Transfer Talk Topic

[Mark Kelly]

I'd like to throw my hat into the Madueke ring .

He's a good player , given scant chances by a cowardly coach . 

He like Mudryk can improve under some actual coaching.

Christ knows what that fraud is doing Sunday to Saturday because it clearly isn't coaching. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

I'd like to throw my hat into the Madueke ring .

He's a good player , given scant chances by a cowardly coach . 

He like Mudryk can improve under some actual coaching.

Christ knows what that fraud is doing Sunday to Saturday because it clearly isn't coaching. 

I can’t see what he’s done wrong tbh. I like Carney as well. 

On a general point it makes me very sad that the future of another Chelsea manager is even on the agenda after a few months.

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, Chelsea_Matt said:

I can’t see what he’s done wrong tbh. I like Carney as well. 

On a general point it makes me very sad that the future of another Chelsea manager is even on the agenda after a few months.

And to be honest mate , I think he's brought it on himself , even though some think he's had a bad hand forced upon him , in coaching terms he's a coward , how he could set the side up pre season where everyone was full of confidence and playing well together and then shitting the bed once the season started  because he'd lost one player to injury is beyond me.

[Morgs]

Morning all. 

Some thoughts whilst I wait for my cup of tea to cool down. 

Manager - I don't think there is a manager alive, much less one that would even dream of signing on at this circus, who could get a tune out of these players to a meaningfully better and more consistent extent than Poch has. For the record, I'm not especially a fan of his but he's demonstrably a better coach than Potter or Lampard and better than the Allardyces and Hughes' of this world who we would be looking at to replace him were he to go. Slating the manager is a bit myopic. It is like worrying about having to take a commercial flight through a region of stormy weather and hoping that a change of airline might improve things.  Sacking Poch will not suddenly give the squad that which they do not (and will never collectively) possess.  

What do we lack? - I've been saying it since the summer and the debacle at OT was symptomatic. The squad has no front, no leadership, no gamesmanship. No nous, no backbone. We have nobody who knows when to punt it into Row Z, when to start digging in and kicking people, when to go to ground to break up an attack, and when to just start lobbing long ball grenades down the centrehalf's throat for a striker to chase. There is no fight whatsoever in that side. Almost none of the players in the squad are emotionally attached to the club or the fans and have been mediocre long enough so that the mentality is just not there. These are not things Poch can change to any great extent. No manager can. 

Learning experience - It has cost Clearlack a billion quid and may yet cost us our place in the division, but the hope is the lesson is finally sinking in: that the Prem is not FIFA, and you cannot just buy up lots of talented kids and hope they gel. The old analogy is "the team of XI Messi's" and whilst I'm sure that looks great on your X-Box, it would sink without trace in the Prem.  The lesson is that teams in the Prem will almost never let you play. I can hear your groans from here - Morgs is ranting about ten men behind the ball yet again. How many times have I said it on here? I'm right though! When you have teams set up - even Man United at home for God's sake - to press you off the park, get as many men behind the ball at all times etc and then hit you on the break, then that's how you need to play. Assembling your billion quid's worth of attacking talent and then wondering why they don't do much - nobody will let you play like that. Its a total myth. The Prem is about strength, physicality, aggression, power and tactical discipline to close down space. So build a team that can do that! 

Mudryk is a great example. Bought for this fantasy scenario where he can get on the shoulder of the last man, roast his man for pace, effortlessly glide into space and either knock in a perfect cross or cut in and volley it top bins.  What space is he going to get to run into in the Prem? How can he glide past the last man if they are doubling up on him and monstering him physically? And then - as we saw with the United game - if somehow he does create something, he is too young and lacks the mentality to just slot it. Feet move faster than the brain. Years and years away from being at a decent Prem level. 

Caidedo - Someone explain it to me because I cannot see it for the life of me. £115m to jog forward five yards, receive the ball,  turn and pass it two yards sideways. Or to be caught in the centre circle no mans land 10 times a game to either be bypassed by a simple diagonal pass, or to give away a free kick by the fact he cant tackle. F**ks sake. 

Madueke - I said he was a Championship level player and I stand by that. Not his fault, he's still a kid and has room to develop, just not at Chelsea. Why on earth are we giving him a seven year contract on way above Championship level wages? 

Gallagher - so sorely missed at OT. We literally have nobody in our 200m+ midfield when he doesnt play. Astonishing. 

