Verbal Kint

Or maybe you tell him he is earning good money as it is, he has the chance to join a side who are going to, in all likelihood, be relegated this year and that considering he only joined the club 8 months ago would he not be able to stay at least until next summer and evaluate his position then, when after a season of excellent form much better teams than stoke city will have him on their wish lists? Put it this way. I would have made every effort to kepp Andrew Davies at this football club. I firmly believe Rupert Lowe did not feel the same way. That is what is wrong. Selling one of our best players without appearing to make any effort to keep him has and will **** fans off. If fans see a team whose best players are being sold off one by one they WILL vote with their feet.

I'm fully aware of how much we were losing. And i also know it's not a problem that can be solved simply by selling off every player we get an offer for

We have lost Wright, Licka, Ostlund, Idiakez, Rasiak, Powell, Claus, Makin, Saganowski, Safri and Viafara from the wage bill. We got a fee for Safri as well. I know we won't get a lot of money for the likes of Skacel and Euell but we should have been able to get a decent fee for Rasiak who to outsiders is a consistent scorer in this division. How many more players do we have to lose from the wage bill? We got rid of 11 the higher earners!!! I'm sorry, but having got rid of that many i refuse to believe we weren't in a position to negotiate with the bank. Especially as any replacements we brought in will be on much much less money.

You are getting the point across much better than me i think aintforever!! I couldn't agree more.

I think it's really naive to think there was no way we could have persuaded him to stay here rather than leave for stoke bloody city.

Exactly. And not only because of relegation. People will stop coming to see us play if we sell our best players. In fact, although it is early on and there may have been excuses, the attendance for Brum suggests that a lot of fans have made their mind up.

Then you go to the bank and you negotiate. Something Salz and Crouch were doing at the end of last season. The bank says we have to raise 4 million. You explain to them you have reduced the wage bill significantly (Ostlund, Idiakez, Safri, Wright, Rasiak etc) and that the only current way of raising the money would be to sell the best players and that is not in the long term interests of the bank. Meanwhile we do everything to sell off the dead wood. Salz was able to do it so why can't Lowe?

Him scoring had nothing to do with the chanting. It worked at the Hawthornes last year. The arrogance of the man to say afterwards that he gave his all for the club and didn't understand what the problem was should ensure he gets an equal amount of abuse next week

Fair play to the hardcore fans, a lot of which post on here, who will support the club through thick and thin. Unfortunately, a huge section of fans will not go if the team continues to lose its best players. There HAS to be a balance between cutting costs and maintaining a competitive side. To say "every player will be sold if a suitable bid comes in" is utterly ludicrous. It's bad for the team, and ultimately it's bad for the company. Then again, I shouldn't expect anything other than this from a man who has shown in the last five years he is a complete imbecile when it comes to business. Anyone who thinks we are better off with him than the previous regime is seriously deluded

Why should people just accept it? If that is the plan then it is fundamentally flawed. This company is in trouble because it's product is not good enough, and as a result the revenue from customers has fallen drastically. The solution is therefore not to weaken the product but to improve it, do what you can to get customer revenue up and that means getting this club back to the premiership. We won't get there selling our best players. By all means get rid of the deadwood, but selling our best players gets us nowhere, except backwards, with less money coming in and therefore greater financial problems. Shame on Rupert Lowe if he doesn't have the business acumen and ability to convince the bank of this. There was someone in place before Rupe's came in who was able to persuade the bank of this. Rupert Lowe is a moron.

Were you at Radley scooby?

Name them. Oh no you can't, what a surprise... The only player we signed on a permnanent contract when Leon was chairman was Davies. Maybe you should start placing the blame at the real culprit - Wilde.

1. I wouldn't have made public statements about how close to administration we are. Clubs now know how skint we really are and are probably making derisory offers for players which we are forced to accept (1.3 million for Davies) 2. I would have slapped a 5 million price tag on Davies and told him how much we want him to stay. 3. Welcome offers of 2 million plus for Surman, one player we CAN afford to lose and still get decent money for him.

Marsden was effective because he had Bridgey constantly on the overlap. The two were a great partnership. We do not have a Bridgey or Bale anymore. What makes you think after 3 years of never putting in a tackle it would change all of a sudden? With the formation we are playing, the wingers have to be able to take players on and get themselves in goal scoring positions. Again, that is not Surman's game. As for Gillet, in the first half he was absolutely everywhere, winning the ball and covering every blade of grass. He tired in the last 20 mins, but to be honest he put in more graft in 70 minutes than Surman has in 3 years

You're right he's not a left back. And he isn't quick enough to be a winger. And he isn't prepared to put his foot in so that rules out central midfield. Quite frankly, the lad doesn't have a position.

You want Surman to play the ball winning role in the side. The same Surman that has never made a tackle in a red and white shirt. Gillet was outstanding on saturday. Keep him there with Morgan who also played very well.

Oh good god. Wayne Thomas. Wayne ****ing Thomas??? Are you kidding me? Seriously? He is another of Burley's disastrous and scandalous waste of money signings. I never want to see him in the red and white again. Would much rather we kept with James and let him develop.

Like i said, i think he will be a very good player for us. His defending is a bit naive at times though. He jumped into challenges a few times when he should have been standing off a little more. But he's young and learning a new position so i'm fully prepared to give him a run in the side to see how much he improves. He is certainly an improvement on the useless Jermaine and the even worse Ostlund. Surman for me is very frustrating. Not strong enough in the tackle and not quick enough to go past a man.

I agree with you apart from Surman. He really is the most overrated player. Wimps out of every 50-50 challenge and is too slow to play as a winger. Lloyd James could develop into a really good player, but can we really take that risk at the moment? His defending is very naive right now.