Mr Popodopolous

Commercially speaking if you know or it is widely expected that a side have a firm deadline and there is no reason they shouldn't, you squeeze for every £ or if you're say a Milan club or maybe Napoli e.g. would show a late interest in Chalobah or someone every € you can, as the closer to the deadline the more oressibf the need maybe. One suggestion that gross fees for Mendy, Koulibaly, Ziyech, Aumabeyang, job lot £50m. Profit on Disposal not much over £10m. Chelsea would need a tad more I suspect!

Good. Especially the Chelsea stuff if there are multiple players ahead of a June 30th deadline. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/06/19/chelsea-wolves-call-inquiry-saudi-arabia-transfer-news/ The Neves one is a bit more complex perhaps as Wolves concerns are about future breaches and maybe to March 2024 or May 2024 or perhaps beyond whereas Chelsea literally a ticking clock to end of June. Having said that Chelsea may yet have to be taking less than hoped on Kovacic, Mount, Havertz e.g. according to some reports.

Yes agree to some extent but otoh perhaps and O'Neil deserved better IMO but as another poster outlined some quite good work in Spain and maybe he could tap contacts if Bournemouth are looking at the Spanish market he might be able to point them forward. Bill Foley also has a minority stake in Lorient Ligue 1 so maybe this will all feed in. Lorient fans don't appreciate the idea btw. Or at least their ultras. From January. https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2023/fc-lorient-fans-mobilise-against-bill-foley-ownership/ Perhaps promising Spanish players may get a bit of a school there and if they're good, well Bournemouth are very much on the horizon. Spanish coach, help identify some promising prospects. Last 10, 15 years feeder clubs, multi club models it really leaves me cold. People say oh modern football but the pace of change. Laat 10 years especially.

That is encouraging. He is one of many though, there are about 5 midfielders in that list. Frattesi, someone linked with Benfica, Gallagher, Scott. However yes there will be interest without doubt. That said it sort of rules out Gallagher and the other Chelsea midfielder, Frattesi wants to stay in Italy and the Mallotrca guy off to PSG. Guy linked with Benfica is off thete.

A hell of an ask. The in built advantage financially the 3 relegated clubs could have or 2 if them for one, then among our peers Coventry have a strong foundation on paper, although in some ways not too much. Middlesbrough and Sunderland could push on, Stoke may go big. Ipswich coming up may also go big. Watford and Norwich could also have a significant financial advantage over us. Yet all of the above have flaws but top 2 feels some way out of reach to me.

Still I'm not wholly convinced we will get the £25m straight offer but that could really benefit us on the pitch. Btw my lack of full faith in us getting £25m or above this summer is no reflection on Scott, or his ability- what he is worth, more a case that we don't seem to get the breaks that we perhaps merit, the acknowledgement at times etc. Seldom have in my time supporting.

That is where risk-reward comes in. Aim for the stars, developing himself, around better players as the tram better gets used to the 4-3-3 whixh was a midseason switch, full pre season with it may help even more. A lot of things would have to align but yeah never know. Top two surely out of reach but playoffs...

If we're doing alright, keep. Keep. Sometimes a risk needs to be taken I suppose, and 2 years, theoretically contacted to us and should be improving. God knows we have sold, sold and sold one more ie Semenyo to see us over the FFP line. If a £25m bid comes in we have to consider it of course but if not well it helps us on the pitch and why should we sell every single time. I've weighed up football v finance and on this yeah keep.

Surprising! Promoted back, bit of optimism, how they turned it round after first leg.

Financially it is the optimum time to sell though, maybe last 18 months at a push but once you enter the final 2 years of a contract...at what point do we consider the finance v the football, when there are 18 months left, 12?

Neves sold, Scott in? Maybe but not yet. Wolves must be in a fairly decent size FFP hole if the Neves deal doesn't wipe the issue on its own.

One more thing, will Bournemouth sacking O'Neil impact their interest in Scott? I don't really know how it works there, manager, sporting director, recruitment model.

Was probably lined up in advance, also remember new owners often want their own man- he can perhaps work permit rules permitting, tap the La Liga market a bit too.