Jackson - The experiment hasn't worked.  Like Mudryk, he is another one who was brought in on mega money far, far too early and thrown in at a level he simply cannot compete at. He is years away from being a Prem striker. Cannot do the simple things right, movement is miles off, doesn't know how to shape his body to receive a pass, has no first touch, has no mentality, for such a big bloke is astonishingly poor, physically.  Get him out on a loan to a league where he will have the time and space to learn. That isnt going to happen at Chelsea. 

Sterling - clearly cares but throwing himself on the deck every time he is tackled by a bigger player isn't helping.  Another one who doesn't know whether to stay or go when we have possession. 

Colwill - starting to be shown up as quite some distance off the world class defensive colossus we were all told he was. Still young, but in miserable form lately. Farming him out to left back isnt helping him or us. I do like the fact he is one of the only ones in the team who will give it back and has a bit of fight about him.  Needs time but I'd put Badiashile in for the next few games. 

Disasi - not a right back and never will be. Just stop. 

Silva - the scapegoating of him after what he has done for us is disgusting.  Still our best centrehalf and literally the only leader in the f**king side. Not in great form, true,  but the abuse he has been getting is stomach-churning. When Fofana gets back we can look at resting him but as of now, you cannot drop him. Here's an idea - why don't you try having a midfield that can screen him properly so you don't have the likes of McTominay running at him all game?  Anyone? 

Sanchez - not good enough. Wasn't in the summer, still isn't.  "got a mistake in him" - yeah, every ten minutes. If you are buying a keeper to command his box and distribute from the back, then choose one who can do both these things convincingly. Sanchez passing the ball out straight to an opposition player five times a game isn't helping us. If you don't want to punt it long, there has to be a reason for that. A lack of physicality and any kind of focal point up top maybe? A striker who cannot hold the ball up, perhaps?  Come on guys, its not the science of rockets is it? 

Lavia - absolutely taking the p*** now. 

Clearout - why do we come into every single transfer window I can remember, "needing a clearout" as my old Grandma used to say. Whilst she would be reaching for the cod liver oil, we cannot have a movement quite so easily. The fact that we have spent a billion quid and still don't have a decent striker, no decent goalkeeper and no leadership in the side is just testament to how Clearlack lack a lot of things. Madueke, Mudryk, Jackson, Washington, Ugochukwu, Petrovic and a few others need loans. We wont do that of course, but that doesn't alter the fact that they need loans. 

[thevelourfog]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

I'd like to throw my hat into the Madueke ring .

He's a good player , given scant chances by a cowardly coach . 

He like Mudryk can improve under some actual coaching.

Christ knows what that fraud is doing Sunday to Saturday because it clearly isn't coaching. 

Madueke is, imo, absolutely dreadful. He runs around a lot and is very keen to take a man on so I can see some attraction, but every single one of those take-ons is to move into a crowded middle of the picture, and sometimes even bizarrely to move backwards. He should not be here, Christ knows what we were doing buying him and not immediately loaning him back to PSV.

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, thevelourfog said:

Madueke is, imo, absolutely dreadful. He runs around a lot and is very keen to take a man on so I can see some attraction, but every single one of those take-ons is to move into a crowded middle of the picture, and sometimes even bizarrely to move backwards. He should not be here, Christ knows what we were doing buying him and not immediately loaning him back to PSV.

That's fine my friend , it's a game of opinions.

[Chelsea_Matt]

11 minutes ago, Morgs said:

Morning all. 

Some thoughts whilst I wait for my cup of tea to cool down. 

Manager - I don't think there is a manager alive, much less one that would even dream of signing on at this circus, who could get a tune out of these players to a meaningfully better and more consistent extent than Poch has. For the record, I'm not especially a fan of his but he's demonstrably a better coach than Potter or Lampard and better than the Allardyces and Hughes' of this world who we would be looking at to replace him were he to go. Slating the manager is a bit myopic. It is like worrying about having to take a commercial flight through a region of stormy weather and hoping that a change of airline might improve things.  Sacking Poch will not suddenly give the squad that which they do not (and will never collectively) possess.  

What do we lack? - I've been saying it since the summer and the debacle at OT was symptomatic. The squad has no front, no leadership, no gamesmanship. No nous, no backbone. We have nobody who knows when to punt it into Row Z, when to start digging in and kicking people, when to go to ground to break up an attack, and when to just start lobbing long ball grenades down the centrehalf's throat for a striker to chase. There is no fight whatsoever in that side. Almost none of the players in the squad are emotionally attached to the club or the fans and have been mediocre long enough so that the mentality is just not there. These are not things Poch can change to any great extent. No manager can. 

