I have a strong suspicion that Briggs is out of contract this summer anyway, so that issue may resolve itself on 30 June.
Briggs had a horrible injury. Came back into reserves and got injured again. Probably won't play again for us.
Just watching the U18's and as far as I'm concerned four or five of these players can be part of the first team squad next season, plus four or five from the u21's. I'm not suggesting just chucking them all in the first eleven but in the squad of 25 I think half could come from our youngsters Roberts, Dembele, Sambou, Burgess, Trotta, Burn, Woodrow, Tankovic and couple more Would love to hear what regular watchers of the youngsters think????
Having watched all ,many times my only reservation is Trotta, but there again leave him with the Bees for another 6 months and see how he performs in a higher division.
I suspect our moment for spending on £5m on Cresswell has been and gone. I doubt Ipswich would sell him to a fellow Championship club, and I doubt we'll be paying that much on a left back now. I wouldn't be surprised to see us revive the move for Neil Taylor from Swansea, who would be cheaper than Cresswell and would be gaining first team football by moving to us. More broadly, I think we need one experienced centre back to bring on our gifted youngsters. With Burn, Grimmer, and possibly one or more of the under 18s, we're well served in that position. We've got good options at right back among the youngsters too, so a centre back and a left back are the only defensive positions that need covering. If Leeds are short of cash at the moment (are they? I'm not sure if their financial problems are still ongoing) we could do a lot worst than Jason Pearce. He's 26 with 200 or so league appearances under his belt, so he's experienced but nowhere near the downward slope of his career. I used to watch him at Bournemouth and he'd do a good job for us. He's a London boy too, which might make the move appealing for him. If not him, we should be signing someone like that - mid 20s, lots of experience, sensible fee. I hope Mitroglou stays, but if he goes we should sign an experienced striker to help develop our youngsters. I'd like to see Trotta given a chance to prove himself with us, plus Dembele, Woodrow, Roberts, Tankavic. There's a lot of talent which might flourish this season up front, but it would be foolish to go into the season with only young boys to turn to up front. As for the midfield, it's hard to comment on what we need until we see who stays and who goes. If Sidwell stays, I'm not sure we need to bring in much more experience. We should lean mostly to the youngsters, but with a few wiser heads scattered throughout the team - at least one in each section of the pitch. It's hard for most of us - certainly for me - to comment too much on the youngsters as we've not seen much of them. I'm looking forward to finding out more about which ones are ready to seize their chance next season.
We def7nitely need some seasoned pros in their. Its a helluva gamble relying on youngsters. Its a tough league to get out of and they play a lot of games. But there does need to be good mix as they are definitely the future of Fulham.
Craving your term of needing a good mix is the key in the last few seasons we have been overloaded with over 30's experienced pros. With such a talented youth system I don't see a problem our 25 man squad being made up of roughly 12/13 youngsters, 7/8 players in their prime (20's) and 5/6 elder statesmen.
I don't think the 25 man squad exists outside the Premier League. I could be wrong, but the fact that sides in the Championship, League 1 and League 2 can add loan signings outside of the transfer window (i.e after the deadline for submitting the 25) suggests that they don't have to submit a definitive list of who can and can't play for them. Even if we did have to submit a list, all of the under 23s (I think - it might be under 21) would be in addition to our nominated 25. Either way, it's not an issue for us next season.
No we don't have any limitations on how many players we have in our squad and even if we did, considering our squad will be made up of a lot of youngsters it wouldn't be a problem at all. Football league clubs have to play usually upwards of 50 competitive games per season so restricting numbers would be incredibly harsh on the clubs. As for the make up of our squad, I'd be wary of overloading it with youngsters with just a couple of more experienced players scattered around. Otherwise we could be getting out of the division at the wrong end. We need a few players experienced at Championship level. I'd love for one of those to be a prolific goal scorer like Rhodes or McCormack but I doubt we'd be splashing out on players like that.
Evening Standard quotes Hangeland saying that work ethos is to blame. Also claims that he has refused to commit his future to Fulham... Also total clear out with all big contracts slashed. Even manager is not certain...
Felix has already said our squad was too big. I take this to mean that he wants a core of first team regulars and his CV certainly suggests that's his normal policy. [That we fielded 42 players (in all games) underlines our problems of consistency and commitment this season.] Felix may have to temper this ideal a tad, not so much because of the number of games in the Championship but more because matches are frequently clustered together throughout the season. He'll also want to build a team to match his preferred system and I don't just mean formation. However, whatever decisions he makes about the squad his priority above all must be to appoint a leader.
Can't help but feel these are linked to some extent. Brede just did not seem committed to the case this year and his leadership was really poor. A big part of our problem was lacking leaders all over the pitch - says alot that Stockdale and Sidwell became so important, as they provided the leadership that was so absent from supposed veterans like Stekelenburg & Parker.
And now Mo is in stirring the pot. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27298374 Have to love his cheek - would buy the club back if khan offered it to him - for half price.
This, more than anything else about our relegation, has got me angry. We weren't relegated because we got rid of that awful statue. We were relegated for a number of reasons, but arguably the biggest was Al Fayed's reduced commitment to investing in the team as he prepared to sell. If he claims the statue is lucky, how come our form hardly set the world alight after the statue was put up in 2011? I don't think it's his place to criticise Felix either, particularly given the fact that Al Fayed's record in choosing managers is a mixture of the sublime (Hodgson, Tigana, Keegan) and the ridiculous (Sanchez, Bracewell). It would be better if he kept a dignified silence, but those are two words that have no place in Al Fayed's vocabulary. We shouldn't ever forget all that good things he did for us, but the seeds of this season's demise were sown on his watch.
How very true... In how many cases we needed a captain to protest to the referee or get the troops rallied... Nothing of this happened. Sidwell and Stockdale did try, as Diarra did at some point but I think the issues are deep rooted and only by starting from scratch can be fixed.
I would like to see the following eleven: Stockers John Brayford -right back that played for Sheffield United, on loan from cardiff Brede Hangeland Dan Burn A new left back or possibly through Sean Kavanagh in Ashkan Dejagah Sidders Patijm Kasami Alex kacaniklic Pat Roberts Rodders or Dembele Etheridge or new keeper Grimmer/Arthurworrey Josh Passley William Kvist Lasse Vigen Christensen Ange freddy Plumain Larnell Cole Cauley Woodrow Tankovic
I get the feeling we will get a few foreign players in, quite possibly German, who we are not really aware of. I am sure Felix has a fairly extensive knowledge of European football, especially German, and will use that to our benefit. I wouldn't be surprised if he largely ignored players from Championship or lower clubs, let's face it, I doubt if he could point to Leeds on a map, let alone who their good players are, (yes, I realise we have scouts, etc, but they haven't turned up too many winners from the UK recently) and went for what he knows.
That is a very valid point fulhaman, I hope he can unearth a couple of fullbacks and a centre midfielder who looks to play the ball forward
