This is getting boring now, so much talk about transfers and nothing happening, we as a team are going to struggle more this season then we did last, first league win by february or is that just being optermistic. I am really pleased i renewed my season ticket and for what just to get depressed after every game, so ME,SC & RK pull your fingers out and get this club sorted stop talking and start doing what you get paid for and at the moment it looks like you get paid big money for nothing........

Like everyone else, very bored, underwelmed and p1ssed off, Does ITFC think that people that live over 200 miles away are going to make the effort to come and watch a side full of last seasons reserves (who were not that good last year either) who have suddenly become brilliant in our amazing and well designed pre-season. What is doing it for me is the lack of info from the club. I have no problem in standing up and apologising come saturday when we have 3 new stars in the lineup banging them in against boro. Does anyone actually think thats going to happen. What we will get is a speel from Keane or Clegg saying how frustrated they are and how close we were and "thats football"

Utter utter boll@x

Frustrating doesn't really do this transfer window justice for ITFC fans, but it's hardly surprising when there are so many variables...

- the player's demands
- the player's wife's demands
- the player's agent's demands
- the player's image rights
- the player's club's demands
- the buying club trying to get a bargain
- the selling club trying to sell at over-inflated price
- the ego's of all individuals involved
- the relationship between the two clubs chairmen
- the player passing a medical
- competition from other clubs for the same player
- timing of transfer to co-incide with a replacement coming in to the selling club (itself possibly including all of the above factors all over again)

It's amazing that any transfers get done at all!!

In which case it's completely understandable that transfers take a while to go thru, or indeed fall through altogether.

None the less, I for one hope that we can tie up the deal for Fulop, and if Walters does go to Stoke then we use that cash to bring in Chopra and a creative attacking mid, possibly on a season long loan after the window closes and once prem sides have chosen their squad of 25, as we can look to pick off some quality that missed the cut.

COYB!!

I do a round trip of 250 miles and I go to about 15 home games a season, However I the last time i went was the 4-0 defeat to Newcastle as i thought the football was so poor. Was excited about this season as we Had Wickham, Smith. O'Connor, breaking through and then Cielli coming back. Plus these 5 players that Keane had targeted. However as it cost me about £150 a time to watch Ipswich (Ticket, petrol etc) Think I will save my money untill the club start to play some entertaining football.

bluegoonie.if its so hard how come every team around us are signing players even teams who are in court because they owe money.something is not rite at itfc very pi**ed off wht a crap pre season

I'm as frustrated as you TB82, but be patient...

If we don't bring any quality in then we'll surely struggle with some tough opening games, and if we're outside the top 8/10 by the end of October then I think Keane will be shown the door, so it's in his interest to bring at least a couple of players better than we have already, and soon!!

I know it's difficult, but keep the faith...

It's all spin that comes out of PR these days!

I was quietly hoping that we might get Lawrence.

what annoys me the most guys is that there is perfectly good players on the free transfer list that could do a job for us and i dont understand the harm of atleast offering them a trial

players like:

-Jeremie Aliadiere
-Wilfred Bouma
-Febian Brandy
-Stephen Caldwell
-Anthony Capaldi
-Jay Demerit
-Andrade Filipe Teixeira
-Kerrea Gilbert
-Marlon Harewood
-Toni Kallio
-Robert Koren
-Benjani Mwaruwari
-Erik Nevland
-Liam Rosenior
-Darius Vassell
-Stephen Wright

i just feel that we are short of cover and some of these players would be great cover if not first team players. and its just a question of attracting them here and their wage demands which for some of them i would imagine being quite high but nothing ventured nothing gained

que ?

Still keeping the faith but hard not to question the club sometimes. Here's my attempt at a positive spin...

Keane himself has identified that up-front is an area of serious weakness so surely he is bending over backwards to seal a striker (want to say chops but looking more and more unlikely as the days go by) within the current transfer window.
Also can't believe he'd even consider selling walters - a player that on numerous occasions last season Keane said could operate in the premier league and we were lucky to have - without also having someone lined up to replace him.

