[Baggies]

Now the dust has settled, what's everyone's feelings?

I think for me it hammered home just how much trouble we are in, as we tried to flog everyone and anyone who had even limited value and how we struggled to compete with even mid table championship clubs. With the business in and out, it also probably leaves us short of a squad that can realistically challenge for the top 6, although there might be opportunities to get some loan deals in January if we are still in the mix. Three signings leaves us short, with a week to go, Corberan was still talking about 2 or 3 players, but that then became just the one, a squad player full back to challenge Furlong.

In terms of the actual business, Sarmiento looks decent enough, albeit very raw. I'm not sure how many starts he will get under Corberan as he seems to see him as a bit of a luxury at the moment but he might get us a few points vs tired legs. Maja on a free atleast gives us hope that he might find form in the next year or two and provide us with the chance to make some money in a transfer fee. It has been a very low key start however this first few games. Pipa looks low cost, low risk, known to the manager.

Long term, we have sold our one decent money asset in O'Shea. We have let the next in line on the potential train, TGH go on a loan to permanent for a limited fee. I am a bit surprised TGH wasn't given a chance in the new system playing in a position he played for many years as a youth player. We've also let Ashworth go on a similar deal. I look at what's left and this is an ageing squad with very few players left who look like they could go up in value to help us next summer if we need to raise funds. We're hoping Palmer/Griffiths go up in value at this point, with a fading hope Dike comes back and scores goals. Otherwise, next summer leaves us with nothing left to sell to cover the high interest loan. That's a legacy of poor decisions in recent summers coming home to roost, I kept saying over the last few years I wasn't seeing much evidence of squad evolution and "signings for the future". This is what we're now left with.

Finally, looking at the approach to the window, it's harder to judge given the financial situation. Our hands were tied financially. I do however notice those same trends from previous windows. Leaning heavily on Brighton to send us somebody on loan (that's 3 windows on the trot now), the signing of the known quantity championship player who has bounced around a few clubs and then finally relying on the manager bringing somebody in he knows. I wasn't expecting much with the current scouting team because we know what we're getting, no imagination, no scouting of foreign markets, no clever signings from the lower leagues or early pick ups from the released list of premier league academies, just more of the same. If Albion are to ever get back to the top flight, we will need an overhaul of personnel in our recruitment department. Ian Pearce, family and friends, have not shown anything for a number of years now to suggest they can operate on a budget and see us punching above our weight.

[mulliganstired]

Bench is wafer thin if/when injuries and suspensions kick in, maybe he's got a couple from the academy in his thoughts if he has really written off free agents. 

[the other AJ]

Now the dust has settled, what's everyone's feelings?

I think for me it hammered home just how much trouble we are in, as we tried to flog everyone and anyone who had even limited value and how we struggled to compete with even mid table championship clubs. With the business in and out, it also probably leaves us short of a squad that can realistically challenge for the top 6, although there might be opportunities to get some loan deals in January if we are still in the mix. Three signings leaves us short, with a week to go, Corberan was still talking about 2 or 3 players, but that then became just the one, a squad player full back to challenge Furlong.

In terms of the actual business, Sarmiento looks decent enough, albeit very raw. I'm not sure how many starts he will get under Corberan as he seems to see him as a bit of a luxury at the moment but he might get us a few points vs tired legs. Maja on a free atleast gives us hope that he might find form in the next year or two and provide us with the chance to make some money in a transfer fee. It has been a very low key start however this first few games. Pipa looks low cost, low risk, known to the manager.

Long term, we have sold our one decent money asset in O'Shea. We have let the next in line on the potential train, TGH go on a loan to permanent for a limited fee. I am a bit surprised TGH wasn't given a chance in the new system playing in a position he played for many years as a youth player. We've also let Ashworth go on a similar deal. I look at what's left and this is an ageing squad with very few players left who look like they could go up in value to help us next summer if we need to raise funds. We're hoping Palmer/Griffiths go up in value at this point, with a fading hope Dike comes back and scores goals. Otherwise, next summer leaves us with nothing left to sell to cover the high interest loan. That's a legacy of poor decisions in recent summers coming home to roost, I kept saying over the last few years I wasn't seeing much evidence of squad evolution and "signings for the future". This is what we're now left with.

