oadby.fox

Ah okay, that makes more sense then. Last Summer feels like an age ago. It still doesn’t explain the transfers we did make which were by and large pretty horrendous. I honestly think we may have been better off playing academy prospects but there you go.

Can someone explain to me why KDH and Maresca leaving was beneficial for financial reasons? Firstly, weren’t the issues regarding PSR concerning our prior stint in the league? Secondly, if we did need the money, then our transfer business didn’t really reflect that. Couldn’t we have (hypothetically) kept both KDH and Maresca, and simply not signed Skipps, Edouard, and one of Ayew or DCR? Similarly, we could’ve sold Kristiansen to Bologna and done some mixture of the above. Skipps only cost a little bit less than KDH and offers pretty much 0 footballing value. None of it made any financial sense at the time and still doesn’t. I suppose my ultimate point is that, once again, we’ve gone out to sign players who most of us could’ve predicted would add very little quality, players that will now be on good wages and hard to shift in the championship. KDH didn’t want to leave and was one of our best players. So to replace him with Skipp and co at cost makes very little sense.

Would be fairer if Wolves had to play with Ward in the second half.

Well it can’t make him any worse can it

Do people still want to defend Ward after that? We have been crap sure but the guy is a joke.

KDH to Skipp is such a horrible downgrade for just a few million in profit difference.The less said about Ward the better, shouldn’t even be a part of the squad. I bet the statistical break down on our performance with him vs without him is horrendous.

Good riddance! Although one wonders what the club saw in him to begin with. Uninspiring appointment and expectably poor performances and results. I just hope they go for someone now who the players and fans will buy into.

wtf am I watching. bizarre game, both sides so poor defending

Iceland levels. Glad I never really committed to this tournament from an England perspective. Hilarious to see everyone slowly realise that Southgate is a fraud.

Precisely. It’s so depressing.

Perhaps I’m showing my lack of knowledge in this area but this leaves a few questions still unanswered (at least for me!). Firstly, it is my understanding that we will be subject to a deduction this season irrespective of how much we made right now. If that’s right then is this looking forwards to the following/current period? If so, then I don’t see why we would be under immediate pressure to sell KDH now unless we are definitely going to fall foul and this Summer is our last window to rectify things. If not and there’s a choice between, say, a 4 point deduction and selling KDH then I say keep KDH. If the current period needs improving but ends next Summer (or the following), then we don’t necessarily need to sell KDH now. Secondly, whilst I understand that academy players don’t “cost” anything, money is money right and it doesn’t make a difference as to where it comes from when balancing the books? As things stand, players like Daka and Soumare will sit on the bench, draining a wage from the club and then leave for free realising a loss for the club. Even if we recouped £12m for them both we wouldn’t lose anything (in terms of quality) and we would also free up wages. Yes, that would be taking a loss but we would be mitigating a portion of it. Similarly, surely there is a taker for one of Soutter or VK at around £10m. All of that together would bring us to a similar financial position as shifting KDH would for £20m and bringing in Moder would it not? If anything we would be a lot better off regarding wages whilst the first team hasn’t weakened at all. I imagine I must be missing quite a few things!

If the idea is to sell KDH and then start Soumare, god help us all. If we see Moder as a like for like replacement and want to keep Soumare as an option, then it still seems like a terrible deal. I don’t really understand why some are so eager to ship KDH off to Brighton. I think Brighton are in for a tougher year this year and if we start well we could end up being mid-table competitors. That aside and whatever you think of him, KDH was integral last year and has been one of the few players that has actually put a shift in over the past few years. He is obviously motivated and has a few undeniable strengths. I’m unaware of what Moder might bring but there’s a reason he is being offered as part of a swap deal and Brighton clearly see KDH as an improvement. Even if KDH goes to Chelsea, we will need to replace him and that’s not going to be cheap or necessarily doable on the budget we have. Likely, we end up with a downgrade and a weaker midfield than we had last year. Moreover, just the optics of having to sell one of your best players who is also a local and isn’t pressuring to leave the club is terrible. It signals that we are no longer taking the footballing side of the operation seriously. There are four players who surely we should look to move on first if we have to (Soutter, Kristiansen, Soumare, Daka). Cooper might have different plans but I can’t ever imagine Daka or Soumare coming good whereas the other two haven’t played much of a role or been at the club in VK’s case. We’ve resigned Vesty so that implies he’s going to be first choice I think and with Thomas coming back we probably need to sell a fullback. Really can’t make sense of selling KDH as the priority.

Signed on for the first time in a while just to say … In all seriousness, there were definitely risks with both Potter and Corberan but Cooper doesn’t exactly ensure staying up either. I’m also not sure whether he will inspire confidence in the players, given that it isn’t an exciting appointment by any stretch of the imagination. Maresca had little experience but was coming off the back of a treble as a Pep disciple. Can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed going into the new season now and there’s nothing to suggest (so far) that Cooper will be a good appointment to build something over the long term. If we were looking for someone to simply steady the ship for a year or two in the Prem, then (can’t believe I’m saying this) I would’ve gone with Moyes on a two year deal as an experienced pair of hands whilst sounding out a younger, long term option. The football would’ve been horrendous for the most part but Cooper isn’t so inspiring in this regard either and has less experience/pedigree. Hope he proves me wrong!

Faes and Vesty get turned far too easily and far too often imo. Surely must replace at least one of them if not both as starters if we go up.