S-Clarke

Think we were linked with this kid, but he's going to Spurs - Tottenham are close to signing South Korean youngster Min-hyuk Yang.

Feels like Bordeaux gave us a bit of a game, need that in pre-season - only our second game. I don't pay much attention to the scores or results this early on, I may start giving it more of a notice when we play Lazio/Getafe, but these early ones are just to build fitness, so I'd avoid reading anything into them like ''we still concede loads of goals'' ''x isn't good enough'' etc.

He's got a bromance with O'Riley, have always kept in contact apparently.

But what about Watermark, and the regeneration of Woolston waterfront? Not to forget the Toys R Us building is about to be demolished. He'd be daft to consider anywhere else. #cityofdreams In all seriousness I think the Martin factor will be a significant pull if we are serious.

Agreed, I'd be absolutley devastated if we were interested in him as a promotion chasing Championship team! An incredibly average lower league player, no more.

Just looked up on the stats - our feelings are right, after he started that QPR game he didn't feature in another league game all season. On the bench for a few, but was never seen in the league again. He had a few moments in the cups, but that was it.

Knew I'd missed one! How did I forget him!

If a club buys RS on the back of his time here then they are absolute nut jobs, more so than us. No club is mental enough, surely. A loan at most is what I could see a club interested in, but even that's a push - the bloke hasn't played a full game in almost 2 years.

it 'SLAMS SHUT' on 30th at 11pm. Our final game before that is Forest at home on 24th. I'd hope we have most of our business done by then!

We didn't buy Ely from Celtic. We got him from Basel I believe, but loaned him to Celtic to get some game time where he did ok. (couple of seasons I think we sent him there). I think 90% of our buys from Scotland have been pretty solid generally. VVD, Davis, Stu Armstrong, Fraser Forster. The worst I can think of is McCann.

West Ham are in talks with Bayern Munich over the signing of right-back Noussair Mazraoui.

I thought SAA started the season well in the Champ, he was blooded right from the start - I thought it was going to be a breakthrough season for him. After a couple of existing sub appearances he got a start against QPR I think, as Tella was off, and he struggled a bit to be fair - but we never saw him in the league again. I thought we saw enough of him in the early handful of games as a sub to suggest he will cause stacks of problems for defenders, you have to excuse young players some bad games though as they're learning. I don't feel as if Russell necessarily trusted young players though, look at how he treated Charles and Charly throughout the season. He prefers experience and know-how in the starting 11's, which is fine and is needed...but I think clubs like us need to also be seen to blood young players and give them opportunities, which I don't think we do enough of anymore. Our young players are clearly good enough as they have stacks of interest, it's not like we've got a team of Jake Vokins or Jake Sinclairs trying to get into the 11 - they're of much higher quality.

Fair, hadn't read the article - was just looking on Twitter. "That will dictate what we do in the goalkeeping department. After what Alex did at the end of last season, I think he's earned the right to be first choice." He continued: "But as I said, if we lose one, and then someone else comes in, you just never know, do you? It's the same for any player in the squad. "No one is guaranteed to play football. We lost out on signing a player last season because I couldn't guarantee that he would play football.

I wouldn't pay much attention to those bizarre Forest and Brighton deals with Newcastle. Massively, massively inflated prices just to get Newcastle over the line with PSR. Definitely some crooked books there I think!

That quote scares the living living bejeezus out of me. This is going to play out just like I feared.

When he played you could see how totally uncomfortable he was with the ball at his feet. Technically awful, really clumsy and genuinely no mobility. He can and will score goals in lesser leagues simply because of his height, I'm sure a few of his goals last year was just a case of the ball bouncing off of his massive torso. Under Sean Dyce Burnley could have made use of him, but in a footballing side he is of absolutely no use what so ever. Not even a worthwhile sub - as I can promise you that Martin will never abandon his passing principles, even if we're trailing at the death.

I guess he looks at a very confused pathway at Saints. If we do something as ludicrous as to buy that Palace youngster, SAA will be the next to pack up shop. When Meghoma was brought in, he had Perraud and Small in front of him at the time - a genuine pathway. Relegation should have provided opportunities, but Manning was brought in and even when he wasn't available, Bree or even Stephens was played that side. This year he'll look at it and see Manning, new addition Charlie Taylor, Wellington potentially coming in January and obviously Larios coming back from fitness. The biggest question to me is wtf is our strategy with these young players? We seem to be doing a Chelsea at the moment, sweeping them up at a young age, with no genuine idea of how we'll play them.

If you asked me to pick a player least suited to the style Martin implements, I'd pick Onuachu. I see no place for him here in a team which is based around agility, mobility and ball retention. He was signed when the mad Nate was implementing our aimless kick it long to anyone tactic. God Willing it could have been the best tactic in the world.

Both Dibling and SAA have been offered the chance to go to Spain to 'stake their claim', Martin wants to see if either are really ready to push for a first team place. There are stacks and stacks of clubs interested in both for loan deals, L1 and Champ. We'll probably see movement on this when they're back from Spain, I do expect at least one of those to head on a loan.

I think this young kid at Palace has potential, but I thought we were avoiding doing that this time in critical positions? I get the CB signings, as we already had experience there - but we have lost Brooks, Fraser, never replaced Tella etc - we need PROVEN options in attack, at the moment our attacking options are horrendous and would be just about passable at Championship level. What will SAA and Dibling feel if we sign an unproven kid in their positions? Let's focus on developing our own young wide players, not spunking £12m on other clubs young wide players. Sure, buy wide attackers but they need to be proven and an upgrade surely? (Given our lack of quality in this area). This deal would be bonkers for all reasons.

Wasn't he spot on with the Jay Rod stuff back in 2012? That's how I remember his name coming into the forefront, he was all over that deal.

This is why I wouldn't be too worried if we blast most of our budget on O'Riley for example, as I genuinely don't believe we'd be able to afford what it takes to bring in a CF outright of the required level. There will be lots of top strikers at big clubs who want to get a move at the end of the window. Look at Chelsea pricing Broja at £30m for e.g, absolutely no takers at that price, it might still come down...but the most obvious outcome for that one to me is that he's put up for loan at the end of the window. I'm not saying we go for Broja, just that there will be options for loans as we head towards Sept.

Gave his all, was a thorn for defenders over the years. However as someone put above, certainly part of the reason for our struggles in recent years. As a club I thought we hung him out to dry in our last PL season. Everyone and their dog knew that he wasn't a consistent goal getter, he is a support striker who will do all the dirty and unselfish work for someone else to profit from (whilst also benefiting from a few goals himself). The club had it in their vision that he was our leading man for that season - hence we were relegated and got desperate in January for Onuachu. It was often his movement and strength that got him into decent positions, but his finishing was just horrific when he had to think about it. It was the right time to part ways, it'll be interesting to see if another league is less forgiving/he gets more opportunities. Wish him the best, but I'm glad the club get the chance to move on from this one.

I would hope that's the case, McCarthy backup, Lumley third choice. Or it could go as last season with McCarthy third choice given that our treatment of him was a bit bizarre for 90% of the season!

You've read that all wrong. Basically he says the club will look to bring in a GK once Lis leaves as he wants to play football. The question mark is if we look for a keeper who is better than McCarthy or Lumley, or just look to fill a backup keeper slot? Hopefully it's the former. Bazunu won't be seen this season, so not surprising he's not being mentioned.