S-Clarke

Total madness in my opinion. You can tell it's scatter-gun as they've tried to get rid of O-Brian and Toffolo (i think at least one went), and they were trying hard to get rid of Dennis as well as well as Bade lasting for 6 months. No real thought in any of those transfers.

Those views were a bit silly at the time, they didn't even give him a chance and no one had even heard him speak at that point. From the people I spoke to the genuine feeling was...''I don't really know a great deal about him, we'll see''. I found that to be the general tone when he was first appointed, so it wasn't toxic really. The Forest game was the turning point really, he was already starting to rile fans with his defensive comments after Fulham and then went on to oversee one of the worst ever games at SMS - yet it still wasn't his fault. The ground was toxic as hell that night, and most of it was aimed at retaliation to how he was coming across in prior interviews. (not that I agreed with that)

I don't see him going this season, the club will give him a crack - whether that's right or not. They've kind of made their bed with Jones now so they're going to have to run with it. 'If' we go down then I cannot see any way he stays on for next season, the situation will have become way too toxic and taking that into a new season would be incredibly counterproductive.

It was one of the names thrown around on deadline day in the summer, a few toys out of the pram as it looked as if Forest got him etc. I think we were also linked with Maxence Lacroix at one point that day, not sure how true any of that was - but we got DCC in the end and that's not turned out too badly.

Yep, just what I was going to add. Over the last couple of windows we've shed loads of high earners. The wage bill would have had some decent room in it in my opinion. Forster was paid a crazy amount of money to start with, and ditto Redmond. Guys like Lavia, ABK, Edozie etc will be on fractions of what they were on - and likewise Alcaraz and Bree. Another advantage of focusing on youth rather than established - they won't want as much in wages.

My hunch is that the club is protecting Jones, as they appreciate he's spikey and will likely end up squaring up to a fan if they disagree with him. Not an amazing conclusion to come to, but that's who they've hired. Onto this event as it is, I thought SR were conspicuous in their absence in the summer forum - so this is positive in my eyes. They've recently delivered an interview to the athletic, as well as Blackmore on Solent which shed some more light on their plans. This takes it up a notch as they will actually be facing the fanbase and direct questions, rather than slightly muted questions from club connected media people. I think it's a good sign, they get criticism for a lack of communication which is fair - but in my opinion they deserve praise for standing up and facing the heat, they've not hidden and their actions are speaking quite loud right now. I guess my main question, if I went, would be along the lines of their ambition - what do they want to see us achieve over a long term. All we've heard from club voices over the last 18 months or so is how lucky we are to be here, we can't compete with anyone etc etc - so I'd like to put that question to them and ask them if they want us to compete with those clubs, do they expect us to be able to and where do they want us to be in 5 years.

Did you hear the Utd fans cheering when he was subbed yesterday? I 'thought' they were cheering for Sancho, but he got a cheer all of his own when he walked on. Good old fickle fans! Antony isn't a bad player by any means, but he's not a world beater.

I think that's totally fair. As a fan base I think it's widely accepted that we're pretty accepting and we give people (players/staff) a fair crack of the whip before going full 'Everton' on them, but you're right - he's alienated himself from word go. I had a listen to the Dyche interview today and it's light and day. He's positive, with praise for the previous regime and he then explains the principles he wants to put in place - but it's done in a way that it's not defensive, it's not covering his arse and he's not trying to blame what went on before. The 'they' comments Jones made so often at the start were unnecessary and in my opinion almost immediately alienated him from the fanbase - he's created the toxicity, we haven't. Now, winning changes everything - if by hook and by crook he gets us winning games, then the opinion polls will almost certainly flip as with the fickle nature of football, but the chances of that seem incredibly slim. As every fan I want every player and every manager who is associated with us to be a success, I'd never wish ill on anyone - but he's making it incredibly hard to make anyone feel connected to him. Not withstanding 5 league defeats out of 6, which is horrific, his attitude towards the fans has made the entire situation worse.

I think they'll be harder to beat, they've got the foundations there with those sorts of players (Onanna/Guye/Tarkowski/Coady etc). But where are the goals? DCL is injured again apparently, then beyond him you've got Maupay, Gray and Ellis Simms. Townsend did his ACL last year.

wonder what happens with him now? Can he ever come back as a player given the crap that will come his way from fans? Doesn't sound as if he's been proven to not have done anything, there simply wasn't the evidence to really back it up.

