Relegation what will our team look like?

[ally_uk]

So if we are relegated who do you think we will actually keep in the squad next season realistically? 

Players I think we will keep. 

Mara, Bree, Bazunu, Djenepo, Ely, Armstrong, Lyanco. 

And that's about it 😂😂😂

[jarhead5]

Bazunu

Livramento (only because of injury rebound), Bree, Perraud, Larios

Lyanco, Simeu

Diallo, S. Armstrong, Smallbone

Djenepo, Tella, Edozie

Armstrong, Mara

[Baird of the land]

bazanu & mccarthy

bree, perraud, Larios, livramento, Stephens, lyanco, Simeu, 

Diallo, smallbone, 

djenepo, edozie, 

a.armstrong, Mara, tall Paul 

You’d hope the club would have had some discussions with Sulemana considering we were bottom of the table before they spunked the huge transfer fee on him but this is saints, so we’ll probably be forced to loan him back to his old club.

My guess S.Armstrong will go back to Scotland. Tella will go to burnley. 

[kristian]

Bazunu; Bree, Champ CB, Simeu, Larios; Djenepo, Champ DM, Smallbone, Edozie(?); Ballard, Arma.

Expecting our obvious best players to go, but also Perraud, Diallo and Lyanco to return to the leagues we bought them from, Moi to leave with contract out, and Bednarek to be too prideful for a 2nd division.

Edited 8 February, 2023 by kristian

[woodsaint1]

In terms of players I think we can retain (although those I hope we move on are underlined)

Bazunu, McCarthy, Lis

Bree, Livramento, Perraud, Larios, DCC, Lyanco, Bednarek, Stephens, Simeu

Diallo, Smallbone, Alcaraz, Djenepo, Sulemana, Orsic, S Armstrong, Edozie, Aribo

Mara, Adams, Onuachu, A Armstrong, N'Lundulu

Likely we'll cash in on a selection of Salisu, ABK, KWP, Elyounoussi, Tella, JWP and Lavia.

Salisu (contract), Elyounoussi (contract) and Lavia (demand will be crazy) will definitely leave, but I think some we will be able to hold on to and some may surprise us and want to stay (JWP, ABK and Tella the most likely candidates).

Walcott and Caballero will be out of contract, and AMN will be driven back to London sharpish.

That being said, the retained list will depend on who the manager is and what SRs ambitions are. Theres absolutely no reason why the players above, with some good additions, cant return to the PL first go

[Mr Saints]

16 minutes ago, kristian said:

Bazunu; Bree, Champ CB, Simeu, Larios; Djenepo, Champ DM, Smallbone, Edozie(?); Ballard, Arma.

Expecting our obvious best players to go, but also Perraud, Diallo and Lyanco to return to the leagues we bought them from, Moi to leave with contract out, and Bednarek to be too prideful for a 2nd division.

That team isn’t good enough for League 1 let alone the championship!

[Give it to Ron]

Not sure that Moussa will be here there was interest in summer and January 

[Bad Wolf]

7 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

Not sure that Moussa will be here there was interest in summer and January 

Signed a new contract since then tbf

[Bad Wolf]

I honestly think most will stay. JWP isn't going to fetch the money we'll want for him. It's only KWP and Stu I think we'll lose. Maybe Perrued but I don't rate him much anyway. There may be some interest in Adams but that can only be good. We know Tella and AA can smash the Championship. I think we're in a much better position to come straight back up (or at least give it a damn good go) than we were last time.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

I reckon the vast majority will go. There will be plenty of Prem clubs circling like vultures. Adams, JWP, KWP, Bazunu, Lavia, Bednarek, all gone. The four signings who joined in Jan will all have get out clauses so they'll be sold. The likes of Djenepo, Diallo & Lyanco will go abroad. Edozie will go to a newly promoted side or a lower table prem team. Stu A back to Scotland or a newly promoted team. Bella, Salisu, & Ely will be off too.

The only players I see staying are the likes of McCarthy, Bree, Perraud, Adam Armstrong, Larios. Simeu and Smallbone will come back from loan. Small will come back and be sold as there seems to be interest in him. There will be a couple of new signings and the rest will be made up from youth players making the step up to the first team. 

[woodsaint1]

Absolutely no guarantees in the Championship. Really impressed with Sunderland tonight, a young team who seem to be on the way back.

We're like Sunderland 5/6 years ago. Repeatedly flirting with relegation before the inevitable happened. Lets hope we dont go the same way with the toxicity or appointments like Simon Grayson 😰

[LGTL]

It will look fucking horrible, I imagine. 

