S-Clarke

His way of playing is totally flawed, maybe he'll get it one day. His teams just allow too many shots and let in too many goals, there is an enormous tactical error in how he coaches football teams. Way too easy to break against, MK Dons, Swansea, ourselves - it's always going to be the same with him.

I really wish the club wouldn't treat us like idiots by proclaiming Fernandes is 'ill'. Everyone plays from the same script, it's pretty cringe.

First half was mostly more of the same, quite passive and easy to play against in the main. I wasn't too impressed with Quarshie for either goal, I thought he stood off and didn't really commit. He clearly has pace/power and height, of which will be big for us this season - but he just needs to be a bit sharper and less passive in his defending. We lacked width in that first half IMO. Two poor full backs who offered nothing, and a striker (Archer) entirely out of his comfort zone and not impacting the game at all. Fraser as a 9 was really weird and I never, ever want to see that again. Second half was much better once the likes of Suguwara and were Wellington introduced, energy and attacking intent, ability to overlap etc - made a huge difference. Robinson drifting around in front was a threat too, a lot of this is because opposition know little about him - so he can sneak in like he does, but he did cause more problems than anyone else in that second half. I really liked Charles' performance though, a real box-to-box display from him. Good on the ball, good breaking up play - pretty much everything. He's a good player and always has been, just really poorly used by Martin in our last Championship season. Edwards too is exactly what you'd expect him to be - a very classy and cultured centre back, makes the game look easy. Archer, imo, was utter utter trash. I don't know if it's confidence with him or that he's simply not fitting in with the right players here. He's not a wide man that's for sure, but even through the middle I thought his game was off. Downs was pretty quiet too, he's got a real presence about him, but I thought he was a bit subdued overall. A good comeback though and an enjoyable second half compared to the first. I still don't think much of what happened today will really make any odds once the real season starts, for either ourselves or Brighton, but it's nice to be going into the Wrexham game with a tiny shred of positivity at least.

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.

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 Latest from Sky Sports News' Dharmesh Sheth: Ipswich are in talks with Napoli over re-signing midfielder Jens Cajuste. Discussions are ongoing around a loan and the conditions of an obligation to buy. Cajuste spent last season on loan at Ipswich and there is a willingness from all parties to get a deal done

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.