Stickied Confirmed Signings 2023/24

[GlynTheMilk]

I've heard that Wrexham have signed Ryan O'Reilly from Stoke. Was on loan here and looked like he will be a good player in the future, but maybe lacked a bit of experience or confidence - a good physical presence though.

Confirmed: http://www.wrexhamafc.co.uk/news/article/stoke-defender-heading-to-the-racecourse-2961199.aspx

Hmmm, he looks familiar...

 

[gtfcfan]

Still awaiting these Eastleigh signings..

 

[FrankTheTank]

Still awaiting these Eastleigh signings..

Based on their chairman's tweet I'd guess they've probably already signed and training with The Vision but wont be announced until tomorrow morning to try to spring it on us. Hope one is a new centre-back, as they always gel immediately into the defensive structure after just 1 training season.

 

[WokingTillIDiet]

Must admit I did laugh at the chairman's post on their forum. His answer to their current bad form? Swelling the squad with more highly-paid mercenaries.

 

[Harrier94]

Some transfer news for us over the past 2 days.

In - Lewis Kinsella a left back from Aston Villa on a months loan
Out - Dan Sweeney on loan to Halesowen and Gurjit Singh on loan to Stourbridge

New Contract - Kennedy Digie

 

[CTFCfan99]

Some transfer news for us over the past 2 days.

In - Lewis Kinsella a left back from Aston Villa on a months loan
Out - Dan Sweeney on loan to Halesowen and Gurjit Singh on loan to Stourbridge

New Contract - Kennedy Digie

I was under the impression that Singh was one of your better players, at least at the start of the season?

 

[Sparrow]

We've signed Sam Smith from Brackley.

 

[GTFCfish]

We've signed Sam Smith from Brackley.

I hope he's not the only one, or else the writing's on the wall for you......
(Signing for a club in a higher league he obviously has money on his mind)......

 

[CrazyImp]

We've signed Sam Smith from Brackley.

Oh dear me.

 

[Sparrow]

Is anyone really surprised? It's all that our limited budget can stretch to. Typically, Shaun Jeffers on loan from Yeovil got injured in our last match so we've had to accommodate.

 

[Sparrow]

I hope he's not the only one, or else the writing's on the wall for you......
(Signing for a club in a higher league he obviously has money on his mind)......

It probably is anyway, given the way our club is run. Hopefully Sam is as focused as his namesake Mike at winning football matches.

 

[Harrier94]

I was under the impression that Singh was one of your better players, at least at the start of the season?

He started great but was only ever limited to Sub appearances under Whild and Hockaday, then he got a back injury in early October which ruled him out for a while. Think it's so he can get fitness and get back to scoring.

 

[WokingTillIDiet]

It probably is anyway, given the way our club is wrong. Hopefully Sam is as focused as his namesake Mike at winning football matches.

You're quite obsessed with our chairman, aren't you? Did he ban one of your little pals?

 

[Sparrow]

You're quite obsessed with our chairman, aren't you? Did he ban one of your little pals?

I'm not obsessed, I'm worried. The 'fans' he banned were trouble makers, as far as I'm aware, I'm not bothered about them. I am bothered, though, about the future of our football club, which seems to have no direction.

All I'm doing is asking questions. I don't want our football club to end up going the same way as Torquay and Kidderminster are. If only more of our fans realised we can't keep on brushing 450k losses under the carpet and relying on Peter Jordan and Chris Ingram to prop us up.

 

[WokingTillIDiet]

I'm not obsessed, I'm worried. The 'fans' he banned were trouble makers, as far as I'm aware, I'm not bothered about them. I am bothered, though, about the future of our football club, which seems to have no direction.

All I'm doing is asking questions. I don't want our football club to end up going the same way as Torquay and Kidderminster are. If only more of our fans realised we can't keep on brushing 450k losses under the carpet and relying on Peter Jordan and Chris Ingram to prop us up.

Fair enough. But still - I know he can come across as a bit of a dick at times (as can we all!), but I don't really see why so many Woking fans are so violently against Mike Smith. He's only really a puppet chairman anyway, primarily a public figurehead - installed by Chris Ingram after he (Ingram) forced out the profligate Azeem (who's now working his magic calculator at Aldershot, of course). But it's Ingram (who apparently charged the club two points above the base rate when repaying his loans) and Peter Jordan who are the money men at Woking - they can't be criticised, so it seems to me that Smith takes all the flak for the club. For most of this season, it seems to me that he's been fire-fighting - for example, Jordan's ridiculous on-line statement after one game that "any fan caught swearing will be banned for life", or Garry Hill's "transfer-list the whole fackin' lot" explosion after Maidenhead, or (again) Jordan's still-ongoing indecision about staying on that led to the proposed takeover. Even that must have been tricky to deal with - I suspect the board's reaction after seeing Read's accounts was to tell him to piss off, but as a (relatively minor) club sponsor, he could hardly be treated like that. Hence the fudge.

