LCCFox96

If a goalkeeper doesn’t come from Denmark, I don’t want to know them. Welcome Mads.

The main merit for keeping Evans was for his experience and leadership in defence. Now we've got Coady that need is massively minimised (shows how important his signing was to us). So it becomes a question of whether we'd get 20-25+ games out of Evans this season to make the 1- year extension worthwhile to the club versus the wages Evans would want. Based on his injury record, I'd say we aren't getting that number of games and he's clearly on the fence about signing on anyway. Safe to say we've had the best out of him and £3.5m for Evans at the time was a steal. If he wants to leave now and we can reinvest that wage elsewhere, then so be it. Coady, Doyle, and Souttar gives us strong options, and if Faes leaves as well as Evans, we can dip into the market again.

Happy with the player - great profile and what we needed. Disappointed that it's only a loan deal.

We’ve no chance of getting him for £2-3m plus add ons. They got £2m plus add ons for Ross McCrorie to go to Bristol City. They’ll want well over double that for Duk. Outside of Kyogo Furuhashi I’d say he’s the most influential attacking player for his side in the league. If they tank in Europe and Duk has been meh, then maybe they’ll cash in in January but I think he’ll kick on again. It’s a great shout from you, he’s some athlete and produces special moments. To answer your question on the scout - Darren Mowbray (brother of Tony Mowbray I believe) was Head of Recruitment and built a more global scouting network which has been successful and is a refreshing change from the Scottish football and league one free agent bargain bin. He’s headed to Southampton though to replace Martyn Glover so interesting to see how that holds up without him.

Fair play, I thought he’d signed for 18-months straight like Sowah. Assumed it would be a similar arrangement to that. In that case then, I’d agree with you that we have two players under the new rule who we won’t use in the first team squad which could well be an opportunity missed.

Will take a mega offer (in SPL terms) to get him out of Aberdeen. When he was signed from Benfica he did so on a no fee agreement with Benfica holding a 50% sell on clause for his next transfer. Worth it for Aberdeen to get a youth talent of his ability and Duk is a big part of their recent success getting back into European football and scouting on the continent (Miovski, Ramadani too). But because of their 50% clause situation you’d need to essentially double the valuation so they get what they want. They’ll want a similar fee to Calvin Ramsay’s Liverpool transfer in their pockets so I’d say this has the potential to be an 8-figure fee. Could we afford it? Yes. Would Aberdeen lie down and accept it? No. Is the player a big risk? Yes - he’s a talented boy and the most exciting player I’ve seen in an Aberdeen shirt since I started watching them in the mid-2000’s but very mercurial. I’d want to see him for another season replicate his form and then he’s worth that kind of fee. It’s widely accepted in Aberdeen that a repeat of last season for Duk means he’ll be sold next summer when he has a year left. Aberdeen CEO Alan Burrows basically said he’s going nowhere this summer and the player is happy to commit to the hard won European football project. Currently with their squad on pre-season camp in Portugal. (Family Aberdeen fans if you’re wondering where that came from 😂).

Could that not be the very reason for leaving him at OHL? As Opoku’s signing and that loan agreement with OHL was done prior to that rule coming into place, it wouldn’t be retrofitted to the new rule unless we changed the original terms of that agreement (E.g recalled him from the loan and sent him back out under fresh terms) if that makes sense? Under that thinking, if we leave him where he is we have another slot free for another player to and can decide what to do with Opoku next summer re. bringing him into the squad. No idea tbf, all guesswork.

Callum Elder signs for Derby after his release from Hull. Callum Elder: Derby County sign Hull City defender on three-year deal - BBC Sport

With Praet, getting a highly paid player who we rarely use, and hasn’t ever held down a starting position out the door is vital. Providing we can get his wages fully off the books, any fee in the £0-5mil bracket would be a bonus.

Do you know what, having slept on it and waking up this morning I’m just relieved we’re transitioning away from the squad that sent us down. Last season was miserable first whistle to last. I’m nervous but excited for the summer ahead and this is the first step. Like I said yesterday, Tielemans, Soyuncu, Mendy, Perez, Amartey, and Tete won’t be fondly missed but they go with good enough wishes. However, to be able to say Ryan Bertrand is no longer a Leicester City player is extremely refreshing. In 2 years he made next to no positive contributions and only heightened our financial struggles. I pulled up some basic stats to emphasise this. In 2021/2022 he made 11 appearances - 4x PL, 4x Europa, 2x League Cup, 1x Community Shield - that totalled 751 minutes of football. In 2022/2023 he made 1 appearance for 61 minutes in the PL 2 for the u/23s so I haven’t counted that. If his rumoured £80k per week wage is true, then we have paid him just over £11k per minute of football he has played for us in the last two seasons. Or £750k per appearance. That’s utterly staggering. His last contribution was Christmas 2021 to miss a penalty at Anfield to dump us out of the league cup. I got called a ‘****ing Tory’ walking back to the car that night by more locals than he’s played games for us. You just know he’s going to retire with a ‘time to hang the boots’ up post in the next few weeks too. Like he hadn’t done that a long time ago! Had the club’s bollocks in a vice the moment he signed a 2 year deal. I’m delighted I never have to read another Sky Sports pre-match update saying he ‘remains out’ and I look forward to seeing players who, at a bare minimum, are interested in being professional footballers at the club.

