SNSUN

He played the last couple of games of last season IIRC. I'm not anti-McCarthy, he can have good games and he doesn't deserve being hounded out on social media, but I really hope we don't suffer through, like, 10 games of poor McCarthy goalkeeping performances before Ralph decides to try Bazunu. Whoever the best keeper is in pre-season is the one that should get the nod, but I think Ralph will start the season with McCarthy.

I'm really surprised Newcastle haven't won this race, they clearly wanted him and it's not like the don't have money to burn. Weirdly they're being oddly sensible about their spending so far - I, and probably a lot of others, thought they'd be really splashing the cash this summer. Still time I guess...

Literally the only 3 minutes of the game I got to watch yesterday was when we scored our goal. Good cross from Will, good header from Adam - ironically two players that have been linked away from us this summer! I'm not too fussed about Adam leaving as long as we bring in two good strikers (although that might still leave us short over the season meaning we have to rely on Tella or, if they don't leave, Walcott or Redmond, so you could make a case we'd need 3 strikers, or 2 strikers and an attacking 10 that can play up top) but I'd like to see Smallbone stick around as a squad player. I think there's a player in there. Hopefully we can get a couple more transfers over the line in the next week or two and we'll feel more confident about things, although we do need to offload one or two players soon. We're basically 2 strikers, a 10 and a full back away from being 'squad' ready - with another CB a nice bonus if Ralph plans on playing 3 at the back.

Working 06:30hrs to 14:30hrs - so sitting in an air-conditioned office as much as I can get away with. There's 4 hours overtime going after my shift on Tuesday and I'm very tempted to take it.

For us it is. Perhaps not for others but it is £10 million higher than our highest ever transfer fee, and it would be £30 million (plus add-ons no doubt) spent on a striker who, while very promising (as we saw last year at times), is still quite raw and inexperienced. I understand the point is to make money on him long term, but if he costs us £30 million, surely we'd be look at a buy back of about £70-£80 million and I can't see Chelsea going for that anyway. Hell of a risk for us, even if we did happen to have £30 million to blow on one striker. Don't get me wrong I'd fap myself dry if we broke our transfer record this summer and brought him in - I just think, based on what we've seen from our transfers so far, we're shopping in a store that costs a third of the price of a Broja.

That was a good finish. Could've smashed it.

Come on Ellen White! Gotta smash that Rooney England goal record out the history books!

You know you're having a good transfer window when we're itching for another signing all of 6 days since the last one! Everton really have no transfer policy besides "who can we sign from relegated clubs". 😄

Harry Redknapp. Oh, I thought that read "Harry Wanker"...

Well we'd probably have to shell out a fair bit.

And if we can't get Beech back, maybe one day in the future we can get the son of a Beech. 🤪

I see today we're still being name-checked in links to Chris Richards of Bayern too, alongside Leeds and Palace. I don't think we'll bring in another CB unless we ship one out first though - unless we really want, say, Colwill and the time to sign him crops up first.

Maybe, but they didn't have Peppa Pig World back then. 😉

I think the silhouette looks a bit "Handsome Pete" from the Simpsons: Hat, Hair sticking out, big mouth of teeth a the bottom, you just need to draw eyes, nose, teeth and ears. 😁

Ah didn't think about locality. Though he is a Winchester lad so.... 🤞 Plus we have Paultons Park. Massive draw for a lad his age. 😜

It depends whether Delap thinks he'll ever get a chance at City (can't see it myself) or whether he wants to try his luck at a Premier League club where he'll get plenty of opportunity to play. Yes Kompany has the City link but we can blow Burnley out the water financially and in terms of league stature - Burnley can offer him first team football but then so can we, so they don't have that hand to play with. On paper I think the two strikers that best "fit" us are Delap and Adamu. I don't think we'll get Broja now and I don't know much about Kalajdzic (although tall, I'm not sure he fits our profile.. and he did his ACL a couple of years ago) whereas Delap and Adamu (Austrian, surely Ralph could swing it) seem more our style. Having said this I'm sure we'll end up with someone nobody has heard of.

I'll be watching this. Could be a Bowen, could be an Armstrong. Has talent. 6 years though, IF he's a flop, that's a long contract for them to have him on. Not that I think he will be. As for Winks, while I don't think he's as bad as some people are making out, I just don't think he fits our profile. 26 isn't young any more, his injury record isn't great and IMO there are better CMs out there for better money. Diallo would be a shame - I think there's a player there but he's seemingly back up to JWP and, as we know, JWP is a frigging machine. I'd keep Diallo and try him a bit further forward but we probably do need to sell someone soon and if we can get decent money for Diallo then why not him.

Weren't we only after him to boost the U23s anyway? Or am I thinking of someone else? re: Newcastle - Surprisingly for a team that has suddenly found themselves with a shed-load of cash, Newcastle have been spending it very well so far. But I wonder as the window goes on and creeps towards deadline day whether they'll panic a bit and start to splash out over the odds on players. I'm still half expecting a bid or two for JWP to come in at some point and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the bidders was Newcastle. Just a musing on my part.

Saint No Stopping Us Now... Wait, that's my username. (Or was, before I shortened it)

Shame but plenty of fish in the sea

Forest have done good business up until this. I can't see £17million worth of right back there. Maybe he'll prove us wrong but I doubt it.

Maybe but then Armstrong was the main striker signing last year with Broja as the back up/squad filler and it was Broja who surprised us and did better. Delap may start as bench striker but if he’s good enough and gets goals, he’ll be first choice. I still think Delap signing is a given. It just fits... for both clubs.

We're after a right back because we've lost Tino for months. Media sees us looking for a RB and 1+1=3.

Although I think I read somewhere Livramento can play both sides too? So when he's back from injury if we sign a right back we'd still have the option of him switching sides. Sure I read that somewhere... I'd still be surprised if KWP goes anywhere yet. He's getting the regular game time he wants and has been recognised Internationally. Would he get regular game time back at Spurs? No. Would he at Everton? Sure but they haven't got a pot to piss in so...

Ah I see, we're going down the "get rid of all our strikers and play the False 9 system because it worked for Pep" route. Cool. I look forward to Redmond, Tella and Moi stepping up to be the 20 goal False 9. I can see Armstrong going but not Adams. I like his work rate and passing, I just wish he could get a few more goals! He can still improve but it's imperative we keep him!