Gary: "Three new signings by Colchester"

CTFCofficial · 29 Dec 2016, 12:17

The Gaffer is 99% sure he will have three new players in the squad when we travel to Colchester on January 2nd.

Read/ watch the full story here:

http://www.ctfc.com/news/article/2016-1 ... 89922.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nesty · 29 Dec 2016, 18:59

hopefully three to go straight into the team, and not just bench fodder

29 Dec 2016, 19:25

he's already said they will be starting

Si Robin · 29 Dec 2016, 19:51

Looks like one of them is De Girolamo:

http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/br ... story.html

29 Dec 2016, 20:07

We've also pulled out of the deal to sign Jake Lawlor after a "trial spell" according to the Echo.

Educated Bertie · 30 Dec 2016, 07:46

An an inveterate cynic, is there any reason why the quote ascribed to Mr Johnson should not be taken at face value and that the "Lads from Essex" are about to augment THEIR Squad?

RegencyCheltenhamSpa · 30 Dec 2016, 08:59

Great interviews. Good to see him point out that in his head and in the dressing room there are a lot of private bits of information the fans and press have no idea about. Realism about the budget too.

I am more confident (100%) now than I was before (99%) that Gary will keep us up comfortably.

COYR

Del Boy · 30 Dec 2016, 10:36

Seems like a load of excuses as to why his performance has been so poor this season.

RegencyCheltenhamSpa · 30 Dec 2016, 10:53

Del Boy wrote:Seems like a load of excuses as to why his performance has been so poor this season.

Excuses, or recognising where and why things have not worked out and identifying how to fix it?

Apart from pre-season transfers or lack of, what would you say Gary has done poorly between 1st September and now?

Del Boy · 30 Dec 2016, 11:03

Winning four games from 22 league games and getting dumped out of the FA Cup by a team much lower suggests he has done poorly.

And you say 'apart from pre-season transfers' - that is always the most crucial role for the manager and he failed miserably.

Personally I'm bored of all the talk and would like to see some action. I'm praying he can turn it round but the signs are not great.

And to mention budgets is crass. Not even the most deluded on here can think only one team has a smaller budget than us.

Shade · 30 Dec 2016, 11:10

Sutton were not 'much lower'.

Del Boy · 30 Dec 2016, 11:15

Shade wrote:Sutton were not 'much lower'.

No, you're right - below mid-table in the division below. We should be proud we managed to score a goal against them.

Shade · 30 Dec 2016, 11:16

It was 14 or 15 places between us. That isn't much lower.

Si Robin · 30 Dec 2016, 11:19

Del Boy wrote:
Shade wrote:Sutton were not 'much lower'.
No, you're right - below mid-table in the division below. We should be proud we managed to score a goal against them.

We lost to Altrincham (relegated) and Oxford City (division below) last season. Northampton lost to Stourbridge who are 4 divisions below them in the same round we lost to Sutton. Who'd have thought that shocks happen in the FA Cup and, sometimes, lowly teams beat those above them.

But you're right, it's a massive failure being beaten in the last minute away at Sutton. The players and Gary Johnson should have all immediately handed in their resignations at such an embarrassing result.

RegencyCheltenhamSpa · 30 Dec 2016, 11:21

Del Boy wrote:Winning four games from 22 league games and getting dumped out of the FA Cup by a team much lower suggests he has done poorly.

And you say 'apart from pre-season transfers' - that is always the most crucial role for the manager and he failed miserably.

Personally I'm bored of all the talk and would like to see some action. I'm praying he can turn it round but the signs are not great.

And to mention budgets is crass. Not even the most deluded on here can think only one team has a smaller budget than us.

This is the issue: would a different manager have got more than four wins? Maybe the players are so bad that four wins is a tremendous achievement, maybe the opposite. We don't know.

You can't just say 'not enough wins'. I was asking about specifics. What do you think he has done poorly since September 1st? Training? Tactics? Team talks? Etc etc.

Imo, Gary as been a man of honour giving the Champions a chance and a few loans did not work out well, but no manager has 100% success with loans. He signed the right players when it mattered to get us promoted and I believe he will now sign the right players to climb the table between January and May.

Action can't really happen until January, so you will have to put up with talk and support the current team for a few more days yet.

Del Boy · 30 Dec 2016, 11:54

I just don't get this giving last year's players a chance rubbish. That is not how it works. No one was saying get shot of last year's players and sign a whole new squad.

What happens is you keep your first-choice players and sign players to improve the squad. Then last year's players have a chance to prove themselves. If, as has clearly happened, some are not up to it they will struggle to get into the team. Our star signing of the summer was shipped out on loan within weeks. It was the worst summer performance of any manager I can remember. Dismal.