It's been a pretty difficult season, obviously. Dreadful luck with injuries (Jeffers being ruled out must surely be the final straw) coupled with bad mistakes both on and off the pitch - but our season is still alive, which is more than you can say for the likes of Azeem's current club. I think Garry Hill had done some slightly odd things this season, but he's still the best manager we've had in the last twenty years or so. As for Smith (who, according to Garry Hill, works extremely hard for the club - though Hill may have changed his mind in the last week or two!), I don't think it's possible to really make a judgement until the end of the season, when we find out whether he's achieved anything in terms of finding new (or, if Peter Jordan does stay on, existing) funding for next season and beyond.

 

[Shotsfan1993]

He's only really a puppet chairman anyway, primarily a public figurehead - installed by Chris Ingram after he (Ingram) forced out the profligate Azeem (who's now working his magic calculator at Aldershot, of course).

Under Azeem last season we made a small profit, while you lost £450k (despite having a higher average attendance and apparently half our budget). Its not hard to see who's running their club better at the moment.....

 

[WokingTillIDiet]

Under Azeem last season we made a small profit, while you lost £450k (despite having a higher average attendance and apparently half our budget). Its not hard to see who's running their club better at the moment.....

Er... hence the reference to Shaz's Magic Calculator (the reason why he was turfed out by Ingram at Woking)...

 

[FrankTheTank]

Must admit I did laugh at the chairman's post on their forum. His answer to their current bad form? Swelling the squad with more highly-paid mercenaries.

I like Eastleigh Chair's most recent post ... "Good news is two of the three lads were in training today. Bad news is parent club (they were both from the same club) needs them back for match tomorrow due to unforeseen circumstance!!! Very disappointing after so much hard work but may well be able to complete move next week!!!"

 

[Sparrow]

Fair enough. But still - I know he can come across as a bit of a dick at times (as can we all!), but I don't really see why so many Woking fans are so violently against Mike Smith. He's only really a puppet chairman anyway, primarily a public figurehead - installed by Chris Ingram after he (Ingram) forced out the profligate Azeem (who's now working his magic calculator at Aldershot, of course). But it's Ingram (who apparently charged the club two points above the base rate when repaying his loans) and Peter Jordan who are the money men at Woking - they can't be criticised, so it seems to me that Smith takes all the flak for the club. For most of this season, it seems to me that he's been fire-fighting - for example, Jordan's ridiculous on-line statement after one game that "any fan caught swearing will be banned for life", or Garry Hill's "transfer-list the whole fackin' lot" explosion after Maidenhead, or (again) Jordan's still-ongoing indecision about staying on that led to the proposed takeover. Even that must have been tricky to deal with - I suspect the board's reaction after seeing Read's accounts was to tell him to piss off, but as a (relatively minor) club sponsor, he could hardly be treated like that. Hence the fudge.

It's been a pretty difficult season, obviously. Dreadful luck with injuries (Jeffers being ruled out must surely be the final straw) coupled with bad mistakes both on and off the pitch - but our season is still alive, which is more than you can say for the likes of Azeem's current club. I think Garry Hill had done some slightly odd things this season, but he's still the best manager we've had in the last twenty years or so. As for Smith (who, according to Garry Hill, works extremely hard for the club - though Hill may have changed his mind in the last week or two!), I don't think it's possible to really make a judgement until the end of the season, when we find out whether he's achieved anything in terms of finding new (or, if Peter Jordan does stay on, existing) funding for next season and beyond.

Good post. Smith's role as chairman is a bit of a strange one, as you've mentioned, I just don't think he helps himself all the time. The batting away of questions by fans, who have supported the club for years and years, at the AGM about how the loss happened and how it is to be amended with the response of "we'll sort it out" isn't particularly convincing. He's had a comfortable ride as chairman - a management team that wasn't appointed by him turns out to be the best we've had for a long while, instant success follows and he gets good limelight from it. This season has been his first real 'test' and, to me, he's barely passed it.

