Looks like we're appointing Will Still. Not entirely convinced but he seems to want to play good football at least which is an improvement on the last couple of seasons.
I think he’ll do well. We were heavily linked with him last season. He’s more than just a computer manager as he gets called. His in-depth analysis on games is very good. I’d have thought you’d have went for a championship tried and tested like Danny Rohl.
I read earlier on the internet that the three European Finals can all be viewed for free, just by registering with Discovery +
It sounds like Rohl was our first choice but with Bundesliga jobs coming up he's waiting around for a better offer before committing so we've moved on. Which is fair enough as getting someone in early was vital imo. And yeah whilst he wouldn't have been my first choice and his lack of experience in England is a concern I'm cautiously optimistic. Best thing for me is that he apparently is capable of changing style and adapting to different opposition. We've not had a manager who's done that for years.
Not his playing so much as his attitude - and lack of commitment to 'the cause' - blankly refused to stay at least one night a week at the plush Hotel at Seagrave training centre - rather than being driven to training and back from London (presumably) every day - that's just totally disrespectful to the team and club and I hope we can cancel his contract as a result ..
Wonder if his heart is in it if he’s moving back just to be near the missus. Will Will Still still have the will?
It’s the French way, mate. RLB is the same for us, he generally sets us up based on what the opposition do. It’s a kind of mentality that’s frowned upon over here but it works and usually makes you very competitive in every game.
Lots of European interest in Faes, Daka, Soumare, Ndidi and Kristiansen... and Hermandsen had a great season and has been linked with a number of Prem sides... and ain't on big bucks .. Kristiansen and Soumare did well out on loan when we in the Championship... Ndidi is apparently wanted by Mourinho at Galatasary
To be honest I felt a touch reticent chucking your teams name in as I wasn't sure it'd stack up but I've just gone and looked at your bench for your last game and Pacqueta (£50m), Mavrapanos (£20m), Alvarez (£35m), Fullkrug (£27m) and some of the others I couldn't even be bothered to check. I'm pretty confident my point was correct. That's not aimed at West Ham btw my point isn't that the players are actually worth those fees or that you are stacked with talent or have overspent, I think it's just normal that clubs who have been in the top flight for a little bit are in such a strong position compared to those coming up. The gap is financially ridiculous now, I don't think it's good for the game. Next year the three teams that come up are facing such a barrier to compete and there's a concern there'll end up with 16-17 clubs who are established in the top flight and another 8-10 who bounce up and down. I don't see how it's going to change as the clubs in the league aren't going to vote for anything that will risk their spot at the top table.
Paqueta's head is ****ed, that's why he's on the bench, and why Rodrigues (cost 0) taken his place, and Fullkrug on the bench because he's been injured all season.
I hear you and my point wasn't about West Ham specifically (maybe I shouldn't have named your team then i guess!) I was just saying the the three teams who are in the spaces 15th-17th in the league are in a different sphere entirely to the teams coming up. Sunderland play in the play-off final with a squad that (@Saf feel free to correct me on this) cost less than £20m. When I said it was less than the benches of the teams I mentioned, to clarify here you'll have had at least 3 players on the bench that cost significantly more than their entire squad. So will my team by the way, I suspect all the top 17 teams will have had a player (or a handful of players) on their bench which cost more than the Sunderland squad. In the past teams at least had the option of rolling the dice to try and spend to stay up. Now they either have to hope one of the established teams go bust or they blow a ton of money and hope to be able to balance the books later on. There's a small chance a team will survive without that but odds are the gap will just get bigger. I'm not saying get rid of PSR but I do think that promoted teams need to be given more leeway with it. Otherwise we may as well just go with an American model of franchises and get rid of promotion and relegation - which I think most fans are against.
