Ric Flair

Fascinating insight from Maresca, also goes against the notion he wants his defenders to just keep knocking the ball about safely. He's challenging them advance it in to dangerous positions constantly. I think Nelson's natural at all aspects of the game, I don't really see a weakness. Fingers crossed his development pans out, I think it's going to be quick. He's ready.

We've at least a 3 game slip head start on them, but hopefully it won't come down to that.

Yeah I was too, this is the risk with cashing in on young players and it's about striking the balance. I think what swayed it was the fee was considerably high going the other way than perhaps if it was a PL team signing from Belgium and he'd only got experience there and no real affiliation with the UK so the combination probably made it a very good deal for us. History suggests an incredible deal as bar some decent performances in the CL for Brugge, he's struggled to kick on.

Kane Taylor at Man City too.

O'Hare has only started playing again in mid December, he has 9 goals and 2 assists in 19 games. He's got a lot of ability and is a low risk punt as long as we were sensible on wages, he's rejected a £25k a week new deal at Cov, but you'd imagine a £2m signing on fee or more and £30-35k a week would do it if we go up. I'd take the chance.

Yeah Fernandes is very intruiging, as is Gabriel Misehouy from Ajax. Not sure if he's got suspect advisors but really surprising he's leaving Ajax. Huge talent.

Rudkin deserves praise for getting €9m for Kamal Sowah. There I said it.

Yeah it was founded by Tom Vernon who was previously a scout for Man Utd. Think it was said at the time that our links to the academy enabled us to get Kamal Sowah which had surprised many, as players tend not to slip through there that easily.

It is a market we need to do more in, especially in light of how appalling we are at moving players on when we no longer want them. Saving on transfer fees can help alleviate some of that burden and possibly make it more attractive for buyers, obviously we need to continue to lower our wage bill too. Some realistic targets from outside the top leagues: Luka Ilic - Troyes Callum O'Hare - Coventry Nico Melamed - Espanyol Nathan Wood - Swansea (inverted full back candidate) Harrison Burrows - Peterborough (LCB/inverted full back candidate) Bence Dardai - Hertha Berlin Gabriel Misehouy - Ajax (huge talent and is leaving this summer which is a big surprise) Sinclair Armstrong - QPR (I'm convinced he's a superstar in the making. Seen flashes of it this season) Pedro Santos - Benfica

No I can't, but if we did then it would get a bit tight I think. Just got to stay focused and not let up a single inch.

Another question, which was referred to in the article I put up. Right to Dream academy have had players come over apparently? that is a serious hot bed of talent. It was also reported somewhere that we've someone working at LCFC that had previous links to that academy.

Due to the change in the transfer rules for British clubs that came in this summer, although we can only get 4 players who'd not ordinarily qualify for a work permit and not sure clubs would use one for their academy unless there's seperate rules for that.

Yes you're right, not sure if he has any British relatives or because he'd already represented Bermuda senior team because historically its been very difficult. I knew I'd read the article on it somewhere https://www.google.com/amp/s/theathletic.com/2906796/2021/11/25/brooke-house-college-links-with-leicester-kanu-and-okocha-and-coaching-youngsters-from-around-the-globe/%3famp=1 Currently, the rules on International Transfer Certificates require overseas players to gain enough points through the Government Body Endorsement system, similar to the visa system, to be able to play in an FA affiliated league, and the FA’s interpretation is different to many places on the continent, where students are exempt. Previously foreign students could play for Brooke House College in the local leagues, like the English Colleges Football Association, and the Independent Schools Football Association’s amateur leagues, but the FA started to clamp down on these leagues, saying foreign players need an ITC to play. Effectively, schools are treated the same as professional clubs and the students the same as professional players. The FA stance is that if a player is a student and moves without their parents to another country temporarily for academic reasons in order to undertake an exchange programme then they may qualify under the relevant exemption. However, the player’s new club or academic institution must be purely amateur with no legal, financial or de facto links to a professional club. The move must be made solely for academic reasons and not motivated in full or in part by football activity. “FIFA’s regulations on the status and transfer of players (RSTP) relate to all national associations,” a FA spokesperson said. “As a result, all affiliated competitions and their member teams, whether they are clubs or academic institutions, are required to comply with Article 19.2 of the RSTP which prohibits the international transfer of a player if they are under the age of 18 unless they meet one of the stated exemptions.” The Athletic has also contacted FIFA but have not received a response at the time of publication. As many of the students don’t qualify for an ITC through the GBE system, it has left Brooke House struggling to provide enough match experience to compliment the coaching in the academy, stifling the progress of young players who are then forced to move to Europe. Brooke House has been seeking a legal solution for the past two years and claim that FIFA itself does not agree with the FA’s stance. In the meantime, players like Kelvin John will look to Europe — and usually Belgium. John was proposed to the college by an academy in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and the college provided financial assistance for John to study at Brooke House, where he excelled on the pitch, but despite being a full international for Tanzania he didn’t meet the ITC criteria.

Yeah that sounds about right, they only have temporary residence in the UK and if a professional club tried to sign them, they'd need to apply for a visa and work permit which up until recently would be very unlikely to be granted but for British clubs they can have up to 4 but still might be difficult given the status of such a player.

I'd be very nervous if we got anything less than 98 points.

Am I correct in saying that professional clubs are unable to sign any players from there? Sure I read that before.

I hope our wage structure if we go back up is being completely overhauled but the likes of Vestergaard, Ndidi and Iheanacho signing new contracts will likely contradict that.

None of this explains Rudkin's strategic role as Director of Football who under his watch we've a history of paying too much for players and unable to get the necessary fees or players off our books that we wanted to. Whilst a wage bill spiralling to 85-90% of revenue (105% at its worst due to covid). Rudkin was responsible for the negotiations, I grant he'd have a team that formed part of this of course but it's his remit to analyse the trend of overpaying, being unable to sell and spiralling costs that contributed to all of that. I'm not convinced that has happened (we continued to overpay on the face of it - questioning and refusal of valuations should have been in place, he should have used his skills to negotiate lower prices perhaps?), and if it has it certainly has rewarded little change. How you defend this abomination that we've gotten ourselves in to with transfers in and out is beyond me.

I actually was, I said at the time it was concerning how much it was growing and the impact that might have on future spending. I didn't understand FFP as much back then (don't know that much now) but the losses were growing year on year, we pushed things to the max and have paid the price. Huge mistakes made.

I don't see what European club offers him more than £40-50k a week, even on a free.

Our total wage bill in the years leading up to our relegation was utterly unforgivable and its the one area that even the most sympathetic of fans towards our directors and board are unable to get around. I personally think the wages and the transfer fees we have paid are directly correlated, we were out of touch and paid way over the odds. Funny we changed Head of Recruitment 3 times in recent years and kept the same DOF but the overspending remained pretty clear.

Hang on, you're telling me a DOF doesn't have any responsibility for the transfer fee that they sign players for?

We got 9 points from those 5 earlier in the season, same again and we'd be absolutely fine.

Jury is out, I do rate him and he'd be a relatively risk free punt as long as we looked to pay him a larger signing on fee up front than have him on a salary that should he not be good enough, we can't offload him back to the Championship very easily.

Outstanding