Stopharage

With our highly likely points deduction we were always very likely to be relegated this season. Cooper’s appointment just reeks of the board happy to tread water for a year and destroys most of the feel-good factor of last year. The signings of BDCR and Ayew do very little to future-proof the club and the team value has decreased drastically from a few years back. That heads haven’t rolled at board level is a damning indictment of Top’s leadership. We should have brought in a progressive manager who was willing to take the game to teams, rather than sit back passively allowing teams onto us. We should have looked to get players in whose potential ceiling was higher than some of our ‘established’ signings and who were bought as much for a Championship challenge next year as a dogfight this year. I’m really concerned that we’ll be relegated this year, confidence and atmosphere will be hugely negative and our decent players will want out.

Pace is very much overrated in modern football, if you have players who have good decent game intelligence and positional awareness. Ricky reads the game really well, JJ doesn’t. Cooper’s safety first approach is going to make us consistently going behind. The onus is on us soaking up pressure rather than taking the game to the opposition. JJ over Ricky is symptomatic of that.

Can't wait to see us take in Villa with our exciting brand of soak up the pressure and hope for the best'.

The scenes on here when Rudkin signs him for Leuven.

The way Rudkin is negotiating this Summer it's more a case of Ben Dover.

It’s fairly clear that this is a master stroke by Rudkin. He’s addressed our utter inability to shift players out for a reasonable fee by targeting players whose next move is retirement.

Alright Jon , log off and close some more business now.

This absolutely reeks of desperation. Can't get a number of transfers through so we settle for Ayew. Who's next? Winston Bogarde?

Kelechi Eating Nachos?

Why? Does he work in Lapland?

This is beige, insipid football.

This may well push the board to pull their finger out and sign much-needed creative and attacking players.

Throughout the season we'll be improving the mental health of opposition fans across the nation.

If the pre-season games were anything to go by, I'm sure we'll see a Copper tactical masterclass in the second half....

Ndidi doing a great job in helping justify the need for the Skipp signing.

The Spurs’ fans’ feedback on The Athletic article is really positive about him. Gives 100% every game, seem to think he’ll work well with Winks, adaptable to various systems and has a fantastic attitude.

I think Cannon is going to surprise quite a few people with decent form in these next games. Glad that Cooper’s hand has been forced to give him a try. Saying that, we’re now likely to see Soumaré up front..

If the club have decided that we need to be (finally) financially prudent and so transfers are unlikely, I wish they’d come out and make a statement to the fans. As is, just seems like we’ve given up before we’ve kicked a ball. What does it do for the current players’ mentality seeing everyone else recruiting and us seemingly failing repeatedly? To be this ineffective at securing purchases shows either our recruitment processes are at fault or there’s a willingness for them to fall through.

I’m looking forward to a transfer deadline day shopping spree of Christian Eriksen, Marcus Alonso and Wout Weghorst. One for the ages.

With the exception of us and Liverpool, every other team has improved their squad. Although Liverpool are fairly stacked. And we have Soumaré and a load of CBs with the turning circle of an ocean liner. Seemingly no sense of urgency either. We shouldn’t be trying to close so many deals so late. It fails Cooper and our chances of any cohesive team dynamic.

The rules are different this season.

He’s a 1 season wonder. He may well prove to be amazing over a number of seasons but at present we need players with a solid, consistent record of achievement in higher leagues. People waffling on about paying £10-12m for him seemingly have no comprehension of players beyond these shores.

Not a single person here would mention Szmodics if he’d had one of his normal seasons last season. Last season was such an outlier, yet some people waffle on about him like he’s a Kane-esque metronomic goal machine. He’s only got over 15 goals in a season once before last season. It’s not like the guy is Dixie Dean.

Good news - contract until 2028 Bad news - 2m release clause

You can only have 2 registered at any one time but can register 4 across the whole season (so swapping your first two for another two).