Chez

I wondered how players in their last year of their contract (that their existing club wanted to keep) performed. Steve McManaman for example at Liverpool?

If one of the really big clubs wanted him, I think they'd of got it done by now. City wanted him, they would just get it done. For me, I can't see past Spurs, and their tactic will be to leave it late and then make an offer that will be almost painful for us to accept. We have said the right things, like there is no reason to sell, but when push comes to shove, it will be incredibly tough from a business standpoint to turn down £20m of income. I certainly wouldn't suggest he wont put the effort in should he not get the move, but mark my words, Ings will want to go this summer. If you don't want to sign a contract, you've made your mind up that you deserve a bigger stage and thus every day you are not at that big club is a day wasted.

you wouldn't pay a loan fee if you were only paying a percentage of the wages, you'd simply pay a greater percentage of the wages.

This is the third and final year of payments. They have received £42.6m, then £34.9 and this year it's down to roughly £15m. They spent less than £500,000 in year one (£35m in), £2m in year two (£14m in) and £1.8m so far this (£0 in). They wont be spending big on Obafemi.

Absolutely. Hoj, also a year left went for £15m and he was a proven Premiership player. When you buy from the championship, there is an element of risk that the player wont make the step up and that must be factored in. In this market, with teams on their knees financially, £8m seems about right for an initial bid. Obviously, every Blackburn fan will disagree, but just like Hoj and perhaps Ings, what fans feel is the right price is often an overestimation.

Quite like that rumour. when Vest goes, we will need someone that can win a header and he can. When he first joined West Ham he looked bad, but I thought once he found his feet, he looked competent, actually more than that, he looked like the talented player they had bought. Obviously he has lost his way, and as much as I've always like Dawson (we should have signed him from Rochdale back in the day), he's just solid and no more, so the fact Diop cant get a game ahead of him is a little concerning. WHU obviously know his strengths and weaknesses.

When I read £65k a week, I didn't think too much about it. When I read the £3.38m a year figure, it hit home just how much these young pros, yet to establish themselves are earning.

Our lack of depth at full back remains an issue. Shame we could not have had both Ryan and Perraud. We would have had a nice mix of experience and youth. Can't force Ryan to sign a contract and right now Leicester are a far more attractive proposition. I wish him well, but hope he is shite against us.

reasonable assumptions. Not sure how they would afford Long's wages though.

As I said at the time, Brum already had a decent right back in Maxime Colin, who is well liked there. Colin lacks a yard of pace, otherwise he'd be in the top flight. I think he was slightly injured, when Valery first arrived, which allowed him to get a couple of chances, but he didn't take them. They signed him for competition, cover and to give them greater flexibility in terms of going to wing backs (which Colin is perhaps not suited to) but Valery offered so little, they just stuck with Colin. Two Brum ST holders I know said he was "rubbish" and reenforced my own opinion that he is too passive, laid back and doesn't really dominate an opponent. I have no idea what has happened behind the scenes in terms of his fitness and health, but maybe that has held him back and possibly he can kick on from here...but that may be me clutching at straws.

I assume he means getting sent off on debut and asking for a transfer, rather than anything else that we weren't aware of. Personally, I think him asking for a transfer was perfectly reasonable. Why shouldn't he ask, through the official steps, to be allowed to move to a club that will play him? If he feels the club is holding up his progress, he is well within his rights. Best of luck to him. Hope we have a significant sell on clause.

Redmond can beat a player all ends up in a very similar way to Sterling. He obviously doesn't have Sterling's pace, and as many on here have pointed out, that is part of the reason he doesn't drive forward as he knows he will be caught. He knows his limitations in that regard, so stops and looks for the pass. That is understandable, if frustrating. For me, its not those situations that worries me. You don't want him gojng up bling alleys and being caught by a faster opponent. But when we work the ball to our opponents third, the directive to all the wingers should be to take responsibility and attempt to beat that man. I don't think Ralph instructs this. He wants us to recycle, probe and pass until an opening comes. Perhaps he does that because understands the limitations of the likes of Redmond. Maybe he's not holding him back, maybe he knows that is all he can do. With Tella perhaps the instruction will change, although I'm not sure, as we've not seen him get Djenepo taking players on either.

