Finneran leaving is disappointing but in my opinion understandable. He is going to a Premier League club who will offer bigger money and can potentially have more scope to do what is best for him. People criticised Phillips but Finneran could have ended up in a similar position when ready to play games. Cant be let out on loan but not yet in a position to play week in week out. Going to a big Premier League club means that these players wont be 4th or 5th choice, but that in turn allows their clubs to find loan deals without having the dilemma of needing them as cover. I think some of the vitriol is over the top. I can understand why these young lads opt for bigger clubs and bigger contracts, I think it shows a lack of empathy not to be able to acknowledge it. May work out, may not, but I understand the decision.

Reading that write up in the LT about Gueye, it seems he very much will not be the natural goalscorer we have been crying out for up front. And will need even more when Szmodics goes. Great in the air, not that we have the players to feed him with crosses. Not the quickest and technically not very good.

He shouldnt be too hard to replace but I listed a number of players thay weve had within the last 2 years that have all been noticeably worse. So no, "nearly any warm body" wont be an upgrade in the market we usually shop in.

Of course its driven by finances. 2 of our highest earners bringing in 10m+ to be replaced by players at a fraction of the cost. I have never been Gallagher's biggest fan but the idea that he could be replaced by almost any warm body is clearly untrue. He is a bottom half standard Championship striker. Certainly one that can be improved on but we have had numerous "warm bodies" as strikers in recent years signed/brought through amidst pitiful budgets in Ennis, Telalovic, Vale, Hirst etc that have literally not scored at all.

Aye, instead of Fleck. Totally different type of player, but instead of Fleck.

Weimann is not the player he once was and he is reliant on energy which may well be fading as time catches up on him but he is a useful player to have in the squad because he can pop up with a goal. I dont see why we are pissing around with trials so late in pre season. Just give him a years contract.

I am pleased as a general rule that we at least seemingly will have 2 forwards not as stop gaps but on decent sized contracts. Signing players from abroad naturally is more exciting and is perhaps a wise ploy when the likes of Lyndon Dykes and Sam Gallagher go for similar amounts at this level. That being said, once Szmodics goes there will be huge pressure on these 2 strikers to score goals with decent regularity between them straight away. If neither adapts then our ticket to League 1 awaits. There are question marks over the pair of them. Im guessing we are buying Gueye as our first choice, his goal record in the 3 of the last 4 seasons in the Belgian league is roughly and consistently 1 in 3. Not bad, not amazing and someone else mentioned penalties, good that he can take one but equally his goals per game without them becomes decidedly average. How does the Belgian league compare to the Championship? And he also had a spell in the second Spanish division where he left a lasting impression after scoring 0 goals. He seems a target man, Eustace plays long ball but do we have the crossers to get him into heading positions? Not convinced we do. Ohashi comes with only positive comments on social media from fans in Japan but the big question mark is the standard. Eustace's comments make me thing that he sees him not as his main striker.

Dembele was dropped from the squad towards the end of Birmingham's season so that perhaps suggests that he doesnt have the best attitude either considering you can name 9 subs.

So you havent been excited about a player we have signed before he has kicked a ball for us for 2 years, yet you are picking me up on it. We all judge players on how they play for us, doesnt mean we cant have an opinion beforehand.

Going on loan to France.

I think thats a bit of an outdated/misguided assumption. There are loads of Japanese players playing abroad. The one we are signing hasnt come close to a international call up. There isnt going to be a subsequent flurry of off the field benefits.

I was just clarifying your question as the wording was a bit confusing. I dont really have much of a strong opinion of either Ohashi or Gueye, similar to the likes of Tronstad, Sigurdsson, Telalovic etc. Im just trying to gather an opinion based on what I see. Im neither for or against them at this stage. McFadzean ive always been transparent that I dont want him back. Of the players linked, Hill I would welcome back, only slight grievance is that he isnt left footed but a good player. Baker would be a decent addition if we could. Dembele is very hit and miss. Ruddy again very much a no. On the flip side, when was the last time we signed a player that you wasnt particularly happy with? Are you happy with Gueye and Ohashi or neutral similar to me? Szmodics leaving is the main story at the moment, probably irreplacable.

I cant tell exactly what your question is because of the wording. Is it, when was the last time you were in favour (ie excited) of a signing we made?

He isnt a winger that can cross. He would give us needed speed but comes inside, end product to be kind is hit and miss and he doesnt work hard.

Zaragoza fans seem to consider him to be the worst player in their history which is a worry. Seems like his best attribute is getting on the end of crosses. Shame our players cant cross.

Why is it a joke? Club demands high fee for player they want to keep when unlike us they dont have to sell everything they possibly can.

Where is this from? They surely will go through, as certain as you can be with this club. 2 have been openly discussed by the manager this weekend in relation to what they will bring and one is a youngster who has confirmed his departure from his old club.

McFadzean. (If that is true)

No.

Have to take that story with a mound of salt. We would need to spend maybe 4/5/6 million to get that striker, Baker and Dembele, which lets be honest would still be pitiful considering the amount we will have brought in, the owners will still have pocketed 22m for Wharton, 4 or 5m for Raya, then potentially a further 12m for Szmodics. Yet still an amount that will likely be beyond us. As for the players mentioned. Never heard of the striker playing in Belgium, not the best goal record including a 0 in 22 in the 2nd tier in Spain in 22/23 but I have never heard of him so no idea if he is good or not. Seemingly a target man, shame none of our players can cross a ball. Dembele is always mentioned, he is quick and we must be the slowest team in the league but he lacks end product and is lazy, hence why Birmingham fans dont seem arsed to see him leave and why he was left out of the squad towards the end of last season. Hill would be a good loan if we can get him back. And the 2 strangest links amidst that is the Baker one. He said a week or 2 ago that we would move for Baker if we could do a swap, now we have a player they seemingly want, why has he gone cold on that idea? And why would Ruddy (who would be a terrible signing) be loaned from a club he clearly signed for purely to fill a quota of English players? If we did make all of those signings, we would still be in a scrap down the bottom but we arent going to sign all of those players. @chaddyrovers is Alan Nixon a personal friend? Not only can you not fathom that not every thing he says is definitely true, but you refer to him as Nicko like he is a mate of yours.

Who was the response to? His priority is keeping things vague enough to sell stories. But I think we all know things have escalated very fast downhill.

For a functional club, selling our only goalscorer for a profit on the back of selling an England quality talent and getting some other bits would help to fund a proper rebuild, whilst being able to keep a bit back to run the club. Here, we all know (well, nearly) that we are destined to go one way, relegation will follow this season, and it helps our terrible owners (still not all the focus is on them, even snakes enabling it like Waggott and Suhail arent the issue) to keep the lights on amidst their misdemeanours. Chaddy is an outlier who is doubling down on his superfan shite, thinking we are about to sign some good players and potentially improve. Including the goal machine signing of Lyndon Dykes. Eustace doesnt have the same willingness to speak up like Tomasson but even he seems worn out and pissed off. I wonder if he will quit.

In what context? Seems particularly vague even for him. Although its a fair assumption that we all know.

He has released stories weekly throughout the last 2 months. Signings made. Zero.

We have consistently played and brought through youngsters in recent years. If anything, at times overly so due to the lack of competitive budget.