Finally, looking at the approach to the window, it's harder to judge given the financial situation. Our hands were tied financially. I do however notice those same trends from previous windows. Leaning heavily on Brighton to send us somebody on loan (that's 3 windows on the trot now), the signing of the known quantity championship player who has bounced around a few clubs and then finally relying on the manager bringing somebody in he knows. I wasn't expecting much with the current scouting team because we know what we're getting, no imagination, no scouting of foreign markets, no clever signings from the lower leagues or early pick ups from the released list of premier league academies, just more of the same. If Albion are to ever get back to the top flight, we will need an overhaul of personnel in our recruitment department. Ian Pearce, family and friends, have not shown anything for a number of years now to suggest they can operate on a budget and see us punching above our weight.

Great post Baggies, can’t argue with any of this.
Glass half full for now, we didn’t lose BTA or our keeper so I’m relatively happy at this point. I do share your concerns about the longer term though.

[stoxman]

It could have been worse.  With the exception of O’Shea, we haven’t lost any regular first team value-add.  In Grant/ Livermore/ Albrighton / Rogic/ Bryan we lost a load of wages but no real game changing ability.   We’ve brought in 3 players in weak areas so well done for that until they prove differently.  We could easily have lost Palmer/ Molumby/ BTA/ Swift/ Okay/ Diangana if the rumours are true.   It’s a shame we’ve lost TGH but the views of us supporters and successive managers are different on him.  I’m also a bit surprised at loaning out some of the youngsters that would have given us a bit of depth.

This was never going to be a great window given our financial situation after the full 9” that Lai has given us.  I think the management and coaching staff have actually done surprisingly well to have limited the damage (probably aided by the lack of offers for some sellable assets) and actually improve in some areas.

The long term continues to look grim.  Who do we sell next year and the year after??  That’s one to worry about next year, hopefully under new owners.

I’m the meantime, Come on You Baggies!!!!!

[mulliganstired]

It is good that we kept BTA and Palmer, let's get the old fortress Hawthorns going today and take it from there.

[Atomic]

I think the biggest feeling overall is one of relief.

Going into this transfer window we knew it was going to be a challenging one and we were aware of the financial restraints. Fans are powerless and we had to place our trust into the hands of people running the operations within the club and that's not easy for fans to do given the recent history.

My biggest fear was us selling the (relative) quality that we had within last seasons squad and the sake of Dara O'Shea early on in this window did nothing to ease those fears. However, Dara is the only one we have sold that I'd put in that "quality" bracket. That's a very good result in terms of our onfield position given the position we are in off the field.

Taylor Gardner-Hickman's departure for Bristol City is not a transfer I'm particularly pleased about but I do appreciate something has to give.

If you look at our squad now for this coming season you can certainly argue that it's better than last seasons squad.

Mowatt, Kipre, Taylor and Fellows have all returned from loans and Josh Maja is a much needed addition to our attack. Added to that Jeremy Sarmiento is a loanee that looks full of promise and Pipa joins as right back competition for Furlong and given that he's played under Corberan twice before, he's obviously got something about him that the head coach likes.

The squad isn't as thin as some people make out. We actually have a squad of 25 players all of whom have Championship experience and we do have two players for each position:

                       Palmer
                      Griffiths

Furlong     Ajayi       Kipre      Townsend
Pipa           Bartley   Pieters  Reach
                   Taylor     Kelly

                  Molumby  Yokuslu
                  Mowatt     Chalobah
Wallace                                    Phillips
Fellows                                    Diangana

                                     Swift
                                     Sarmiento

                  Thomas-Asante
                  Maja
                  Dike



That is by no means bad by Championship standards. There's probably one too many centre backs in there and one too few midfielders but it's a well balanced squad. Whether we have enough quality in a couple of areas is open to debate but though it wouldn't be our strongest squad in the last twenty years it's a perfectly respectable one at this level.

I think those running operations deserve credit for compiling this squad under the circumstances.

