STEVE Bruce has brushed off speculation about his future by handing the Hull City owners a list of the transfer targets he wants to bring in for their first European adventure. Bruce, who is reported to be on a six-man shortlist for the managerial vacancy at Southampton, is now recharging his batteries on an extended family holiday in Portugal after a draining campaign. However, the 53-year-old interrupted his break to fly back to the UK for a board meeting with owners Assem and Ehab Allam to reaffirm his commitment to the Tigers and push ahead with their summer recruitment plans. Bruce is desperate to take his first steps into Europe as a manager and wants to be in a position to compete when the qualification stages of the Europa League get underway on July 31. Now, he has given chief executive Ehab Allam a list of around a dozen targets he would be keen to bring in, with five or six expected to arrive in time for the start of the new Premier League season. With his responsibilities at Allam Marine on hold for the next two months, Allam is currently working full-time at the KC Stadium in order to ensure the deals get done. As always, Bruce has not been handed a set transfer budget and each target will be judged on its merits, but he could be forced to look for a new striker as Matty Fryatt last night signed a three-year deal at Nottingham Forest. Opting not to sign the new contract he was offered by City, the 28-year-old has instead moved to the City Ground in search of regular first-team football and to be nearer to his family home. Whilst that still leaves Bruce with five forwards at his disposal â Shane Long, Nikica Jelavic, Sone Aluko, Yannick Sagbo and Nick Proschwitz, the Tigers will not step-up their striker search unless they can offload Proschwitz. Available on a free transfer, the £2.6m hitman had been linked with a return to former club SC Paderborn after they were promoted to the Bundesliga's top flight for next season. However, the Mail understands that manager Michael Born is not keen on taking the 27-year-old back to the Benteler Arena. At present, the Tigers do not anticipate pushing through any transfers for at least the next week or two. http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Stev...st-transfer/story-21210800-detail/story.html?
Does that mean alleged discussions with out of contract players is unlikely to have happened? The list should include a centre half, left back, central midfielder x 2, winger, forward.
I wonder if Ehab will find that two months of just dealing with other clubs, players and agents will show him that the business of football is unlike working for his Fathers companies. Its alright sitting in the boardroom overseeing the club, but rolling up your sleeves and making the calls is not easy going. Will he find that he wastes time whenever he uses Hull Tigers in the call? The football industry is quite fickle at times and whilst everyone will know Hull City, Hull Tigers may not go down to well. I'm not trying to raise the name change debate, but having changed my business name a couple of times, I found it hard going with some long established clients. I had to be careful and not get drawn into a discussion about the changes, pushing Hull Tigers or Hull City Tigers may lead to problems. Maybe he will learn some valuable lessons, one from the start will be, lock the manager you want to keep in with an enhanced contract.
Those discussions must have already taken place, as Fryatt has already rejected the deal we offered him. I doubt Jakupovic, or Dudgeon will reject theirs, so I expect them to both sign when they get back from their holidays.
On the contrary Olmert, I fully expect Jakupovic to reject it, if he ever wants to play football again. What's he made, 4 / 5 appearances in two years?
A list of AROUND a dozen targets With him expecting 5 or 6 to be brought in. Is that what Steve Bruce told the HDM ? or is it just more guess work and made up stuff
There is a difference, in season transfers are easier. You can plan better and seeds can be sown. The Summer transfer market also includes far more out of contract players. The statement to the press indicates that Ehab only spent part of his time on transfers in January, now it's two full months.
That's what I thought, I wonder how the hdm could know anything specific like that. It's as if Steve Bruce picked up the phone and told them "I've just flown back from my holiday in Portugal to hand in a transfer list of around 12 targets of which I'm hopeful of getting 5 or 6" Or ehab doing vice-versa. There's not even any quotes to suggest 'sources close to' gave them this information.
Looks to me that the HDM have just printed what we all are thinking! Two months is enough to get deals done, no doubt some groundwork has been done (ie Brucie asking agents if their player would be interested). We need a majority of our deals done by mid july for europe. List wise i expect its 6 targets plus a second choice: Lb - bertrand? Cb - ?? Cm - livermore Am - linked with a young chelsea lad (mcearnch??) Wing - snodgrass Fd - ?? Interesting couple of months coming up
The HDM wouldn't print details of a board meeting and Brucey flying in for it, if they hadn't been told it by the club. They will have been fed this story, as they've got season tickets to flog and they want people to know that there is stuff going on behind the scenes to bring players in.
Ah, got you. If we are seriously in for Ince, then we know we've spoken to him already as he's been photographed with Brucey in Portugal and now Fryatt's gone, I suspect he's at least had a chat with Bendtner.
I would suspect the Summer window to actually be easier than the Winter one. January is a sellers market, with massively over-inflated prices (as we saw particularly with Jelly, IMO). Far more "bargins" are to be had over these coming few weeks.
Was the Portugal photo dismissed as they are just good mates and have Villas close to each other? Either way I'd be happy if we signed Ince and Snodgrass. It will be difficult playing domestic and European football. On another non football forum I use, someone thinks the Europa league will lead to relegation for us. It's really draining playing Thursday Europe, Saturday League. It's been demonstrated by teams with stronger squads than ours.
They are good mates and they meet there all the time, so we've no way of knowing if they were just meeting like normal, or if we're going to offer him a deal.
With the greatest respect, knowing the business you're in, its no wonder some of your clients would be nervous if your company changed name, the suspicion would be what are you trying to avoid/get away from. Not suggesting for one moment here that's what you did, but it's how I would think. The clubs name is in the public domain, the reasons for changing it, the different playing/business name are also well documented, so, I don't see how your example would affect us in the recruitment field. Plus, I am 100% doubtful any player who is approached to play for us would turn us down based on our name regardless of what it is. Ehab did a good job in the last window, and I trust he'll do another good job this window. It's really difficult to overstate just how brilliant it is for Bruce to get on with the football stuff, without being micromanaged or interfered with by the chairman. I suspect we're unique in this respect, at least in the PL. Even the haters must see that, even if they won't acknowledge it. I hope next season the doubters will see the chairman's real intentions, and commitment and start to realise just how lucky we are.
