[SIGNED perm] Dan Gosling

3yr deal, no fee according to Leventhal. Done deal.

 

I know Twitter is hardly the place to turn to for a rational point of view, Watford fans on Twitter are proof of that, but the Bournemouth fans general response to losing Gosling is surprising. A large number seem disappointed to see him go.

 

Free transfer, 3yr deal. (AL)

 

At least we'll get a media boost if supporters are ever allowed back in again and his brother comes along to catch a game. Might even televise it.

 

Welcome Dan. Not his fault he isn't the signing we wanted, I'm sure he'll be a decent option for us though.

 

Sometimes fear is justified.

 

I’m underwhelmed by us signing Gosling. Not sure he complements our other midfielders particularly well. But Bournemouth fans are livid they’ve let him go, especially to us.

We’ve signed him for free. Wages probably not *too* significant. If we go up he’ll be a cheap Mariappa type or get loaned out to a championship side who’ll pay all or most of his wages. If we stay in the Championship he’ll be useful player to have around the squad, particularly as we try to gently blood Quina and Dele-Bashiru next season. Not an inspiring signing but could do worse.

 

I think Leventhal is just rounding up. Sky said 2.5.

 

Good. It's about time we had a plucky midfielder, and I bet he can teach our sorry strikers a thing or two about "winning" penalties.

 

No, I think it's you who has missed the main point. Yes, we are HOPING to go back up, but we are so financially screwed we can only do it on the cheap and hope what we've been left with from our Prem squad plus a batch of no-cost additions will see us stumble over the line. We obviously do not have the funds to "do everything we can to make it happen" and this is exactly the type of signing that proves that. Let's ignore the petulant comments about sages and all that; if everyone is so aware of our critical financial situation, how the hell do they expect us to spend any money on "upgrades" of the calibre we would all like to see?
The whole angst-fest at every dribble of depressing news just smacks of pathological delusion.

 

Muff sources saying it's 2.5 years apparently

 

Seems like a solid business to strengthen the squad.

Anyone remember in January 2015 we signed a 30 yo journeyman midfielder called Ben Watson.

Look how that turned out.

Baffling stupid reactions from a lot of our fans (as always these days).

 

The point is that we are a lot more financially screwed if we do not make it back up, and this is a unique opportunity to do so. Financially screwed or not, we have sold a boatload of players and the idea that Dan Gosling on a free is the best we can do/appropriate is still laughable. How the **** do you know what funds are required to do everything to make it happen? That's not a quantifiable measure, and besides, we aren't in administration - we just sold another player yesterday for the theoretical concept of double-figure millions.

If we are serious about going up, which every piece of club communication they have ever given out was vociferous about, it's not a case of 'hoping', and there is always something you can do. I don't see the point in whining about 'delusion' when expectations are as much governed by everything the club has stated as they are an awareness of the current state of both the league we are in and football in a broader sense. By your logic, we must never comment on anything because we must assume that everything is as bad as it could possibly be, and immediately accept that in all thinking about the club.

 

Bafflingly stupid comment considering the fact that its content has already been addressed on this very thread by other posters.

 

Says to forget the petulant comments..

Proceeds to accuse others of suffering from pathological delusion.

Go figure.

 

Go look at the midfielders we had that season and look at the ones we have now.

 

Is it baffling? This transfer flies in the face of the statement made in the summer.
And Ben Watson was signed to compliment a talented, in-form bunch of midfielders that we already had.

Age aside, the two cases really aren't that similar.

 

A lot of their fans saying he was one of the most committed, always showed effort and fight. It's not exactly a glamour signing but perhaps not the worst option to have.

 

Ok, this is one of those links I was hoping would turn into nothing, but as often is the case, the crap ones turn out to be true.

Oh well, going to have to make the best of it. Now he's actually a Watford player I feel, as a fan, I have to be a little more welcoming about his arrival, but it's a hard sell I have to be honest.

Bournemouth happy to give away a player to us, a promotion rival, sounds alarm bells to me. I see what they've done in the window, they've signed Wilshere and Pearson and let us have Gosling.

Now, I'm not saying Gosling is useless, he's not. He's actually been a very good player for Bournemouth, but those days are behind him. He's clearly on the decline and someone Bournemouth do not want anymore.