In terms of finances it's very hard for any fan to offer a strong opinion on the progress made because none of us are privy to the information we'd require to form that opinion. On the face of it I'd say the club would've been extremely keen to offload the likes of Diangana, Grant, Kelly, Bartley had the opportunity arisen and they'll probably be disappointed not to have brought more money into the club. What this means regarding the desperation of our finances I don't know. The club don't appear to be desperate indicated by turning down offers for Thomas-Asante, so hopefully we're getting by which is all we can reasonably expect at the moment and of course there may be stuff going on behind the scenes that none of us fans are currently aware of, in fact I suspect there probably is.

In summary, all in the garden is far from rosy, but I'm happy with the way West Bromwich Albion have handled this transfer window and we can all relax for the time being at least knowing that things could've been far, far worse, certainly on the playing front.

[NJS]

I think that the main priority was to get a commanding centre back.  So I would have kept Ingram as backup to Furlong and trained my sights on the middle of the back row.  However maybe no one was within our financial range. 
With all the squad additions to clubs around us, I still think we'll finish in the middle of the division and I wait to see what happens when we can offload another wheelbarrow full of ageing players at the end of the season.

There's also the question of Lai Guochuan.

[Dan]

It's a shame we couldn't get rid of more highly paid deadwood, I think if we'd got rid of Bartley and Chalobah and used a fraction of their wages for replacements we'd be sitting in a pretty good position squad wise. Would have been nice to get rid of Diangana also, but I think those rumours were always very fanciful and unlikely. Likewise with Griffiths. As it is centre back looks a real position of weakness, particularly given how we've defended so far, and the fact we're going to have to rely on Chalobah got lots of minutes, who we lose hold of the game every time he plays, is a massive concern.

Clearly the lack of players we have to sell going forward is a concern - the only real hope there is BTA having a really good season. It's a shame we're also not looking to play Taylor, who surely can't weaken our defence (one of his strengths is actually his aerial ability), Norwich managed to sell Omobamidele for 20m yesterday and he wasn't even a set starter for them, so the benefits of bringing through these young options financially have to be considered in our line ups given the alternative is possibly administration if we cannot generate good money on our players.

On the positive side, the attack looks better than last season. Maja seems pretty decent from his limited time on the pitch - certainly have faith he'll offer more than Grant, and Sarmiento is a massive upgrade on Albrighton. Add Diangana coming back, and we might have a top 6 attack in the league given the decline of rival attacks. I would give us an ok chance of finishing top 6 with the significant caveat we would neeed to see imminent improvement defensively, while January is not likely to be kind.

[LiamTheBaggie]

I think it ultimately depends on what your view point is regarding the financial position of the football club. I’ve seen some really hammering the club for not doing enough despite the finances not being there.

My own view point is that it’s been a bad window because we’re still carrying high earners who the manager does not want and we really need to get rid of. The salaries of Bartley, Diangana, Chalobah and Mowatt are clearly milestones around our neck.

The fact they’re milestones around our neck just further highlights how poor and ill-thought out our recruitment has been across a number of years.  That approach to recruitment will not be corrected until there is a full sale.

My major concern is that those players still being at the club brings us to a swifter resolution and one that should concern us all if there is not a sale sooner rather than later. Administration and insolvency are not appealing.

[overseas baggie]

I’ve been interested to see so many Championship clubs spending a lot of money in this window.  How have they been able to spend so much?  It’s very simple.  They’ve been able to sell players for big money, either to Premier League clubs or to wealthier Championship clubs with parachute money following relegation (who have in turn sold some of their better players to Premier League and overseas clubs).

They’ve all shown the value of having bought/developed players with resale value, totally the opposite of our disastrous policy over the last decade of buying ageing, experienced players who would never have any resale value.  It’s not rocket science.  To be able to sell players for £10m-£25m (Scott)  and reinvest most of the proceeds into several young, hungry players costing less than £5m each (and often as little as £1m to £2m) is clearly the sensible and sustainable model that we also need to follow.  More BTAs and Mulumbys and fewer Mowatts, Reaches etc.   â€œFree” transfers of 30+ players on long contracts are nothing of the sort, and should only be sticking plasters (like Pieters) on year by year contracts.

The club needs a whole new reset once we get a new owner.  Let’s hope we avoid the charlatans out there and get the right type of owner, but sadly beggars can’t be choosers.

