ferguson1

If a new manager can get his confidence back and some motivation going, he could be an asset next year.  Could be.  Sell him now and what are we realistically going to get for him?  Personally, I would give him another season and see if he can flourish again in the Championship.  Scored a hatrick at Wembley in the play off final I seem to remember.  

9 minutes ago, AndyBM said:

clark, baker and toner are all left centre sided centre backs, we need a right footed cb.

Agree completely!  From a coach point of view, a successful centre half pairing always have a right and left footer.  I like Dunk at Brighton, but also plenty of loan options from Premiership teams i would imagine?  A Stoke friend of mine has said that Shawcross has really gone off the boil and could be replaced in the summer.  Not saying we could buy him but decent loan option surely? 

The call up today could be a real turning point for Jack and us.  I really do hope that KMac, Sid, have a word with him too and we see Jack raring to go at the start of next season.  A new manager will soon realise that there are just too many players to ship out in one go here and Jack is certainly not one of them.  He could be a real asset to us next year.  

4 minutes ago, Richard said:

We'll all know by this time next week 

Hope your right Richard! The sooner the better for me, so someone can come in and start clearing the dead wood from the first team.  We're gonna need a lot of skips!

Have just returned home and read this, and have to say that I am a little disappointed!  If the new owner/consortium want RDM as the man to bring us back, I am slightly worried.  Never saw this one coming and hoping it's just rumours.  

Wellbeck out for 9 months!  

The Beacon Hotel, Sedgley.  They do a nice drop of ruby beer and have some interesting real ales on offer.  

Had put this in the Burton Albion thread but congratulations to Burton and on a personal note, a welcome addition to the Championship!  There will be some good Midlands derbies next season for sure.  Just need Walsall to do it now. 

51 minutes ago, Arj Guy said:

I don't think Allardyce would have kept us up. Sunderland have Defoe, we have Gestede

Have to say I fully agree with you here.  Ferguson, Mourinho (any manager to be honest) wouldn't have kept our lot up. You have to have belief, hunger and the desire to do it and Garde realised quite quickly that our group of losers just didn't have it in them.  Also agree that Defoe is the difference down the bottom.  We had Benteke in previous seasons and it makes a hell of a difference if you have a goalscorer. Fair play to Allardyce though he seems to have a way of installing belief in players quickly.  Sick of saying it but we need a big, big clear out and then hope the losing mentality evaporates quickly with a new manager. 

Congratulations to them and on a personal note, a welcome addition to the Championship!  There will be some good Midlands derbies next season. 

1 minute ago, AndyBM said:

players have still got to want to come to us, and who in their right mind would want to come to us

Takeover happens: new manager, big money, biggest club in the league etc.  Young Premiership players want game time, not to just sit in the stands at a big club.  Maybe I am being a tad unrealistic here but would rather hope than just except the doom and gloom.

7 minutes ago, AndyBM said:

how did the topic of conversation get onto raiding leicester? theres just as much chance as raiding city or united.

league 2 is where the club is going to have to pick from

Why? Many Championship clubs take players on loan from Premiership clubs.  We will be a big fish down there and don't therefore believe league 2 is the only place we can pick from. 

35 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

There's no chance of loaning any of them either, I'm sorry to say. 

Leicester have just won the Premier League, with a small squad. They aren't going to want to let many players go, either temporarily or permanently, and even if they do, those who have played many games this season will have far better offers than going to a Championship club. Inler might not have played very much, but he has a big reputation throughout Europe and in no way needs to be playing second division football. He could move to a top team in Serie A without difficulty. 

I doubt we'll be picking up any loans from Bournemouth either, and certainly not Callum Wilson who is first choice when fit. Grabban has achieved nothing there and probably genuinely isn't good enough for the Premier League, so that's why I allow he's an outside possibility. 

Basically, I just think you're going to be very disappointed when you see the calibre of player we're actually able to attract. 

Fair enough mate and you could well be right.  However, and perhaps I am clutching to the past calibre of player we used to attract and the fact of an impending takeover slightly.  If a takeover happens and with the right manager in place, surely we can be the big fish in a small pond in the Championship?  After all some of the players within the clubs I have mentioned have come from lower divisions.

