Transfer Deadline Day: Michael O'Halloran signs until 2020

[andy steel 0]

Thinking about needing a CB, the popular wish list also includes a central mid and a centre forward. That suggests we need a whole new "spine" of the team with perhaps the exception of the goalie. That makes me wonder if some of the stuff about "having no spine" has been misinterpretted by Warburton as more having no backbone ie no strength of character - which he found, "disrespectful".

 

That last point seemed clear from his 'angry' press conference - I couldn't understand why none of the assembled media pointed out to him that he had the wrong end of the stick.

 

Suited us, though, given the performance against Hibs.

[JTP 0]

He is very poor when 1 on 1

 

In that case, identify it and work on it. I'd fully expect SDOW to be working at making him better, drills galore, twisting turning, timing.

 

Lets be honest if his heading/tackling/awareness/distribution/touch/pace/all round ability was bang on .............. he wouldn't be here.

[Frankie 8,151]

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Edited January 6, 2016 by Frankie

[Frankie 8,151]

[tweet]684704942809083904[/tweet]

[ascender 352]

I like the way we're continuing to do transfer business with the minimum of fuss and there seems to be a (long term) strategy in place.

[pete 2,499]

I like the way we're continuing to do transfer business with the minimum of fuss and there seems to be a (long term) strategy in place.

 

The only signings so far have been 6 months.

[trublusince1982 243]

5 victories out of 9 in the Scottish championship does not indicate to me that the players are good enough, or that we can afford to go on without bring in starting 11 players right now. If we want to secure promotion early and with minimal risk we need to improve, drawing with the likes of morton and livingston and being thoroughly beaten by falkirk is not good enough. Our playing philosophy has changed our transfer dealings have changed but our standards should never drop. People keep mentioning we are on a journey that's all good and true but on a journey you cant stand still you need to keep going, in our case we need to keep improving the standard of player we are bringing in.

 

Its good to see us acting quickly and identifying our targets and getting the players the manager wants . Lets just hope the targets are good enough to do us for the coming campaign and further helping us hit the heights the fans will rightly demand.

Hopefully we stump up some cash and get these guys in now, we are crying out for a defensive mid and hopefully crooks will fill that role.

[der Berliner 3,247]

Looks like it will be done today (or this week) rather than July. Us putting the boot in the door essentially opened it, as was expected. Wonder who allowed them to move ...

 

Windass and Crooks head north to complete January moves to Rangers

 

Accrington Stanley pair Josh Windass and Matt Crooks are travelling to Glasgow in order to try and complete January moves to Rangers.

 

The duo, who are out of contract at the end of the season, are set to travel to Scotland after agreeing personal terms with the Ibrox side.

 

Both were expected to make the move this summer but now Mark Warburton's men may speed up the transfer as they aim to win promotion to the Scottish Premiership.

 

Should the players move in this transfer window then the English League Two side would secure a transfer fee rather than training compensation, if the duo moved on pre-contract deals at the end of the season.

 

Harry Forrester and goalkeeper Maciej Gostomski have already joined the Light Blues in the January transfer window.

 

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/rangers/1338115-windass-and-crooks-head-north-to-complete-january-move-to-rangers/

 

BTW, doing a deal now may allow AS to have a sell-on clause inserted in the deals, which might appease their "outspoken" chairman a little. We need to keep in mind that at least Windass was for the off anyway, as he declined their contract offer. The script was thus already written.

Edited January 6, 2016 by der Berliner

[BEARGER 1,829]

From Evening Times

 

Rangers will try to land Accrington Stanley pair Josh Windass and Matt Crooks six months early after preparing a £400,000 double swoop, it is understood.

 

The midfield duo are on their way north and will have medicals with the Ladbrokes Championship leaders early on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Both men are out of contract at the end of the season and are now free to negotiate pre-contracts with Gers.

 

But Ibrox boss Mark Warburton is keen to see the pair join up with his squad right away as the Light Blues look to push ahead in the promotion race.

 

Windass - son of former Aberdeen and Hull striker Dean - and Crooks have already agreed terms but the timing of the move now hinges on Accrington owner Andy Holt.

 

He has already hit out at Gers' handling of the situation but faces losing both players for a compensation sum of around just £30,000 each should they move in the summer.

 

The Glasgow giants hope an increased fee will persuade the Sky Bet League Two side to release the players early, otherwise they will wait until their current deals expire.

 

 

But Holt is furious his club is in danger of missing out on a potentially lucrative windfall, with cross-border compensation levels a fraction of the fees due between clubs in the same country.

 

He told the Lancashire Telegraph: "It's ridiculous. We could lose them for free and Rangers could resell them and take any profit. They could sell them back to England if they wanted to.

 

"Because they're getting them for free they can offer wages that other team can't offer.

 

"It's not about the lads' rights to earn a living, I respect that and I like them. It's about what's right and what's wrong.

 

"They've come a long way at this club, since they've been at Accrington it's transformed them. I don't like the way the rules are set out.

"I don't like the way Rangers have gone about this, not picking the phone up to (Accrington manager) John Coleman. It's not illegal but it's not the way it should be done."

 

 

Windass, 21, was watched by Arsenal earlier this season and has netted 11 goals in 25 appearances for Accrington this term. Crooks, also 21, can play in defence as well as midfield and has seven goals to his name from 24 outings this season.

 

 

Warburton has made a swift start to his January transfer dealings after signing up Doncaster winger Harry Forrester and ex-Lech Poznan goalkeeper Maciej Gostomski on six-month deals.

Edited January 6, 2016 by BEARGER

[Frankie 8,151]

5 victories out of 9 in the Scottish championship does not indicate to me that the players are good enough, or that we can afford to go on without bring in starting 11 players right now. If we want to secure promotion early and with minimal risk we need to improve, drawing with the likes of morton and livingston and being thoroughly beaten by falkirk is not good enough. Our playing philosophy has changed our transfer dealings have changed but our standards should never drop. People keep mentioning we are on a journey that's all good and true but on a journey you cant stand still you need to keep going, in our case we need to keep improving the standard of player we are bringing in.

 

Its good to see us acting quickly and identifying our targets and getting the players the manager wants . Lets just hope the targets are good enough to do us for the coming campaign and further helping us hit the heights the fans will rightly demand.

Hopefully we stump up some cash and get these guys in now, we are crying out for a defensive mid and hopefully crooks will fill that role.

 

15 wins out of 19 in the Scottish Championship along with a few disappointing results indicates to me the players are good enough but still developing under a management team also relatively new to the club. Along the way we've scored 57 goals and only conceded 15 despite our very attacking outlook.

 

Yes, we absolutely need to win this league to achieve promotion and a few new players will certainly help when, as we seen in November and December our form dipped a little. However, I can see the manager sticking by a core of players who have, by and large, performed very well this season so far. I'm certainly excited to see many of the players develop further.

 

With regard to our manager signing lower league English players, well he signed Andre Gray from Luton Town for a nominal fee in 2014 before he was sold to Burnley for £6m in August 2015.