islander200

Why have all those players gone to league one so?For a team that can pay new signings a maximum of 8k a week? There are enough things to slag the club off for instead of taking it as fact that Hourihane turned us down when it has come from one poster with an awful record with information.

Kaminski Carter Ayala Wharton Pickering Travis Buckley Markanday Dack Brererton Gallagher That team is better than at least 5 or 6 teams in the division

Yeah and those teams I mentioned have Cafu and Maldini playing full back. Yes we need quality added but as it stands other clubs in this division are worse off than us

Is it being grateful? Or is it responding to post that relegation is a forgone conclusion with the squad we have? We had all this last summer being said we finished eighth. There are poorer squads than ours .Wigan have a team made up of league one players they are yet to make a signing this summer. People are acting like we won't make a single signing this summer because we have been inactive so far

Signings will come in. Our squad is still better than those 4 teams and you can add Blackpool to that. I'm sure all those clubs and others have poor options in certain positions. Costello is a poor Rb but if he was to play there it wouldn't guarantee our relegation.

Yeah and as it stands those 4 clubs and a few others have worse squads than Ours in my opinion. Sure all this was being said last summer too, that we would go down with the squad we had.

So Reading, Brum, Rotherham, Wigan etc have better squads than us?As it stands. Disagree

Mate Mercer had Ferguson as the new manager. He sold Jordan Rhodes to Wigan and Bolton more times than Alan Nixon. For years he had it we were on the brink and going into admin but he got bored with it after about the 7th or 8th summer Why would he pluck Hourihane out of thin air?He was a freebie with a not too shabby past who had just signed for Derby When Mercer has a story he is never slow to share it so why wait until he had signed for another club bit odd considering I'm sure he was one of the posters bemoaning the lack of activity so far Even if he had talks shown around the training ground ect that is no proof a contract was put in front of him .Didn't unleaded say (who has by far a more reliable record than mercer) that Hourihane was on Park's list that JDT and Broughton had moved away from?

Did we miss out on Hourihane?You know for a fact a contract was offered to him or are you taking Mercer's word?

Well they have been away in Portugal and the person who would try asking the questions is away. Be a worry if no comment by JDT after the game Saturday

Sharpe mentioned an interest in him last season. I'd take him and Styles from Barnsley altho Styles fee may be a bit higher now he switched allegiance to Hungary and is playing international football.

He is only on 4k a week at Brighton I'm sure we could manage that.Surely Brighton give him a go next season tho.Duffy started a lot of games for them and Van Hecke has all the tools to be a much better player than him if he isn't already

Brittain at Barnsley could be picked up for a reasonable fee and after watching him a fair bit he would definitely be an upgrade on Nyambe attacking wise and he defends well enough aswell

Didn't we finish ahead of two of those clubs last season? Derby threw loads of money at promotion and where are they now?League one. I'm not being funny but Stoke have spent a fair bit and I look at their squad and I ain't too envious to be honest. Stoke and Boro have owners who are better than ours and care more about their clubs I doubt you would find any on here who would disagree with that. Not sure if this helped Boro's Ffp situation but how much did they receive from Derby and Morris last season when Gibson took legal action against them?(just checked and I can see £3 million was the settlement so didn't play a part)

Again I said I'd like experience but it has to be the right player.To me Hourihane isn't what we should be targetting.He has gone to league one for a reason. You give loans back after a season so not comparable to giving a 30/31/32 year old a 2 year deal lm

We don't need 8 or 9 signings.Trying to stretch our budget to that many players we will be signing dross. 4 permanent signing and a couple of loans.Dack fit to play a bigger part, Markanday fit and Hedges who did ok in his last couple of games weren't available for us the majority of the last season. If you read my first reply to you I said I would like experience but they have to be able to contribute for the length of their contract and plenty of players 27/28 have experience. More often than not signing past it players has done f all for us. 8k a week is still money that could be used elsewhere rather than bringing in Hourihane who is finished at this level. The chances of us getting promoted next season are slim to none so build for the next season.

