IlsonDerby

That isn’t the make up of their squad now. It’s what the owners hope to move towards to get them up. 
 
 
Also Rooney not ready? Ward not ready? I know Ward made the mistakes that led to penalties but considering he’s played a number of seasons at this level I don’t see how he isn’t ready for it… also on Rooney - he was doing well before his injury. A breathe of fresh air. He got spanked by Borges for Man City U21 but I reckon most premier league full backs would have had issues against him never mind a league 1 centre back. 
 
 

Where does this come from? 

Savage rubbed people up the wrong way but to reduce a player who spent a career as long as he did at the top level to running around a lot. Easily more technically gifted than anyone else in our side when Clough brought him back in from The cold. 

We’re remembering it differently. He was a massive wind up merchant but his ability on the ball was still a step up compared to the rest of the team. 

Where does this come from? 

Savage rubbed people up the wrong way but to reduce a player who spent a career as long as he did at the top level to running around a lot. Easily more technically gifted than anyone else in our side when Clough brought him back in from The cold. 

Tried to do this for our squad. 
 
Obviously this is really subjective. I was undecided on a few so kept them between strong L1 and average L1. 
 
Elder was in team of the year last time he was at this level but hasn’t had opportunity to get a run of games. The keepers? Both could do a job in the division above but haven’t seen them play regularly at that level. Hourihane has quality and has done it before at that level but is getting older. Barkhuizen has purple patches where he looks very capable of stepping up but then has the opposite of purple spells too. 
 
Have included Thompson Fornah and TJJ on the prospects as I think there’s enough there to not be writing them off as league 1 players yet but haven’t shown enough to be strong L1 players like Cashin etc. 

We’re remembering it differently. He was a massive wind up merchant but his ability on the ball was still a step up compared to the rest of the team. 

Where does this come from? 

Savage rubbed people up the wrong way but to reduce a player who spent a career as long as he did at the top level to running around a lot. Easily more technically gifted than anyone else in our side when Clough brought him back in from The cold. 

Got 4 goals from midfield for a team in absolute crisis? 1 goal per 7 matches for that s**** is nothing to be sniffed at. 
 
Also have to look at it that there’s a big chance we lose bird either now or in summer - will Hourihane still be here after summer? I’m not so sure. Same with regards to Smith. 
 
That’d leave us with Fornah and Thompson? Add Savage to them and a more senior player on a free in summer and you’ve got some decent options. You’ve got youth and legs. 
 
Id be very much for us making transfers that seem cheap but have potential for the players to grow with us. 
 
people always used to say they want us to be like Brentford well Brentford never signed players in their prime. They signed good players from underperforming teams based on their chairman’s model and developed them before selling them on for a fortune. 

Where does this come from? 

Savage rubbed people up the wrong way but to reduce a player who spent a career as long as he did at the top level to running around a lot. Easily more technically gifted than anyone else in our side when Clough brought him back in from The cold. 

Got 4 goals from midfield for a team in absolute crisis? 1 goal per 7 matches for that s**** is nothing to be sniffed at. 
 
Also have to look at it that there’s a big chance we lose bird either now or in summer - will Hourihane still be here after summer? I’m not so sure. Same with regards to Smith. 
 
That’d leave us with Fornah and Thompson? Add Savage to them and a more senior player on a free in summer and you’ve got some decent options. You’ve got youth and legs. 
 
Id be very much for us making transfers that seem cheap but have potential for the players to grow with us. 
 
people always used to say they want us to be like Brentford well Brentford never signed players in their prime. They signed good players from underperforming teams based on their chairman’s model and developed them before selling them on for a fortune. 

Where does this come from? 

Savage rubbed people up the wrong way but to reduce a player who spent a career as long as he did at the top level to running around a lot. Easily more technically gifted than anyone else in our side when Clough brought him back in from The cold. 

2 ways to spin this: if we’re paying a fee for him his agent can’t be asking for silly signing on fees and wages which usually comes with free agents who are entering their prime years. 
 
secondly it depends what the club feel he will be worth both in resale value and in whether he provides the edge to take us up. 
 
say for example the club go to £400k but believe he’d be worth £1m this summer if he was on a 3 year contract (not out of the realms of reality considering we’ve bid £300k and he’s only got 6 months left) then that’s completely different to the days where we’d sign someone for more than they’d be worth on resale. 
 
we’d also face more competition in summer too… 

What about the players your lists are missing? Ie elder / Sibley etc? 
 
Think the Bird rating is a bit odd considering championship clubs are interested in him? 

Where does this come from? 

Savage rubbed people up the wrong way but to reduce a player who spent a career as long as he did at the top level to running around a lot. Easily more technically gifted than anyone else in our side when Clough brought him back in from The cold. 

Some concerns and grumblings about players we are linked to made me think about where we are now and what are the profiles of players we can look to be signing in our position. 
 
I think the profiles we are able to sign are split into 3: 
Young players we’d be taking a risk on (Savage) 
Players coming into prime years who have shown something at L1/L2 level but not higher (CBT) 
Players past their best struggling for playing time higher up the pyramid (Smith) 
 
Id rather group 1 be permanent signings so we reap the reward of any successes but acknowledge there’s a level of quality available to us in prem loans that we’d struggle to sign permanently. 
 
