Chez

don't fancy yours much.

if he develops a bug and can't make training (I believe thats the standard approach to trying to force a move), aka a "knock", then the club might have to reassess it's pricing policy. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

would explain the rise in lost baggage.

To some degree the company accounts provide the actual answers, as they show the drop in income when you go down. 2023 (PL season) Turnover £145m 2024 (Championship season) Turnover £85m So, the income drop, or gap, was actually just £60m. Key here is the lower operating costs in the lower division: 2023 (PL) £171m 2024 (Championship) £122m...due mostly to reduced wages (£42m less). The losses before player trading in 2023 were thus about £26m. In the 2024 (championship season) the losses before player trading were £35m.

Does another championship cub have the necessary funds and desire to buy Smallbone?

Me bad. Loved Boruc. Liked Davis for sticking with us despite the West Ham offer.

I think that, because if we don't get promoted, we will be even more keen to lose his wages. That kind of bargaining position doesn't lend itself to getting a top price. Hey ho. The club obviously had no choice. I guess I'm just a bit disappointed to lose the only keeper I've liked since Niemi.

He wasn't first choice, but they must want him. If you are right though, they won't want him next summer. The option is pointless. If we don't get promoted teams will offer buttons for him knowing we need to offload.

They finished the Milton end redevelopment ages ago. It added some seats, not reduced the capacity.

Forest bid £25m for McAtee. May be one less interested party in Fernandes. No doubt that's the kind of figure they will have been thinking they could get him for. My guess is we want north of £35m.

They have the money to buy him now. Why not make them do just that? If they want him, they want him.

We spent a million on each I think. Not small beer, but top quality youngsters are being traded for massive sums these days.

Not wanting to reignite the argument about what percentage of time spent in a particular youth development constitutes home grown, he was at Spurs until he was 16, before we spent a massive sum (for us) to bring him here. He effectively did his two year apprenticeship (in old money) here and youth development (old money) at Spurs. Personally, I think the "home grown" tag is a stretch, but it obviously counts from a PSR perspective.

it will stop some deals. KWP would probably have left when we went down last time but for our no doubt significant asking price. This will be the same. There will be plenty of tire kickers thinking they can get him for £25m or something silly like that, but we are only going to be selling to a serious buyer making a serious offer. I wonder just how many of those there really are.

He performed really well for them. Getting on a bit. My guess is we'd try to retain a spread of ages in the group of keepers we have, although perhaps that's not the most important thing on the check list.

No idea who claret and hughs' source is, but how does he know ten clubs are in for Fernandes? It wouldn't surprise me. If you perform in the PL like he did, everyone is interested.

If there is anything I learned from the last relegation is that if I personally want a player to stay, it's because he is good, and if he is good, he will almost certainly depart. I think KWP was the only exception, and his non departure was probably because he was fucking terrible in the relegation season but us having no interest in selling him cheap, especially as Livramento left. Ramsdale and Ferndandes will inevitably depart. Will Dibling become the next KWP, I somehow doubt it.

How accurate are transfermarkt when it comes to positions? How do they handle change of position in the same game?

I'm sure MLG will point out that we still have Robinson/BBD/Fraser for the left and Dibling/Armstrong on the right, so it kind of depends how Still feels about them and obviously if any look likely to depart.

Has it just been Robinson and BBD that has played on the left wing in the friendlies? I struggle to get my head around BBD playing on the left wing. He's just doesn't seem to offer anything there other than a slight threat when he actually appears in the middle.

Maybe its my age, but I honestly didn't know who PO, JB, FD and YS were...why not just write the names out in full? Sure, for the double barrelled names I can understand it, I do it myself, but does "Downes" (I got there in the end) need to be shortened to FD? I gave up reading you post in the end.

I wonder what that will be, about £5m perhaps? They have spent a fair wedge this summer already, about £70m, although that is offset slightly by Diarra going to Sunderland for a big fee.

I think management are going ti have to invent a new go to term to cover up imminent moves, any unrest, player strikes etc.,

Not a loan either by the sounds of it. Jay Robinson's progress means we had too many left sided players. Whether BBD and Fraser are the answer there is debatable, but if no one wants them, something has to give.

Agreed. We discussed him on this thread earlier in the window and of all the midfielders we were tentatively linked to, his highlights video stood out. His dead ball delivery really catches the eye. It makes him look technical very good, which is important. We have seen with the likes of Sugawara, that without a first touch the space disappears very quickly in the higher leagues.