Pwoite

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.

Apparently we’re looking at a 4-6-0 formation. Sorry, the wheels have come off.

We apparently don’t need to sell. We apparently have targets agreed we want to bring in. Therefore it is in everyone’s interests to get such deals done now: striker, keeper, attacking midfield. Then put the ultimatum to those potentially leaving that if they want out then they need to have an agreed deal by August 1st, or they are here for the season. If we have the cards, we need to use them.

Yes, the chances of an eight year old, signed up, ever playing for that club’s first team are small, though probably better with us than a Chelsea, but I’m talking about the cream who have risen to the top at fifteen or sixteen. They’ve already defied the odds to get that far and be recognised, possibly getting international honours. It would be interesting to know how many British professionals across the top two divisions came from the Big Six academies, and how many moved to them, relatively late, and broke through.

Understand the comment, and it’s jam today for the kid and his family, with a signing on fee and good earnings, but………I cannot think of any youth we’ve lost in the last five years who has forged a career elsewhere. There have been several big name departures, but has any of them proved successful?

How far off are Wright or Moody?

I’d totally agree, it’s ALL about promotion next season but equally we invest huge sums in the academy and that needs to be a production line, creating some opportunities. Now, that might mean Caribou Cup starts and Championship bench, and training with the first team squad, but it makes sense to develop the best from the U21s so that they are either first team regulars in time, or sold for a profit. We seem to have seven or eight youngsters who have had the chance already to play in a cup match. How many of these are potentially good enough to step up? And who are they?

I’d agree, but we also have Brandon Williams and, potentially,Sesay, coming through. I can see the club wanting both of them to get some exposure. I do wonder who else from the U21 squad will be given a chance and which ones will be released. Anyone got an inkling?

With the changes to how clubs can spend and manage losses, the fact we only have one more parachute payment, P&Os announcement, and the departure of several high earners, I do wonder whether Dragan might be prepared to financially gamble in an all or nothing approach to promotion. Whilst we might not be able to stop some departures, might the incentives to stay and chase promotion be dangled in front of key players. After all, the financial risk of not going up is so significant that failure next season will mean massive cutbacks and a potentially prolonged period in tier two. The alternative of gambling that bit extra to get promotion might actually be pretty good odds. If I’m right, this summer could be another rollercoaster.

But I bet there are get out clauses that could have been exercised.

The previous statement came from Parsons. Today’s statement is anonymous. However, today’s statement says that we got our response to the initial EFL’s charges wrong. Whose decision was this? What advice had we been given, and was this followed? This was a major judgement error. The Operations Manager arranged for Salt’s ticket to the north east. Really? Did he question this? Surely, he mentioned it to his boss, or was his boss already aware? Who did know? Who does the OM report to? As for Spors, he either knew, or he was so sidelined that you have to ask how could he be in a position to not know! It strikes me that we either have a house of cards here, where the Club are closing ranks because otherwise we are not talking one potential ban but multiple bans across the Club’s management, and the delay in any FA announcement is that they are digging deeper. Alternatively, the authority came from above, and the Club decided to throw Tonda under the bus on the ‘l’m an innocent foreigner’ card, hoping that might wash and get a sympathetic response. As they’ve admitted, they got it wrong. Our best, possible only, hope, is that the FA consider the punishment has already been enough, and therefore take no further action. after all, there’s nothing in the regulations, as I understand it, preventing spying in the EPL. However, I doubt that will be their response.

People talk to us losing a potential £200m, whilst forgetting this isn’t a lottery win. Sure, there is the status, level of competition and exposure, but a lot of that money, if not all, would be tied into extra wages and transfer fees. A straight £30m would be the minimum for increased basic wages for players, before bonuses. Then add in support staff, the cost of higher profile transfers and investment needed the EPL matches. With those transfers come the risk of having to offer three year deals, and the risk of more Ramsdale situations. Yes, of course we’d be in a far better position than we now find ourselves, and we could have afforded a couple of £30m players rather than a couple at £8m, but it’s never as simple as saying that total has been robbed from our piggy bank.

I thought Simon Peach was very straight and level headed in what he said. I do wonder, though, whether the delay is to give the club time to talk to sponsors, and the players, and gauging opinions more widely, rather than jumping in with announcement. I would suspect that clandestine conversations with managerial options are taking place behind the scenes. Maintaining radio silence, in such circumstances, makes sense.

Reading ,and being reminded, that Gareth Southgate was once on our books, I was wondering which other players we’d had on our books and then rejected, only for them to forge top level careers. Kevin Phillips and Danny Ings come to mind. Do I remember that Tyrone Mings had started with us? Who else? Are all clubs as good at throwing away talent, or is it something else we specialise in?

I hope this is cautiously optimistic. Does anyone know what the sell on for Fernandes might be, if talks of a £80m sales are to be believed. Add to this our wage bill should be reduced with Aribo, Romeu, McCarty and Ramsdale gone, freeing more cash. Maybe some of this will be put towards the ‘appeasement fund’, as a bonus for players who stay till September 1st but who missed on on a promotion bonus this season. For example, those four players leaving will save c£7.5m in wages. Spread that over 15 players sticking with the club, is a sizeable £500k thank you/loyalty bonus, and eliminates the risk of having to buy and replace the likes of Bree, Downes, etc, as well as next season giving them the opportunity of another promotion bonus.

I can’t believe we used 47 players as it seems it was from the same 22 for virtually every match since the New Year. Even bearing in mind the Leicester cup game,it seems like way too many. How many of the 47 played three or less times? Fifteen?

I don’t think the bench needs to be weaker. Yes, we’ll lose maybe six from the first team squad, but we brought in some excellent signings out of (almost) nowhere last summer, and nearly all worked. If we can get three or four youngsters come through, plus find an equivalent to Jander and Scienza, and entice one or two top championship players across, we could actually be stronger, as Wood, Bragg and Robinson will ave more experience. On the other hand, if the Independent is right, and players can walk away, if could get a lot worse, though whether the likes of Manning, Downes and Fellows would be able to get as good a deal elsewhere is questionable.