Ossydave

To see if this mystery injury holds up, that's if it actually exists.... I wouldn't even be bothering unless he's an exceptional talent personally but what do I know.

Doesn't really help the here and now but could always park Baradji till the winter transfer window if we want him still. The Swiss league will be on winter break for a month from December, see how many games he's managed with this mystery injury. I'm not convinced it's just a dicky foot though....

I know, not sure what your point is?

I find the whole Baradji situation very odd. Even on a pay as you play it seems like a high risk move, for a team who can ill afford to be making high risk moves. The player himself must be desperate to come, the Swiss super league is a very poor standard, the challenge league is probably league 2 standard at best, maybe worse. He cannot be getting paid very well at all there although he must be one of the higher paid players. So who is it at the club that thinks this lad is worth taking risks for? Hard to believe VI is an admirer, is it Rudy who's wanting to get it over the line?

Preston are more toothless than us in attack for sure, 2 goals scored in 4 pre season games and 1 of them was against Chorley....I think they'll struggle this season.

The game is viewable on Bet365 if anyones at a loose end and wants to see if he's any good BTW

You could still play with a stress fracture, with pain meds and/or a supportive brace, it won't do you any good like but it's possible.

Hull are in quite a predicament too, although the bookies have Oxford more likely for the drop

Ah sorry I clearly didn't read your post properly 😶

You've missed Dennis off Jan 2025. Granted he didn't contribute much unfortunately, but at the time I think most of us were in favour of that deal, believing it strengthened our attacking options.

Correct.....

2 more games in and plenty of time spent with the lads in Spain, VI should be reporting back on Monday saying which players/positions he needs. You'd like to think the recruitment team have been busy and will have a few options lined up. Yesterday (again) highlighted how poor Hedges is, a replacement for him is an absolute must. I've no issue with him being a squad player because he does offer good defensive support, if VI is sticking to his 60 mins subs then if we're 2 nil up in a game, no issue really Hedges coming on. So he does serve a purpose but again, defensive qualities shouldn't be his MAIN attributes.....

If our 10k pay cap is true, he won't be on much more than that at Espanyol, Real Madrid/Barcelona they are not! Unless they are willing to make him their highest paid player which seems highly unlikely. He will however be on a lot more than he was regardless as I imagine he was on peanuts given the circumstances in which he signed for us.

It's Espanyol (if it happens). Salary wise they are unlikely to pay him more than he would have got at Ewood..... Fair play to him though I'd rather live in Barcelona than Manchester. Not sure where they'd play him either, certainly won't get picked over Puado who's probably their best player, but that's not our problem.

So is Phillips, not from a footballing perspective as such but his insane build which will be largely down to genetics isn't normal at all for a lad that age. Not naturally anyway without injecting. Obviously his footballing ability is good, without being amazing. Spurs essentially bought a Lamborghini shell with a 2.5ltr engine from a mk2 Focus ST, fantastic engines but not quite matching the shell, yet. Absolute no brainer to take a punt on him though for Spurs.

I think its pretty normal for away fans to be banned in Holland pre season, and other European countries too. They just expect large groups going on the piss causing aggro and its an unwanted expense policing it.

Pretty much every booking he gets, which is almost every time he plays, is fucking stupidity/childishness. He's one of the weirdest platers I've ever known. There's definitely some talent there but he comes across like he simply cannot be arsed, its like his dad forced him to play football or something?!?

It's a good move for Beck, am I bothered he's not come back here though? Not really. He's got a fair bit to learn about positioning and curbing the reckless challenges he was partial to, but Eustace will be well aware of this and will make him a better player in the long run. Big season for him as if he keeps fits and makes a few tweaks he can be pushing for a premier league move next season.

I've cut down a lot myself this year, never drank during the week anyway but did so religiously at weekends no matter what even just at home relaxing. Still drink but it's purely at social events now. There's some really good alcohol free options now if you genuinely just enjoy the taste of a beer, big fan of the Leffe you can get, even Aldi do an AF version of St Etienne (their knock off Stella) Which is decent. Good luck of the job front too, coming up to 2 years since I was made redundant after over 20 years service. I was lucky, landed a new job within a week or 2 but that initial feeling of panic was dreadful.

Goes deeper than the alcohol with him, his autobiography is a fascinating read, highly recommended. Only then do you get an idea of the mental trauma which often caused some of his outrageous behaviour. He grew up in the wrong generation, I dare say his life would have led a very different path growing up these days with the support available.

No I'm not saying there would be genuine interest just to be clear, it just ticks a few boxes that would make someone like Nixon or Nathan Jones say we're "working on a cut price deal to secure the services of him" that's all. In reality, maybe someone like Wrexham would take a punt, failing that I would be surprised if he went overseas somewhere.

Bamford has been told to find a new club, 30+, final year of his contract, it's the type of situation that would see our ears prick up (obviously the wages not so much). Wouldn't be surprised if you spot some ITK's banding his name about saying we're working on a deal blah blah blah in the coming weeks.....

Boro upping their bid no doubt Carter's going to end up like Phil Jones, minus the premier league. Mad to think he's been retired a year now and he's only 33, seems a life time since he was playing.

No disrespect to him but its a downgrade on Batth for me. One plus is he managed 36 games last season and looks to have a pretty clean injury history, which we definitely need....

You never know, Yuki might have a 'Szmodics' season or the breakthrough like we saw with BBD. People will scoff, but Szmodics scored just 5 league goals in his first season here, Yuki got 9 whilst adapting to not just a new league, but a new country too, after playing a shed load of games. As it stands, we certainly need him to shine.... Gueye I'm not as confident with although he does randomly look capable now and then so can hopefully play a part. It's crunch time for Leonard too, he's managed just 32 appearances now in 3 seasons, simply not good enough at that age, if he spends another season crocked we may as well assign him to the scrap heap I'm afraid. Question marks remain over his ability but he's never going to prove himself from the treatment room or with the odd fleeting substitute appearance here and there.