If I was the gaffer and it was a fully tactical decision, then I'd bring him on with a min or so to go just to put the "won't play due to money" line to bed.
The clause wouldn't be triggered until the summer anyway so no money would need to be paid until then no matter when the appearances occur
You're looking for something that's not there. Baz even came out and said he's way off his trigger point, and the idea he'd be in the squad if he wasn't available is just ridiculous.
I think you can put what Baz is saying and the Gaffer is saying alongside the fact he's being named in the squad and come to a reasonably sound judgment that there most likely no conspiracy, As I said to Syd, managers and clubs often speak half truths but they rarely set themselves up to be directly contradicted. And even if he hit the trigger point the obligation would come at the end of the loan anyway, so we'll be paying any fee then regardless, assuming we want to make it permanent, which we seem to.
For years charity has begun at home, our home. If any team has a 7 and 0 record or not won away all season or any other ridiculously poor record then sure as egg are eggs they will leave ours with all three points. We are more likely to win at Bramhall Lane than beat the three teams below us at home.
This is what I was thinking too though I’m not sure how valid a claim/theory it is. Let’s say he’s 10 games off the buy-clause, we play him in the final 9 games of the season then renegotiate the price in the summer instead of it being automatic. @Howdentiger2 has already alluded to the financial catastrophe relegation to League One would be. If we can, then avoiding paying €3-4 million on Puerta until we’re absolutely certain we’re a Championship team next season might make sense. Relegation to League One and signing Puerta and/or signing Zambrano might **** us financially.
Not sure why people think after Sunderland we’ve weathered the storm and have easier games ahead of us. Cardiff away will be tough, Plymouth are picking up form, Bristol City are having one of their best seasons in years and could finish top 6, Oxford under Rowett are difficult to beat and West Brom are pushing for top 6 too. There are no easy games and I am massively concerned about the mentality and resilience of this squad. @PLT has spoken before about our complacency against Stoke when we got too cocky when 1-0 up. The mentality is incredibly fragile. We can’t hold onto a lead at home. I think we’ll go down. I can see maybe one or two teams being worse than us but not three.
i agree ,so why are we? Is it the formation, the training, the man management? we are in a relegation battle & unless our home form dramatically improves City could well be playing Div 1 football next season
I always thought Gary Neville looked so unlike a footballer because of his running style but he did ok.
A mixture of everything, holes in the squad too. I think Selles could definitely be getting more from what he’s got, there’s some real class in the squad.
It’s just stupid to not play someone who could actually help gain points, he’s a cracking little player, surly you play the best team to give yourself more of a chance to stay up. **** the how many games bollocks, get the points and worry about anything else after we are still in the championship at the end of this season, because relegation is not an option.
I’ve always preferred going to away games, they’re actually louder than home games because most of the people going are die hards. I remember the Premier League years when we beat Liverpool 2-0, Niasse with the second. I was there with my family (who you wouldn’t get a sound out of) and I just said to them I’ll be back. The Liverpool team coach is arriving and every **** is clapping them off, I was like what the **** are you doing, then started giving the Liverpool team abuse (not nasty stuff), but was I **** clapping them off the bus, I was giving it to them tight. Got a lot of weird looks that day!