As for training, team talks etc - I know nothing about them. But I know about the results.

Another_FoD_Robin · 30 Dec 2016, 11:54

This is getting tiresome now..... I am sure GJ has said a few interviews ago that we are where we are because we have drawn too many games and we need to be more effective in shutting up shop to speak, or capitalising on our chances when we are going forward. So maybe it's not all doom and gloom....it's just finding away to do those things effectively. Which is easier said than done.....

RegencyCheltenhamSpa · 30 Dec 2016, 12:02

Del Boy wrote:I just don't get this giving last year's players a chance rubbish. That is not how it works. No one was saying get shot of last year's players and sign a whole new squad.

What happens is you keep your first-choice players and sign players to improve the squad. Then last year's players have a chance to prove themselves. If, as has clearly happened, some are not up to it they will struggle to get into the team. Our star signing of the summer was shipped out on loan within weeks. It was the worst summer performance of any manager I can remember. Dismal.

As for training, team talks etc - I know nothing about them. But I know about the results.

Oh sorry. I assumed because you were so sure Gary was doing a poor job managing the club during this season you knew about the day to day management of the club. My bad.

No one is arguing the summer recruiting policy has not worked out poorly and can be viewed as a mistake with hindsight. That has happened. It was has happened since and happens next which is key.

Del Boy · 30 Dec 2016, 12:22

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:
Del Boy wrote:I just don't get this giving last year's players a chance rubbish. That is not how it works. No one was saying get shot of last year's players and sign a whole new squad.

What happens is you keep your first-choice players and sign players to improve the squad. Then last year's players have a chance to prove themselves. If, as has clearly happened, some are not up to it they will struggle to get into the team. Our star signing of the summer was shipped out on loan within weeks. It was the worst summer performance of any manager I can remember. Dismal.

As for training, team talks etc - I know nothing about them. But I know about the results.
Oh sorry. I assumed because you were so sure Gary was doing a poor job managing the club during this season you knew about the day to day management of the club. My bad.

No one is arguing the summer recruiting policy has not worked out poorly and can be viewed as a mistake with hindsight. That has happened. It was has happened since and happens next which is key.

Yep, I'll bow to your better knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes. He's clearly doing a fantastic job. We should all just be thankful we've won four matches from 22 league games - any other manager would have struggled to win one. We've clearly got the best manager in the division and no one else could possibly have done a better job. How lucky we are.

Nesty · 30 Dec 2016, 14:16

Robin wrote:We've also pulled out of the deal to sign Jake Lawlor after a "trial spell" according to the Echo.

where does it say that Robin?

dedwardp · 30 Dec 2016, 16:26

Nesty wrote:
Robin wrote:We've also pulled out of the deal to sign Jake Lawlor after a "trial spell" according to the Echo.
where does it say that Robin?

http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/wa ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Johnson is remaining tight-lipped on who those recruits will be but a move for former Robins record signing Brian Wilson is now off.

Terms had been agreed for the versatile defender but that offer was withdrawn as Johnson juggled his available funds and decided to concentrate on reinforcements in other areas.

Guiseley defender or midfielder Jake Lawlor will not be signed after a trial stint and four of the six loan signings – Easah Suliman (above), Koby Arthur, Jonny Smith and Danny Whitehead – will be let go.

Talks are still going on over the future of first-team regular loan-signings Rob Dickie and Russell Griffiths but with Johnson targeting three or four new loan deals it's unlikely both will be retained."

Nesty · 30 Dec 2016, 16:41

interesting that we will not be keeping both Dickie and Griffiths - maybe that hints we are after a new keeper?

horlickfanclub · 30 Dec 2016, 16:52

We need our own keeper. It could be Scott Brown.

Nesty · 30 Dec 2016, 16:57

horlickfanclub wrote:We need our own keeper. It could be Scott Brown.

great news

Horteng · 30 Dec 2016, 17:45

Nesty wrote:interesting that we will not be keeping both Dickie and Griffiths - maybe that hints we are after a new keeper?

Yes that's how I read the situation when GJ talked about it yesterday

I-Love-CTFC · 30 Dec 2016, 17:53

Jon Palmer just tweeted: Cheltenham Town chasing a midfielder from Oldham Athletic who "the fans will love"

30 Dec 2016, 18:01

interesting, maybe Lee Croft?

paperboy · 30 Dec 2016, 18:04

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:Great interviews. Good to see him point out that in his head and in the dressing room there are a lot of private bits of information the fans and press have no idea about. Realism about the budget too.

