S-Clarke

10 minutes ago, east-stand-nic said:

Not quite sure why everyone seems to think Ipswich are the class above. They have lost their two best players. I don't think they will be top 2 this time around. 

Jack Clarke, Philogene, Szmodics, Huntchison, Chaplin - kind of a who's who of top Champ attacking talent. They do lack a truly proven out and out striker though, unless hirst steps up this year.

Hackney, Matuiswsta (he's quality btw), and an impending re-sign of Cajuste. Best options in the league.

Davis, Johnson, Greaves, O'Shea - again, a who's who of top Champ defenders. 

They'll still add more as well I'm sure, maybe they'll lose some - but in the current guise, if they don't finish Top then something has gone drastically wrong.

14 minutes ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Sums it up, how did Solak employ him ? 

 

https://www.businessupnorth.co.uk/aibytech-appoints-former-dyson-executive-phil-parsons-as-chairman-and-ceo-to-drive-innovation-in-baby-tech-industry/

What did Parsons ever do to you?

Also, Wrexham have agreed a £2m with Leicester for Coady. That will be done. Good addition for Wrexham, but I didn't realise how much he was absolutely despised at Leicester. 

Wrexham have also agreed a £2m fee for Keiffer Moore - a good ST for this level.

Also looks like Wrexham will sign Broadhead from Ipswich for around £8m. Pretty mad really.

I think someone mentioned earlier that Ipswich lost two of their PL players, Delap and Cujeste.

Well on the later, looks like he's on his way back. He would be ridiculous for this level, especially with Hackney as well. They should  walk the league without breaking sweat. No one else will get close.

Ipswich trying to re-sign Cajuste

47 minutes ago, saintant said:

Don't like the look of your proposed line up at all. Continuing last season's lack of height and strength with Archer, Fraser, Smallbone and Armstrong. Rather see Downs or Stewart up front. We will of course be bringing in new players so need to make some moves quickly to try to give them some training with the group so they can be in the side for the first game.

Don't get me wrong, that's not my preferred team at all. I'm just going with a word case option should the transfers playout as predicted. 

Not sure Downs will be ready to start yet.

1 minute ago, Chez said:

Downs and Robinson to start, possibly? Is Smallbone really going to be our number 10?
 

If Aribo is sold or his future is up in the air, I'm struggling to see who else goes in the 10 role (if we haven't got anyone in by the first game)

Not sure either of those other guys will be ready to start, Robinson will initially be more effective as a sub I feel against tiring defences.

20 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Not remotely close to being 'pitiful' at Championship level.

Armstrong and Brereton Díaz are both best as wide forwards. Both prolific in the Championship.

Archer, prolific in the Championship 18 goals in 40 games.

Stewart prolific in a small sample of 13 games and 10 goals.

Downs top scorer for best team in 2.Bundesliga. 

Edozie and Fraser both effective in the Championship. Edozie had 6 goals from only 16 starts in the promotion season which is good end product. 

Robinson will be very effective this season. His age doesn't mean he can't be used.

One of the main current issues is the number 10 role if Fernandes and Dibling leave. I'd be surprised  if we didn't see a number 10 role player arrive. In the short term, Joe Aribo would be a decent option at Championship level until we sign one, but looks like Fraser might also be in Still'sthoughts for that based on pre season. Neither ideal as 1st choice for the rest of the season, but may be needed until new signing beds in.

 

You're stretching a little bit with those, and also ignoring the overall point I was making. It's also around depth and overall compatibility with the players/system being adopted.

Armstrong is a goal getter at this level, ditto Archer - cannot argue with that. I still don't think you can really include such a small sample re: Stewart and conclude that he is proven at this level.

In terms of BBD, from everything I've seen in my own eyes, he cannot play a wide forward in the squad we have or with the way we will  be playing. 

Downs and Robinson are total unknowns, you cannot say Robinson will be very effective at this level - he might be, but he's hardly played pro football. So it's not fair to put that on him really.

