Merrick's Marvels

We do. It's what happens from there that worries me. Well, not exactly worries, but I do think we need to do better with our final ball from those areas. Finding another red shirt with our delivery, instead of a defender (often the first one), would result in plenty more goals, I feel.

The dentists of Long Ashton haven't stopped celebrating.

Do go on, Jim.

Anyone confirm the lineup please?

Ok, he's not my idea of a midfielder. He's a forward.

I've never known what to do with Andi Weimann!

Never mind the numbers, just feel the drop in quality once Scott leaves for Wolves. It's why some of that transfer fee will surely be spent on a new midfielder. No-one wants to see King out there on his zimmer frame. OTC is miles off. Weimann is no-one's idea of a midfielder. The other 3 are injury prone, soon to be out of contract, or both. So it's disappointing Scott's leaving but using some of his transfer fee to upgrade a couple of our midfielders will put us in a much stronger position squad-wise.

Double wotsit.

Any SLO for the City sure has their work cut out!

You should see the insurance premiums for footballers on Merseyside though, mate - the excess on Theft alone must be about 6 billion quid, such is the likelihood of you being robbed by lowlife scrotes whilst your wife and kids are home alone. And he has lovely but very expensive teeth.

When you reckon SLOs report back for their pre-season training, Glyn?

Don't tell me, you now know where Jon Lansdown lives. Do share, we could all pop round.

You're amazed??? I'm amazed that you're amazed!

He's not remotely in the same league, technique-wise, as Scott and James. So if we're serious about changing from a counter-attacking team to a possession based one, we need an upgrade and next summer, when he's out of contract, is the time to do so. Of course, every team needs its upbeat characters and perhaps Pearson will take a leaf out of Terry Cooper's book who, on signing Trevor Morgan a second time for City, explained that the big man was "good for the dressing room". Personally, I'd not recommend it.

The point I was really making was - "a few games in August are a poor basis on which to make potentially life changing decisions" As for midfield without Scott, I think your phrase "not too bad" sums it up.

Even better than that - we won our first 4 league games and were top of the table at the start of 2020-21. Look how that season turned out. So I admire your optimism but a few games in August are a poor basis on which to make potentially life changing decisions, imo. Also, if someone offered to pay you 10 times your salary tomorrow, would you honestly be thinking "Is my partner ready to follow me" or "I think I'll give it another 12 months here and see how it goes" ? I agree it's not ideal this transfer is taking so long. But even if Scott left tomorrow and we signed someone asap, I doubt they'd be assimilated in time for our first game. So "we are where we are" and "it is what it is", whatever will be will be etc. When all is said and done, the most likely scenario facing us is that, come Preston, Alex Scott will be history and either Weimann or Williams will be in midfield instead. Oh dear.

Chelsea done us over, mate - gonna sign Kalas back for nowt on 1st August!

Men's U18s. He's come on a bit since that pic was taken.

I'm completely with you, 100%. Just resigned (not re-signed!!!!!!) myself to the fact that he'll find a better offer elsewhere.

Weimann signed a new contract in June and turned up for pre-season training.

Because he hasn't got expensive teeth or a flash car to pay for? Or isn't building an expensive, flash house from the ground up which will soon need furnishing with all the gaudy mod cons so beloved of overpaid footballers? Maybe.

Obviously I hope you're spot on. But I'm not so optimistic - specifically I don't think the young inexperienced (at Championship level) players we have will make such a big leap forward, certainly not to the point that we'll overtake the likes of Norwich, Watford, West Brom and one or two others (Boro for one), never mind the relegated teams. I simply don't believe the forward line in particular will prove better than the above, for us to leapfrog into the playoffs. All the while, trying to transition from a counter attacking team to one who can dominate games through possession - after selling the best midfielder we've had in nigh on 50 years! Finishing in the top 10 would be a good effort for me. But hopefully, I'm wrong and it pans out like you say. And I wouldn't have anyone else in charge right now, either ?

10 points off and Sunderland's goal difference was miles better. So 4 wins off. But 7 other teams - Norwich, Preston, Watford, Swansea, West Brom, Millwall, Blackburn - missed out by even less than we did and will be saying exactly the same. So, imo, this line of argument is just an example of making the stats say what you want. Norwich, Watford and West Brom won't be so poor again. The 3 relegated teams will finish above us too. Top 10 is a realistic ambition, and there's always a team or two that does better than expected so being in the "playoff conversation" next year should be our aim, but there's still a mountain to climb. All that, after selling our best player! (I understand this is a necessity, btw)

Yes you're right. We'll still be in the dark about the various add-ons though. So his ultimate value to us will remain a mystery as I bet there will be quite a few add-ons - a sell on clause and full international caps being the two obvious ones - and it might be a few years yet before we see the benefit of these. Good luck with keeping tabs on it all! But if anyone can...

Won't matter because I think it's highly unlikely we'll ever be told, officially. I'd bet more than a few quid on City announcing Scott's departure for "a club record undisclosed fee" and Wolves announcing his arrival for "an undisclosed fee". We'll be left with various media outlets and sources quoting figures and we'll have to decide which ones to believe.