| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys 12:10 - May 18 with 4409 views | jasondozzell | People moaning about being linked with Azeez. Jesus Christ. They still haven't learnt anything have they after last season? Depressing. |  | | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:57 - May 18 with 674 views | jasondozzell |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:55 - May 18 by jas0999 | What’s the point of a forum if everyone has the same opinion. The whole point is for discussion. Not everyone will agree and that’s okay. I can see both sides …. Last time we shopped at championship level we failed spectacularly in the PL. equally, a couple of players from the championship might be okay, depending on the numbers leaving. Point is, not everyone is going to agree with you. |
Fair enough that people have different views. I suppose it's the way that's expressed which social media doesn't help with. And there's a lot of entitlement in writing off a standout player and thinking we're above signing great champ players. Most clubs would kill to have the ability to do that. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:57 - May 18 with 667 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:45 - May 18 by jasondozzell | The arrogance is entirely the supporters who have jumped on the bandwagon and are angrily screaming from their highchairs for galaticos at the first period of sustained success the club has had in nearly a quarter of a century. What do you think KM would say about Mehmeti and Nunez and Azeez? They are very good young players with potential to play at the highest level. KM works with players and improves them. I'm excited to see them have the opportunity! There's no such thing as a 'prem player'. They will all have played at a lower level at some point. If KM likes Azeez, then I'd put more weight behind that than 'fans' mouthing off. Where were all these people when it was Drinan toiling up front in his own? |
Thankfully we're in a totally different place now to those days. I don't believe that they're all johnny come latelys - I've been a regular since the 1960s, but its important we learn lessons from 2 years ago. We weren't in a position 2 years ago to recruit form overseas markets - but we are now. Our transfer budget will soon get used up if we are spending £20M on a single championship player. It's not to say that KM can't improve these players, but the price is so high (admittedly Mehmeti was a bargain) and for the same money we should be able to get better in Europe or even further afield. I can't see any indication that Mehmeti is going to be good enough for PL. Not only does he not have the physicality, he gives the ball away far too much. Better to cash in on him now. |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:58 - May 18 with 667 views | _CliveBaker_ | Works both ways, I find the whole 'look at where we were 5 years ago' as tedious. Its a backward mentality, we were 11th in L1 because we were spectacularly mismanaged from the top down. We're in the here and now, we've done incredibly well to get to the PL and yo-yo back, but need to look forward and do what we can to close the massive gap that exists. That will require some very smart recruitment and we need to get more of it right than we have over the past 18 months. FWIW I like Azeez as a signing, he's a good age, with good experience cutting his teeth in the football league and I've been really impressed with him this season. Its not necessarily entitled to disagree with that though. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:59 - May 18 with 657 views | FrimleyBlue |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:54 - May 18 by jasondozzell | Stu Watson now saying we're not in for him now. Boo boys will have to move on to their next target... |
If we don't go for him, It does make me wonder if we were that keen on him to begin with or if it was a bit of a game to distrupt his millwall season. I think if im right in thinking this, usually KM is quite reserved when it comes to discussing players linked, but he was fairly vocal of us looking at him. which for me would then be weird to not see it through following promotion |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:59 - May 18 with 658 views | Dubtractor |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:57 - May 18 by homer_123 | My wider observation about our approach to recruitment this year is that we do need to be signing a different kind/ type of player to that which we have signed previously. 'If' our target is to genuinely give it a go at staying up. I've posted on here (and before) about DCL and BB from Leeds and Sunderland respectively. That is the kind of level we need to be aiming at, at the very least. With the greatest respect - we don't really find that in the Championship. I've tried to be objective below - if we pick up a player or two from Championship, alongside higher quality signings, from a squad/development/resale perspective - that approach I can get behind. I don't think anyone can question that if we do what we did before, we are also likely to fail again. |
Absolutely agree, if that is the extent of our approach, but bring linked to one player is no evidence of that. |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:59 - May 18 with 651 views | Metal_Hacker | Personally I think as a club perspective short term and long term there has to be certain criteria in relation to the type of player we purchase I'd assume a mix of one , maybe two players from top end Champ sides this season in case all else fails and we see ourselves back to the Champ . If those "one or two players" have a good season they'll be ideal to carry on with us in the Champ or hopefully they will still carry some good value to re-sell to a Prem team . A good look in and around Europe and elsewhere would also be of benefit to maintain a bigger "bang for your buck" ala Sunderland - this would be benefit from having a working scouting network and if successful would offer some good future player trading So for me , a good mix of all of the above to make it work short and long term |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:00 - May 18 with 642 views | homer_123 |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:59 - May 18 by Dubtractor | Absolutely agree, if that is the extent of our approach, but bring linked to one player is no evidence of that. |
