Summer Rebuild

[Baggie192]

Ok for the Summer Rebuild what kind of budget will Clarke have?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

He'll have to sell to buy and there won't be lots of cash to spend. Tricky part is actually getting rid of a lot of them.....

[tidus_mi2]

He'll have to sell to buy and there won't be lots of cash to spend. Tricky part is actually getting rid of a lot of them.....

Not necessarily true, I believe the overall losses we can make under FFP is going up next season, it just needs more owner investment so it will all come done to whether the Thais want to cover the costs of the rebuild.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I just hope he can shift as many of the current mob as possible. Cheerio you won't be missed!

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I am staggered that Blackman and Akpan are contracted until summer 2016. Why the hell would you get promoted into the PL & then sign players from League 1 on 3.5 year deals?

Just complete fcuking madness. If we're to shift any of these players we're going to have to subsidise their wages to move them on. Bet they are earning more than the likes of Cox, Norwood etc.

Whoever put those deals together needs shooting.

[Baggie192]

He'll have to sell to buy and there won't be lots of cash to spend. Tricky part is actually getting rid of a lot of them.....

Really I didn't think you were that hard up! This is going to sound like a troll, it Isn't. The question should asked be should Clarke be the one to do it? His first Year he added Lukaku to an already settled Roy Hodgson side The Odemwingie saga destroyed that thought blame has to shared between club and player. His second Summer window was a shambles. Has he faced these types of constrates before? well no becuse he was in the prem and given close to £14m and final say on which players to bring in

[MmmMonsterMunch]

He'll have to sell to buy and there won't be lots of cash to spend. Tricky part is actually getting rid of a lot of them.....

Really I didn't think you were that hard up! This is going to sound like a troll, it Isn't. The question should asked should Clarke be the one to do it? His first Year he added Lukaku to an already settled Roy Hodgson side The Odemwingie saga destroyed that thought blame has to shared between club and player. His second Summer window was a shambles. Has he faced these types of constrates before? well no becuse he was in the prem and given close to £14m and final say on which players to bring in

People are annoyed on here because of the appalling league results....which I can understand. But to be frank, Clarke has inherited a squad of pathetic, weak and overpaid 'footballers'. The transfer dealings this club have done over the past 3 seasons have been to a man, diabolical.

We are hard up. We have a load of bang average players on stupid money - none of which are going to leave any time soon because no other club is insane enough to pay them. We are starting to weed them out but a lot of them are contracted until 2016. I fear next season will also be a tough one but I'm actually optimistic Clarke can improve the squad. If he has to do it with loanees until we get rid of the mercenaries in a year's time then so be it.

[Baggie192]

He'll have to sell to buy and there won't be lots of cash to spend. Tricky part is actually getting rid of a lot of them.....

Really I didn't think you were that hard up! This is going to sound like a troll, it Isn't. The question should asked should Clarke be the one to do it? His first Year he added Lukaku to an already settled Roy Hodgson side The Odemwingie saga destroyed that thought blame has to shared between club and player. His second Summer window was a shambles. Has he faced these types of constrates before? well no becuse he was in the prem and given close to £14m and final say on which players to bring in

People are annoyed on here because of the appalling league results....which I can understand. But to be frank, Clarke has inherited a squad of pathetic, weak and overpaid 'footballers'. The transfer dealings this club have done over the past 3 seasons have been to a man, diabolical.

We are hard up. We have a load of bang average players on stupid money - none of which are going to leave any time soon because no other club is insane enough to pay them. We are starting to weed them out but a lot of them are contracted until 2016. I fear next season will also be a tough one but I'm actually optimistic Clarke can improve the squad. If he has to do it with loanees until we get rid of the mercenaries in a year's time then so be it.

I admire you're optimism mate Thing most qouted about Clarke is he took WBA to it's highest prem finish 8th. That's all true but it was with Roy Hodgson's settled team and Chelsea loanee primed to make a point. A year later our 2 main goalscorers and playmakers were gone not to be replaced meaning not only had a source of 35 prem goals gone. We'd have to play a different formation that didn't suit our aging midfield neglected. because he wanted to reform Chelsea circa 2008. Maybe he'll be decent at yours

[Ian Royal]

I am staggered that Blackman and Akpan are contracted until summer 2016. Why the hell would you get promoted into the PL & then sign players from League 1 on 3.5 year deals?

Just complete fcuking madness. If we're to shift any of these players we're going to have to subsidise their wages to move them on. Bet they are earning more than the likes of Cox, Norwood etc.

Whoever put those deals together needs shooting.

Well I'm pretty sure Anton wasn't behind those two... not really his style to sign lower league nobodies. And I believe Coppell gave Akpan a recommendation for us. So unfortunately for sandman's hero worship it has the hallmark of a McDermott clanger. Aided by Hammond, if I was writing the DoF job spec, though choosing the length of contracts wouldn't be their decision, input definitely.