COYR

Gary clearly doesn't realise that there are some on the nest who have more information than he does.

confused.com · 30 Dec 2016, 18:23

Good grief some of the posts on here, apart from mine of course, are so random. Fact is we are currently at the half way stage, the second worst team in the league. If your argument is that nobody ese could do any better. Then you have totally no proof of that. If your argument is that someone else could do better, likewise there is no proof of that. However what you can say iis that 22 other teams / managers are doing better than ours. Also you can not argue that we are all in this together and not include GJ in that equation. Him and his team have played themselves into this situation, all we. Can hope is that the lac of recruitment vision shown in the summer, is not replicated next week!

RegencyCheltenhamSpa · 30 Dec 2016, 23:46

Del Boy wrote:
RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:
Del Boy wrote:I just don't get this giving last year's players a chance rubbish. That is not how it works. No one was saying get shot of last year's players and sign a whole new squad.

What happens is you keep your first-choice players and sign players to improve the squad. Then last year's players have a chance to prove themselves. If, as has clearly happened, some are not up to it they will struggle to get into the team. Our star signing of the summer was shipped out on loan within weeks. It was the worst summer performance of any manager I can remember. Dismal.

As for training, team talks etc - I know nothing about them. But I know about the results.
Oh sorry. I assumed because you were so sure Gary was doing a poor job managing the club during this season you knew about the day to day management of the club. My bad.

No one is arguing the summer recruiting policy has not worked out poorly and can be viewed as a mistake with hindsight. That has happened. It was has happened since and happens next which is key.
Yep, I'll bow to your better knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes. He's clearly doing a fantastic job. We should all just be thankful we've won four matches from 22 league games - any other manager would have struggled to win one. We've clearly got the best manager in the division and no one else could possibly have done a better job. How lucky we are.

I cannot comment on the management behind the scenes. Which is why I neither praise nor criticise Gary Johnson for it. Only you are doing that. I am happy to let him manage until things evidently go wrong. Which we can't judge until after January.

Reliant Robin · 31 Dec 2016, 09:46

Del Boy wrote:I just don't get this giving last year's players a chance rubbish. That is not how it works. No one was saying get shot of last year's players and sign a whole new squad.

What happens is you keep your first-choice players and sign players to improve the squad. Then last year's players have a chance to prove themselves. If, as has clearly happened, some are not up to it they will struggle to get into the team. Our star signing of the summer was shipped out on loan within weeks. It was the worst summer performance of any manager I can remember. Dismal.

As for training, team talks etc - I know nothing about them. But I know about the results.

To be fair to Gary Johnson, he was in a no-win situation. The 2015/16 squad did an amazing job getting us back into the League at the first time of asking and there was a wave of fan euphoria that went along with that. All those Players were our heroes. The manager has a budget and has to live within that, and it will only provide a certain amount of Players. On top of that, Gary Johnson did right by the Players and they got a deserved pay increase as a reward for giving us Football League status again. Now, had the manager decided to get rid of certain Players at the end of the season (because we don't have the budget to bring in recruits on top of the existing squad), I'm sure there would have been an outcry by fans loyal to their heroes and any new Players that had come in to replace any of our heroes would have been under intense scrutiny and every error they made in a game would have resulted in criticism and comparison with the heroes we'd cast off.

Gary Johnson was a man of honour and gave our heroes a chance to prove themselves at Football League level. We can all see that it's been a big step up for some of them and the manager has said all season that if they don't step up he would have to make changes, which is what he is now doing. I don't think he had any other choice because either way, he would get criticised.

It may even be the case that some of our Players actually over-achieved last season, and that's left us without the necessary quality this season.

Artemis · 31 Dec 2016, 21:06

I believe that some players did have, for them, very good seasons. Lets not forget that most hadnt played with any degree of success in the FL
I also believe what was missing in the summer was the addition of a few first team ready players to add competition and Football League proven quality. GJ has the chance to put that right now. But its a toughe ask in January where the shelves arent well stocked and there is plenty of compettition for what quality there is. I hope he pulls it off.

Nesty · 02 Jan 2017, 09:47

so 99.9% sure of signing three ! never mind maybe next week

Si Robin · 02 Jan 2017, 10:11

The third is Scott Brown, which is all but signed and sealed.

02 Jan 2017, 10:13

I'm fine with the Scott Brown signing - I feel he is an experienced lower league keeper and loves the club - however I don't understand why we are loaning him unless it's just until Wycombe sign a new number 2 then we make it permanent perhaps?