Indeed Dubs. |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:02 - May 18 with 636 views | jasondozzell |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:57 - May 18 by LegendofthePhoenix | Thankfully we're in a totally different place now to those days. I don't believe that they're all johnny come latelys - I've been a regular since the 1960s, but its important we learn lessons from 2 years ago. We weren't in a position 2 years ago to recruit form overseas markets - but we are now. Our transfer budget will soon get used up if we are spending £20M on a single championship player. It's not to say that KM can't improve these players, but the price is so high (admittedly Mehmeti was a bargain) and for the same money we should be able to get better in Europe or even further afield. I can't see any indication that Mehmeti is going to be good enough for PL. Not only does he not have the physicality, he gives the ball away far too much. Better to cash in on him now. |
Fair comments. And I agree that recruitment has to evolve to match ambitions and where we are now. I like Mehmeti. It's confidence with him. KM didn't give up on Taylor etc. I hope Anis makes it here. I also think KM likes young hungry players with potential. And often those who speak English because of his close coaching/instruction. So we've got to be careful not to foist overseas signings on him unless he wants them and it works. Azor was a really good first step looking abroad. Hopefully we can replicate that again with a few this summer. |  | |  | Login to get fewer ads
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:10 - May 18 with 607 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:02 - May 18 by jasondozzell | Fair comments. And I agree that recruitment has to evolve to match ambitions and where we are now. I like Mehmeti. It's confidence with him. KM didn't give up on Taylor etc. I hope Anis makes it here. I also think KM likes young hungry players with potential. And often those who speak English because of his close coaching/instruction. So we've got to be careful not to foist overseas signings on him unless he wants them and it works. Azor was a really good first step looking abroad. Hopefully we can replicate that again with a few this summer. |
Nacho speaks hardly a word, yet we manage him as Martin Pert is multi-lingual as I understand. If we go into this window with a caveat that they must speak good English, then we handicap ourselves from the outset. My understanding is that McKenna has the final say on all signings anyway. |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:22 - May 18 with 579 views | Churchman |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:26 - May 18 by Jon_456 | I don’t think it’s entitled to question signing Azeez. We’re probably going to be spending around £120-£140m this summer and going to need to spend around 15% of that budget to sign him. Does he improve our squad right now? Absolutely, no question. What some are questioning is whether he’s good enough for the premier league. Let’s not forget the gap in quality between the CH and PL. Ive watched him quite a bit this year and seen little to suggest he’ll do any better than Clarke or Philogene in the PL, who were found to be some way short last time we were there. We all saw the pace and physicality of the PL and IMO, I’d like us to target attackers with proper pace. Azeez isn’t slow but he’s not electric. |
Philogene and Clarke are better than two seasons ago and actually JP was injured most of the second half of the season. At one point early in 2025 Clarke picked up the ball, went the length of the pitch and hit the post, nearly winning the game at Craven Cottage. Note: he picked the ball up in his own half because we had no midfield whatsoever. He’s a forward. He needs some sort of service. Delap didn’t and was found out after January so actually he did. This gap I keep hearing about. I watched O’Nien come on for the Mackems. Signed in L1. Looked every inch a PL player. Rigg - involved with the goal. Dewsbury-fall. 28 appearances, 8 goals. Looks the part (and still falls over in a light breeze). Was he outstanding in the Championship? Yes. Were JP, JC, Matusiwa, O’Shea outstanding in the championship this year? I’d say yes with one or two others not far behind. There’s no guarantee they’ll succeed at a higher level, but there’s no certainty that they all won’t. Because this is not the beloved double promotion team and cost fees, there are people out there that loathe them. Want them to fail so they can say while watching their trolleys go round on the spin cycle ‘I was right’. I just think we talk down our players too easily. Some won’t be good enough - obviously. But not all and certainly less than last time. Especially if we strengthen in the right areas. Azeez is just the sort of player we should be signing. Hackney too, though he doesn’t want to come here and will go to a bigger club anyway. But we will need a mix so added to potential and what we have, we’ll need experience, size and somebody who can put the ball away. Three promotions in four seasons. Better individual players than we’ve had in 26 years and a team that tries to play properly, yet many have no faith and no joy in what is happening at ITFC. Entitlement, short memories and Johnny come latelys I guess. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:24 - May 18 with 570 views | itfcsuth |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:45 - May 18 by homer_123 | More recent evidence suggests that, at the very very least, you need a real quality striker. Leeds and Sunderland have both profited, not least, because of Calvert-Lewin and Brobbey - both quality strikers. |