Their forum is a right hoot at the moment, worse than this place after a defeat! If you look back at their transfer wishes before the window opened, they were suggesting Mydruk, Gallagher, Kudus at Ajax. Deluded. I guess the dugouts weren't the pull they thought they were.

I think that's probably in the mind of protecting him and sheltering him from the obvious crap that will almost certainly get thrown his way. Given how defensive and spikey he is, I can imagine him squaring up to a fan if they dare say he plays shit football! It's good to see another line of communication from this season though. The owners were conspicuous by their absence during the Summer one, so it's good that SR are part of this. A lack of communication has often been a criticism labelled at ownership groups, but they’ve started speaking a bit recently (as well as putting their money with their mouth is)

I keep seeing this Bazuna guy suggested, is he any good?

My concern with the academy is that they may not see a clear pathway anymore. When they see us ignoring our own academy and spending £££ on other clubs 18 and 19 year olds then I can imagine there is a bit of unrest to be honest. (Even more so when they see what we're paying their 18/19 year olds I guess)

That blows that rumour then, definitely said Ballard so maybe we're trying to renegotiate another deal with him or something? Could well be someone else. Didn't sound like he was making it up as he was well connected, so his lines may have been crossed.

Thanks for the insight, very interesting to hear. I've always thought Dibling had something more about him, glad we got him back. He seems to have a knack of scoring the identical goal from just outside the box after running from deep. There is a post from someone very closely connected to the youth setup on one of the Athletic articles and he suggested that Morgan asked for 'at least' 12k per week to sign a pro deal at Saints. Obviously Chelsea gave him what he wanted as they're idiots with money. Worryingly he suggested that Ballard is now also asking for the same (upwards of 12k p/w) and is so far not interested in signing pro.

I think he's the guy in the black t-shirt, he does look pretty much identical.

We could make almost all of that back by selling JWP, Salisu, KWP and Lavia if the worst happens. We are actually quite well positioned in that regard with a few players able to command decent fees, but obviously still a disaster if it happens as it will mean a lot of rebuilding and those good players no longer here. So ideally we don't want that, but I don't actually think it'll be as financially disastrous as it would have been under Gao.

Sadly those two weaknesses which remain are self inflicted weaknesses, we should have sorted out GK properly in the summer (not saying no to Bazunu, but he shouldn't have been our first choice keeper signing), and also keep Romeu around and if not - replace him with a like for like. As of today those are now the the two obvious issues with our first team, so we're better than we were this time last week, but GK in particular could be costly (Especially with the players Everton and Forest have in goal)

We'll keep Janny B, but they can certainly have Lyanco and I'd help cover any loan fee.

This is one of the 'ugly' benefits I'm hoping/expecting to see from this guy and Onuachu, and I'm sure it was heavily factored into the scouting when we take JWP's set pieces into consideration. Indirect assists. Lots of fouls in and around the box as defenders hack this guy down, and additionally foul Ounoucu as they can't get to him to win the ball by conventional means. Clubs have to play on situations that will give them a chance to showcase their biggest weapon, and as of today that's JWP.

If we class the Carillo experiment as a genuine bad nightmare and forget about it, we've actually tended to get decent results from strikers who are 'target' men types. Pelle, Lambo, Rasiak, Crouch, Beattie to an extent. Hopefully this guy can do the same for us. Not expecting someone refined and silky on the ball, he will be ugly and awkward to watch IMO, but hopefully pretty effective. Our tallest striker is currently Mara at just over 6 ft, this guy is a ridiculous 6.7 ft

Agreed, I'm writing off that first half. He looked more settled in a 4, advanced well and like you I was somewhat surprised by his on the ball quality - I wasn't expecting his touch to be that refined. The added height helps us defensively as well. For 750k I don't think you could really ask for a better squad player, and if we're honest that's all he is.

His crossing was crap last night, didn't beat the first man and the final one was shanked up to the moon.

Not sure where you are coming from there, are we now celebrating that we're only losing games by 1 goal and not 2? I mean....there's a measurement of success and then there is that. 5 at the back doesn't work, and it's wrong to say that 5 gives us more in midfield as we can have 3 bodies in there. We can in 4-3-3 as well, in fact we have more control in midfield when we play 4-3-3. Not sure how anyone can be more optimistic under Jones to be honest, I'm not seeing anything to suggest he's any better than Jim down the pub.