I wondered if that would get a bite... Sheffield Wednesday fresh from their non-existent pursuit of Gary Hooper, are now apparently turning their attentions to Lafferty. That seems a lot more likely to me.
Plus one of AN's reported targets, Rudy Gestede is being pursued by Watford. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/22/watford-blackburn-rudy-gestede-fee?CMP=share_btn_tw
Plenty of back-handers in the football world, as we know Apologies - I am SOOOO bored of Brady my sense of humour has completely evaporated. Poor Brady... I now don't want us to sign him at all through no fault of his own! On a separate note, although our transfer window has been frustrating for all (especially Neil from what he is saying) it's interesting that actually we're hardly falling way behind - many clubs seem to be taking it pretty slowly. Palace, Everton, Leicester, Newcastle and West Brom (plus also Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea) have made no more than three signings.
Trouble from that aspect is that the later in the window things get, the more 'panic buying' is likely to kick in. I mean, witness the lunacy of deadline day dealings - yellow bloody tie and all. Ridiculous. Lambert's policy of getting in early seems to be the way forward - though it helps if the parent clubs of transfer targets don't dig their heels in or get stupidly greedy. (Your ears burning, Brucie? )
Yeah, I get the ideal, but then equally it's always going to be the case that some players come available who didn't seem to be at the beginning of the transfer window. Certainly don't want to see deadline day panic, but signing someone in August means, assuming perhaps a three week window to bed in with the squad, they should be good to go by mid-September which is fine. OK so our fellow promoted teams have signed 6+, but then I definitely think we were in a better position than them at the outset so it's not a fair comparison. On Hull, it amused me to see that a number of Italian clubs have been interested in Hernandez and also N'Doye has been desperate to leave, but all interested clubs are being put off by... the very high asking prices. Shock, horror!
Someone on twitter seems to think our lack of activity is "the end of the world as we know it" Craig Daniels Difficult to read what's happening behind the scenes at #NCFC Neil looks & sounds frustrated to me, although he's vocally blamed that on.... / ...other clubs and players, I'm beginning to worry that he is disappointed with his budget/clubs approach etc. We've clearly missed out.../...on some targets but no need to panic just yet. Just hope he, McNally and the board are all on the same page. We've seen this before.
Apologies, due to the length of the comment, it was over 3 tweets - the "don't panic, Captain McNally" was in the final part. By which time, I'd started, so I finished !
Despite the number of signings, what do people think of Bournemouth's signings so far? Mings, Josh King, Federici, Boruc, Distin, Atsu and Filippo Costa from Chievo. Mings is overpriced, Josh King not bad business, Federici is backup, Boruc part of their promotion squad, Distin bordering on past it, Atsu had a shocker last season, and I know nothing of Costa. Hardly terrifying is it? Watford are harder to judge as most of their signings are from overseas. Sebastien Prodl I've heard good things about, Behrami I've heard is talented but lazy, Capoue might be good business. But again nobody is a signing that really terrifies me, nor so far deals that seem to shore up their defence which I felt was their main weakness last season.
Agree with all that. Prödl could be a shrewd signing. Very solid. If Capoue can actually emulate his form in Ligue 1 he'll be a great signing.
Watford's signings I think are substantially better than Bournemouth's overall. But I also felt they had more of a mountain to climb in terms of getting their squad to PL competitivity - their success in the Championship was off the back of being successful flat track bullies, they struggled against the teams in and around them. What I find quite bizarre is that Bournemouth have so far spent about £8m (all of their signings except Mings free transfers) and Watford have spent £11m if we ignore the Udinese lot, with half of their transfers being Bosmans. Yet when you compare it to our promotion season and beyond we and our fellow promotion candidates/relegation battlers were spending c.£25m. The PL pot is even bigger this time round, why is everyone being relatively tight-fisted?!? Not a criticism, though...
Actually, that's not right - we only spent £21m in our final season under Hughton, before it was around £10m or so (and the same applies to other relegation battlers) but that doesn't alter the fact that revenues are going to be much higher now with the new tv contract and yet spending seems to have gone down
New stand coming to a ground near you soon. Although we shouldn't also forget many of our players will be back on the pre-relegation rates of pay.
There's wages to account for too, particularly in Bournemouth's case where they don't have the greatest gate incomes. Distin for example won't be on small wages. Even if your 8 signings average £20k p/w, that's another £8m a year accounted for. I'd also argue all three clubs are run with a greater degree of financial prudence than previously promoted/relegated teams.
Disregarding QPR, I'm not overly convinced of that (in terms of B'mouth and Watford anyway). Not that I'm entirely clued up on their inner workings though, I have to say.
Let's hope Celtic crash out of Europe tonight then the van Dijk deal could warm up again. Have to say I am numbingly frustrated by this transfer window. We have to enhance both defence and attack if we're to really stand a chance of survival. I do trust McNally but..... Totally agree with this.