Fraser I can't include really, he shouldn't have been signed. He's two years old since the last time he was truly effective at this level, he's not very good.

So, even if Edozie stays (who is equally as limited), we'll have Fraser, Edozie, Robinson, Armstrong, BBD as our potential wide options. Awful, you can't dress it up any other way.

The manager has also proclaimed he intents to add out wide, so that would go against your view that our wide attackers are 'the best the league has got'. They're not.

4 minutes ago, trousers said:

Come on guys... sort this out between you... I'm very confused now... are we "far better" or "unequivocally weaker"...? 

To be fair, if we start with that 11 then I think there's only one winner  

We started against Sheff Wednesday with KWP, Bednarek, Tella, JWP, Arma, Charly and had Lavia Adams, and Stu Armstrong on the bench. I doubt we'll be able to put out anything near as good as that this time round.

It'll be a good listen, but never expect anything too ground-breaking. 

It would be good to hear some uncomfortable questions put to the likes of Parsons if he's there, but I think it'll be centered around Spors and Still as the new people in the building - so it'll only be good news stories.

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'd probably play Aribo in place of Smallbone in that scenario but yes our attack is shit. 

I omitted Aribo as the expectation is that he'll be offski too.

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

 

Apart from having numerous players that have very good Championship goal scoring records.

That also equates to depth by the way, and not just strikers.

Wingers, 10's, wide forwards. Our options are currently pitiful and we'd do well to finish top 6.

Just now, hypochondriac said:

What's do you reckon? 

THB 

Dibling 

Fernandes 

Ramsdale 

All gone? 

Starting with a realistic 11, if the sales go as expected -

Bazunu

Suguwara - Quarshie - Edwards - Wellington

           Downes - Charles

Armstrong        Smallbone                     Fraser

                        Archer

Leaves us with subs of Bree, McCarthy, Robinson, BBD, Downs, Stewart, Stephens, Manning

Unequivocally weaker than our first game against Sheffield Wednesday 2 years ago. Certainly in attack which is bilge.

Hell of a lot of work to do if it all plays out as we expect.

Just now, Chez said:

If, and that's a big if, he had continued to run teams ragged, like he did at Brighton, scored lets say four more goals in the run in, then maybe that massive price tag we put on him in January wouldn't look so out of place as it does at the moment. The club know what a talent he is, and they are no daft enough to ignore that, even if their hand is not as strong as they'd like.

Contract situation weakens us massively though. It's not like we haven't tried to tie him down, he's just not been interested up to now.

If he had 5 years then we hold all the cards, and we could demand top dollar. But in the current market, contract situation and his overall output last season, £35-40m is probably fair.

1 minute ago, Saint_lambden said:

They’ve accepted internally that Fernandes is off but it’s just how much we can get for him. 
 

It’s the reality of relegation. The other two clubs have had or are going to go through the same. The only two Premier League quality players that Ipswich had last season were Delap and Cajuste and they’re both gone, with Leicester it is Hermansen and El Khannouss - neither of whom will be there in a few weeks. It will all come down to who can then recruit best with the funds available.

Ipswich didn’t need to add too much as their squad from promotion 2 years ago are basically all still there, but their signings have been impressive. Leicester are in a financial mess so haven’t signed anyone. 

Of course people are concerned about the outgoings but we will spend a portion of what we get in on replacements. 

Do you have any idea of the sorts we are looking at to replace?

Just now, Chez said:

Obviously no club chucked him a life ring then. 

Has he played in the friendlies? Did he look any good? I slated him last season, but am hoping for a second season bump (especially as he will have much more space in which to display his woeful first touch).

Yeah he's been present in the friendlies, present in the training. I do agree with your 'life ring' bit, if there was interest I'm sure he'd be sniffing. He just knows there isn't any interest, so has played the ''I want to stay' card.

He was utterly diabolical defensively last season, no other word for it. Worst RB we've ever had in the recent PL eras.

