benjii

Don't disagree but I bet we won't sign a right back. We've signed two this season and won't throw the towel in. Just a striker, I reckon. Assuming no one leaves.

Let's just assume without qualification that Koeman is actually correct. Now, is that at all surprising or a negative on the academy? I would say, "no", because quite simply this current generation has already produced some quality players; it's just that they don't all play for us any more. Shaw and Chambers are similar age to the likes of McQueen, Gallagher etc. So is JWP. Reed has quite a few first team minutes. Targett has lots of first team minutes. So actually, there are five players there from the same generation, more or less, how are either good enough to be signed by Man U and Arsenal or good enough to get minutes in mid-table Prem team. That's not bad at all. If Shaw and Chambers weren't so good they would be in our team now. The key is for the younger members of the U21s to keep developing. Realistically, the older ones won't get a chance here. We are bound to have the odd dip but how many academies have produced a current quality pool still in prime playing age as good as: Bale, Walcott, Shaw, Oxlade Chamberlain, Lallana, Chambers, Targett, JWP, Sparv, Dyer etc...

Chill out love. I'm sure he would have also said, "a bit rapey", if they were bumming chaps.

PS. pretty sure the protective award only applies to collective consultation scenarios (ie. mass redundancy). As you are going to speak to a lawyer anyway though, get them to confirm!

Clearly they have not followed legally mandated procedure and so the dismissal is automatically unfair. They are required to give appropriate notice of meetings in writing, permit a representative to attend etc. "Polkey" is not a defence. If you bring a claim, based on what you have written above about their failure to follow correct procedure, you will "win", ie. there will be a finding of unfair dismissal. "Polkey" is an argument around quantum. In other words they will ask the judge to award you a smaller compensatory element because, following "Polkey", it was inevitable you would have been dismissed even if the correct procedure had been followed. There are two elements to an award: basic and compensatory. The "basic" is the one related to length of service, age etc... "Compensatory" relates to, for example, time spent unemployed whilst looking for a new job. It sounds as though you have decent grounds and it also sounds as though your employer is inexperienced or just plain dodgy in their approach to these things. Remember that you do not necessarily need to go through with a claim to "win" - you just need to extract a decent settlement offer. As Tim says, I would definitely seek a free legal consultation if I were you and in addition to your basis legal rights you (or your lawyer) need to carefully check what your contract says about redundancy. There's a fee to bring an Employment Tribunal claim so you need to carefully weigh up the risk / reward; if, for example, they are genuinely skint then you might not get any money if you win. The lawyer can advise. Also, don't hang around because limitation periods on employment claims are quite short (3 months I think). There are various legal directories that you can use to source an Employment lawyer. Legal 500 and Chambers are two of the better known. Like any business, lawyers aren't going to send you a bill for just answering the phone (no matter how they are portrayed sometimes) so don't be shy in picking up the phone, saying you want to speak with an employment specialist in relation to unfair dismissal claim and asking for a free consultation to enable you to consider your options. Unless you have been through a client verification process with them (providing ID etc.) they aren't going to be billing you.

Me!! I would win £2k and would probably enjoy watching both us, and the Premier League as a disinterested observer, more next season.

Shelvey would be a good signing I think.

Whether it's bad luck, poor management, poor playing or whatever... this season has been rubbish and is looking more likely to stay rubbish than become good. As has been noted above: i) we made a mess of a rare European campaign - a bad cup result happens from time to time but our tactics and execution were terrible in both games against Midgetland; ii) we got absolutely thrashed in a home cup quarter final (although we seem to be the only team in the world that ever has to actually play against Daniel Sturridge); iii) we have regressed in terms of league performance (despite the general quality of the league being abysmal). Obviously a relatively bad season happens to everyone from time to time but it's natural in a rubbish season to speculate as to why it's rubbish. Taking the Midgetland tie as a case-study, Koeman has been outspoken in the past about opponents playing long-ball. Puzzling then that, in that tie, we went for Pelle and Rodriguez up front and a "hit the big man" approach (especially as it seemed to play straight into their methodical approach). It was a complete abandonment of the norm and quite odd. It made me wonder if the Koemans had got caught on the hop a bit with the season's preparations for some reason. I don't think Ronald's injury helped and I wonder if some focus was lost. We won't be going down (although I win two grand if we do so I don't really care either way) because we only need four wins and a couple of draws and we will get those but we do need a reassessment as to what the first team will stand for next season and what we want our manager to deliver when it comes to an identity and a vision.

I didn't realise Twente were in such financial difficulty. It does make you wonder if the Martina deal was part of something bigger!

Morgan was a one million Euro player when we signed him. Just saying.

Awful.

Should have put Reed and Mane on fifteen minutes ago.

A load of **** from Wanyama again. Sell!

I think the hope for next season is that Classie, Van Dijk, Cedric, Romeu to some extent and Juanmi are markedly improved for their experience this year. A bit like a lot of our players who played PL for the first time when we got promoted. Lallana was not particularly good in that first season but came on hugely after that. We still have the nucleus of a very decent team but next summer probably won't be the time to gamble again - we should add one or two "battle-ready" players and no filler.

You're all K U N T S. Happy New ****ing Year.

He's been crap, apart from one game, for months. Get rid.

I agree exactly with your first paragraph. The club itself talked about "being in the right position if one of the big boys slips up". Well, this is the weakest Premier League I can remember and we are in the bottom half. Obviously we will have good and bad seasons so it's not time to moan and wail but it's quite legitimate to point out that we seem to lack intensity and desire compared to last season and, aside from the Arsenal match (in which they were awful) we haven't really had a notable performance all season. We were awful in the biggest matches - Midgetland and Liverpool. So, overall, a very poor season so far.

He's obviously got class technical ability. I'm not sure our usual attacking shape suits him. I think he's better more centrally than stuck on a wing. Could get a chance in the role Mane played last night once he leaves.

Ha! I remember that. I actually emailed the authorities about that one because it seemed plain biased, even though we won easily.

Moss is not a good ref. He had no impact on the result last night because his wrong decisions against us were balanced by wrong decisions in our favour (although some of those were offside related so not his fault really). He is not good though. He is slow, bumbling and inconsistent in his use of discipline. Clattenburg is probably the best. Moss is one of the worst. Anyway, back to the game: obviously we played much better and just seemed to be playing with more intensity. It's amazing what an impending transfer window does to Wanyama. That said, Arsenal were awful. Another telling example of the poor quality Premier League. Obviously Sanchez and Coquelin would have helped them but their first choice defence and striker were garbage. Walcott was garbage. It's a shame we've looked half-arsed so often as someone unfancied really could finish quite high this year. Spurs to win the league, sadly.

Take a point.

The "youth argument" is completely spurious. We currently have the following crop of home-grown players in their prime: Shaw, Chambers, Walcott, Ox, Bale, Lallana... Then you have Target, Reed and the likes of Dyer, Sparv.... How many teams have produced that amount of quality still in prime playing age? We've been a victim of our own success - it's nonsense to expect a Shaw or Ox every season. If they weren't so good they would still be with us.

Austin is an excellent penalty box player but, like others have said, there isn't room in the team for him and Pelle. We need a creative central player.

The quality of the Premier League is abysmal at the moment.

As far as I can see. This is a bit worrying. So is our home form. We've won 5 league games against the teams currently in: 14th 16th 17th 18th and 19th places. Need to buck our ideas up. We have looked flat all season.