ClaphamFox

I'm not remotely bothered that it isn't going to be Potter, for the reasons you describe. I'm just not convinced that Cooper is the next best option. If it IS Cooper, however, I will get behind him. What else can we do?

I do. But I'm willing to bet that our net transfer spend this summer will significantly exceed £4m, and I'd happily trade £4m off our outlay on players if it meant getting a better manager in. It has also been reported that we'd be happy to spend £4m on Corberan if Cooper turned us down, so it appears it isn't as big a factor as some people are assuming.

It has been reported (by the same journalists reporting that it's Cooper) that the club would go for Corberan if the deal with Cooper fell through, which would imply the compensation is not that much of a stumbling block. If we're appointing Steve Cooper because Corberan would cost us a measly £4m (which is nothing), then God help us.

Do you know that Corberan doesn't want the job?

I wholeheartedly agree that we need to get on with it and be as prepared as we can be. However, I don't agree that it 'doesn't matter 'who the manager is. I think it matters a lot.

To be fair to him (and I speak as somebody who absolutely does not want Cooper), I don't think he was behind many of those transfers and I very much doubt it was his decision to recruit Lingard on £200k a week.

"If talks with Cooper collapse then the club may approach the West Bromwich Albion manager, Carlos Corberán." Just go straight to Corberán if the compensation isn't a stumbling block!

I am absolutely pinning my hopes on this going down as one of the most ill-judged overreactions in this history of this board (and the competition is strong) and that we all end up sheepishly feeling embarrassed at having ever doubted Cooper...

Hopefully not as he was crap at doing that in our last two seasons in the PL.

The football played by both Swansea and Forest under Cooper was some of the most tedious stuff you will ever witness.

This explains so much.

I've been praying for him all along, but - if the reports are correct - it seems we're so utterly screwed re: PSR that we've balked at stumping up a pathetic £4m for him.

If there’s one thing you should not compromise on because of relatively minor cost considerations, it’s the managerial appointment.

If that’s the reason, it’s insane. Surely we can afford a poxy £4m from next year’s accounting budget?

If Potter is stalling, why the hell aren’t we going all in for Corberan?

What do you know, @SecretPro ?

A bloke down the pub told me the other night he reckons it's going to be -25. We may as well start planning for life in the Championship now - ain't no way we're gonna overcome that kind of deficit

The club does not see it that way and has every intention of staying up. The investment in the playing squad this summer will be made with the intention of achieving survival, not preparing for another season in the Championship in 25/26.

No, I'm saying that even though the obligation to buy has been triggered, we've probably reached an agreement with Sporting that we won't pay them the transfer fee until 1 July. If that's the case, he won't officially be our player until then. Maybe the club is wary of announcing it before he officially joins because it might raise suspicions that we've signed him in this accounting period, and they want to avoid any possibility of it being seen that way? This might be a bit over-cautious, but that might be the thinking. But like you, I think it's done. And I expect the announcement to be made on 1 July

Has the Sporting manager announced that it's been done, or has he said that it will be done? And when did he make these comments? We may well have an agreement in place to sign Fatawu on 1 July, but if we have he won't be our player until then. The club is probably reluctant to 'announce' we've signed a player before we've done so, which I think is fair enough.

More likely because we're pushing his purchase into the next accounting period and can't announce a transfer that hasn't actually happened yet.

Potter will be fully aware that our previous two managers both publicly complained about being kept in the dark about our situation re: PSR and transfer budgets, etc. Even if the club has promised him a transfer budget he deems acceptable, he may be taking his time until he's absolutely certain we're being straight with him. Personally I wouldn't hold that against him as that's exactly what I would do in the circumstances.

Spending £3-4m on a new manager if he's the right person for the job is not 'overspending'. If the choice ultimately comes down to a very good candidate who will cost us a little bit in compensation or a less suitable candidate who is available for free, then I hope the club is sensible enough to choose the former option.

Do we know how much of the 'process' Corberan has gone through? How many times have we spoken to him? Not really. If paying the compensation this accounting period means we breach PSR, it is perfectly sensible accounting to move it to the next period.