Learning experience - It has cost Clearlack a billion quid and may yet cost us our place in the division, but the hope is the lesson is finally sinking in: that the Prem is not FIFA, and you cannot just buy up lots of talented kids and hope they gel. The old analogy is "the team of XI Messi's" and whilst I'm sure that looks great on your X-Box, it would sink without trace in the Prem.  The lesson is that teams in the Prem will almost never let you play. I can hear your groans from here - Morgs is ranting about ten men behind the ball yet again. How many times have I said it on here? I'm right though! When you have teams set up - even Man United at home for God's sake - to press you off the park, get as many men behind the ball at all times etc and then hit you on the break, then that's how you need to play. Assembling your billion quid's worth of attacking talent and then wondering why they don't do much - nobody will let you play like that. Its a total myth. The Prem is about strength, physicality, aggression, power and tactical discipline to close down space. So build a team that can do that! 

Mudryk is a great example. Bought for this fantasy scenario where he can get on the shoulder of the last man, roast his man for pace, effortlessly glide into space and either knock in a perfect cross or cut in and volley it top bins.  What space is he going to get to run into in the Prem? How can he glide past the last man if they are doubling up on him and monstering him physically? And then - as we saw with the United game - if somehow he does create something, he is too young and lacks the mentality to just slot it. Feet move faster than the brain. Years and years away from being at a decent Prem level. 

Caidedo - Someone explain it to me because I cannot see it for the life of me. £115m to jog forward five yards, receive the ball,  turn and pass it two yards sideways. Or to be caught in the centre circle no mans land 10 times a game to either be bypassed by a simple diagonal pass, or to give away a free kick by the fact he cant tackle. F**ks sake. 

Madueke - I said he was a Championship level player and I stand by that. Not his fault, he's still a kid and has room to develop, just not at Chelsea. Why on earth are we giving him a seven year contract on way above Championship level wages? 

Gallagher - so sorely missed at OT. We literally have nobody in our 200m+ midfield when he doesnt play. Astonishing. 

Jackson - The experiment hasn't worked.  Like Mudryk, he is another one who was brought in on mega money far, far too early and thrown in at a level he simply cannot compete at. He is years away from being a Prem striker. Cannot do the simple things right, movement is miles off, doesn't know how to shape his body to receive a pass, has no first touch, has no mentality, for such a big bloke is astonishingly poor, physically.  Get him out on a loan to a league where he will have the time and space to learn. That isnt going to happen at Chelsea. 

Sterling - clearly cares but throwing himself on the deck every time he is tackled by a bigger player isn't helping.  Another one who doesn't know whether to stay or go when we have possession. 

Colwill - starting to be shown up as quite some distance off the world class defensive colossus we were all told he was. Still young, but in miserable form lately. Farming him out to left back isnt helping him or us. I do like the fact he is one of the only ones in the team who will give it back and has a bit of fight about him.  Needs time but I'd put Badiashile in for the next few games. 

Disasi - not a right back and never will be. Just stop. 

Silva - the scapegoating of him after what he has done for us is disgusting.  Still our best centrehalf and literally the only leader in the f**king side. Not in great form, true,  but the abuse he has been getting is stomach-churning. When Fofana gets back we can look at resting him but as of now, you cannot drop him. Here's an idea - why don't you try having a midfield that can screen him properly so you don't have the likes of McTominay running at him all game?  Anyone? 

Sanchez - not good enough. Wasn't in the summer, still isn't.  "got a mistake in him" - yeah, every ten minutes. If you are buying a keeper to command his box and distribute from the back, then choose one who can do both these things convincingly. Sanchez passing the ball out straight to an opposition player five times a game isn't helping us. If you don't want to punt it long, there has to be a reason for that. A lack of physicality and any kind of focal point up top maybe? A striker who cannot hold the ball up, perhaps?  Come on guys, its not the science of rockets is it? 

Lavia - absolutely taking the p*** now. 

Clearout - why do we come into every single transfer window I can remember, "needing a clearout" as my old Grandma used to say. Whilst she would be reaching for the cod liver oil, we cannot have a movement quite so easily. The fact that we have spent a billion quid and still don't have a decent striker, no decent goalkeeper and no leadership in the side is just testament to how Clearlack lack a lot of things. Madueke, Mudryk, Jackson, Washington, Ugochukwu, Petrovic and a few others need loans. We wont do that of course, but that doesn't alter the fact that they need loans. 

