Claudio Fannieri

Agreed, I think West Ham is our best option of securing a decent deal, failing that it will take a sale or two or some very clever negotiating to be able to close a deal with Sheff Utd or Stoke.

Middlesboro as yet have not filled that Hayden Hackney sized hole in there midfield and Norwich who also hold an interest, haven’t signed a midfielder so let’s hope we can tie up an acceptable deal either permanent or loan with an option/obligation this week.

I doubt any of the add ons have been met as I would assume it would be linked to premier league survival and given he has made about 20 appearances for us, again I doubt it has triggered any appearance related bonuses. Also with amortisation you can only write off the fee over a max 5 year period. The rules were changed after Chelsea were offering 7 and 8 year deals to try and find a loophole. So by that reckoning I think we will have £6m on books. The issue is finding a club willing to pay that and a bit more upfront before add ons given his injury record. We will want some profit to help generate budget and wriggle room for incomings. My guess will be we will try and compromise at £7.5m plus some hefty performance and promotion bonuses. Which if hit exceed the £10m but reduces the initial upfront payment for potential buyers, who will be concerned about his long term fitness.

I reckon he wants out, the club want/need him gone but their is a gap on valuations so he was involved yesterday to retain our negotiating position. It will be similar with Okoli, Coulibaly, Faes and Skipp. I see this as a big week transfer wise, I think there will be a lot of movement as clubs return from training camps and the last pre season friendly on the horizon. I think we will see 4 or 5 significant departures and a couple of key signings before the Genoa friendly, then another flurry of activity before the Northampton Carabao Cup game.

I think a compromise will be agreed this week reckon it will involve a lot lower up front payment and heavily loaded appearance and promotion add ons.

I couldn’t agree more, the club is no longer in a position to stockpile lots of 20. 21, 22 year olds who aren’t of 1st team standard. It’s good to see the club being ruthless and clearly Russell and his team have made an assessment that he perhaps doesn’t have the attributes or ability for where we have ambitions to be as a club. Truth is Martin will be looking upwards, and if players like Cartwright, Silko Thomas, Richards, Wilson-Brown and any others that are made available / let go as the club believe their ceiling is below our aspirations then it’s absolutely right we move them on, reduce the wage bill and secure a fee that is 100% profit. It’s good to see us being sensible at last.

Yep, I am already getting there myself 😂

I think the one big thing we have over all similar clubs to is the unique story of winning the league, subsequent champions league campaign and then the FA cup win. It’s still a romantic story and it did and still has catapulted the club onto the world stage. Whilst you cannot necessarily put a financial valuation on the this, it will certainly still be an attraction to potential interested parties. Owning the ‘amazing’ 5000/1 Leicester City will be fair more attractive as an overall project and in terms of recognition and reputation, over say a Middlesbrough, as often this is a dick swinging contest when it comes to these people willing to invest in professional sport.

It could also mean Will Keane is signing for them

Perhaps this is why Rudkin, Kevin Davies and Anthony were all rewarded with promotions to roles that would guarantee them a very healthy bonus payment / dividend in the event of a club sale…..

I think our only hope is for a season long loan to a championship club such as Boro or Norwich with an obligation to buy and bloody hope to god they go up.

This is definitely gathering pace and no coincidence that things are being leaked by respected media outlets. I would say this is a lot further down the line than many anticipate.

Some very good players on that list

I am sure everyone at the club would love to be in a position to have all the new players in and settled at the earliest possible opportunity, however as we all know our finances are in a precarious position and with the SCMP rules it is clear we have to move a large number of players out before we have the headroom to bring players in. One thing I won’t be criticising the club about this summer is the timing of new signings, look at Oxford, they have been hit with an embargo because they have been unable to demonstrate compliance. We are just going to have to accept being patient and recognise that certain exits will need to happen to allow new signings. Hopefully the sale of Abdul opens the door and gives us scope to sign another 3 or 4.

Make no mistake he is a talented player who is capable of producing moments of absolute quality however I also think he has limitations due to poor decision making and he has a tendency to try and do too much especially when things aren’t going his or the teams way, I think this will stop making it with an elite team but nonetheless I think he will carve out a decent career in the premier league.

I did make the point about learning our lessons but never made a reference to signing crccked players, my view more relates to due diligence and having Ings undertake an additional level of medical tests.

Just seen this on X, not sure on credibility but another link

Maybe we are aware of other clubs interest and that we can get a better deal from one of those. If Man United are interested then there is every chance we get up to £10m Including some add ons and a % of any future profit.

Fair play to the club and Russell Martin on this one, putting his through an additional medical, it definitely shows that the club is starting to learn its lessons and things are changing slowly. I have no doubt there will be other targets, the key will be finding a senior striker who has the ability but also the right mentality, culture and standards to act as a mentor and role model to the young and up coming strikers at the club.

What we have to remember is it highly likely this season with cups etc we will play a minimum of 50-55 games. Therefore our academy players could easily start 20-25-30 games this season and be involved in another 10–15 from the bench, that would be a massive step for them, however that also means we will need other players to work in rotation. i think with most signings this summer it will be about having a squad capable of getting through 55 games, the academy players will not be able to do that in isolation. Whilst they are exciting and have huge futures, they are at the beginning of there careers, physically and mentally there is a huge risk they could blow up by February. So the club and RM will have a plan that enables us to have some solid and established senior pros supported by a large group of talented academy prospects and I think there will be a fair amount of rotation to help keep the squad fresh and energy levels really high.

I would imagine it will be the full squad with the only exclusions being players who are on the verge of leaving or have indicated they want to be left out to pursue a move elsewhere. I think the next thing we hear about Abdul will be the announcement he has left to sign for club X or Y. I wouldn’t be surprised if Souttar doesn’t travel and his move isn’t too far away either. other than that I think all other players will travel as the club will be looking to maintain as strong a negotiating position as possible. Will be more interesting to see if we announce any additional new signings in time for them to join the trip.

Appreciate the insight, as with us with previous managers such as Taylor, Holloway, Cooper and RvN the scars run deep when a manager comes in and has such a poor record, however in defence of Russell Martin, so far, it has been pretty positive. It could also be that he has reflected after the Southampton and Rangers spells and accepted that he needs to adapt a little more whilst still maintaining his overall philosophy and principles. I wasn’t keen in the slightest when it was rumoured he would be the manager but I have to say everything I have seen, read and heard on the whole has been really positive, and I am at the stage where I am excite to see what he can do with the club. There has certainly been a massive upturn in culture and standards. so far so good, however lots more work to do and early days but hopefully if he can keep us playing as we are where we seem to be moving the ball forward more quickly then maybe just maybe he will prove a lot of people wrong who say he would never change.

I wouldn’t be shocked if this ends up being settled out of court and us making a fairly nominal compensation payment. Not sure Leeds have anywhere near as strong a case as Burnley did with Everton given our points deduction was less than the number of points we finished ahead. this needs shutting down quickly before it gets out of hand and every club is suing each other for each and every wrong doing.

I think Abdul goes to Ipswich unless someone like Everton take a punt. Hopefully he will done in next few days as I think this is the deal that gives us headroom for more incomings

Trouble is @moore_94 has ****ed off to the all inclusive buffet so the announcement has been delayed