Chris Makin

[southbank1871]

Not to mention that our depth of Premiership experience is now even more meagre.

It will now stand at just Little's brief loan spell at Bolton won't it?

[Gordons Cumming]

Not to mention that our depth of Premiership experience is now even more meagre.

It will now stand at just Little's brief loan spell at Bolton won't it?

Oster.

[Platypuss]

Not to mention that our depth of Premiership experience is now even more meagre.

It will now stand at just Little's brief loan spell at Bolton won't it?

And Oster. Not sure how that will help much, though!

[wehateoxford]

the prem may suit oster as it will give him a bit more space, however i cant see him holding onto the ball more than he did in the championship, just not enough

[Hoop Blah]

This is a really odd move. I can only assume that we're close to bringing new players in or that the club/Coppell have been very acommodating in sticking to this gentlemans agreement of letting him leave for a longer contract. A far cry from the Salako contract wrangle!

Makin was probably our second choice right and left back. He wouldn't have been spectacular and was getting on a bit, but he was a steady pro and I'd have been more comfortable with him stepping in to cover for Shorey than either Golbourne or Hunt.

My hope is that this is the start of a busy week or two in terms of transfers for RFC.

[Fezza]

Not to mention that our depth of Premiership experience is now even more meagre.

It will now stand at just Little's brief loan spell at Bolton won't it?

And Oster. Not sure how that will help much, though!

Wasn't Marcus at Fulham when they were in the Prem or did he leave before?

[Tilehurst Mike]

This is a really odd move. I can only assume that we're close to bringing new players in or that the club/Coppell have been very acommodating in sticking to this gentlemans agreement of letting him leave for a longer contract. A far cry from the Salako contract wrangle!

Makin was probably our second choice right and left back. He wouldn't have been spectacular and was getting on a bit, but he was a steady pro and I'd have been more comfortable with him stepping in to cover for Shorey than either Golbourne or Hunt.

My hope is that this is the start of a busy week or two in terms of transfers for RFC.

Yes, a very odd move. Maybe Coppell has seen Something in Halls in pre-season that makes him an adequate replacement and back up for Murty or Shorey. After all it wasn't long ago that Halls was being touted as a £1 Million player with bags of potential.

Not sure whether I want the loan deal for Bikey to come off or not. Seems too much of a 'hothead' to me and probably too much of a gamble to take.

[SpaceCruiser]

I seem to remember at the end of last season Coppell saying we would need 5-6 more players.

3 days before the start of the season, we have one more than last year.

What's changed or has Coppell beeen denied access to the £35,000,000 currently in our coffers?

I'm happy with our starting 11 but any injury problems and we're buggered.

You seem to have forgotten that we had £3.5m offers for two players turned down, so it's not for want of trying. I guess Coppell's aiming for quality, not quantity.

[Wycombe Royal]

Not sure whether I want the loan deal for Bikey to come off or not. Seems too much of a 'hothead' to me and probably too much of a gamble to take.

That surely is why a loan deal is best? The player obviously has talent and at least if he is only on loan and shows poor discipline we don't have to keep him.

[Only one Trevor Morley]

I hope that we already have a defender lined up - preferably Bikey on lona and Kilgannon......

A shame as Makin was solid and dependable when he got on.........

[Reading Abbey]

Not to mention that our depth of Premiership experience is now even more meagre.

It will now stand at just Little's brief loan spell at Bolton won't it?

And Oster. Not sure how that will help much, though!

Did Ingimarrson feature for Wolves before signing for us, while they were in the Premiership? Again, wont help much at all.

[Platypuss]

the prem may suit oster as it will give him a bit more space, however i cant see him holding onto the ball more than he did in the championship, just not enough

I think Oster will actually look even worse in the Prem - unfortunately he has the heart of a pea.

All IMO of course.

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

Why the panic? Makin is not a regular in the first team. Its no big deal.

Ever heard of cover, squad depth?

I'm disappointed at this. Makin was a good, solid defender with plenty of experience.

There must be some other signings imminent..................there must be.