[Saint86]

With Jones, a likely worst case is:

                             Bazunu

Bree   Lyanco   Bednarak   DCC/ABK   Perraud

                        Diallo Alcaraz

Edozie/Ely                                            Tella/Djnepo

                       Adams/Onuchua

Possible rotations / inclusions for Adam and Stuart Armstrong, Orsic, Stephens, Tino (assuming he makes it back in a decent state), Walcott.

Given contracts, the need to generate revenue, and SR view on player ages - we can be fairly confident that KWP, Salisu, and Lavia will all be gone for certain. Can't imagiine that Sulemana will be sticking around but who knows. Whether JWP stays or not is up in the air. I don't know how long Janny B's contract has left, but you would imagine that we'll keep hold of 2 of Lyanco, ABK, and DCC? Perraud and Bree both adequate for the championship, as should Tino be (we'd hope - but no guarantee). I can't see us selling many of our other attackers - the one thing we do know is that Tella, Adams, Armstrong, and you'd think Onuchua - should all be pretty lethal in the championship...

Whilst that team is a spectacular fall from grace / drop in quality. You would fancy us to at least get playoffs with that team surely? Even with jones 😰

Edited 8 February, 2023 by Saint86

[SO16_Saint]

The squad is likely to be decimated IMO

[badgerx16]

33 minutes ago, Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd said:

The only players I see staying are the likes of McCarthy, Bree, Perraud, Adam Armstrong, Larios. Simeu and Smallbone will come back from loan. Small will come back and be sold as there seems to be interest in him. There will be a couple of new signings and the rest will be made up from youth players making the step up to the first team. 

Sounds too much like the Poortvliet situation.

[SNSUN]

In recent seasons, Sheffield United have kept Berge, Watford have kept Sarr, Fulham have kept Mitrovic - just because a team is relegated doesn't mean they can't keep their better players. That said, it's first dependant on whether the player is willing to stay to help fight the team back up and also whether another club really wants the player that they are going to push hard to get him. We aren't seemingly in a bad place financially (especially if there's talk of relocating the training ground and the fact we just spunked £60 million in the window) so we won't need to sell too many players to balance the books. 

Quite simply as soon as relegation is confirmed, I'd weedle out those who want out, get rid, and rebuild. As Burnley have showed (albeit with an excellent manager) it shouldn't be too difficult to rebuild the team with what we have left. Mind you we're Saints and we're likely to make a hash of it somehow!

It's too hard to say who would stay or go now IMO. I think we can safely say that McCarthy, Bree, Perraud, Larios, Diallo, Smallbone, Djenepo, Moi and AArmstrong will still be here, backed up by youngsters like Payne, Simeu, Finnigan, Dibling, Edwards and Ballard. Add a sprinkling of others that we may not sell (maybe Bazunu, Lyanco, DCC, Adams, Aribo, SArmstrong, Tella, Edozie, Orsic, Mara, Onuachu etc) and bar a few transfers in you probably have the squad. Definitely outs for me are JWP (unless he really wants to stay), KWP, Tino, Lavia, Sulemana and Alcaraz (I think the last two may shine over the last few games and get interest). If we only lose 6 jewels it could be worse...

[Give it to Ron]

9 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

Signed a new contract since then tbf

To ensure we get something for him

[Saint Garrett]

I wouldn’t rule out JWP staying if we got relegated. Thought might be more difficult in reality. Probably also depends on who comes in for him. 

[Dusic]

28 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

I wouldn’t rule out JWP staying if we got relegated. Thought might be more difficult in reality. Probably also depends on who comes in for him. 

JWP will clearly go, even if its on a season loan to see if we get straight back up.

But zero chance he is playing the Championship next season. He will be after Beckham's record, will fancy playing in a better team will get him more England caps and at least half the PL would be interested in signing him (and money isnt really an issue for many these days).

Overall though and judging by SR comments, they know the best chance to go straight back is to be strong and we will keep a few dexent players whilst probably adding others considering we will rake in easily £100m plus through sales. KWP, ABK and Lavia will probably get to that alone.

[Charlie Wayman]

Doubtful many will leave because of contract situations. Those out of contract and no longer part of our plans will be released eg Walcott & Elyonoussi  

Some who feel they have been badly treated will no doubt want to be away and we could lose S Armstrong & Djenepo and maybe Perraud in this way. 
 