Clinical, have to have a clinical goalscorer. You can't be as wasteful as we were last season, we simply won't get as many chances. Seen some good names, seen some shockers as well. Isidor would be a good shout, Delap likewise, possibly someone further afield like Asllani or Ansah. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:38 - May 18 with 524 views | tractorboy1978 |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:22 - May 18 by Churchman | Philogene and Clarke are better than two seasons ago and actually JP was injured most of the second half of the season. At one point early in 2025 Clarke picked up the ball, went the length of the pitch and hit the post, nearly winning the game at Craven Cottage. Note: he picked the ball up in his own half because we had no midfield whatsoever. He’s a forward. He needs some sort of service. Delap didn’t and was found out after January so actually he did. This gap I keep hearing about. I watched O’Nien come on for the Mackems. Signed in L1. Looked every inch a PL player. Rigg - involved with the goal. Dewsbury-fall. 28 appearances, 8 goals. Looks the part (and still falls over in a light breeze). Was he outstanding in the Championship? Yes. Were JP, JC, Matusiwa, O’Shea outstanding in the championship this year? I’d say yes with one or two others not far behind. There’s no guarantee they’ll succeed at a higher level, but there’s no certainty that they all won’t. Because this is not the beloved double promotion team and cost fees, there are people out there that loathe them. Want them to fail so they can say while watching their trolleys go round on the spin cycle ‘I was right’. I just think we talk down our players too easily. Some won’t be good enough - obviously. But not all and certainly less than last time. Especially if we strengthen in the right areas. Azeez is just the sort of player we should be signing. Hackney too, though he doesn’t want to come here and will go to a bigger club anyway. But we will need a mix so added to potential and what we have, we’ll need experience, size and somebody who can put the ball away. Three promotions in four seasons. Better individual players than we’ve had in 26 years and a team that tries to play properly, yet many have no faith and no joy in what is happening at ITFC. Entitlement, short memories and Johnny come latelys I guess. |
There's a difference between being a good squad player at PL level and being a bonafide, nailed on PL starter though. O'Nien and Rigg haven't been starting many PL games. You look at Sunderland/Leeds and they have 3 and 5 players respectively that played for them last season with 20+ PL starts this season. That is the reality of it. It's no slight on the players we have. We have a far better base to build from than we did in 23/24 but we still need 8 or so starters (plus 3/4 squad players) that can come in and seriously improve the side. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:42 - May 18 with 515 views | cressi | Hardly a entitlement fans saw what happened last time we went up needs a very different approach this time or there will be plenty of moaning come April may or earlier. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:43 - May 18 with 517 views | Illinoisblue |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:58 - May 18 by _CliveBaker_ | Works both ways, I find the whole 'look at where we were 5 years ago' as tedious. Its a backward mentality, we were 11th in L1 because we were spectacularly mismanaged from the top down. We're in the here and now, we've done incredibly well to get to the PL and yo-yo back, but need to look forward and do what we can to close the massive gap that exists. That will require some very smart recruitment and we need to get more of it right than we have over the past 18 months. FWIW I like Azeez as a signing, he's a good age, with good experience cutting his teeth in the football league and I've been really impressed with him this season. Its not necessarily entitled to disagree with that though. |
I think that attitude was more relevant and valid around the time of the last promotion. But it’s different now. We have ambitious and very wealthy owners. The stadium has never looked better (Cobbold redo notwithstanding), fancy new training ground will be open soon. We have teams of analysts and nutritionists and sports science folks. All the pieces are in place now. We’re in no excuse territory. No more 100 projects and mystery staircases to uncover. We’ll live and die by our recruitment. It’s been 6/10 the last couple of years and it needs to be closer to 8.5/10 if we want to survive and grow. |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:51 - May 18 with 474 views | _CliveBaker_ |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:43 - May 18 by Illinoisblue | I think that attitude was more relevant and valid around the time of the last promotion. But it’s different now. We have ambitious and very wealthy owners. The stadium has never looked better (Cobbold redo notwithstanding), fancy new training ground will be open soon. We have teams of analysts and nutritionists and sports science folks. All the pieces are in place now. We’re in no excuse territory. No more 100 projects and mystery staircases to uncover. We’ll live and die by our recruitment. It’s been 6/10 the last couple of years and it needs to be closer to 8.5/10 if we want to survive and grow. |
