Transfer News and Gossip Transfer Rumours Thread 2023-24 (Part 2 - Back in Business. Oh no we’re not)

[Stanbridge]

Would Colchester even negotiate with their main rivals?

Most Colchester fans would be delighted to see the back of Hopper. He signed with much fanfare (despite the fact Lincoln fans warned us that his best days were well behind him, and joked that him and Akinde would be the slowest partnership in the history of football), yet he has scored just the one goal for us. This was scored last January, and was literally a tap in where the ball was destined for the back of the net anyway.

He may or may not be capable of doing an okay job as a National League cart horse.

 

[Scamps]

I see James Olayinka can leave Cheltenham, wouldn’t mind him back.

 

[PIERS]

I don’t think hopper is the answer. We aren’t making the playoffs this year. Get next years squad in place

 

[Jack_23]

I see James Olayinka can leave Cheltenham, wouldn’t mind him back.

one of the shining lights in such a **** squad . Be interesting to see how he did back in a team like this

 

[Colchester and proud!]

Most Colchester fans would be delighted to see the back of Hopper. He signed with much fanfare (despite the fact Lincoln fans warned us that his best days were well behind him, and joked that him and Akinde would be the slowest partnership in the history of football), yet he has scored just the one goal for us. This was scored last January, and was literally a tap in where the ball was destined for the back of the net anyway.

He may or may not be capable of doing an okay job as a National League cart horse.

He is under contract with us until June 2025 on decent money so he will probably be looking for a 2 year deal with a similar salary.

 

[RHB]

So at the end of that little flurry, the space Hopper may or may not bounce in and grace the Hall. But in Kev we trust!

 

[Callumturner22]

He is under contract with us until June 2025 on decent money so he will probably be looking for a 2 year deal with a similar salary.

I think personally if we really wanted him depending on our other targets it only be loan deal which be best for both imo as give us an extra body of the bench either way .

 

[Blue Yonder]

Can’t see how Hopper fits into our perceived recruitment policy. Then again Waldron is 27 so not sure how that works either. But, they’ve got most recruitment decisions right.

 

[JAL]

I was always gutted when Hopper left, felt like he had unfinished business.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Can’t see how Hopper fits into our perceived recruitment policy. Then again Waldron is 27 so not sure how that works either. But, they’ve got most recruitment decisions right.

Not every single player we sign is going to be under 25, from the same league or leagues below us.

We will have to add experience to the squad at times, hence why Justham was our number 1 goalkeeping target in the summer.

 

[Tommy2holes]

The Hopper that left us is not the same Tom Hooper now.

He had a career threatening injury and hasn't been the same since.

If the management team feel he is worth it then I trust that they have watched him. Not sure how as he doesn't really play.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Not every single player we sign is going to be under 25, from the same league or leagues below us.

We will have to add experience to the squad at times, hence why Justham was our number 1 goalkeeping target in the summer.

Interesting. I should think Cardwell and Dackers could learn a lot from Tom Hopper

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Not every single player we sign is going to be under 25, from the same league or leagues below us.

We will have to add experience to the squad at times, hence why Justham was our number 1 goalkeeping target in the summer.

It's imperative to have an experienced spine in my opinion. Justham, Ralph, Miley and Cardwell would have been a great spine to work younger players around. I probably would have another solid experienced CB to play in the middle of the three to make the spine even more solid.

 

[Jai]

Most Colchester fans would be delighted to see the back of Hopper. He signed with much fanfare (despite the fact Lincoln fans warned us that his best days were well behind him, and joked that him and Akinde would be the slowest partnership in the history of football), yet he has scored just the one goal for us. This was scored last January, and was literally a tap in where the ball was destined for the back of the net anyway.

He may or may not be capable of doing an okay job as a National League cart horse.

If he's not good enough to play for a team in the bottom four in League Two he is nowhere near enough to play for a team that would normally be in and around the National League playoffs. There's quite a gap in standard there in our favour.

At least, that would be the usual theory. The issue of course is we have no strikers and we put a lot of crosses into the box. Maher also likes his strikers to work extremely hard, something that Hopper would certainly do.

It's no surprise given the upheaval at Colchester in recent years that players underachieve there. So perhaps it might work, but I'd see him predominantly as a player to give us some much needed squad depth.

 

[The Original Tribal Chief]

Most Colchester fans would be delighted to see the back of Hopper. He signed with much fanfare (despite the fact Lincoln fans warned us that his best days were well behind him, and joked that him and Akinde would be the slowest partnership in the history of football), yet he has scored just the one goal for us. This was scored last January, and was literally a tap in where the ball was destined for the back of the net anyway.

He may or may not be capable of doing an okay job as a National League cart horse.

Then maybe he should stay with you

 

[E for B and Billy Best]

So at the end of that little flurry, the space Hopper may or may not bounce in and grace the Hall. But in Kev we trust!

Took me two reads, but I got there in the end.

 

[bluesfansince1952]

I was a huge fan of Hopper in his previous stint at the club.

A few years have passed since his last game for us and he is now nearing the end of his career. He could still be a useful addition but at his age there are risks. Therefore does not signing a player like Hopper depend entirely on the length and cost of contract?

Southend fans should by now know as well as anyone that signing older players with a dodgy injury history on high wages and a long contract usually does not end well.

If next season Hopper was available relatively cheaply (extremely unlikely I suspect) he could be worth taking a punt on. The danger of meeting his likely wage demands is there would be every chance he might not be available as much as we would want. For a club like ours it is surely especially important that our highest earners are available to play as much as possible.

The risks of taking him as a loan signing for this season would be much less. While he is clearly not the player he was the hope would be that his experience would compensate for the athleticism/pace he might have lost with age and playing in the NL rather League 2 might be an advantage also. It is just possible he could contribute a lot but if things did not work out we would have not have lost much.

Even if we took him on loan and he performed well I would urge that we resist the temptation to sign him on a long term basis.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Those that are writing Hopper off, before he has even arrived (even if he does), how many of you have seen him play since he left us? Even the Colchester fans on here have only seen him a handful of times…

Don’t forget, as things stand right now, we are likely to be choosing our two starting forwards between Sandat, then Vilhete a utility player who definitely isn’t a centre forward, Jack Wood a number 10 and Brooklyn not even a starter at centre half for us. I’d take Hopper over all of those.

We have 1 fit centre forward in Sandat, and he is more of a second striker instead of the main man. Even with everyone fit, we only have two with Cardwell and Sandat. Powell isn’t a centre forward when he is fully fit either, nor was Mooney who played up there.

 

[manor15]

Bit baffled by people worrying that Hopper will be asking for big money. If he’s not rated by Colchester fans and struggling for game time at the wrong end of League 2 with 6 months left on his contract, I think he’d be pretty keen on this move too.

 

[bluesfansince1952]

I must have failed to express myself clearly....big money for Southend may not be big money elsewhere!