I agree, señor Morgerino, but what a price to pay for attempting to play real-life championship manager. 🙃

[Chelsea_Matt]

14 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

And to be honest mate , I think he's brought it on himself , even though some think he's had a bad hand forced upon him , in coaching terms he's a coward , how he could set the side up pre season where everyone was full of confidence and playing well together and then shitting the bed once the season started  because he'd lost one player to injury is beyond me.

There I’m as at a loss as you are, Mr K. What a contrast. It can’t be down to just losing Nkunku. Palmer is a brilliant number 10 imo. 

As @Morgs, myself and many others have said, we lack cohesion and leadership. I think we DO look a bit more durable in midfield but so what? Caicedo and Enzo aren’t bossing games. We’re too soft and too easy to play against. 

If players aren’t up to it that’s one thing - and some clearly aren’t imo. But again imo some are, ability-wise. But I’ll say it yet again - the players imo are soft, entitled, selfish, dislikable and weak. They don’t give a shit. No pride. They only care about money. Imo. They’re not Chelsea. Our entire identity has gone. How do you change that?

But imo Poch does care. That I will say. 

 

[Morgs]

So how would I change things if Clearlack gave me the keys for a day?

1 - Bring in Lampard or Ballack or Drogba as a DoF to consult on deals and help build a structure. 

2 - Go out and drop £50m on Gregor Kobel in Jan, give Petrovic a loan. 

3 - Send Jackson, Madueke, Washington, Mudryk and Ugochukwu on loan, to English clubs if the loan system wont allow us to send them abroad. 

4 - Stick with Nkunku and Broja for the rest of the season up top. Work very hard to bring in a nasty, tough, physical, uncompromising b**tard up top who can hold the ball up and create space, in the summer, 100m+ if necessary. 

5 - Give Gallagher a new contract and the vice-Captain armband. 

6 - Move Maatsen and Chalobah out if they want to go but make a decision either way before the Jan window. 

7 - suggest to Poch that we want to transition to a really aggressive, strong, physical, quick pressing side that plays with ten men behind the ball and hits you with pace on the counter, but that has a nasty, ugly long ball plan B in its locker as well. Atletico Madrid as the blueprint. FORCE teams to come at us instead of sitting back. I suspect he would be supportive of this. Speak to him and his staff at length about how they want to integrate it and which players fit and which do not into the new system. 

8 - bring in the same sports psychologists Mourinho uses to start to foster a meaningful winner mentality amongst the team. Get JT on Poch's staff to "consult". 

9 - put the manager debate to bed by offering Poch a new contract if he is supportive of the move to the system I outlined above. Chelsea 2.0. Nasty, hated, despised, uncompromising, grinding out results and kicking and scratching and refusing to give up when things go against them. 

10 - tell Clearlack to put stadium talks on hold until end of next season. Park it, lets focus on staying in the division. 

 

 

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 minutes ago, Morgs said:

So how would I change things if Clearlack gave me the keys for a day?

1 - Bring in Lampard or Ballack or Drogba as a DoF to consult on deals and help build a structure. 

2 - Go out and drop £50m on Gregor Kobel in Jan, give Petrovic a loan. 

3 - Send Jackson, Madueke, Washington, Mudryk and Ugochukwu on loan, to English clubs if the loan system wont allow us to send them abroad. 

4 - Stick with Nkunku and Broja for the rest of the season up top. Work very hard to bring in a nasty, tough, physical, uncompromising b**tard up top who can hold the ball up and create space, in the summer, 100m+ if necessary. 

5 - Give Gallagher a new contract and the vice-Captain armband. 

6 - Move Maatsen and Chalobah out if they want to go but make a decision either way before the Jan window. 

7 - suggest to Poch that we want to transition to a really aggressive, strong, physical, quick pressing side that plays with ten men behind the ball and hits you with pace on the counter, but that has a nasty, ugly long ball plan B in its locker as well. Atletico Madrid as the blueprint. FORCE teams to come at us instead of sitting back. I suspect he would be supportive of this. Speak to him and his staff at length about how they want to integrate it and which players fit and which do not into the new system. 

8 - bring in the same sports psychologists Mourinho uses to start to foster a meaningful winner mentality amongst the team. Get JT on Poch's staff to "consult". 