He does have technical ability though, he can cross a ball and he has some 'life' about him - I'm intrigued to see what he can do at a lower level. He came to us incredibly highly rated and with recent suitors such as Inter and co. But last season didn't leave much to be excited about, I'll be honest.

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

If true then 50 million is a possibility imo. 

I reckon a base fee in the region of £35-40m, good sell on, and achievable add-ons which could take it to £45/46m ish.

That's my feel. Probably a fair value on the back of one PL season. Good player he is, and we wouldn't lose value if he stuck with us for a year, but he's got a very vocal and famous agent who probably doesn't want his asset in lower divisions.

I'd have liked to have seen him stay for a year, reassess next summer - but that's a fan talking, we do have to genuinely think about the clubs interests here too. Can they afford losing millions on a homegrown talent? (that's pure profit in PSR terms). Probably not. If he is indeed refusing to sign and has shown no intention of changing that, then I think the club probably only have one call to make this summer if the interest comes.

Is this a good decision from Dibling? Probably not. I've always stood by the opinion that the guy should get his head down this year, play football and become a star man for a team in a lower league. He's still relatively new to professional football so a season with us, against lower opposition, is going to do more for his career right now than a move to the PL as a squad player.

He'll probably play for Everton more than if he went to Spurs, but I still think he'd have better options on the back of a couple more strong seasons for us.

We'll see what happens, but £35-45m is fair value at this point.

11 hours ago, SaintJackoInHurworth said:

Dibling - I will be disappointed if he leaves, especially for less than £40m. I'll be especially disappointed if he goes to a relegation struggler club like Everton, rather than a club competing to get into European competition; even more so as a colleague supports them as does my brother-in-law. That having been said, Moyes is probably a good manager to nurture his talent. 

Fernandes - I will be very disappointed if he leaves. Just because a big club want him doesn't mean he WILL go! Still has said he wants him to stay and they want at least £40-50m if he does go. We also don't have any contract issues that mean we have any risk if we don't let him go straight away. He has also spoken positively about staying. Nevertheless, if we receive a large bid of at least £50m, we will find it hard not to sell.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis - I'm hopeful he is going to stay and become our true captain - keeping Captain Jack out of the side and playing with any one of our up-and-coming hope-for-the-future young centre backs: Wood, Edwards, Quarshie, Kayi-Sanda. Wood and Edwards were already better than Bednarek and Stephens last season, in my opinion!

Aribo, Fraser, Brereton-Diaz, Stephens, Bree - There's no major benefit in keeping any of them. Aribo, Fraser and Bree offer a little on occasions, but we can do better, already have better and hopefully can recruit better. Stephens is a liability and I remain absolutely devasted that the club have wasted precious resources giving him a new contract. Brereton-Diaz also offers next-to-nothing, though doesn't have the dreadful discipline issues of Captain Jack and isn't regularly culpable for us conceding ridiculous goals.

Bella-Kotchap - I don't necessarily believe most of the unsubstantiated rumours about his attitude, but if they are even a little true then we should get rid. The likely fact is that he probably doesn't want to play in the Championship. If we can't get rid of him, then I hope that Still can encourage him to rediscover the ability that led him to be selected for the German national team. Even if his attitude sucks, he is still way better than Captain Jack.

Arma - he has not got as much flair as Dibling, Robinson or Edozie and is not keen on playing as a striker, but you cannot argue with his goalscoring record at Championship level. As others have said, I would not want to sell him to another Championship team, but recognise he has perpetually struggled in the Premier League. He may well find the Scottish Premiership is the best level for his skills if we do sell him.

Stewart - has a good record at this level and may well benefit massively from Still's high fitness regime. He will still be a useful option, but if we do sell him, it won't be the end of the world.

Smallbone - he is still young and could benefit from Still's change of approach. He did well at Stoke. I hope he is a success, but I'm not sure we can pin too much hope on him right now. I would say he is currently behind Downes, Charles, Matsuki and maybe even Sesay in the pecking order, but we shall see. I am not one of those begging for us to sell him, but am not going to lose sleep if we do!