And now Hourihane has joined a club in league one.He isn't doing that if he was getting offers in this division.As we have seen plenty of times a player that age can lose it overnight (Mulgrew being the prime example). He would have wanted two years here, this is one of the reasons are finances are as poor as they are, giving out contracts to these sort of players. So we sign Hourihane,give him the 2 years get similar levels as we did with Bradley Johnson the majority of the time he was here and end up mid table next season while Hourihane drains the club finances further by paying him his last year for nothing. A younger player could be getting those minutes will be beneficial for us in the longer term.We definitely need new signings but not just for the sake of it.Iv seen you mention we need 8 or 9 in?Crikey on our budget...we end up with 9 Hope Akpans and we wouldn't be going anywhere near promotion. Hypothetically we have 10 million to spend on transfer fees alone(I know we won't spend that much) I'd rather that money was spent on 4 players.Couple of 3 million and couple for 2...I wouldn't want that budget stretching to 9 players. Add a couple of loans and use the young players who the management feel can contribute.There will be a couple like in seasons past that can play a part.

Surely that's where Lenihen will be playing tho?

Just waiting for Boro to announce Mowbray as their new head of recruitment

That isn't my ambition.But do you really think a Bradley Johnson or a Hourihane are firing us to promotion glory? Throughout these years of the championship we have had plenty of "experience" and where has it got us? Buckley looked a lot better last season.Why? Because he had a run of games Similar with Brererton. We have had plenty of 30/31 year olds here or given new deals at that age and we got nothing but mid table with them. Buckley will be alongside Travis next season

Id be against doing what we did with Bradley Johnson and others like him. Giving them 2 or 3 deals here.If lucky we get six decent months out of them. It depends on the player.The ones we have signed up to now achieved nothing with us.I dont think this is a league with a lot of quality and it doesn't take much to finish mid table so I would rather see a younger player brought in.Unless we are spending money and taking a 30/31 year old from another club who don't particularly want to lose him then the likelihood is we will just end up with another who doesn't contribute enough to justify their wage and the 2+1 year deal we most likely have given them There is a reason Hourihane ended up at Derby and it won't be money as they are under restrictions.I noticed earlier you would have been happy with him signing?Out of interest where would you have played him? The club has been burnt many times with contracts we have given to players coming to the end. Agree about the experience but they have to be able to contribute on the field aswell and over the period we have given them contracts for. Plenty of 27/28 year olds are experienced.

We ain't going to have half the side as teenagers. But why can't Batty or Garrett make an impact just because they are in their teens? Other teams in the championship blood teenagers and our academy is amongst the best in the Championship. Garrett and Batty both played/play underage for England, not seen too much of Batty myself but seen a bit of Garrett and think he could be capable. I'm not advocating we don't spend any money and I agree we need some ready made players brought in but I would rather a young player get minutes than sign and give a 2/3 year deal to a player on his way down like a Hourihane or Bradley Johnson

Garrets 19 and would probably contribute more than Bradley Johnson did last season. Do the Rotherhams, Birmingham's Readings etc of the league have squad depth? Players will come in but hopefully Dack will be back fit and functioning, I'm excited to see what Markanday can do, hopefully after a second loan Carter can come back and have an impact like Wharton. As it stands I'd disagree with you that we would be in the bottom 3.Players will come in

Then you ain't looking too deep into other teams squads. Birmingham,Reading and Rotherham at a minimum have worse squads than we do and other teams are worse off than us imo. Players will come before the season begins

Which doesn't look like happening any time soon if ever.As our external debt isn't big enough for the Indians to cut and run. Not directed at you but being put into admin is mentioned nearly every summer on here. Hopefully some day soon they will have had enough and look to move the club on ,one good thing about the wage bill being cut and becoming a little more sustainable we will be more attractive to prospective buyers If the club is ever put on the market. I just don't think administration Is the way it will end .