[ex coseley kid]

Given our situation I too have to say I'm just relieved. We got three in who seem like they could be very useful and kept two players - and coach - who I think are vital to us this season.

I think it's about the best we could hope for.

Come on you Baggies!

[Baggies]

It's a shame we couldn't get rid of more highly paid deadwood, I think if we'd got rid of Bartley and Chalobah and used a fraction of their wages for replacements we'd be sitting in a pretty good position squad wise. Would have been nice to get rid of Diangana also, but I think those rumours were always very fanciful and unlikely. Likewise with Griffiths. As it is centre back looks a real position of weakness, particularly given how we've defended so far, and the fact we're going to have to rely on Chalobah got lots of minutes, who we lose hold of the game every time he plays, is a massive concern.

Clearly the lack of players we have to sell going forward is a concern - the only real hope there is BTA having a really good season. It's a shame we're also not looking to play Taylor, who surely can't weaken our defence (one of his strengths is actually his aerial ability), Norwich managed to sell Omobamidele for 20m yesterday and he wasn't even a set starter for them, so the benefits of bringing through these young options financially have to be considered in our line ups given the alternative is possibly administration if we cannot generate good money on our players.

On the positive side, the attack looks better than last season. Maja seems pretty decent from his limited time on the pitch - certainly have faith he'll offer more than Grant, and Sarmiento is a massive upgrade on Albrighton. Add Diangana coming back, and we might have a top 6 attack in the league given the decline of rival attacks. I would give us an ok chance of finishing top 6 with the significant caveat we would neeed to see imminent improvement defensively, while January is not likely to be kind.

Agree with this. I completely missed the fact Omobamidele had gone to Forest for over £20m despite only playing just over 50 times for Norwich in the last 3 seasons. Agree with you - it shows why we must get the likes of Cleary and Taylor into the first team frame as soon as possible. There is crazy money available for young home grown players and if we want to get back on an even keel, that's how we're going to do it.

[smethwickw]

Apart from O’Shea leaving we are no weaker than last season IMO. My biggest gripe is the recruitment and scouting system. Yet again we fail to find any real ‘Gems’ that could turn into a profit. The sooner Pearce leaves the better.

[Dan]

Agree with this. I completely missed the fact Omobamidele had gone to Forest for over £20m despite only playing just over 50 times for Norwich in the last 3 seasons. Agree with you - it shows why we must get the likes of Cleary and Taylor into the first team frame as soon as possible. There is crazy money available for young home grown players and if we want to get back on an even keel, that's how we're going to do it.

For the same reason we should really be looking to give someone like Mfuamba minutes. He's presumably not ready, but is he a) Going to be materially much worse than Chalobah who looks sub championship standard, b) If he is even remotely competent the chances of a premier league club taking a low risk financial gamble of 5-10m increase dramatically. That's nothing to most premier league clubs but maybe enough to keep us going a bit longer. Which is unfortunately the calculation we need to be making when we lack saleable assets.

[liverbaggie]

Im pleased how its turned out, were stronger than last season, excepting DoS
But perhaps Pipa can help in thst respect, i know hes a RB but maybe the centre backs might be more comfortable knowing weve got a decent defender, if he is one!
Im not sure if it helps a 352 does he play as a defender or in the 5,well see what CC does
Our midfield and upfront will be better so im optimistic about top 6,get 3 points today thats 10 in 5 a grest start, we could be into top 6 today, then stay there

[Albion79]

I think a decent window overall, the pro's being -

Corberan staying! Best news by far he is still here and for some crazy reason seems to love it here! He was annoyed when promises were broken and i do wonder if a major player had been sold and not replaced late on he may of walked but he is here and that will do!

The three players we have signed are 25 or less, although two are loans it at least shows we are targeting players who will get better and hopefully have more pace and legs than we currently have.

We have kept 3/4 of the spine, Palmer in goal, Yok in midfield and BTA up front are three key players, BTA is raw but he has improved a lot the last 12 months and if that improvement continues we will have a very good striker.

We have got the young lads out getting game time, they needed it as many of our prospects end up playing under 23's, at least with Andrews, Ingram, Faal and Malcolm we can make a decision in the summer whether they have a future here based on actual competitive matches.

