LCFCJohn

No different to those waiting eagerly for him to have a poor game to slate him and say I told you so though. Some people just see the bigger picture of how his early career was a mess and there was no developmental loan. He was thrown in during the time Rodger’s had started to decline and had his confidence shot. The loans he had last season were shite. He has shown he can belong against the likes of Salah and in the FA Cup final. Personally I have always wanted to give him a chance due to the above. I believe confidence and consistency are bigger issues over talent necessarily. If he is given the chance to make the position his own next season, at Championship level, with a better manager and ‘team’ rather than group of individuals and isn’t great then I would re-evaluate. Until such time I believe he has actually been here and had a run of games in a positive team, I will always wonder.

Uproar amongst the masses on Facebook as they are angry we have sold Iverson rather than keeping him as it must mean we are keeping Ward as back up once ‘Madders’ leave. I mean these people don’t even understand the concept of contracts and players being out of contract so it validates what we suspect that their opinions on other matters are worthless too!

Shame it someone we already know is leaving as oppose to some deadwood we will be stuck with still. But I’m pleased he has sorted his future quickly and can look forward to a new start over the closed season. A good move for him, a club he knows already and where he is already appreciated by the supporters.

I am sceptical of the likelihood of signings with a number of years left on their contract (Franco has 3 years left until 2028). I imagine it would take quite a bit to tempt Swansea, especially to a divisional rival and possible similar aims next season. I suppose it depends how many pennies we have to run together this summer!

I can’t see Hackney being realistic. 2 years left on his contract, will cost a bit as such and given Middlesbrough are his boyhood club, you’d think when he moves it will be for a step up whereas we will be a sideways step. If he doesn’t extend with Burnley, I’d have Brownhill on the free transfers list. Best part of 20 goals from centre midfield, would replace KDH’s contribution in that sense and is a captain and leader. Generally I want us to go younger with resale value but he would be an exception given we have a few youngsters coming through in centre midfield anyway. Also Harry Darling at centre back but it would depend if (and how quickly if so), we could move on the likes of Vestergaard, Faes and even Coady. I could see us missing out on free transfers due to the need to move some out. Same with Poku. We have Fatawu and Mavididi as first choice. We want to see Evans and Monga (if he stays) get plenty of game time. Then Alves as well and McAteer. That’s 6 already. I can’t see wingers being an area we need to bring anyone is unless we can get rid of Ayew and Reid. Possibly McAteer too.

I agree about the culture. But the more I think about it, I think there are a handful of them who have a bad attitude, are lazy or just bas for the team. They are the likes of: Faes Vestergaard Coady Soumare Winks Ward I think players like JJ and Ndidi have had their day here and Daka has just not succeeded at all. But those 6 above, if you could shift them, I think you have a squad left with a number of young players and the more senior ones, say Skipp, Souttar and even Mavididi, are not bad eggs. Get key signings right with the right mindset then I think the majority could recover from this. It would need a new manager of course. In terms of good enough play in the Premier League, maybe some aren’t. But we can’t fix that overnight. I would hope the focus is on the new signings meeting this criteria. This along with shifting as much of the deadwood and bad characters from above would be good work done. Based on what I put above and whether they would be good enough: Stolarcryk - has already showed his is not out of place Ricardo/Justin/Coulibaly - hmm. Don’t know, JJ I don’t think so. Ricardo is not getting younger. Coulibaly unknown. We have some youngsters too so keep an eye on this position. Okoli/Souttar - maybe, maybe not. I would hope if we could shift Vestergaard, Coady and Faes either this summer or next there would be room to bring a new CB in. Souttar and Okoli are good enough to be in the squad. Nelson - definitely should be PL ready after a full year for us in the Championship. Thomas - I don’t even know anymore. Why not if he has a good year and gets his confidence back but ultimately unknown. Skipp - I don’t think so. But he’s on a long contract. Let’s use him this coming season and hopefully sign better if we return. Fatawu Bilal Mavididi I think the above 3 are certainly good enough. Mavididi has not had a good year but he has still scored a few when given a chance

Of course, 100%. And I suppose that will dictate business to an extent. Such as the type of striker we have for example.

It’s like getting my 2 year old to go to bed. They can delay and distract for so long but that won’t work forever. Just as she runs out of distractions and goes to sleep, they will not have Vardy to hide behind after the Ipswich game. If the summer ends up as much of a shambles as most of us expect, there will be pressure on them from the off next season. But yes, it feels like there was finally some momentum on Saturday that will be distracted from.

Surely the opposite to entitled…we won the league so nobody was saying we should have better as in what he did wasn’t good enough. How could it not be, he can’t finish higher than 1st! People having preferences and disliking the style of play is not entitlement.

I actually don’t necessarily think we need a lot of work to have a strong 11 next season. This summer is more about shifting the expensive deadwood. Then the signings need to be targeted, starters in the positions we need. Both of these tasks are of course too much to expect from our board. Stolarcryk Ricardo/Justin/Coulibaly Okoli/Souttar Nelson Thomas Skipp New Fatawu Bilal Mavididi New The main ones are a striker and central midfielder. Obviously if anyone (Bilal) leave they need replacing. Centre back maybe as I suspect Souttar is still going to be injured so if Okoli leaves we would need a new starter there. Right back we have enough options when you consider the youth players also.

They’ve definitely been better defensively with Nelson in the side. That said, they were away to Swansea who have been very good recently so it wasn’t a bad result for Oxford.

