Stickied League 2 Transfer Rumours/Confirmed Transfers 2023/24

[Habbinalan]

Back up keeper and midfielder in place, signed from Palace and Barnsley.

Actually, David Gregory was on the bench at Orient last season without appearing; George Maris was on loan at Lincoln, where he did OK.

Fun fact for gardeners and chip afficianados - Maris Lane in Cambridge was home to the plant breeders who produced Maris Piper and many other potato varieties (Maris Peer, Maris Bard, etc. etc.).

 

[EricSabin]

Danny Rose has turned us down to sign for Pompey, after we weren't willing to match the terms they offered. I'm sur£ h£ has p£erf£ctly good r£asons.

In all seriousness I don't blame him, it's a short career and if someone is offering you a lot more money then you'd take it. Think he's replaceable too, if we were still in League 2 it'd be a big loss, in League 1, not so much.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Hope Cook fails again.

 

[WAP]

Had his medical earlier I believe, the kind of midfielder we've been missing. Will give us more energy and mobility in the middle.

 

[Laker]

I can't comment on the vegetable front but seems to me that these two will be squad players/competition, as you say.

We're still short at full back in particular so hoping these will be the next areas we fill.

 

[WAP]

Think Mingoia is a decent signing for Cambridge.

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

Fun fact for gardeners and chip afficianados - Maris Lane in Cambridge was home to the plant breeders who produced Maris Piper and many other potato varieties (Maris Peer, Maris Bard, etc. etc.).

That's what I love about Cambridge, so many brilliant facts and they keep cropping up!

Usually Cambridge's potato history is a little less proud.

 

[Richard Cranium]

We are set to announce our 3rd signing sometime in the next hour or so.

 

[antn1.b]

done deal for rose

 

[antn1.b]

Danny rose has signed for Portsmouth this afternoon. 2 year deal

 

[StagsForLife]

We've signed Ashley Hemmings. What's he like Murphy Leewilson ?

 

[Murphy]

We've signed Ashley Hemmings. What's he like Murphy Leewilson ?

Decent for this level, but blows very hot and cold. For large parts of last season, he was pretty cold.

 

[Kenneth E End]

No, that was the "non-league Yaya Toure".

The "non league Yaya Toure" actually performed well though.

 

[Hamez]

Is he a winger? Can't remember him. Always rated Hines(?) who played for you guys?

 

[Luke Imp]

Cambridge have signed George Marris, which seems a weird one.

We had him on loan for the second half of last season from Barnsley, but didn't really get too much game time and, from what I recall, didn't overly impress either. Most expected him to reappear in the Conference or below.

 

[The Terminator]

We was rumoured to have had a bid accepted for Colchesters Gavin Massey - But he looks set to join Barnsley anyway!

Also rumoured that our efforts to sign Gabby Zakuani are now back on.

 

[AmberRich]

Cambridge have signed George Marris, which seems a weird one.

We had him on loan for the second half of last season from Barnsley, but didn't really get too much game time and, from what I recall, didn't overly impress either. Most expected him to reappear in the Conference or below.

We've also signed David Gregory, another youngster. They'll both be back up players, and will probably be given the odd chance to prove themselves.
Maris is friends with our captain and has an impressive youth record so that probably has something to do with us signing him.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

A Leicester fan I know has told me we're linked with left winger Layton Ndukwu. A couple of L2 clubs have expressed interest to loan him but we're in pole position because we have very little depth in that position.

Again he's a young lad so it's hit and miss. But he does have England Youth pedigree so that could be a good sign...

 

[JJ1532]

Odd. We've already got Cooper and Kirk who can play out wide, possibly Ainley too. Then add in maybe adding Devitt and I'm not sure we even need another wide option. If this is true, good to see we are once again not learning our lesson and going after youngsters with no experience. I mean, that worked well with Park, Mesca, Wilson, Evans, King etc.

 

[Son of Cod]

So, are Portsmouth officially going for it this season then? Can someone fill me in on why they're still in this division? Would have thought they'd have managed to escape by now.

I'd disagree with the other town fans and say that this season, Mckeowns kicking and distribution got better while his shotstopping (particularly long shots) has weakened. Wasn't the best keeper in the league last season but he has been very consistent. His overall game is better and he's still very capable of a world-class save once every few games.

I don't think his shot stopping has weakened a great deal really, but his distribution has gradually improved. Command of his area/defence is also a little better than it was at first. Was great in 12/13 and absolutely immense in 14/15 but has become more solid/less spectacular over the last two seasons.

Not sure if I can agree with GG's prediction either. After 6 seasons out of League 2, I'm having trouble gauging how the likes of Tait, Amond and Bogle will do however I'm confident that Mckeown is better than any of the keepers we had during our previous spell in this division. Including the recently promoted Mildenhall in that too.

 

[JJ1532]

I don't think his shot stopping has weakened a great deal really, but his distribution has gradually improved. Command of his area/defence is also a little better than it was at first. Was great in 12/13 and absolutely immense in 14/15 but has become more solid/less spectacular over the last two seasons.

Not sure if I can agree with GG's prediction either. After 6 seasons out of League 2, I'm having trouble gauging how the likes of Tait, Amond and Bogle will do however I'm confident that Mckeown is better than any of the keepers we had during our previous spell in this division. Including the recently promoted Mildenhall in that too.

