Haven't posted an article for a while but here we go, Next year's Championship will be as tough as ever, it looks like a Premiership graveyard; nearly half the league will have had recent premier league experience; Bolton, Blackburn, Birmingham, Wolves(maybe), Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Reading, QPR, Stoke/Wigan, While a lot of the other teams have all been in the top flight in their ‘recentish’ history - a couple must really be considered sleeping giants; Leeds, Forest, Wednesday, Watford, Palarce, Charlton, Derby, Burnley, Leicester and Ipswich. The Premier league might not be the greatest league in the world anymore, but really is there a better 2nd tier league anywhere? So who's stays, who goes and who should we buy? MANAGER - Hope to god Harry stays, unless the West Ham job becomes available I think he will, might only be for a year though. GOALKEEPERS CESAR - Ballon d'Or nominee to the championship in 3 years... I can't see it, big wages to boot, despite what he says i would of thought a return to Italy will be on the cards, still a quality keeper but too good and far too expensive for next year, with 3 years left on his contract i assume a deal will be done with a new club to cover his wage demands and that is the last we will see of him. (DEPARTS on free) GREEN - Has to do the job next year, has got a year left on silly money and we need him to do the job, doubt we could get rid even if we wanted to so may as well back him. (KEEP) MURPHY - Promoted by default to No2 position, hope he gets a chance to prove himself (KEEP) 3RD Choice Goalie – Would like to see some youth brought along here, has anyone seen Lumley? Is he ready for the step up? DEFENDERS FABIO – Loan finishes will go back to ManU - not sure what Sir Alex will make of his season (DEPARTS) TRAORE – Year left on contract, I suspect his wages are comparatively OK, his pace will be good in the championship and defensively should be less suspect. (KEEP) SAMBA – Lets ignore the wage issue for moment, bottom line is if we get an offer for close to what we paid and Samba agrees to go - he’s gone. Personally I think we will and he will go. (SOLD for £10-12M) HILL – can we squeeze another season out of him? I have seen quicker trees but I think we need him (KEEP) YUN SUK-YOUNG - ???? **** knows, I assume given his age he will stay and you never know he might be really good, would need to actually see him play a bit... (KEEP) ONUOHA – Easy one this, long contract good player – (KEEP) BOSINGWA – Certainly nowhere near one of our worst ever players, but up there as one of our worst ever signings. Massive wages and a 3 year contract, total disaster. He will continue to take his money whilst laughing at the rest of the team, and will give even less of a **** if that is possible next year. Can’t see a way out of this one, and with Fabio’s departure there's even more pressure to keep him. We will have to hope for the best but you just know he will cost us on the pitch and in the dressing room. Problem no.1 (KEEP unfortunately) TAL BEN HAIM – Was only signed by Harry on short term contract, if he still wants to play in England I think Harry will want him to stay and he is probably good back up for the CB position in the championship and I think relatively cheap. (KEEP) FERDINAND – Oh god he’s coming back after barely getting a game in Turkey... one year left on his contract, can’t see anyone else coming in for him, so I guess he’s ours again, I can’t stand him but I guess needs must, another player that will likely cost us far more than his salary but can’t see a way out of this either, at least there is only one more year to suffer. (KEEP) YOUNG – not an appropriate name unfortunately, Not sure where he’s at, he’s got another year left on his contract, but not sure his body will last another year with Fabio going I could see him having a role but he is hardly fit as fiddle is he. Would have to say unless his injuries are sorted out I think he might retire (RETIRED?) HARRIMAN – Is coming on by all accounts, maybe another season on loan would be best, although maybe it’s time to check him out for a few months until the January transfer window, really depends on other RB signings and the state of Young (KEEP) EHMER – Again looks to be coming on, have not seen a lot of him so is hard to know where he is at, TBH wouldn’t be sorry to see him coming on as Sub instead of Ferdinand, we’ve got to start bringing some younger legs through to the first team, they will make mistakes but its not like the senior players don’t anyway. Onuoha and Ehmer might work... At least he would give a ****. (KEEP) SO GK is Green Left Backs we would have - Traore /Yun Suk Young Right backs we would have a choice of Bosingwa/Young/Harriman.... So basically we need to buy a right back. Centre Backs – assuming Samba ****s off then for me Onuoha is first on the list and needs a partner, Hill will be OK but won’t be able to play all games, Ferdinand/Haim/Ehmer will be cover, the only issue is if Onuoha gets injured we will be in a lot of trouble, so we really need another CB. QPR needing a CB... i think we’ve been here before. Defensively it’s not that bad, is it? I'm looking forward to next year already, at least we won't have to play a Welsh team.
Unless Samba's form picks up significantly in the last 5 games we will struggle to get that type of money for him, also who would be prepared to match his wages?
Nice read. I think Tony wants Samba at LR and, from TF's tweet, Samba seems to care a lot which is what we are after. Players who will play for the badge.
Planning for the future and knowing that; Hill prob has one year left at best Samba will be sold Ferdy/Haim not good enough I would like us to invest in a young quick CB that we can hopefully keep for years. I would then partner him with Onouha and have Hill and Ferdinand coming in as cover when required.
BTW, welcome back Cannock and I can't wait for part two on our midfielders and then part three on our forwards. Good man.
The squad should stay together IMO as much as possible ... Sort out the wages if the players don't take a pay cut then put them in the stiffs for a month or so .. They will come around What is clearly required is our perceptions IMO we need to grow our soul and bloody quickly
GKs Keep Green unless Cesar wants to stay. Not bothered about Murphy but get a young third goalie for the future. Defence Fabio - back to man u Bosingwa - dump, dump, dump Traore - keep Ferdinand - get rid Hill - get rid but I think we offered him another year Samba - keep Haim - get rid Onuoha - keep Yun - keep Young - get rid So we have 2 good left backs 1 good cb 1 good GB Means we need 3 CBS, a young gk and 1 rb unless we can't dump bosingwa.
What about - Park Hogan AJ Zamora Hulse Jenas Bothroyd Granero Tarbs Hoilett Mackie Derry Is DJ still ours or was he sold? Was Connolly a loan to Cardiff or sold? Christ the list is endless. We could field 2 sides next season
Penny dropped Wubba we have a sensational squad ... Well on paper Keep the lot and make them earn the right ... Grow the club Put Flyer in goal I found my pro beautiful kangeroo blue leather diadora size 9 I am letting Flyer have them
We could put them out at the same time and we still wouldn't finish in the top half with their attitude, major cull required...
Good OP. Cheers Cannock. For a serious assault on the NPC, personally like to see a Bosingwa, Samba, Onuoha, Traore back line. Every chance they'll all have to stay. If we get decent offers, even better - except for Ned. Hopefully relegation will give them a sense of purpose and common cause... If not, we'll plummet like an iron parachute.
Good thread. Must say the defence in the OP (not just the starting 4 but the back-ups) scares the hell out of me. Looks dreadful tbh.
This. Cesar and Gren are 2 Keepers who blow hot and cold but if Harry works out who is blowing which way we'll be fine there. Plus Murphy. In Bosingwa we have a really excellent RB, plus we have Ned in reserve who can also play CB or LB at a pinch. Samba is an Ok CB, best if he has someone quick and sharp alongside him, but Clint can still do the business, when he's not left alone with the likes of Suarez.. We have Haim and Ferdinand in reserve. Traore is a very good LB, but is injured too much. So we need Suck Young to blow hot,and we got Bosingwa and Ned to step in there if necessary. Defense is already there then, and we got Magri and Harriman coming though too, right? So we won't be slipping in many at the back on our way into Europe next season.
