| Sebastian Caceres… 04:14 - Aug 22 with 7530 views | Kieran_Knows |
… bid made from us.
|  |
| |  |
| The frustration is that…. on 08:37 - Aug 22 with 1223 views | itfcjoe |
| The frustration is that…. on 07:24 - Aug 22 by Bloots |
….we should, as a “parachute” club, be operating from a position of power in this league.
Instead we appear to be totally surprised by everything that is happening.
We should know which players are realistic options to buy, but more importantly we should know which of our own players are going to leave.
Just over a week left and we are still looking at plugging unexpected gaps in the squad without addressing the gaping holes that have been obvious for months.
I might send them a letter of serious concern. |
All 4 parachute clubs seem to be floundering around though in that regard - at least we've lost our big guns now so have a clear head for 10 days to get all the deals we need sorted. Leicester will still have El Khannouss to go and Saints still likely to lose Fernandes and Dibling. |  |
| |
| This really is…. on 08:37 - Aug 22 with 1206 views | Wright1 |
| This really is…. on 07:16 - Aug 22 by GlasgowBlue |
We regained access to Brighton’s database since relegation. It looks like Ashton has gone crazy playing football manager with it, trying to sign the unobtainable whilst solid Championship players who could improve the squad and help get us promoted signed elsewhere.
I’m really not a fan of the “Premiership ready” player strategy. Can we please just aim for Championship promotion ready players and worry about the Premier League when we actually earn the right to play there? [Post edited 22 Aug 7:21]
|
I'm sorry, I can't agree with this at all.
How many "solid Championship players" that would really improve us have actually moved this summer? Genuinely, list some you'd have liked - i'd be interested to see.
It makes no financial sense at all to sign just decent Championship players that then aren't good if we go up. We then either a) keep them next season and aren't very competitive b) bomb them out after one year taking huge financial losses on them and have to spend again on PL ready players.
As others have said, the stick used to beat us last year was we signed the Championship all star team - so haven't we already got our proven Championship players? Palmer, Davis, Greaves, O'Shea, Woolfenden, Kipre, Young, Chaplin, Szmodics, Burns, Philogene, J.Clarke, Hirst are all proven at this level or higher. If all we are after is squad fillers then we can get them at any point in the window, but if we have ambitions to improve the first 11 as we should, then i'm afraid we have to be ambitious. |  | | |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 08:41 - Aug 22 with 1159 views | bsw72 |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 08:28 - Aug 22 by homer_123 |
On top of that, when we talk re-building, we are actually, for the first time, not just tweaking but we have a new heartbeat to the team - it's going to be different and take a while. |
I think this is the point a lot of people may be missing, for a multitude of reasons, including relegation, player needs/wants, financial controls (internal and external) etc we are having to rebuild the squad, not just strengthen.
This has to be done in a manner which does not break the culture and ethos built since McKenna came in, and the right players are added.
Too many times players are brought in to plug a functional gap but within a team the cultural fit is also so important.
I understand why people are unhappy but while we may be very clearly in a perceived position of "strength" financially, it actually handicaps us to an extent as it weakens our ability to negotiate effectively for both transfer fees and contracts - and if you get the start to break the internal contract controls, then that leads to player unhappiness and longer term financial mismanagement.
I just don't get why people fail to comprehend how difficult it is for a football club in our position to sign the right players who meet our specific needs.
Players have to be:
- Good enough to strengthen a strong championship squad
- Be prepared for bench time / rotation
- Have the potential to be a PL player
- Be within our price range
- Willing to move to a reasonably small regional club, not in a major city
- Sit within our internal contract/financial controls
- Be a cultural fit
It's just not as easy as people seem to be expecting. |  | | |
| This really is…. on 08:44 - Aug 22 with 1119 views | bsw72 |
| This really is…. on 08:31 - Aug 22 by textbackup |
Will you enjoy watching us play, as a promotion favourite, with AAH up top?
Honestly? |
There are times I didn't enjoy watching us play with Delap up top - it's all subjective.
One thing - remember how you felt when we beat Southampton 3-2 at home in April 2024, remind me who was playing up top for majority of the game after Moore went off injured after about 30 mins | | | |
| This really is…. on 08:49 - Aug 22 with 1054 views | textbackup |
| This really is…. on 08:44 - Aug 22 by bsw72 |
There are times I didn't enjoy watching us play with Delap up top - it's all subjective.
