S-Clarke

I guess you didn't read the Brentford forums then.

They lost Sarmiento, Moore and Hutchinson who all went back to their parent clubs - 3 of their best players at the back end of the season. We've certainly lost Brooks, Rothwell and Stu - I'd say we'll 99% sign Fraser, so that's done...Charly is coming back, so adds to us not takes away. When I look at the core of Ipswich as of today I see Wolfenden, Burgess, Lungno, Morsy, Hirst, Chaplin....no PL quality in there at all, they may prove it but they're either skates or journeyman EFL footballers who have rode the crest of a wave. My opinion is that we have a much stronger base to build from with the likes of KWP, Armstrong, Bednarek, Stephens, THB already here. By all accounts Fraser will be done and we've also added Lallana to the mix (not sure he'll add much mind).

They need a lot of work, I certainly wouldn't say they are in the strongest position. I imagine they'll start doing that work soon though!

Don't forget THB, that's a decent chunk of our budget (£22m ish) on him. Not sure we'll be flashing as much cash as some expect, will expect a focus on loans as we go through August.

One of our biggest issues during our 9 out of 10 summer transfer window of 2022 was the lack of experience added to the team, certainly premier league experience. It was a credible criticism of our transfer strategy at the time and a fundamental reason as to why we were relegated. This season we are clearly trying a slightly different approach, we've learnt our lessons and we're targeting experienced, PL players before anything else. Adding experience to the squad and training is just as important as to adding to the first team, you want to drive standards and experience helps that. Loads of young Man City kids still in their bibs at dinner don't. That's not saying never, ever sign young kids - but the priorities have got to be right, they are an after thought especially when we're building a squad after promotion.

Swiss turning up for a major tournament again, really good first half from them. Hungary a lot of peoples 'dark horses' to progress, but they have been shit.

Rasmus will know of him well, was a big part of Brentfords promotion team - just never quite good enough to be a PL regular.

Awful news day, RIP to both.

They are so, so, so bad. Germany haven't had to do anything special. Might as well book the flights back home!

Both sides were dicks. We acted like the pompous stuck up club we were becoming under Reed and Kruger, thinking we'd won football and cracked transfers. Lallana threw his toys out because we were making his leave difficult. Both sides came out looking fairly silly at the time, but 10 years have gone now. Not really relevant anymore.

I think he's Championship at absolute best, he'll never be more than that. He was woeful last year to add to that, Swansea fans aren't big fans. I'd be really stunned if we signed him as a PL club, if this is the level we're targeting we might as well have stayed down. I think it's just media roundabout stuff though.

Adams up front means goals, goals, goals Why are the club pushing the fact Armstrong is featuring? He's not our player anymore, seems to be a bit of a stretch by the club to claim '3' Saints players at the Euro's. 1 and a half at absolute best.

It's a bit of a squad signing, only a year after which point he'll slip into coaching full time I'm sure. Replaces the voids left by Rothwell/Armstrong. I was surprised to read that he actually made 30 apps for Brighton last year, I thought he barely played. Not that he did anything in them mind.

I raise you Eden Hazard. £100m to Real Madrid in 2019, played just 50 league games between 2019 and Nov 2023 when he finally retired. I was surprised to see him rock up on Soccer Aid the other night, he's only 33! I know injuries have taken their toll, but he was up there with the best in the world back in 2015/16 in terms of output

The priority is that he invests in a team that allows us to compete and stay in the PL. If he invests in a 70-100m stadium add on, but not the team, we then sit in the Champ with half an empty bowl and a shit ton of debt. I never understand why fans get so excited about stadium expansion. It will happen when it happens, but it's so far down the list of things that need to be done right now.

Did you put your reg into the app correctly? I know someone who has been bitten like this before (not at this location though), they legitimately paid and had the receipt etc - but just had a typo in their car reg, and that meant it was all null and void. It shouldn't....the receipt should still be proof, but these companies don't have morals.

Yep I get that and it's a valid point, but it would still cost millions and millions of pounds to build - I don't personally think that's a sensible use of our money at the moment, let's build a PL side first and see where we are come 2030.

This is the problem with loans though and why they often say - ''never fall in love with a loan player''! I don't think Burnley made any of their loanies permanent last year, at least we got a deal in place to get THB.

The Brazilian guy is an attacking midfielder rather than a Downes type, probably more of a Paquetta replacement as he won't be seen for some time. I think WHU would be daft to not cast their eye over Downes, this is why I see this one going well into August if it happens at all.

I think we need many years established in the PL, with regular high footfall and sell-outs before anything gets off the ground on this one. All clubs need to keep an eye on expansion for sure, but there are more important costs for us to factor in over the next 4-5 years (i.e building a competitive and safe PL side). This is way down my list of priorities.

I saw that I thought he looks good for L1, but then I realised that Rochdale plummeted to non-league. I remember them giving us some decent games in our adkins years! Shows how quickly football can shift. Defo a signing for the U21's, won't be anywhere near the first team yet.

Not sure how you come to the conclusion that Bittencourt means that we're not getting Downes, two totally different midfielders. Bittencourt is more of your 8, 10 style CM whereas Downes sits. You'd have them both in the same team, not one or the other. We have Rothwell, Stu and co to replace too. Can't say I know a great deal about Bittencourt of recent years, but he's never been a particularly sought after player - just drifted around the German leagues for nominal fees.

And again. The guy is just bonkers.

I think that's always been our market though really. Young players, or relatively low profile/unknowns from weaker leagues with the hope that they can grow with us and sell on for a profit. Or a final return for one of our academy players. (that's only been happening the last couple of years though). We will never be able to sign what I'd call 'ready' players. You see a lot of fans calling for their team to buy a 15-20m PL striker - there isn't anyone who can unless you are Liverpool or Man City. We just have to gamble on youth and hope our scouting is shit hot. That's why it's so critical that scouting at clubs like ourselves, Brighton, Brentford etc is absolutley shit hot because it needs to work, there is zero margin for error. We have been catastrophically bad for so long now and that needs to change this window.

The playoff games can cloud the judgement a bit on the overall run, but you're right - we were utter dog shit towards the end of the season. Stoke, Blackburn, Leicester, Cardiff. We woke up for the playoffs though and that's all that mattered at the end.