Therefore (in my foolishly optimistic mind anyway) Keane must surely have two deals up his sleeve to give us all a boost in the next coming days.
Otherwise why endeavour to weaken your team (keeping in mind connor's out for maybe 6 weeks) in an area that you've already highlighted as needing considerable attention?
Keane's not stupid and it's obvious to everyone that priskin cannot hold the line by himself at this moment in time, having failed to score in so many games now that my expectation levels when he's through on goal have hit a new low.

So let's all try and keep positive about the new season, a season in which kieron dyer himself has stated that he expects good things from the tractor boys. The transfers will materialise, even if not before the boro. COYB!!!

Stoke forums are reporting Walters as undergoing a medical as we speak.

They have also paid for a helicopter to fly Loic Remy to the stadium - black cab for Walters?

What really matters is who we end up with, Goalie looks a great signing, well done to all at the club.Buying quality players takes time,if we end up with the players Roy wants i for 1 am prepared to wait.It goes without saying Chopra and/or Whittingham would be great buisness even if it means the loss of Walters, who by his own standards has been off the pace a little of late.

yeah... and to complete the circle lets sign a winger from moscow!

Seems like walters will play on staurday then, less certain about longer term.

Upbeat Blue 82 - That is very positive! Sadly, I suspect it is little more than wishful thinking.

Much more likely that JW just wants out. We're going nowhere fast and a premier league club comes knocking, so why not. Good luck to him.

Far more worrying is the apparent breakdown of the relationship between RK and ME. Not sure about ME's financial status, with many rumours flying around, but it is becoming clear that ME seems to have lost patience with RK, and isn't providing the sort of backing he was given (and wasted) last year. I can't blame ME for this. Given RK's transfer dealings I wouldn't trust him with my money either and ME wants RK to raise some money for new signings from within the squad, or at least reduce the outgoings on the wage bill, before committing additional funds. RK's continuation as manager will depend on making a good start to the season, but things are looking pretty bleak right now. If we get off to a bad start, I hope ME provides decent backing to RK's replacement, and isn't too disillusioned by the way the clubs resources have been wasted in recent times.

Quality players? I'd be happy with a few decent championship players. At present we've got a rag bag collection who wouldn't get in a Huddersfield Town side. No disrespect.

Word in Stoke is that Walters failed his medical.

The transfer activity this summer has been extremely frustrating from a fans point of view. However I do not think that the solution to this would be for Clegg &/or Keane to be holding a daily press conference telling us about which new players they've identified as targets, as this would only alert other clubs to our interest, nor should they be providing all of the details about potential exists because as many deals breakdown over say players wage demands it could unsettle the squad should they end up staying which wouldn't be good for team spirit.

Following this summers constant debate over rumours it got me thinking about how I used to find out about the latest Town news prior to the Internet. This now makes me sound very old but prior to the Internet I remember looking forward to picking up the Evening Star on the way home to get the latest news & in the summer find out if we'd signed anyone. This gave you a once a day news fix & offered no opportunity to feed back instant comments on our feelings other than in the pub with your mates or at work the next day.

This was in the days before 24/7 news, dozens of football news & rumour sites which need to fill the screens with something even if it's just speculation just to keep peoples interest.

In the media world in which we now live whereby us as consumers are as much to blame as anyone as we desire constant updates we'll just have to get used to stories repeating themselves over & over again.

We'll also have to get used to the fact that many stories don't necessarily turn into deals as firstly many of the stories have no basis in fact & are simply rumours. Secondly even if a club is in negotiations over either the purchase or sale of a player I think that these days we get to hear about it for what seems like months on end. No doubt with the ever increasing influence of players agents negotiations do take longer these days however I'm sure that transfers have always been a fairly lengthy process but the difference is that in the past the first you heard about a signing was when they were being unveiled at a press conference & if a deal fell through you never heard about it at all.

Reflecting on our current frustration I think that in the 24/7 news media world we now live in where we demand constant updates we'll just have to get used to the fact that stories become repetitive or come to nothing as they were simply untrue in the first place.