Ghost of Clough

Is that so unreasonable? Over a month to go until our first league game so plenty of time to strengthen. Even with just 4 loans and 2 free the squad looks completely different.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: Free, JBrown/Solomon/Cashin
CB: Mengi, Davies
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, Loan
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, Free
LW: Lawrence, Loan
CF: Loan, Kazim, Stretton
 
Roos and Marshall have both proven to be enough for the Championship.
We don't need a 4th senior CB, as we should be recruiting players who aren't injury prone (we've made that mistake too many times). This means JBrown/Cashin/Solomon's game time is limited to just a few late subs, or emergency cover if Davies picks up an injury. This position can be re-evaluated in January.
Full backs are fine, as Byrne and Buchanan have so far shown themselves to be fairly robust, meaning Forsyth and Ebosele/McDonald will only be needed for the odd game here and there during periods of fixture congestion.
Bird, Knight, Shinnie, Sibley and A.N.Other is enough to cover the 3 CM positions. This can also be re-evaluated in January depending on the recovery of Bielik and progression of Watson (or other U23)
4 wingers is obviously enough in this league.
3 CFs is enough for 1 position. The signing would expect to be a regular, with Kazim and Stretton providing good backup.
We should not be making signings for the unfortunate event of an injury. We've done that in the past and it led to a bloated wage bill, full of players we couldn't get rid of.

Is that so unreasonable? Over a month to go until our first league game so plenty of time to strengthen. Even with just 4 loans and 2 free the squad looks completely different.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: Free, JBrown/Solomon/Cashin
CB: Mengi, Davies
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, Loan
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, Free
LW: Lawrence, Loan
CF: Loan, Kazim, Stretton
 
Roos and Marshall have both proven to be enough for the Championship.
We don't need a 4th senior CB, as we should be recruiting players who aren't injury prone (we've made that mistake too many times). This means JBrown/Cashin/Solomon's game time is limited to just a few late subs, or emergency cover if Davies picks up an injury. This position can be re-evaluated in January.
Full backs are fine, as Byrne and Buchanan have so far shown themselves to be fairly robust, meaning Forsyth and Ebosele/McDonald will only be needed for the odd game here and there during periods of fixture congestion.
Bird, Knight, Shinnie, Sibley and A.N.Other is enough to cover the 3 CM positions. This can also be re-evaluated in January depending on the recovery of Bielik and progression of Watson (or other U23)
4 wingers is obviously enough in this league.
3 CFs is enough for 1 position. The signing would expect to be a regular, with Kazim and Stretton providing good backup.
We should not be making signings for the unfortunate event of an injury. We've done that in the past and it led to a bloated wage bill, full of players we couldn't get rid of.

Is that so unreasonable? Over a month to go until our first league game so plenty of time to strengthen. Even with just 4 loans and 2 free the squad looks completely different.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: Free, JBrown/Solomon/Cashin
CB: Mengi, Davies
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, Loan
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, Free
LW: Lawrence, Loan
CF: Loan, Kazim, Stretton
 
Roos and Marshall have both proven to be enough for the Championship.
We don't need a 4th senior CB, as we should be recruiting players who aren't injury prone (we've made that mistake too many times). This means JBrown/Cashin/Solomon's game time is limited to just a few late subs, or emergency cover if Davies picks up an injury. This position can be re-evaluated in January.
Full backs are fine, as Byrne and Buchanan have so far shown themselves to be fairly robust, meaning Forsyth and Ebosele/McDonald will only be needed for the odd game here and there during periods of fixture congestion.
Bird, Knight, Shinnie, Sibley and A.N.Other is enough to cover the 3 CM positions. This can also be re-evaluated in January depending on the recovery of Bielik and progression of Watson (or other U23)
4 wingers is obviously enough in this league.
3 CFs is enough for 1 position. The signing would expect to be a regular, with Kazim and Stretton providing good backup.
We should not be making signings for the unfortunate event of an injury. We've done that in the past and it led to a bloated wage bill, full of players we couldn't get rid of.

The weird thing is, going into last season, I thought we were a striker short of being a very good squad.  We'd kicked on under Cocu from when Rooney arrived, we'd addressed most of the major needs in the squad (with Matt Clarke back, Jozwiak and Marshall), we'd sold an asset but replaced him for a fraction of the cost (Byrne for Bogle) and so on.  Obviously things didn't pan out that way. 
This season, if you look at who we've lost compared to last season, it's only really Matt Clarke (who was excellent again) and Waghorn (who was poor for most of the season).  We've lost quite a few warm bodies - Gregory scored a few, Roberts showed the odd flash, bits and bobs from Menghi etc.  But bar Clarke, is there anyone that we've lost that will *really* be missed?
Obviously we're not in a good position at all, but there's plenty of reasons to think it can be turned around.  We desperately need a striker and 2 central defenders, but beyond that, the first XI isn't too bad.  Marshall/Roos, Byrne, Shinnie, Lawrence and CKR are still decent championship players. Jozwiak has had a decent Euros and should hopefully either be more settled and kick on, or be sold for a decent amount.  We should hopefully have Bielik for more of the season than last. Lawrence missed a lot of games last season too, he was missed. Knight, Bird, Buchanan have all got another year of championship football under their belts. Sibley started to establish himself back in the team towards the end of the season. McDonald, Ebosele, Watson etc have started to get first team football.  It's reasonable to think we can get 3 or 4 loans in relatively easily. With Rooney's name and a guarantee of first team football, I suspect we'll have a fair few top-end prem youngsters here.  And given the state of the transfer market, there are going to be a lot of players around on free transfers, so we can pick up a bunch more experienced warm bodies, if we need to.  
I'm not trying to gloss over the state of the squad, but it's not an unfixable problem.

