Kalas - Signed for Schalke04

[Engvall’s Splinter]

39 minutes ago, mozo said:

For all the criticism of Ashton and LJ, City fans were very excited about those signings. It was a fun time to follow City. Kalas in particular was a proven winner at this level and made total sense. 

Letting the players go for free, and add Diedhiou to that list, is the irritating part.

I was ecstatic when Kalas signed. Webster leaving took the edge off mind you. Couldn’t believe we wasted 4m on Palmer after his hit and miss loan spell. Vanity signing by LJ and MA. 

[johnbytheriver]

2 minutes ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

I was ecstatic when Kalas signed. Webster leaving took the edge off mind you. Couldn’t believe we wasted 4m on Palmer after his hit and miss loan spell. Vanity signing by LJ and MA. 

Yet Palmer is highly rated by Coventry manager Mark Robins and seems to be 1st choice. Got to the play-offs last year,he is a really gifted player,and is playing in a team who play much better football than us.

[Mr Popodopolous]

11 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

Yet Palmer is highly rated by Coventry manager Mark Robins and seems to be 1st choice. Got to the play-offs last year,he is a really gifted player,and is playing in a team who play much better football than us.

Palmer strikes me as the sort of player who can be excellent or good anyway in a certain set up.

Coventry may suit him, two of the right type of forwards in front. We had that for a time with Weimann and Afobe. Sadly Afobe got injured in training and was out for the season.

          Palmer

  Weimann Afobe

Looks good!

           Palmer

  Weimann Diedhiou

Stylistically? Genuinely not so much!

Edited August 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[fisherrich]

10 hours ago, Swede said:

Good luck Thomas.

The bigger issue is though is that it brings to an end the sorry tail of paying Chelsea £8M for Kalas, £2M for DaSilva & £2M for KP45 all had big wages and all left for nothing. An absolute disgraceful waste of club finances.

The club has been in a shambles for years.

Edited August 28, 2023 by fisherrich

[petehinton]

4 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I believed at the time and perhaps still do, that summer 2019 was part of a planned 2-3 year push at promotion. In a non Covid world.

It felt like a big push in 2019-20 with a bit more in 2020-21. I'm not using the Covid excuse of course but the volume of signings, the stretching of budgets. It felt a bit like it in summer 2019, promotion  the goal..perhaps if not for Covid we would have gone again a bit in 2020-21.

Either been in a bigger mess or somehow scrambled up in time! Perhaps we would have pushed big again in summer 2020 in a promotion now or bust approach!

I think, in SL’s eyes, that season was the season we went up. LJ got sacked the minute it was mathematically impossible to get into the play offs, and said in an interview somewhere he felt we should’ve gone up that year.
 

Based on basically nothing, but he does seem to get himself set on something with no reason why with no one saying the opposite, even more obvious recently with him saying our squad is far better than Luton’s!

[GrahamC]

4 hours ago, johnbytheriver said:

Yet Palmer is highly rated by Coventry manager Mark Robins and seems to be 1st choice. Got to the play-offs last year,he is a really gifted player,and is playing in a team who play much better football than us.

He started 19 games for them last season, so hardly integral to Coventry making the playoffs.

Think Gyokeres & Hamer might have just had a bit more to do with it.

Norwich local paper has also said there is nothing in this.

Robins & Viveash like him, good for them, absolutely scandalous waste of money for us.

[Mr Popodopolous]

43 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

He started 19 games for them last season, so hardly integral to Coventry making the playoffs.

Think Gyokeres & Hamer might have just had a bit more to do with it.

Norwich local paper has also said there is nothing in this.

Robins & Viveash like him, good for them, absolutely scandalous waste of money for us.

Looked rather good behind Weimann and Afobe though, didn't he.

Once Afobe went to injury a lot of our attacking play seemed to suffer.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[GrahamC]

Just now, Mr Popodopolous said:

Looked rather good behind Weimann and Afobe didn't he.

What was that? 5 games?

Looked useless to me far more often.

[Silvio Dante]

9 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

What was that? 5 games?