I am not expecting a fire sale even if decent offers come in. SP seem to imply money will not be an issue. Offers most likely on Lavia, KWP & JWP but we don’t have to accept unless players refuse to carry on with us. 
 

The teams that bounce back seem to hold on to their best player’s, Jones is obviously a complicating factor. 

[Toussaint]

11 hours ago, Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd said:

I reckon the vast majority will go. There will be plenty of Prem clubs circling like vultures. Adams, JWP, KWP, Bazunu, Lavia, Bednarek, all gone. The four signings who joined in Jan will all have get out clauses so they'll be sold. The likes of Djenepo, Diallo & Lyanco will go abroad. Edozie will go to a newly promoted side or a lower table prem team. Stu A back to Scotland or a newly promoted team. Bella, Salisu, & Ely will be off too.

The only players I see staying are the likes of McCarthy, Bree, Perraud, Adam Armstrong, Larios. Simeu and Smallbone will come back from loan. Small will come back and be sold as there seems to be interest in him. There will be a couple of new signings and the rest will be made up from youth players making the step up to the first team. 

I think your spot on, even the lesser players will believe they are too good for the English championship, particularly those who come from overseas.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

11 hours ago, Saint86 said:

With Jones, a likely worst case is:

                             Bazunu

Bree   Lyanco   Bednarak   DCC/ABK   Perraud

                        Diallo Alcaraz

Edozie/Ely                                            Tella/Djnepo

                       Adams/Onuchua

Possible rotations / inclusions for Adam and Stuart Armstrong, Orsic, Stephens, Tino (assuming he makes it back in a decent state), Walcott.

Given contracts, the need to generate revenue, and SR view on player ages - we can be fairly confident that KWP, Salisu, and Lavia will all be gone for certain. Can't imagiine that Sulemana will be sticking around but who knows. Whether JWP stays or not is up in the air. I don't know how long Janny B's contract has left, but you would imagine that we'll keep hold of 2 of Lyanco, ABK, and DCC? Perraud and Bree both adequate for the championship, as should Tino be (we'd hope - but no guarantee). I can't see us selling many of our other attackers - the one thing we do know is that Tella, Adams, Armstrong, and you'd think Onuchua - should all be pretty lethal in the championship...

Whilst that team is a spectacular fall from grace / drop in quality. You would fancy us to at least get playoffs with that team surely? Even with jones 😰

Worst case?  I think that team looks very strong for the championship.

[FarehamSaintJames]

I don’t think JWP will leave at all. 
I think he’ll stay for the rest of his career now, I think if he was going to leave it would’ve been last summer or the one before.

[sfc4prem]

Agree with those who have said the following will leave: Lavia, KWP, Adams, Salisu, ABK. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

I think I said it on another thread the other day but I think JWP will stay.

Players that will go I think will be: Caleta-Car, Salisu, Bella-Kotchap, Lavia, possibly Stu Armstrong, Adams, Sulemana, Onuachu, Orsic, Walcott.

All through various reasons of high wages and final year of contract so need to maximise their value and sell on. Also bearing in mind some of these are international players too, they won’t be sticking around with their wages. Perraud and Diallo I think will leave too. 
Some will leave on loan too, again if they have high wages then teams might be reluctant playing a transfer fee.

We’ll be left with the kids and the deadwood: Bazunu, Lyanco, Edozie etc.

[S-Clarke]

Looking at this financially, I could see us sitting on £100m+ of incoming transfer fees if we do sell the 'desirables'.

KWP - still in contract until 2025, AT LEAST £20m I'd say - Spence went for 'up to' £24m, so he needs to be in and around that.

JWP - Still in contract until 2026, AT LEAST £40m I'd say.

Adams - Sought after by PL sides who already have a striker, only a year left on his deal so £10-15m I'd say.

ABK - In contract until 2026, we'd make a profit - at least £20m. Or he may feel it's better sitting for a year.

Salisu - We'd make a profit, but I think a min of 15-20m given he'd only have a year left.

Lavia - In contract until 2026 - shown himself to be a superstar, if Chelsea were willing to splurge £50m in the summer I think we'd get similar levels of bids. See if we can pocket the cash and get a loan back for the season.

That's ignoring potential sales of Stu, Orsic, Onachu, Sulamana, DCC etc - but alone the above gives us over £100m, plus all that saved in wages in players like Theo who leave. We 'should' have the scope with even half of that to build an incredibly exciting Championship team full of players who can grow and make the step up. That is in addition of us building around this summers recruits of Edozie, Bazunu, Larios, Mara, Alcaraz etc. 'Should' being the key word here, muck this summer up and we're toast for the foreseeable future.