Taylor – I would prefer him to be the experienced leader type instead of Stephens. He is a useful extra option for defence who can do a job off the bench, but in many ways is numerically a luxury extra player beyond what we need.

Ballard – The likelihood is that we will either loan him or sell him. He was previously ahead of Dibling in the youth set-up but injuries have knocked him back. I hope he can rediscover his best form after finding a good/top league one side who will be fired to the top with his goals, I hope that we will be desperate next summer to give him a new contract and to bring him back to join the first team squad because he has done so well.

Purchases

• First priority is another Attacking midfielder – either as cover or replacement for Fernandes (hopefully cover!)
• The other top priority should be central midfield, unless Still feels that both Matsuki and Sesay are fully first team-ready and of sufficient quality to become successful regulars in the future.
• We probably also need to buy another winger – especially if Dibling and/or Edozie leaves. It will be difficult if we don’t get rid of Brereton-Diaz and/or Fraser as it is another position where we have lota of players already!
• If we get rid of Bree then another right back would be good.
• In terms of keepers, I hope Bazunu will continue to show his pre-season form, but it’s a risk relying on that. A good keeper on loan to replace Ramsdale until next season would be great.

I think the going rates for Dibling & Fernandes are in the £35-45m region (including add-ons). They're not any higher than that, and I assume clubs will meet those valuations at some point. It was always an incredible pipe dream to try and pitch Dibling as a £70-100m player -  but with 1 and a bit year left...£35-45 tops is fair, and that includes English tax as Fernandes is the better player right now.

It's hard not to believe the rumours around ABK tbh, there have been 3 managers who have purposely kept him away from the squad. They initially have a look, and then he's banished. The same has happened again with zero involvement from ABK. It's a bad egg, he wants out, no one wants him as he's a bad egg, and we're in a cycle. At this point I'd take a couple of mill.

There is this incorrect view that Stewart is proven at this level, but it's really not the case. He had 13 games at this level with Sunderland - just 13. He scored 10 in 13, great. But that is where all this 'he's great at this level' comes from. It was an incredibly small sample and could easily equate to a purple patch, we have no idea. I'd certainly not call him proven at any level above L1/Scottish leagues at this stage.

In terms of purchases, there's no probably...we 110000000% need a winger - probably two or three! The entire attack needs a revisit really, we may have the players who can score - but there's nothing behind them at this moment, certainly with the predicted sales.

29 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

You’re really not seeing the big picture here are you? Money spent previously was largely wasted on low quality players that are still with us and so far, looks like they’re here to stay. The successes are leaving despite long contracts.  Yes we might have some money to throw at new transfers, but some of the deadwood will have to go first - when will that happen as we’re only seeing decent players leave. And if and when the deadwood goes, what’s to say the better quality we’ve sold will be replaced or indeed improved on? The last 4-5 seasons transfers suggest the club tend to panic towards the end of the summer window and bring in low quality.

Yes, we have Spors now and yes, Downs and Quarshie look like decent acquisitions, however the extensive and positive squad transformation some of us were hoping for looks a long way off right now.

That's just how football works though, isn't it? Scout good players (few and far between with us tbf), and they're in demand and despite long contracts they will still generate bids that probably hit our valuation.

The poorly scouting players, like BBD, Fraser, Taylor, Aribo, ABK etc are a different kettle of fish entirely. You're not going to get clubs from far and wide having much interest in them, and then when we put unrealistic valuations on them (as we do with ABK) then it becomes a game of 'wait until the contract expires". So those poor transfer decisions don't just harm us in the immediate season, they handcuff us for future seasons too due to squad places and wages being eaten up - and lost revenue, as we'll never make our money back.

We've had way too much of that for years, before Sports Republic too. Vestergaard, Carillo, Hoedt, Boufal and the list goes on - signed for big bucks, big wages, massive fails, unable to shift = squad plateau. 

