I thought long and hard about the non-transfer saga thus far..

Initially I was annoyed and disappointed. Then I realised that much of it was actually my own anxieties about the forthcoming season and the desire to get new blood in to make sure we weren't in another dog fight. Then I thought some more..

We have the money. I honestly don't think the bids we made were fabricated. I believe that AS thought long and hard about how far to go and if he'd of thought they were worth it, he would have been able to increase the offer.

We are taking a calculated risk by not buying players "willy nilly SE scatter gun approach" and this only serves to increase fans' anxieties and frustrations, inevitably leading to the emotional responses we have seen littered on social media and on this site.

NW proved with a nucleus of players who wanted to play for the team, managed in the right way, could get results. Quality not quantity. It's a cliché but NW taught us that.

I think we lost sight of these points when it became clear we were prepared to spend money on "unproven" championship talent (me included) 

There is definitely more to come, we won't be bullied and won't be rushed into signing for the sake of it. I actually like this moral principle. Let's just see what happens, not just over the next few weeks but also right up until the window closes. Gregory and Bradshaw aren't the only strikers out there...

UTM

The club sold 6,400 season ticket's. I would imagine the 1925 club, what some people call the " prawn sarni " bunch will be added on to that figure. The 6,400 season ticket sales are nowhere near the figure required to sustain a ' kitty ' to buy player's at £2M. As I understand it Alan Stubbs had the final say on whether to increase the bids. Tony Stewart was prepared to bid higher. Well done to the club for walking away when we reached our valuations of the player's. Let's see what the final squad is in three week's time, let's see which player's are brought in on loan and yes I know the loan system has changed dramatically this season so we will have to make very careful choices on who we bring in. 

Don't condemn the club too early, chill out, relax and stop being so anxious.

I'm not a big believer in "but what if's" per sè as they can be very psychologically damaging for morale.

I do wonder about the public strategy of naming potential transfer targets. Would we have got them if we'd declared our interest later? Would he still have handed in a transfer request? More for my own sanity, I reckon it would have all happened in a similar order and we would have still had to best Barnsley's bid, Wallsall's, Bradshaws and his agents demands; and would have still, in all probability, pulled out.

Does AS have his own designs and strategy on other targets he wants and is keeping shtum? It's no secret that Bradshaw has been a club target since befire AS's tenture.. this recent decision has taught us that "ah Alan" is a shrewd businessman.

Who in the club keeps letting slip? What ever other targets and interests we have now, let's see what happens when Alan is running it from the start. The only way to see if it would be different, through a "fair test" so to speak, would be to do exactly that. Try discretion and a subtle approach and see if we have a better outcome.

It appears we AS has money to spend....

UTM

Towdlad wrote:

---

I dont think people are too upset about being sensible with valuations and walking away from potential signing if they keep upping the ante.

I would suggest its all the talk, these are our targets we've offered (in RUFC terms) big money. Everyone gets excited because we've now realised that we have to spend to compete....and then.......it all ends with the usual disappointment.

What makes it even worse is the statements that follow, Oh well they weren't worth it anyway, so why go for them in the first place. If they weren't worth the money then they ought to have been on the B or C list and not spouted as top signings.

And of course, out rolls the annual stadium extension story. Actions speak louder than words and supporters are getting frustrated and worried after hearing we cant field a side against Grimsby in a pre season friendly. I find the anxiety amongst many perfectly natural given the cir'k'umstance

---

Agreed, This was the main point in my post Towdlad - I totally respect TS for what he has done, and will support the Millers wherever we play - it is simply the words ring hollow and I'd rather the club just keep quiet - announce players once we have signed them, and keep a lid on the 'expansion' and 'premiership' talk until we start to see the team on the pitch do the talking.... 

I also think that if I were the current person in charge of player signings, I would have been sacked long before now (certainly if I were charge of this person I would sack them in a minute) ... whatever system is being used to attract players it isn't working, and we are not learning from past mistakes - all we ever seem to do when going for the more expensive players is set the minimum entry point for someone else to come in and offer a bit more... as I say - put up or shut up please....

As someone else has said – there are worse things in the world and despite my comments I’ll be there in August and shout on the team, I just wish we would sort out this area of the club’s business and get someone in who knows how to properly source and sign players, as has an ounce of business sense when it comes to managing communication and contracts.