If I were betting on it I would say that Szmodics will still be playing for us when this window closes.

It's unfortunate for him, but he's just a little too old to attract serious interest - unless we are desperate enough to sell at a relatively low price (5-10m).

10 hours ago, superniko said:

How is Lavia not a fair comparison? I’d say £53m for half a season in a relegated premier league side shows us exactly how we got our pants pulled down. 
Bloody Keane Lewis-Potter went for £19m!

I also had the Alex Scott example and the fact that Archie Gray will go for more (if Leeds even sell)

Because Southampton paid 13/14m for Lavia from City. He was an extremely highly regarded prospect with Premier League experience.

Wharton may well ended up being the better player, but there are huge differences in their CVs at the time that they were sold.

5 minutes ago, ABRAM ROVER said:

In what world are £18m and £25m a close comparison?

Because the total value of the transfer for Scott was reported to be around 25m and the total value of the transfer for Wharton is rumoured to be around 22/23m. Pretty close.

2 hours ago, superniko said:

Rumours that Leeds are demanding at least £35m for Archie Gray just shows what a shitshow Venkys, Waggott and Broughton made of the Wharton sale. 

A complete disgrace and some lauded over it as great business despite the likes of Lavia going for £50m+ and Alex Scott for £23m as well as countless further examples. Beggars believe how easy some have the wool pulled over their eyes. 
 

Venkys Out. Waggot Out. 

Pick fair comparisons. No point comparing Lavia and Wharton. Alex Scott is a closer comparison and the fees are pretty similar.

I'll try to say this delicately as I don't want it to be perceived as criticism of Wharton himself, but maybe a timely reminder of just how much young talent there is in the Premier League. 

15 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That’s really shabby. Whoever his replacement is I’ll be amazed if he does any better. They have massive problems there, both on and off the pitch. 

Pretty sure someone can do better.

They've got lots of problems off the pitch, but he's spent an awful lot to basically be midtable. Not to mention the way he's mishandled the player management side of things and the way he consistently comes across as an ass in the press. Things you can do when you're winning, but not when you're struggling.

His race is very clearly run.

On 23/05/2024 at 23:37, Melbournevictory1 said:

There are plenty of young players coming through.  Palace under 21's just won the premier league international cup.   The academy is working.   Then there's the Parish factor.     So not a concern at this stage.   The new stand build starts this closed season apparently, although they've said that before.  To be honest, the biggest factor at Palace is Parish and Freedman, rather than any particular players.  

Congratulations on having a well-run club. I know it hasn't always been the case at Palace.

Our supporters should be envious, instead many are sinking to the usual dumb insults. Your current state feels somewhat reminiscent of what we experienced in the 2000s.

10 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I highly doubt that. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing at Ewood. No way they're competent enough to plan a fire sale 6 months out. 

Agreed, the conspiracy theories can get a bit wild on here at times.

Our biggest issue is our inability to plan and know what we are doing months ahead of time. I actually think JDT would have found that kind of transparency and planning refreshing.

4 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I don't know why certain football fans seem to have the mentality that staff should surrender their contracted work because of their own thoughts

I hate McDonalds. Think they are a scumbag company. But do I think that everyone who works for McDonalds should walk away or protest against them? No

I've not been a fan of the way John has gone about some of his interviews. But I also understand he has a job to do and a salary to maintain. I don't think he should have to surrender that because we are at odds with how the club is run. The lowering of the expectations has already been done. Steve Waggott did that last summer. When John got the job, his sole responsibility was to ensure survival. So he completed that objective. In that respect, he had something to celebrate, whereas the likes of Carter etc were here before, when the expectation was to achieve play offs. John knows nothing of that. If he came here and started banging the same drum JDT had then he would have lasted all of 5 minutes and found himself not only out of work, but also with a reputation that club owners / directors cannot trust

Didn't realise you were on first name terms with him.

All I'll say is this, keep defending the messaging and you'll soon need to change from 'Dreams of 1995' to 'Dreams of 2011'.

There are few things more dangerous for a company, a club, or a person than consistently lowering their expectations. I don't expect him to give up his job, but I do expect him to take on a role with ambition and a desire to actually succeed, not simply maintain a salary.

