By TarnTalk
February 3 2026

  What a truly horrendous deadline day that was at Oakwell. Nothing surprises me with this board, but this was a new low even for them.

I have no problem with letting Keillor-Dunn move if the price was right. If it was only £2 million then that is also a disgrace. The lad deserves the chance to play in the Championship so if the money is right then it is only fair to let him go.

However, to only bring Bradshaw in is absolutely disgusting. Nothing against Bradshaw, he was ok when he was last here, but he is now 33, has had injury issues, hasn’t scored since 2024 and even prolific he is a one in four man.

I’m fine with bringing Bradshaw in but there needed to be at least one other. Just when it looked like Hourihane had finally found a team and system that could push us up the table, the board yet again self-sabotage and I fear it will be more of a relegation battle than a play-off push.

McGoldrick has been excellent, particularly in recent weeks, but at 38 and with the backlog of games, can he really be expected to be our only true starting option with a 33-year-old as backup?

The rest of the window hasn’t been too bad in terms of who we have brought in and that only Keillor-Dunn has gone who was a regular starter, but we needed more depth, especially up front, and that was the case even if Keillor-Dunn stayed. I also think it was a mistake to let Russell go but Hourihane couldn’t find a way to get him more minutes and he wanted to play so that is fair enough.

O’Connell looks good, O’Keeffe is like a new signing. We have brought in three wingers which were needed. The jury is out on the Goalkeeper as far as I am concerned but I wasn’t against rolling the dice in that area as Cooper didn’t fill me with confidence.

But up front is a critical position. We have lost our leading scorer and possibly best player. Not only haven’t we adequately replaced him, but we are so light in terms of numbers it is beyond a joke. We ship goals for fun so rely on outscoring our opposition, how is that going to happen now?

I really fear for where we could end up next season and when the mass exodus occurs in the summer where will we be then. Genuinely worrying times ahead at Oakwell in my opinion.

To caveat that slightly, if McGoldrick can stay fit and firing then we do have first eleven that is still strong enough to finish in the top half of this league. We are treading a tightrope though and gambling on our first eleven ability and players staying fit.

If we do go on a bad run, then I think any calls for the manager would be pointless given the tools he’s been given to work with.

We really have fallen off a cliff since that play-off final defeat to Wednesday.

A win tonight is imperative to keep the fans on side.

COYR