Errr no not really, you edited your version to make it have a different meaning.
Why is it delusional, 7 weeks (?) from the transfer window shutting to say what he did?! Why are you panicking?

It's plainly obvious that the squad in it's current state will be relegated on points by Christmas, but that same squad with perhaps 3 players in the right positions and quality should be more than enough to be mid table. Add in the return of a hopefully fully functioning Bielik and we'll be more than safe in my opinion. Injuries with such a small squad would be a problem though.

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

This is how I'm expecting the squad to look for the coming season.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: CB, CB, Davies, Solomon/Cashin/JBrown
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, CM
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, RW
LW: Lawrence, LW
CF: CF, Kazim, Stretton
If we sign more than that, then we've either been taken over or sold someone.
Depending on who those 6 signings are, I'd be quite happy with that.

Ticket sorted for weds.. Block 115. Can’t wait..

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

I think poor tactics and squad selection were the main drivers for not achieving more.
Hargreaves should have been a regular in that team rather than shoehorning two attacking players into CM. Injuries to key players also didn't help - Neville, Rooney, Owen injured at one stage or another.
First XI: Robinson, Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, Rooney, Owen
Backup: James, Hargreaves, Carragher, Campbell, Bridge, Lennon, Jenas, Carrick, Downing, Crouch, Walcott, Carson
That first XI, with the exception of Robinson, was world class. The backups admittedly weren't great, but Campbell, Hargreaves, Carrick and Crouch offered very good cover.
However, there were two obvious errors with squad selection given we wanted to play 442 - RB and CF.
We didn't need to take 3 backup CMs at the expense of a RB when playing 442. Neville got injured in the first game resulting in Carragher filling in at RB for a couple and Hargreaves for two as well.
With Rooney being injured from the start and Owen injury prone, why didn't we have a better 4th choice than Walcott? Bent scored 18 in that PL season (top English goal scorer). Harewood had a good season and was 4th top English scorer (behind Rooney and Lampard). There was also Beattie and Defoe as possible options..

The season doesn't start for another 5 weeks. When Lampard joined we didn't make any key signings until the latter parts of July.

Fully understand what you're saying but plenty of other clubs still haven't signed anyone and it seems like a takeover isnt too far off so could mean we're shopping in a different market than we would be currently.
Wouldn't it be worth waiting 2 weeks to get target 'A' rather than going out and getting target 'B' or 'C' just because we need numbers. If in 2 weeks we havent got taken over then thats when you move on. Yes there is 4 weeks until the season starts on Aug 7th but there is 8 weeks of the transfer window left.

"We have a core of senior players and extremely talented academy players." = We have the basis of a team for the season 
"That is enough to operate with and we have a plan for the rest of the window" = we will make signings
"We are not rushing to fill the squad for next week. We have a clear plan ready" = we will not panic and make signings for the sake of having the numbers immediately.
 
I'm not sure how you can read that and think we won't make any signings.

I was thinking
                                                              MackworthRam
              Coconut         B4ev6is         i-ram            Nottsram77
                                                  Shinnie  SDSR 
                                      Islandexile    JimboRam Sage
                                                    CKR

I think it means its more a good basis to start from, clearly holding the academy players in high regard.
Good to see about the loans owed situation, players are fully paid & the accounts delay with Companies House had been agreed.
Just nice to have abit of an update and clarification.

Duncan will only play if he's partnered with another CF. He'll be an U23 regular, whereas the others listed will be regulars in the first team squad

I think he's being a bit optimistic with 9 signings (8 really as Davies is one of them)
With out budget, I'm struggling to see beyond 6 signings. 2 CBs (+ Davies), possibly DM (Bielik cover), 2 wingers, 1 CF

Just giving my take on it. Louts picking on an easy target sickens me. Duncan Ferguson’s about the same age as Whitty, I’d like to see them being a bit silly with him.
I’m pleased an apology seems sufficient for you, that would have been a throughly unpleasant experience for Whitty, and not the first one he’s had to endure if my memory serves me correctly so I hope both the perpetrators have a lousy few months.
I’ve got a lad I’m proud as punch of. Polite, gentle, respectful, thinks of others before himself. He’s been on the wrong side of a bit of silliness and it ducked his head, he couldn’t understand why he was target of people he was no threat to.
These see you next tuesdays don’t give a toss about the consequences of their actions so don’t duckin’ give me all that silliness crap.
 
 

This is how I'm expecting the squad to look for the coming season.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: CB, CB, Davies, Solomon/Cashin/JBrown
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, CM
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, RW
LW: Lawrence, LW
CF: CF, Kazim, Stretton
If we sign more than that, then we've either been taken over or sold someone.
Depending on who those 6 signings are, I'd be quite happy with that.