Group 2 have to be right for the club in terms of cost but even if they’ve shown signs of quality they’ll be inconsistent and frustrating otherwise they wouldn’t be signing for us in league 1. 
 
Group 3 is fine as long as they’re seen as short stop gaps whilst the squad is being build from the first two groups. A 6 month loan for smith makes sense. Signing him for free on a 2- 3 year deal wouldn’t for me. 
 

Tried to do this for our squad. 
 
Obviously this is really subjective. I was undecided on a few so kept them between strong L1 and average L1. 
 
Elder was in team of the year last time he was at this level but hasn’t had opportunity to get a run of games. The keepers? Both could do a job in the division above but haven’t seen them play regularly at that level. Hourihane has quality and has done it before at that level but is getting older. Barkhuizen has purple patches where he looks very capable of stepping up but then has the opposite of purple spells too. 
 
Have included Thompson Fornah and TJJ on the prospects as I think there’s enough there to not be writing them off as league 1 players yet but haven’t shown enough to be strong L1 players like Cashin etc. 

2 ways to spin this: if we’re paying a fee for him his agent can’t be asking for silly signing on fees and wages which usually comes with free agents who are entering their prime years. 
 
secondly it depends what the club feel he will be worth both in resale value and in whether he provides the edge to take us up. 
 
say for example the club go to £400k but believe he’d be worth £1m this summer if he was on a 3 year contract (not out of the realms of reality considering we’ve bid £300k and he’s only got 6 months left) then that’s completely different to the days where we’d sign someone for more than they’d be worth on resale. 
 
we’d also face more competition in summer too… 

Where does this come from? 

Savage rubbed people up the wrong way but to reduce a player who spent a career as long as he did at the top level to running around a lot. Easily more technically gifted than anyone else in our side when Clough brought him back in from The cold. 

Got 4 goals from midfield for a team in absolute crisis? 1 goal per 7 matches for that s**** is nothing to be sniffed at. 
 
Also have to look at it that there’s a big chance we lose bird either now or in summer - will Hourihane still be here after summer? I’m not so sure. Same with regards to Smith. 
 
That’d leave us with Fornah and Thompson? Add Savage to them and a more senior player on a free in summer and you’ve got some decent options. You’ve got youth and legs. 
 
Id be very much for us making transfers that seem cheap but have potential for the players to grow with us. 
 
people always used to say they want us to be like Brentford well Brentford never signed players in their prime. They signed good players from underperforming teams based on their chairman’s model and developed them before selling them on for a fortune. 

Got 4 goals from midfield for a team in absolute crisis? 1 goal per 7 matches for that s**** is nothing to be sniffed at. 
 
Also have to look at it that there’s a big chance we lose bird either now or in summer - will Hourihane still be here after summer? I’m not so sure. Same with regards to Smith. 
 
That’d leave us with Fornah and Thompson? Add Savage to them and a more senior player on a free in summer and you’ve got some decent options. You’ve got youth and legs. 
 
Id be very much for us making transfers that seem cheap but have potential for the players to grow with us. 
 
people always used to say they want us to be like Brentford well Brentford never signed players in their prime. They signed good players from underperforming teams based on their chairman’s model and developed them before selling them on for a fortune. 

He’s played 28 times ain’t he? We’re only in January. 
 
Averaging 55 minutes an appearance so not just 5-10 minutes here or there. 

Got 4 goals from midfield for a team in absolute crisis? 1 goal per 7 matches for that s**** is nothing to be sniffed at. 
 
Also have to look at it that there’s a big chance we lose bird either now or in summer - will Hourihane still be here after summer? I’m not so sure. Same with regards to Smith. 
 
That’d leave us with Fornah and Thompson? Add Savage to them and a more senior player on a free in summer and you’ve got some decent options. You’ve got youth and legs. 
 
Id be very much for us making transfers that seem cheap but have potential for the players to grow with us. 
 
people always used to say they want us to be like Brentford well Brentford never signed players in their prime. They signed good players from underperforming teams based on their chairman’s model and developed them before selling them on for a fortune. 

Totally agree. I want to see us start building for the future, no more stop gap signings

Taking his name out of it I’d be interested to hear we were looking at signing a 20 year old midfielder, who’s a youth international that came through United’s academy and has been playing league one football this season with 4 goals and 1 assist across 28 appearances in all competitions. 
It fits the profile of who I’d want us to be signing, younger players with potential for their ability on the pitch as well as their re-sale value to the club. 

Got 4 goals from midfield for a team in absolute crisis? 1 goal per 7 matches for that s**** is nothing to be sniffed at. 
 
Also have to look at it that there’s a big chance we lose bird either now or in summer - will Hourihane still be here after summer? I’m not so sure. Same with regards to Smith. 
 
That’d leave us with Fornah and Thompson? Add Savage to them and a more senior player on a free in summer and you’ve got some decent options. You’ve got youth and legs. 
 
Id be very much for us making transfers that seem cheap but have potential for the players to grow with us. 
 
people always used to say they want us to be like Brentford well Brentford never signed players in their prime. They signed good players from underperforming teams based on their chairman’s model and developed them before selling them on for a fortune.