Will our owners look to spend a lot to keep us up or accept the possibility of relegation?

Do you think they'll have already accepted relegation as a strong possibility and simply plan for the future, or do you think they'll consider relegation an absolute NO and spend massive in January to avoid it?

 

Definitely believe they will attempt to spend big. Whether they can will depend upon how bad bad is and therefore which players we will be able to buy.

I don’t think they will spend for spendings sake but anticipate that it will be one or two buys with two or three loans possibly with option to buy.

 

I don't think its one or the other to be honest. I think they will spend and try to stay up. I don't think they'll go jumping off a cliff spend, but I do think relative to competitors we will spend a lot more if we can. There is no guarantee if they do stick together and make it awkward for us to purchase from other clubs. Likely though the greed will rule as usual, one will break and open the market to us. I think we will have a go but we ain't going to be spending 200m to try and stay up I wouldn't have thought. I think we will look to the high end players playing abroad or out of favour here, who have PL experience. So your Lingards, Ramsays, Trippiers, Dele Ali's, etc etc. All with release clauses if the worst should happen.

 

I think we will loan players with options to buy. We can’t take the risk with expensive flops on the books and that is what they would be if we bought and got relegated.

So loan deals for a couple and maybe one or two solid players.

For me(assuming they come):

Loan Lingaard, Auba (cause Arsenal want him gone now) and Gini.

Buy Tarkowski and that other defender we have been linked with.

 

I think people are barking up the wrong tree when they start asking how much. The reality is you can try and get players in January and they

1. May or not be available
2. Might have better options
3. Might just not come regardless of what's on offer.

Essentially they have to make the correct long term decisions based on where the club is and how they believe the best route is to reach their long term vision of the club.

The current situation would suggest buying for the championship might be the reality come January and if we win a few games before then that could change, so given our fixtures I think option 2 is correct.

 

If we had say a couple more points I think it would be different.

 

Loans have served us well before in this situ. If we look at the impact Kenedy had. The WC is looming too, players just to play.

 

Yes that's why either poll option could be correct, but looking at things on a hypothetical I'd say option 2 barring a couple or miracle results before January seems by far the most plausible outcome.

 

My main concern for Jan window is regardless of how much the squad needs strengthened they strengthen the wrong positions first simply because a player has been made available to them from an agent and they see it as a coup getting this player in.

Examples of this would be the likes of a Ter Stegen or an Icardi - Both superb players, but do we really need to spunk a wad on a Keeper and a Striker as the priority?

I can see us getting Ramsey through the door very early on. Then try and strike whilst the iron is hot to get defenders and midfielders in. I just hope they don't get distracted by reaching for the stars wasting time on players out of our league.

 

The key area is centre midfield. Then it was left back. The problem is this season centre back has become a big problem too. We need at least two central midfielders, a least one left back, at least one centre half. That is the absolute min for me.

 

Which would prove my theory if they don’t know what they are doing if they did.

And where a good DoF and manager who have the same philosophy works. Because between them they identify what is needed and not what is thrown their way.

 

This: the emphasis on the defence is actually a prerequisite of the poor midfield in front of them.

Our defence has suffered from a chronic lack of support from the midfield.

It doesn’t help that individual errors seem to happen on a weekly basis mind.

And Lascelles seems to be bullet proof for the managers because he is captain and likeable.

So you right in the order it’s CM x 2 if possible. CB x 2 if possible and then for me LB and Striker.

And I also feel that Willock needs to he deployed at the front of a 3 man CM.

 

I think LWB, RWB, 2XCB, 2XCM, 1XRW/F, 1xCF is needed minimum.

Would try for Digne with him not getting a game at Everton. Trippier, Botman, Ginter, Kamara, Ramsey, Dembele, Young forward Adeyemni/Alvarez/Cabral/ type. Doesn't need to be a Vlahovic/Icardi type signing. However I have a feeling they will go try for 1 of these 2 first.

 

Mate if we're what most likely looks to be going to requiring a good 10 points to catch 17th come Jan then I'm afraid you can forget any of the names like icardi.

We'll be looking at the best of the lower league here and abroad maybe a few loans of a, slightly more exciting nature than players of the Leon best ilk

 

I tell you what Lingard must really regret staying at Man U. If he'd left for game time, WC was an option. Now if he moves here or elsewhere, has a stellar loan, he'll just be looked at the same way he was after his West Ham form. He should have took the chance to build on that form, made a career for himself instead of letting them keep him just in case.

 

I'm not so sure mate. Players of this ilk are on ****ing huge wages which limits the clubs that can afford them. If their spitting their dummies out on the bench, or placed on the market for financial reasons their choice of club could be limited. I guarantee despite Everton's persistent links with Ramsey they can't lay a glove on his £400k a week wage. Likewise West Ham's links to Lingard, Guarantee they can't get close to the £200k a week we've allegedly offered him. Like it or not, we love the game for what it is and support our club, these types of players love money more.

 

The players won't fancy it imo... They'll say come back in what 16 weeks if you stay up.

 

You don’t have to get players in a certain position in first before you look to get the next player in in the “next position” to be filled position.

To see how successful the Owners are you wait until the end of the window and see who has been bought and which positional issues have been addressed and which have not. Then and only then you might decide whether the owners know what they’re doing. Also bear in mind it may not be possible to get the right quality player in for a certain “problem” position.

Also bear in mind it took Ashley 14 years to get the Club in the state it is currently in. It’s going to take more than 14 weeks to sort out.

Everything isn’t always black and white and not everything is played out in the open.

 

That's what relegation release clauses are for, It's also the reason I would have brought Keegan in on a temp basis to A) Come up with a ****ing vision and B) Sell that said vision.

By the sounds of it at the minute, a players agent will need an interview with Nickson, then one with Mehrdad, then one in Saudi before sitting in front of Amanda. Whilst waiting for the analysis reports to come in on the GCSE football exam they make them sit.

 

Again this is where a top DoF comes in and negotiated and promotes and sells the clubs vision.

Tie the deals up with good commercial departments/teams and sponsors etc and it’s a match.

Having better players raises commercial opportunities.

That’s why I’m very for the infrastructure being right. Get the right people in doing the right jobs and let them do their job.

As far as we are concerned (the fans) the money is completely irrelevant. We need bums on seats and good ones at that. Money talks.