We did turn loan bids for two young players as CC wanted to keep them, i assume that is Fellows and Taylor so hopefully they have a real chance of being involved.

The Cons -

We lost O'Shea and didnt replace him, he was the organiser and dominant centre half, i have little faith in Bartley doing that as he is too inconsistent and busy blaming others but we will have to get by til january at least!

We only sold one player for real money which was O'Shea, it was widely reported that Diangana wanted to go and we wanted him to go but the fact he is still here says a lot, three years of doing little isnt a great selling point.

Also Griffiths still being here, we could of got a very useful fee for him,  he seems to lack a presence and isnt vocal and makes me nervous, he is more a Sam Johnstone  than a Ben Foster (at the moment), i think he is a long way behind Palmer and we could of done with selling him, get a fee and get a backup keeper.

From his side he is young and should get better but he played a few senior games when Palmer was out but other than by the time january comes around he will of gone nearly a year barely playing football, him still being with us suits neither the club or him, i am reallt surprised a premier league club didnt sign him and loan him out but maybe that says something.

I think overall looking at our squad its very much still an average to decent championship level, we are very workmanlike with only really Sarmiento possibly having an X factor, i expect we will be around midtable to top half.

The squad revamp was never going to happen overnight, next summer is the big one with - Bartley, Reach, Kelly, Mowatt amongst others being out of contract, i think slowly we are moving in the right direction playing staff wise at least.

[beechyboy90]

Loads of deadwood out.
Besides oshea leaving we aren't much weaker. We brought in full back competition for right back (looks like he can play left side also) Sarmiento is raw but has something so might come good. Maja needs game time but so far has looked ok.

This window was about surviving. Come summer we have: reach, Kelly, kipre, mowatt, Bartley, Phillips all on frees. Which means come January with 6 months left on deals some of these become an easier purchase or might take mutual termination.

The biggest failings for us the window was not finding a permanent home for neither Grant or Diangana.

[halifax_baggie]

Disappointed that we didn’t sell or loan out Bartley, Mowatt or two or three others, happy we retained all the regular team with the exception of O’Shea, disappointed,but  being picky, that we didn’t get in an additional central defender, striker or competition at full back

Could have been better with a few million in the bank, we will be around the top half of the table by January

Mission accomplished to reduce debt and reduce wages through loans out, making us a better acquisition target

Be positive support our team and await a new owner 

[paulosull]

Think it was a very poor window, selling an asset for less than clause in contract early on in window showed our hand with this owner. Not being able to offload the high earners is also an indication of poor windows under our dear leader, he actually took Ebenezer’s words literally when he said club can run itself.

[WBArgo]

From what I gather, our policy was 1 out, 1 in.

So when Corberan wanted 7, he needed to get 7 out. Instead, 3 left and 3 came in. I imagine the others he ideally wanted to leave were Chabolah, Diangana (both definites), then perhaps Reach and Bartley or Griffiths. Obviously, Reach and Bartley never really had many suitors. So that's why it went the way it did.

I also gather we needed to raise £20 million and only £7 million was raised by O'Shea going. This means either a sale is imminent or we will sell players either in January or in the summer. However, I did read an article when O'Shea left saying that it covered our finances (for now) and that stopped the rot with others leaving.

Like many on here, I'm not exactly delighted but I'm happy enough with the window. I believe it was roughly half of Corberna's plan (3 instead of 7) which is ok. The main thing was keeping both Palmer and BTA which we did, whilst keeping other key players. Our first 11 is actually quite good but we will struggle in the winter months. Nonetheless, as long as Corberan is here I think we'll be far from relegation.

[paulosull]

From what I gather, our policy was 1 out, 1 in.

So when Corberan wanted 7, he needed to get 7 out. Instead, 3 left and 3 came in. I imagine the others he ideally wanted to leave were Chabolah, Diangana (both definites), then perhaps Reach and Bartley or Griffiths. Obviously, Reach and Bartley never really had many suitors. So that's why it went the way it did.

I also gather we needed to raise £20 million and only £7 million was raised by O'Shea going. This means either a sale is imminent or we will sell players either in January or in the summer. However, I did read an article when O'Shea left saying that it covered our finances (for now) and that stopped the rot with others leaving.

