---------Perez-----Mitrovic------- Aarons--Anita--Colback---Townsend Dummett--Lascelles-Colo--New RB. -------------------Elliot------------- I really hope we get another pair of CM's or at least one. Mitro hasn't done enough to warrant an automatic transfer to a PL team. Perez and Aarons both need a season in the championship also. I don't see teams clambering to get any of bright young players. They have potential, but need a good run of form in the lower league. Townsend also hasn't set the world alight. I think he could stay. We need to find another RB though. Outs - Wijnaldum Tiote Sissoko Cisse Janmaat Shelvey Mbemba Krul I think the above players will all want out immediately or will attract other teams interest.
Who, in their right mind, is going to buy Janmaat or Sissoko? Nobody who will pay as much for their wages as we do, I would suggest. Shelvey will stay. Anita I hope is released somewhere with many Alligators. If we are stuck with Mitrovic, we need a pacey forward. This should be priority now, along with Lewis Dunk.
I'd like to see Mitro alongside Armstrong if we do go down. I'd also suggest we should be getting shot of Colo. I like the guy, but he shouldn't be part of any re-building program when he is so far past his best. I'd go for a central defensive partnership of Mbemba and Dummett and get a new LB and RB in. We should be looking to hold onto as many of our better players as possible. They got us down, so **** them if they want to play at the top level then get us back up!
Some daft team will cough up for Janmaat and Sissoko. Shelvey I agree will probably stay - he has already been quoted as saying he would stay and try to get us promoted first time if the worst happened.
Lets see who the manager is first. I fear we will have zero new funds available and we will be able to generate very little. We will be stuck with whoever doesn't jump ship. I can see Colo and Saylor for yet another season, for example.
The first out of the door had better be Charnley. Closely followed by Carr. We will sell: Sissoko - £12m Tiote - £3m Janmaat - £10m Perez - £15m Cisse - £8m Wijnaldum - £12m We will possibly sell: Mbemba - £10m Anita - £2m Krul - £8m Riviere - £3m Thauvin - £6m Gouffran - £2m Aarons - ? Woodman - ? Out of Contract: Taylor Doumbia Obertan Marveaux Mbabu (retain) We will be left with: GK - Elliott, Darlow, Woodman RB - New signing, Mbabu LB - New signing, Haidara CB - Colo, Dummett, Lascelles, New signing/Sterry/Satka CM - Colback, Shelvey, Saivet, New signing/Vuckic LM - Aarons, Ameobi/Roberts RM - Townsend, New signing CF - Mitrovic, Armstrong, De Jong, New signing I'd love to get shot of Colo but he is still under contract and no one will pay him what we are so we'll be stuck with him. One or two of those I say will/should be sold won't be and we should try hard to keep Mbemba although it will probably be a new contract for Taylor unfortunately. It's not a bad Championship squad really but I think the defence needs sorting out badly and some strong leadership needs to be brought in. It will be easy to raise finance through player sales though.
If the above happened but we managed to keep Mbemba and Perez then I'd see relegation as a blessing. I would love to see the countless number of spineless bell ends leave the club and then rebuild and perhaps get back into premiership. Having said that, I'd sooner stay up this season purely to keep Rafa, If we can stay up, keep Rafa and get rid of all the dross then that would be great
ha ha ...he seems to be the only manager that knows our defemce is **** ...would be sorted first thing ..be interesting
If a genuine long term plan was put into place, then I would like to give him a go. Better some fresh thinking than dinosaurs like Kinnear, Pulis or Steve 'i'm a Geordie' Bruce. A proper plan though, not the dreaded 'structure' that has ham-strung the club for years. Far more likely to be Nigel Pearson or somebody of his ilk though. If / when we do go down then I will be amazed if Charnley and Carr survive. Their incompetence has been laid bare for all to see for the last few seasons and the fact that they have effectively blown £80+ million along with the McClaren fiasco and the very expensive panic measure of employing Rafa, should finally see them go. Rafa will go almost certainly also, but through choice.
He's one of a few who I would consider decent appointments. Neville, Pearson, Moyes, and even a total gamble like Shearer or (as somebody mentioned on another thread) Ginola. Neville is just an unknown quantity just like Shearer and Ginola. But.... he certainly has a winning mentality, he certainly knows how a team should defend, he certainly has the pedigree as a player, and he can certainly be inspirational. Now whether that is enough in the modern game I don't know. The magic element these days seems to be to man manage and get extremely rich prima donnas to actually give a **** about what they are doing for a living. Do you go for a gamble like Neville, or play it safe with experience like Moyes or Pearson? I think Pearson would actually be very good for us but I would first and foremost have a complete overhaul of the structure of the hierarchy of the club and shift Charnley and Carr. Survival or relgation, Mike Ashley should have his mind made up already about this and be lining up a new CEO to run the club - someone who actually has a ****ing clue what they are doing, and not a cheap administrator, casino manager or solicitor, but someone who actually understands the industry they are working in and the game itself. Get the right person there and they will get the right manager in and make sure the right players come in (and out) too.
If Rafa doesn't want to take us on in the Championship I'd say Nigel Pearson would be the best option provided Graeme Carr has absolutely nothing to do with recruitment since he has proved to be a very dangerous operator in that department to say the least.
