ClaphamFox

I find it very hard to believe that the club expects a -16 point deduction. First, because it would be more than double what any other team has received for a single breach (Everton got eight for two breaches) and would go way beyond what we’d get for going into admin. Second, because the panel hasn’t even been convened yet, so how would anybody know? And third, because such a penalty would destroy the integrity of the PL next season by effectively making it impossible for one team to survive. It’s possible the PL is seeking a -16 point penalty and the club knows this. That wouldn’t surprise me at all. Thankfully previous panels have shown they are genuinely independent and have imposed much lower deductions than the PL has asked for.

He tweeted on the subject a number of times in addition to the above and he seemed to think that a deal was probable. After a while it became clear that his source was at the Brighton end and he hadn't spoken to anybody at Leicester. Dorsett basically shut it down by saying we didn't want to sell at a crucial part of the season and it would take an offer closer to £40m to even tempt us. Ornstein may be a very good source for other clubs, but I don't think he has any contacts at Leicester. Dorsett on the other hand does seem to have contacts at Leicester, but seems less inclined to leak transfer stories - however, when he shoots a rumour down, he's usually correct.

Obviously every club differs in how much influence managers have on recruitment, but if you imagine a scale from l-r, with transfers being solely down to the director of football on the left, and solely down to the manager on the right, I'd say we're comfortably on the right-hand side. But I think most clubs in this country would be too. The Red Bull model of employing a head coach with little input on transfers may have worked in some clubs, but it doesn't seem to have caught on too much here. And the few clubs that have tried it - eg, Chelsea - have encountered problems in having squads full of players unsuited to the way the manager wants to play.

This is the point, though. The club absolutely is not planning for us to go down this season - the plan is very much to stay up. The decision seems to have been made that we need experienced PL players to achieve this, which would be fine if we balanced that with exciting young players with huge upside potential. It's the lack of the latter type of signing that is making people anxious that we're focusing too much on the former.

It was Ornstein who reported in January that we were about to sell KDH to Brighton at a discount price because we were desperate for the cash. Rob Dorsett then reported that we weren't inclined to sell midway through a promotion challenge and it would take an enormous offer to tempt us. I remember Ornstein expressing surprise at Dorsett's story on the radio, but in the end Dorsett was right and Ornstein was wrong. Dorsett rarely gets any scoops of his own but his track record at shooting down false rumours is pretty good. What tier source that makes him I have no idea...

I believe we're still legally challenging the PL's right to even charge us, which is delaying things. I can't see us succeeding with this challenge and I'd prefer us to go into the season knowing where we stand, but it seems the club is still desperately exploring every avenue, however unlikely, in an attempt to get us off the hook.

Our looming points deduction can't be doing us many favours when trying to persuade players to join us. It wouldn't necessarily put off a player who was desperate to join a PL club and had no other offers, but for somebody with 2-3 options, it might be a key factor. I wince every time I see somebody repeat the ludicrous claims of -12 points because it's creating a perception out there that we're going to be hit really hard - even though there's no actual evidence to suggest this. It can't be helping us.

That's exactly my point.

I don't mind that. Much of our best business is done without the media getting a sniff of it ahead of time, which is probably a good thing given how bipolar we tend to be about transfer rumours - ecstatic one moment because we've been linked with an Argentinian wonderkid, then staring into the abyss the next moment because we've been linked with an average PL journeyman.

Has he been playing as a number 10 for them in pre-season?

Presumably because we have three of them. While you’re right about Vardy and Daka, we’re even more screwed in attacking midfield than we are up front. And we’d probably need to sell/loan Daka before targeting a new striker.

Yep. Such a weird emotional response to one of our best players of recent years.

An absolutely horrendous suggestion. Thankfully this is just a speculative article and we’ve not actually been linked with him.

Here we go again. The way we played last year was specifically designed for the PL, not just the Championship. And recent history suggests that, overall, promoted teams that play possession-based football are more likely to stay up than those that don’t. One Burnley doesn’t negate Brighton, Bournemouth and Fulham. Yes, we would of course have needed new players to make it work in the PL. But I’d have felt far more confident going into this season with Maresca than I do now. That’s not because I think Cooper’s a particularly bad manager - it’s because I think that in Mareca we had a manager with a very clear vision and the drive to achieve it. I fear his departure may result in us losing that focus as we scrabble around trying different things in a bid to survive.

I think we need two quality attacking midfielders. If Chair is one of them I’ll be quite happy.

Cooper called it accurately after the match: he basically admitted that our entire hopes this season rest upon whether we’re able to bring in enough quality players over the next few weeks. Worryingly, though, he said he wouldn’t be complaining if we failed to do so - which kind of implied that he has some doubts about our ability to get deals over the line. A massive few weeks ahead.

Maybe he’s just trying to say he’s no Brendan Rodgers…

And yet it was reported a few days ago that the club would happily let Ward go if an offer came in.

The make-up of the squad is clearly a major concern. As it stands, we do not have a squad good enough to survive next season. My one crumb of comfort is that I doubt anybody at the club is under any illusions about this. Cooper’s post-match comments this evening were revealing - he basically admitted that our hopes this season are dependent on which players we’re able to bring in over the next few weeks. Hopefully we’ll see a bit more progress over the next few days.

Geoff Peters claimed the other day that the club is willing to let Ward go, but his wages are a stumbling block. The jury is out on Cooper but he’s clearly not stupid - there is precisely zero chance of Ward being our first choice keeper this season.

The last manager was absolutely wedded to a particular style of play. This had the advantage of enabling the entire squad to focus on a very specific approach. For those of us who enjoyed this style of play, it was great; for those that didn’t enjoy it, it was boring. Cooper is not wedded to one style of play, but rather is known as being more pragmatic and flexible. Hence he is trying different things rather than drilling the players to play in a specific way. This should please those who hated Maresca’s preferred style and were always moaning about the lack of a ‘plan b’. Time will tell whether Cooper’s more flexible approach works. Personally I get the feeling that Maresca will be remembered with increasing fondness and nostalgia as the season goes on, but we shall see.

I believe prosecutors have now agreed to community service so no risk of prison.

https://x.com/ExcelPope/status/1816812741463617949

So the player played hard ball and got his way. So much for players having no say in these things, as some claimed...