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Reply | Omari to Leeds would be a tough one to take
at 21:44 30 Apr 2025
But what about all the 'snappy snaps' & the stories of 'getting the pre-match scram into the belly'? That kind of mature content is priceless surely. |
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Reply | Just been listening to BM Podcast
at 12:07 28 Apr 2025
Having ambitious targets is one thing, convincing them to come to a Championship side, while Premier League sides, incl Leeds & Burnley, are presumably interested too, is another.
I think holding on to Tuanzebe, O'Shea & Hutchinson for next season would be more important & impressive than any potential 'frightening' new signing. We really lacked in having PL experienced/proven quality in our side this season, and those 3 are at that level. Any exciting new signings are likely to be in the Jack Clarke & Jayden Philogene bracket; full of skill & bags of potential, but not necessarily ready to step up to playing against PL opposition just yet.
I can't see Cajuste staying, but again keeping him would trump the signing of a young guy ripping it up in a lower league this season.
We have to not only put together a squad to win promotion, but one that will be somewhat PL ready upon achieving that aim. |
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Reply | Luton just sent Cardiff and Plymouth down
at 18:55 26 Apr 2025
God I hope not; one of our top targets this summer should be Mahailo Ivanovic, who will be hard enough to prize away from them with us in the same league as them!
Cost them nearly £3m last year, so will be £10m+ now. |
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Reply | Line up tomorrow
at 14:14 25 Apr 2025
Let's throw caution to the wind & go for it in a 3-4-3 formation:
Palmer
Tuanzebe, O'Shea, Burgess
Hutchinson, Morsy, Cajuste, Clarke
Delap, Hirst, Broadhead.
Just have the one sub on the bench, Kevin O'Callaghan style. |
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Reply | Burnley and Leeds in for George Hirst....
at 06:28 24 Apr 2025
Jay Stansfield was a target for us as a similar style centre forward, and Birmingham paid £15m for him to play in League 1 this season.
Sure he has done well at that level, as you'd expect - although taking penalties out of it, Alfie May has had a better goals return for them - but certainly no more impressive than Hirst's post January period in L1 for us.
Stansfield is younger, but Hirst is still only 26, and given that a lot of his quality is in hos intelligence, strength & hold up play, he should be a good performer for another 10 years, at Championship/PL level, barring any serious injury. |
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Reply | Dara O'Shea ...
at 16:09 23 Apr 2025
O'Shea wasn't keen on coming here initially, due to the likelihood of us being relegated & his previous unfortunate record of relegations. There was interest in him from both Brentford & Wolves, and given the ultimate choice, he would have picked either over us.
That is no slight on the club, the manager, the fans or the town, but a reasonable analysis of his career prospects at that time. As other trading took place, and signings were made, he lost out on those moves & McKenna moved in for him again, despite being well down the road on recruiting the lad from Sheff Utd. At this point we were his best remaining option & he was impressed by McKenna tbf.
We cannot fault his choices in the summer, nor can we now question his utter commitment to Ipswich Town since signing; he is a Premier League level player & a total professional.
We won't be forced to sell him for financial reasons, nor will we want him to go, so he should be worth in excess of £20m, however ... given his history, & his justifiable concerns about relegation before signing, he MAY have one of those dreaded clauses in his contract that allows him to go if a certain value is met! |
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Reply | hey Blootie
at 11:14 23 Apr 2025
If we are going to concentrate more on recruiting from the foreign market, it might help to have someone talking Italian. |
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Reply | hey Blootie
at 11:06 23 Apr 2025
There could be something in this, I heard a rumour. |
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Reply | Delap...
at 20:17 16 Apr 2025
In hindsight, we should have sold him in January, for a possible £50m. Chelsea were certainly reported to be prepared to pay that amount.
Of course there'd be calls for Ashton's head if we had, as we still felt we'd be able to stay up, and there were no real replacement options available. |
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Reply | Delap...
at 10:06 16 Apr 2025
This is Delap's contract with the club & the clause is one that he & his representatives wanted put in for his benefit. Nobody, not even himself, could have predicted how well he would do in his first full season of men's football, and that pretty much all the top PL sides would be interested in signing him, so £30m probably seemed like a more than reasonable amount at the time.
What I haven't seen discussed (maybe I've missed it) is whether or not we looked to offer him an improved contract in January, which could have addressed the value of the relegation clause, given that it was clear the likes of Chelsea, Spurs & Everton wanted him by then, while Man Utd, Newcastle & even Liverpool were also being linked as 'watching' him. He was been spoken of as a £50m+ player, even beforexa potential bidding war
He had certainly justified improved terms already, especially given our failure to bring in Broja, Ioannidis & Lathe Latte to share the burden of senior striker, and Hirst's injury troubles. It's hard to believe that the club didn't try; sure Ashton & McKenna still believed we would/could stay up, but we were already 1 of only 4 that were possible sides that were clearly going to fill the 3 relegation spots.
I can only assume that we did make an approach, but Delap & his reps were comfortable with the contract situation as it is.
