Staffs Fox

Got tickets for the last gig at Knebworth today after being lucky enough to get a code yesterday. I can honestly see it being their last gig ever

Maybe it’s because I also support Celtic but I really like it (sponsorless of course). Overall our best three kit set since the title winning season Shame we get to play Bromley and Mansfield in them

I’m more encouraged by the outgoings than incomings as time will have to tell on those. However getting rid of Mavididi, Skipp, Winks, Vestergaard, Kristiansen, Choudhury as well getting good money for Fatawu and Monga is far beyond what I thought would happen, especially when combined with the likes of Ayew and Daka contacts expiring. It’s the youth academy lads who have shined the most however and I do think we have the basis to have a decent season which is more than I would have said in June

I really don’t like judging a player on one performance but that was bad. Players like Skipp and BDR are awful but at least they show for the ball, he was absolutely anonymous, I honestly had to keep check he was playing. He may come good but that’s amongst the worst league debuts I’ve seen and let’s face it we’ve had a few shockers recently

You might be right but until we see the guy play for us and the next three years play out we really don’t know. So I’m willing to give the guy a chance given the situation we’re in. If he helps us to promotion and championship consolidation I’ll consider that a success given our situation. The point I was making is that the players who are will to play for us is greatly reduced since the BDR and Ayew signings, so it’s not exactly like for like

I’m not saying you’re wrong, everything you say might happen but we need to realise the situation we’re in. The summer we signed BDR and Ayew (as well as giving Vestergaard a new 3 year contract) we were a Premier League side, those signings were abysmal beyond belief. Then we could have signed young hungry talent from the leagues below with proper scouting and they’d have jumped at the chance of joining us The old saying beggars can’t be choosers couldn’t be more apt than now. We are a mess, on the back of 2 consecutive relegations with well documented financial troubles. 3 years is at best going to be a year in league one and 2 in the championship. He could be a good signing at that level. To lump this decision in with the aforementioned ones in incomparable IMO

I received my sponsorless away shirt today and I have to say it’s the nicest shirt we’ve had for many years. It’s just sad that we’ll see Wout Faes playing in it away at Stockport😂

I’ve just had an email saying my away shirt has already been dispatched (I ordered the sponsorless version on the day it became available for pre order). Might get it a few days early, although it’s being sent via Yodel so I’ll probably get it just in time for Xmas!

So there’s traction now. SSN isn’t exactly the Gold Standard but there must be some truth in it now, ‘unnamed Middle Eastern Firm’, apparently . Let’s see

We’ve done really well to clear a lot of the shit from last season and getting big wages off the books whilst getting some half decent fees for players. That said, we need to start getting players in asap. I understand the financial limitations we have but we’ve just sold players for over £30m, even a third of that on 2/3 players would be great at this level

If it is £20m plus add ons that’s a fantastic piece of business in our current situation. A likeable guy and hope he goes on to have a good career but let’s not kid ourselves, he was one of the players who made the most amount of appearances for us last season and was nearly as guilty as some of the others who have already left. Last summer I really thought if we kept hold of him he’d score 20+ in the championship and he’d be the best player in the league….. I was very wrong

I’m confused, am I the only one that really likes it? Dont get me wrong, it would look better with white stripes on the arm but aside from that I love the base colour, classic trefoil logo and the running fox. I think the collar is great too. Granted I haven’t seen it in person but the sponsor less version could be my favourite away kit since the white one from 16-17

When were things good?? You could argue the season under Enzo but he would have had 4 years left then

I actually don’t mind the gold, not because I’m a big fan of gold but because it hides the stripes a bit more. Id prefer it with no stripes but Gold is less pronounced than white Still a really nice kit

Annoyingly without the sponsor I’d say it’s our nicest home shirt in years. Still won’t buy one though

Not at all, it’s bad but it’s not unprecedented. Man United got relegated 6 years after winning the European Cup, Aston Villa did the same but in 5 years for example 10 years is a really long time in football and it can work the other way. Look at our rise from 2011 to 2021. That said, let’s see where we are in 5 years and we might be looking at the worst collapse in 15 years if the rot doesn’t stop