Edited 9 February, 2023 by S-Clarke

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

Worst case?  I think that team looks very strong for the championship.

You think we'll see significantly more player turnover than that? From the fan's forum it sounded like the financial investment and backing was there, and a lot of our younger players will be on lower wages and long contracts - i.e. less pressure to sell. Whereas its a given that more established players nearing the ends of their contracts will be more likely to leave - clearing off higher wages and reducing the financial pressure to sell others due to transfer fee income and lower overall wages.

[Raging Bull]

I can’t really see a world where SR don’t follow the approach that Newcastle took when they were relegated. 
 

They kept hold of the spine of the team and went past 100 points on their way back up. If we don’t come back up immediately, I think we’ll be there a while. 

[Hodgey]

We’ve now got a squad that is far too big. Still got Tella (assume if Burnley go up they’ll buy him), Stephens, Smallbone, Simeu and a couple of others to return.

Agree with those mentioned and the £100m. The issue will be those on big wages nobody else wants - ie Stephens, McCarthy, Bednerak, Diallo, Aribo, Djenepo, Armstrong (A) etc. Can see the usual issue of finding them all a loan move each year until contracts run out.

If we want to go up automatically ironically we’ll probably still have the same issues we did start of this year - defensive midfielder, commanding centre back, experienced goalkeeper, competent striker, manager.
As I’ve said before though even with the cream sold there are a lot of good championship players here, and with money to spend we should have top quality managers at that level knocking on our door.

[beatlesaint]

I think we will be stuck with more dross than you would care to hope for.

 

[Mr Nimbus]

6 hours ago, Dusic said:

JWP will clearly go, even if its on a season loan to see if we get straight back up.

But zero chance he is playing the Championship next season. He will be after Beckham's record, will fancy playing in a better team will get him more England caps and at least half the PL would be interested in signing him (and money isnt really an issue for many these days).

Overall though and judging by SR comments, they know the best chance to go straight back is to be strong and we will keep a few dexent players whilst probably adding others considering we will rake in easily £100m plus through sales. KWP, ABK and Lavia will probably get to that alone.

I can see JWP going to a West Ham when they sell Rice in the summer

[santolijador]

Mara was attracting interest from France in January. I'd like to keep hold of him, but can see a mid to upper table Ligue 1 team going after him. Perhaps more likely is a loan. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

I think a lot of our high earners will only leave on loan as no one realistically I’d coming in to pay those sorts of figures.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

23 hours ago, Saint86 said:

You think we'll see significantly more player turnover than that? From the fan's forum it sounded like the financial investment and backing was there, and a lot of our younger players will be on lower wages and long contracts - i.e. less pressure to sell. Whereas its a given that more established players nearing the ends of their contracts will be more likely to leave - clearing off higher wages and reducing the financial pressure to sell others due to transfer fee income and lower overall wages.

I'm pretty sure any of the exceptional youngsters, including Tino, will go.  JWP and KWP will probably go.  And I expect players where there is likely to be demand but they're not valued that highly here (Adams, Perraud) will go.  

Think that leaves something like:

Bazanu

Bree DCC* 'New CB' Larios

               New DCM

        Ely                   Aribo

A.Armstrong           Orsic

             Tall Paul

*assuming Jones goes

[Whitey Grandad]

I'm probably more concerned about what the season tickets will cost.

[Jimbo]

We have a massive squad of largely championship calibre players.

The good or saleable ones will go (JWP, KWP, ABK, Salisu, Lavia, Tino, Perraud, Tella etc). 

Maybe a couple of loans out of high earning recent signings who inevitably turn out to be crap (Tall Paul, Sulemeena) or don't want to be here (Bednarek)

Doubt we will make many new signings, maybe a few loans from prem teams.

The nucleus of the team will be those already here. People like Stephens, Ely, Lyanco, Aribo, A Armstrong, Adams, Bree etc will find their level and will be important first team players in the championship.

A few of the youngsters might also benefit from being in the championships (Edozie, Larios etc). Smallbone might also get a run out.

 

Team will be something like:

Baz

Bree, Stephens, Lyanco, Larios,

Djenepo Diallo, Smallbone, Orsic

Armstrong, Adams

 

Play McCarthy, and its probably a half-decent championship team. CM looks a bit weak.

 

[Archers Road Stand]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I'm probably more concerned about what the season tickets will cost.

