@our_frank said:
strewth, @micra . Mawson is reckoned to have cost £20m; what do you suppose Fulham are paying him?
You'll be threatening to rip up your season ticket next, unless we sign a "20-goal-a-season striker". I really hope they aren't thinking any such thing.
Leave that kind of talk to the hotheaded young folk, eh?
I woke early. I had a dream. I’d heard that Mawson had not been playing regularly for Fulham (perhaps because he’d been injured, I don’t know) and I knew nothing about what he cost or how much he was being paid. I have a cool head - literally now since five months growth of curly hair was removed last week - and have been described by one eminent Gasroomer as the voice of reason! I’m not usually given to flights of fancy but all the talk on the definitive ex player thread about the central defensive situation fired my early morning imagination.
Even if I had a season ticket to rip up I don’t think I’ll be doing so “any time soon”.
After 52 years as a season ticket holder it ain’t gonna happen.
@Malone has hit the nail on the head as usual. Ouch.
Palace are the other team rumoured to have a strong interest. I'd suggest they'd be a much better fit. West Ham always look one result/manager/day away from disaster.
POTD @BlueBoy. Amazing how some fans get carried away. Even some of the ancient ones on occasion. I had a dream yesterday that we might somehow lure Mawson back. Can you believe it? The answer to a dreamer’s prayer. A rock solid athletic central defender who scores goals from set pieces and is an inspiring captain.
Worth a king’s ransom I should think. But he wouldn’t want to come back to this tinpot shithole of course. Dream on.
@BlueBoy said:
Palace are the other team rumoured to have a strong interest. I'd suggest they'd be a much better fit. West Ham always look one result/manager/day away from disaster.
I'm surprised Arsenal haven't appeared to show any interest.
Palace's form dropped off an absolute cliff after lockdown ended, and they surely have to be in the mix for relegation next season.
While Moyes is a man who took league champions to 7th, and has failed repeatedly since then - with only the very minor success of keeping West Ham up against some utterly woeful teams - they are without any doubt far bigger a club.
I'm not sure that the motivation levels were as high in those mid table sides. Whilst that shouldn't be an excuse I wouldn't carry that much weight with it.
Also for Palace selling Saha will be a big plus for them overall
@Right_in_the_Middle said:
I'm not sure that the motivation levels were as high in those mid table sides. Whilst that shouldn't be an excuse I wouldn't carry that much weight with it.
Also for Palace selling Saha will be a big plus for them overall
Well, they'd be selling their one star player. So i'm not sure it'll be superb for them. It could be what finally seals their relegation.
@Right_in_the_Middle said:
I'm not sure that the motivation levels were as high in those mid table sides. Whilst that shouldn't be an excuse I wouldn't carry that much weight with it.
Also for Palace selling Saha will be a big plus for them overall
Well, they'd be selling their one star player. So i'm not sure it'll be superb for them. It could be what finally seals their relegation.
A star player who doesn't really carry the team. I think they will be better off without him as they can build a team and not just around one player.
I like Saha but think both parties will be better with a change
@Right_in_the_Middle said:
I'm not sure that the motivation levels were as high in those mid table sides. Whilst that shouldn't be an excuse I wouldn't carry that much weight with it.
Also for Palace selling Saha will be a big plus for them overall
Well, they'd be selling their one star player. So i'm not sure it'll be superb for them. It could be what finally seals their relegation.
A star player who doesn't really carry the team. I think they will be better off without him as they can build a team and not just around one player.
I like Saha but think both parties will be better with a change
For the sake of my oldest son @micra , can you spell it with a Z - Zaha going forward? Ta boss. Saha was the ex Fulham/United guy.
Madness that we are even mentioning these names om a Wycombe forum! Still hasn't sunk in! The EFL seriously need to address things though....how do we compete with Bournemouth etc?
I would imagine our budget is still League 1 level, if that, and Bournemouth will have £41m from Ake, plus Brools and Wilson sales, plus £43m parachute payment! How do they receive £43m for failing, and and us £4.5m for what we have achieved?? (Most of that will clear debts/be used to build the future one would assume)
@thecatwwfc said:
Madness that we are even mentioning these names om a Wycombe forum! Still hasn't sunk in! The EFL seriously need to address things though....how do we compete with Bournemouth etc?
I would imagine our budget is still League 1 level, if that, and Bournemouth will have £41m from Ake, plus Brools and Wilson sales, plus £43m parachute payment! How do they receive £43m for failing, and and us £4.5m for what we have achieved?? (Most of that will clear debts/be used to build the future one would assume)
We just have to think about the likes of Rotherham and a few of the smaller teams up there, and get ahead of them!
As bad as it is to mention, no doubt a couple of teams will get hefty points bans too.
It's not a great angle, but in such an unbalanced division, if that's our best chance, so be it.
Hear hear! There are several teams I am not scared of at all, even if they are superior on paper. If we bring 5-6 players in to upgrade the team without going crazy, I am not going to fear the likes of Huddersfield, Barnsley, Stoke, Luton, Rotherham and Reading - even though they will "probably" beat us. I still think we can get some results.
