S-Clarke

The absolute nonsense in the media which continues to surrounded this kid is ridiculous. He is one of the, if not, the worst defenders in the PL - but you never hear that spoken about. He's been 'quietly' moved to midfield because he's so horrendous at his supposed proper job. Like you say, Malta is Malta. I'd expect a L1 player in the 'No 10' role to look good against them. Stick him in there against Casemero, Rodri or Fernandez and let's see what happens.

The issue with Cortese is that people are blinded by the good times, you automatically think anyone around the club during the good times were perfect - but it was far from the truth when you looked at it in more detail. If we had him in charge during this period, rather than Semmens, I think he'd be universally hated. Anyone can look good with someone elses cash, but when that cash dries up you need to have something else about you, or your big billy bollocks routine falls flat on it's arse.

He was injured, not entirely sure what he'd have added to us.

You don't half speak some rubbish.

Really good article and cracking insight into both our issues and the realistic options to fix those. I do quite like Giles, was impressed with him at Boro last year. Wolves will need to sell anyone who isn't nailed down this summer, but you'd imagine Boro would have first dibs on that one.

Who is embarrassed? I'm not. It's a moot point if he started 1st June or 21st June, it really doesn't matter. He knows he's got the job, and I can almost guarantee you that he's been learning all about this squad and planning exactly what's changing with the club in the background. In terms of what he can influence at Staplewood today - nothing. Players aren't missing out on critical training and learning how we want to play as they're all on holiday. We're not missing out on players as the transfer window isn't open.

We're not moving away from that approach, it's what SR are about and this will underpin everything they do at all their clubs. The trick is getting the balance right. There's no problem with a focus on data, but you cannot take your eye off of the real thing (which we did last year).

In terms of building a team and what is required, we have a recent example to reference. If you look at the team who were last promoted with us we had Davis, Fox, Butterfield, Jos, Hammond, Sharp who were regulars every week in that side - but their level was Championship. We shouldn't be against signing ''Championship players'' because they won't do it for us in the PL, we're not in the PL. When we get to the PL they will be replaced as we did with Sharp, Butterfield, Jos, Hammond etc. We have Tino, Alcaraz, Sulemana (maybe), Tella (maybe), to build the experience around - then you'd expect those players to step up in the PL and continue their progress, then we'll sell them to Liverpool by 2028.

Man City's success is a strange one, pundits and the like being mesmerised by them, but don't they realise that there is a huge asterisk against everything they've won? I'm sure the authorities will allow that to drag on for another decade though.

I'm of the opinion that he simply hasn't had a chance, I find it hard to be overly critical or overly positive about him - I have no idea how he plays, and neither did we as a squad I don't think. I'm sure he'll do well at a club where he can play again, as he's always scored goals.

That was always going to be the case though. Moussa, Diallo, Lyanco, Armstrong, Aribo - those sorts will be very, very hard to shift given their low-ability, yet crazy wage. It'll be loans if anything for that lot.

I think this was always going to be the case, we have a lot of talented young players who will be of interest to top flight teams. We made a right old mess of the squad mix up which means we never got the best out of those young players ourselves, so we'll now have to endure seeing them tear it up in a team with a better mix.

There were links not so long ago of Chelsea looking at Bazunu as well, like you say it's almost certainly above board and nothing to do with Joe Shields at all.

A young player going to Chelsea is as close to early retirement as you can get, pointless move for him. Hope he sees sense and holds out for a genuine move. Liverpool, as much as it pains me to say, would be a much better move for him. Even Utd would be a good shout, learning next to Casimero.

Yeah, this is a totally odd take. How can our best players be the problem with our 'style?' Surely the problems, if we're talking player personal, were with the likes of Elyounoussi, Adam Armstrong, Moussa etc. To call out KWP as a 'problem' is pretty far fetched to say the least. JWP I give you in that he's immobile, but Lavia? have you watched him?

