Stickied League 2 Transfer Rumours/Confirmed Transfers 2023/24

[RiftHouseLad]

Fraser Horsfall just signed for stockport 3 years contract.cracking signing joining our already strong squad.manager has a difficult decision who to play.

Chan never has or will have a difficult decision picking the starting 11.

 

[PuB]

Was going to respond myself but, (bless) and don,t tell others but, He actually believes his
Club is superior.

And not a ball been kicked yet.

He’s actually very amusing, just don’t take it too seriously.

 

[Cas]

They are minted from an extremely wealthy fan I believe, they’re like Wrexham but more quiet about it. They did play some great stuff last season (from what I saw), and I’d love their signings for the Gills but we’re not in the same ball park financially.

Impressed by your additions too.

I like a lot of the players we brought in. Think we need some more firepower up top, particularly because I'm not sure Angol will play for the majority.

 

[Sestonpoolie]

Can’t see a League team being interested, return to Solihull maybe?

Grimsby

 

[RiftHouseLad]

Think you will find the top 7 teams in the national league are better than most in div 2 and its a harder league to get out of with only 1 team (county) who went up as champions with 94 points.I am quite confident that we will do well this year that was without the new signings.Now we have upped the ante. I am going to say we will finish in the top 3. I await your replys.

FFS, Are serious man.

 

[AdamStag]

I like a lot of the players we brought in. Think we need some more firepower up top, particularly because I'm not sure Angol will play for the majority.

Smart move, i wouldn’t go basing my forward options around angol.

Serious talent, he’s just a tit.

 

[Chief Rocka]

Grimsby

Heard owt or just the old club link?

I'd like to of seen Bogle with a proper pre season behind him but is what it is, needs replacing with experience if he does go.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

Smart move, i wouldn’t go basing my forward options around angol.

Serious talent, he’s just a tit.

He’s come across anything but towards us, always time for the fans especially the younger ones and always well spoken. Just always injured that’s why we can’t trust him for the full season. 25 games out of him would be good going.

 

[saddler78]

Yeah he’ll score and I like him, just don’t think he’s any use as a lone striker not really got the pace, mobility and hold up to perform the role and I think that’s what we’ll be after.

Cook should be more than capable in the right system scored 18 for us in League one

 

[saddler78]

We still need two strikers pretty much done other than that not been linked to anyone in recent days but they have to be better than what we have had in the last 3 seasons we don't want anymore Gordon or Lavery types again.

 

[Sestonpoolie]

Think you will find the top 7 teams in the national league are better than most in div 2 and its a harder league to get out of with only 1 team (county) who went up as champions with 94 points.I am quite confident that we will do well this year that was without the new signings.Now we have upped the ante. I am going to say we will finish in the top 3. I await your replys.

And how many division two matches did you watch to come to this conclusion?
I still had an interest in the NL & watched plenty of games,a couple of teams would survive without investment,but to say the top 7 is better is bollox.
Considering Halifax Finished 4th,they were dogshit.

 

[Boz]

Why?

We’ve made five signings and four are from non-league. I’m not going to pretend we’re aren’t spending money but it’s not like we’ve got some ridiculous squad too good for this level.

Our first choice 11 as it stands with maybe one more first choice to be added

Hinchliffe - not played/proven beyond the NL
Lewis - not played/proven beyond NL
Horsfall - proven top end League Two quality player
Johnson - Port Vale reject deemed not good enough for this level last season
Southam-Hales - not played/proven beyond NL
Hippolyte - let go by the worst team in this division last season
Collar - Not played/proven beyond NL
Croasdale - Not played/proven beyond NL
Sarcevic - Proven top end League Two quality
Wootton - Much improved but failed at this level last time round
Madden - Proven top end League Two quality

I think you're slightly underselling your players there in that Sarcevic and Madden are actually proven L1 players. Your first choice xi, as it stands looks stronger than the Rovers team who managed to go up through the play-offs the season after our return to the FL. I suppose the issue for Stockport is squad strength , if some of the first choice are unavailable, how good are the back-up players? Too early for detailed predictions, but see you as comfortably top half.

 

[Stocky]

And how many division two matches did you watch to come to this conclusion?
I still had an interest in the NL & watched plenty of games,a couple of teams would survive without investment,but to say the top 7 is better is bollox.
Considering Halifax Finished 4th,they were dogshit.

