eelpie

Do you think we will need to see some recruitment in the way the Academy is run when a new manager arrives?

Do Bournemouth?

Too late, he's gone

But a simple 'he is not for sale' statement is a standard tough negotiating tactic, and necessary right now. This is very different from a weak silence that can suggest we are open for offers. In the long term when we have our new manager in place he will eventually want to discuss with the board player purchases and sales. But my strongly expressed view is that we should not sell players before he is in place and has had time to assess the squad.

Good points

I don't agree. If Kat wanted to sell SFC, surely the business would be worth considerably more with its best players, who are mostly international stars. If she sold them the club's fortunes would likely vere downwards and SFC would not be such a good investment. I don't think this will happen. I do very much admire Leicester for it's determination to keep Vardy and co. Why can't Les simply say we are not selling? Rumours of a possible fire sale can only gather pace in the media and is not going to entice ambitious prospective managerial candidates.

The Leicester phenomenon is clouding achievements of other clubs. He hardly did badly in the circumstances though did he.

Exactly. And personally I reckon SW members who feel the same should let their feelings known to Les Read

From possible £45 million plus to £25m for Mane being mentioned on this site Is there a dutch auction going on?

So anyone who is being dropped of at a class c hotel can be assumed to be a class c candidate making up the numbers

So anyone being dropped off to a class c hotel is a class 3 candidate just making up the numbers

So come the 28th if we have not appointed a new manager, who might be in charge of pre-season coaching? Would it be popular Sammy Lee, the man who's job could be on the line depending on who Les appoints?

Les is having enough trouble appointing a manager as it is, without selling our best. Our top players are our best asset. If he sold Mane it would be proof that he is losing the plot. No wonder RK accused Saints of not having enough ambition. If he sold Mane for only £35m I would despair.

Well, at least we're not likely to have to face Wales again

Les has read SW posts advising him to get tough.

And to add, what if the prospective manager wants to keep some members of the first team that Les is prepared to sell? The candidate will want reassurance to what squad he is coming to, surely. An issue that surely will be discussed in the negotiations

Hopefully so if reports are true, but I reckon negotiations and due diligence may continue for a while. I'm wondering if Les will have to give a little on some of his demands, like only bringing two assistants. We want to keep Sammy Lee and our current goalkeeping coach (I'm sure) so there are issues to resolve. Then there's the sticky one about what if the applicant wants to sign someone that Les does not approve of? How much does Les want a particular applicant?

Another black box is needed to answer that (with or without bluetooth)

This

It's not an ideal scenario, what happens every summer. So far we have been very fortunate and ended the season one place higher than the year before. But what do other mid-sized clubs do that we don't? Play the same boring football and stagnate in miidtable? Would we prefer that?

That is basically what I have said.

You don't know what you are saying, and that is history. Stop fanning the flames

I think the reason many of us were panicking in 2014 wasn't just that we knew not who our next manager might be (it could have been another Wigley for all we knew) but also because there seemed to be a fire sale of our best players, combined with little comment from what was a newish board, some unconvincing statements from our new chairman and also Kat's intentions weren't really known. We cannot know what the future might be, but the situation now is quite different. (But please don't sell any more players, Les. before the new manager is in place.)

I think there are good reasons for signing Redmond now, because we must be stronger with him in the squad (I think he is skilful, is young and English, has potential and it is a good business deal) and we haven't risked losing out to other clubs, such as Stoke. Re Wanyama, we're obviously weaker as a result of selling him, but if there was a 'gentleman's agreement to sell at the end of this season and he is on his last year, I don't think a new manager could have prevented it. But the sale was unnecessarily hasty and about a million cheaper than perhaps it could have been. Spurs should have been kept waiting. It sets a bad example to others and their agents. That was bad timing and a weak decision by Read imo. We certainly shouldn't sell other player's, such as Mane, before a new manager is appointed. We shouldn't sell before an equally good and useful replacement (approved by the new manager) is signed up. Read's policy of sell first, buy later is very risky. We have only been lucky in the past because Koeman knew who he wanted and had the reputation to convince his targets to sign. Does it matter that we are known as a selling club? Imo yes. We will become a regular laughing stock every summer if we routinely keep selling our best players. We must dig our heels in because we don't need to sell. Show a bit of firmness, Les.

No, I think there is big question mark as to how he will do with a smaller quality squad than he had at Citeh.