 | News
Comment | Town Linked With Loan Approach For Spanish Striker
at 13:56:01
I'm only interested in loan deals for players like this, if we have an option to buy for a reasonable set fee at the end of the loan.
Seeing Guiu go to Sunderland on a straight loan, with no buying option attached, makes me unconcerned about losing out on him; there are numerous striker options good enough to help our squad of players get promoted from the Championship, but what we want is someone good enough to step up a level next season (if required) and some expectation that he will still be here, having played with most of his teammates for 12 months already.
Without that, we may as well just bring in the Championship equivalent of Freddie & then move him on next summer. |
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Comment | Town Face Charlton at Colchester
at 12:58:39
It's an important game for Humphreys, who needs to show that he is ready to be a match day squad level midfielder, for a promotion chasing Championship side. |
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Comment | McKenna: Philogene Very Good Tonight, His Off the Ball Work Was Outstanding
at 07:15:25
Philogene looked excellent last night & is going to be a star for us, barring injury, this season.
I'm a fan of Jack Clarke & have really been looking forward to seeing him rip it up in the Championship for us, after an initially challenging spell in the Premier League. I thought he had gotten much better in the second half of the season, as he adapted his game & by the end was making a real impact in games. The problem that he has now, that became apparent last night, is that Philogene worked really well on the left side, in tandem with Leif Davis, who was immense running the line, but also alternating & cutting into the middle. This play looked like it has been worked on in training & will be a real threat for us when the season starts.
But where does that leave Jack Clarke, especially when we still have Broadhead & Szmodics to play on the left side of the attacking 3 (or of the 2 #10s depending on how we are set up)? Last night he played on the right, but despite a couple of excellent pieces of skill, & an undouted increase in his tackling from 12 months ago, he looked a bit lost out there for large periods & doesn't present the threat he does from the other side.
Clarke spent much of last season learning to play differently to his natural inclination, and I fear that he may suffer a similar fate again this season, through no fault of his own. We are unbalanced atm, with Burns unlikely to available much, or even be registered, pre Christmas, Ogbene only just back & being a more direct option, and strong indications that Hutchinson will move in the coming week/s - McKenna was careful in his comments regarding Omari's partipation for us; implying rather than stating, allowing wiggle room.
There is still work to be done in getting that balance right. |
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Comment | Luongo Close to Joining Millwall
at 14:17:13
Luongo & Morsy would still have been a perfectly acceptable starting midfield partnership (to the 70th minute anyway) for a top half/promotion chasing side in the Championship this season.
The fact that we were prepared to let both go, while also seeing our 2 loan options go back, has to suggest that we have at least 2 more central midfielders, of a higher calibre than those 2, lined up to more than just a wishlist level. |
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Comment | Matusiwa: I Think This is My Competition
at 07:37:36
This is an upgrade from Kalvin Phillips, knowing as we do that Kalvin Phillips is no longer the player that he was before joining Man City, physical fitness, mental toughness & games per season wise.
If Morsy stays, we will be very strong in that #6 defensive/holding midfield position, and if he goes, it will only be because we are signing another such player AS WELL as a Cajuste replacement, such as Marcel Ruiz (hopefully) Tim Iroegbunam, Lennon Miller or Cajuste himself.
Matusiwa hasn't played in England before & pretty much none of us have seen him play, other than from a YouTube highlights clip, but we can still tell that he is a strong signing, with the right physical & age profiles, plus he has come through an elite footballing academy at Ajax, which is something that McKenna really prizes in his signings. He is exactly the type of midfielder we need for this season & beyond; he should be well 'gelled' into what we do should we get promoted & have another crack at the PL next season.
He has all the hallmarks of being an excellent addition for us. Well done to all involved. |
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Comment | Tuanzebe Linked With Trabzonspor
at 06:33:33
We don't need to keep Axel for a season playing in the Championship, because we'll still have enough good centre halves & right backs to be a promotion winning side without him, even before we sign someone new.
Why we do need to keep Axel now, is so we still have him if/when we achieve that promotion & come back into the Premier League with a genuine PL class defender already in the squad, rather than having to spend £20m+ on someone that is likely to be a gamble, like how Greaves was in tbe season just gone.
A 2 year deal, with an option of an extra year, would do nicely. |
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Comment | Tuanzebe Out of DR Congo Squad
at 07:13:02
A genuine Premier League class player that we have in our squad, at this moment, so I would be very slow to let him go, if we can do anything about it.
If you take out the freak accident with his thumb, & the post 'harsh' sending off ban he got, his availability wasn't bad in the season just gone, so I wouldn't be throwing the 'sick note' tag at him; similarly, in the Championship season, once we got him up & running after Christmas, he was an ever present feature of the team.
We have to try & sign players now, that we think/know will be able to step up to the PL, assuming that our tag of primotion favourites is justified; the first part of that process should be to ensure that as many of those players already at the club, as possible, are retained.
How much would it cost us to try & sign someone of Axel's quality this time next year?
This injury, presuming it os relatively minor, may actually be a blessing in disguise for us, as it may put off a PL club considering Axel as a very tempting out of contract signing. |
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Comment | Premier League Trio Linked With O'Shea
at 14:20:24
He didn't want to come to us initially, as he (justifiably) saw us as likely relegation contenders, having just come up, especially given his previous spells with WBA & Burnley. For that reason, I don't think he'll be rushing to Leeds or Burnley, as he's likely to be back next season with us, as captain.
