Saint_lambden

Aribo, ABK, Taylor and don't be surprised if Smallbone departs as well in terms of the ones we want to shift on. THB and Fernandes we want to stay but plenty of interest so will be about maximising return if they depart and we're in a good position given money taken in on other departures so if they go, it will be for plenty of £.

The GK Sunderland are about to buy (Roeffs) is one we had looked at as recently as the under 21 Euros in the summer. The club have a long standing interest in Patterson so them signing a new GK could make buying/loaning him more viable but he wouldn't be top of my list. Other than Setford who I mentioned earlier, I know we've in the past scouted Matt Freese who plays for NYCFC in MLS and I think is the USNT number 1 GK at the moment. No idea if Matt Ryan is someone on the list but it would make sense as a stop-gap for a year.

Bump.

The potential lack of motivation talk seems a bit unfair. He's played at Krasnodar for a lot of years and has turned down many an opportunity to move to bigger and better teams for more money but wanted to win a trophy with his current team which he's now done as they won the league last season, so he and the club are open to a move, especially as he won't be able to play in the Champions League now with all Russian clubs banned from it. We'll now have the financial muscle to pay him very handsomely and he'd start every week for a team trying to get back to the Premier League within a year so it may well be the best route to eventually playing there without a current Prem team wanting to commit.

Yes, there was a meeting yesterday between the police, council, the clubs etc. about the plans for the games and it will be the same for both fixtures.

A friend of friend connection to the club on the scouting side so it tends to be more snippets on who we're interested in/have been looking at rather than who we're actually following through on. In general, there is a feeling that we didn't shift anywhere near enough of the dead wood and those that didn't want to be here last time we came down (at least not early enough and so it impacted first couple of months of the season) and the new management team don't want a repeat. Aribo will be gone in the next few weeks as an example. And on incomings, it's absolutely a focus on quality over quantity. Sounds like they're amazed internally that Downs wasn't picked up by a Premier League team. His dad grew up in Hampshire and went to school in Alton so there are connections there and they see him as a future number 1 but don't disagree with you that it would be a big risk as if he came here, Arsenal would want him to play every week overwise what's the point and sticking a 19 year-old in for a side needing promotion is a gamble. Get the sense the club don't feel like they need to spend the earth to get promoted again which would allow more £ for transfers if we go up when it really would be needed (like Sunderland/Leeds so far this summer). Ipswich splashing out big money on Hackney might change their mind though...

From what I've heard this summer (not since Ramsdale news came out this afternoon mind), Spors and Still want to bring in another goalkeeper if (when) Ramsdale goes to compete with Bazunu, with McCarthy becoming the third GK who is actually looking to get in to coaching when he retires which will likely be at the end of this coming season. Tommy Setford at Arsenal is one we like.

He played more as a second striker/number 10 for Orient last season. Even at times dropped deeper in to central midfielder as his off the ball work is brilliant. I know we’ve enquired at least but nothing formal in terms of an offer on the table. Unsurprisingly we’re not the only Championship team interested. I’d be surprised if he gets many minutes at Spurs this season. Played 45 minutes off the bench v Reading the other day but will have plenty ahead of him in pecking order.

That's Donley from Tottenham. We're waiting on them to commit to whether they want to send him out on loan or not. Although I wouldn't classify them as a big club....

We’ve asked Spurs about taking Jamie Donley on loan but they’re keen to see more of him in pre-season first before deciding whether to keep him as part of their team for the year or loaning him out again (was brilliant at Orient last season).

Basically yes. Like last time, we don't need to spend the earth to get out of this division but need to be far more ambitious and, frankly, accurate with our recruitment if (hopefully when) we then get to the PL like Sunderland are doing this summer. They may well go down but you can't fault their efforts in the transfer market to try and avoid that. Burnley's business meanwhile looks similar to ours from last summer - not breaking the £15m marker and signing permanently the guys they had on loan that got them to the Premier League but who most likely won't have the quality to keep them there.

Our current squad literally has over 2,000 Championship appearances between them.

We’ve offered a contract to Morlaye Sylla who was most recently at Portuguese Premier League side Arouca but now available on a free as his contract expired. Versatile, can play across the midfield but most common on the left wing.

No wonder he turned us down - PSG are now after him 😆

Dejan Zukic at Wolfsberger in Austria is another we’ve scouted. 24 year-old Serbian attacking midfielder. 10 goals and 8 assists last season. Perhaps Solak can have a word…

There's a new contract offer on the table for him but he's not going to sign it as it's not seen by his side to be a good offer at all. The club know he's off this summer, it's just not clear to who or for how much. All the 'new' contract would do would bump up his value slightly with longer for it to run.

No and yes I would assume, otherwise we surely wouldn’t bother negotiating. We were ready to send a significant bid to Krasnodar but Spertsyan said no so it went no further.

We've been persuing Eduard Spertsyan (Armenian attacking midfielder at Krasnodar) but he wants to play European football so that's a bit of a dead end sadly. We didn't make a bid as wanted to establish if it was go-er first. A shame because he's a superb player but probably a bit too ambitious.

I know for a fact that we were very interested when Russell Martin/Darren Mowbray were here and he was scouted several times, but for whatever reason we never pursued it further. As others have said, a bit of a surprise he's not already been hoovered up by Celtic or Rangers

Bah has joined Nice on loan and Joe Mendes has gone to Samsunspor so we can scrub them off the list.

Excited about this one. He's a decent finisher, movement is great and can stretch a backline which we've been without for a long time (Ross Stewart shows flashes of it but isn't as mobile). Got plenty of potential too. If we can sign more in this and the Quashie mould, we'll do very well this year.

An actual (non-horse related) snippet, which I rarely get: We were scouting Zeneli again on Sunday but also looking at a Hacken (Elfsborg's opponents) player in the same match. Not given a name on that one and would only be guessing to try and figure out who. Not exactly ground-breaking on the former as we've looked at Zeneli a few times but will be interesting to see if we step-up our interest now.

It will probably change through the season but going by the way Lens set up for the final match of the season: ————————New GK———————- ——Quashie——THB—-New CB/Stephens— ————————Charles————————-— —Sugawara—Downes—Fernandes-Manning- ————AA/Archer/Stewart—Downs———

Downs seems to fit the profile of the type of player we’re looking for and that will fit Still’s system and style so you have to trust Spors and his scouting team. Of the major nations, German football is probably the closest to English football (compared to Spain and France) in terms of style so hopefully he’ll be able to settle in and get up to speed quickly with the Championship.

Sunderland about to sign Petrovic (GK) from Chelsea. I wonder if that will lead us to stepping up our interest in Anthony Patterson who's been linked with us the past couple of transfer windows. Would represent pure profit from a PSR point of view for them and he's likely now to be back-up there which - at 25 - I doubt he would want.