One thing - remember how you felt when we beat Southampton 3-2 at home in April 2024, remind me who was playing up top for majority of the game after Moore went off injured after about 30 mins |
I’ve no idea, I was asleep on holiday 😂
If AAH, remind me who was marshalled around by the Bromley CBs only last week? [Post edited 22 Aug 8:55]
|  |
| |
| The frustration is that…. on 08:52 - Aug 22 with 991 views | Swansea_Blue |
| The frustration is that…. on 08:37 - Aug 22 by itfcjoe |
All 4 parachute clubs seem to be floundering around though in that regard - at least we've lost our big guns now so have a clear head for 10 days to get all the deals we need sorted. Leicester will still have El Khannouss to go and Saints still likely to lose Fernandes and Dibling. |
Yep. Some people do seem to think everything revolves around us and not realise we’re far from alone in not being where we would like to be. The Leicester fans on fox talk make their place sound utterly toxic right now. |  |
| |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 08:53 - Aug 22 with 992 views | itfcjoe |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 08:41 - Aug 22 by bsw72 |
I think this is the point a lot of people may be missing, for a multitude of reasons, including relegation, player needs/wants, financial controls (internal and external) etc we are having to rebuild the squad, not just strengthen.
This has to be done in a manner which does not break the culture and ethos built since McKenna came in, and the right players are added.
Too many times players are brought in to plug a functional gap but within a team the cultural fit is also so important.
I understand why people are unhappy but while we may be very clearly in a perceived position of "strength" financially, it actually handicaps us to an extent as it weakens our ability to negotiate effectively for both transfer fees and contracts - and if you get the start to break the internal contract controls, then that leads to player unhappiness and longer term financial mismanagement.
I just don't get why people fail to comprehend how difficult it is for a football club in our position to sign the right players who meet our specific needs.
Players have to be:
- Good enough to strengthen a strong championship squad
- Be prepared for bench time / rotation
- Have the potential to be a PL player
- Be within our price range
- Willing to move to a reasonably small regional club, not in a major city
- Sit within our internal contract/financial controls
- Be a cultural fit
It's just not as easy as people seem to be expecting. |
The bullet points fit someone like Kasey McAteer and yet there was nearly a meltdown when his name was mentioned yesterday - and when John Percy mentions something about a MIdlands club you know it is likely happening and soon! | |
| |
| This really is…. on 08:54 - Aug 22 with 948 views | pointofblue |
| This really is…. on 08:31 - Aug 22 by textbackup |
Will you enjoy watching us play, as a promotion favourite, with AAH up top?
Honestly? |
AAH is out for a number of weeks anyway so, if Hirst goes down, put option are a not-match-fit Akpom or perhaps promoting someone from the under 21s. Unless we decide to play with false nines. | |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| This really is…. on 08:55 - Aug 22 with 927 views | bsw72 |
| This really is…. on 08:49 - Aug 22 by textbackup |
I’ve no idea, I was asleep on holiday 😂
If AAH, remind me who was marshalled around by the Bromley CBs only last week? [Post edited 22 Aug 8:55]
|
That's a shame for you then - for me (and possibly other Town fans that were there) that was a feeling of football elation I had not felt at an Ipswich game since Reuser scored at Wembley nearly a quarter of a century before.
The fact that AAH was up front neither added to or detracted from my sense of happiness, as the drama and the result provided everything, despite overall the team not performing particularly well that day. | | | |
| This really is…. on 08:58 - Aug 22 with 889 views | pointofblue |
| This really is…. on 08:55 - Aug 22 by bsw72 |
That's a shame for you then - for me (and possibly other Town fans that were there) that was a feeling of football elation I had not felt at an Ipswich game since Reuser scored at Wembley nearly a quarter of a century before.
The fact that AAH was up front neither added to or detracted from my sense of happiness, as the drama and the result provided everything, despite overall the team not performing particularly well that day. |
For all those who complain about the number of changes to the squad last summer, and I am one, I think it's easy to forget how many times we fell on the right side of tight margins in 23/24. We rarely dominated games and, at times we had to ride our luck. We were utterly dominated by Leeds at Elland Road, and they put eight past us in total. We captured magic in a bottle with the squad but it would be difficult to do that again. | |
| |
| This really is…. on 08:59 - Aug 22 with 864 views | dirtyboy |
| This really is…. on 08:44 - Aug 22 by bsw72 |
There are times I didn't enjoy watching us play with Delap up top - it's all subjective.
