S-Clarke

He gave us a bit of a hope in what was a pretty miserable PL season, the only player to have really done that. He has immediately achieved more than Sulemana, Ounachu, ABK, Edozie, Stewart etc. He doesn't quite fit with what we're trying to do now, but the fact we'll potentially make a profit on him is a sign that he has been one of our better acquisitions in a long list of duds.

It is genuinely scary the lack of sense there was in our scouting, we are absolutley lucky that we aren't facing financial oblivion on the back of all that. I guess a bit of the money was offset by the large sales of VVD etc, but a club like Southampton selling a player for £85m should set us up for a really nice sustainable PL future - but that was the sale which sent us packing and on a slow and torturous decline. What a waste of a sale which should have created a bit of a legacy. Ross Wilson is a disgrace.

I'd argue that Leicester did actually fall foul to the same problems we face - poor scouting and recruitment over a few transfer windows. They won the PL without building towards it, let's be fair. That was a crazy footballing moment. After that they managed to sustain it for a little while, but then they started signing dudds like Soumare, Vestergaard, Faes, Praat, Castange, Daka etc - those couple of windows stunted their progress and relegated them, pretty much the same as us. We got Top 6 without building towards it, we just got fortunate with a lot of good scouting. We sustained it the second season because of similar scouting, but then we screwed up window after window and it led to our relegation inevitably, and even now we are constrained by the amounts we've spent on dudds - same as Leicester, which is why they're under investigation for all sorts. Brighton will likely fall foul to the same, so will Brentford. It's hard to sustain for clubs like us because the big teams don't just come after your players, they also dismantle the entire setup which scouted them in the first place.

That's a blow for ABK, hopefully not too serious for his long-term health - but in relation to us wanting to sell him, that's that - any suitors are now drifting into the sunset. We'll have to rip up his contract to get him off the books at this stage. So we're potentially going to have to lose money to get rid of him, just like we did with Carillo and Boufal. Our bad scouting has really harmed us for too long now. There's no way back for him here as he's been excluded from the first team setup for many reasons.

I think they did lead somewhere, two incredible seasons for a club like us and two seasons in Europe. It won't ever get better than what we did under Koeman in those years.

Martin is going to have a few clashes with MOTD interviewers too, can see it a mile off.

Just seen that Chelsea have given Cole Palmer a contract until 2033. 8/9 year deal?. I think those sorts of contracts are stupid. Chelsea are breaking football, something needs to be done about how they're doing transfers and contracts.

I remember it breaking on sky sports news on their yellow ticker, way before the days of the chuckle brothers they currently have on there, it was a bit more authentic. Things were much better and simpler back then, football seemed more fun - not sure if that's just me getting old though. It doesn't feel the same anymore with the money that's thrown around on transfers, all feels a bit broken.

Yeah he's a good player who could thrive if played regularly, a good passer of the ball and physical to add to it. I remember his season with Norwich in the Champ, he was unbelievable at that level - literally ran games on his own. He doesn't look out of place at Spurs either, so I'd be surprised if they do palm him off - but I'd be grabbing him if he was available. These are the sorts of loans that will become possible as we go into the next couple of weeks.

That's got a whiff of Kelvin Davis > Boruc all over it. We get to the 31st without a new keeper, it's evidently obvious we should have strengthened, and out pops Szczesny on a free transfer after deadline day.

Ings was a funny one, I remember that one dividing fans a bit - then when we made that permanent, quite a few people voiced their annoyance that £20m of Ralph's first transfer window budget was going on a crock! But it worked out, one of our best signings in PL times. Goes to show that the opposite can often happen, I felt somewhat underwhelmed by Bertrand on loan but he was a super addition.