On Lord Hill, I think he's felt the pressure a bit this season. 12th, 9th, 6th since we've been back in this division is remarkable. To improve, or come close to that, for a fourth time would be very impressive. Victim of his own success, really. Clearly luck hasn't been on our side, but to be where we are now and still in the trophy is amazing. The loan listing thing wasn't brilliant PR, although what has been this season, yet going by the results that followed it did seem to 'work', fortunately. GH, as you said, has publicly said more than once about how hard-working everyone is around the club. Despite this, I feel that, since roughly this time last season, everything hasn't been quite so 'rosey', starting with him saying he didn't know what the budget for next (this) season would be. The mood around the club this season has been very strange and unsettling, like something bad is brewing and brewing that will finally come out in the summer. I desperately hope I'm wrong.

One more point for safety and our 'transitional season' is completed, then let's see what happens in the games that follow. I just hope our 'transitional season' isn't a complete restructure of the budget (reduced) and as a result, the management team. We might genuinely have to enjoy the rest of the season for what it is, which could be an end of an era. No one is bigger than the club (etc.) but if the PR own-goals, as one member of our forum likes to put it, and worryingly increased losses cause us to lose GH and ST, then what a waste it would be.

 

[Heedtastic]

I like Eastleigh Chair's most recent post ... "Good news is two of the three lads were in training today. Bad news is parent club (they were both from the same club) needs them back for match tomorrow due to unforeseen circumstance!!! Very disappointing after so much hard work but may well be able to complete move next week!!!"

Keith Curle at Carlisle said “Looking the other way, we’ve had a couple of enquiries for a couple of our players to go out on loan to Eastleigh,” he revealed. “It hasn’t quite suited the lads in question and we aren’t in a situation where we need to be forcing players out of the door. If the move isn’t right for them, even if it was right for us, then it doesn’t happen.”

 

[FrankTheTank]

Keith Curle at Carlisle said “Looking the other way, we’ve had a couple of enquiries for a couple of our players to go out on loan to Eastleigh,” he revealed. “It hasn’t quite suited the lads in question and we aren’t in a situation where we need to be forcing players out of the door. If the move isn’t right for them, even if it was right for us, then it doesn’t happen.”

Long way to go for one training session, but perhaps Eastleigh is a sh!thole (haven't been myself).

 

[Luke Imp]

Didn't Eastleigh apparently try and sign Ibehre, or have I made that up?

As for Sam Smith, as much as Matt Rhead doesn't look like he should a footballer, Sam Smith looks like he should be one. His career seems to have nose-dived since he left us for Cambridge. Mind you, Woking can't keep anyone fit so he'll fit in nicely there...

Joking aside, though, is there something a little deeper the problem at Woking with all these injuries? I'm not sure at what point it stops being just bad luck.

 

[Sparrow]

Joking aside, though, is there something a little deeper the problem at Woking with all these injuries? I'm not sure at what point it stops being just bad luck.

Jeffers literally crumpled to the floor with a back spasm, so not sure whether that one could have been prevented. We've only had these consistent injury problems this season so I think, and hope, that it's genuinely just bad luck. It evens itself out eventually but frustrating in the mean time.

 

[WokingTillIDiet]

Didn't Eastleigh apparently try and sign Ibehre, or have I made that up?

As for Sam Smith, as much as Matt Rhead doesn't look like he should a footballer, Sam Smith looks like he should be one. His career seems to have nose-dived since he left us for Cambridge. Mind you, Woking can't keep anyone fit so he'll fit in nicely there...

Joking aside, though, is there something a little deeper the problem at Woking with all these injuries? I'm not sure at what point it stops being just bad luck.

I think it's just down to what Louis van Gaal would call the law of Murphy. Our pitch is in good nick, our physio has been with us for years and is highly respected, but this season the freak/serious injuries just keep on coming. Even the referees and linesmen in our games aren't safe...

 

[ForeverUnited]

I am amazed that Sam Smith keeps finding clubs.

 

[Sparrow]

Sam Smith got injured after 21 minutes today. lol.

 

[Luke Imp]

You'll not see him for 3 or 4 weeks now.

 

[I Blame Paul Mayo]

Fingers crossed Caton is a player Moyses is talking to about next season. Offers us something totally different. Strange how he's not made an impact anywhere he's been until now. First game I've seen him play today and can see why people have been fussing a bit!

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

The 3rd story about the Carlisle players, is that after training with us for a few days, Chris Todd didn't think they were going to improve our squad so didnt want them & sent them home. 3 versions of what happened, believe which ever you wish.

 

[gtfcfan]

The 3rd story about the Carlisle players, is that after training with us for a few days, Chris Todd didn't think they were going to improve our squad so didnt want them & sent them home. 3 versions of what happened, believe which ever you wish.

How bad are they then?

Your form looks like you could do with some new players... Drew 4 in a row, now lost 4 in a row..

At least you have patients fans though, ours want Hurst gone, and so do i!