You should mention to him anarl that he shouldn't plan on taking his holidays in Mafeking. "Be prepared"...dib, dib, dib.
I don't understand whats irritating about the he can do better than club "X". He's obviously a premier league player, so that makes him a whole lot better than us at the minute. But teams like west brom and especially Leicester are in real danger of being relegated and are similar in size/status to us when we where in the premier league. I didn't expect him to stay with us much longer even if we had stayed up, but if we were still in the PL he wouldn't have moved sideways to one of the two mentioned clubs, he would have been going to a spurs or a Southampton or a Swansea. I think going to west brom or Leicester is selling himself short, I really do.
Not so sure about that..at least he keeps himself in the PL shop window and still has time to develop further, A bigger club may come knocking if he has a good next season. Better than bench-warming at a club of higher standing at the mo. He needs regular exposure. He's a bright lad and I wouldn't be surprised if Bruce has advised him to do just that.
Southampton need a CB to replace Alderweireld and they're after Caulker. He would have started ahead of Caulker.
You're right and it all depends who puts bids in for him. If it's only the current two then he has no choice. I'm just a bit gutted for him because i think he could be a starter at a better club.
Perhaps the managers at "higher ranking" clubs are not quite convinced yet. I think Chezzy would realize that "a bird in the hand" and all that is an opportunity that should not be missed. Lets hope for the lad the team he eventually signs with are not so bad that he doesn't get a chance to shine. I wish him well and would love to see him move up to higher things.
Deal for Gray is close, according to HDM. Would be very, very happy. Probably for the first time I can remember, that would be the perfect sort of striker. Reminds me of how excited I got when our bid for Austin was accepted, so touch wood no issues with the medical this time around. Young, hungry striker who has a good record in the Championship, and looks to have the array of skills for a step up if/when we're promoted.
Gray must have come a long way. I remember only 2-3 years ago RH were talking about Grimsby missing out on him in the conference. Think he went to Luton instead and now he's one of the best Championship strikers.
Agreed. I'm not gonna start the Aluko argument up all over again but how many more chances does he need as a striker?! On the wing or not at all.
We might not even be in for him.. all we know for sure is that Bruce talked with Browny about him, no offer was made. Saying that, if we are in for him, id like to think Browny would persuade him to come to us over QPR.
Is Green still at QPR, if so, if he went there would he be 1st choice keeper, think he would have a better chance with city of being 1st choice, but after saying that I'm prepared to give McGregor support, hopefully he regains his form,
On the subject of having overpaid players, it's interesting to compare the dilemma in the past (overpaid but don't play) to now (overpaid but play and hurt the team). The second might even be worse. Though there's the same old problem of trying to unload people who just aren't attractive propositions. I'd trust Bruce more with getting a defence organised and getting the players for that than getting the midfield or strikers sorted, where I have zero confidence. Even with players that have potential I'm not sure he can be trusted to have the flexibility of tactics needed.
That is a good post with some moot points. With the injuries sustained by some of our key players last season necessitating playing other players out of position coupled with the fact that we had so-called 'strikers' who weren't strikers @rseholes whilst others went 'off the boil' then Sir Alex himself could not have done anything with our squad last season. Bruce had to use 'band-aid' solutions defensively and in midfield whilst we had little or nothing up front for most of the season. This season we have old mixed with new and (imo) who have not had anywhere near sufficient time to 'bond' into a compatible side. His tactics will have to be based on our strengths and at this stage we don't know what they are yet. I believe we will start slow and come home strong in the final third of this coming season. Whether it will be enough to secure promotion remains to be seen.