To be fair, I absolutely wouldn’t blame him if he wants to move on at the end of his contract next summer regardless of what happens next season. If he has a good year I’d actually respect the lad if he turns down a contract extension and moves elsewhere. He’s been treated like crap by our fans and had his development stuffed up by the club.

The more I hear of Muslic the more he is my choice. Unfortunately Rudkin will only think Plymouth is a gin not a city and football club so unlikely he has heard of Muslic.

I think it depends what we want to do. If there’s a chance we go for Kone, it’d help if Wycombe stay down. Same as if we were to go for Wellens as manager, Orient staying down is helpful. Maybe Stockport to go up.

It is happening both ways though. You have an example just above of a throat slit gesture towards UFS who had the banner yesterday. Previous examples of fans being physically assaulted and banners ripped away for expressing dissatisfaction with the club or even going back to wanting Rodger’s out. It does bother me that we have such a divided and fractured fan base. It is contributing massively to the club being broken. But ultimately I want the best for the club and for things to change so we are better ran. As such, I will agree with those wishing to speak out over those who won’t question the club at all and applaud the players off game after game as they reach new levels of shite. Calling someone a happy clapper is no different and no worse than calling someone a part time Pete. Both petty insults. I also hate this insinuation that to be unhappy and calling the club out means you weren’t there during before the peak we saw between 2016-2021. Many of us who are actively calling for change were there week in week out during our lowest point (2004-2008 ish). I am not inclined to go looking for a post. I will take you at face value. It comes across in the tone of your posts that is all.

Can I just ask, no insults or arguments but why are you so defensive of Top and disapproving to the point of being angry at people who are unhappy with him? Some people have chosen to stay away whether that is for their own wellbeing or to make a point. It does not make them unloyal or part time fans. As others have said, there is a difference between losing and being a poor side (circa 2004-2008) and being self destructive as we are now. I don’t get this view that all is fine and that serious change isn’t needed. Others want to still go and support. Fine, personal choice. But supporting blinding without questioning the decisions of the club and the attitude of the playing staff, do you really think this is in the long term benefit of the club?

Wow. They have no passion for our actual club but somehow feel so strongly about defending a billionaire who wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire to do this!

There’s a lot of revision of history about the signing of Daka. You only have to look back at the thread on here to see people were buzzing and there were no complaints about it. It’s not like signing Skipp or Vestergaard where people knew straight off it was a bad signing. I guess many slating the club for the signing on this particular case were happy with the signing initially. There’s a difference between a bad signing and one that just doesn’t work. The main issue is the wages we put players on. If he’d come on sensible wages, possibly slightly lower transfer fee as well, we could have moved him on after a couple of years. Similar story with Soumare.

All records are there to be broken! Anyone but Cov will do at the end of the day. I actually fancy Sunderland to be a bigger threat next season so wouldn’t be sad to see them go up. Playoffs are a lottery though. I think 3rd place still edges it in terms of overall promotions since the playoffs began as like you say, invariably that side tends to be better. In many cases a side in 5th/6th does it due to momentum but do any of the 4 this year really have strong momentum. Coventry have 10 points from the last 6 (6th) Bristol City 8 points (13th) Sheffield Utd 7 points (15th) Sunderland 1 point (24th) You’d imagine a Coventry v Sheffield Utd final with it being the stronger form against probably the strongest side in Sheffield Utd. Hopefully in that event Sheff Utd can lift their curse!

In terms of this as a stand alone thing though, this could be Hermansen with any luck. Obviously in the past, the one asset thing was enough but potentially we would need to sell both as we did with Maddison and Barnes given the loss of revenue.

Ward is hands down the worse with context into account. We’ve had some shite but they were what they said on the tin. Paying as much as we did for Ward and the wages, along with what he cost us on the pitch is unforgivable. I feel like any of the other keepers mentioned, in my time, is at least expect them to make some saves. Ward I genuinely have a starting expectation that 100% of efforts on goal will go in. Anything saved is a bonus.

Nailed it here. Theres some much better options in the Championship such as Rohl or Muslic. RVN has not shown he has what is needed.

Erm….😰 Sheffield United have never won promotion via the play-offs Believe it or not, Sheffield United have never gone up through the play-offs, be it in the Championship or in League One, losing in all eight attempts.

He would be a great pick up. Unfortunately, we will be in a sell to bring in particularly at centre back where we are stocked numbers wise. I can’t see us shifting Vestergaard, Faes and Coady, if needed, early in the summer, likely at the end of the transfer window if anything so I could see us missing out on targets like Darling on a free who will surely have offers from other clubs. It’s not like we are an attractive prospect anyway, particularly not to sit around and wait for us when there are other options.

Both points can be unrelated but true. It is true that the rules have been implemented to protect the status of the rich clubs and the amount of circumventing of the rules that the likes of Chelsea particularly but the likes of Forest, Villa and Everton (as well as Chelsea here too) do with the ‘player swaps’ is a joke. The biggest single issue with these rule imo is that it has the adverse effect by forcing clubs to sell the players that would actually make them sustainable, I.e youth prospects. But we would not have ended up in this position solely due to these rule. They are designed to prevent us challenging at the top but not to get relegated and have a future at best as a yoyo club as we are now. That is solely the work of Top, Rudkin and the rest of them. If they were actually taking it seriously, we’d not be adding further deadwood each transfer window and would be moving back to bring in those with value, resale and wages. Other clubs, Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth etc are managing to operate within the constraints as they are well run clubs with intelligent people who understand football and business making the decisions.