UpweySaint

Nope. I remember the whole stadium atmosphere changing when he came on and started running at players with electric pace. This may be wholly subjective but I remember being very excited about Theo early doors.

Very much a case of pot kettle twat.

Charlie Austin has been on a pod saying that the rest of the 24 man squad hated him. Hoedt said the squad was 25 - Charlie (his account so due scepticism) reminded him that he was the 25th man in the squad. Could all be bollocks but Wesley did always give off the billy big one’s attitude.

I think it’s consistency that has stopped him being a prem player yet. Boro fans suggested he could go missing in games and we had that in spells last season - there were extenuating circumstances. If he carries on this season the way he has started you have to think he’ll be in the prem next season with or without us.

I imagine a Benny Hill style pursuit ….

Ambitious! I guess he’s the Charles replacement

Assists and goals scored combined.

Agreed. He has had a poor start to the season and has his limitations as a player but some of the hyperbole is OTT in my opinion. It’s good to have a genuine alternative but I would have concerns about throwing in a new player to a CB pairing without at least giving him a bit of time to get up to speed with how we play.

Very much this. When you see the fees banded about now and combine that with knowing how much Villa have recouped in sales this summer the reported offer is derisory. I agree THB would probably be gutted not to make the move. It’s a fantastic step up for him and there is an opportunity to establish himself as a first choice centre back for a prem side playing champions league football under a top coach. Hopefully if Villa can’t make a sensible offer he’ll grumble but get on with the job at hand. I think he could be fairly confident that after next summer he will be in the prem either with us or somebody else as we won’t be able to let him leave on a free if we don’t go up (I think!)

I agree his value will drop next summer but I wonder how much by in the event we don’t go up? If Villa’s first offer was £18mil I could still see a prem side paying £15mil next season. My hope is THB respects that the club are holding a reasonable value and it’s up to Villa to meet it.

You are smashing it with posting the links this summer, thank you! It’s nice to see the rumours in one place without having to trawl social media. - Hopefully Yuki can get a decent move. It would be good to see a few of the fringe players moved on both for us and them.

It doesn’t mean he made a choice not to play and you know that.

Do you honestly believe THB won’t be replaced?

Very true but I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of those has a wobble this season - European football and losing Iraola could be tricky for Bournemouth to navigate. If (and if is doing a lot of heavy lifting here) we can get back up I would back Spors and Tonda to make us looking much more competitive than last time we went up. There is a lot of pressure on us to get this window right.

I can see why you would say that but I really rate TBH. Seeing England’s relative lack of depth at CB over the summer I genuinely wondered how far away TBH would be from selection if he can have a decent season in the prem.

Clearly slacking! Also being a cheapskate and rationed to three posts a day 😅 I agree about standing firm. Some clever stuff with add ons etc to make it more palatable to both parties is likely but IMO £30 mil for THB is about right. Then again I keep seeing some of the prices Chelsea are apparently slapping on players who haven’t pulled up trees and nearly fall over so bugger what I know! Benfica should fancy themselves to get past Aarhus though I can’t pretend to know much about either side a the moment. I guess the pain for us is the second leg isn’t until 27th August. I won’t do the “man shouts at clouds” bit about the window being open after the season starts but clearly if he is going to go we want everything sorted sooner than rather than later so we can get a replacement in and up to speed asap.

Good spot. I think this makes it that much trickier for them to try lowball tactics. We value TBH at £30mil, they can’t exactly say all that convincingly that they can’t afford that now 😅 If THB does go for that sort of fee I’m hopeful we can do some decent business our end. £60 mil for him and Charles is good money. I would have ideally kept both but this was always likely when we didn’t go back up. Even if we can’t spend all of it you would hope there is enough to get quality replacements, it will be time for Spors to earn his money again …

I don’t recall anyone saying that but could be wrong. I don’t fancy trawling back through and I imagine you don’t either! In certain circumstances I expect Downes and Bragg could work but it’s not ideal and shouldn’t be the default pairing - I expect most can agree ok that. We are light in centre mid and need a different profile for sure. I’m not sure on physicality but I spotted a tenuous Celtic link to Matt O’Reilly going back. I remember him being a player we targeted previously. Probably unrealistic but he adds goals and creativity from midfield, I THINK he could play as an 8. A loan with an option to buy if we go up maybe?

Fair enough. Hopefully he proves you wrong throughout the season 🤷‍♂️

He’s played about 30 mins of football for us and barely trained with the team. He came into a game with us struggling to break a team down who were working hard to hold a lead. What did you expect from him?!

Without wanting to go into MLG mode correlation does not necessarily equal correlation. It’s hard to prove or disprove the benefits to the national team either way. I appreciate the top down system isn’t going to change. We’re a part of it too. I do think the way teams are compensated needs looking at though to ensure academies remain sustainable lower down the pyramid.

All in all it’s quite dispiriting, we’ve lost a few over the last few years with a lot of hype. Alleyne and Jimmy-Jay Morgan would probably be in and around the first team by now. Do we actually get compensation for a player moving this young? You can see why some clubs have folded their academies. I’m not suggesting we do similar but it’s a significant outlay if you see your brightest poached for buttons. If you were lower down the chain I guess the temptation is to scrap the academy and just rotate a scout around City, Chelsea etc and wait to see who doesn’t get offered a pro contract.

It feels like good value, sensible from Wolves - the manager gamble aside Wolves seem to be making sensible decisions this summer. I can see why Wolves may be ahead of us in the queue for him too so fair enough really. Hopefully Spors can find somebody else more Jander than Downs.

Cheating, rule breaking. Yhep, sure. Can’t argue - I find it odd people are trying to do otherwise. The general point about the sanctimonious bullshit around it that’s been pedalled is perhaps more relevant. We’ve been caught out and punished. I’m bored of people in the media spouting hypocritical hyperbolic nonsense as if the offence was akin to the Calciopoli scandal or something worse. Hopefully we can stick two fingers up to the lot of them and get promoted all the same. Minus four who gives a f*ck …

Open training session, has me stumped for a moment too.