.....so we are hardly on a financially induced meteoric rise up the leagues, are we?.... Most of the money going in has been on ground improvements, which you will see more of again this season if you visit. The footballing budget has grown this season considerably, but not a penny of that has been the owners personal money. We now make considerable sums of money with our commercial lines of business & rather luckily we seem to have lots of local business's and wealthy businessmen wanting to get involved at Eastleigh. The club have gone into the community and really whipped up interest. Yes we have very cheap season tickets, yes we have at least 2 games per season where its free entry, but these have been hugely successful and the sheer numbers of people through the gate have got existing and potential new investors & advertisers wanting to be involved.
None of the personal money our owner has put in for these ground improvements have been loans. So if he walks away we owe nothing and he has always said if ever he did walk away he would honour every player and members of staffs contracts as part of his leaving, so we wouldn't even owe players. Sure the best players would probably leave once their contracts are up, but that happens at every club whether you have money or not, or are considered a successful club or not,. As i said, we survived for years in the Conf south and never once looked like going down in that division, despite having one of the lowest budgets in that league for years. So we would just re-group and get on with it. Is that really so bad?

I have lived round Eastleigh for about 14 years and the level of interest was never that high. I also recall that you had money troubles before. The point is that money men rarely just withdraw, they usually leave a great mess behind them and you drop down the leagues. You were punching above your weight beforehand, what chance you would rise again without selling out to someone else?

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

Would we need to rise again if that happened?
I'd be happy watching Conf South or even Southern Prem in the stadium that would be our legacy.
Its not all about getting to the promise land for me. I just want to watch a local side playing aswell as they can in comfortable surroundings.
Getting to L1 and having 300 police at each game, over zealous stewarding, £5 a pint, and not able to get FA up match tickets, isnt my idea of footballing fun. I like it how it is now, but i certainly wouldn't complain if we dropped 2 leagues.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

You can't tell me me that in the past the likes of Bristol Rovers, Grimsby, Tranmere, Lincoln and many more, haven't paid higher wages for players who have dropped down a league or 2 to play for them, but its ok for them and not Eastleigh, FGR, Barrow etc?
"Multi-millionaire spends some money", really isn't a shock headline in football anymore and with more and more of them getting involved with football at this level, i only expect that to continue and more clubs to follow suit. Sure some might go shit/bust, but not all. No different to the clubs at the top end of the game, not everyone did a Leeds Utd, Man City, Southampton. and almost go bust and fall back through the leagues.

Enjoy the season, enjoy your own club, dont get on hung up on the goings on at other clubs, as it comes across as plain jealousy.

Hardly jealousy mate - my own club is Barrow, and we're having the "bankrolled" criticisms all the same. I was just saying that the wages Eastleigh are chucking about don't seem to be thought out deals, they seem to be a desperate bid to bring in anyone from the leagues above, and that is unlikely to be a recipe for success.

 

[The_Boss]

It's all well and good saying you've always been just a single level below, but the wages your paying now are no doubt 4 or 5 times what you were paying then so should it all go boom your left with much higher costs to cover. If you go bust, you can't just drop a single level, your going all the way to the bottom to start again.

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

So how do you all know the wages we are paying?
Amazing really how you all know what we pay each player. How you all have a pal of a player who told you. Amazing. Of course you are all paying your payers peanuts and only have budgets of 300k-500k, right?
And of course, you had all tried to sign the players we have but missed out on all these players because we gazumped your pathetic bids with our millions.
Get a life & dont be a sheep who jumps of the Eastleigh bankroll BS.
Yes we pay well, but no, we are not top payers and some players (Duffy for example) and getting better deals elsewhere, or so he thought anyway.
Arnold is getting more at Lincoln than we offered him. But of course, you all know different

 

[CrazyImp]

So how do you all know the wages we are paying?
Amazing really how you all know what we pay each player. How you all have a pal of a player who told you. Amazing. Of course you are all paying your payers peanuts and only have budgets of 300k-500k, right?
And of course, you had all tried to sign the players we have but missed out on all these players because we gazumped your pathetic bids with our millions.
Get a life & dont be a sheep who jumps of the Eastleigh bankroll BS.
Yes we pay well, but no, we are not top payers and some players (Duffy for example) and getting better deals elsewhere, or so he thought anyway.
Arnold is getting more at Lincoln than we offered him. But of course, you all know different

No, he didn't, fact. We needed a fucking crowdfunder to get anywhere near you, he wanted to stay local. Please stop embarrassing yourself at the risk you'll believe your own bullshit.

Thanks.

