 | News
Comment | McKenna: FFP Limits Promoted Clubs' Ambition
at 18:36:34
There is obviously a serious problem for promoted clubs. That's not a finger in the air guess it's a fact borne out of six teams gaining promotion and six teams being demoted in the last two seasons. Players don't want to join a newly promoted club if they are established at another Premier club unless like Phillips who was basically loaned to revive a flagging career and to get some of the costs off Man City's wage bill.
That means that newly promoted clubs can only lure players from other Championship clubs or as in Town's case players that have performed to a reasonable standard in the Premiership.
Of course there will always be the situation where even if it was possible to compete financially with a big club if both they and yourselves are in the market for a player they will 99 times out of 100 go to the bigger club.
I have advocated a handicap system whereby clubs finishing top start minus 9 points the next season. Second, third ,fourth, fifth and sixth start minus 6 points. From seventh down to 15th minus three and 16th,17th and the three promoted clubs start at zero.
Not saying that is the exact model but you have a system in horse racing where handicap horses are given weight dependent on their finishes in races. |
| News
Comment | McKenna: Phillips Unlikely to Return Before End of Season
at 15:28:43
Given that his wages are reputed to be £150,000 a week and Town most likely paying half that figure he has been a huge disappointment. Unfit when coming from City he has had several spells out injured and under-performed when he has played, rarely dominating. But to be fair the whole of Towns midfield has struggled this season with injuries and this will be a vital area for MA & KM to get right for next season.
Of course I wish him well but I do wonder where he will end up. |
| News
Comment | Manchester United 'In Pole Position' For Delap
at 19:13:18
Over the years there have been many players who jump ship at the first opportunity a sad case of that has to be Kalvin Phillips, a star at Leeds and a broken man at City. Trying and in many respects failing to revive his career at a newly promoted club.
If he goes to Man Utd I wish him well. But as with Rasmus H it's an awful lot of responsibility on young shoulders. Many bigger stars than Liam have tried and failed.
For Utd £30 million is small change if you compare that against the likes of Pogba at £90 million and even if Delap turned into a moderate success it wouldn't be that difficult to recoup the money selling to another newly promoted club. |
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Comment | McKenna: We're in a Difficult Spot in Terms of Availability
at 16:11:08
It's funny how players are always fit if a team is doing well, but injured when they are not. Yes I know we have a few long term, but the short termers seem to be stacking up. Is this a ploy to keep certain players out of the spotlight, to try different things and players such as Phillips who won't be here next season to say thanks, but no thanks for what remains of our time in the Premier League. |
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Comment | Town Accounts Show £39.3m Loss and Turnover Increase By 71 Per Cent
at 12:41:48
With regards to Gamechanger and their investment many millions more will be spent before they offload the club. By then based on where we are League the Cobbold will be redeveloped making PR a 35-40,000 seater stadium and I suspect they will hope by then we have a team in the Premier League which is established along with millions of pounds worth of assets. Therefore a very good return on their investment and it has to be remembered that they already have a further investment in the club to the tune of £115 million. |
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Comment | Delap Left Out of England Squad
at 10:09:19
No doubt his form has tailed off. When you consider his performance against Chelsea he's been way off that. But then you take the situation where we lost Burns due to injury, Omari hasn't been anywhere near the goal threat of last season and Philogene is still getting up to speed and will maybe take until next season to show his full potential and our midfield have been shuffled about so many times with injuries and suspension. So this all adds up to the team as a whole not performing well enough. |
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Comment | Al-Hamadi: Stoke Loan Move a Perfect Fit
at 12:11:52
Whatever AAH does I wish him luck. He could be a great asset to Town in the Championship that is if Town doesn't get an offer that would be acceptable. I still have reservations that he will make a Premier League striker though. |
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Comment | McKenna on Cunha Charge: My First No Comment in Three Years
at 18:39:02
If you could look back on my comments made with regards to people who continually worry about what other teams are doing you would see I totally agree with Mr. McKenna. Yes if one of our players is violent towards an oppositions player or staff and they were in a similar position as we are in that they were scrapping for survival then they would want our player given a long ban. It will be of little use to ourselves if the Wolves player is banned if we don't get two more wins than them. One being our game against them. But every player we lose through injury is making it harder and harder to put out a side capable of beating the ones we need to. We have had terrible luck with injuries that may or may not have altered the slim margins between winning and losing. Who knows. But it's in our hands. If we aren't good enough then we go again and the need will be for the team to be stronger. |
| News
Comment | Szmodics and Tuanzebe Set For Ops as McKenna Gives Lowdown on Injury Woes
at 15:06:27
I don't know what it is with players today they get far fewer games to play, far less heavy pitches to encounter and yet so many bad injuries. Perhaps it's actually this rotation thing and players coming on with 20 minutes to go that is the problem as in the Premier League they get fewer matches than the Championship and Cup games are usually played by those that are in the squad as subs or not getting regular game time. |
