How impressed are you with BMcD's return to the club?

[KC Royal]

Not sure if anyone saw it, but great interview with Brian in yesterday's Football League Paper.

[leon]

Str8 back on here shortly after I replied. As if you were w8ing in anticipation for the response! I hope you weren't though, were you?

Browsing the ol' forum, notification pops up, i check it out. How this works m8, don't stress - I'm not going to rock up at a pub you've said you drink in and then rush on here and keep asking you over and over if it was you sat drinking in the back garden!

Sorry it's taken me until now to reply. Bet you've been anxiously w8ing all day.

you so want to fcuk him, it's crazy

[Sanguine]

My concern is next season - we lose Hector, Piazon, John and Vydra in the summer, Blackman has gone, Sa has gone.
I look at what's left an in terms of our attack, it's Quinn and Rakels, and then pretty much 'as you were' for Brian - McCleary, HRK, Danny Williams and Simon Cox.

Brian doesn't worry me - we know he is a good manager at this level. But unless he has a storming summer transfer window, I don't see much hope for 2016-17.

[bobby1413]

I don't see much hope for 2016-17.

Especially if the likes of Newcastle/Sunderland/West Brom go down who are stronger teams and have more pull on players. Likely to bounce back up

[genome]

My concern is next season - we lose Hector, Piazon, John and Vydra in the summer, Blackman has gone, Sa has gone.
I look at what's left an in terms of our attack, it's Quinn and Rakels, and then pretty much 'as you were' for Brian - McCleary, HRK, Danny Williams and Simon Cox.

Brian doesn't worry me - we know he is a good manager at this level. But unless he has a storming summer transfer window, I don't see much hope for 2016-17.

What happened to Kermorgant?

[Slater1993]

My concern is next season - we lose Hector, Piazon, John and Vydra in the summer, Blackman has gone, Sa has gone.
I look at what's left an in terms of our attack, it's Quinn and Rakels, and then pretty much 'as you were' for Brian - McCleary, HRK, Danny Williams and Simon Cox.

Brian doesn't worry me - we know he is a good manager at this level. But unless he has a storming summer transfer window, I don't see much hope for 2016-17.

Maybe we should be building for next year now then.

If HRK, Ferdinand, Taylor, John, Piazon, Vydra, Hector and Fernandez all leave we left with:

Al Habsi, Bond, Gunter, Obita, McsShane, Cooper, Evans, Tshibola, Quinn, Norwood, Williams, McCleary, Hurtado, Kermorgant, Rakels and Cox.

With the likes of Samuel, Fosu, Stacey, Keown, Long, Kuhl and Liburd who are most likely to push for first team.

[Sanguine]

My concern is next season - we lose Hector, Piazon, John and Vydra in the summer, Blackman has gone, Sa has gone.
I look at what's left an in terms of our attack, it's Quinn and Rakels, and then pretty much 'as you were' for Brian - McCleary, HRK, Danny Williams and Simon Cox.

Brian doesn't worry me - we know he is a good manager at this level. But unless he has a storming summer transfer window, I don't see much hope for 2016-17.

What happened to Kermorgant?

Just a personal view that he's going to be a bit of a Jason Roberts signing, without the good first 18 months. Not really a player for our future, and not in the attacking mould of the players signed by Clarke and/or our loanees.

[Sanguine]

*I forgot Hurtado hadn't left, tbf. At least that's another option, although I'm not sure his loan back to Portugal is going to help much with acclimatising to England. He's a strange one, has just hardly featured, he must have been shite in training.

[genome]

What happened to Kermorgant?

Just a personal view that he's going to be a bit of a Jason Roberts signing, without the good first 18 months. Not really a player for our future, and not in the attacking mould of the players signed by Clarke and/or our loanees.

Fair fooks, personally I've seen enough of him to think he has legs for the length of his contract, unlike Roberts. If he plays like he did on Saturday regularly, then he'll be better than JR.

[Maneki Neko]

Not sure if anyone saw it, but great interview with Brian in yesterday's Football League Paper.

wotitsay?