One thing - remember how you felt when we beat Southampton 3-2 at home in April 2024, remind me who was playing up top for majority of the game after Moore went off injured after about 30 mins |
Akpom is surely our other striker?
People keep saying he’s a 10, I just don’t see it. He ‘can’ play L10 or C10, but we’re quite well represented in that area, Szmodics, Chaplin, Clarke, Ogbene, Philogene. Plus we know we are looking for reinforcements there.
Personally, (hey …just an opinion) Townsend injury was a massive blow to us, that’s a spanner in the works, we need that sorted soon, then we do desperately need another central midfielder.
We are where we are, fed up with the bitching and whining to be honest, last season was a write off, I just want to get behind the lads who have the shirts and enjoy the football again.
So many uncontrollable aspects of transfers, it’s not as easy as people think, it really isn’t, irrespective of the time we’ve had. Hackney is probably demonstrative of this. Fees agreed etc etc but player getting cold feet at last moment for whatever reason, you can’t guarantee anything.
In an ideal world we’d have a few more players in, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m not going to be upset, to be honest, just happy to be alive right now lol (certain things give you a different perspective on all around you)
No knives out here. COYB |  | | |
| This really is…. on 09:03 - Aug 22 with 795 views | Herbivore |
| This really is…. on 08:18 - Aug 22 by textbackup |
But when we only have 1 striker at the club how can you enjoy the football? I just don’t understand it. If Hirst gets injured, we are absolutely fcked. |
This isn't just aimed at you because it seems most posters on this thread seem to have forgotten that we've signed Akpom. And while Akpom is versatile and can play as a 10 or out wide, he's spent most of this last couple of years playing as a number 9. We'll want another option up front, that's why we were close with Azon, but let's not pretend we've not signed anyone to play up top. |  |
| |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 09:05 - Aug 22 with 746 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 08:53 - Aug 22 by itfcjoe |
The bullet points fit someone like Kasey McAteer and yet there was nearly a meltdown when his name was mentioned yesterday - and when John Percy mentions something about a MIdlands club you know it is likely happening and soon! |
People seemed to be getting themselves in a spin that he was a replacement for Omari and going to be our only 10 signing as well. I was surprised to see such negativity as I've always thought he has looked decent against us! | | | |
| This really is…. on 09:09 - Aug 22 with 703 views | Swansea_Blue |
| This really is…. on 08:59 - Aug 22 by dirtyboy |
Akpom is surely our other striker?
People keep saying he’s a 10, I just don’t see it. He ‘can’ play L10 or C10, but we’re quite well represented in that area, Szmodics, Chaplin, Clarke, Ogbene, Philogene. Plus we know we are looking for reinforcements there.
Personally, (hey …just an opinion) Townsend injury was a massive blow to us, that’s a spanner in the works, we need that sorted soon, then we do desperately need another central midfielder.
We are where we are, fed up with the bitching and whining to be honest, last season was a write off, I just want to get behind the lads who have the shirts and enjoy the football again.
So many uncontrollable aspects of transfers, it’s not as easy as people think, it really isn’t, irrespective of the time we’ve had. Hackney is probably demonstrative of this. Fees agreed etc etc but player getting cold feet at last moment for whatever reason, you can’t guarantee anything.
In an ideal world we’d have a few more players in, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m not going to be upset, to be honest, just happy to be alive right now lol (certain things give you a different perspective on all around you)
No knives out here. COYB |
Agreed on all points. Akpom is an effective no 9 and takes the pressure off us needing to find another striker. Hirst/Akpom is a very good to be in. With AAH injured it looks like he’ll be staying too (not that he’ll get much game time).
And yes, a shame about Townsend (for him and us). We’d be ridiculously stacked at this level having Leif + Townsend. I wonder if it’s a bit of a blessing in disguise for us though, as I could have seen us losing Leif and playing Townsend this year. | |
| |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 09:10 - Aug 22 with 695 views | bsw72 |
| Yep, I’m a “legacy” fan too…. on 09:05 - Aug 22 by tractorboy1978 |
People seemed to be getting themselves in a spin that he was a replacement for Omari and going to be our only 10 signing as well. I was surprised to see such negativity as I've always thought he has looked decent against us! |
Ha ha ha - your timing on this post could not be better - now go to the latest threads.