9 - put the manager debate to bed by offering Poch a new contract if he is supportive of the move to the system I outlined above. Chelsea 2.0. Nasty, hated, despised, uncompromising, grinding out results and kicking and scratching and refusing to give up when things go against them. 

10 - tell Clearlack to put stadium talks on hold until end of next season. Park it, lets focus on staying in the division. 

 

 

This all day long. Vote El Morgerino!! ⭐️💙

[Morgs]

22 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

This all day long. Vote El Morgerino!! ⭐️💙

Thanks mate 🙂

 

[east lower]

1 hour ago, Morgs said:

So how would I change things if Clearlack gave me the keys for a day?

1 - Bring in Lampard or Ballack or Drogba as a DoF to consult on deals and help build a structure. 

2 - Go out and drop £50m on Gregor Kobel in Jan, give Petrovic a loan. 

3 - Send Jackson, Madueke, Washington, Mudryk and Ugochukwu on loan, to English clubs if the loan system wont allow us to send them abroad. 

4 - Stick with Nkunku and Broja for the rest of the season up top. Work very hard to bring in a nasty, tough, physical, uncompromising b**tard up top who can hold the ball up and create space, in the summer, 100m+ if necessary. 

5 - Give Gallagher a new contract and the vice-Captain armband. 

6 - Move Maatsen and Chalobah out if they want to go but make a decision either way before the Jan window. 

7 - suggest to Poch that we want to transition to a really aggressive, strong, physical, quick pressing side that plays with ten men behind the ball and hits you with pace on the counter, but that has a nasty, ugly long ball plan B in its locker as well. Atletico Madrid as the blueprint. FORCE teams to come at us instead of sitting back. I suspect he would be supportive of this. Speak to him and his staff at length about how they want to integrate it and which players fit and which do not into the new system. 

8 - bring in the same sports psychologists Mourinho uses to start to foster a meaningful winner mentality amongst the team. Get JT on Poch's staff to "consult". 

9 - put the manager debate to bed by offering Poch a new contract if he is supportive of the move to the system I outlined above. Chelsea 2.0. Nasty, hated, despised, uncompromising, grinding out results and kicking and scratching and refusing to give up when things go against them. 

10 - tell Clearlack to put stadium talks on hold until end of next season. Park it, lets focus on staying in the division. 

 

 

There's a good number of things pointed out by  you that are great.

The striker bit is a big issue, both the ones you say to keep have both come off big/serious injuries, Nkunku  hasn't played a first team minute in the PL as yet. We simply cannot rely  on either of them staying fit, also and in my opinion relying on Broja to be our main striker is an issue because he isn't good enough. 100% agreed we need another one and a good one at that.

Wouldn't give up on Jackson, he looked great with Nkunku in pre-season and I would like to see the pair of them played together for a while to see  how they perform in tandem in the PL.

[Dwmh]

3 hours ago, Morgs said:

Learning experience - It has cost Clearlack a billion quid and may yet cost us our place in the division, but the hope is the lesson is finally sinking in: that the Prem is not FIFA, and you cannot just buy up lots of talented kids and hope they gel. The old analogy is "the team of XI Messi's" and whilst I'm sure that looks great on your X-Box, it would sink without trace in the Prem.  The lesson is that teams in the Prem will almost never let you play. I can hear your groans from here - Morgs is ranting about ten men behind the ball yet again. How many times have I said it on here? I'm right though! When you have teams set up - even Man United at home for God's sake - to press you off the park, get as many men behind the ball at all times etc and then hit you on the break, then that's how you need to play. Assembling your billion quid's worth of attacking talent and then wondering why they don't do much - nobody will let you play like that. Its a total myth. The Prem is about strength, physicality, aggression, power and tactical discipline to close down space. So build a team that can do that! 

Love the name Clearlack.  Will probably steal it.
 

3 hours ago, Morgs said:

When you have teams set up - even Man United at home for God's sake - to press you off the park, get as many men behind the ball at all times etc and then hit you on the break,

I'm not sure it is possible for any team to play more than one of those styles at a time.  It is one or the other or the third.
But I agree we have not worked out how to play against packed defences, we have learnt to score against a full press but not how to concede less than we score.  And we remain vulnerable to breakaways because we lose concentration when attacking and depend on our FBs over committing.
All should be coaching issues.

 

3 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

Madueke is, imo, absolutely dreadful. He runs around a lot and is very keen to take a man on so I can see some attraction, but every single one of those take-ons is to move into a crowded middle of the picture, and sometimes even bizarrely to move backwards. He should not be here, Christ knows what we were doing buying him and not immediately loaning him back to PSV.