Sutton finished 8th or something didn't they and reached that EFL final? They weren't great shakes in 20/21. Deserved champions but I was surprised at how high they finished in League Two.

There's too many variables to know for sure. I personally don't know the level well enough to know for sure.

 

[Stocky]

I watched some of the League Two play offs and they were terrible too. All lower league football looks terrible on the telly.

 

[Ellis]

Halifax were also dead on their feet by the end of the campaign too, the fact Wild got them to fourth place with that squad and his budget is an achievement in itself.

 

[Stocky]

Halifax were also dead on their feet by the end of the campaign too, the fact Wild got them to fourth place with that squad and his budget is an achievement in itself.

And yet they're getting picked apart. Cheltenham have just signed one of their centre halves. Wild's gone in for a couple where he can. I think Grimsby signed one.

And still none of you daft fuckers have touched their three best players (goalkeeper, Warburton and Spence)

Look at Boreham Wood, didn't they get further in the FA Cup than any League 1 or 2 team? And they barely troubled the play-offs in the end.

Too many variables. We'll see next season.

 

[PuB]

And yet they're getting picked apart. Cheltenham have just signed one of their centre halves. Wild's gone in for a couple where he can. I think Grimsby signed one.

And still none of you daft fuckers have touched their three best players (goalkeeper, Warburton and Spence)

Look at Boreham Wood, didn't they get further in the FA Cup than any League 1 or 2 team? And they barely troubled the play-offs in the end.

Too many variables. We'll see next season.

As things stand, I’m calling you guys as champions.

 

[AdamStag]

I watched some of the League Two play offs and they were terrible too. All lower league football looks terrible on the telly.

the playoff games in league 2 were well, well, well ahead of the conference ones on quality. but yeah it does all look pretty shite on tv, agreed there.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Heard owt or just the old club link?

I'd like to of seen Bogle with a proper pre season behind him but is what it is, needs replacing with experience if he does go.

I'd heard a murmur ages ago that he wasn't happy but the team were on a downward spiral at that point so just put it down to that.

Same as you in that I'd like to see what he can do with a pre season and a manager who can get the best from him but if he goes it's no great loss really. Must have a replacement mind, I wouldn't tolerate another U23 like Will Goodwin coming to replace him.

 

[Soup Ladle]

It's been done to death but the top 6 are not better than most in L2, that's just bollocks. There is a step up, I don't think it's huge but you'll see there is a difference in quality, organisation and fitness. That said most of the leading sides have more money than most in L2 as its so competitive down there that they'll comfortably be in a position to stay up and step up with a few additions.

 

[Indian Dan]

I know very little about all you northern monkeys so I’ll say you’re all shite - apart from Bradford who’ll piss the league.

 

[Stringy]

I found the difference between NL and L2 was the gulf in quality between the top sides and the rest of the league. In NL was easier to look good in more games when you were gaining confidence from dismantling teams who were of much lesser quality. Form in L2 was more difficult to maintain because even if you played well you'd only get a draw or get done by an odd goal. I thought when we returned we could nick play-offs or maybe 3rd if we were lucky. We did have a decent team but so did everyone else and we finished midtable. Anyway I have watched zero NL football in recent years so don't know what it's like now.

 

[pontoonlew]

Maybe some legs in it.
Apparently Bogle hasn't travelled to Portugal,as he's in talks with another club.
How true,who knows.

If our fans get hold of this rumour they’re going put 2 & 2 together and our socials will melt down

 

[pontoonlew]

NL felt very shite at the bottom half of the table this year but very strong at the top end, there’s a lot of players down there who would actually be coup signings for any club in this league. It’s a damn strong league, there’s a reason nobody ever goes straight back down after leaving it and there’s no other league in the country where you can say the same thing.

 

[joethegill]

I saw an awful lot of live NL football last season and a lot of it was nowhere near the level of L2. There are some good players for sure, and several financially capable clubs who would/will hold their own as EFL clubs, but those clubs are all there for a reason - they were too shite to remain in the EFL in the first place, and so far haven't been good enough to come back. No great underlying factor, just the hard truths. As hard as it is to come back into the EFL with 2 promotion spots, it's equally hard to be shite enough to go down in the first place with just 2 relegation spots, so it works both ways.

As far as I can tell, the only club with genuine reason to feel aggrieved at being relegated for many years is Luton Town with their -30 points. The rest of the clubs who've gone down have bloody well deserved it.