[Ian Royal]

I'd say we've a fair chance of signing Taylor and John on perms, plus reloaning Hector.

I don't think we need Fernandez. Hurtado is a bust. Vydra is a loss admittedly. Piazon is a bit of a luxury.

Al-Habsi, Bond
Gunter, Keown
Obita, Taylor
McShane, Ferdinand,
Cooper
Norwood, Kuhl
Tshibola, Evans
Quinn
McCleary, Stacey
John, Fosu
Kermorgant, Rakels, Samuel

That's not an awful place to start from. Light a centre back and midfielder fosho, but that's with just 2 loanees returning. Obviously a little light up top and not much depth on the wings, but they've all played for the first team, so doesn't include the likes of Sweeney, Dickie, Hyam, Fridge, Husinetc from the Academy.

[genome]

How realistic is signing John? I'd love him

[Ian Royal]

How realistic is signing John? I'd love him

Not really done it at Benfica, you'd have to hope there was a chance for perm deals on most our loans (Hector and Piazon obvious exceptions). Not set the world alight here but done enough to make us interested.

I don't see the point if we've got no hope of a perm deal.

[No Fixed Abode]

Who brought Ola John in? Clarke?

[Snowball136]

I have a sneaky feeling McD is happy to let Norwood go, and we may lose Williams and HRK

The first because we brought in the similar-playing Evans (on lower wages and lots of improvement to come)
and even though Norwood has said he'd like to extend his contract we haven't had an answer from above
(unless I missed it)

Will be surprised to see HRK re-sign. He's presumably had an offer which means a drop in money
so is holding out hoping for what he is getting now or similar with a signing-on fee.

I think we are "open to offers" on Williams. He has many plusses
but he doesn't contribute to "solidity". I think Mcd wants solid,
hard-to-beat sides that pinch goals. Imagine this side (without Williams) with a
30-goal-a-season striker.

[Ian Royal]

I have a sneaky feeling McD is happy to let Norwood go, and we may lose Williams and HRK

The first because we brought in the similar-playing Evans (on lower wages and lots of improvement to come)
and even though Norwood has said he'd like to extend his contract we haven't had an answer from above
(unless I missed it)

Will be surprised to see HRK re-sign. He's presumably had an offer which means a drop in money
so is holding out hoping for what he is getting now or similar with a signing-on fee.

I think we are "open to offers" on Williams. He has many plusses
but he doesn't contribute to "solidity". I think Mcd wants solid,
hard-to-beat sides that pinch goals. Imagine this side (without Williams) with a
30-goal-a-season striker.

I think it'd be a major mistake to let our PotS so far go. It doesn't fit McDermott's previously stated desire to keep his best players. Or the way we've played under him the majority of his time back here. It would be a sign of a backwards regression towards what went wrong under him last time.
Williams is probably our best value player right now, as always I think we'll consider any good offers and put them to him.
If both of them go (plus Fernandez who's not getting a sniff and on loan) that leaves Tish (injured) Evans (new), Quinn and... er... Kuhl? We'd need at absolute least one new midfielder just to play 4-4-2, which isn't our current system and wouldn't suit Kuhl.

[tidus_mi2]

With regards to John, on Football Manager he had an agreed fee of £4.3m, might or might not be the accurate figure because, well it's a video game.

[CountryRoyal]

With regards to John, on Football Manager he had an agreed fee of £4.3m, might or might not be the accurate figure because, well it's a video game.

'Kin ell. No wonder you're posts are illogical and clueless if you get all your knowledge from FM.

[genome]

What's your beef with tidus

[tidus_mi2]

With regards to John, on Football Manager he had an agreed fee of £4.3m, might or might not be the accurate figure because, well it's a video game.

'Kin ell. No wonder you're posts are illogical and clueless if you get all your knowledge from FM.

I already did suggest it wouldn't be trustworthy since it's a video game but Football Manager is a well researched game, so it will be more accurate than you may realise.