Agreed - and I wonder why PSV didn't ask to hang on to him...
There is the head down I am doing this on my own thing that SWP and Joe Cole used to have when they arrived as the star players from lesser teams.  But they had speed or talent and coaching.

[ROTG]

4 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

Madueke is, imo, absolutely dreadful. He runs around a lot and is very keen to take a man on so I can see some attraction, but every single one of those take-ons is to move into a crowded middle of the picture, and sometimes even bizarrely to move backwards. He should not be here, Christ knows what we were doing buying him and not immediately loaning him back to PSV.

He is clearly not a 30m or even 30 pence upgrade on CHO

[Max Fowler]

 

 

[east lower]

I’m watching Juventus vs Napoli, second-half has just started. Watching it to look at two of the strikers who might be available - Vlahovic and Osimhen.

Neither worth Kane money but Osimhen is clearly the better player.

[Mark Kelly]

34 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 

 

A sensible option. 

Let's sell James so we can afford him. 

[Floyd25]

4 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

 

 

Haha, what did I say? We’ll carry on spending more money on Brazilian kids and loan them to France, this should not be a priority right now. Priority should be to fix this team, but these owners want to sign youngsters in the hopes of flipping them for profits in a few years. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Floyd25

[Floyd25]

15 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

Madueke is, imo, absolutely dreadful. He runs around a lot and is very keen to take a man on so I can see some attraction, but every single one of those take-ons is to move into a crowded middle of the picture, and sometimes even bizarrely to move backwards. He should not be here, Christ knows what we were doing buying him and not immediately loaning him back to PSV.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say he’s absolutely dreadful, he has barley played this season for a start, wouldn’t mind seeing him given a run of games ahead of Mudryk, who’s just a poor man’s Gronkjear. 

[thevelourfog]

6 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

I wouldn’t go as far as to say he’s absolutely dreadful, he has barley played this season for a start, wouldn’t mind seeing him given a run of games ahead of Mudryk, who’s just a poor man’s Gronkjear. 

How is the emboldened bit a counter argument to the first bit? We've been awful and he can't get into the team, that strongly suggests something about him.

Madueke would be a homeless person's Gronkjaer. Nothing against the lad, but it's been clear from a few games in that he made absolutely the right decision to leave the PL.

[Sciatika]

7 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

I wouldn’t go as far as to say he’s absolutely dreadful, he has barley played this season for a start, wouldn’t mind seeing him given a run of games ahead of Mudryk, who’s just a poor man’s Gronkjear. 

I'd be a-maize-d. [ed. I was being wry, there] 

[ROTG]

1 hour ago, thevelourfog said:

How is the emboldened bit a counter argument to the first bit? We've been awful and he can't get into the team, that strongly suggests something about him.

Madueke would be a homeless person's Gronkjaer. Nothing against the lad, but it's been clear from a few games in that he made absolutely the right decision to leave the PL.

Neither have been an upgrade on LWB/LW /RWB/RW from the past few seasons. 

[Max Fowler]

9 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

Haha, what did I say? We’ll carry on spending more money on Brazilian kids and loan them to France, this should not be a priority right now. Priority should be to fix this team, but these owners want to sign youngsters in the hopes of flipping them for profits in a few years. 

This dawned on me yesterday too. I have gone through various conspiracies about the board not even caring about us doing well, which I now think is untrue. But they do seem set on this model on flipping youngsters for cash, hence also why they want to sell all our academy graduates for their pure profit. Hence why all our players are young and on long contracts so they are still sellable assets even if they don't light up English football.

Maybe some will say this is what we need to be sustainable, but if we're trying to spend 40 million on a 16 year old right now, I don't think believe we have enough FFP wiggle room to sort the first team out any time soon.

[Dwmh]

9 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

Hence why all our players are young and on long contracts so they are still sellable assets even if they don't light up English football.

Confused.  If they are young and on long contracts and do not light up English football they are the very opposite of sellable assets.

[Max Fowler]

18 minutes ago, Dwmh said:

Confused.  If they are young and on long contracts and do not light up English football they are the very opposite of sellable assets.

Personally I think the likes of Mudryk are still quite sellable. We will have paid low wages for him, we won't lose him on a free, and as I understand it the transfer fee will only count against FFP for the years we have him. I agree though, I am not sure how we are ever going to develop a true world beater without a functioning first team to develop in.