So yes, while there may be clubs who are strong enough to come up and be a nuisance, we haven't seen a club come up and dominate League Two straight away for quite a while now. FGR thought it'd be easy to sail right through, and I'm sure Salford thought the same. No idea how Stockport will do in truth as half the teams in the league haven't got close to completing their squads. I'm not blown away by their signings, they seem competent rather than stand-out. I wonder if their forward line has enough goals in it to be a proper threat at the top end - Madden is a good player but his best days are well behind him, Wootton scored goals a level lower but hasn't at EFL level (although is a good age to show that he can) and Quigley I'm just not having as a top end League Two striker at all.

 

[Fedora Dale]

Getting back to the subject of transfers, we seem to have signed Cameron John, formerly of Doncaster.

 

[Stocky]

I think we're aware it's a step up hence why we've just successfully attempted to sign a player who was voted in the L2 team of the year last season in our weakest area of the pitch. Doesn't really sound like a club with the mentality that we're good enough to just gatecrash the top 7 etc straight away without improving to me?

I'd be very surprised if we went back to back. But I'd be even more surprised if we didn't learn lessons from the next 46 league games and keep looking to improve.

I'd rip your hand off to be in the play-off hunt still went the clocks go forward again in March.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

Getting back to the subject of transfers, we seem to have signed Cameron John, formerly of Doncaster.

I like Cameron, he fractured his back last season and basically didn’t play, McSheffrey basically said certain players didn’t want to put any effort in, he didn’t name any players but I believe Cameron was one of them. I honestly think if he’s fit you’ve got a cracking player on your hands, just don’t play him at left back

 

[pontoonlew]

I saw an awful lot of live NL football last season and a lot of it was nowhere near the level of L2. There are some good players for sure, and several financially capable clubs who would/will hold their own as EFL clubs, but those clubs are all there for a reason - they were too shite to remain in the EFL in the first place, and so far haven't been good enough to come back. No great underlying factor, just the hard truths. As hard as it is to come back into the EFL with 2 promotion spots, it's equally hard to be shite enough to go down in the first place with just 2 relegation spots, so it works both ways.

As far as I can tell, the only club with genuine reason to feel aggrieved at being relegated for many years is Luton Town with their -30 points. The rest of the clubs who've gone down have bloody well deserved it.

So yes, while there may be clubs who are strong enough to come up and be a nuisance, we haven't seen a club come up and dominate League Two straight away for quite a while now. FGR thought it'd be easy to sail right through, and I'm sure Salford thought the same. No idea how Stockport will do in truth as half the teams in the league haven't got close to completing their squads. I'm not blown away by their signings, they seem competent rather than stand-out. I wonder if their forward line has enough goals in it to be a proper threat at the top end - Madden is a good player but his best days are well behind him, Wootton scored goals a level lower but hasn't at EFL level (although is a good age to show that he can) and Quigley I'm just not having as a top end League Two striker at all.

Part of what you say is fair but saying you’re just not good enough if you don’t go up from that league is absolutely nonsense and shows that you’ve not had enough experience of that league.

2 up from that league when 2nd - 7th make the playoffs make it tougher than any league to get out of and some incredibly good sides still miss out. Even now we’ve gone up, I’d still vote for 3 up 3 down tomorrow

 

[chipmunx]

Expectations on promoted clubs change year by year depending on the clubs coming up, other clubs and other shit going on in the world.
2 seasons ago Barrow and Harrogate came up - there was no expectation for either club. particularly in our case as we hadn't played for 5 months, Bolton had taken Evatt and Covid meant there was nothing teams with a NL infrastructure could do to improve things. Survival was all that mattered,
last season Hartlepool fans will have had little expectations at the start because it was a shit show behind the scenes and they hardly had a team a week before the season started. They out performed expectations early on then fell away when they got safe, Sutton had no great expectations outside of Sutton fans because they largely kept the same squad and hardly anyone knew anything about any of their players.
This season there are Stockport and Grimsby.... both Ex-league clubs - both well supported which rightly or wrongly makes people assume they are bigger, better clubs who will do well. Most everyone outside of Stockport are expecting them to spend money on a big signing before the window closes - the expectation is that they will be in or around the play offs. The expectations are not as high for Grimsby - because they only went down 12 months ago - but they will still be expected to end up mid table - there is no expectation that they will struggle too much.