Btw - I agree with you. [Post edited 22 Aug 9:17]
| | | |
| This really is…. on 09:10 - Aug 22 with 685 views | Wickets |
| This really is…. on 07:23 - Aug 22 by bluesym |
Absolutely agree.
Slightly concerned that Mckenna seems to have gone from stating how short the squad is in areas,to almost dampening people's expectations yesterday in terms of how many additions we can expect. |
Yes the same thought occurred to me but we live in hope . It has been suggested to me by someone who visits our training on occasions that we might think about using Greaves in midfield in emergency? |  | | |
| This really is…. on 09:17 - Aug 22 with 605 views | Wright1 |
| This really is…. on 08:31 - Aug 22 by textbackup |
Will you enjoy watching us play, as a promotion favourite, with AAH up top?
Honestly? |
I will, yeah.
I watch football for fun and as a distraction these days. The day I have your point of view, I will just stop watching it honestly. Not a dig at you, each to their own... but I can't comprehend giving my time to something that make me feel that way as i'm getting older and have bigger commitments. | | | |
| This really is…. on 09:25 - Aug 22 with 553 views | Herbivore |
| This really is…. on 08:58 - Aug 22 by pointofblue |
For all those who complain about the number of changes to the squad last summer, and I am one, I think it's easy to forget how many times we fell on the right side of tight margins in 23/24. We rarely dominated games and, at times we had to ride our luck. We were utterly dominated by Leeds at Elland Road, and they put eight past us in total. We captured magic in a bottle with the squad but it would be difficult to do that again. |
I think this is somewhat rewriting history. We struggled against the three newly relegated sides because they had much better players but we still managed to hold our own in all but the away game at Elland Road. The underlying metrics for that season had us comfortably among that clutch of four clubs at the top as well. We were quite dominant in many games, especially at home, whereas away we tended to keep it tighter and play on the counter, which we managed to do pretty effectively. There's a lot of attempts to paint that season as somehow a fluke, it really wasn't. We were excellent that season. | |
| |
| This really is…. on 09:37 - Aug 22 with 472 views | pointofblue |
| This really is…. on 09:25 - Aug 22 by Herbivore |
I think this is somewhat rewriting history. We struggled against the three newly relegated sides because they had much better players but we still managed to hold our own in all but the away game at Elland Road. The underlying metrics for that season had us comfortably among that clutch of four clubs at the top as well. We were quite dominant in many games, especially at home, whereas away we tended to keep it tighter and play on the counter, which we managed to do pretty effectively. There's a lot of attempts to paint that season as somehow a fluke, it really wasn't. We were excellent that season. |
Maybe. I can remember Sunderland away, QPR away and Plymouth at home where we hardly cruised. But looking at most games, you are right so my apologies. Whether we could have repeated the feat with basically the same squad this time around is something we'll never know but mea culpa... in many games we were more dominant than I recalled. | |
| |
| Sebastian Caceres… on 09:47 - Aug 22 with 408 views | SWLondonBlue93 |
Back on the topic of Caceres... bit confused by this one. It's a World Cup year so he won't be happy sitting on the bench, but I don't see McKenna breaking up the Greaves-O'Shea partnership that he appears to be banking heavily on. | | | |
| This really is…. on 09:50 - Aug 22 with 385 views | BasingstokeBlue |
| This really is…. on 08:44 - Aug 22 by bsw72 |
There are times I didn't enjoy watching us play with Delap up top - it's all subjective.
One thing - remember how you felt when we beat Southampton 3-2 at home in April 2024, remind me who was playing up top for majority of the game after Moore went off injured after about 30 mins |
Can't you remember? |  |
| |
| Sebastian Caceres… on 09:50 - Aug 22 with 384 views | pointofblue |
| Sebastian Caceres… on 09:47 - Aug 22 by SWLondonBlue93 |
Back on the topic of Caceres... bit confused by this one. It's a World Cup year so he won't be happy sitting on the bench, but I don't see McKenna breaking up the Greaves-O'Shea partnership that he appears to be banking heavily on. |
My guess is Caceres will take Greaves' place on the left, Kipre moves across to cover O'Shea and we will sell Woolfenden. Which will likely mean Humphreys will stay as our home grown player in the 25 man squad, enabling us to name nine subs. | |
| |
| This really is…. on 10:27 - Aug 22 with 296 views | GlasgowBlue |
| This really is…. on 08:37 - Aug 22 by Wright1 |
I'm sorry, I can't agree with this at all.