This is how I feel, the comment Semmens made that I can never let go of is - ''For us, it's not about where we finish in the league - it's about how many players we develop'' ''We know we cannot compete in this league, we are fortune to be here'' etc etc. That narrative was doing my head in, it's all well and good toing that line when there is minimal investment, but there needs to be a shift in those views when there is investment. I don't think the incumbent club and the new guys at SR ever meshed correctly when they were under the same roof, you can't tell these things until you've worked together for a while. It's all about alignment and that starts from the top.

The latest statement from our owners paints a different picture, where they rather candidly (maybe somewhat naively) proclaim we will be the best resourced team in this league, somewhat supplemented by player income, but not all.

Can't disagree with any of what they say really, have to get behind that. The ambition is clearly there. Part of me wonders if it was a bit daft saying we will have more resources than other clubs (it may push the price up when we try to buy players), but it's certainly an indication that financially - this season and next at least - we are fine, but there is also an acceptance in that statement that this will be contributed to by player income.

Leicester is a strange story really, I've looked at them over the last few years as a pretty classy club - getting recruitment right and with an attractive style to go with it. I don't think anyone could have envisaged the drop off from Soyuncu and Ndidi though - they were quality on their day, but both have seemingly forgotten how to play football this year. They tried to replace Vardy but didn't really give those Vardy replacements the time to learn the league, they just had the odd appearances here and there. I know Leicester fans are very, very frustrated iheanacho didn't get more game time - and Daka, in my opinion, is class - but he never got the game time and they stuck with a tiring Vardy until it was too late.

I don't think we should be demanding news already, the season only finished a couple of days ago. We are much further down the road then the other relegated clubs, and Ditto swansea as they'll need to replace Martin. I don't really have a problem with not hearing anything yet, it seems fairly obvious it will happen and him being in Staplewood today or the 30th June is neither here nor there really. He's not going to be missing out on any crucial training time as there isn't anyone to train. As long as he is behind his desk at Staplewood for the start of pre-season then all is good, and I'm sure that will be done. Nothing is stopping him learning our squad now, making suggestions and giving recommendations - that can all happen in the background without him being behind a desk at Staplewood, and I'm sure those conversations have been happening.

If he wants CL football etc, then this is probably his last opportunity to get that move I'd say. If he sticks with us this window and brings us back up, he'd back in the PL with us but pushing on 30 - we're not going to make Europe in our first season back, and he'd have less suitors in Europe looking at him at that point. I think he's got to take the chance and I'm fairly sure there is a Premier League CL club sniffing.

Yeah, they do - the likes of Pereira, Castange, Ndidi and Daka are on big money. They signed those guys when they were either a CL team, or competing to be a CL team - so you'd have to question if they even have relegation clauses. They'll have to get rid of a lot of those on the cheap otherwise FFP in this league will bite them very hard. It feels like the appropriate time to say.....''Leicester were on course to become a Champions League club, but obviously their priorities have changed''

Thank you for keeping this thread going, it's been an interesting insight - I don't think anyone foresaw the drop off we've had though, -15 less!! Minsk will appreciate it for sure, but like you said...at least he didn't have to witness such a downturn!

That sounds as if Swansea, as expected, are being absolute noddies when it comes to small prints etc. At the time of the request, yes, technically we are still a PL club - but we were relegated when we made the request, so we won't stay at PL club. This is apparently what Swansea's ownership is like, which is why they missed out on players in the January window and came to a disagreement over any extension for Martin.

If you read back to his appointment at Swansea, he did request that Swansea signed the Flynn Downes bloke - which they did, and Swansea subsequently made a tidy profit on that one only a year later. It's probably not a case of him jumping up and down and demanding the world as such, I think we've had obvious conversations around players who he feels could fit us and help us - and I imagine the likes of Grimes, Piroe etc feature quite highly on that list. I think it's pretty likely he's joining us, so as long as other bits are happening in the background then it'll be done when it's done. He's clearly already advising us on some capacity, but prior to pre-season starting there isn't a huge amount he can influence at Staplewood anyway.