League 2 News

[iscalad]

Crawley Town's game with Stevenage tonight has been suspended due to a Covid-19 outbreak within their squad.

Bummer, just done my bet.

 

[Hants_red]

Latest Covid tests in the EFL

EFL Statement: COVID-19 test results

The EFL can confirm that a total of 4598 players and Club staff from all 72 EFL Clubs were tested as part of last week’s testing programme, with 32 positive cases returned.

www.efl.com

 

[DawlishBouy]

Today's League Two transfers
Josh Davison Charlton - Forest Green [L]
Jayden Reid Birmingham - Walsall [L]
Jamie Devitt Blackpool - Barrow free
George Lapslie Charlton - Mansfield undisclosed
Aramide Oteh QPR - Colchester [L]

 

[RedPaul]

Today's League Two transfers
Josh Davison Charlton - Forest Green [L]
Jayden Reid Birmingham - Walsall [L]
Jamie Devitt Blackpool - Barrow free
George Lapslie Charlton - Mansfield undisclosed
Aramide Oteh QPR - Colchester [L]

Davison has been on loan at Woking since October and done well, until very recently. Strong, good in the air and quick.

Mansfield splashing the cash again...

 

[DawlishBouy]

League Two tranfers
added to yesterday
Jackson Longridge Bradford - Livingston free
today
Cedwyn Scott Hebburn T - Carlisle U undisclosed
Frank Vincent Bournemouth - Walsall [L]
Morgan Feeney Sunderland - Carlisle U [L]
Luke Gamblin Colchester - Newport [L]

 

[GhostofAlanGow]

I wonder if it might be proving more difficult than usual to secure loan signs in this window. Lockdown restrictions on travel and social mixing must make the prospect for a young man (with or without family) of a move from home in Birmingham, Manchester or London to somewhere called Exeter, over 200 miles away, much less appealing.

I'd guess it might also impact transfers.

 

[Martin Lawrence]

I wonder if it might be proving more difficult than usual to secure loan signs in this window. Lockdown restrictions on travel and social mixing must make the prospect for a young man (with or without family) of a move from home in Birmingham, Manchester or London to somewhere called Exeter, over 200 miles away, much less appealing.

I'd guess it might also impact transfers.

I have heard that the current transfer market (which includes loans) is particularly difficult at the minute. This is in part, due to clubs wanting to offload high earners as they strip back their budgets, but also because bigger clubs are reluctant to loan out their youngsters due to a combination of reasons which include a perceived need to protect them from unnecessary travel and because of their desire to maintain a big squad. I suspect there will be more bad deals done this window than in the summer.

 

[Red Devon]

I wonder if it might be proving more difficult than usual to secure loan signs in this window. Lockdown restrictions on travel and social mixing must make the prospect for a young man (with or without family) of a move from home in Birmingham, Manchester or London to somewhere called Exeter, over 200 miles away, much less appealing.

I'd guess it might also impact transfers.

Not according to the daily transfer updates on this page they are not.

 

[DawlishBouy]

League Two transfers:
added to yesterday:
Danny Rowe Oldham - Bradford undisclosed fee
today:
Sam Stubbs Fleetwood - Exeter Free
Jordan Dyer Exeter - Chippenham [L]
Jacob Bancroft Oxford C - Stevenage undisclosed
Jay Matete Fleetwood - Grimsby [L]
Luiz Fernandez Stevenage - Oxford C [L]

 

[DawlishBouy]

I have heard that the current transfer market (which includes loans) is particularly difficult at the minute. This is in part, due to clubs wanting to offload high earners as they strip back their budgets, but also because bigger clubs are reluctant to loan out their youngsters due to a combination of reasons which include a perceived need to protect them from unnecessary travel and because of their desire to maintain a big squad. I suspect there will be more bad deals done this window than in the summer.

Chesterfield today signed a player from Ipswich, one from Wealdstone and one from Gloucester so that would suggest covid has little impact on players moving around the country.
Main factor affecting this transfer window are the new financial fair play rules concerning squad sizes and wage caps. Offloading high earners is now very difficult. Wages of high earners who were signed before the introduction of the new laws are counted as only earning the divisional average which I believe for League Two is set at £1,000 per week.
Examples of the effect this causes:
At the moment only a proportion of Nicky Ajose’s wages count towards our wage cap. If we paid up his contract I’m pretty sure ALL of his wages would be counted. Releasing him would actually make it harder for us to sign new players. If another League Two club signed him to take on his alleged £3,000 per week wage he would account for nearly 10% of what they are allowed to spend on their entire squad. (This also explains why it is so much easier for Arsenal to offload Ozil than it is for us to offload Ajose.)
Forest Green recently sold Kitching and Winchester who were probably two of their highest paid players. This means that if FGR were already hitting the wage cap their replacement(s) can’t be paid more than £2,000 per week even though FGR’s wage bill has probaby been reduced by at least £5,000 following their departures.
In a “normal” year Mansfield and Salford, with their new managers in place, would probably have made 5 or 6 permanent signings each. So far Salford have just taken on a couple of loanees and Mansfield have signed a player who was already on loan with them.