Same price probably. Club will say you get more games for your money. 

[nta786]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I'm probably more concerned about what the season tickets will cost.

It will be same price I reckon, with club saying technically it will be cheaper per game as we get 23 rather than 19 fixtures.

There will be 0 need for a membership now though, would expect around 18-20 of the 23 away games to make general sale.

[Bailey]

I am amazed at how many people are underestimating the Championship. If we start next season with some of these suggested squads/lineups, there is zero chance of an immediate return to the Premier League.

 

 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, Archers Road Stand said:

Same price probably. Club will say you get more games for your money. 

 

3 hours ago, nta786 said:

It will be same price I reckon, with club saying technically it will be cheaper per game as we get 23 rather than 19 fixtures.

There will be 0 need for a membership now though, would expect around 18-20 of the 23 away games to make general sale.

If that turns out to be the case then I shall probably drop the season tickets and operate on Pay As You Go.

[woodsaint1]

4 hours ago, Bailey said:

I am amazed at how many people are underestimating the Championship. If we start next season with some of these suggested squads/lineups, there is zero chance of an immediate return to the Premier League.

 

 

 

We arent going to start the season with some of the suggested lineups though. Its all guesswork at this stage. There will be sales no doubt, some of the players we expect to go will stay, but most importantly there will be new additions.

Burnley kept a core of its PL team with the likes of J Rod, Barnes, Brownhill, Gudmundsson, Cork, Taylor etc, but have recruited well with some astute loans (Tella, Maatsen, Beyer) and permanent signings (Bastien, Zaroury, Benson).

We'll almost certainly have a new manager in place too

[Jimbo]

We might raise significant funds in player sales, but having spent £140m in the last two windows, plus with the inevitable drop in income, I am sceptical there will be significant money reinvested in the squad.

[SotonianWill]

I believe JWP will give us one season or at least till January to have a promotion push, lavia abk kwp tino to go. we’ll have a strikeforce on paper with about 60 goals in the championship previously, however they are still terrible at hitting the target. we’ll be forced to sell all the players we just brought in, thankfully as the likes of orsic if believed are on 80,000 a week (not adjusted for relegation reduction) we’ll sign a bunch of kids again which won’t be too bad to replace them. I hope tella stays. in all likelyhood these players who do stay, the supposed best young players in europe, their ability should kick in eventually and we smash the league, right?!

 

 

prediction if jones is manager well have michael keane at cb with lyanco, full backs will be perraud and bree. midfield JWP, Diallio (lol) and young player. AA on the left, tella right and up front che can’t hit a barn door adams. 12th

Edited 11 February, 2023 by SotonianWill

[Archers Road Stand]

Personally I see no reason why we won't have a budget that should see us having a strong chance of bouncing back, the club have said the backing will still be there and add to that the parachute payments which give the relegated teams an unfair advantage over the rest of the league. Bournemouth were still able to pay the likes of Lerma a rumoured £80,000 a week while they were down there and as someone else has said, other clubs have kept hold of their players on PL wages such as Sarr and Berge. 

Obviously some players will leave and we'd be in a good position to fetch good transfer fees for most of them. JWP/Lavia/KWP/ABK/Salisu are certainties to leave I think. Adams, Bednarek, Perraud are ones people may take a punt on but none of those are PL quality players imo. 

The real problems will start if we don't bounce back within two years but if the club are smart about it, it could be a good reset for the club. The fact is, I don't see us sorting put the losing mentality around St. Mary's while we're in the Premier League. Our home form has been shocking for far too long, going down could give us the chance to turn the ground into a fortress again. 

Obviously all this goes out the window if Jones is still manager come August. 

[Baird of the land]

Just can't see Sulemana turning out in Championship. At best we'll get loan him out and get him back back if we someone sort out the mess of a first team and get promoted. At worst we'll get rinsed for a transfer fee.

[sledger]

On 10/02/2023 at 14:15, Jimbo said:

We have a massive squad of largely championship calibre players.

The good or saleable ones will go (JWP, KWP, ABK, Salisu, Lavia, Tino, Perraud, Tella etc). 

Maybe a couple of loans out of high earning recent signings who inevitably turn out to be crap (Tall Paul, Sulemeena) or don't want to be here (Bednarek)

Doubt we will make many new signings, maybe a few loans from prem teams.

The nucleus of the team will be those already here. People like Stephens, Ely, Lyanco, Aribo, A Armstrong, Adams, Bree etc will find their level and will be important first team players in the championship.

