Davefevs

Yeah, although he did mention it a few weeks ago….seems to be “I want power and pace” to sit alongside the right ability level, and then go from there. Feels very much like we are heading 4312 / 5212 (3412). If you put those two “systems” on a piece of paper you could argue that the “DM” in the 4312 and the “Central CB” in the 5212 are the differentiator. I’m not saying it is anywhere near as simplistic as swapping one player for another, but might we be starting to understand the thinking behind those matches where Joe Williams played as a “front sweeper”, i.e. was it a back 4 or back 5, were the full-backs really wing-backs, etc? I guess it boils down to not getting too fixated on formations and player positions, especially when we see lots of mixed opinions on playing Sam Bell at “right-back”. We’ve seen the good footballers in our squad show their adaptability. There was little (no?) moaning about Ayman Benarous coming on on Monday at LWB, whereas he’d been thrown under the bus when played there previously. Just goes to show how a result influences people’s mindset!

You of course may be right, probably are right. I hope that Bristol City try to work to a model that the only players we allow to go OOC are: - players we signed for £0 in the first place - players we signed for small fees that were: signed late in their career, I.e. there was never any expectation of getting a fee in future, or signed so long ago, we’ve more than got our money’s worth (subjective) and have spread the amortisation over several contract extensions (this could apply to larger fees - e.g. Rob Atkinson is still here in 2032 having played with distinction over 10 years) Its a set of aspirations / guidelines that should at least be part of the case for whether to sign a player or not. Letty Matty Taylor (£350k) go for free / OOC is very different to Famara Diedhiou (£5.3m). I don’t ever want to see someone repeat what happened to Diedhiou.

@Mr Popodopolous

Yep, costs ought to be well under control for season 23/24. If we can get through 22/23 with some momentum building, then that season might see the first “attempt” at top 6. I liked his interview yesterday (I generally do though). Bit more insight to what might fuel his recruitment thinking….and I don’t think it will see Pack signing (famous last words!).

Funny you mention Hargreaves….he’s kinda who I want Massengo to evolve into.

Yes, knee injury.

Yep, that final sentence is the killer. As per “rumours”, both Palmer and Wells had offers in January, but loans only….and neither wanted a short term loan. The other option is a loan for their (full) final year with someone picking up a good slug of their wages. Its what we did with Bailey Wright and Matty Taylor. Its not ideal, but it’s not the worst tasting shit-sandwich (not that I’d know!)

The big question imho for the likes of Palmer and Wells (and probably Kalas too) is do you sacrifice some of next season’s wage to get a deal beyond next summer, because next summer you will be on £0 p.w. On the flipside what is the incentive to the player too. Lets just assume: Wells £25k p.w - 32 in June - might someone offer him enough over a 2 or 3 (2+1???) year deal to make it worthwhile him moving on. In pure maths would he take £15k p.w for 2 years? He might for regular football, he might if City paid the residual £10k p.w for the rest of his contract. We might do that if we can get a fee for him. If someone wants him enough to offer him a couple of years they might pay a fee for him. The other option is City renegotiate his current deal down to a lower wage. We saw a similar(ish) scenario with Weimann. There are financial benefits to us smoothing his amortisation out over a longer period. Palmer £20k p.w - 26 in November - he really is at a crossroads. I can’t imagine anyone is going to offer him more than £10k p.w…so he’s effectively sat on 2 years wages. He just needs to decide what he wants out of football. Because a year stagnating at City will mean next summer, he’s gonna struggle to get anything decent. He will end up with offers like JET (comparing situation not players). So if he really wants to keep his career going at a good level, he needs to bite the bullet. Kalas £25k p.w - 29 in May - probably the player with a sellable quality. Might not get £25k p.w but certainly good enough to get something decent, and the club get a good fee for him. Either that, or he re-contracts here and smoothing his amortisation plus hopefully a reduced wage helps City’s finances. I’m not worried what really happens with Kalas, we either sell or extend.

