ScottishRed

32 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

The festival site is actually closer to Shepton than Glastonbury isn't it?

Never considered the question before and I live in the area.

I don’t think there is much in it but my guess is Glastonbury is closer. I suspect it depends on what gate you measure it from.

10 minutes ago, Grey Fox said:

And what would our odds be if our squad included :

g/k Heaton

Back four Ayling, Webster, Kelly , Bryan

Midfield Brownhill, Scott , Naismith, Williams 

Forwards Semenyo , Reid 

Or we can just continue to be mediocre, I know what I prefer 

 

Lovely thought even if it is completely impractical.

I can’t be bothered to go over it all again but, players want to move if an opportunity arises, for two things,

1. More money

2. Playing at a higher level

That is the reality. If a club meets our valuation for Alex, it will then be his decision. The likelihood is that he will go.

40 minutes ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

Arsenal want him as Partey is off to Saudi I assume they know how much for and what they have to play with 

Oh I agree on that, not suggesting that they will go to £150m or anything.

What I am suggesting is that they have set their stall out and it’s difficult to row back now.

33 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Man City have pulled out. Just being greedy now. £100 m plus £5m in add ons is about right. He's not worth more than Jude Bellingham.

No he isn’t.

West Ham are very much in the box seats here. Arsenal are desperate to sign him and are going all out to get him, so West Ham can effectively dictate the terms. Unless they completely over cook it they will get what they want.

30 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Yes,, rejecting a bid from bournemouth is one thing, but inter are one of the worlds great clubs,, that is dream land for a young footballer!!

On the face of it yes but it is a double edged sword.

Different language and culture and style of football. I would jump at it but , apart from the fact I am old and I can’t play! 

Joking aside, it’s a big move for a youngster, I think Bellingham’s  mum / dad took turns to live in Germany, and possibly Spain, with their son. Wise move but that is not always possible.

15 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Yes,,, im sure something would be worked out… if he is keen to make that move,,, wow, what an opportunity that is, if we turn it down i cant see he will be particularly happy?! As well as declining him the opportunity of being a millionaire over night?!

Any  move he makes is going to make him a millionaire. 

Antonie reportedly on 50k per week at Muff.

It’s worth acknowledging that most youngsters that go into an academy system actually don’t make it into full time football.

I have managed lads when I did U18’s that had been released by L2 clubs, who were outstanding.

It made me realize again that if they were being released how good were the ones they kept, and this was at L2.

Anyone who can get a pro contract has done exceptionally well.

Good luck to Vince, I hope it works out for him.

38 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The West Ham owners have already confirmed they’ll be selling Rice, so I don’t think it matters too much which order it happens in.

I’ll be pleased for Alex to go to a club like West Ham, under Moyes too.  He’s an honest manager, you’d expect him and Newman to see eye-to-eye also.

I don’t want him going to Bournemouth or Luton for example.  Brighton, West Ham-type clubs are a good choice if he doesn’t want to try to go top-6 in one move.

It’s football and can happen at any club but I am not sure how long Davie Moyes has at West Ham.

Brighton is a very good shout for Alex . My Man City theory is cooling rapidly if they did for Rice, but that could just be agent talk to speed up Arsenal.

1 minute ago, BLRed said:

Can’t quite understand how kalas is taking so long to make a decision unless other offers he was hoping for are non-existent. In which case, let’s not keep a player that doesn’t want to be here and we are last resort.

 

as far as other transfers go, we need goals from midfield. Will knight offer that? Currently all our cm options score very little so how can we change that?

 

can mehmeti score more? Scott? Benarous? Weimann?

I would imagine Kalas has been given a deadline for a decision. My guess would be day 1 of pre-season.

40 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Gazza offers the corrective to "what if your boyhood dream came true and not only did you play for England but you were England's best player for half a dozen years"?

Similar to Kurt Cobain - if you're unhappy then becoming the world's biggest rock star won''t change that.

He has always been a very troubled man, success and wealth won't change that.

 

It is an incredibly sad story that he blames for the issues he has had.

48 minutes ago, Baldyman said:

Apparently he resigned and wasn’t sacked . I’m wondering if he made up his mind after the abuse he and his family received after their first leg hammering at Peterborough? May have thought “I ain’t putting up with this but but will see it out and stick two fingers up if by some miracle we win “ 

It’s a fair point however, you would have thought he would have done that already.

1 hour ago, Baldyman said:

Wow ! That’s criminal ! If we were all sacked tomorrow after meeting all of our work objectives with ease and replaced before we had chance to take the photo of the  Mrs off the desk , we’d be straight onto an employment solicitor and we’d all win ! How football continues to get away with this beggars belief ! 

Will all be detailed in his contract regarding terms of severance. Remember football managers are all on fixed term contracts unlike , most of the working population 

IF he was sacked it’s quite unbelievable. I hope he finds another job quickly and succeeds. I think he is a very decent bloke.

