Mark Albrighton

Bruce gets pilloried for the Hogan deal, yes. But I have also regularly seen that we can’t blame him for the amount we paid for Hogan as that’s not the manager’s job. And if that’s the case, fine. He should receive no blame for the amount we bought Hogan for and he should receive no credit for the cheapness of the McGinn deal. I don’t care, as long as the argument is consistent when possible. Edit - ideally I’d like to quote an example of this argument but the Hogan thread is 230 pages long so no chance am I going to go through that lot. I know the discussion has been had about Bruce and responsibility on transfer fees/wages. The McGinn and Hogan deals represent two ends of the spectrum, but should be treated consistently.

Yeah, as we’re talking about Bruce and the McGinn transfer in the Gollini thread... Bruce should rightfully receive credit for identifying McGinn. But if Bruce is exempt from blame for how much was paid for Scott Hogan (and that argument has been regularly made - he has no say on transfer fees or wages....an argument I don’t fully buy but ok), then he doesn’t get any credit for the relative cheapness of the McGinn deal. Fair’s fair. Anyway my favourite memory of Gollini was in a pre match warm up against Telford, he launched the ball down the pitch, completely taking out a Telford player.

And that’s fine for that to be a concern. It’s not a guarantee he’d be a consistent goal scorer in this league. But that wasn’t what you were saying. You were basically saying “10 goals a season for £20m? No thanks.” That’s the market now. Lacazette was around £50m and he scored 13 goals (ok he may play wide, and gets a few assists, but the point stands). Or how about Lukaku, scoring 12 goals? Mitrovic is being talked about in a £30m deal - 11 goals. The likelihood of us buying a striker for £10m and him to bag 15+ goals is not that high.

I didn’t mind Gollini, thought he had potential to be ok here.

Lol you brought up Tammy’s assist total to begin with Ok ignoring that **** up on your part, where’s your 10 goals a season quote come from? Championship stats aren’t comparable with premier league stats, but imaginary ones are?

So 4 fewer assists. Tammy is 7 years younger.

Wolves spent about £30m on Jimenez and he scored 13 goals.

Presumably it was just a massive oversight that this wasn’t in the running.....ooh nasty.

Yes I think so. I mean, Jordan Ayew somehow reached 7 goals in our god awful season so I’d like to think Tammy, in this far better Villa side, already settled and familiar with the system could reach higher than that. Relegation would put us in a weaker bargaining position if we were to sell, but I think we would recoup most of the fee.* I’m pretty much on board with this deal now. *yes, I know, we’ve been promoted less than a week and now I’m on about a scenario where we’ve bought Tammy, been relegated and are now forced into selling Tammy.

Looking at it from a purely financial point of view, if the deal was £25m for Tammy, considering his age and current reputation, he would have to have a terrible season for his value to decrease significantly and result in us making a loss. Obviously the main aim is for him to score goals for us, not to increase his net worth. But I think that sort of thing is probably a factor when deciding these things. The likelihood of him ultimately turning into Darren Bent, petering out and leaving us for nothing is minimal. It’s just feels slightly surreal to be discussing £25m deals and for the question to be “should we go for it?” rather than “will we ever do it?”.

Because he served a bit of time or because he’s fictional?

It’s just the way the market is now. How much was James Maddison - about £24m? I don’t believe he had played in the premier league before he joined Leicester. Mitrovic had scored 10 premier league goals before his £20m+ transfer to Fulham. His record in the championship pales in comparison to Tammy’s. My only reservation with the deal is the thought that there’s a bargain from the continent to be had for a third of the cost, a new Benteke or someone. But they are rare.

Appears no one has said Baselayers

I believe (and i’d really rather not look it up to confirm) that the 6-0 defeat and Bacuna pass was against Liverpool? Southampton we lost 4-2 I think, bizarrely our two goals were from Westwood if I recall correctly. The Southampton game was one of the protest group games - banners out on ‘74 which was was when we happened to run into each other Hanoi. Anyway, Micah. Can’t pretend to offer too much for a heartfelt goodbye so I won’t. But just so it’s not all an utter shit fest in here, I’ll say he seemed to give a shit for a little while in that relegation season. His celebration following his goal against Watford struck me as someone who was trying to rally people. And when things were going sour with the supporters in that FA cup game in which Lescott & Guzan we’re accused of pissing about on the bench, he had the guts to go over and try and appease the irate supporters, which showed some character at least. That’s more or less it. Oh and he was a cracking Father Christmas.

A quick search suggests that the players who already are or who will be in their thirties next season are - Elmo 31 (32 in September) Thor 31 (32 in May) Chester 30 (31 in January) Taylor 30 (31 in February) Kodjia 29 (30 in October) Kalinic 29 (30 in April)

Although I prefer Spurs, I was feeling indifferent to this game but coming into this thread has slightly swung it back to Spurs for me (or at the very least, further away from Liverpool).

Really lovely video for the departing players, some good memories there. Great work by the club.

What? “Only” Liverpool are likely to beat Barca at Anfield? The likelihood of Man Utd beating Barca at Anfield isn’t too great? Insightful stuff.

Not forgetting loveable boy next door and former resident of HMP Slade prison, Lennie Godber.

And his son Domhnall of course. Ian Lavender has apparently spent a fair amount of time telling people that the claret & blue scarf he wore on Dad’s Army doesn’t mean he supports West Ham (and presumably neither does Pike). There’s also Pauline McLynn, AKA Mrs Doyle from Father Ted.

Admittedly I’ve not been to Bournemouth, but it can’t be that bad.

I honestly think the new owners sat down with the football league and it was agreed that because the league’s less than comprehensive conducting of the fit and proper test of the previous owner ultimately resulted in the league founders nearly going out of business in less than two years, that a little bit of leeway was granted for the new guys. The club couldn’t go crazy, but they were given a bit more freedom because of the recklessness that had been allowed to happen. I’m sure people will disagree with that, but it would explain it. Other clubs would no doubt be pissed off, but I get the sense that the rules around FFP are in a kind of state of flux. The authorities are trying to get their heads around the issues of it still.

Yep this is a good way of looking at it. Gardner would have either gone back on loan - probably with us paying a percentage of his wages and then left for nothing or stayed here, not been given a squad number and still picked up around £40 grand a week (assuming his wages have gone up with promotion) and then left for nothing. Essentially bringing in a player Dean knows well and can get a tune out of, for someone who has no future here. Decent bit of business.

Yep, didn’t have the start he wanted under us but being sent out on loan when the defence was in the state it was is in was farcical. Tommy has had the right attitude from the start, stepped in a number of times and did a job for us when we were struggling for cover, the time when Terry was out and obviously being recalled this January. A likeable bloke and a model professional. All the best for the future.

Cult hero. Scored one of the most iconic second city derby goals ever. For that alone I’d buy him a pint. All the best for the future Alan.