Aye. That was the key driver in his departure. It's also the key driver why we need and keep getting younger lads. Wages.
Sounded like mundle was nearer to 2 n hjelde was about the same - i kmow leeds were wanting 2 million for him as my club enquired (not sure if we paud that or not tho i just know thats what they wanted at the start of jan) Even if its 3 million overall thats a decent % of the total spent
Sensible way to do things as long as we can renew the contracts we want too - which we seem to be doing This model will be frustrating at times but i really do believe in the long run we will have success with it We need patience at times n lets be honest thats tough at times as we all want us to be succesful straight away A few yrs ago i would have bitten someone's hand off to be in this position as a club
That's great, I dread to think how much money we've thrown away over the years. It's especially bad when you know the value of a player, like Pritchatd, is continually decreasing. At their age panic sets in and the length of a contract becomes critical to them especially if they're injury prone and cant last 90 minutes..
I think what it's proven is that the model needs to be more adaptable. Mid table is what we were planning for to bed these lads into the league, which would have been absolutely fine looking back. Finishing 6th presented us with an early opportunity to push on that we haven't been able to adapt to, unfortunately. We've just trundled on like we finished 12th last year, and the expectation has risen. The failure to adequately replace Stewart is the most glaring example of the inflexibility. It was a successful season by any metric last year, but you can't sit still and assume the current plan is still adequate given your faster than anticipated progress. Static models don't last long.
Pretty happy with that window. Squad to me looks better than at the start. One thing stands out a bit. Have we ever had so many naturally left sided players in a side? A coaches dream is to have great balance like that.
But it's not just about progress on the pitch, it clearly has to be about financial progress too. Building this sustainability is what will ultimately secure our position in the Premier League.
i think where we have signed makes sense to have young one you've got clarke so weren't going to get another out and out winger like him so mundle is perfect for his under study the LB from leeds played and can do a job so should hit the ground running who can then also move over to cb when cirkin is back and then styles has more games in the league then any of are midfielders, people keep mentioning the summer but most of them actually played men's football and to be honest and i think seelt rusyn jobe auchie and pembele are already ready to step in auchie and pembele have 80-100 games between them them in the top french league aswell so when people keep saying we just got kids in the summer who weren't ready isn't true
Finding him in the first place proves just the opposite imo.. Only injury prevented it from being the best venture into the transfer market this club has made in modern times This has been a very satisfactory window, some will never see it , for one reason or another.. Only gripe I have is the window is far to long and takes up far too much of everybody's time and should be reduced for all our sakes. OaU
If they aren't going to be getting game time with us it makes so much more sense to send them out on loan where hopefully they will play week in week out. Much better for their development than 10 minutes every 4 weeks
Have to say I woke up today thinking I am pleased that is over for a few more months. It is long winded and draining. Must be worse if you are working in it. Mind you an agent mate of mine always says a lot less actually gets worked on behind the scenes than there are rumours in the media.
Personally don’t think the window has been too bad with the obvious exception of failing to get a proper number 9. There’s a player there in Rusyn if we start using him properly. His goals for the 21s showed exactly what he’s all about.
Watched sky last night and you could sense how desperate they were to be part of the window media extravaganza. Two presenters had a 9 dart competition and an x spurs and Watford player believed spurs and Watford had had the best window... sad I actually watched it. Was expecting a possible negative backlash on here this morning, but glad to say all comments so far have been fair and realistic. As scout said, a 7 out of 10, seems a good window for us.
Hopefully they'll be straight into their teams from now til the end of the season. Mayenda in particular. Now if we can get a foot right up Hemir's arse and get him working....
Can see Pembele wanting to leave in the summer, possibly Adil too, due to lack of game time, homesick etc.
This window fits into the model, which I have said before would see us with our youngest squad in the process. We have moved quickly to a model based on buying / recruiting young technically talented players with potential. This should mean that from now on we will see the average age increase as the kids develop and get experience in the first team. Yes we will sell one or two of our most valuable assets in the next phase and the key then will be upping the quality of the kids we bring in. In time I would like to think we bring in players of the quality of Amad, not as a loan but as ours. it will take time and that is always going to be frustrating. I am old enough to remember Alan Brown and his five year plan. In many ways it was not dissimilar to the current plan. He focused on youth development, resulting in Sunderland winning the FA youth cup and several of that team played in the 1973 cup final, all be it Alan Brown had been sacked by then.