He can talk. Boy can he talk, but to be honest that's a step up front some of the ex players employed to `talk', so we should be thankful for that, but sadly nearly all the commentators these days just try to hard to squeeze in every last bit of information they have gathered during their research. Why they think regurgitating info from a players wikapedia page is necessary, I don't know. Just say what you see. We don't need anything more than that. Just a little extra information to reinforce what our own eyes tell us. If we want in depth info we can google it. OK, so the odd stat would be fine, but not a fucking bible of them. I have to mute the panel before and after, but I never thought I might need to mute the commentator. A dodgy stream with a foreign language commentator that I don't understand is actually a comparable experience to to Matterface.

reading the the football365 article was quite cathartic. I thought it was just me that can't stand his scripted bollocks. The best part of his commentary is when he shuts up or his co-cmmentator gets a turn.. Sadly he seems to think he is still on the radio, so never lets the viewer just watch what is in font of him. He has verbal diarrhoea and nothing much he says adds to the enjoyment.

not watched the other Denmark games, just against England, in which he looked sharp, strong and demonstrated some decent hold up play and a nice turn. We defended him well though. At 30, we wont be interested. I just liked what I saw in that particular game.

is he the fella that was at Ajax, but they got rid when perhaps the fanbase felt they should stick with him a little longer? Personally, my eye was caught by Braithewaite, why I have not seen before for club or country. He had the touch, strength and looked a real threat on the turn.

seeing them drifting nowhere, or should I say floundering in division 3, puts into stark contrast how Markus and nik nak managed the club in order to rise as quickly as possible back to the top tier. Their own rich owner seems to be mirroring our current owner, expecting the club to pay its way without the kind of financial injection (that Markus gave us, which obviously was a huge factor in us getting promoted) that gives you such a huge advantage over the rest. I thought with Eisner they would try to emulate us, by spending big and then recouping that investment once back in the top flight. Ah well. Never mind.

He certainly impressed whenever I saw him, giving us that much needed pace and willingness to try a few things to unlock a defence. It didn't always work, but we need guys that are willing to gamble now and then. Too much play it safe and keep the ball having made it into the final third. The manager needs to encourage our attackers to dribble, take people on, be more direct, not offload when in one on one situations. Tella could be a real star. I wonder if the manager will throw caution to the wind and start him right from the get go next season, or will he continue to ease him in.

Fair point. Kicking the can down the road has its merits. However, we might not need a left back, but its hard to say what we will need next summer . A new keeper possibly (as both are out of contract), two CBs may be out of contract, the full back position will still be light, another striker may be needed (as the `reserve' strikers are all out of contract next summer - its not all bad news), Romeu enters the last year of his contract... With the dire form shown after xmas, I fear for us a little with Ings' goals. Without him....

The West Ham mention is interesting. I assume you are thinking a little bit about Jarrod Bowen. He scored a similar rate of goals for Hull in the season and a half prior to his move, and then struggled, as West Ham did, to do much in the second half of 2019/20 season. Last season, often playing a wider forward role he played pretty well and scored a few decent goals, all be it only eight of them, as West Ham thrived. He may kick on this season, but at this moment in time I don't regret us not being in for him and having Che instead. Having said that they perhaps are very similar levels of player.

weren't most of the long shots by other players (and him getting the assist)? Harvey Elliot looks good in that video by the way. I see finishes using both feet, and plenty of them - which is a great start. There's a nice half volley, a few flashes of composure and a nice diving header. Overall the majority of the finishes are `relatively straight forward' and with plenty of time to set the feet. That lack of time in the Prem forces strikers to shoot early and under pressure. An extra yard of pace means you can get those feet set and you score far more as a result. Lots of good stuff in there, but we don't create anywhere near enough to just employ a reliable finisher. We need a few goals `out of nowhere', which is what Ings has given us. Hard to say from that video, if we will get it from Armstrong. Hope so. We didnt know we'd get that from Ings either I guess. Like Ings, he doesn't look rapid, but might have just enough pace. Its always difficult to know if the skills will be transferrable at the highest level. Being OK at lots of things, which may work well in the Championship, may not be as desirable as being great at one or two. I wasn't blown away like I was with the Patson Daka video, but I guess we are not the draw that Leicester are so no point in comparing.

hope it's a great success should it happen. Hope also that we can get a buy option. Hate to see him do well and then another club then buys him from under our noses a la Toby. Getting ahead of myself here though. As I have said before, he likes to bomb forward and looks very comfortable on the left side and willing to get to the byeline and ing a cross in or cut inside for a shot. No reason why he can't start ahead of Perraud. I agree with others that we should have four fullbacks. One injury and we are immediately stretched. Shame Valery and Vokins have not cut the mustard.

with you there. Desperately need some game changing flair in the form of a dribbler. We have runners in Theo and Armstrong, but we need some class and skills on the ball to open teams up. Goalkeeper seems to be a blindspot. Are we seriously going to give an contract to McCarthy? Personally I want to see two more fullbacks. I think its woeful squad building not to have four fullbacks, especially considering the way we play and what we ask of them. Why is every other position got at least two? It cost us big style last season. I don't want to see CBs out there and I don't want to see us signing cover. We should be signing a right back that pushes KWP not just willing to sit on the bench.

such as? Don't answer that as every position need strengthening really. But is there more pressing issues than scoring goals?

Long has another year and will require us paying half his wages at least to ship.