Transfer goss and rumours, Summer 2016.

Haha!

I really like interacting with you when it's not about depressing football results.

 

No no no, don't interact with me, the Catholic school did that and see what happened. #frightened

 

Well, yea, obviously I knew you were damaged! I wasn't going anywhere near that!

 

Delia has been warming a seat on the board for you ILD

 

I've missed you KIO. I've baited you so often.

 

I'd like that KIO, I sack that manager for starters.

 

Damaged ..... You should have seen what they did with a hammer and a 4 inch nail!!!

 

Right, I've changed my mind. I dont want you running our club!

 

Rumours: O'Neil has extended contract - good
Whitaker has extended contract - very bad
Redmond sought by about 7/8 Prem clubs for £8m - cheap worth at least £10m
McCormack from Fulham to Norwich, Aston Villa or Newcastle for £12m buy-out clause - can't see NCFC wanting to pay this sort of money, but can see Newcastle attracting the player and them spending this amount of money.
Bamford to be signed permanently - bad looks and behaves like a young lad and plays like one. And finally: Liverpool could do with some new CB's - perhaps Timm Klose might be a target?

 

#shamecvsentslready

 

Really weird.

 

Quite agree Rick, I actually can´t see us pulling ín any players who, on paper, are very much better than those we have at the moment. It´ll be young hopefuls or established Championship players at best imo, and to expect Neil to be able to attract good, or even half good PL players is pretty unrealistic. That´s also why I´ve never been particularly sure that there will be a wholesale clear out, when those we might hope to attract are unlilely to be an awful lot better than those here at the moment. It´s worth remembering that those who are here at the moment, although nowhere near good enough for the PL, were for the most part, good enough last time we were in the Champ.

I can see Redmond, Brady and possibly Klose going, but that´s about it, and I agree with others, that the Murphy´s and Toffolo deserve a chance in the squad, to show what they can do.

The raw fact is that we are now a Championship side, albeit a well run and fairly solvent one, but still a Championship side, and not only do we have to recruit accordingly, but it´s also no good thinking about if and when we get back up again, before we HAVE actually got back up. Then is the time to start thinking PL-wise, and to start recruiting PL-wise , not before.

 

Apparently NCFC are second favourites for promotion behind Newcastle, so the footballing world seems to think we are good enough, maybe some players i.e McCormack might see it that way as well. If we as a club are serious then we HAVE to spend that amount on recruiting players so long as they aren't the next Wolfswinkle or Naismith!

 

Spot on RBF and see AN's comments - post #326, so not expecting many to leave worse luck!!!!

 

I've no doubt we could use McCormack but I agree with @CitySlicker2010 and @royalbarclayfan ... I can't see us spending close to that sort of money on a new player. We obviously refused to look at those sort of figures whilst in the PL so now i'd imagine it's even tighter. That said with our rudder-less ship at the moment i'd be surprised if we get any significant signings organised till the end of the window unfortunately.

 

I'm not sure? Your answer is a bit haig!

Bah!

 

Unfortunitely I agree with all of this and that's why relegation was so painful. It has completely pulled the rug from our attempts to build a PL squad. We will get in no players of PL quality, all we can hope for is to keep as many of the few that we have and build on that if we go up again. I'm not upset at Whittaker signing a 1 year deal, like everyone else we have in the squad, he is a capable player at champ level.
I know we would all be disappointed if we started next season with Bass and Martin/Bennett as centre backs, but is it really a disaster? They have helped to get us promoted from this division once or twice before. Believe me I'd like an upgrade on all three, but we can only at best get a very modest upgrade, because we won't attact a PL defender, and they are all top end championship defenders (If they can get their heads right - Yes you Seb!). So who can we sign who is better than what we have but will actually come to us? Persuading Klose to stay is the best business we could do this summer, though I would not blame the lad for going or the club for letting him.
We have to get in another striker who has 20+ goals in them, firstly to show our ambition and a statement of intent, secondly because we are very short up top and thirdly because whilst CJ was good last time, how much confidence can he have after stinking up the PL?

Bah!

 

Trouble is with keeping what we got we're going backwards. The're all getting older and more stuck in their ways and it isn't like they've been great in the past. PL relegation, promotion via the play off's followed by relegation. The last 3 years have not been great in terms of development of our first team. Its going to be a long hard season in the Championship and we're no closer to being an established PL team than we were 3 years ago, you could argue that we're further away

The club needs a shake up, unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

 

We missed the chance to shake it up by screwing up last summers recruitment. And it's not necessarily going backwards to stick with the best of what we have. They are generally promotion winners, the last two seasons we competed in the championship we were promoted, so I would contend that perhaps we have been great at this level. for me we just need to add and trim in select positions and we should be competitve this season. If promoted then I would hope that we have heeded this seasons lessons and recruit accordingly.
But I don't see the point in trading one centre back who has won promotion from the championship (Twice if it's Russ) for another who either hasn't or may have but is likely at about the same level? If they are significantly better than Russ, Bass or Bennet then they are likely to be courted or bought by a PL side. If Klose goes, we will have to buy another CB but if he stays, we have more than enough quality there to mount a title challenge. For this upcomin season, I think the focus has to be replace Klose if he leaves and a striker with goals in him who will fit AN style of play.
New keepers, midfielders, FB can wait to when we return to the PL (Unless we need to plug gaps from sales) as we may then have a hope of properly improving to PL quality players.

Bah!

 

Possibly it does canario, but now is not the time. Those who think we can get rid of 7, 8, or even more of the current squad, and actually replace them with another 7, 8, or more, who are BETTER, are just living in fantasy land. It´s hard enough to get rid of just one or two and replace them with ´better´ but to undertake such an ´Operation Clear Out´ would be fraught with difficulty and danger, not to say foolishness as well, in our current CEO - less state .

For those who are hoping to see an immediate return to the PL, changing half the current squad is not the way to get there. Quite possibly we won´t get there even if there aren´t many changes, and if that happens, THEN would be the time for a real shake up. Build up a new squad from scratch, and set a 3 or 4 year timeline to get back to the PL - would be far better in the long term than this ´not good enough for the PL/a bit too good for the Championship´ existence, we´ve had to put up with for many years now.

Incidentally, isn´t £12 mill for a 29 year old Championship striker, a bit OTT, even if he can reproduce last season´s goal haul. Can´t honestly see us breaking the bank for that one - more realistic and more likely if you ask me, is to fall back on Bamford ( at half that price), even if he isn´t an awful lot better than what´s here already.

( I don´t favour Bamford over McCormack by the way, just that knowing the NCFC way, that does seem the more likely scenario)