Pwoite

Smallbone, Aribo, Ings, Ryan Fraser and Wesley Hoedt on the list, amongst others. Feel a bit for Will Smallbone. He’s too good to not get a contract somewhere but guess he’s used to reasonable wages.

This really isn’t a problem. He’s on big money, comparatively, now, but out of contract in the summer. I three year deal, spreading wages, bonus for promotion, payoff from WHU for early cancellation of contract, and everyone would be happy. Do we have better options? Possibly. Would the risks be greater? Definitely.

Every bloody time MLG posts it seems you have to shoot him down. Regardless! He isn’t your problem, you are. I enjoy reading most of your views, but remove the blinkers, and you’d be overall far more credible.

Arsenal have offered Villa £40m for Konsa, and Villa holding out for £60m. Interesting that we are expecting £30-35m for Taylor. Wouldn’t seem unrealistic to me.

Wish we were Blackburn. Sorry. Couldn’t stop myself. if we are definitely looking for an attacking midfielder and possibly a striker, and bearing in mind our existing squad, our youngsters, and the expectation we will be at a higher level next season, I can’t see either player being ‘one for the future’. We need championship impact players who we can get thirty minutes, maybe less, out of. Therefore, older, experienced fading stars would be ideal, either on loan or a one year deal with a massive bonus option. So, likely to be British. Actually, JWP fits that bill, not that I want him back.

Jeez. What short memories. Who changed the games yesterda?. Cam Bragg. Why are we talking about a Charles replacement, when he’s already on our books. If he need anyone, it’s a fourth choice central midfielder, and maybe that is what was behind the Matsuki experiment yesterday. My only concern is that Downes andBragg are both 6s, though Downes can play more as an eight.

IIRC he said in those interviews the opposite and that financially, the club is in a good place not needing to sell key players. That was exactly my understanding of Dragan’s comments, too. However, whether this is fact or a sales pitch, none of us know. When looking at finances, we have saved on reduction in some high wages, as well, but probably had to pay off players through bonuses this summer for ‘promotion’ to keep them on side. Ticket prices are largely unchanged this season, so effectively there is a further cost there. We also don’t really know how much of a loss the club can afford to sustain this season in the hope of big bucks coming in after promotion. In terms of players, with Robinson going on loan, I wonder if the thoughts are to use Dobbin wide, or possibly Archer, rather than Edozie. Similarly, will we bring in another midfielder, as a couple of the under 21s (O’B W and Romeo A) have impressed in pre-season, and we have Bragg and Williams to consider as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a centre back come in to replace Quarshie, and to pressurise Stephens/Wood. However, we have potentially at least six players too many in the squad who are surplus to likely requirements. My list would include two keepers, Sugawara, Edozie, BBD, Down. There may be more, and certainly I’d expect some youngsters out on loan.

Don’t we want a new second choice keeper, with Long as third choice. Moody, or whoever could be third choice. For me, it’s not just who from the Big Four stay, but who else we can get out of the door. Or does Tonya want a bloated squad to provide options? I can’t see it working if players aren’t even making the bench.

So, with the majority of the pre season matches now behind us, what have we potentially learnt from team selection? Clearly, it has confirmed that we have two keepers surplus to requirements, but we knew that already. Charles hasn’t been played, so potentially his departure is close and we don’t want him injured. Edozie might be in a similar position, as he wasn’t seen today, but there again, neither was Fellows. BBB and Archer, and possibly Downs and Quarshie, have been tested, I suspect, with a view to deciding whether we look to twist or stick on them. Could we sell and do better, at what net cost? Sugawara will be added to this group. I suspect that every player has a price on his head, and if an offer matches it, we will sell. Of course, some of those prices will be high, whereas others will be giveaway rates. Looking at the team Will Still selected for our opening match last season, it looks stronger than what we have available, but we know how that turned out. From that eleven we jettisoned a former Championship top scorer, a former Scottish international, part of England’s U21 winning squad, a Republic of Ireland and a Japanese international by January, and went from strength to strength.

Final chance to impress Tonda, as well? There may well be redemption for one of those we expect to leave if they have a good tour.

I’m getting pretty fed up reading all the unnecessary abuse being pushed in MLG’s direction. I don’t know him, but some people seem to react negatively to everything he posts. Then they get rude and offensive. We all have opinions, and we can all disagree, but there’s no need for personal attacks time and time again. Let’s have some objectivity in responses.

I thought Dragan had said we didn’t need to sell to balance the books. Of course, this might be talking up the situation, hiding the truth, or it could be fact. Where did the £60m to balance the books come from? Somewhere between those two extremes we have banked around £9m for Armstrong, and reduced the payroll by £6m for releasing Aribo, Smallbone and McCarthy, plus others. Add in Ramsdale and Sugawara, maybe another £20m. Anything else to add in? That takes us to £35m against the cost and contracts for Latin and Peretz. Add in Charles, and exceed the £60m, so have either hit the break even, or have a sizeable war chest.

Bloody horrible last four fixtures. Need automatic promotion prior to those!

No. None. Nothing. But some great deals available on The Flying Scotsman in its original livery, and up to the minute news about track issues due to the heat. Still, in three hours we can at least talk about our fixtures, and how quickly we can overcome starting the season in last place.

It can, but it can backfire as well. Over the years we’ve bought plenty of stars past their sell by date. Some revelled in a last hurrah, whereas others never fitted in. Going way back Ball, Watson, Osgood and Mills were amongst the signings that worked, whereas Dixon, Speedie, Hughes and, arguably, the return of Romeu were all largely flops.