January transfer thread

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Totally agree with this too. I'll be devastated when he leaves, as a fan I have genuine affection for him (and a lot of this team to be honest).

But I'm done with blame. When he goes I'm not going to get angry at the club for taken £2m less than what I thought he was worth etc. Or boo the player for wanting to leave. I'm ready to thank a player for his efforts and the memories and trust that the club are doing the best business they can for our long term security and prosperity.

I came to peace with it about 6 weeks ago mate. Its just a case of where and how much.
 
I know know its the model but I can't look at it as we bought him for 300k so 10 million is a great profit. The reason he is 10 million, is because he is now playing like a player worth that! Alright we might use that cash to sign a striker for 7 and get another in for 3 and both turn out class and end up worth 10 times that but its a huge risk.

Any other position or player I'd probably be less worried but I can't see us replacing Stewart with anyone that offers near to what he does!
So what do you propose? That we flog him death because you don't think we can adequately replace him? Run his contract down and lose him for nothing? Don't sign any more strikers because they might not be as good as him, or heavens above better? Every player has his price.
 
We won't get a like for like Stewart replacement, that's just the way it is.

Brentford are the perfect example of how this works.

In 2014 they paid £950k for Scott Hogan from Rochdale. 22 years old and had just scored 17 goals in League Two. Not a household name. 2 years later, they sold him (by this time their top scorer) to Villa for £9.5m. They weren't able to bring in a player who could provide the same goal threat that Hogan had, so they invested in 2 younger players instead.

21 year old Ollie Watkins (£6.5m from a League 2 club) was the main replacement - Hogan scored more goals in the Championship the year he was sold than Watkins scored in League 2. They spent the other £2m in an unknown 20 year old French lad who wasn't cutting it in the Saint Etienne team (Neal Maupay).

Maupay did well and was sold 2 years later for £15m. Watkins took 3 seasons of continuous improvement but eventually became a player that Villa paid £33m for.

When Brentford lost their main striker Maupay, they didn't spend £15m on a replacement or break the bank to try and get him to stay. They spent the money on 4 players - 19 year old Bryan Mbeumo, Ethan Pinnock, David Raya and Christian Norgaard.

When Watkins left (the same time as Benrahma) for a combined £60m, they spent less than £10m. Not on someone who had proven themselves in the Premier League or Championship. They spent it on 23 year old League One striker Ivan Toney.

Brentford didn't just sell their star striker once and replace them with someone less proven, they did it 3 times and also in multiple other areas of the pitch. The point being that selling Stewart won't be the end of the club and anyone we bring in needs to be given time. That's what the model is all about.

This is an excellent post.

My worry is this requires sections of our fanbase who are ridiculously impatient to demostrate patience with young players or new signings and allow them the time to develop and keep the pressure off them by not getting on their case when it isn't going well. As we see now with the likes of Dan Neil (one of the most popular to get **** from sections of fans currently), some seem to have no grasp at all of how young players develop and expect them to be performing miracles for the club yesterday.

Hell, over on RTG Jack Clarke was even getting some **** earlier this week! Thats Jack Clarke who has 10 goal involvements off the wing for us so far this season ffs.

It can work, whether some giving it the breathing room for it to flourish corncerns me.
 
So what do you propose? That we flog him death because you don't think we can adequately replace him? Run his contract down and lose him for nothing? Don't sign any more strikers because they might not be as good as him, or heavens above better? Every player has his price.

Aye they might but for me Ross is so important his price should be set very high. Keep saying this he doesn't just score, the way he pressures the back line of the opposition for 90 minutes puts us in the front foot so often. When he was injured it was noticeable that wasn't happening anymore!

I don't think many strikers have his workmate in this area!

As I said in another post if he wants away he comes across as a sensible bloke and will probably give it his all to thr end of the season if needed. So the club activate the 12 months and tell him he can go for a set fee in the summer.

He doesn't seem to be the type to run his contract down either, if rumours are correct he had the chance of ranger and championship clubs before we got him if he ran his contract out!
 
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I am not sure i like Speakman
He's not there to be liked mate.
He can't be like a supporter he has to be cold, dispassionate and business like.
Ultimately success or failure sits on his shoulders and he will be judged accordingly.

We just have to look on from the sidelines, literally, and hope he gets more right than wrong.
 
The thing is, have you spoke to Speakman or KLD about it, no, no one else has either <ok>

Well the thing is we have a poster on here who is usually trusted with his info saying Speakman wants to sell. And I'm pretty sure KLD has been quoted by media or somewhere saying they want him to stay.

Alright the speakman bit isn't 100% as its from a poster but pretty sure there are quotes from KLD.
 
Was the RAWA meeting

KLD: “We are having ongoing conversations and we all hope he will stay at Sunderland. We have to plan for all eventualities and make sure we know what we’re doing.

"Plan A is to keep him. We would only consider selling someone if we had confidence we could replace him with someone better.”
 
Well the thing is we have a poster on here who is usually trusted with his info saying Speakman wants to sell. And I'm pretty sure KLD has been quoted by media or somewhere saying they want him to stay.

Alright the speakman bit isn't 100% as its from a poster but pretty sure there are quotes from KLD.
I know who I would believe mate<ok>
 
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Well the thing is we have a poster on here who is usually trusted with his info saying Speakman wants to sell. And I'm pretty sure KLD has been quoted by media or somewhere saying they want him to stay.

Alright the speakman bit isn't 100% as its from a poster but pretty sure there are quotes from KLD.
Just a reminder, said poster seems to have an agenda with Speakman, for some reason.
 
Speakman wants to sell and agent wants the big licks. All in all, very unlikely we keep him much longer.

Disgraceful from Speakman if that is true mind. I’d understand his thinking a bit if there was no way the player wanted to stay but that doesn’t appear to be the case from the outside.

Also I ****ing hate football agents, they serve a purpose but come across as absolute parasites.
 
We'd all love to keep Stewart but we know the model, it means cashing in occasionally to reinvest. If recruitment think selling him and reinvesting will be one step back, two steps forward then I've no problem with it. Time will tell if it works, but they've earned some trust in my eyes looking at the last 18mths.
 
We'd all love to keep Stewart but we know the model, it means cashing in occasionally to reinvest. If recruitment think selling him and reinvesting will be one step back, two steps forward then I've no problem with it. Time will tell if it works, but they've earned some trust in my eyes looking at the last 18mths.

I agree with what you've said, but I dont think it will he "Occasionally".Best advice to give the young fans is "Don't get too attached". Clarke, Cirkin, Roberts, Patto will all be fair game as is any player if a decent offer is met and probably sooner rather than later. As long it's what's best for the club.
 
If the last January window is anything to go by, it could be an intriguing one again. We did some sterling business last time.

Did we sell any players last January? I can’t remember.

I agree with what you've said, but I dont think it will he "Occasionally".Best advice to give the young fans is "Don't get too attached". Clarke, Cirkin, Roberts, Patto will all be fair game as is any player if a decent offer is met and probably sooner rather than later. As long it's what's best for the club.
Good points there mate. At least with those running the club now, when we do sell it will be for a large fee rather than accepting anything going.