7 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

One of the big issues around the Spurs fans' mentality is not that they celebrated Arsenal not winning the league, it is that they also celebrated themselves not being able to qualify for the Champions League

It is a real small time mentality to be celebrating that. City could have still won the league had they lost. Spurs however have another season where they sit outside of the top 4 and have won fuck all. Yet their fans did the Poznan

Their odds of sneaking into the top 4 would have been long even had they won last night. Villa would have only needed a draw to secure a Champions League spot.

When you then factor in that an equaliser would have done nothing to help them, I can somewhat understand why they weren't particularly fussed.

The reaction would have been exactly the same at Ewood had we been in a similar set of circumstances. 

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I suppose you’re right. Nobody ever signed top class players before we did.

You can't have it both ways.

8 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

The rest of us can see him for what he is. A coach who is operating with his hands tied behind his back

If he is then he has the choice of either speaking up about it or walking away.

He'll get little sympathy for me for taking a job and lowering expectations through the public messages that he sends out.

There was a stark contrast in the aftermath of the final day between the messaging from Eustace versus the messaging from some players.

There were players stating that it was good to survive, but we shouldn't have been there in the first place. Then there was Eustace saying that it was cause for celebration and making it out that he'd pulled off the great escape.

5 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

There’s no comparison. City’s second team could probably beat any other team outside the top four Prem sides. It’s not just the individual amounts they’ve spent it the number of signings they make. They’ve signed players in the past just to stop them signing for other clubs.

I don't know. 

City have spent astronomical sums, but so have every major side in European football. They've at least built a squad over time, have some academy influence, and have key players who've been around for years (the same can be said for Liverpool and Arsenal).

We really aren't in a position to be overly critical of the way money changed football. We were one of the clubs that started the fire.

8 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

Tottenham fans are singing "Are you watching Arsenal?" since Haarland scored against them. What a sad small club mentality.

As if we wouldn't do the same if it were Burnley?

Half of our songs are focused on Burnley and we're not even in the same division as them...

7 hours ago, Mike E said:

It can be done. Szmodics, Armstrong types keep the system going, while leaving approximately £6m for steadier players. Including free additions, it’s possible to use £10m effectively.

Yeah, of course it can be done, but the chances of nailing 4/5 signings at those prices is highly unlikely. 

1 hour ago, 47er said:

Well I wasn't thinking of the last 10-20 years in my criticism. I'd kill to get back to that position where Mark Hughes seemed to be able to pluck champions off trees.

I note Chaddy's done the same----even Shearer features in his list-- as if anybody wasn't going to get a tune out of him!

No--I was thinking of more recently and I've given some good examples. Enough to justify my original conclusion I think.

Most of our loan players have been disappointing too. I mentioned Branthwaite who was a revelation when he went to Everton after being rubbish for us. Only Elliot has really looked like a top player in the making.

But galling when these look good somewhere else. What's wrong with our club?

On reflection, scrub that. Our coaching staff can't be very good apart from the Academy.

 

So, from loans we've had a few decent ones. It would be difficult to say that we saw the best of them as most of our loans are fairly young players. 

Elliott, Tosin, van Hecke, Khadra, Reed, Armstrong (as a loan), and Gallagher (if he had only stayed a loan) were probably the highlights. We've done OK, we've just been over-reliant on signing loan players to fill key first-team roles. 

But we have had plenty of players in the past 5/6 years even who we probably got the best of. Adam Armstrong, BBD (so far), Lenihan, Rothwell, Nyambe, and honestly a host of others.

I don't think we do any better or worse than most other sides in that department.

2 hours ago, 47er said:

We rarely see the best of anyone here---Hurst anther example among many. Branthwaite looked an amateur here.

Steele? I could go on.....

I think that's a little unfair.

I could make a long list of players from the last 10-20 years who had their best spells at Rovers and subsequently underwhelmed - or at least didn't improve - elsewhere. 

33 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

McGuire has told Orlando he won't a new contract and his contract ends at end of 2024. I don't know where you get that there is club option for 2 more seasons. The LT ran the story that McGuire won't sign a new contract and free to leave at end of the season. 

