It's probably healthy for the club to have reduced the volume of leaks, but it does tend to make things a little quieter!
I think it's the usual situation, where until we know who's leaving, we won't find out who's coming in. Knapper said he'd be aggressive during this window but now everything stops for the silly interval during the club competition.
Very interesting. I liked the way he went out of his way to shake hands with everybody. Some coaches talk about establishing a culture, but he seems keen to do it. A noticeable difference in the new recruitment policy which Knapper says won't be all about young players, but a mix of ages to be balance the squad. It's hard to know whether this is a realisation of how things went wrong or a new emphasis on making the playoffs. I'm beginning to build some hope about the new season now.
I believe this was Knappers recruitment plan all along. The squad needed a serious shift in age profile in my opinion and Knappers. Having brought in multiple players under the age of 21 and shipped out several of experienced high earners, they now have the opportunity to bring in a bit more experience but I would still imagine they would be under 30
The squad planner board seemed interesting, it doesn’t appear to have any of the players out on loan on it. Who is the third RB option?
The business model is based on player trading. We won't be signing 30 year olds because the minute you do you're booking a loss (bar recouping it via promotion to the EPL as per Webber/Wagner). Schwartau was signed last summer, not because he was expected to contribute much to the Championship campaign, but because securing his signature was the equivalent of being gifted a winning ticket on the pools. Any player we sign now has to be seen, first and foremost, as an investment opportunity and that's where age comes in. Knapper is like a fund manager, trying to pick stockmarket winners to enhance the overall value of the fund.