[Lower West]

Both Ferguson and Wenger have said that 3 major signings in a transfer window is enough. Otherwise the chemistry of the team is unbalanced. With Jem back. Hector improving. Cooper and Stacey in the wings. Samuel scoring 6 in 11 appearances whilst on loan at Coventry. The key is going to be finding the right transfer targets not how many.

Neither Akpan nor Blackman appear to be good enough to make the grade. Given they are 26 and 24 respectively.

ANDRIJA NOVAKOVICH - anybody see him play in the reserves?

[SCIAG]

People are annoyed on here because of the appalling league results....which I can understand. But to be frank, Clarke has inherited a squad of pathetic, weak and overpaid 'footballers'. The transfer dealings this club have done over the past 3 seasons have been to a man, diabolical.

This is an exaggeration.

Pogrebnyak, Guthrie - no major complaints about performances, only wages and availability. Both have won Player of the Month awards. Pog still a first teamer.
McCleary - free transfer, still a first teamer
Mariappa - first teamer, made our money back
Shorey - free transfer, very good, dropped when at risk of triggering an extension
Gunter - crap in PL, now a first teamer, second in POTS voting last year
Kelly- first teamer upon arrival, very good performer in the PL. Overshadowed by Gunter of late but still reliable.
Carrico - Sevilla first teamer, Europa League winner whilst contracted to us, made a profit, two good matches (!)
Blackman, Akpan - bad, overpriced
Drenthe - overpaid, unfit, attitude problems.
Williams - first teamer
Bridge - first teamer. Freak injury.
Baird - good, but not around long enough
Sharp - meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh
Cox - first teamer under Adkins, top scorer
Mackie - first teamer, second in POTS voting
Norwood - first teamer under Adkins, favourite for POTS under Clarke arrived
Murray - first teamer, top scorer
Ferdinand - injured
Yakubu - rubbish
Knight - rubbish, but not supposed to be good
Appiah - rubbish
Travener - rubbish
Ake - meeeeeeeeeeh
Chalobah - inconsistent but very good when needed, first teamer

Overall I'd say that's alright, we've just had most of the huge flops skewed towards Clarke's reign so it feels worse than it is. Certainly at the end of Adkins' reign people were saying "our only good players are Adkins signings", and most of our signings have been far from "diabolical".

[MmmMonsterMunch]

That list is pretty depressing. I would genuinely sell the lot (that are under contract still) bar perhaps McCleary.

[Silver Fox]

Ok for the Summer Rebuild what kind of budget will Clarke have?

Nobody knows, although several will claim they do

[Sidindaclub]

That list is pretty depressing. I would genuinely sell the lot (that are under contract still) bar perhaps McCleary.

Agree that list of names is pretty piss poor. Not much excitement there. Would say the only other player apart from McCleary I'm glad we signed is Gunter. He's a good consistent performer for us

[RG7Fan]

How quickly do people reckon it will be before players being released will be announced - thought it was pretty much the monday after the end of the season last year?

[JIM]

POD looks like he has competition if GET READING reports are true, another non scoring CF is being lined up for Royals to pay. With a history of 1 goal in 4 years with MU, he looks a cert to play a big roll in our next season relegation attempt .

Disregard this item I got caught

[Forbury Lion]

The Thai's may be convinced to invest - better to spend now to protect their championship investment than to do so in league 1 when the club has offloaded the high earners.

I imagine we will be signing first team players only - a striker or two being the priority, They don't have to be big name signings or top scorers, just capable of getting 20 goals between then will be a big improvement and a start.

The likes of the Pog, if we can get someone to take him for free on half his current wages, paying him the other half for not being here may actually free up enough cash to cover the salaries of two additional strikers better suited to our style of play.

[Lacoste]

Baggie, would you trust him to build a to re-build a team for you?

This is actually horrific. It's like watching a car that's about to smash into the one in front because the driver isn't looking. You just know it's going to happen and they seem oblivious. This really is like predicting the future and I just know Clarke is going to mess this up.

He will spend what little money we have on total dross which will leave the new owners reluctant to spend in the future.

Clarke bangs on about us not having an end product yet he conveniently forgets that we are also conceding silly goals and have kept very few clean sheets during his tenure. Ok we're not getting smashed by six anymore but have things really improved that much.

I'm usually very optimistic about new managers but this guy will fail 100% and it's so clear.

[SCIAG]

Baggie, would you trust him to build a to re-build a team for you?

This is actually horrific. It's like watching a car that's about to smash into the one in front because the driver isn't looking. You just know it's going to happen and they seem oblivious. This really is like predicting the future and I just know Clarke is going to mess this up.

He will spend what little money we have on total dross which will leave the new owners reluctant to spend in the future.

Clarke bangs on about us not having an end product yet he conveniently forgets that we are also conceding silly goals and have kept very few clean sheets during his tenure. Ok we're not getting smashed by six anymore but have things really improved that much.

I'm usually very optimistic about new managers but this guy will fail 100% and it's so clear.

Quoted for posterity.

[ZacNaloen]

Defenses under pressure in teams that can't score concede silly goals shocker