revolution saint

You say that but you've got a 40% reduction in posts coming as a result of relegation. I reckon you'll sign for Forest and be replaced by some kid from the Man City Academy forum.

If we sign Fonte then he will also be able to play like he's a couple of years older than the others on the pitch.

A lot of people want him back for emotional reasons rather than anything else. Personally I'd rather we didn't. Good player in his day and all that but there must be better options out there.

Yeah, I’d be assuming Che and tall Paul would be off in that scenario. That would leave four strikers which might be OK. Don’t especially want to hamper Ballard development but Ings would need to be managed throughout the season so I think it would be fine. Ballard would still get enough opportunities and it’s a long old season

Exactly. Would also benefit players like Ballard, Mara and even Adam Armstrong to have Ings around and learn from him and the types of runs to make. Should definitely be something we should look at, especially if West Ham are interested in JWP and we're quibbling about price.

You're clever enough to know that I was commenting on the players we have who can play that position rather than whether it's desirable to have them do that. It was a general comment on the number of players in that position - unless you're advocating the squad becoming even more bloated than it already is?

I'd have him back too. He's 31 at the end of the month but he should be fine for a couple of seasons. I presume he was injury free when he was at West Ham? Suspect he'll be more attracted to the style of play under Russell Martin as well. Obviously wages would be an issue but 6M gives us a fair bit of scope and if we can take punts on kids that have never played first team football for 10-15M then this represents much less risk. Kind of signing that would indicate we're serious about next season and addresses some of the question marks about having enough experience in the team.

Could be but we're well stocked in the wide areas anyway. We've got Djenepo and Edozie who are wingers and then Aribo, S Armstrong and A Armstrong who can play wide as well. I'd expect some departures before we look at anyone who fits that kind of profile.

You?

Using your logic, if I find a worse player than Elynoussi then that would mean Elynoussi is fine. The fact that McCarthy is probably worse than Bazunu means fuck all.

That's an issue for him but, for what it's worth, I agree. He's already good enough to be playing regularly for a top side. What happens to him after he leaves isn't our concern though and I'd be happy for him to get snapped up by a Saudi club and spend the best years of his career in a football wilderness if it meant we got more money for him.

I like the work traffic cones do against the ball.

Player of the year for them wasn’t he? To be fair I haven’t seen much of him this season but he’s a proven PL goal scorer so 8M seems pretty cheap. He’s much better than Adam Armstrong.

With Wilcox as director of football we'll absolutely be trying to sign kids from Man City. I'd imagine that's half the reason why we got him in the first place - he'll have good knowledge of both them and other players in the same age range. I don't really have a problem with that as long as we don't expect all of them to have an instant impact and maintain their form over the course of the entire season. We'll need some decent championship experience as well but as long as we keep that in mind then I don't think it's a problem. Anyone who expects our policy to massively switch is going to be disappointed though.

Sulemana, Alcaraz, Tella and Livramento could all be superb in the championship. Obviously I hope we keep them all but suspect at least one will leave but even so it's still pretty good. I'd expect us to replace Adams if he goes but if he doesn't then it's a decent player in the championship plus I still think Mara could come good after a difficult first season. There's still (at the moment) lots of reasons to be positive. Centre mid is a concern - I'm expecting Lavia and JWP to go so we'll need at least two more in of decent quality and I'm not sure Diallo is good enough or will be here. Having said all that, I wish we were Leicester.

Good news and a good deal for Forest. Price seems a bit low but just checked and he's only got a year left on his contract.

We should try to sign that Isak fella from Newcastle. I think he’d be great in the championship but if they want more than 15M then we should threaten to walk away from the deal.

The French are revolting.

I wish we were Leicester

I think he'll probably go out on loan as well and it might be the best thing for his development if he gets more minutes but still think it would be a shame. Out of interest have you seen much of Ballard? I've not seen enough to make a judgement. TBF it really depends on the context - if he isn't playing regularly then 10 goals is a decent return. Start of last season I thought Mara had quite a bit about him but seemed to struggle as things went downhill. There's stories about him struggling to settle and he's still only 20 but I'd like to think if he got some confidence and put away a few chances then we'd see a much better player.

So what do we think of Mara's chances next season? Personally think he might go and suspect there'll be options for him in France but I'm hoping he gets a chance and stays. I don't think a pressing style suited him at all but in a side that plays a bit more football he could flourish. He's looks to be athletic and pacey enough to make his mark and I suspect he's probably the most clinical of our forwards (yeah, OK, that's not saying much). I doubt we'll go into the season with him as the established main striker and I'm not sure I'd advocate doing that if we're serious about promotion but I definitely think he could make a big impact in the Championship. I reckon if we have three out of Mara, Tella, Sulemana and Alcaraz then that's a pretty exciting set of young attacking players.

He was that good at anonymity that I've completely forgotten. I remember him coming on against Man City in the cup - didn't do much though.

I haven't seen much of Barcelona recently but the idea of Moi working against the ball in a side that never loses it strikes me as quite funny.

It'll be the same with Moi - you mark my words.

Yeah, if true it'll be interesting to see how that gets accounted for in each individual club accounts. I've no idea about these things but that looks like we've sold Orsic for 2M Euros whilst Goztepe get a player worth 2M Euros without paying anything. I suppose from an accounting perspective it would involve Goztepe paying us the 2M Euros to make up the fee we receive to the reported 4M. Gutted Orsic has gone though - I though he showed flashes of anonymity in his time here.