Yep, I think the OP is not really qualifying the use of the word “most”. Most , being more than half, will still be here. He also said there won’t be a major overhaul, so we aren’t gonna see a dozen leave for example.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/may/28/premierleague.championship

Do you think Cadden could step up? There’s some things I really like about him, but whether he can have the same impact at Champ level I’m just not sure. He’s on my long list anyway, as he’d certainly be attainable.

Yes. I always thought Massengo seemed a bit lonely in previous seasons, but he is always filmed with this young bunch.

Wish City would do something like this, but I guess without filling AG this isn’t necessary.

The salary cap proposal had a moratorium on existing contracts. As does SCMP (Lg1/2 FFP). It’s not perfect, they should cap those players wages at Championship average wage, or something like that. The concept has legs.

That’s a very good way of looking at it.

Nor does anyone speculate how Derby might’ve done in their “cheating” seasons had they not cheated. Had they complied they might not have got Rooney as manager (player- manager initially), they might’ve not been able to sign Lawrence, or Bielik, or whoever else. They might’ve had to sell Bird or Buchanan or whoever. In any of those scenarios they might’ve got relegated last season. They cheated, they lost the points this season instead of previous seasons. The real league table is the current one published with points deductions. We might struggle next season, we might do ok. Who’s to say someone like Stoke might also get points deductions next season, maybe Boro and Forest are forced into sales if they don’t go up. Its all an unknown.

Good to see Swiss Ramble have updated their templates to includes the average 2 years. Interesting that promotion bonuses are included for Cardiff as excludables, because I can find nothing in the current rules about it, but they were mentioned in an old version….Shaun Harvey copy and paste error again?

Since 2015/16 here is a list of all clubs that have either received PPs or have been promoted (some clubs haven’t been relegated back down….yet). (inc Fulham’s latest promotion) Cardiff, Fulham, QPR and West Brom have each had 4 years worth of PPs in the 7 years, inc this year. Still very possible that Bournemouth are joined by Sheff Utd or Huddersfield….might even be Boro or Blackburn…all clubs to have received PPs in this 7 year period. Can Luton or Forest buck the trend?

That’s £34m more the PL clubs get next season. If Bournemouth go up, that’s another £15m….and if Sheff Utd do so too. That’s another £34m also. If Watford and Norwich come down, that’s only 2 years worth of PPs they get, so a bit more pressure on them to go back up quickly. Burnley or Everton in a bad way financially, whichever one comes down. Might we see a slight chink in the yoyo’ing of clubs going forward….I doubt it….but we might see the odd one plummet too, like Sunderland.

Think @billywedlockand @Dr Ballshave given you the pluses. To add to that, he never really had any pace, so there’s not much to have lost (Ala Teddy Sheringham). Downsides / Other Considerations: where would that leave Matty James? I don’t think you could play both together. I think both Williams and Massengo (if he stays) would benefit from him….always available, calm in possession, etc. Was discussing with @Harryand @redcherryberryyesterday about back 4 and 4141 type stuff. Pack would fit that nicely. Perm any 4 in front of that. I guess we will have to wait and see. It’s a kind of “romantic” suggestion. In an ideal world, we should be trying to identify the next Marlon Pack, but it’s not an easy position to pick out watching tv highlights, and trying a data based approach can lead you up blind alleys. DM screens don’t tend to jump out at you unless you are watching specifically for that. For info, I looked at the stats of quite a few (realistic Champ) players with the traits to be a good screen….I finally came up with Romal Palmer at Barnsley. So I sat down and watched some video of him, but he doesn’t screen. He just gets similar stats from a different role. Therefore “eyes” so important.

Wow.

Sad emoji….wanted the shocked one. I thought £60k p.w was bad enough.

I can’t say I know the fees of all the recent signings, or some of the ones who’ve failed, but it feels a bit like the old Liverpool, buying with a succession plan, e.g. Steve Nicol, 1 or 2 years in the reserves before suddenly coming in seamlessly. Keita, Thiago, Konate, Joto, Dias come in, not for astronomical fees, small time to acclimatise and boom. Minamino the outlier. Joto £40m to fit the way Liverpool play…evolving from Firminho false 9 style…or Werner, deemed to dear at £50m. Im sure it’s not as black and white as I paint it, but it’s good.

Great save from Will Buse.