Chez

I'm interested to know what came first, Stoke's approach for Baz (I wonder if they actually enquired about McCarthy first) or our attempts to bring in Peretz? Stoke knew they needed a new keeper on the 29th December. We signed Peretz on the 8th January. I would have thought we were in talks a lot longer than a week, so were we going to bring Peretz in in January no matter what (and just push Baz down to second choice) or were talking to Peretz's agent about a move in the summer and then when the Stoke situation happened we pushed it through now?

Was Peretz signed to avoid relegation then?

Yes. But some don't, especially strikers, who often get away with doing little running as ultimately their job is to score goals not run marathons. Good to have one or two that do...like Armstrong. I agree with you that although he has scored a few, he has missed many too. At this level, he's about as good as you get. I'm not sure he is the problem, but he's not the answer to all our needs either.

Unless we get promoted and stay up we will struggle to live within our means. For that reason I am pretty sure they give a shit about the success on the pitch.

As always, your trust in SFC's recruitment will sway opinion on this. A year left on his contract. I suspect he wouldn't be averse to a move. Current contract apart, we are not the most attractive of clubs right now and he may have had enough. Being farmed out on loan can't have helped relations between player and club. He may not sign a new contract if he has another option. The big negative is that you are swapping a pretty proven championship player for another 'Downes'. The next Downes might work out, but a bird in the hand.... I think most fans would prefer Stewart, Downes and Archer to go before Armstrong and then to add another striker to work with him. As always, the players you want to keep are the easiest to sell though. We should have sold Archer to Leeds last January when we had the chance. Maybe this is a similar case.

Wolves or us?

It's not easy to get the right player on loan. Piroe has been mentioned, but a quick Google suggests he is wanted by several teams and both he and Leeds might not want a move to happen. Fair question. Probably because we got relegated. Why would he join us when Leipzig wanted him. I am not familiar with the Gotzepe squad. Romulo seemed the obvious one.

I'm with you. I was very surprised how weak he was against Moore considering all the plaudits he has had. It was alarming and the manager clearly spotted it and dropped him. This is what Quarshie was bought in to be, but his positional sense needs work. There also needs to be a CB partnership developed. Playing three at the back has meant that element hasn't been given a chance to progress.

I've never thought of SR as complacent. Useless, yes, but complacent? What brought you to that conclusion? Playing devil's advocate - they weren't content (or complacent) in the summer to rely on Ross (both in the short and long term) hence they signed Downes. Perhaps they are looking at that position again, but until Downes is actually sold, I suspect they won't be able to buy someone. They will be looking at loans, which won't be easy to secure.

You genuinely think the owner and senior management are happy to be in the second tier, the current league position and the possibility of just one more year of parachute payments? We find ourselves in the position we are because of poor decisions, not inactivity.

Well volunteered.

No doubt about it, he was utilised really poorly. His only strength was heading the ball in the box and we never go the ball into the box. As an all round footballer he was fucking crap and I'm glad he departed. We should never have signed such a technically poor player to play in the PL. Sadly we have failed to find someone that could do a better job, even in the Championship.

What about the Liebherr father and daughter, Cortese, Adkins, Pochettinho and Koeman period. A lot of good things happened in those six years.

are you talking about Morgan Guilavogui from Lens (a winger that has mostly been on the bench this season, which will explain the scoring record) or someone else?

He's third choice striker. With 9 subs allowed, he gets a place on the bench right now. An injury to Calvert-Lewin or Nmecha and he's getting playing time in the PL. He's not going to make the Dutch World cup squad, so his priority is his earning power. Unless a championship club matches his PL-size wage (which only clubs like us can do on a loan basis), he may as well stay at Leeds for the next 18 months.

They (Hamberg) have Daniel Fernandes, who has been their number 1 for quite a while. I would guess Peretz was signed to give him more competition/back up, but Fernandes continued to play well, so there was no reason to drop him and thus Peretz couldn't get a game.

To be fair, SR got it right when they sent Baz out on loan and brought in Ramsdale. Not sure I am going to be equally impressed by Peretz.

Big, pacey and know where the net is. Yeah, those kind of strikers don't come cheap. Looking at the leading scorers in the championship this season, teams don't spend huge sums at this level. The funds don't exist for big transfer fees. Armstrong £15m (but we bought him while in PL) Whittaker £6m Thomas-Asante £2.5m Moore £2m Burrell £1m Viptonik free Cardiff bought Salech for less than £4m. I think in the summer we were looking at strikers with a lot of potential. Potential to shine at this level, but also have the attributes to do it in the top flight too. Downes obviously didn't even achieve the first part. I wonder if we might adjust our criteria and look to sign a guy to get us out of the division - a Moore or McBernie type that perhaps have a championship ceiling.

they are top of the league. No chance they sell him now and if they get promoted they will want serious money for someone with a contract until 2029. Unless their finances are in a mess, that seems a tough deal to make.

Piroe isn't really a target man though is he? If he doesn't win headers, hold the ball up and lead the line well, then does he improve us?

Why are Stoke signing him? Is their first choice keeper injured?

It was very unfortunate that he suffered the injuries he did, which effectively put him back a season and made it difficult for Saints as he came to the end of his contract. I guess they could have given him a new deal, but he hadn't really done enough to justify it, even if the potential was there. His lack of size and difference to AA and Archer also didn't help. I know we have made serious money from Dibling, Morgan and Ballard, but it's a bit of a shame we haven't benefitted on the field more from this crop of talented youngsters. Hopefully we can find a few gems in the next batch...and keep them abit longer.

seems an accurate description to me, but because he is new he gets a pass? if baz or mccarthy had let the first in, they would have been slaughtered for poor positioning/near post failings. None of the saves he made were anything Baz wouldn't make, so i am not sure why you are suggesting its obvious he is a better shot stopper from that performance alone. I am sure we hope its not the case, but there is a possibility that he's not a special keeper too.

we offloaded him to bring in Roeslev, who is very very average. I'm not sure he will be keen to return to the warm embrace of SFC.

I'm over Simon Banza now. Kaio Jorge is my new guy.