Yep, we're firmly in the top 25 clubs in the country as it stands now. Closing the gap to top 15 / 16 / 17 is a big task though and as you say that can only now be done through our player recruitment. Probably 10 to come in, at least 7 you would think will need to be regular starters over the next 12 months. We need the majority to work. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:56 - May 18 with 460 views | jasondozzell |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:42 - May 18 by cressi | Hardly a entitlement fans saw what happened last time we went up needs a very different approach this time or there will be plenty of moaning come April may or earlier. |
'fans saw what happened last time we went up' Well, I know what I saw. Suspect we saw different things. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:07 - May 18 with 436 views | FrimleyBlue |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:56 - May 18 by jasondozzell | 'fans saw what happened last time we went up' Well, I know what I saw. Suspect we saw different things. |
I do think at some point though JD you're minimum expectations etc will perhaps need to fall inline with the type of football club we are now compared to what we were and with that comes a certain minimal expectation of how things are done at the club now and what we achieve and part of that will of course be heavily weighted by the signings we make. The old, look where we've come from as KM has said over the seasons, needs to be forgotten. We are as others have said above, become one of the top 25 clubs in english football with an extreme amount of wealth, high levels of commercial activity, a multi million training centre, more staff than many champ clubs put together. This season coming is massive, get it right and it can be the start of something really special and could lead to a very interesting future. Btw, just to throw it in their now, you can call it entitlement or desire or expectation which ever lol, but my minium expectation this season coming is staying up, anything else would be a failure as would non promotion have been season passed. Being competitive but falling short im not interested in, it has to be staying up [Post edited 18 May 14:13]
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:17 - May 18 with 416 views | cressi |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:56 - May 18 by jasondozzell | 'fans saw what happened last time we went up' Well, I know what I saw. Suspect we saw different things. |
I guess you saw one home win all season same as me and us going down without much of a fight unless you saw something different. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:24 - May 18 with 397 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:38 - May 18 by tractorboy1978 | There's a difference between being a good squad player at PL level and being a bonafide, nailed on PL starter though. O'Nien and Rigg haven't been starting many PL games. You look at Sunderland/Leeds and they have 3 and 5 players respectively that played for them last season with 20+ PL starts this season. That is the reality of it. It's no slight on the players we have. We have a far better base to build from than we did in 23/24 but we still need 8 or so starters (plus 3/4 squad players) that can come in and seriously improve the side. |
Absolutely and look at the players around them. O'Nien has Mukiele and Alderete playing to his sides. Rigg has Xhaka and Sadiki behind him. Ultimately that will be the aim for us, these players can be big contributors for us because we have recruited 7/8 of the starting 11 around them. [Post edited 18 May 14:26]
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:34 - May 18 with 382 views | waveneyblue |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:07 - May 18 by FrimleyBlue | I do think at some point though JD you're minimum expectations etc will perhaps need to fall inline with the type of football club we are now compared to what we were and with that comes a certain minimal expectation of how things are done at the club now and what we achieve and part of that will of course be heavily weighted by the signings we make. The old, look where we've come from as KM has said over the seasons, needs to be forgotten. We are as others have said above, become one of the top 25 clubs in english football with an extreme amount of wealth, high levels of commercial activity, a multi million training centre, more staff than many champ clubs put together. This season coming is massive, get it right and it can be the start of something really special and could lead to a very interesting future. Btw, just to throw it in their now, you can call it entitlement or desire or expectation which ever lol, but my minium expectation this season coming is staying up, anything else would be a failure as would non promotion have been season passed. Being competitive but falling short im not interested in, it has to be staying up [Post edited 18 May 14:13]
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" but my minium (sic) expectation this season coming is staying up, anything else would be a failure as would non promotion have been season passed " Being competitive but falling short im not interested in, it has to be staying up But no, I am definitely not entitled, no not me. I'm FrimleyBlue, realistic voice of the fanbase. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:39 - May 18 with 367 views | FrimleyBlue |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:34 - May 18 by waveneyblue | " but my minium (sic) expectation this season coming is staying up, anything else would be a failure as would non promotion have been season passed " Being competitive but falling short im not interested in, it has to be staying up But no, I am definitely not entitled, no not me. I'm FrimleyBlue, realistic voice of the fanbase. |