Big Sam is one I don't think got the credit or opportunities he necessarily deserved for sure. May be pushing towards the end now but he needed some time to build something- not something he has often been afforded, at Blackburn he was crazily sacked by new owners (Venkys) and then Steve Kean got given the role. That worked well..

I'm a broken record but will take some convincing that Pearson wouldn't be a more applicable choice than a host of bottom third or a few bottom third PL let along top third Championship managers. A range.

It would be interesting to see what he could do with one of the top budgets in the League I guess, although he surely had that at Sunderland in League One. You see an untried at first attempt and average manager like Parker with 2 promotions in 2 attempts so it would be interesting.

Lee Johnson at Leeds would be...interesting. I don't see it. He would probably pick a tactical plan that doesn't suit, as he often did here- there were phases and spells when it did but how much was forced by injury, and or caused by stumbling across one. The churn of players was for the most part absurd. The list hit and miss, awful lot of minutes lost to injury as well.

Man City link seems fanciful at this stage. If both Gundogan and Phillips go then yes that leaves a vacancy again squad wise. They are set to add Kovacic as it stands That potential but unlikely at this juncture move aside, might it be the case that as clubs move through the chain that Scott steadily rises. ie West Ham have so far been linked with Alvarez, Gallagher, Palhinha, Phillips and Ward-Prowse. You'd think they would want two of those, but if they only get one Scott gets bumped up. Brighton are no longer interested in Gallagher as per one report, this means Scott perhaps comes into consideration more. Etc.

That's true. Maybe I an misjudging Stoke situation a bit. Sensible rebuilds from an improved position usually work out better anyway. Unsure some will come that cheap though , maybe 2 cheap and 2 more costly of those 4. Reportedly they are appealing, the EFL decision in the end- FIFA lifted theirs once instalment one went in. My serious question though is how much headroom under FFP. Remember the restrictions we were under from summer 2022 to late January 2023, maybe even January 2022 given we only added Klose on a free but definitely summer 2022 and until we sold Semenyo January 2023.

This is fair but I assume this is only for a start plus we don't necessarily know the types of fees and wages they will be offering. Quite a lot left too but I don't see a huge difference in percentage terms or indeed actions in terms of Covid claims and then those of Everton- thinking more historic than present. Elsewhere, Cardiff still want to sign up to 10 players as per one report.. .some have left but their FFP position seems interesting, maybe they would be on track to breach this upcoming season. They reportedly cannot pay fees or loan fees as it stands.

Stoke are reportedly going big too. Or set to be. Granted Johnson will be on a free if this is accurate. Still a notable issue IMO with some of how they reached compliance, other clubs should raise this quite strongly with the EFL again. In theory if all methods accepted I reckon they could make a pre tax loss of £33-34m this season ie £26m in FFP terms. That's before any profit on disposal if players. Their underlying pre tax loss in 2021-22 was £29m and their wage bill £37m. Reckon they could therefore run a wage bill of £35m or above, maybe more if they really wanted to. I say underlying loss, this is before profit on disposal but let's not forget the Covid impairment, re-added transfer profit and some questionable add-backs ie £1-2m in 2021-22 towards transfer related issues.

While I don't disagree, will other clubs make the bid of that size. Is the $m question. My overall feeling is yes but there is noise in reports etc of clubs being unsure about the fee. I believe he's worth it, the majority on here believe he is worth it, host of other fans of other clubs, some do and some don't. The problem is depending on club the pressure for results yesterday. Will that make some play it safer for a £20m player in CM from a PL club or European League What size bids do you think we'll get this summer?

Back closer to earth, our level I've read snippets that imply Sheffield Wednesday are going for it this season. We still are none the wiser as to their position, they haven't even released the 2021-22 accounts yet!

On the Saudi and FFP note. 3 of the below if these come off, Saudi bound. Handy (Mendy, Koulibaly, Ziyech).

Croatia a talented technical side, their 2nd golden generation in 30 years or thereabouts. Aging in parts so not as expansive as they once were, as others say strong side indeed for a small nation. Their mid to late 1990s of Suker, Prosinecki etc was probably more exciting but this one probably better.