The club need to be certain on Evans' fitness situation before agreeing to that contract extension. He made 14 appearances last season. The Championship is a relentless league for fixtures and we'll be playing in the earlier cup rounds too. If he's not going to be fit for at least 25-30 games, it's pointless and a waste of a wage. Everyone else goes under a cloud with relegation and won't be overly fondly remembered but, with the exception of Bertrand whom I'm delighted to see the back of, I wish them all well enough.

Agree re. Kasper coming back to us, but Brentford signed Freiburg keeper Mark Flekken last week to replace Raya so it definitely won't be there either.

Rodgers, Rudkin, and Top was a poisonous combo for our situation. Rodgers in a situation with no money to refresh the squad that was stuttering in the 21/22 season, and where he'd run his mouth on a weekly basis about some of the players not being good enough and requiring a 'healthy shake-up' was very dangerous even before form fell off a cliff at the start of this season. Rodgers isn't the manager for that environment. The club didn't recognise that and gave him far, far, far too long. Rudkin is Top's earpiece and mouthpiece internally as far as football matters go. It's obvious he leans on him for decision-making guidance in that department and Rudkin has watched the flames of a bad summer and start to the season turn into a dumpster fire. Sheer hubris and negligence and passive beyond belief. His guidance to Top to make decisions has been well off the mark. He should be removed from his position. If any of us had performed this badly at work we'd be getting a P45. All that said on Rudkin, Top also has a brain. He didn't listen to fans and, according to reports, concerns from a number of players. He stuck with Rudkin's judgement until it was too late. That's also hubris in my opinion - the 'we'll be okay' mantra. When Puel left he sacked him 2months earlier and made reference to the negativity around the stadium which could not be ignored in his statement. We've slumped to the second division here because he has ignored that same negativity and division between the fans and the club. At the same everyone in the club is calling for unity and support from the fans. He failed to step up and act.

Percy reported that every player had wage reduction clause in their contract of between 35%-50%. If that's true (Percy saying it gives it credibility) and KDH's new wage of £75k p/w is true (feels about right) then he'll be on something between £37.5k - £48.75k p/w. Sustainable long-term? No. Manageable for a season or two if strip back elsewhere to keep the players we want? Yes. I agree we'd probably entertain offers for him, as we would everyone right now, and it'll also depend on if he wants to go or not too but even just losing the out of contract players, shifting Maddison and Barnes for big fees, and losing one or two fringe players (Vestergaard, Praet etc) will make a massive difference and give us wiggle room for the season ahead.

I completely agree. Evans would be another if he stays. To clarify, when I say I don't want to see many signings of that ilk, I think we need 10+ signings this summer, so 3 or 4 should be of that age/profile.

Luka Milivojevic on a free transfer might be worth looking at. We’re likely to need bodies in CM, he’s a former PL captain, a natural leader, effective at shielding the back, and a goal threat from dead ball situations. He’s 32 now and hasn’t played much over the last couple of seasons as he’s been a squad player at Palace, but did retain club captaincy. I don’t want to see us sign many players of this profile as he’s obviously the polar opposite of an emerging young talent with room to develop but feel his experience, leadership, and defensive street smarts on a 1-year deal for free is an option worth exploring.

Thanks. There we go then. If we get a fee in and around £1m-£2m which Ipswich can definitely afford then it’s time to part ways and role the dice on someone else.

If Ipswich offer a fee, we have to take it. Hirst was the type of signing we should always take a punt on when he first arrived. He’s now 24 years old, had two honking loan spells in the Championship and two solid-good loan spells in League One. I’d imagine he also on about £10k-£20k per week, which in our position is a wage worth saving. If there’s cash on the table snap their hand off.

Excuse the essay above haha, Christ that’s a lengthy post. Found it therapeutic so just kept writing into a thought dump!

