S-Clarke

Just seen that Chelsea have given Cole Palmer a contract until 2033. 8/9 year deal?. I think those sorts of contracts are stupid. Chelsea are breaking football, something needs to be done about how they're doing transfers and contracts.

I remember it breaking on sky sports news on their yellow ticker, way before the days of the chuckle brothers they currently have on there, it was a bit more authentic. Things were much better and simpler back then, football seemed more fun - not sure if that's just me getting old though. It doesn't feel the same anymore with the money that's thrown around on transfers, all feels a bit broken.

Yeah he's a good player who could thrive if played regularly, a good passer of the ball and physical to add to it. I remember his season with Norwich in the Champ, he was unbelievable at that level - literally ran games on his own. He doesn't look out of place at Spurs either, so I'd be surprised if they do palm him off - but I'd be grabbing him if he was available. These are the sorts of loans that will become possible as we go into the next couple of weeks.

That's got a whiff of Kelvin Davis > Boruc all over it. We get to the 31st without a new keeper, it's evidently obvious we should have strengthened, and out pops Szczesny on a free transfer after deadline day.

Ings was a funny one, I remember that one dividing fans a bit - then when we made that permanent, quite a few people voiced their annoyance that £20m of Ralph's first transfer window budget was going on a crock! But it worked out, one of our best signings in PL times. Goes to show that the opposite can often happen, I felt somewhat underwhelmed by Bertrand on loan but he was a super addition.

If we go way back, Lambo for me. I remember when it started to leak, out of nowhere on a Sunday night via some Bristol journos and then it was done and dusted by mid-day on the Monday. That was a classic transfer for me. Signing the best player in L1, top goal scorer in L1, beating Championship clubs to his signature. (Boro I think). If we go back to the PL years, it was probably Gaston. He'd just turned up at the Olympics and was regarded as one of the top young players in the world at that point, the saga went on forever, like most drawn out PL signings tbh. Genuinely excited by that one as a newly promoted club, then even more so in 'that game against Villa (tm)', but then he vanished after that which was a shame - was never quite good enough for the PL consistently. His best time in England came during his loan spell with Boro in the Championship.

I do believe we have a few unproven PL players in the team, rather than players who won't ever be good enough. For example, had we not been promoted, THB and Downes would still be playing in the PL with someone and I'm fully expecting both of those guys to prove that they are PL level without much hassle. Sugawara is another. We also have proven PL players in Charlie Taylor and KWP in the group, so I don't think we have a load of no hopers who have no chance of ever performing in the PL. We do have some, sure, but we do also have players who will probably prove themselves to be very capable PL players - they just haven't had the chance yet. If we supplement them well with more quality up top and in goal, we'll surprise a few.

They still have Spence who has been re-integrated into the fold this pre-season. Poro and Spence at their RB's. If something happens with Spence nearer the window we may end up with a late bid, but there comes a point where it's too late I think.

I'm not sure what medical he undertook, but I fail to see how he could have passed anything as we signed him with an existing injury. Must have been a deal based on lots of caveats and we decided to roll the dice.

Part of me wonders if that's why they're going down the route of external people, so the insurers can see that every avenue has been covered by people neutral etc.

Yep absolutley, I don't think you can say SR haven't put money in - they have, lots of it. But the scouting has been shit, it doesn't matter how much money you have if you keep signing crap. In fact for clubs like us it makes it even harder because we then have less flexibility and expensive assets we have to then take a loss on. Hopefully they learnt some lessons from the 22/23 season, most notably that January window - over £40m on deadline day on two guys who didn't contribute at all, and still haven't.

If i'm honest, I don't think he'll ever play again to a reasonable level. It's not beyond the realms to expect some sort of retirement story at some point during the season.

A couple of good questions, but the answers were well dodged and glided around by those at the table. Proper politician answers! That guy wasted so much time on that beer and burger question though, get to the point was the case for most of his question, but when he got to the point you just rolled your eyes - a few mins I'll never get back. Nothing really new, we're still working on things. Side not on Ross Stewart, we have external people working with him to get him to the best possible level to compete - not sure what that means, but I don't think he's anywhere near.

Glad that's not just me, that pisses me off. Makes it pointless them delivering the notifications.

I'm not saying we won't ever spend £25m, but I just look at it in the context that we've already spent almost £60-70m this summer without any sales. Plus our previous stint in the PL equalled £150m spend, or something like that. Of course not all of that money will have been paid out yet, ditto the money from last summer won't have been received yet, but I do feel we are somewhat constrained from going big this summer. A season or two in the PL, if we manage to consolidate, will paint a different picture (but we need to make sure we scout a hell of a lot better)

Definitely, the best loan opportunities come up in the final few weeks. Some things we might think aren't even a goer today, may end up being on in a week or so. THB and Brooks last season for e.g. are two which spring to mind. We've used the loan market really well in the last 12 months. If we do somehow throw £25m down on a striker without any substantial sales then all credit to SR for me, who are definitely putting the money where their mouth is. Just need to make sure we've scouted them right.

I have always strongly believed that we will take advantage of loan opportunities towards the final few weeks. Some players won't be available today, but after the first weekend of PL fixtures they may start to be made available. That's where I honestly believe we'll get our value, we won't be spending £25m+ on anyone.

The Chelsea 'zero strategy' bandwagon carries on. Someone has got to put a stop to them surely? Now going for Felix, who has already had a stint there which was a bit of a fail. They have no idea what they're doing, and you do have to feel somewhat for their fans as it's a hollow club. It's like a mega version of the WHU Transfer tombola.

I don't mind them pushing the app, but they should at least get it bug free first. It's a bit clunky.

Seriously, don't play the race card. Absolute nonsense and is usually piped out when there's no further substance to the actual point you're trying to make. The facts are that he came here with potential, looked to have the raw attributes in physique and power etc - but he was actually pretty rubbish and a big let down. Switches off too much when he's fit, but also isn't ever fit. Made of glass. Add to all of that, he is an absolutley awful personality around the place which is why he's been told to stay away from Staplewood. I don't personally think he downed tools, but I also don't think he's a particularly nice character. The fact we're getting £12m for him is a mega bonus, I'd have taken a nominal fee for him at this stage just to get the bad egg out of the place. There's nothing racist about any of that.

Maybe one day club owners will stop considering Wayne Rooney. He'll ruin Plymouth and it'll be too late for them this season before they realise.

I wouldn't pay much attention to any of these predictions at this stage, the transfer window in the remaining weeks could shape or kill a teams season. I include ours in that.

They're doing their own separate fans forum, which makes more sense.

If the GK is better than McCarthy, and he's signed before Friday this week, he will start on Saturday.

But those 13 games are all we have to go on, before that he'd never played above L1 level. It could have been a freakish purple patch, carried on from the momentum of the year before, or he was actually good for Championship level. The fact is that no one actually knows if he is any good above L1. We spent £9m on someone who was injured and had very little exposure at a high level. We dropped another almighty bollock with that signing, no two ways about it. If he comes good for us count me surprised, but in my eyes he's dead rubber for our needs at this level and we should not be counting on him.