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

Berk, a crowdfunder on your crowds wouldnt get anywhere near us.
Stay local my ass. Can run a hairdressing salon from anywhere.
Players go where the money is, that's the only fact you need to grasp & understand.

 

[Harrier94]

Berk, a crowdfunder on your crowds wouldnt get anywhere near us.
Stay local my ass. Can run a hairdressing salon from anywhere.
Players go where the money is, that's the only fact you need to grasp & understand.

Is it not possible he has a family that he doesn't want to uproot and move across the country?

 

[Luke Imp]

My pal spoke to Nathan last week. He knows him from around Mansfield. He has an offer on the table from Eastleigh for £1600 pw week apparently but Nathan has a young un up here and wants to stay in the M1 corridor/East area. Lincoln would be ideal but I'd doubt that many teams at this level (or League 2) would put £1600 on the table for Nathan.

We already have more than enough strikers. Only looking for a midfielder and a center half to complete our squad. So that story is not true.

I dont doubt for one minute you got the story straight from a horses mouth, i'm just saying the horse is making it up.

Arnold is getting more at Lincoln than we offered him. But of course, you all know different

Make your mind up.

 

[Davidimp]

I doubt we pay our players more than £6-700 a week basic wages.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

So how do you all know the wages we are paying?
Amazing really how you all know what we pay each player. How you all have a pal of a player who told you. Amazing. Of course you are all paying your payers peanuts and only have budgets of 300k-500k, right?
And of course, you had all tried to sign the players we have but missed out on all these players because we gazumped your pathetic bids with our millions.
Get a life & dont be a sheep who jumps of the Eastleigh bankroll BS.
Yes we pay well, but no, we are not top payers and some players (Duffy for example) and getting better deals elsewhere, or so he thought anyway.
Arnold is getting more at Lincoln than we offered him. But of course, you all know different

Haha, you really are a bit of a c***.
None of the above bears any resemblance to anything I said, but you go off on one if someone questions the methods of your pointless little club.

 

[Boz]

Are Eastleigh buying a new defence a week before the season starts?

Nothing like planning eh?

This.
Why have Eastleigh left it so late to bring in such players?. It would be very lucky if they clicked straight away as a defensive unit. When Rovers brought Steve McNulty in, it took a couple of months before he started showing what he was capable of.

 

[EnglishRed]

This.
Why have Eastleigh left it so late to bring in such players?. It would be very lucky if they clicked straight away as a defensive unit. When Rovers brought Steve McNulty in, it took a couple of months before he started showing what he was capable of.

Your defence has to be the first thing you sort out, surely.

Eastleigh have signed good players but you'd imagine it will take a few weeks for them to gel as a unit.

Maybe it needed a while for them to come.to see the Vision.

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

Make your mind up.

We were in for Arnold weeks ago, but as you were also in for him and offering him more than us, he went to you. So no mind to make up, it was just about the offers on the table at that time. We were in for Mandron at the same time and he was out no.1 target, so i dont think we were bothered about Arnold when he played us against Lincoln, and therefore didn't need to outbid your crowdfund sum of cash...

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

Our defensive situation was thrown into the air somewhat when Duffy decided he didnt want to come. By then, we had brought in covering CH's, who then because of Duffys departure became starters, which when seen in PS, was felt might they not be good enough, so we needed a better replacement for Duffy and that's why we signed Cresswell this week. We tried to sign Cresswell last season, so he was always one we would try for if he became available again.
I totally agree that the defence should always be the first thing you sort out and in ditching 3 of last seasons CH's we clearly were intent on doing that and Duffy was one of the first players we brought in, but that deal didnt get signed in the end, so its taken a bit longer to get the squad together. That said, there's no proven scenario that means to have to do all your recruitment in week 1 is there...and better players often become available quite late in PS, when they turn down deals that they are offered by their clubs, so making them available late on. If you do all your business to early, you miss out of players such as Cresswell.

 

[Chris FGR]

Arnold only turns up for the big games anyway. Will Lincoln have any big games this season?

 

[GodsGift]

I can categorically state Arnold was offered A LOT more at Eastleigh than we are paying him.

As if it needed clarifying anyway.

 

[EnglishRed]

Our defensive situation was thrown into the air somewhat when Duffy decided he didnt want to come. By then, we had brought in covering CH's, who then because of Duffys departure became starters, which when seen in PS, was felt might they not be good enough, so we needed a better replacement for Duffy and that's why we signed Cresswell this week. We tried to sign Cresswell last season, so he was always one we would try for if he became available again.
I totally agree that the defence should always be the first thing you sort out and in ditching 3 of last seasons CH's we clearly were intent on doing that and Duffy was one of the first players we brought in, but that deal didnt get signed in the end, so its taken a bit longer to get the squad together. That said, there's no proven scenario that means to have to do all your recruitment in week 1 is there...and better players often become available quite late in PS, when they turn down deals that they are offered by their clubs, so making them available late on. If you do all your business to early, you miss out of players such as Cresswell.

