He needs the equivalent of Skipp’s loan at Norwich where he gets played in his preferred position consistently, easier said than done of course though. If that doesn’t look likely then honestly if we end up in the Europa Conference I wouldn’t mind us keeping Parrott about the place and just starting him in every game there. He’s only 19, which I forget sometimes.
It's not just position that's important but also system Parrott played up front for Millwall when he was there, but he was unsuited for their tactics and got recalled. If he moved to somebody like Swansea he may not have got as many minutes, but the minutes he got would have been more useful
100%. It’s also why I’m not against keeping him in-house if the new manager decides to earmark Conference games for him to play. Gives him a chance to play minutes at a decent level (for a 19 year old) in a system that presumably will replicate what we play at 1st team level.
We should have got it over the line before City got moving as we were in pole position and had done all the ground work...for us it was a case of Dias or Skrinrar...got neither. We are not always on the cusp of signing someone but end up gazumped, it’s because we dither, when I say we I mean ENIC.
Clubs and agents know well in advance when there's interest in their players. We could have bid £60m off the bat and his agent would've been straight on the phone to City to get a bigger wage. We can't possibly match their spending in that area, either. That's even if you just go by what's on their books. Dias is a Jorge Mendes client. Bernardo Silva, Cancelo and Ederson are also on his books, as well as everyone at Wolves and anyone Portuguese. This one was dead in the water as soon as City wanted him.
I think this is oversimplifying the transfer process a bit, players are always going to be talking to multiple clubs at any one time and even if a contract is (metaphorically) on the table from Club A, the agent is going to be in the background keeping Clubs B and C fully informed. Which isn’t to excuse our at times shambolic transfer activity, but I would assume it’s extremely rare for a transfer to be done where other clubs are completely in the dark about it.
That's what we tried with Batshuayi, but OM just stalled in the hope somebody would come along with a bigger offer, and Chelsea did just that Also, as much as I think Skriniar would have added something to our defence this season, considering he's as slow on his feet as Toby coupled with our foolish tactics of just handing over midfield for the entire second half of games from December onward the likelihood is that he'd be compared to one farm animal or another with people calling him a waste of money who should be sold ASAP
AS are reporting that Allegri has turned us down as he's waiting for the Juve or Real jobs. Personally I don't buy it as he doesn't really fit the mould of manager we seem to be targetting. He was who I wanted to initially replace Poch but there's different needs now that I'm not sure he'd be right for.
Honestly, good - he's been sitting by the phone for a year now and nobody's called The rumours that he's set to return to Juve hopefully get him off the board
I honestly do not think we have anyone lined up. I hope I am wrong but it really looks like we have sacked him without a plan which is mind boggling cos it was obvious that he had to go as long ago as February. Have heard Gerrard mentioned. Not for me...as soon as the Liverpool job is available (possibly next summer) he'll leave. I think who ever comes in is on a hiding to nothing as if it is a big name, expectations will jump but we ain't got a squad to match those expectations. A "no name" like Potter will be mocked by some, labeled a puppet and not given the tools he needs. On planet RCL I would get in Potter. I would instill a culture of you give everything or you'll be sold. Anyone acting like Billy Big Bollocks is sold. Anyone batching in the media is sold. Players are rotated and if they have a problem with it they are sold. All of these things would have stopped Dier, Alderweireld, Eriksen, Rose, Dele etc situations poisoning the club. I would have a team of 3 including the coach to decide on players bought. I would sell Dier, Sanchez, Doherty, Hart, Winks, Aurier, Gazzinga, Sissoko and Ndombele as a matter of urgency. I'd make it clear that if they ain't gone by the end of the transfer window they'll not get squad numbers next season. I would take the loss on them cos they ain't worth keeping. I would accept offers for Davies, Lo celso, Bergwijn, Hoejberg, Lamela, Lloris and Alderweireld I would keep the others and bring back Skipp, Foyth, Parrott, Devine and Clarke I'd try and buy Ings, Dunk, Pope and Dallas. My conspiracy theory alter ego says Levy is waiting to see if Pochettino is sacked by psg to bring him back
You're not alone in this, mate. I was down the snooker club the other night with my two cousins and we all said we wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what Levy’s potentially holding out on and why no one was approached immediately after Jose’s sacking. Don’t think it’d be a smart move assuming Poch does get sacked but then name one smart move this club has done in the last few years...
I don’t think it’s quite true that we had nobody lined up. Apparently Nagelsmann was the one but then Flick announced he was leaving Bayern and that out the spanner in those particular works. Then Ten Hag extended his contract at Ajax by a year - which to be fair doesn’t make him unattainable, just more expensive. We do already have a group of people responsible for transfers, and generally responsible for the football side of the club. IIRC this came out in a THST meeting with the club last year. It was described as Hitchin (Technical Performance Director), Trevor Birch (before he left, he was Director of Football Operations), and Rebecca Caplehorn (Director of Football Administration and Governance). Levy chairs this Football Board. The manager was described as also having input on transfers mainly in consultation with Hitchin, with others getting involved as necessary. Whether this structure changed when Birch left, I don’t know. As far as the actual new manager goes, I’m coming round to Potter. I have a theory (unfounded of course) that two of the names we have on our much bandied-about shortlist might be what we end up doing - Potter as head coach, and Rangnick taking an important role on the Football Board to guide the whole process as he has reputedly done at the RB franchises. This might be fanciful though, although a neat explanation of why its taking so long to announce things would be that they have two sets of negotiations going on rather than one, and want to announce everything at once should it all work out and align. This post is already too long so I won’t say anything about players aside that the CM I want is Yves Bissouma at Brighton, I think he’s class and would be a fantastic partner to Højbjerg or Skipp. Edit: included link to THST minutes detailing the above: https://www.thstofficial.com/thst-news/trust-board-meeting-with-club-board-report
No hello, how was your day? Nope...just a swift kick in balls and leave Bet you didn't even read past the second word You are one cold mo fo
Anyone having active involvement in our transfer dealings (or lack of them) since 2015 deserves (or deserved) to be sacked, including Pochettino. We have wasted a bloody fortune on a complete load of crap and kept a load of underperforming ****ers at the club. It's been a non-stop conveyor belt of incompetence. Any football issues left in the hands of those involved, is unlikely to be anything other than a complete failure going forward. We need to clean house or we're going to continue to spiral downwards. Levy's not going to cede control unless he's made to do so and he will just use puppets like Hitchen, to retain control and severely limit our future prospects By all means get Rangnick in but if he reports to Hitchen, Levy or anyone else from the current regime, it won't work. Levy goes or we're just going to rinse and repeat.
You’re not wrong about the seeming incompetence. I don’t think it’s realistic to have someone like Rangnick come in and not report in some way to Levy, though if we’re talking hypotheticals what I would want to see is him coming in and chairing the Football Board, with Levy relinquishing that responsibility to remain as overall Chairman - crucially stepping away from the football side of the club as that appears to be clearly delineated as a set of responsibilities under the current structure.
Loved the line in the Levy match day programme statement that said in the last 2 years we have spent £240m on transfers. Another way of saying that is in last 3 years we have spent £240m on transfers but that would require honesty. Another way of saying that is that in the last 2 years we have spunked £120m on Doherty, Ndombele and Lo Celso. Another way of saying it is that in the last 2 years we spunked away the above £120m plus a further £52m Clarke, Sessegnon and Rodon who between then have played less for Spurs than I have ffs. That's £172m out of the £250m...seriously... How can Levy not think that would insult our intelligence?