Wolves would be a different mattdr, although they made good defensive acquisitions in the January window, so wouldn't really be looking for a first choice centre half, I would have thought ? |
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Comment | Delap Chelsea Medical Set For Monday
at 16:29:02
From our perspective, Chelsea are probably the worst club he could be going to. Assuming that Ashton isn't creating a misleading position re: a sell on, we'll be hoping that he'll continue to improve & move on again for, say £100m, thus gaining us a further (20% of the £70m profit) £14m from the sale.
If we were selling to Everton or Newcastle, there is every chance he would continue to stand out & a 'bigger', richer club, such as Chelsea, would come in for him & be prepared to pay 'mad money'.
But there are few clubs, worldwide, that can compete with Chelsea, for fees & wages, or force them to sell a player by offering money they can't turn down.
On top of that, Chelsea have been a bit of a basket case club in recent years, where some talented young players have gotten lost in a ridiculouslty sized squad of international superstars brought in for huge fees. There is undoubtedly a chance that Delap will suffer for minutes in that environment, and Chelsea could bring in another big signing striker or two over this & the next couple of windows. We wouldn't want to see him offloaded to Newcastle or Everton in a couple of years, for £35m. |
| News
Comment | Morsy: My Favourite Midfielder I've Played With
at 08:11:17
Sam uses the words 'partnership' & 'complementary' above, when describing Massimo's impact on him, and that's 100% how I think of them.
Obviously the demands at Premier League levels are exceptional, but their performances at L1 & the Championship, as a midfield duo, were better than any of us could have expected, because they worked so well together. It was one of those cases where the whole of their partnership vastly exceeded the sum of their individual parts, notwithstanding the fact that they are very decent players on an individual basis. |
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Comment | Fulham Linked With Johnson
at 21:41:44
What is meant by no relegation clause though?
Maybe there's no agreed value, that once met we'd be obliged to sell, as per Delap's contract, but will he remain on his Premier League weekly wage when playing in the Championship?
If we have players that we could not get to agree salary reductions upon relegation clauses, we may well be open to letting them go. |
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Comment | Newcastle United 1-0 Ipswich Town - Half-Time
at 16:31:36
TimmyH - I understand what you're saying & thought it looked a bit theatrical too on first view; but looking at the way Burn's leg came out, I'm less convinced. I think it's one of those that you just wave on; no foul, no simulation to be called. |
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Comment | McKenna: Certainly a Possibility Delap Will Be an Ipswich Player Next Season
at 19:22:35
As ITFC Singapore says, Delap & his representatives negotiated a release clause, in the event of relegation, into his contract with us. They did that to protect him, and that was before he proved himself as a quality Premier League centre forward, coveted by most of the top sides in that league. |
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Comment | Promoted Pair Linked With Hirst
at 14:40:43
I'm astounded by some of the responses here around what the value of Hirst is now, and in particular what his value is to us ahead of the new season, with Delap almost certainly leaving. |
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Comment | Clarke: I'm Better Equipped Than I Was at the Start of the Season
at 07:13:06
He has definitely improved as the season went on & I hope we keep hold of him for the next season in the Championship, because he will be a massive threat for us at that level & far better prepared for another crack at the PL come August 2026.
I think there will be interest in him from other sides, but it would be a shame to lose him before we've seen the best of him, particularly when so much work has gone in to adapt & mature his game.
At worst, maybe a season long loan, with options should we fail to get promoted, could be considered I guess. |
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Comment | Johnson: We've Done the Club Proud
at 14:27:34
It will be interesting to see where Johnson fits in the team for next season; we'll presumably have Ogbene & Burns back for that right sided up & down wing roll. He's more likely to be played as a right full back, steppng into a back three when required, particularly so of Tuanzebe gets a good contract offer from a PL side.
He clearly has quality & should be a standout player at Championship level, even if he is prone to getting caught on the break & loses possession too often with underhit passes or a poor first touch, against good players. |
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Comment | Delap Release Clause £30m
at 19:33:57
It's hard for clubs, CEOs & managers to win sometimes. Delap is one of the signings of the season; other clubs were in for him, but we got him, & he signed on a full contract for us despite being with Manchester City.
Nobody could have expected him to have done this well, this quickly, but nearly everyone in football was aware of his talent, potential & particularly coveted style of play. It was a coup getting him to sign for a club that was playing in League 1 just 15 months earlier, & were favourites for relegation. In those circumstances, we were not in the strongest negotiating position, regardless of Ashton's tough businessman reputation & McKenna's skills for developing players, not to mention our legendary training facilities.
Plenty of posters, myself included to a point, have been critical of the club's failure to land another senior striker during both the summer & January windows. We were prepared to sign Broja on loan with an OBLIGATION to buy in the event we stayed up, right up to the last minute when the medical showed up an issue that we felt required amending the deal for. Everton and/or Broja rejected our new proposed terms & the move collapsed, leaving us scrambling late on, and ultimately with only one fit striker (Delap) going into a Premier League season.
You can see how clubs end up doing some deals that they wouldn't necessarily have wanted to when the transfer window open. |
| | Len_Brennan
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