Lower transfer fee => more clubs making an offer => higher signing on fee & wages. |
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Reply | Dilemma
at 21:19 13 Apr 2025
I'm with JCBlue on this one; as a memento of their first ever game, FOR A KID, getting a half & half scarf is an acceptable purchase. This is the ONLY circumstance where this is the csse however. |
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Reply | 30m release clause for Delap when we go down
at 11:55 11 Apr 2025
This is the point as I see it. Premier League quality strikers have been in short supply this season, as a number of higher positioned clubs have also found, so us bringing in Delap was quite a coup in itself.
Of course at the time a number of posters on here thought he was a poor signing & the fee paid was crazy money. Had this release clause been made public right from the off, I don't think too many on here would have been pulling their hair out at the thoughts off selling him for £30m just 10 months later. We have to be fair & consider the contract in terms of the contemporaneous circumstances.
Also, we are looking at 2 contracts here really; firstly the one we had to agree with Man City, where we bought him out of the existing one he had with them, and secondly the one we had to agree with Delap & his agent, which didn't involve City, outside of the buy back element of the first contract above.
The buy back does not appear to be issue that will arise, so really the discussions going on over the last few days revolves around the Ipswich negotiations with Delap's agent. (Yes I know there is a sell on for City, but that's not the issue that is upsetting people).
Delap's representatives clearly, and justifiably, were concerned at the prospects of us going down, and where that would leave their man - which is reasonable. A £10m increase in value on the face of it doesn't sound ridiculous, with the City sell on 'only' taking £2m of that, leaving us with an Ogbene fee level of profit. (I am assuming the sell on is the standard percentage on profit rather than full fee).
If we were to stay up it appears that this would not be an issue, and we would be able to have an auction off to the highest bidder situation, but that's not going to happen now & we have to accept that Delap's agent properly protected him against our relegation.
I think Ashton gave the quote about the club being well protected a couple of months ago; he probably felt we had a good chance of staying above Wolves at that point, & therefore the likelihood of the relegation clause being invoked was not necessarily the most pressing worry he had. But we didn't kick on, like most of us expected to some degree, and Wolves suddenly became one of the most in form team in the league, thus sealing our fate.
It is what it is. |
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Reply | Just looked at top goalscorers in Championship
at 14:49 9 Apr 2025
I have a fear that Szmodics could be added to that list of players not here next season. That might seem far fetched on the face of it, but he has proven himself as a goal scorer/threat in the Premier League, which will be appealing to the promoted sides, & probably a couple of low finishers in the PL this season. He also works his socks off & has the versatility to play as a striker, or in any of the attacker roles across the 3 behind the striker.
Szmodics will be 30 next season, so he'll realise that time is running out for him to play more Premier League football matches, particularly with his unfortunate injury(s) this season.
I think we'll get offers, I think he'll be interested, & I think the manager/club will consider it, with regard to his welfare as well. We could well see a season long loan, with an option to buy, to a Premier League side; with certain protective clauses inserted into the deal regarding us coming straight back up, and/or his loan club being relegated. |
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Thread | Jack Clarke
at 09:00 3 Apr 2025
He's far from the finished article at Premier League level, but I've been enjoying Jack Clarke's appearances for us over the last couple of months, & really hope we hold on to him for a few years. He is defnitely a strong contender in the most improved player, over the course of the season, category.
To be fair to him, he had to come into a new side, in the PL, & play an unfamilar role, so he looked a bit lost early on & gave away possesson cheaply in poor areas too often, without ever really looking a threat for us.
But, he has matured very well I think, is far more competitive in challenges now, & even when he's not tackling, he is getting back to cover breaks, runs & passes with awareness & urgency.
Of course his main role is as a ball carrier, creating chances & taking his own opportunity to shoot; I think he has improved in all these areas too. He doesn't overplay the ball so much anymore, his decision making is better - that head in his hands moment after a loose pass across the back must have haunted him - plus his strength & shielding of the ball when challenged has all improved significantly too.
I'm waiting for him to crack in a top corner worldly against Wolves on Saturday. [Post edited 3 Apr 9:03]
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Reply | Jens Cajuste - wishful thinking, or a realistic possibility?
at 18:53 19 Mar 2025
Any one of the promoted sides (Leeds, Sheff Utd & Burnley probably) would happily pay £20m+ for a proven PL quality midfielder, and Cajuste has certainly proven himself.
The agreement we made with Napoli, to only sign him if we stayed up, was in our interest at the time, especially given his injury concern, but now it will work against us. Had we committed to buy regardless of staying up, we would have numerous full wage loan offers for him next season, and then be ready to welcome him back when we get promoted again.
Napoli will make a few extra million on what we would be paying. |
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Reply | shirt printing
at 17:11 16 Mar 2025
Ask him if he's absolutely sure he wants Tuanzebe on the shirt, unlikely to play many more minutes for us unfortunately.
By the time he is back fit, we could be effectively down (if we don't beat Wolves), at which point we might want to keep giving Premier League minutes to the players who will still be here next season. |
| | Len_Brennan
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