| News
Comment | Woolfenden: Everyone's on the Same Page, We Still Believe and We're Still Going Right to the Wire
at 15:50:34
I don't know how many players have now come out with similar statements with regards to us getting results and whilst I'd be the first to say I still believe in these players I cannot see how we are going to turn this around. Every game that passes and we don't get anything out of it means we are nearer to the end of the season and whilst there are still 33 points to fight for we are five points off Wolves who also have a better goal difference as well. So in truth that at the least two more wins than wolves. One being our home game against them. But so far we have been unable to beat teams near to us in the table. |
| News
Comment | Delap: Culture Here is Excellent
at 15:58:06
My thoughts are if we are to improve and ultimately stay in the Premier League we need to keep our best players whether that's Delap or whoever. Of course they all have their price but we aren't as a club exactly skint with I believe an £800 million cash fund as proclaimed by Gamechanger when they took over. The mere fact that they have invested over £120 million in the squad and have poured millions into the PR stadium with plans for the Cobbold after the development of the training facilities means they aren't going to go anywhere anytime soon.. |
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Comment | Town Agree Goalkeeper Data Partnership
at 14:13:14
What is the old saying "There's lies. damned lies and statistics" As many have allured to currently we have a large squad of players where many of the new recruits just aren't cutting the mustard. I'm not having a go at them as I don't believe some are as bad as some are saying. But in my humble view you cannot beat trailing a player for weeks, perhaps months to see how they perform in all situations. Not just going on some computer generated analysis. It doesn't always follow that because someone is a "Good kid" that when on a football pitch that they will perform better than one that's a bit of a rogue. |
| News
Comment | Clarke Completes Blades Loan Move
at 18:27:59
Good luck Harry. Would like to see you back at Town one day as nobody can ever deny you gave your all. Sadly for you and a few other guys who put us where we are the Premier League was one step too much. The sad fact is the likes of Chappers and Woolfy may not be with us if we dropped down a League so it makes you wonder who out of the players replacing these players will no longer be with us either. Some will see themselves as being too good and some will be sold because of their asset value. |
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Comment | Bruce: Baggott Outstanding
at 11:51:45
Personally could never understand why Baggott wasn't given a chance to establish himself in the first team. He came on against Fulham in the Cup last season and marshalled the defence very well and also scored a late goal in a game we were totally outclassed. Maybe it was too much to expect him to be up to Premier League quality but he could have had a few more games in the Championship. As a club our progression of young players has been poor for many seasons now. It needs to end. We have allowed that lot up the A140 to have carte blanche to cherry pick. If we are to compete in the top league we need to produce players that we can use and also sell. |
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Comment | Edmundson Fee and Personal Terms Agreed
at 08:39:04
The deal must be slightly better than the original fee offered and seeing as George is now way down the pecking order it makes sense for all parties. Good luck George, may the rest of your career be a success. |
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Comment | McKenna: Third Number Nine the Ideal But There Are Very Few Out There
at 17:01:36
To get a forward better than Hirst but maybe not up to Delap's level Town would need to spend 30 maybe 40 million. It's a pity we don't have what seems a great scouting system abroad, but even then as KM says and as we have seen the last two seasons it takes several weeks for a player to integrate into the team. Time we simply don't have. |
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Comment | Carrick: Edmundson Deal Needs to Be Right For All Parties
at 14:14:04
It's more of a win,win situation for Edmundson than it is for Town now as if he stays with us he gets paid until the end of the season and then can go on a free and negotiate his own terms with another club. Or he goes to Borough with no doubt some sort of signing on fee. As for Town if the 500 k fee is true with a £350,000 if they get promoted isn't a bad deal given his initial cost, age and the fact he can go for nothing in a few months. Seems mad, but then are these figures correct ? |
| News
Comment | Hackett: Officials Need Operational Advice For Failure to Red Card Pedro
at 17:30:41
Isn't this just one decision in a long line of decisions going against us. Whilst I don't want to sound like a whinger using excuses for our failures we have been denied penalties and had penalties against us, been given cards when other teams consistently foul and nothing is given. There has to be a problem otherwise why would our CEO ask for a meeting with officials to discuss VAR. Frankly it is no better and probably worse than relying on the officials and has just added "Jobs for the boys" whilst costing newly promoted clubs a fortune to set up. |
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Comment | Donacien: My Hardest Ever Goodbye
at 13:11:27
What stands out about J D going is what a fantastic club we have now. From the depths of despair to the pinnacle of the Premier League and whatever happens this season we know that we are in safe hands and as long as those that come to the club conduct themselves in the same manner as J D we can look forward to a happy and secure future of ITFC. Thank you J D you go with all our best wishes. |
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