If we go way back, Lambo for me. I remember when it started to leak, out of nowhere on a Sunday night via some Bristol journos and then it was done and dusted by mid-day on the Monday. That was a classic transfer for me. Signing the best player in L1, top goal scorer in L1, beating Championship clubs to his signature. (Boro I think). If we go back to the PL years, it was probably Gaston. He'd just turned up at the Olympics and was regarded as one of the top young players in the world at that point, the saga went on forever, like most drawn out PL signings tbh. Genuinely excited by that one as a newly promoted club, then even more so in 'that game against Villa (tm)', but then he vanished after that which was a shame - was never quite good enough for the PL consistently. His best time in England came during his loan spell with Boro in the Championship.

I do believe we have a few unproven PL players in the team, rather than players who won't ever be good enough. For example, had we not been promoted, THB and Downes would still be playing in the PL with someone and I'm fully expecting both of those guys to prove that they are PL level without much hassle. Sugawara is another. We also have proven PL players in Charlie Taylor and KWP in the group, so I don't think we have a load of no hopers who have no chance of ever performing in the PL. We do have some, sure, but we do also have players who will probably prove themselves to be very capable PL players - they just haven't had the chance yet. If we supplement them well with more quality up top and in goal, we'll surprise a few.

They still have Spence who has been re-integrated into the fold this pre-season. Poro and Spence at their RB's. If something happens with Spence nearer the window we may end up with a late bid, but there comes a point where it's too late I think.

I'm not sure what medical he undertook, but I fail to see how he could have passed anything as we signed him with an existing injury. Must have been a deal based on lots of caveats and we decided to roll the dice.

Part of me wonders if that's why they're going down the route of external people, so the insurers can see that every avenue has been covered by people neutral etc.

Yep absolutley, I don't think you can say SR haven't put money in - they have, lots of it. But the scouting has been shit, it doesn't matter how much money you have if you keep signing crap. In fact for clubs like us it makes it even harder because we then have less flexibility and expensive assets we have to then take a loss on. Hopefully they learnt some lessons from the 22/23 season, most notably that January window - over £40m on deadline day on two guys who didn't contribute at all, and still haven't.

If i'm honest, I don't think he'll ever play again to a reasonable level. It's not beyond the realms to expect some sort of retirement story at some point during the season.

A couple of good questions, but the answers were well dodged and glided around by those at the table. Proper politician answers! That guy wasted so much time on that beer and burger question though, get to the point was the case for most of his question, but when he got to the point you just rolled your eyes - a few mins I'll never get back. Nothing really new, we're still working on things. Side not on Ross Stewart, we have external people working with him to get him to the best possible level to compete - not sure what that means, but I don't think he's anywhere near.

Glad that's not just me, that pisses me off. Makes it pointless them delivering the notifications.

I'm not saying we won't ever spend £25m, but I just look at it in the context that we've already spent almost £60-70m this summer without any sales. Plus our previous stint in the PL equalled £150m spend, or something like that. Of course not all of that money will have been paid out yet, ditto the money from last summer won't have been received yet, but I do feel we are somewhat constrained from going big this summer. A season or two in the PL, if we manage to consolidate, will paint a different picture (but we need to make sure we scout a hell of a lot better)

Definitely, the best loan opportunities come up in the final few weeks. Some things we might think aren't even a goer today, may end up being on in a week or so. THB and Brooks last season for e.g. are two which spring to mind. We've used the loan market really well in the last 12 months. If we do somehow throw £25m down on a striker without any substantial sales then all credit to SR for me, who are definitely putting the money where their mouth is. Just need to make sure we've scouted them right.

I have always strongly believed that we will take advantage of loan opportunities towards the final few weeks. Some players won't be available today, but after the first weekend of PL fixtures they may start to be made available. That's where I honestly believe we'll get our value, we won't be spending £25m+ on anyone.

The Chelsea 'zero strategy' bandwagon carries on. Someone has got to put a stop to them surely? Now going for Felix, who has already had a stint there which was a bit of a fail. They have no idea what they're doing, and you do have to feel somewhat for their fans as it's a hollow club. It's like a mega version of the WHU Transfer tombola.

I don't mind them pushing the app, but they should at least get it bug free first. It's a bit clunky.