hypochondriac

Difficult one this. Obviously good if we can eliminate the Iranian regime from the world and thwart their aims of getting nukes. Definitely a reckless act to strike without the approval of others and in such a manner though, particularly as it will affect other countries other than just Iran and Israel. Certainly not possible to support the manner that this has been done but hopefully it can still have a reasonable outcome.

Average goalscoring record for potentially 20 million is an absolutely huge amount of money.

If we do spend that amount then it has to really be a sure thing.

Lol. 0% chance we pay 30 million euros for anyone. We didn't even pay that in the prem.

It's either that or relying on Archer which is a risky strategy.

I'd expect £15 million. Either a striker or the Fernandes replacement. Both those positions really need to be amongst the best in the division.

Wikipedia must have it wrong then unless he scored all his goals last year?

Pretty crap scoring record. Just has to be better than Mara I suppose.

The fact they are even discussing if he is their best ever loan signing tells you a lot.

I don't remember people being underwhelmed. There was every indication that he was going to be a success. You could literally say about any player we sign that we would be stuck with them in the league below if they are crap, the point is we clearly were looking to make some signings to attempt to stay up rather than simply looking to sign players for the following season in the championship after having played together for a season. We know this primarily because most of the players next season will either have not been played much at all last year or will be sold so we won't benefit from them. Edwards and wood may well have been signed for the squad and to possibly utilise them this season but both barely played last year. Beyond that there's arguments that all other players had a reasonable track record of performance in the prem albeit some with relegated teams.

Caus Absolutely insane that you thought there was a chance we would sign Delap and then he'd stay if we got relegated.

Which players will have played together for a season and be unlikely to leave us? Wood was backup and hardly played, Edwards didn't play, BBD played a handful of times and then left. Only Archer is a possible from your list and even then he had performed well in the prem with a reasonable goals to minutes played ratio in a relegated team and was never settled in our team. So one player possibly meets your criteria of young player unlikely to leave who has played together with his other team mates. By all accounts, we only signed BBD because Delap turned us down and there's not a chance we were signing him for the championship this year.

Was Lavia? If I had to guess I'd say we'd get 40 for him.

I can't be bothered to trawl back months to the start of last year but if you had simply said that the club thought it likely that we might go down again and had made some signings with that in mind then it would have been an entirely non controversial statement that no one would have disagreed with. The fact that so many people took issue with what you said at the time is an indication that that isn't what you said.

Signing some decent young players with potential because they consider it likely we might go down again is not the same as giving up before a ball was kicked which is essentially what you said.

Almost none of them were. I reckon Edwards was signed with the future in mind though as evidenced by the fact that he didn't play.

We were talking about Fernandes?

Curious to know why not. Didn't we get 60 for Lavia? It's just being realistic.

A decent thread if you want to see a Qpr perspective on him. Debating whether he is up there with their best ever loan signings. Seem to think he was a class above all their other players: https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/forum/320614/page:1

Indeed so vanishingly small chance that he would go from too good to miss to selling him when he's barely played a game for us in a lower league where he really has the potential to be a top performer.

Adams, Stuart Armstrong, Adam Armstrong, Bednarek, kwp, THB, Downes. All players with a history of performing reasonably well in the premier league or decently in the championship. We potentially have some of that with Charles, Downes, Armstrong and Archer but at this point we are much lighter on that extra proven Championship quality and there's a good chance we will lose a few of them. We definitely need a couple of strikers - hopefully at least one who is amongst the best in the division and a top quality Fernandes replacement if he does go. Midfield I think we will be alright as we currently have some decent options and it's just about finding the right combinations at the back. Going forward is where we are going to need work though for me.

100%. Speaking to some itk people, behind the scenes we accepted it was very likely that we were going straight back down and given that Edwards never played for us, I'd say it was very likely that he was signed specifically to be a strong performer for this upcoming season.

You obviously need a mix on the championship where we can't afford to bring in a load of top quality in every position. Loans meant we could afford THB, Downes and Brooks who most other championship teams could only dream of and were big reasons for promotion. We will need to do the same this time.

I know a qpr supporter. According to him he was their best player when he was there and they would love to sign him. He was also one of the best players in league one when he played for Peterborough. Nothing is a guarantee but I'd say that evidence would warrant a place in our squad at the very least. He was clearly signed by us as a top prospect with the idea that he would develop into a decent player rather than the finished article. If we go down and then get rid of him straight away without seeing if he can recreate his Qpr form then there really was no point in signing him. You could say the same thing for Shea Charles who hasn't yet shown he can be a key player for us but he's clearly kicked on and should perform very well next year if he stays.

Even if that is true which is debatable, the answer to that isnt to not sign experience, it's to sign better experienced players. You would have difficulty arguing that the likes of Stuart Armstrong and Bednarek weren't vital components of our last promotion campaign for example.