There must be a limit but I know originally Casement Park in Belfast was chosen as a host stadium but when they realised it wasn’t going to be redeveloped in time they decided not to pick a replacement stadium. That seemed so odd to me given the amount of great stadiums we already have available. Celtic Park, King Power (not bias but the Midlands does seem a bit overlooked), Amex and a redeveloped Elland Road would have made most sense

Think it’s a bit crap that the only English Quarter Final as well as both Semi Finals and Final are at Wembley. Thought it should have been shared round a bit more. Compare that with Euro 2024 when the Semi Finals were in Dortmund and Munich whilst the final was Berlin

Whilst Wes was a pivotal part of our success, as others have said, the biggest ok field mistake we made which lead to our downfall was letting Kasper go and thinking Ward could replace him. If we have Schmeichel in goal, we don’t get relegated, it’s that simple

It’s all about context and for that reason it has to be Skipp. That summer we really didn’t have much to spend as we looked to reestablish ourselves back in the Prem. We still had Ndidi, Winks and Soumare as CM options but we decide to spend £20m on this guy when we were crying out for attacking reinforcements. The fact we went into the season with a 38 year old Vardy as our main option whilst this man warmed our bench is so bad. The fact he’s still warming our bench in a terrible bottom house Championship team just compounds it

I was so encouraged by our first 55 mins or so, we played arguably our best football of the season and looked a tier above Wrexham. The midfield 3 looked the best combination so far which with Ramsey now to come back in is a good sign. I am confident that if we play close to that (and the first half against West Brom) we’ll turn these draws into wins not before too long. I am optimistic we can still challenge for promotion. That said, that is the last time I want to see VK and Skipp in our team. I’ve tried to support Skipp since he’s been here and genuinely thought he’d be decent at this level but he’s awful. You may as well have a training dummy there, at least that might get in the way once or twice. With Winks, James and Soumare ahead of him there’s no need to play him at all. He must go down as our worst ever signing and I am not forgetting about the other dross we have but I can at least think of at least one good thing other players have done, with him I can’t

I’m fairly happy with this transfer window. I would have loved a statement striker signing but apart from that our squad is balanced with cover in most areas. Reducing our wage bill, raising £75m in sales (inc BEK) and adding some decent loan signings. Its been a strange start to the season, as largely we’ve played poorly yet we’ve ended up with 3 wins from 4 and with the window now shut and the squad now together until January at least hopefully we can push on even further with these loan signings

I don’t think he’s burnt bridges at all. He’s not done an Isak and gone completely awol. He was at the stadium watching our game and wearing a Leicester City top. It’s not an ideal situation but at least we’ve won the two games he’s been left out and by the next time we play we’ll know. The worst case scenario would be a loan with an option to buy (don’t rule it out with that lot negotiating) but at least by the next time we play we’ll know for certain if he’s part of our squad or not. I think mahrez acted worse than this guy and we got another year out of him

Great win which I have to say was unexpected. Every player on the pitch looked like they cared and put in a shift. That said, if we don’t buy a striker we are more ****ed behind the scenes that we know. How anyone can’t see that if we spend a decent chunk of the £50m we’ve raised in player sales (or £75-80m if BEK leaves) we have an amazing chance of going straight back up and whatever outlay we pay will be repaid 10x. Yeah if Winks and VK go too we’d be short in their positions too but we are desperate for a striker and there’s no reason on the surface why we can’t go and spend £12-15m on a first choice striker. I genuinely don’t think we will though🥺

Jesus Christ if that starting XI isn’t a cry for help to the Board to spend some of the £45m we’ve recouped I dont know what else to say. It isn’t a slight on the young lads who are involved but the Championship is a tough division and they should be able to ease in gently but it looking increasingly likely we’re pinning our hopes on them. Skipp and Soumare as the midfield is just soul destroying. We’ve gone from Tielemans, Maddison, Dewsbury-Hall and Barnes to that midfield in 3 years it’s shambolic