 

Could be wrong, but don't know why it would be: 

20 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Keeper:- Johansson from Rotherham £900k or Iversen for £2m from Leicester

Right Back/Centre Midfielder:- Jamie Shackleton from Leeds free transfer. 

Right winger:- Sobra Thomas from Huddersfield £2.5m

Szmodics Replacement:- Harvey Knibbs from Reading 1.5m or Koji Miyoshi from Birmingham £2m

Striker :- Aaron Connelly from Hull free transfer or Jerry Yates from Swansea £3m or Duncan McGuire from Orlando £1m

 

Wait, so you have Szmodics leaving and you're still only reinvesting 7-10 million?

Also, I won't even bother to look into all of those figures, but why would Duncan McGuire be available for a fraction of the price that he was in January? You do know that there appear to be club options on his deal for a further 2 seasons?

IF we are also selling Szmodics (for, at the very least, 10 million), then it would still be unacceptable to only see 10 million spent this summer. 

13 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 easily. Do you want to give you the 5 names? 

Sure.

17 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

That's is exactly what we should be doing using the Wharton's money(£7m to £10m) to bring in 4 or 5 quality signings to improve the overall quality signings. 

How on earth are we bringing in 4 or 5 quality players for 10 million?

Is that including wages? Let's say it isn't, you think we can average 2 million a player and get 5 quality players with it? Without even looking at how our club is run, that would be expecting us to have a 100% recruitment strategy.

Between Raya, Phillips, and Wharton, there's no excuse for there to not be 15m in the transfer kitty this summer (not including wages).

That would allow for a premium signing and a decent amount to be spent on 2 or 3 other players.

Sadly, that won't happen.

7 hours ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I can name you 3 pears mistakes off the top of my head that no other champ keeper would’ve made.

im sorry, and i know he done his part in keeping us up in the end but no room for sentiment, has to be replaced next season 

I have far more confidence that Wahlstedt will turn good. 

21 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

We obviously didn’t get a good price as proven by the other 20 year old in the Championship.

It's in the top 15 highest transfer fees ever received for a Championship player under the age of 23.

There's a few bizarre ones ahead of him (Lavia in particular), but the list is mostly filled with players who were widely regarded as top talent, some had Premier League experience, and some even had international experience.

Yes, they got more for Alex Scott, but it isn't a bad deal. The issue is that we won't reinvest the money. It was the same problem when we sold Adam Armstrong and the same reason as to why many didn't want to see BBD sold as his deal was running down.

Other clubs would find a way to spin that transfer into a stronger squad. We will be left with a weaker squad and are now missing one of the few players that was genuinely enjoyable to watch.

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

 

Yes, he's the best we've had to come through the ranks for many years. But people are / were getting carried away with his valuation at this stage of his career. We put a price on his head and there was only one club willing to pay it. 

Agreed.

Rovers supporters aren't unique in this respect, but we'll also then expect our incomings to all be great deals under the logic of 'he's only proven in League 1' or 'he's only played a season in the Championship'.

We got a good price for a player of his age with his level of experience. 

The problem will be that we sold him in a rush and that the funds aren't available to strengthen the squad. If we were about to reinvest 20m then things would look a lot better and you could justify the sale. 

30 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

Obviously. But we should have got a lot more than we sold him for. 

Probably a little more, but there's a cap on a player in the Championship with no Premier League experience.

Not to defend our owners, Waggot, and anyone else involved in this decision making, but if he were to be sold to Bayern (or a similar club) this summer for 60ish million then it would actually end up looking like we go fair market value for him. 

4 minutes ago, TugaysMarlboro said:

He does prosper when challenged. His debut for us, MoTM and I think the same for his first Palace start too. Granted international tournament football is another level again, but he could thrive as equally as he could flounder.

It's entirely possible and I'm sure he'll get his chance in the not-too-distant future. It's not that dissimilar to the situation that Jansen found himself in prior to the 2002 World Cup (although Jansen was vastly more proven and experienced in club football).

I just think it would be a big risk to throw him in at the deep end and a waste of a spot in a squad to take a player when you're not certain that you can totally trust them at that level.