S-Clarke

Wow, we overspent on him.

Not sure we could have realistically expected anything more. I think we paid £7.5m for him? We were never making that back as he was a big let down for us at this level. Great enthusiasm but rubbish when it came to the football side of it.

I cannot imagine what you are going through Noodles. That is no age what so ever and is a tragedy. My thoughts are with you and your family.

I think it was announced at 5pm on the Sunday of our playoff final win. From the horses mouth and also from Phil Parsons the following day. Probably feel it doesn't need an announcement as they announced it themselves.

Decent fixture list really, pretty balanced as others have said. May looks somewhat tough, but I've seen tougher.

Belgium flattered to deceive really, a lot of huff and puff from them (although they can count themselves a bit unlucky with two disallowed goal). First kinda shock of the tournament.

It is, but FFS you can't disallow goals for something as trivial as that. Nonsense.

Agreed, but Foden does have the numbers in the league to back him up too. I have a feeling that Foden is this generations 'club player' who cannot ever transfer it to International level.

Alright for 30, but utter horse shit in that second half. Such a hard watch! Kane had a stinker. Foden ditto, shocker - we seem to struggle to accommodate him into the side. Guehi, Rice, Bellingham and Saka the best 4 for us. A win's a win, but no one is going to be quaking in their boots after that. Serbia unlucky not to get a 1-1.

I'd put Saka as excellent as well, probably our best attacking outlet. Guehi the best defender. As the first half came to a close the gaps were being shown in CM, Rice having to do two mens work in there really. Need a proper CM in there next to him to get some real control in there.

Looks like they've sacrificed him to go with an extra defender, looks like a containment job being setup by Serbia here. Could be a very hard watch if there isn't an early goal by us.

The media must be paid to salivate over this guy. He was the best right back in the world, but is now seemingly not good enough for full back (As has been obvious since for ever) and is shunted into midfield where he can be the best passer in the world. He is probably one of the most unnecessarily overhyped footballers I've ever come across in my life, and most of us lived through the 2002-2006 era.

The forums I looked at had him as one of their best players at the start of last season, through to Christmas. Some comments suggesting they should have kept him on for this year. Depends where you read I guess, there will always be a mixture - even if it was a somewhat star player. My feeling is that he's an experienced player, a good egg and will be a genuine positive addition to the club and the playing squad. We needed to fill the hole left by Stu and Rothwell and we've done it on a free. More money for the other first 11 positions.

I don't think we have the money for that. We'll probably have £15m ish aside for Downes, that's either used on Downes or an alternative DM - we wouldn't have the budget to sign an alternative DM and Downes. We probably have a date in the club whereby we move on. I think FFP or whatever it is called now will play our hand a lot this year, clubs like ourselves are food and drink for the PL in terms of points deductions - so we have to paly the financial game. Not really what it should be about, but the most important thing for the PL is that it keeps the top teams at the top and bats down anyone who dares to challenge.

Patience is the name of the game with that one I think, we'll probably read all sorts of nonsense over the next week or months. If he doesn't come here then he stays at WHU, if he leaves WHU then he'll only come here - that's how I see it. Just need to see what happens during WHU's pre-season.

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.