hypochondriac

You said yes and no but clearly it's unrealistic to expect us to sign someone as good as Lavia in our current position. Where we are currently should be an improvement on last year given that as it stands we have Tino and Tella and an extra year of development for the likes of Bazunu, Edozie etc. We also have a manager whose intention is to play a style which has had some success in the championship in the past and who isn't Nathan Jones and we currently have some players with prior championship experience in Armstrong, Adams and Tella. Now obviously much of that is going to change but we will clearly bring in some decent names to replace the ones who leave and that should have an effect of refreshing the squad. I'm optimistic despite the awfulness of last year.

Well possibly with some of them but the players that top clubs want are not going to be replaced with better. I thought that was obvious but it seems not to some. The key is to get a team together that is maybe better than the sum of its parts that can win promotion. That's it.

It's our weakest position by quite some way. Whether the club recognise that I'm not sure but our success this season could hinge on it.

Were you seriously expecting us to sell Lavia and then replace him with someone just as good? I think you'll be disappointed if that's your attitude this summer.

I feel quite sorry for Djenepo in particular. He started the season under Ralph quite well and then was basically binned.

There's been one name mentioned more than others. I asked my mate who's a bbc producer and he hasn't been told so I don't think it's everywhere. Should know this week for sure.

Well yes but when it inevitably comes out they will look a bit foolish and will get more stick so I'm inclined to believe them. There's a couple that are notable because they haven't made any denials as yet. One is more obvious than the others in my opinion.

A well known male presenter on six figures that the mum immediately recognised and really enjoyed watching (so likely entertainment.) If you go down the list there's only a handful that would really apply to and some of them have already ruled themselves out.

It would be incredibly cruel to have jwp start with us as our captain in the championship and then lose him after a couple of games. I think they would want to be more definite than that.

I hope they were gentle.

It's whether we can completely replace everything in a handful of weeks and still be as successful as we need to be.

I just think losing very experienced and well liked players from our already young and inexperienced squad is not necessarily positive.

So much for the poster on here who was convinced that Alcaraz was staying due to big willy...

Willy has gone to Leicester? Hmm not sure this is a good thing.

You can just tell that the players are really going to respect him more when he can actually do what he is asking them to do (and by the looks of things be one of the best at doing it!) it's a really great start to changing the mentality of the team. I quite like him and hope he is a success.

I know it could all be for nothing, but I have to say I'm absolutely loving the clips of him being involved in training. It's beautiful.

At least I got that bit right.

I think that the alternative to him in the squad at the time would have done worse than he did with the little opportunity he had therefore he improved the squad

Why are you replying to me like I'm endorsing us buying squad players and no one else? I don't agree with the philosophy and the club have said it was a mistake.

Over the entirety of the season yes because he didn't play but he had a positive impact at the start of the season when he was in the team. It's hardly his fault if the managerial geniuses that are Selles and Jones prefer to play Elyounoussi.

He showed he had a bit about him in early games. He was then dropped entirely in place of solid and shot players through no fualt of his own. He had very little impact in truth. He was a young squad player brought in to gain a season of experience, hopefully improve over time and then be sold on for a profit.

Ridiculous comment.

Yes. Because he was a squad player.

What evidence do you have that he was being signed as a starter? At 7 million I would say he was very much a squad player, one that woukd show enough quality that we could flog him in a few years for a profit (something that could still happen)

There's no evidence that we used up funds on youth prospects which prevented us from buying experienced players. Given our spending in January, we clearly had funds, our experienced buys (Gakpo, martinez) turned us down.