Devonfox1884

We must’ve been south at some point because I remember us going down to Torquay - Vards scoring his first goal for us in a 4-0 win.

Matty Fryatt, my childhood hero

Goal music - depends on the song. Never minded ‘Fire’ but don’t like the current dross. Clappers - don’t personally use them but don’t mind them generally as it gets more people involved in the atmosphere at times.

Looks like Swansea are close to appointing Duff as their new manager to replace Martin. They’ll push for playoffs next season for sure.

Perfect situation for all parties this, should get a decent fee too.

It’s not like his leaving will stop Maresca from contacting and getting advice from Guardiola either. Just got to trust the process on this one, if we’re mid table at Christmas we have to stick with him, else we’ll fall into the trap of constantly chopping and changing and having no identity.

I’d rather have a look at their younger players and see if there’s anybody we could take from their development squad. If not, cash only.

Love the guy, but if we were offered the chance to offload his wages whilst getting a nominal fee I think we have to take it. If we’re going to take a risk on an injury prone player I’d rather it be JJ.

This is the type of signing I like when it comes to us. Wouldn’t mind him and Daka as our main options up top, maybe with Hirst as a plan B.

Doubt it’s true, but I’d sell for £7m with a year left on his contract. VK will be first choice next season I suspect so we can use part of Luke’s fee to sign a young understudy to VK and have some funds left to play with.

I think he’s just behind Iversen with regards to current ability. He’s recovering from an ACL that he sustained in February also, and who knows how that will affect him going forwards. He’s not got any glaring weaknesses, but equally I don’t think he has any major strengths… he’s just a solid keeper if that makes sense. The championship is his level, but he’s still young.

I watch a lot of Plymouth due to where I live and, if I’m honest, I think they got slightly lucky last season. The amount of fortunate decisions they had go for them was staggering. Like I say they also outperformed their expected outputs in almost every metric which isn’t sustainable (think last season under BR where we were dreadful but clinical and finished 8th). They’re losing a good few loanees that they had and have already lost one of their best players, Niall Ennis, to Blackburn. I think Schumacher’s credentials are going to be really tested this season, especially in terms of recruitment as a lot of the squad he’s working with now were Ryan Lowe’s signings. The only players Schumacher has brought in himself outside of loans are Callum Wright, Tyriek Wright, Saxon Earley and Ben Waine - only Callum Wright has made any sort of real impact on the first team and I can’t see the others making it at the club. Plymouth paid good fees for these players too by their recent standards and aren’t a club who can afford to waste money, much like us at the moment. I’d fancy Ipswich to finish a good few places above Plymouth - as much as I have a soft spot for Plymouth I think Ipswich are a better team who play better football. If we were to go for Schumacher it would be a bigger risk than McKenna in my opinion.

I think people are underestimating what a good, exciting appointment McKenna would be. I know I’ve been incessant about wanting Duff, and I stick by that, but McKenna would be a really good second option. What we need the most is a manager that is motivated by seeing us as a step up, and although we’re now in the same league as Ipswich, I still think McKenna would see us as that. He got them playing exciting football at Ipswich last season, scoring over 100 goals and finishing second only to a Plymouth side who lost at home once all season and vastly outperformed their expected outputs in almost every metric. They were very unlucky not to win the league and would have done easily in other seasons.

If he is to stay, Evans has to be on a modest weekly wage with good bonuses for appearances - maybe set fees for reaching 20, 30 and 40 games (not that that is likely to happen whatsoever).

He has one final chapter in him - to get us back up. What a wonderful way to go full circle with us that would be. His leaving on the back of promotion next year could really spell the birth of a new era for the club. Fantasy land stuff but would be incredible. I just don’t want him to leave on a negative, he deserves more than that.

Swansea nearest, Sunderland furthest for me. Done Argyle, Bristol C, Cardiff and Southampton.

We have to get a minimum combined £85m for Barnes and Maddison combined. I think we’ll be looking at £40m for Madders and a touch more for Barnes due to his contact having a year longer to run.

What a man. A very limited footballer but you could never accuse him of not giving 100%. Good luck big Dan.

Going to be interesting to see how much our away attendances fall off. Hoping I’ll have the chance to get hold of a few more tickets than I did when in the PL.

You’d hope so! I like the idea of not having to sign wingers for his 3-5-2, we’ve really struggled to recruit in that department and Albrighton could stay for the season as a backup at RWB.

This is the issue, as is the fact that Duff is a very smart man. What I mean by that is he supposedly had many offers from other clubs during his time with Cheltenham but turned them down as he wanted to take them as far as he could to raise his stock further. As it turned out, with a lack of money to spend, that was mid table in league 1. I suspect that we’d have to really sell the club to him in order to convince him to leave his project at Barnsley after a season. If he stays there I would highly recommend a few ££ (if you’re that way inclined) on them to be promoted next season. Perhaps the salary we could offer him compared to Barnsley could play a part. I think his first signing would be Jacob Greaves from Hull - he loved him when he was on loan at Cheltenham and talked him up as a future PL defender. He was brilliant on the left of a back 3.

I’m a broken record at this point but Duff is the man and no one can convince me otherwise. He’s a younger Pearson who I believe is a bit more tactically astute, he’s been successful at both clubs he’s managed so far and has had both sets of fans completely onside. I spent 3 years at uni in Cheltenham and watched town a lot whilst he was in charge. He had next to no money and a fanbase who were used to yo-yoing between the NL and league 2. Within a season he completely changed their style of play to a fluid 3-5-2 and, according to a few fans I spoke to, had them playing the most “attacking and exciting” football they had ever seen at the club. He got them into the L2 playoffs in his first season, and promoted as champions the next. He consolidated them in the lower mid-table in L1 (the highest they’d been in their history) before moving on to Barnsley last summer. He was very unfortunate to lose the play off final with them last weekend. It just makes so much sense and I would find it an exciting appointment. He will be a premier league manager eventually, let’s make it with us.

Played on loan at Cheltenham under Duff too - reunite them!

He really reminds me of Pearson in how he speaks to the media. Obviously he’s younger, and he’s less oppositional than Pearson was at times, but he plays a good brand of football. Interestingly he’s always played 3-5-2 (or 3-4-1-2) as a manager. With our lack of ability to recruit a decent winger recently this might not actually be a bad thing. Realistically we could line up like this if we are brave and keep Kel for the season: Iversen JJ Souttar Faes Ricardo New CM KDH Kristiansen New AM Kel Daka Suddenly that team looks very capable for the championship. Clearly we’d need to sign a good few more players for the squad, especially as JJ and Ricardo aren’t reliable for fitness, and I’m not sure how effective Kristiansen would be in that role, but I think it goes some way to showing that if we’re smart in our appointment of a manager, potential recruitment may become less daunting too.

Get Michael Duff in and keep Kel as part of his 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 formation. No need to recruit wingers which are our biggest problem area and we’d have a good chunk of the team ready to go before any signings are made. Iversen Faes Souttar New CB Ricardo/JJ New CM KDH Kristiansen New AM Kel Daka If there’s a player worth gambling on by not selling, I think it should be Kel.