Fair point re Duffy and Harding falling out with the manager.

It's less than ideal but I suppose these things don't always work out how you want.

 

[Chris FGR]

I can categorically state Arnold was offered A LOT more at Eastleigh than we are paying him.

As if it needed clarifying anyway.

How do you know that for sure?

 

[GodsGift]

I work for the Grimsby Telegraph.

 

[Chris FGR]

I work for the Grimsby Telegraph.

And everything in there is always 100% accurate. Obviously.

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

I doubt we pay our players more than £6-700 a week basic wages.

Most clubs, including us big spenders, will have the majority of players on £600-700, so its no different. The only difference is that out top earners, lets say 6 players from our current squad of 24, will be earning the big very dough and equally there are 6 players in our 24, who are on just £100 a week (academy players who are signed as first team players). Our top earner is probably on £500-1000 more than the top earners at other reportedly big spending clubs. Silly money for this level, but its balanced out with the low earners & will be worth it, as i'm certain that he will leave us for decent money next year.
If truth be told, as an example, so what if one club pays their top man £2000 versus another club paying their top man £1500. Now if every player was on £2k, then yeh you can say its a club paying way over the odds, but i strongly suspect there are 6 clubs who have similar high end budgets and there will be 6 clubs who have very low budgets, the rest will be fairly equal. You get that in every division in every country where football is played. Not sure why people moan about it. Its just a fact of life and a fact of football, that if clubs can afford to pay more for better players, then they will.

 

[Bluandwite]

And everything in there is always 100% accurate. Obviously.

While the alternative is probably Eastleigh Fan standing in the bogs next to the boardroom at the Silverlake with a glass to the wall.....

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

I can categorically state Arnold was offered A LOT more at Eastleigh than we are paying him.

As if it needed clarifying anyway.

You must be very naive.
So this is how it goes...Arnold is made available so his agent does what all agents do. They ask their clients (Arnold in this case) who they would like to play for and call that club/s, they also call all the clubs that they believe are paying the big money, Eastleigh and maybe FGR and others in this case, to gauge if their would be any interest in the player from them. These clubs then either say no thanks or express an interest. The agent will then play the clubs off each other to get the best possible deal for his player. So the agent will have told Eastleigh that Lincoln were offering him XXX per week and as he would need to move south, he would need 25-50% more than than Lincoln have offered to make it worth his while. At the same time, the agent will go to Lincoln and will say, ok cards on the table, Arnold wants to stay local, but Eastleigh have offered him XXX (the agent will have inflated the true figure by at least 50%, or will have even made up a figure because at that Stage Eastleigh haven't actually offered anything at all) forcing Lincoln to up what they would really like to play for the player.
In the meantime Eastleigh Sign Mandron and step away from the Arnold deal, but the Agent doesnt let Lincoln know that, and pushes them hard for a deal at Lincoln. Lincoln then up their wages for the player to match "Eastleighs bid" and the agent agrees the deal with Lincoln.

So the players is very happy because he gets to stay local & in truth gets to sign for his first choice club, Eastleigh are ok with it, as they are now signing Mandron and Lincoln are over the moon because they think they have now signed a player that they got infront of big spending Eastleigh.....the agent is rubbing his hands together as he has made a tidy sum for himself and has also proven himself to be invaluable to his client.
In this deal, every one is happy, but Lincoln have been conned by the players agent.
Player very happy
Agent very happy
Eastleigh happy enough as they got their no.1 target and didnt need to pay over the odds for a striker who would have been 3rd choice (behind Beano & Mandron)
Lincoln Happy (but duped to paying more than they really needed to)

The moral of the story is, don't believe everything you hear about clubs "offers" for players. They are generally either made up by Agents/players or the press to get other clubs to pay more. If you believe everything you will have read, we have made offer for at least 50 players. Which of course, is completely untrue. But if agents tell other clubs that Eastleigh are in for a player they are hawking around, their wages/fees instantly go up because these clubs are just being played & Eastleigh are being used as the name to get deals over the line.

 

[Luke Imp]

Wow.

 

[Imp in Branston]

Some people don't half talk some bollocks on here!

 

[chipmunx]

Some people don't half talk some bollocks on here!

to be honest it's usually FGR fans though.....

 

[EnglishRed]

Fgr/Eastleigh....potato/poTayto