joey_big_nose

Yeah... He'll swallow it as long as he has to, but if he is successful he will soon be looking for a way out. The only way we keep him if is he does badly which is not a great place to be in.

I cant see us going for less than 3.5M unless Travis downs tools and forces hands which I doubt he will do. From his perspective waiting out a year and getting a big sign on bonus like so many others will incentivise him to not rock the boat.

Yes... I think there is an obvious ceiling on what we can offer, and the quite a few players now have made the assessment that it's worth more to them to leave on a free than sign it. It seems short sighted as I guess it would take an extra £5k a week to sign them, which over two years is £500k. To not take on that sort of liability we are letting players who are worth £3M+ walk out the door. Again sort of thing that an owner close to the action would find a way to navigate. But Venkys are distant and disengaged, and they seem more comfortable creating an arbitrary line in the sand and sticking to it, even if it is madness from a long term planning and financial management perspective.

It's not even really about funding... if we had owners with less money, but were engaged and invested and could sit down with our managers and players and articulate a vision, address concerns, show a long term plan we would be able to at least have a chance on retaining our talent. But we can't do that...

If it was up to me I would pick the first team players but try a formation that uses our resources a bit better, and recognises that Travis is probably going to leave by the end of August. The idea would be to have something we can stick with if it works well. The players who need minutes can come on later in the match. Toth Millar Hyam McCloughlin Alebiousu Tavares? Tronstad De Neve Cantwell Ohashi Kargbo Subs : Michalski, Riberio, Pickering, Wharton, Montgomery, Henricksson, Hedges, Tyjon, Gueye

Sounds like you will be right on mass changes from Ismaels comments. I cant understand the sense in that personally when we have huge turnover in the team and we need to establish a settled side.

The drop off in TV money etc is huge. I don't think it would suit them. According to this article Payments for being in the Championship (TV, Solidarity payments etc) = £9.5M to £12M Payments for being in League One (TV, Solidarity payments etc) = £2M to £2.4M https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/cost-relegation-championship-league-one-31486100

Well, I sincerely disagree. If it was known Travis was available for £2M he would have gone a long time ago. I am sure lots of enquiries have been made, but not gone further as we are valuing him much higher. We will see what happens in the next few weeks.

I really can't see us taking an offer that low. The constraints you mention are the same as they were for Britain, and i am sure we will drive for a deal north of that. For all their faults one thing the owners don't do is sell at cut price. Theyd rather Travis went for free than sell for below his market value imo.

I disagree, on his form last season he gets into any Championship midfield. I guess we will see what offers we get, but he's more valuable than Britain who we got £3.5M for.

I cant see it. We have had huge turnover in our squad and as Wilsden said need to pick a relatively consistent team to find our rhythm. I feel like Travis might be left out due to an incoming transfer, and we may try three at the back. But all the other key players will be out there.

If thats true its good news as presumably they would be offering a big fee too. Travis had a poor game on Saturday but hes a top Championship midfielder. If hes off we need £5M+.

I am a big Gueye fan but he was up and down with Eustace and since Ismael has come in I dont think he has had a single good game...

Based on what I have seen today I reckon this could work better for us... Toth Miller. Hyam. McCloughlin Alebiouso. Travis. Tronstad. De Neve Cantwell. Ohashi. Kargbo Early days but Millar looks ideal for a RCB in a back three.

Well he's obviously been signed as a first team player, so will be judged by first team standards. That said it's impossible to judge a player off a single competitive game. I do think a switch to 343 is coming though. I dont think we have the right players for 4231.

De neve looks like a wing back to me, not a winger/wide forward. Big engine, not a lot else.

My main concern was we would come out and all the signings would be well off it and we would get steam rollered... Turned out that we were pretty physically competitive at least. McCloughlin, Alebiouso and Miller all looked up to it. That said going forward we looked totally toothless except for Alebiouso on the overlap and Kargbo when he came on. Also all of Henricksson, De Neve and Tavares looked very poor. The rest of games in August will give us more of a sense on where we are.

Injured

Well.. thats all to do with his success. If he bumps along like Mowbray did then he could just live with it for a few seasons. But if he does well and gets noticed like JDT and Eustace he will be off as frankly he will get better offers like JDT with Sweden it Eustace at Derby. We're in a situation now where if the manager succeeds he will leave in very short order as what is the point in staying?

Agree - Ohashi and Gueye can both player as either number 9s or 10s (Gueye is counter intuitively very good with his feet when he drops off, think I prefer him at 10 to up top on his own) so we could just play them together. But Ismael has explicitly called out Henricksson as being match fit so expecting him to get the nod at 10 and Ohashi up top with Gueye on the bench.

Wow, that is one stat that keeps inflating! I thought it was a mere 7 still...

I have just woken up to the fact Keith Andrews is now a Premier League manager at Brentford. WTF???? His coaching experience to date (according to wikipedia) is : Brief stint as assistant to Karl Robison at MK Dons where they were relegated Assistant for ROI U21s for 2 years Assistant for ROI national team for 3 years Six months as "back room staff" at Sheffield Utd One season as Brentford's set piece coach Zero head coach / manager experience Any premier league team will have job applications from all over the world of the best managerial talent out there. This is really quite an amazing achievement by Keith! His coaching record would be seen as a bit of speculative punt by a lower half Championship club. Must have really made an impression with his set pieces to get a prem gig.... Any of our Irish fans got an insight into this incredible turn up? I guess he must have built his reputation with the national team?

My point it when he got the budasliga move he will be paid around the same that Travis and Tronstad want I assume. I would be surprised if he wants substantially less than they do.

I know we won't do this as we haven't tried it in pre-season but with the singings it does feel like we are more setup for a 343. Mainly because we only have Kargbo and Hedges who are "wide forwards", and we have signed what seem more like wing backs (Alebiouso, De Neve) and we have a lot of number 10s to fit in (Cantwell, Henricksson, Tyor) Toth Hyam Wharton Pickering Alebiouso Travis Tronstad De Neve Cantwell Ohashi Kargbo Subs : Pears, Riberio, McCloughlin, Montgomery, Henricksson, Tyor, Gueye Not sure Hedges even makes the bench...

He was a top player for Birmingham City despite the team being relegated and moved to Bochum in the Budasliga (not Budasliga 2). So in terms of his career he has played at a higher level than any of Travis, Tronstad or Brittain. Hence my confusion on the wages.