@Shev said:
Hear hear! There are several teams I am not scared of at all, even if they are superior on paper. If we bring 5-6 players in to upgrade the team without going crazy, I am not going to fear the likes of Huddersfield, Barnsley, Stoke, Luton, Rotherham and Reading - even though they will "probably" beat us. I still think we can get some results.
I would fear Barnsley - if Struber stays, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they push for the play-offs. Stoke need to have a big overhaul but have a very good manager in place. The rest, as things stand, you'd probably put down towards the bottom. Birmingham don't seem to have improved in years either - have just sold Bellingham for £27 million but not a given that they reinvest that wisely.
I'd say we need 8/9 signings - and I'd expect that many tbh, would take the squad back up to last season's size.
It will certainly be interesting to see the number, given the additional cash but various uncertainties (when are crowds back, etc?). Hopefully you are right on the mark at around 9. It will be interesting to see the permanent v loan breakdown, too. One of the most fascinating things to me about last season is that after all the promising loanees we got in, it was still the permanent signings who did most of the heavy lifting in the end - though this time around I think we need to "hit" on almost all signings, both temporary and permanent.
It's obviously a strange and uncertain situation, but 25 is about a par squad size. Agree that near enough all of them will need to make a real impact.
I’m just checking in after a few days off... again this is awful stuff. I understand the excitement, but 30 odd messages about a bot rumour is pretty embarrassing. Come on, we’re better than this.
If we’re talking 8/9 additions to the squad, it will be interesting to see how wide the age range is and how many (2/3 perhaps) are likely to be amongst our highest earners on the strength of previous significant achievements at Championship or higher level.
In this respect, I would argue that the underlying principles in relation to the hierarchical aspect of the playing budget and the higher level of investment in key players considered justified to improve the all-important prospect of survival (alluded to in my “Mawson dream” post) are perfectly valid topics for discussion.
That was what I was hoping to encourage.
Forget the absurdly unrealistic mention of Mawson. That was a flight of fancy generated by the fairly protracted exchanges about possible defensive personnel and their permutations.
@micra And to be clear, I was not just telling you that you were having a mad five minutes, I was clumsily trying to make the point that I think it would be disastrous to sign a handful of "stars" on double the wages of the current highest earners. Inevitably, the wage bill will go up a bit, just as the average undoubtedly rose last season with the recruitment of Fred and Dave.
But we need to keep the "all in this together" ethos if we are going to stand any chance of competing in the second division and we should surely be budgeting on the basis that we get relegated.
In my view, the most important aim for the club this year should be to make a substantial profit, to provide insulation against what's to come - either in terms of football fortune, or global turmoil.
I don’t think the Couhigs or GA have the slightest intention of budgeting for relegation. And the destabilising potential of one or two players being paid considerably more than the rest was implicit in my second post and specific in the original one. I agree that maintenance of the ethos cultivated over a long period of time is paramount.
Hopefully some of the signings will have some Championship experience. The challenge for the team is about 45-50 points to stay in the league. A huge ask but with 8/9 quality new signings including loanees we have a chance.
Comments
I woke early. I had a dream. I’d heard that Mawson had not been playing regularly for Fulham (perhaps because he’d been injured, I don’t know) and I knew nothing about what he cost or how much he was being paid. I have a cool head - literally now since five months growth of curly hair was removed last week - and have been described by one eminent Gasroomer as the voice of reason! I’m not usually given to flights of fancy but all the talk on the definitive ex player thread about the central defensive situation fired my early morning imagination.
Even if I had a season ticket to rip up I don’t think I’ll be doing so “any time soon”.
After 52 years as a season ticket holder it ain’t gonna happen.
@Malone has hit the nail on the head as usual. Ouch.
Not true yet. Imagine having enough time on your hands that you can make that gif just to troll.
DESPERATELY hope he doesn't end up at West Ham.
Palace are the other team rumoured to have a strong interest. I'd suggest they'd be a much better fit. West Ham always look one result/manager/day away from disaster.
POTD @BlueBoy. Amazing how some fans get carried away. Even some of the ancient ones on occasion. I had a dream yesterday that we might somehow lure Mawson back. Can you believe it? The answer to a dreamer’s prayer. A rock solid athletic central defender who scores goals from set pieces and is an inspiring captain.
Worth a king’s ransom I should think. But he wouldn’t want to come back to this tinpot shithole of course. Dream on.
I'm surprised Arsenal haven't appeared to show any interest.
I am convinced Eze will end up in the England team, and will be a household name in a few years.
Eze never struck me as a Moyes type of player...but I reckon Woy and Palace would be a good fit if they lose Zaha.
Palace's form dropped off an absolute cliff after lockdown ended, and they surely have to be in the mix for relegation next season.
While Moyes is a man who took league champions to 7th, and has failed repeatedly since then - with only the very minor success of keeping West Ham up against some utterly woeful teams - they are without any doubt far bigger a club.