But, he may work out for us. Is he an upgrade on what we had a week ago? Garner out and Gosling in I feel does improve us from that point-of-view, but he'll be no good to us if we do actually go up this season and we'll have a dead weight running down a two year contract. Maybe he's here as the Pozzo's expect an extended stay in the Championship is on the cards?....who knows. Either way, it's not a progressive signing, but if it contributes to a successful promotion push then the signing will justify itself. The only big surprise is that he passed the medical, as I'm told he's a regular in the treatment room.

Welcome to Watford Dan.

 

Bournemouth fans seem to want him in their first XI and find his being frozen out bizarre and disappointing.

Definitely will be an upgrade on Garner.

Solid business.

Sorry, I mean **** Pozzi **** Watford ***** ****** **** Deeney.

I’m going back to supporting Chelsea.

 

No, my comment to Nath was that to make the same point in the same way after every piece of news was pointless; it's the same argument that was had after Suarez & Estupinan left.
And whilst the club communicated they were "serious" about promotion, that does not preclude the possibility they decided not to add "to the best of our ability in the context of our financial circumstances." Jumbo & We Hate 48 have detailed more than once that our finances were very worrying even after the Cup Final; how much worse must they be now?
The club also stated "lessons had been learned". Maybe those lessons were not to waste so much money as to run the risk of administration. My interpretation is that the depressing activity of the last 2 windows suggests that we may have been closer to that than was comfortable. I believe that is more likely than thinking Pozzo is deliberately making decisions to ensure we do NOT go up.
And, whatever the transfer fee for GD, who knows how much (if any) can be spent on transfers? Was it done in January to generate such funds, or was it done to get cash in to pay an upcoming debt? If we make an "upgrade signing", then obviously the former. If not, the most logical assessment is that we just simply needed the cash NOW.
Do you think we didn't gamble £5mill on Toney (when we were still hoping to offload Deeney and/or Gray) because the club didn't think he was any good, or because we didn't have the money to gamble with?
I'm not defending Pozzo; I'm totally p155ed off at how he's wasted the position he'd earlier got us into, I just think people are continually railing against the same 5uck-up, because all these crap decisions stem from that.

 

So you don't find it all very repetitive, then.

 

Indeed. Times like this are difficult for the Watford FC Superfans like Leventhal and FTRE. They know that Gosling isn't a good signing yet they remember they suckle on the teat of the club and have to spin it as such. They also have to comment on such a move as thet have to try and stay relevant.

Let's look at the Watford FC banner guy for example. He's currently railing at Watford fans for writing Gosling off before he's had a chance. This is a usual tactic deployed by those hovering around the club. Everyone knows it's a pretty **** signing which falls at the doorstep of the hierarchy - but they can't say that or they might remove the terrible banners from the stadium.

Instead, make it look like the fans are making it personal against Gosling. Throw in a few photos of Laurence Bassini and reference a mythical time when we were apparently going bust and viola! Job done.

The other tactic is, as seen here, to compare Gosling to Ben Watson. What is conveniently forgotten is that we had the two best midfielders in the league in Abdi and Guedioura when Watson signed.

I will give those superfans credit. Just like with the Masked Singer, they sure know what the thickos want.

 

If true then it's a decent signing into a squad that's been mentally weak for years now. We desperately need more leaders and battlers.

 

A lot of Bournemouth fans livid about this. Interestingly, many say they think he should be in their first team over Billing, which I found strange yet encouraging because I’ve always thought Billing was quite decent (though obviously a total sh*thouse)

 

I have only really noticed him play once this season really, that was against Coventry and J remember thinking that he looked decent, that was just one game though so I wouldn't like to comment too much about his ability. However, almost every post on the Bournemouth forum says that he is a decent player. Some say that he is a bit hit and miss sometimes he is brilliant and other times he is useless. On a free and what will more than likely be relatively small wages this is not a bad signing in my opinion. I see this as more of a Garner replacement and in my eyes Gosling offers more than Garner.

 

Welcome Dan.
Cue the Partridge clip....

 

On the flipside 2 goals and one assist in 6 full games isn't too shabby though.

 

It screams experience to me. We have enough of that. I'm baffled as usual. Dan please prove me wrong.

 

Brilliant transfer window, signing
Gosling and holding onto Gray is fantastic business.