Agree with a lot of the opinions on this thread. I think the starting 11s for the last 2 friendlies would see us in a relegation scrap, while we are better placed to compete physically with teams we offer less in terms of creating chances than we did last year. The signings so far offer more depth to the squad but it is arguable whether any of them improve on its quality against last season's team. But one of three things can happen: 1. Loans - how well connected are the new management team? Can they get us another gem? 2. Youth - Can Murray, Wichelow, Bryan, Assambolonga, etc step up? No shortage of flair here to compliment all the brawn. 3. Signings - Our balance sheet reflect a £4m - £5m profit on player trading this year and while we all know that working capital and bond repayments will swallow a lot of that up, we should have decent funds to spend on the final promised signing - a 2nd striker. So, the key to our season in my opinion is what happens in the next month. PS: read in one of the champo previews that Zavon Hines has been released. Could be an interesting freebie for someone.
Still will only be able to use 3subs whether you have 5 sat there or 7 , I dont think it will make a lot of difference, I think it was designed to help smaller clubs with less money and smaller squads anyway! The interesting part of those rule changes was the increase of home grown players!
Norway, I agree the home grown rule is more important, its not going to bother us but how are some of the bigger teams such as leicester going to fit 6 home grown players and all there signings into the matchday squad.
Archie , Not our problem I actually think 6 is not enough and it should be at least 8!! That would force the re introduction of a lot of club academys produce lots of homegrown players, reduce the amount of foriegners ,all this could only benefit the English ,Scottish, Welsh and Irish national sides!
The reduction in subs is something I support, not necessarily for our benefit but more that it will encourage more clubs at our level to loan out young players to support the rest of the league pyramid. Will be a challenge for the managers though and some delicate egos at Leicester and West Ham will be hurt!
Sorry Norway, I meant that it will only benefit us, as the bigger teams make struggle to keep all there players happy and won't develop a team spirit. I agree that it should be higher as it will help the national game and also may reduce the overspending on players.
I agree with Norway - you still only use 3 subs so it does help poorer clubs with smaller squads to only have 5 subs to choose from. Also good points about how it may increase loans
