Yay, a new signing. And one especially for those who think we’ve been left out of the transfer merry-go-round that this time of year always brings.
So, welcome to AFCW Aaron Morris. He’s a defender, who can also play midfield, he was at Aldershot, and typically he had an ACL last season. Just as importantly, NA knows him, having brought him through the ranks at Cardiff…
We can presume that Morris is decent enough, and playing for a relegated side doesn’t automatically mean they’ll be shit. After all, one only has to look at Ross Worner and Barry Fuller.
The back line is all right, but has obviously needed some reinforcements, especially with Weston going on loan to Slutton “to get some match practice”. We can only guess what is planned for him, but him going straight in the squad means we won’t be bringing him on slowly.
With him and Wyke signing this month, it seems that both have something in common – we tried to get both of them during the summer, but injury scuppered that both times. So maybe this is all part of the second stage of the rebuilding we’ve done since then?
When you think about it, we did a LOT of reworking when the final whistle went against Fleetwood, and it’s pretty clear that not all of it was going to be done before we kicked off at tomorrow’s opponents on the first day of the season. We pretty much had to get in Smith when we did, although what that did for our plans we’ll never know.
But Morris certainly is part of our future. And no doubt there’ll be more of his ilk – ones “known” to NA and co, who are either on their way up or on their way down but not looking for one last pay cheque.
Morris is “only” 24, and it’s noteworthy that we’ve gone for a permanent deal rather than the more tempting loanee option. The former is better to have if you get your scouting right, but it carries more of a risk if you don’t.
Have we already seen the first permanent signing not just of 2014 but of this upcoming summer too? If you make the not unreasonable assumption that one of Benno and/or Framps will need replacing due to age, then at least Morris will have from now until May to bed in.
Our form clearly dipped when Framps was out of action, so our new guy will hopefully be at least a ready made replacement. Though as Morris has been described by the OS as “versatile”, presumably he can play anywhere at the back bar in goal.
Although after Seb Brown’s howler against Coventry…
The next question now is where else we might strengthen before Jim White explodes in orgasmic pleasure on SSN. The rumour mill suggested that Luke Rooney was on trial with us, although how true that is remains to be seen.
We do need another striker, or two if Wyke returns to Smogland next month. I guess we can safely say that NA and Jack Midson have not only patched over things, but had great make-up sex too.
Which would explain the manly hugs between the two of them after Wycombe.
There might not be too much more to come, relatively speaking. We’ll probably get a couple more loanees in, but presumably not for the sake of having them.
See, we’re not in the DEFCON 1 situation that we were this time last year. Obviously, we need to put a few more wins on the board, just to make sure, but we don’t need to rush out and replace everyone just yet.
Chances are we’ll be quite strung out with any further signings, adding a player here and there until the window shuts. Although if it’s loanees coming in, we may not even do business during this month anyway.
Will we see a late flurry before the window closes? It depends who comes up, whether we need somebody ASAP, and perhaps just as importantly who is on the out list. Weston might be the first, but will he be the last?
Anyway, tomorrow we get to play Torquay at KM, and guess what? Your editor is going to be there for once. In the press box, needless to say, although the last time I did that for one of our games we beat Pompey 4-0.
Come to think of it, wasn’t that the last time we won at KM? At least I can’t be blamed for our recent run of form.
Anyway, don’t expect an SW19 report to arrive until Sunday afternoon, as contrary to popular belief the day job takes priority. With luck, I might finally get to see what all the fuss is about with our new and radical 5-3-2 lineup.
So, 3-0 to Torquay tomorrow then……