Like many on here, I'm not exactly delighted but I'm happy enough with the window. I believe it was roughly half of Corberna's plan (3 instead of 7) which is ok. The main thing was keeping both Palmer and BTA which we did, whilst keeping other key players. Our first 11 is actually quite good but we will struggle in the winter months. Nonetheless, as long as Corberan is here I think we'll be far from relegation.

thought the msd loan was for clubs running costs ? And if not where did that money go? And if I was interested in buying club I’d wait for Administration why would I take on someone else debt.

[baggie82]

We have ended the transfer window with a much stronger squad than we could have hoped for. Mowatt, Kipre, Maja, Pipa & Sarmiento in with O’Shea & TGH out. That is an excellent outcome. We now have a strong squad and as long as we avoid injuries a push for a top six place is feasible.

[shilton1]

Why on earth we still haven't bought in a left back is beyond me. I know there have been a number of poor performers but to have Townsend as first choice in a back four is nowhere near good enough. We have been crying out for new full backs for 3 years now and we get the token pipa signing yesterday.

[zippyandbungle]

Now the dust has settled, what's everyone's feelings?

I think for me it hammered home just how much trouble we are in, as we tried to flog everyone and anyone who had even limited value and how we struggled to compete with even mid table championship clubs. With the business in and out, it also probably leaves us short of a squad that can realistically challenge for the top 6, although there might be opportunities to get some loan deals in January if we are still in the mix. Three signings leaves us short, with a week to go, Corberan was still talking about 2 or 3 players, but that then became just the one, a squad player full back to challenge Furlong.

In terms of the actual business, Sarmiento looks decent enough, albeit very raw. I'm not sure how many starts he will get under Corberan as he seems to see him as a bit of a luxury at the moment but he might get us a few points vs tired legs. Maja on a free atleast gives us hope that he might find form in the next year or two and provide us with the chance to make some money in a transfer fee. It has been a very low key start however this first few games. Pipa looks low cost, low risk, known to the manager.

Long term, we have sold our one decent money asset in O'Shea. We have let the next in line on the potential train, TGH go on a loan to permanent for a limited fee. I am a bit surprised TGH wasn't given a chance in the new system playing in a position he played for many years as a youth player. We've also let Ashworth go on a similar deal. I look at what's left and this is an ageing squad with very few players left who look like they could go up in value to help us next summer if we need to raise funds. We're hoping Palmer/Griffiths go up in value at this point, with a fading hope Dike comes back and scores goals. Otherwise, next summer leaves us with nothing left to sell to cover the high interest loan. That's a legacy of poor decisions in recent summers coming home to roost, I kept saying over the last few years I wasn't seeing much evidence of squad evolution and "signings for the future". This is what we're now left with.

Finally, looking at the approach to the window, it's harder to judge given the financial situation. Our hands were tied financially. I do however notice those same trends from previous windows. Leaning heavily on Brighton to send us somebody on loan (that's 3 windows on the trot now), the signing of the known quantity championship player who has bounced around a few clubs and then finally relying on the manager bringing somebody in he knows. I wasn't expecting much with the current scouting team because we know what we're getting, no imagination, no scouting of foreign markets, no clever signings from the lower leagues or early pick ups from the released list of premier league academies, just more of the same. If Albion are to ever get back to the top flight, we will need an overhaul of personnel in our recruitment department. Ian Pearce, family and friends, have not shown anything for a number of years now to suggest they can operate on a budget and see us punching above our weight.

If we tried to flog everyone
Can you explain why swift,palmer and BTA are still here ?

[zippyandbungle]

I think that the main priority was to get a commanding centre back.  So I would have kept Ingram as backup to Furlong and trained my sights on the middle of the back row.  However maybe no one was within our financial range. 
With all the squad additions to clubs around us, I still think we'll finish in the middle of the division and I wait to see what happens when we can offload another wheelbarrow full of ageing players at the end of the season.

There's also the question of Lai Guochuan.

Lai doesn’t continually get caught in his heels and fail to get close to his man .

No one is back up to furlong,anyone would be an upgrade