I'm not sure that the motivation levels were as high in those mid table sides. Whilst that shouldn't be an excuse I wouldn't carry that much weight with it.
Also for Palace selling Saha will be a big plus for them overall
Well, they'd be selling their one star player. So i'm not sure it'll be superb for them. It could be what finally seals their relegation.
If Palace offload Benteke and Zaha they will have a few bob to buy Bournemouth's best players one assumes. Eze and Brooks might do quite nicely.
A star player who doesn't really carry the team. I think they will be better off without him as they can build a team and not just around one player.
I like Saha but think both parties will be better with a change
For the sake of my oldest son @micra , can you spell it with a Z - Zaha going forward? Ta boss. Saha was the ex Fulham/United guy.
Don't confuse @micra by saying "the United guy", @Malone, as both Louis Saha (04/08) and Wilfred Zaha (13/15) had spells at Man Utd.
I don't think even Zaha would refer to his dreadful stay there as a spell. A few non descript appearances.
Madness that we are even mentioning these names om a Wycombe forum! Still hasn't sunk in! The EFL seriously need to address things though....how do we compete with Bournemouth etc?
I would imagine our budget is still League 1 level, if that, and Bournemouth will have £41m from Ake, plus Brools and Wilson sales, plus £43m parachute payment! How do they receive £43m for failing, and and us £4.5m for what we have achieved?? (Most of that will clear debts/be used to build the future one would assume)
We just have to think about the likes of Rotherham and a few of the smaller teams up there, and get ahead of them!
As bad as it is to mention, no doubt a couple of teams will get hefty points bans too.
It's not a great angle, but in such an unbalanced division, if that's our best chance, so be it.
Hear hear! There are several teams I am not scared of at all, even if they are superior on paper. If we bring 5-6 players in to upgrade the team without going crazy, I am not going to fear the likes of Huddersfield, Barnsley, Stoke, Luton, Rotherham and Reading - even though they will "probably" beat us. I still think we can get some results.
I would fear Barnsley - if Struber stays, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they push for the play-offs. Stoke need to have a big overhaul but have a very good manager in place. The rest, as things stand, you'd probably put down towards the bottom. Birmingham don't seem to have improved in years either - have just sold Bellingham for £27 million but not a given that they reinvest that wisely.
I'd say we need 8/9 signings - and I'd expect that many tbh, would take the squad back up to last season's size.
It will certainly be interesting to see the number, given the additional cash but various uncertainties (when are crowds back, etc?). Hopefully you are right on the mark at around 9. It will be interesting to see the permanent v loan breakdown, too. One of the most fascinating things to me about last season is that after all the promising loanees we got in, it was still the permanent signings who did most of the heavy lifting in the end - though this time around I think we need to "hit" on almost all signings, both temporary and permanent.
It's obviously a strange and uncertain situation, but 25 is about a par squad size. Agree that near enough all of them will need to make a real impact.
I’m just checking in after a few days off... again this is awful stuff. I understand the excitement, but 30 odd messages about a bot rumour is pretty embarrassing. Come on, we’re better than this.
If we’re talking 8/9 additions to the squad, it will be interesting to see how wide the age range is and how many (2/3 perhaps) are likely to be amongst our highest earners on the strength of previous significant achievements at Championship or higher level.
In this respect, I would argue that the underlying principles in relation to the hierarchical aspect of the playing budget and the higher level of investment in key players considered justified to improve the all-important prospect of survival (alluded to in my “Mawson dream” post) are perfectly valid topics for discussion.
That was what I was hoping to encourage.
Forget the absurdly unrealistic mention of Mawson. That was a flight of fancy generated by the fairly protracted exchanges about possible defensive personnel and their permutations.
@micra And to be clear, I was not just telling you that you were having a mad five minutes, I was clumsily trying to make the point that I think it would be disastrous to sign a handful of "stars" on double the wages of the current highest earners. Inevitably, the wage bill will go up a bit, just as the average undoubtedly rose last season with the recruitment of Fred and Dave.
But we need to keep the "all in this together" ethos if we are going to stand any chance of competing in the second division and we should surely be budgeting on the basis that we get relegated.
In my view, the most important aim for the club this year should be to make a substantial profit, to provide insulation against what's to come - either in terms of football fortune, or global turmoil.
I'm looking forward to winning the Fourth From Bottom trophy next year.
I don’t think the Couhigs or GA have the slightest intention of budgeting for relegation. And the destabilising potential of one or two players being paid considerably more than the rest was implicit in my second post and specific in the original one. I agree that maintenance of the ethos cultivated over a long period of time is paramount.
I think they will find good character coupled with good talent for a good price, as they always do. The three "goods" of Wycombe.
Hopefully some of the signings will have some Championship experience. The challenge for the team is about 45-50 points to stay in the league. A huge ask but with 8/9 quality new signings including loanees we have a chance.
8-9 quality signings is a bit of an ask.
That's basically a new team!