Foxy1

I would argue Birmingham as a City is a factor in this. To call it unfashionable is an understatement. London just becomes more and more dominant economically & socially. As a knock on effect even clubs like West Ham & Crystal Palace are in danger of sailing past us in coming years.

Manchester manages to to act like UK's real second city, has a swagger and confidence that Birmingham somehow lacks. In fact the whole Midlands is a bit of a malaise. Is it a coincidence Midlands football is in the doldrums?

Coolest name of any club CEO, ever.

I've got a semi

Vlaar & Senderos the double bald headed beast!

Local boy breaking through who can beat a man and get the crowd on their feet.

If that doesn't stir your soul then nothing will. It's Roy of the Rovers. It's George Best chipping the entire defence. It's Ryan Giggs gliding past trailing tackles. It's at the very heart of why we love football.

Possibly the best comment ive ever seen on VT.

If we only see a glimmer of magic this season from Jack then what a tonic it would be for our fans in the current climate.

By the way what are you feeding him at home? the boy has legs like a Grand National winner.

If we don't sign someone soon we are rubber ducked.

BTW I don't disagree that he's been excellent and is our best prospect - just in case anyone thought I was intending to "run down our youth players."

 

It's an excellent season.

 

Just the idea that he is the next Eden Hazard or Garath Bale is not justified on the basis of his first professional season. Personally, I'd wanted a few long shots to go in.

I don't have stats to hand but don't recall Bale scoring too many goals early in his career. In fact he started notoriously slowly and then exploded when everything clicked in place and he was scoring ridiculous goals. Bit like what happened with Ronaldo at Utd and what we're seeing now with Hazard.

I can only think it is that accountancy bollocks of you brought an asset (player) from 10m and sold him for nothing therefore you lost 10m.

 

We all know that isn't a real loss of course as it was already paid for.

MON? is that you??

3 good quality players would make hell of a difference to this squad. Esp if we keep Benteke in summer.

Hopefully Bertrand would be one of these purchases along with an AM and a Winger / striker (assuming Zog is on way out).

Darren Bent was a panic buy that could've killed us.  He scored goals, and his movement off the line is/was superb, but he contributed almost entirely nothing to the team as a whole.

 

We stayed up, which was the most important outcome I suppose (somehow Q.P.R. managed to avoid getting messed up over bringing in Samba in the most dodgy deal of forever), but to hail him as some sort of great signing is ridiculous.  As LondonLax says, no resale value, monster wages and a vastly overinflated price tag in the first place.  We're still seeing the downsides of this sort of spending - 3 years on.  Crazy.

You're talking about 2 different seasons there.

Is there any proof that Gary Gardner even exists ?

I heard the stories as a kid but it's strange that you never actually meet anyone who has physically met him or seen him play .

 

Notice how you never see him and HairyHands in the same room together

He's in a new FIFA video looking a bit chubby round the gills

My Motm yesterday. The only summer signing who is looking the real deal (hopefully Okore too).

Has HH responded to the question about the academy players? Interested to hear his views on that.

Good reaction from ITFC fans on Twitter

Really really want him to be good but not seeing anything to suggest he will make it.

Not that quick or particularly skillfull. Intelligence and awareness virtually none existence. Having said this he has improved a bit so hope I'm proved wrong.

Jordan Graham along with Grealish seem to be the most exciting talents.

Robinson closest to first team at the moment though.

Shay Given - 5 year deal for a 35 year old. £3.5m fee. £60kp.w. Nuff said.

Let's not forget we have signed 5 foreign players so far, surely we have to add to the English talent unless he has hope's for Gardner or Albrighton stepping up a gear now their fit. IMO we wont see a new signing for a while yet. Pre-season starts Monday and i can't wait to see how they fair in Germany, maybe this will be key to what he will or will not bring in before the window closes.

Think we will see 2 or 3 more but only when Bent, Hutton & Ireland go.

I actually went for Bacuna.. Don't quite know why really apart from he is the one we seem to have heard least about so i am interested to see what he brings to the table whereas we have a bit of an idea about the others to a point.

I can tell that you're really trying to contain your excitement there.

Well if this is true, Ireland's off to stoke and Donny rovers are taking Given and Dunne.

The Mirror is always reliable, right?

I mean they wouldn't just print absolute bollocks based on nothing, would they?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/stoke-transfer-news-stephen-ireland-1982068

Saying Ireland is on £30k a week undermines the credibility of the whole article.

Hughes is a fool but is he stupid enough to offer a big contract to the likes of SI, given his recent experience with QPR? I seriously doubt it.

Very difficult to say. The possibility of another relegation fight is not out of the question yet the upside potential of this young side is higher than its been for several years.

Is there any views from Spain on this guy?

I keep posting this guy's stuff like he's my relative or something, but it's really because I think he has some inside info and generally his analysis is quite good. Here's his 2 cents on Benteke:http://www.myoldmansaid.com/christian-benteke-contract-talks-explained/

Just irks me people get stuff wrong like the fact that Fiorentina didn't actually make the champions league

Also Delph can't be on £40k a week surely?