Now we’re relieved of our misery and confirmed as relegated, having so many players out of contract and a couple of undeniably valuable sellable assets gives us some vital flexibility to address our slump. Add in the relegation wage drop clauses reported by Percy, and we have a golden opportunity to make things right over the first season or so that isn’t afforded to all newly relegated clubs. The other bonus is that a number of squad will have suitors in the international markets (unlike clubs like Burnley, Sheff Utd etc who have gone down recently with largely homegrown squads). We can take advantage of that and get players off the books for reduced fees here or there. The club need to pull their finger out their arse and get a new manager in place, and godwilling a new DoF, and begin to tackle a mammoth summer. With the out of contract players we can immediately wave goodbye to Tielemans, Soyuncu, Bertrand, Amartey, and Tete (loan). Perez will also be off after his Betis loan ends. That’s a great start in terms of finances. I’d offer Mendy fresh terms but I think he’ll leave as he’ll have suitors abroad. The French and Turkish clubs he’s been linked with will be all over him like a fly on shit now he’s on a free. Evans I’m indifferent to staying or going but can see the club the pushing a new 1 year deal. Maddison and Barnes have to be sold. I’d want £40m-£45m+ for each, although I think due to his contract length we’ll end up getting more Barnes than Maddison. For me our other sellable assets between £8m-£15m are Castagne, Ndidi, and Soumare. They’ll all be on the move. I’m also hopeful we can fetch £2m or so from Ipswich for Hirst to top up. Praet, Vestergaard, and Ward should be moved on in any available deal that’s - hopefully - of no cost to us. I’d be offering free transfers there in the hope we don’t cop for any wages. If we get offered a fee, snap off hands. I think we’ll keep Wout Faes due to lack of numbers at CB but I’d listen to offers on him too. That leaves the following: GK: Iversen and Smithies - I’d be content with rolling with Iversen as #1, and using a highly rated kid as #2 or bringing in a cheap elder statesmen as #3 around Smithies. It’s a solid enough pairing for EFL, Iversen has done enough to earn the chance, and we have bigger fish to fry so expect GK to be quiet. LB: Thomas and Kristiansen both to stay at LB. RB: I’m hopeful we can hang onto Justin for a season or two and get him fit again. Ricardo I’d listen to offers for and sell if finances require it. CB: Souttar to stay and we need to find a top partner for him. We’ll likely still have Faes and we may still have Evans imo. CM: KDH is the only man I can see staying. So for that reason I think we have to keep Choudhury too. CM looks extremely patchy. LW & RW: We’ll have just Albrighton left which is the end result of Rodgers’ and the club’s pathetic management of those positions. Albrighton will see his deal out with us and I’d welcome it just as you can guarantee that Marc will at least have the bollocks to front up what’s happened and fight to put it right. ST: This will be the most interesting position to watch imo as, in theory, we might not need to add at all. Vardy I think will see his deal out with us on reduced terms or retire. Iheancho I’d be offering a new deal to and make him the focal point of the attack but suspect he’ll be off. Daka I’d keep but think he might be sold if an offer comes in. So I can see us keeping: 2x GK, 2x LB, 1-2x RB, 1-3x CB, 2x CM, 1x Winger, 1-3x ST So we need to bring in or find a youth player shaped solution to: 1x back-up GK, possibly 1x RB, 2-4x CB, 3x CM, 3x Wingers, possibly up to 2x ST. I can genuinely see us bringing in about 11-13 players. It’s terrifying stuff. If we can get - on paper - an exciting managerial appointment, get Jon Rudkin out, eat into the clear out, and bring in a couple of early signings in the next few weeks I’ll start to feel a little bit better. But this is an absolute mountain of a summer and I have zero confidence in the club to nail it at present. Borderline negligence that’s it’s been allowed to come to this, but I’m looking forward to - hopefully - seeing a full squad of players proud to wear our shirt and pleased for the opportunity to be at our club. Up the City!

Whether or not you agree with the game plan last night (imo we were always going to try something like that away at a rampant Newcastle) there are some positives to take away whereas after Fulham and Liverpool there were none: - We've kept ourselves alive until the final day where could easily have gone down. - We've maintained a 2 point gap to Everton with a valuable point that increases the number of variable results by which we can survive at the weekend. - We've kept - somehow - a bastard clean sheet for the first time in months. We're alive and we have a fool's hope. A favour from Bournemouth and win 1 game of football and we survive. Stood at Craven Cottage at FT, I'd have taken that if offered it tbqh such is our current state.

A fully fit James Justin. I hope - perhaps over optimistically - that he is over the worst of his injuries, will get a full preseason under his belt and is player who will be key to our fight to return to the top flight.

Any good away fan pubs for this?

Maddison did a similar post when Puel left too. He's very vocal and not exactly backward in coming forwards so I expected him to say something. He'll be off in the summer regardless, hopefully he helps keep us up before he goes.

Iversen Ricardo Souttar Faes Kristiansen KDH Mendy Maddison Iheanacho Barnes Vardy Give the players more autonomy and freedom to play. Mendy in to support retaining possession and covering the back 4. Get Maddison, Iheanacho, and Barnes on the ball. Look up early and try to find Vardy. When Vardy tires, bring Daka on keep doing it. Villa are very useful going forwards, Watkins is bang in form and they've just got a great away win at Chelsea. I can't see us keeping a clean sheet, but I can see us causing them problems at the back if we set up to do it. That's our strength, let's play to it.