Pfft, McKeown may be alright, but he's no Tommy Forecast.

 

[StagsForLife]

So, are Portsmouth officially going for it this season then? Can someone fill me in on why they're still in this division? Would have thought they'd have managed to escape by now.


I don't think his shot stopping has weakened a great deal really, but his distribution has gradually improved. Command of his area/defence is also a little better than it was at first. Was great in 12/13 and absolutely immense in 14/15 but has become more solid/less spectacular over the last two seasons.

Not sure if I can agree with GG's prediction either. After 6 seasons out of League 2, I'm having trouble gauging how the likes of Tait, Amond and Bogle will do however I'm confident that Mckeown is better than any of the keepers we had during our previous spell in this division. Including the recently promoted Mildenhall in that too.

They were officially going for it in 13/14...

 

[Conker]

Decent for this level, but blows very hot and cold. For large parts of last season, he was pretty cold.

Expected for this level really, any wingers that are not like that tend to fly up the divisions.

Third signing of the summer and I'm pleased with all of them to be honest.

 

[Trapdoor]

What's McAlinden like then? Signed from Wolves but had been on loan at Shrewsbury... anyone seen him play?

 

[Trapdoor]

Wait, ignore me. Somebody already commented about him.

 

[Bar Carousel]

So, are Portsmouth officially going for it this season then? Can someone fill me in on why they're still in this division? Would have thought they'd have managed to escape by now.

Contrary to popular belief, we've not been paying silly money to players in this division since we joined it. Every summer we've targeted players only to be gazumped by other div 4 clubs offering better salaries. Occasionally we've spent big for this league, but that's to be expected when our generated income far exceeds any other clubs, but it's certainly not been the norm. Given the recent history, our board are paranoid to even come close to overspending and i'm comfortable with that.

For the first 2 seasons it took our rebuilt club time to adapt to this level. We hired club legends as managers who had little knowledge of this league and put together squads full of frees who are now plying their trade in the non-league circuit (bar a few exceptions).

Last season we hired Cook. Finally we had a manager with pedigree and he has turned a club that has been on a downwards spiral for 8 years into contenders at last. We're not there yet, but the belief is that with another off season to tweak a squad he put together from scratch last summer, we'll do ok. I think this summer he will be given the biggest budget to date, and the pressure is on him to deliver.

 

[AdamStag]

Contrary to popular belief, we've not been paying silly money to players in this division since we joined it. Every summer we've targeted players only to be gazumped by other div 4 clubs offering better salaries. Occasionally we've spent big for this league, but that's to be expected when our generated income far exceeds any other clubs, but it's certainly not been the norm. Given the recent history, our board are paranoid to even come close to overspending and i'm comfortable with that.

For the first 2 seasons it took our rebuilt club time to adapt to this level. We hired club legends as managers who had little knowledge of this league and put together squads full of frees who are now plying their trade in the non-league circuit (bar a few exceptions).

Last season we hired Cook. Finally we had a manager with pedigree and he has turned a club that has been on a downwards spiral for 8 years into contenders at last. We're not there yet, but the belief is that with another off season to tweak a squad he put together from scratch last summer, we'll do ok. I think this summer he will be given the biggest budget to date, and the pressure is on him to deliver.

I actually think you will do it this season.

 

[RavenBish]

Cambridge have signed George Marris, which seems a weird one.

We had him on loan for the second half of last season from Barnsley, but didn't really get too much game time and, from what I recall, didn't overly impress either. Most expected him to reappear in the Conference or below.

Derry thought Shaun Harrad was good enough for League 1, anything is possible.

 

[WAP]

So, are Portsmouth officially going for it this season then? Can someone fill me in on why they're still in this division? Would have thought they'd have managed to escape by now.

Bar Carousel has nailed it already but we made alot of mistakes in our first 2 seasons, two internal managerial appointments in Whittingham and Awford who had no experience managing between them. When Whittingham was finally sacked we hired Barker who drastically changed our style of play into a team that would hoof the ball all day long and try and sneak a 1-0 win. This style of play had us heading for the Conference so the board sacked Barker with 7 games to go and Awford took over and we won 5 drew 2 and stayed up.

This is where our next mistake comes into play, instead of thanking Awford and moving him back to his previous role we thought we'd give him the job full time. Predictably it didn't work out and if it wasn't for Jed Wallace we'd have been fighting the drop again. Awford was sacked late in the season, we put Waddock in charge for the last few games and then the board pulled their fingers out and appointed Paul Cook.

Under Cook we're building a good team which will be able to compete in league 1, we play lovely football (watch our goal vs Bournemouth) and narrowly missed out on the playoff final due to an incompetent referee.

This season the aim is automatic promotion and I can't see us not making it, all we have to do is attack more at home against the dross in the league who came to FP and set camp in their own half. (Yeovil, Mansfield, Stevenage, Wimbledon, Luton etc).

 

[Kenneth E End]

We had no choice last season - our defensive record was wretched at that point I seem to recall.

Portsmouth aren't exactly going for it, like Crawley and Fleetwood "went for it" in the Conference. They have 15,000 fans behind them!

£3k a week for Tubbs isn't actually that bad relatively speaking.