I agree- it all seems a bit strange as Coppell made it clear he was an important squad member. We are definately walking a tightrope when it comes to defensive cover now, to be quite honest its threadbare at the moment. Makin didnt set the world alight but he put in solid performances when called upon, and is an older head with prem experience. We are now in a position where we have a squad full of inexperience( in terms of the prem), this could well prove as an 'unknown' quantity' but equally as real weakness as time goes on.

Take Wigan for example- they like us didnt go mad in the transfer market at the beginning of the season, thats fine but they did have players of prem experience particularily at CB with the likes of de Zeuw and Henchoz- the latter who they purchased at the beginning. I know Bikey may come in and and has obviously impressed Coppell (head butt apart!) but it seems Makin has 'made way' for him- so we have not really added any depth to the squad in a position that needs it. The fact that Coppell readily admts that it is a gamble to take Bikey on concerns me too as defence if the position that requires the most stability this season-

Coppell's signings normally come up roses but you cant always get away with a gamble which increasingly we rely upon. I have been fairly happy with the way things have gone thus far, the only concern i have is how defensive cover is being overlooked and gambles being taken, when in my mind it was defensive cover that was our no 1 priority pre season.

[Alan Partridge]

Well Done Chris and thanks for playing your part last season. Any other seasona nd you would have played 40 odd games. A natural defender who never let us down in either position. Filled in brilliantly in either full back position and for me is a better defender than Murty. He will do an excellent job at Southampton.

Disappointed as he is the only player with experience of the top league and would have still provided good cover and pressure on either full back. It's also reduced the already frighteningly small numbers of the squad.

I do remember a lot of Brentford fans reckoning that Sodje will probably end up as a right back, I wonder if Coppell feels the same? With Murty, Halls and Sodje I suppose there is cover there, on the other side is a different matter. Only Shorey and Golbourne. I remember reading an interview by Nigel Howe a couple of weeks ago and he said we were a CB, CM and a left back short, that was before Makin's departure.

The next few days will be interesting.

[Corky341]

Not sure whether I want the loan deal for Bikey to come off or not. Seems too much of a 'hothead' to me and probably too much of a gamble to take.

That surely is why a loan deal is best? The player obviously has talent and at least if he is only on loan and shows poor discipline we don't have to keep him.

SC let him know exactly how he (SC) felt about the red card in Sweden and I'm sure he has enough experience to know how that effected the team. With his (Bikey's) experience of the top Russian league and his size, strength and athleticism I think we could do a lot worse than actually sign him.

[wehateoxford]

the prem may suit oster as it will give him a bit more space, however i cant see him holding onto the ball more than he did in the championship, just not enough

I think Oster will actually look even worse in the Prem - unfortunately he has the heart of a pea.

All IMO of course.

tbh i wouldnt be at all surprised or disappointed if oster flounders and crashes, he just looked really decent against birmingham.

i agree he seems to have no determination, which we really need

[wehateoxford]

Why the panic? Makin is not a regular in the first team. Its no big deal.

Ever heard of cover, squad depth?

I'm disappointed at this. Makin was a good, solid defender with plenty of experience.

There must be some other signings imminent..................there must be.

but it seems Makin has 'made way' for him-

quote]

tbh, if makins making way for anyone, i suspect that it is halls

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Maybe Makin just wanted to play at a bigger club?

[Hoop Blah]

Take Wigan for example- they like us didnt go mad in the transfer market at the beginning of the season, thats fine but they did have players of prem experience particularily at CB with the likes of de Zeuw and Henchoz- the latter who they purchased at the beginning.

Sorry to go off the point but Wigan bought in 9 players last summer, plus Graham Kavanagh on the March deadline before hand. Of these 10 players I think 6 or 7 played against Chelsea in their opening Premiership game.

As for our Premiership experience, the likes of Marcus, Stack, Ivar were at Premiership clubs for a while, but they never really played and even in Osters and Makin's cases, their experience is minimal and quite a while back now. It hardly counts in my book.

[dobcheck]

In terms of defence our two top targets were obviously lesoctt and mensah and unfortunatley those signings didnt come off. Who they had in mind to sign after that (presuming they had other targets) who knows? but i think bikey has to be worth a look and i would bet that if sc thinks john halls can do a job in centre midfield then possibly he could do a job at centre back, not that i wouldnt mind another centre back on the books before saturday though, but what will be will be.