I didn't say that wasn't entitled - i invited him to call me entitled for next season etc however he wants to frame it Christ you've had a mare with your trolling today waveney have a day off mate and follow someone else round the forum, but try and be correct when you do it. |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:46 - May 18 with 357 views | Illinoisblue |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:51 - May 18 by _CliveBaker_ | Yep, we're firmly in the top 25 clubs in the country as it stands now. Closing the gap to top 15 / 16 / 17 is a big task though and as you say that can only now be done through our player recruitment. Probably 10 to come in, at least 7 you would think will need to be regular starters over the next 12 months. We need the majority to work. |
Will need a combination of very smart recruitment and some luck to break into “lower midtable probably safe most years occasional cup run” group. Crazy to think how skewed and lopsided football is. When we went up in 92 and 00 there was none of this panic. Now it’s dismantle your squad that got you there and spend 150million and maybe you’ll have a chance. |  |
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| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:48 - May 18 with 343 views | Jon_456 |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 13:22 - May 18 by Churchman | Philogene and Clarke are better than two seasons ago and actually JP was injured most of the second half of the season. At one point early in 2025 Clarke picked up the ball, went the length of the pitch and hit the post, nearly winning the game at Craven Cottage. Note: he picked the ball up in his own half because we had no midfield whatsoever. He’s a forward. He needs some sort of service. Delap didn’t and was found out after January so actually he did. This gap I keep hearing about. I watched O’Nien come on for the Mackems. Signed in L1. Looked every inch a PL player. Rigg - involved with the goal. Dewsbury-fall. 28 appearances, 8 goals. Looks the part (and still falls over in a light breeze). Was he outstanding in the Championship? Yes. Were JP, JC, Matusiwa, O’Shea outstanding in the championship this year? I’d say yes with one or two others not far behind. There’s no guarantee they’ll succeed at a higher level, but there’s no certainty that they all won’t. Because this is not the beloved double promotion team and cost fees, there are people out there that loathe them. Want them to fail so they can say while watching their trolleys go round on the spin cycle ‘I was right’. I just think we talk down our players too easily. Some won’t be good enough - obviously. But not all and certainly less than last time. Especially if we strengthen in the right areas. Azeez is just the sort of player we should be signing. Hackney too, though he doesn’t want to come here and will go to a bigger club anyway. But we will need a mix so added to potential and what we have, we’ll need experience, size and somebody who can put the ball away. Three promotions in four seasons. Better individual players than we’ve had in 26 years and a team that tries to play properly, yet many have no faith and no joy in what is happening at ITFC. Entitlement, short memories and Johnny come latelys I guess. |
I agree they’re better players than two years ago but IMHO they’re not going to be the ones keeping us up next season. I would go as far as saying it wouldn’t surprise me if we look to offload one of them and strengthen that position. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just dint think it’s fair to label fans as entitled because they have concerns spending £20m on a player like Azeez. Two years ago £20m got you Omari and I’d take him all day over Azeez. Speak to any Mackem and they’ll tell you O’nien has looked dreadful in the 11 games he’s featured in. Listing a few players who have stepped up from the CH to the PL doesn’t change the fact the gap is still huge. I think you’re talking to the wrong person about the double promotion team. Im not really fussed what they’ve done in previous seasons, it’s what they offer us next season. I’m hopeful O’Shea, Matusiwa and perhaps one or two others will be able to step up. Hackney is a very good example of a player who should comfortably step up next year and I would love for us to sign him but I imagine he’ll have mid-prem teams in for him so that one seems unlikely for now. What league they play in is pretty irrelevant for me, you’re either good enough or not, and right now I have concerns over whether Azeez is good enough. And now it’s been reported that we won’t be going in for him at this stage which I’m glad about. That’s not to say he won’t cut it in the PL at some point in his career. I just think right at this moment, there’s better value out there. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 14:49 - May 18 with 340 views | mellowblue | It is peoples' patent right to have an opinion as to whether they want Azeez at the club, or whether the price is okay. It's a forum isn't it ? Don't understand why you've got your knickers in a tangle over it. |  | |  |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 15:00 - May 18 with 316 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| First entitlement of the summer from the Johnny come latelys on 12:59 - May 18 by FrimleyBlue | If we don't go for him, It does make me wonder if we were that keen on him to begin with or if it was a bit of a game to distrupt his millwall season. I think if im right in thinking this, usually KM is quite reserved when it comes to discussing players linked, but he was fairly vocal of us looking at him. which for me would then be weird to not see it through following promotion |
The difference is we were trying to buy him for the Championship before. Now we're buying players for the Prem. It's possible McKenna has his sights higher now (because they need to be, and we also have the money now that we didn't have before). |  |
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