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Ulloa - no chance

Dyer - maybe

Inler - no chance

Simpson - no chance

King - no chance

Wilson - no chance

Afobe - no chance

Grabban - maybe

Iturbe - no chance

Gayle - no chance

Dyer or Grabban the only two of those who might move to a Chumpionship club.

Read my post again! I suggested loans as well as transfers? Inler has hardly played a game. I also said who i thought would be first choice at Bournemouth next season, meaning we may get a possible loan from there as they appear to be well stocked.

5 minutes ago, Godders said:

So by that logic, we're so f***ed that AVFC will never turn a profit again then. May as well wind the club up now then.

If they want to try and turn a profit, then they have to make us successful. Even if they fail at turning a profit, then the inference is that in doing so, they would at least have tried to make us successful, which is a hell of a lot more than we've seen for the last 5 years.

This for me and I may have not put my point across very well above.  Would rather see an investor/board having a go, than a current owner that doesn't want to.

Should Leicester have big money to spend now and want to attract some better players, we could look at one or two buys/loans from them?  Thinking along the lines of Ulloa, Dyer, Inler, Simpson etc.  Also watching MOTD last night Bournemouth have some good forwards at their club, wonder if we could attract one from them (ie King, Wilson)?  Would have thought Afobe, Grabban and Iturbe are first choice.  They also have Gradel behind them.  Could be worth a look but seeing Gayle at Palace yesterday, he would be great playing off Gestede surely? 

Have to say that I am completely out of my depth with business and what any potential takeover really means but surely when buying anything in life, you don't particularly want to loose money? Any investor wants a return, exposure etc and big loses not an option.  Am I being too simple here?  

0 shots on target, at home, against one of the worst teams in the league!  No attacking threat all game.  Hanging on with 20 minutes to go.  Black will be chuffed with the clean sheet though no doubt!!  Clueless idiot and quite simply embarrassing.

0 shots on target, hanging on for the final 30 minutes!  Rubbish!!

Just now, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Would you say they are realistic targets?

Gary O'Neil, Distin and Hangeland perhaps.

No I wouldn't, i was merely stating who I would personally take from that list in a heartbeat who i think would improve us.  Realistically, we could probably get 2/3 of them.

Have just seen the freebies above and I tell you what, if the takeover doesn't happen I'd take 8/9 of them right now and they would be better than what we have:

Boruc

Terry, Delaney, Demichelis

Carrick, Arteta, Carroll, Osman, Pienaar

Would take any of those above and midfield would be sorted for sure.  Don't care about age to be honest as getting out of the division at the first attempt has to be the priority.  

6 hours ago, mikeyp102 said:

But surely keeping him and playing him is better for both him and us?

Obviously, but if he wants to do a deal with another club I'd rather have him on loan as part of the agreement and help bring us back!

Well if the rumour is true, he could be sold and immediately loaned back to us couldn't he?  Similar to Hector Reading/Chelsea deal?  Hate developing players to then have them cherry picked, but I can live with this if he helped us out of the division at the first attempt. 

49 minutes ago, Harry said:

I don't see that matters. The players continue to be shite week in week out. Loads will leave at the end of the season, including many we would like to keep, so there is no value in a manager coming in right now as he will have nothing to work on in the longer term.

Given we are in extended / advanced negotiations with apparently three parties a takeover is hopefully happening pretty soon anyway. Depending on who that is it might very well change the sort of manager we could attract anyway. TBH too if I was Pearson, Moyes or whoever I would want to see who is the new owner and how they view the club before joining, particularly with regard to budgets.

As for Wilkins…...

Wouldn't disagree with your post  but the timing of the new manager is key in my opinion.  We have a head start on two current Premiership clubs knowing that we are down and a head start on some Championship clubs, who don't know if they are going up yet.  We currently have an advantage over others and  I certainly don't want to be rudderless going into pre-season that's for sure.  

I don't personally dislike him like some at the club, but he does need to be moved on.  How he has so many international caps is beyond me.  If we cannot find a permanent replacement this summer, then we should look at some young Premiership loans (players like Holgate, Hector etc).