A few of the youngsters might also benefit from being in the championships (Edozie, Larios etc). Smallbone might also get a run out.

 

Team will be something like:

Baz

Bree, Stephens, Lyanco, Larios,

Djenepo Diallo, Smallbone, Orsic

Armstrong, Adams

 

Play McCarthy, and its probably a half-decent championship team. CM looks a bit weak.

if you think that team of physically weak midgets will compete in the championship youre out of youre mind

 

[Jimbo]

56 minutes ago, sledger said:

 

Didn’t say they’d compete, said half-decent.

the championship is a very average league.  Armstrong scored about 25-30 goals in a season for Blackburn for example…

[SaintsFan86]

We'd get a hefty loan fee for Sulemana plus wages paid, if we go up then we can use him if not then we'd sell him.

[Chewy]

I think we’d end up looking fine to be honest.

In terms of outgoings you look at who is out of contract this year: Wily, AMN, Ely & Walcott (& Watts if you want to count him). Wages saved and basically no impact to the team. Only extensions wanted would be youngsters, certainly Finnigan, Turner & Pearce. No real loss though if any choose not to sign.

Next look at 2024 contracts who you need to sell this summer if you want any sensible fee. Apart from Salisu, there’s a load of players who are all not very good so I’d happily cash in on any: McCarthy, Vokins, Stephens, Diallo, Chauke, Smallbone, S Armstrong, Olaigbe, Adams and Nlundulu. 
Possibly add Simeu and Small to that as youngsters we may want to extend?
We’d miss McCarthy, Diallo and Armstrong from the squad but not necessarily 1st team. Loads of cash and saved wages again.

Only 2024 youth players we’d be desperate to extend are Doyle and Ballard.

That then leaves players were under no pressure to sell for contract lengths, but I’d suggest some will want to go, and of course some we might want rid of.

Based on rumours and common sense, KWP, Djenepo, Tella, Mara, JWP and Lavia would surely have suitors. Probably ABK too, possibly not Tino due to injury question marks. We’d cope without KWP, but would miss Lavia and JWP. 
I’d then happily see Perraud, Lyanco, Bednarek and Aribo go.

I’ve no idea on the newer players but given when we signed them (I.e. a couple of weeks when we looked relegation favourites anyway) would hope they’d be kept.

Loads out and I’d suggest we’d be: fine in goal, right back, and am, ok but short of cover cb, cm and cf and need a left back and dm. 
That said, I think we need a left back anyway, and Lavia won’t stay long whatever league we’re in. We probably would be fine at cb as we wouldn’t be lucky enough to sell all of Jan, Lyanco and Stephens.

So we’d have

Bazunu, Liz

Simeu, DCC, ABK (poss?)

Bree, Tino 

Larios, Small

no one

Alcaraz

A Armstrong, Orsic, Edozie, Sulemane 

Onuachu

Plus Ballard, Doyle and maybe another youngster or two.
Financially that leaves us not bad, and the team quality looks pretty competitive for the championship (except left back) but clearly lacking depth. Obvious issue is midfield but I imagine we’d have some available cash to spend if we sold all of the above.

If we could somehow keep Lavia for another season I reckon we’d be very good in that league.

One other plus point IMHO and I know it won’t be universally popular, but I’d happily end our relationship with JWP. Great servant, amazing free kicks but over-rated in open play and a dreadful captain. Since he’s been our ‘leader’ our team has been woefully short of guts, spine, balls - whatever you want to call it - and it stems from him on the pitch. He’s also pretty thick at times when it comes to game management.

We need a new captain to break the losing and frankly gutless cycle we are in. We would miss him, but he’d be near the top of my list to sell to help the reset.

 

[Chez]

On 09/02/2023 at 13:37, beatlesaint said:

I think we will be stuck with more dross than you would care to hope for.

 

when we went down in 2005 we only had Crouch that anyone really wanted. We sold a few others Niemi/SKP for buttons, but there wasn't exactly a mad rush to take McCann, Van Damme and Jakobsson off our hands. The same will apply with the 2023 vintage. We have a couple of gems, Lavia is the right mix of youth and ability, but the idea that Prem sides will rush to buy loads of our players is wishful thinking and the other leagues can't afford to pay the likes of Djenepo £60k a week or whatever. We are going to be stuck with a lot of these guys. Expect lots of loans with us paying half the wages. The parachute payments wont cover all the remaining wages and the debt is going to rise very quickly.