How many "solid Championship players" that would really improve us have actually moved this summer? Genuinely, list some you'd have liked - i'd be interested to see.
It makes no financial sense at all to sign just decent Championship players that then aren't good if we go up. We then either a) keep them next season and aren't very competitive b) bomb them out after one year taking huge financial losses on them and have to spend again on PL ready players.
As others have said, the stick used to beat us last year was we signed the Championship all star team - so haven't we already got our proven Championship players? Palmer, Davis, Greaves, O'Shea, Woolfenden, Kipre, Young, Chaplin, Szmodics, Burns, Philogene, J.Clarke, Hirst are all proven at this level or higher. If all we are after is squad fillers then we can get them at any point in the window, but if we have ambitions to improve the first 11 as we should, then i'm afraid we have to be ambitious. |
Bearing in mind I said our starting eleven is as good as any in this league we need squad players who can come in as replacements in the final minutes or to cover injuries and suspensions.
Players that other clubs have signed who could improve pur squad:
We need back up for Hirst. Furuhashi and Ducksch at Brum. Agyemang & Carlton Morris at Derby. Kvistgaarden at the scum. Damion Downs to add to Southampton's embarrassment of riches up front. Ivanovic linked with Leicester. We've not heard a whisper of any Ipswich interest. 3 games into the season and we have one fit striker in Hirst, who if we continue to flog him to death will most likely break down.
Central midfield: Tommy Doyle, again signed by Brum. Travis at Blackburn is decent cover for Matusiwa. Nypan at Boro.
Cover for Townsend: Brandon Williams, even with his issues.
Most of these could do a job in our squad but not necessarily make the jump up to the Premier League.
I'd also chuck in Rushworth as an upgrade on Palmer.
We knew that Delap was leaving in April. It's a joke that we haven't come anywhere near replacing him or AAH 3 games in to the season and seven days left in the window. A striker should have been bedded in pre season. |  |
| |
| This really is…. on 10:45 - Aug 22 with 217 views | Herbivore |
| This really is…. on 10:27 - Aug 22 by GlasgowBlue |
Bearing in mind I said our starting eleven is as good as any in this league we need squad players who can come in as replacements in the final minutes or to cover injuries and suspensions.
Players that other clubs have signed who could improve pur squad:
We need back up for Hirst. Furuhashi and Ducksch at Brum. Agyemang & Carlton Morris at Derby. Kvistgaarden at the scum. Damion Downs to add to Southampton's embarrassment of riches up front. Ivanovic linked with Leicester. We've not heard a whisper of any Ipswich interest. 3 games into the season and we have one fit striker in Hirst, who if we continue to flog him to death will most likely break down.
Central midfield: Tommy Doyle, again signed by Brum. Travis at Blackburn is decent cover for Matusiwa. Nypan at Boro.
Cover for Townsend: Brandon Williams, even with his issues.
Most of these could do a job in our squad but not necessarily make the jump up to the Premier League.
I'd also chuck in Rushworth as an upgrade on Palmer.
We knew that Delap was leaving in April. It's a joke that we haven't come anywhere near replacing him or AAH 3 games in to the season and seven days left in the window. A striker should have been bedded in pre season. |
We have signed a striker though, Akpom is a striker who can play the other forward roles too. We could absolutely do with another striker as competition and to enable us to use Akpom in other roles as we see fit but he's someone who's played most of his football recently as a striker, he's not a makeshift in that position. | |
| |
| This really is…. on 10:50 - Aug 22 with 173 views | WestSussexBlue |
| This really is…. on 07:16 - Aug 22 by GlasgowBlue |
We regained access to Brighton’s database since relegation. It looks like Ashton has gone crazy playing football manager with it, trying to sign the unobtainable whilst solid Championship players who could improve the squad and help get us promoted signed elsewhere.
I’m really not a fan of the “Premiership ready” player strategy. Can we please just aim for Championship promotion ready players and worry about the Premier League when we actually earn the right to play there? [Post edited 22 Aug 7:21]
|
The problem there would be we arrive at the top table, clubs, both home and abroad would then hold us to ransom with inflated prices for players knowing full well that we arrive under prepared and in need of quality quickly. | | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
