Dman

Didn't a west ham director come out and say that he tries to avoid signing african players, because they're bad eggs and cause problems when they're not in the squad (or something to that nature) a few seasons back..? Clearly incredibly ill advised and a narrow minded, but maybe not all that untrue...

I know there has been discussions and a desire for a deal to happen from both sides. It was on the cards, but that was a month or 2 ago now, so I don't know if us officially going down has had any impact... That being said, its been obvious that we're going down for months. I'd not at all be surprised if we see JWP end up there and Targett back here - maybe on loan to start with.

That’s a shame. I was hoping that it had been hijacked.

The only man that can save us at this point is Maya Yoshida. Ready to rip up his playing contract to come bring us back.

How would everyone feel about Matt target coming back?

It’s really incredible that we could lose 10-12 regular first team players / starters this summer and come out with a squad that is no weaker. Amazing really when we spent 3-4 years battling a bloated squad of shite, to finally reduce the size, then just end up with another bloated squad of shite.

Pretty sure it was reported that they would get the sell on fee, which would mean they can affectively buy him back for £35m

Oh no, what a shame. Id have hoped we’d have told them we want them out, rather than them dictating to us. Incredible how some of these below average players think they’re better than the championship… That being said, I think Mara could develop into a half decent striker if he spent a season in the championship.

I keep scanning the title of this thread and keep thinking it says Ruben Selles is off to Liverpool.. Its like 2014 all over again. Then I remember we're absolutely dog shit.

You've lost me, 23 home games in the champ compared to 19 n the PL.. that's 4 extra games.. no?

Because Selles is still Employed as manager of the football club, meaning we'd need to pay him compensation. The squad will also be very different come the start of pre-season.

Nope, not until end of next season and even in that case, its a £40m buy back clause (i.e we have to accept their offer if its £40m)

Rasmus is still a fucking idiot. It's just that this isn't his fault.

I don't foresee Phillips staying at City next season, it would be terrible for his career. I could see a world where they shift Phillips (they'll recoup most of what they paid) and buy Lavia. One would expect Willcox would still have contacts / a degree of influence over City. If City don't want him, then that is fair game. But we should be giving them first refusal.

There is loads to bash the club about, but the cost of the ST's this season isn't one of them.

I've seen people on twitter have been giving Rasmus pelters for this. What do people expect? It was obvious that any any business with a reduced income would need to cut back and look at the structure of the organisation. Its sad for those that will lose their job, but imo, its why I'd never ever, consider working at a football club in a non footballing capacity - way too unstable.

Without trying to spark the debate again, but failing Rice would Phillips not be a better option? For me he would (if he can stay fit). More longevity there and for me, he is a genuine top 6 player.

Genuinely, what were you expecting? Given you get an extra 4 games, i'm actually surprised they've reduced the price at all.

Its a really shit move for him, much like suggestions of Palace, Everton and even Villa / Brighton are. He's a big fish in a small pond here. Villa aside, he wouldn't be significantly increasing his salary by moving to any of those clubs and might get the odd season in the europa / conference league. A move to any of those clubs would literally be just to play in the PL - he's swapping being the captain and poster boy for the PL. I don't see any of them buying him either, given the price we'd demand. I've said before, I might be biased, but genuinely I think he'd be better off sticking around 1 extra year to try and get us back, than join any of those clubs.. Like Grealish did at Villa. He'd fit in well at Newcastle (for now), he's a typical Eddie Howe type of player and would get minutes due to the additional demand of the CL. However, when Eddie gets the boot, he would fade away into obscurity. There's no longevity at Newcastle. He's a bang average mid-table PL player, he suits us.

The only club we should be selling Lavia to is City, or at least giving them first dibs. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. In order to keep this relationship we have with them sweet, you do not go and sell a player who they have a buy back clause for to a main rival. I have to say, although he's clearly going to the very top - I think a move to a top PL club right now will be detrimental to his career. He needs to be playing games.

A consistent starter in the PL could fizzle out into nothing…. What is JWP then, other than a consistent starter in the PL. Lavia is already a better player and will go on to be a much better player than JWP.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/trainer/verfuegbaretrainer/statistik 20 pages of managers, currently unemployed, sat there just waiting to reject us. Russell Martin was the only man foolish enough to take on the poison chalice. The only ONE.

Puel… ironically, he probably would have been a pretty decent option for us if we were looking to move towards a possession based approach.

Utter nonsense. There are loads of managers out there who we could (maybe should have) gone for who’d have been viable. By your very logic, Leicester and Leeds are going to be absolutely fucked when they drop then.

There’s a whole thread dedicated to suggestions for our new manager. Some better, some not, some realistic, others not so much.. Other than that, great point well made 👍