The move around of our 'dross' will take numerous windows, they won't be able to do it all in one. In some cases we will just have to wait for players to leave at the end of their contracts as interest is scarce. 

If we end up with more Fernandes, Ramsdale and THB types then it suggests the scouting is getting better - but we are still beholding to the mistakes of the past, which won't be fixed over night or in one window. I don't think we can judge Spors on one window alone, he needs a few to cycle through the mistakes of the past (that's if we keep him, given our record of retaining DoF types)

Big fan of that one, in fact I love all 3 kits this year. They're all spot on.

I'll probably buy the black top, once I've re-mortgaged my house.

3 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

 

I think you can see the contradiction here and we've actually got quite a lot of players with championship experience. 

Personally I don't think we should be prescriptive about signings whether that's overseas vs domestic players or the perennial experience vs potential debate.  There's good and bad examples on all sides and so ultimately it comes down to scouting and having an eye for a player.   If we get better players in then I don't really care how old they are or where they come from. 

I think 'Championship experience' is often so overblown, much the same way as that 'Proven 15 goal a season PL striker' notion. 

Scout well, you can pickup the right sorts from anywhere without any PL or Champ Experience. 

Norwich did well with Buendia, Brentford with Mbuemo, Benrahama - likewise Leicester last year with Fattawo

As long as you scout well, it doesn't matter where they come from

5 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Edozie, Ramsdale, Fernandes, THB, Dibling, Aribo (last year of contract), Smallbone have all been linked with exits recently... And the reality is that they're most of the ones we'd on balance want to keep.... Especially as we're already light in the attacking midfield spots.

Not seen any links what so ever for THB or Dibling leaving. They might attract interest, but what's the point in panicking when there is literally no rumour or 'noise' to panic over?

To be fair, Smallbone and Aribo are ones we really need to cycle out of the squad anyway - so all the better if they do move on and we replace with better.

13 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

With so many players being linked with the exit, and barely a whisper re incoming rumours, its starting to look like a 2 year reset...

Well, Edozie, Ramsdale & Fernandes aren't what I'd call 'so many' tbf. 

We'll sign players, the club have to. if they don't we'll do well to finish Top 10 if we sell those above and don't replace, they know it, so there's no worry - of course we'll sign.

I still think the loan market will come in useful towards the end, that's where you get the out of reach PL style players/PL-Style wages etc that become available on a loan. That's where the real quality will be found, as per last time out in the Champ.

And I do believe this squad revamp will take more than 1 window, they've got to use the next window as well to cycle through players we need out - we might not be able to get rid of all the bloat this year.  That's why I think some clever loans with options to buy may be a sensible approach this year too.

37 minutes ago, Monk said:

CBA to scroll but just seen this... MLG doing his thing in the comments. 

There was talk of us Wood leaving, and THB is still up in the air if we're honest.

This guy is a shoe-in starter in this league. In the right structure I'd rate him in the PL too.

45 minutes ago, trousers said:

Maybe I'm being naive, but why would we accept an offer of that ilk this window? My understanding is that our current financial situation is healthy, ergo we don't *need* to sell anyone we don't want to. Given Fernandes' value is unlikely to drop significantly over the next 12 months (major injury excepting) then why would we even contemplate selling him if our stated aim is to return straight  back to the PL again? Yes, I appreciate that we'd be daft not to consider any ridiculously high offer, but anything sub-£50m isn't that. 

Can't we just be different for once and insist he's staying, rather than capitulate to a non-spectacular offer?

I get what you mean, but there are so many moving parts in transfers that mean it's never really as clear as ''we want that, pay it, or he doesn't go''.

No one knows the financial position for sure, but we have to remember that we've not really made a 'big sale' yet this window, we don't know if we need that in order to help evolve the rest of the squad. Last time out we made several big sales in Tino, Lavia, Tella, JWP - all north of £20m.

Like I said, too many unknowns and it's never as clear as ''keep him, ask for silly money, he's under contract''