Just seen his staff have gone too, sounds like they were pushed father than jumped and the new man wants to bring in his own staff.

Football can be crazy.

I recall being excited by him signing. Wasn’t there some whoha about his wages, kicked off by Marlon’s father allegedly.

Shame he barely played.

Anyway crazy decision by Muff.

We have to remember it is still very early in the window. Clearly if he is going to leave then the earlier the better but, it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that it could be quite the opposite.

We might get the fee we want but have little time to utilize what element of it is available to spend. 

The danger is that a club comes in late in August and agrees to say £25m , Alex wants to go there and we are in a race against time with some targets already gone and the remaining ones suddenly more expensive.

Its going to potentially be a long summer.

2 minutes ago, sglosbcfc said:

When he last took Kilmarnock to Ibrox he was the victim of Sectarian abuse from sections of the Rangers fans. You can imagine that some players/managers don't want the extra heat that goes with Old Firm employment.

Absolutely correct.

I am led to believe that Eddie Howe turned down Celtic two years ago for exactly that reason. 

Ange took the job as 2nd choice maybe 3rd. 

If I was in football management I would go nowhere near either of those clubs.

9 minutes ago, sglosbcfc said:

Did an unbelievable job with Kilmarnock. I think he led them to their best league finish for 40+ years.

Interesting he was apparently approached by Celtic last time round and made it clear he did not want any part of the nonsense that goes with that job or with their equally ugly sister. 

9 minutes ago, The Bard said:

He's a very good manager. Hugely underrated 

He is and is doing an excellent job with very limited resources regarding player numbers.

Our expectations are very different to Englad’s, reaching the finals and getting out of the group is as far as it goes in reality.

Tuesday night is big for us, Georgia have rained on our parade previously, but a win would put us in a strong position. 

Chickens are not being counted however

10 minutes ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

Have a look at the views of every club he’s been a part of

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/3995357.oliver-phillips-reflects-on-the-departure-of-mark-ashton-from-watford/

@Dom1969

This is certainly worth a read and some reflection. I cannot speak for any of my fellow Reds but I have never felt the remotest element of malice to your club, in fact the opposite.

Given what that nice Mr Ashton did here, and elsewhere, and the fact, if you believe what he says, that he has almost total control of your club, I would be very concerned.

He left us in a complete mess due to the laxity of our, hugely successful, owner, which in itself is surprisingly given how much he has achieved in the world of finance. He also had a young HC in place who was naive enough to go along with his wheeling and dealing.

You may be in for an interesting ride. PS Don’t expect to hear too much from him if things are not going well,the converse will be equally true.

13 hours ago, bcfctim said:

"The board leave me, they don't interfere with the operations, they let me get on with it. And that is so important to give us the runway to build this football club"

Words to send a chill down your spine.

 

 

He’s still got it!

1 hour ago, ralphindevon said:

Sky are struggling at the moment and are laying off or cutting wages on many employees, so it won’t be a big money move from another broadcaster I doubt.

I do wonder where the whole Sky sports is heading, I think subscribers are down, there’s more choices and they don’t have blanket coverage of sports like they used to.

I know I’m thinking of quitting my membership when it runs out in a few months, mainly because of the ridiculous price increase a few months ago. I know they’ll offer a deal but I don’t think I’ll give them a second chance this time.

I think the golden goose of TV revenue from football may be in the early stages of flying off.

Every time the rights come up for renewal the contract gets bigger and that cost, of course, is passed on to the consumer.

There is a huge issue potentially for the EPL, their averice on wages and transfer fees would have to reduce if the broadcasters did not keep throwing more money at them.

I don’t know when the contracts are next out to tender but if the current trend continues then the EPL clubs may have to tighten their belts.

3 hours ago, marcofisher said:

If the posters above are true about him working hard in the off-season, I have not lost hope for him.

Players such as Vyner and Pring knuckled down when it was looking like curtains on their Bristol City career, and convinced Nice to give them another chance, and they were better for the experience.

Maybe this could be another case of the same? If he comes back really fit and firing pre-season, then you never know. Otherwise, seems a great shame to lose a player with great upside, although I entirely trust the club's judgement.

Any idea on the length on his contract? Would it make sense to keep him about for 6-12 months and really see what he is like when fit, potentially loaning him at some point for half a season to show what value he has? Could mean a bigger sale at the end of it.

Don’t disagree. Could be just paper talk or maybe Nige has decoded to see if there is any interest as he has not been too impressed so far.

14 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

They are huge pals.

Im sure there’s a old photo of Gordon and Joe together with Hayley as a child

They were best man at each other’s weddings.

Sad news. RIP big fella 

I really rate Jude, fantastic talent with a very mature attitude for a young lad.

I can see the attraction of going to RM and Madrid is a marvelous city but I would imagine his profile will make it difficult to enjoy it day to day.

Watched them against Man City in the CL semi and they were taken apart. Barca, despite their financial woes, seem to be well ahead of them too. 

Interesting choice of destination.