Looked useless to me far more often.

This is true. Nobody can deny that KP looked great behind Benik, but if a pro footballer looks good only if he plays with one or two other players it’s far more likely to be the other player making him look good, as opposed to the player being great in and of himself.

KP showed nothing in his loan spell to suggest we should have bought him - I think he was a far worse deal than DaSilva or Kalas, both of whom gave us good service, but that was clear when we had Paterson and Szmodics when he signed - there was literally no need for the buy.

[Mr Popodopolous]

12 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

What was that? 5 games?

Looked useless to me far more often.

Was a bit of a one trick pony. Seems to have played well enough in a play-off contending side (Coventry) albeit certainly no gamechanger.

[Northern Red]

 

[Silvio Dante]

46 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

 

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

[Red-Robbo]

39 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

 

 

I know they all write these nowadays, but Tomas's one is very eloquent and reads like it's very genuinely heartfelt.

Can't blame him for going to Schalke. Massive club. Fourth most successful in German history and second most registered supporters. In the second tier this season, of course, and TK might see some parallels with the club he's just left...

https://www.dw.com/en/schalke-relegated-from-the-bundesliga-the-inside-story-of-a-royal-case-of-the-blues/a-57184763

[One Team]

41 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

Was about to say the same, touch of class from Tomas there. He will be remembered fondly going forward. 

I wonder who will replace him as our record signing?

[One Team]

40 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I know they all write these nowadays, but Tomas's one is very eloquent and reads like it's very genuinely heartfelt.

Can't blame him for going to Schalke. Massive club. Fourth most successful in German history and second most registered supporters. In the second tier this season, of course, and TK might see some parallels with the club he's just left...

https://www.dw.com/en/schalke-relegated-from-the-bundesliga-the-inside-story-of-a-royal-case-of-the-blues/a-57184763

Indeed, bit like Leeds in our division now. If they can get going and get back up they will be quite a force.

[Silvio Dante]

4 minutes ago, One Team said:

Was about to say the same, touch of class from Tomas there. He will be remembered fondly going forward. 

I wonder who will replace him as our record signing?

Won’t be a while unless we go up.

Who knows, Rovers may use “a Kalas” as a way to mock our lack of spending..!

[GrahamC]

Nice message.

I liked the bloke, like Nathan Baker he always put his body on the line & was a top defender.

Hope it works out well for him in Germany & he gets better luck than of late on the injury front.

[Merrick's Marvels]

2 hours ago, Northern Red said:

 

I'm away to shed a tear. Top man. 

The idea you can lose players of this quality and progress (up the Football League we go) by replacing them with inferior players is laughable.

Ditto Baker. Ditto Scott. 

We'll always remember you too, Tomas. 

Up the City! 

[BCFCAL]

Bit late to the party, but his goodbye message is a bit odd I think. "I might not have been in close touch with all my teammates, but I will remember them and same applies to staff and coaches"

[CTIDhc]

Just now, BCFCAL said:

Bit late to the party, but his goodbye message is a bit odd I think. "I might not have been in close touch with all my teammates, but I will remember them and same applies to staff and coaches"

Wasn’t there a comment that he was a bit weird/strange once iirc? Maybe by Nige

probably just not too sociable and likes to keep himself to himself 

[Davefevs]

25 minutes ago, CTIDhc said:

Wasn’t there a comment that he was a bit weird/strange once iirc? Maybe by Nige

probably just not too sociable and likes to keep himself to himself 

Oh, he’s “different” for sure.  Some of that can come from the literal translation not quite working, but in Tomas’s case he’s a bit weird!

[GrahamC]

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Oh, he’s “different” for sure.  Some of that can come from the literal translation not quite working, but in Tomas’s case he’s a bit weird!

Totally, think what he’s trying to say is you meet a lot of colleagues in football but don’t always keep in touch.

Bet his English is far better than the Czech of those picking him up on this…

Dekuji! 

[BCFCAL]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Totally, think what he’s trying to say is you meet a lot of colleagues in football but don’t always keep in touch.

Bet his English is far better than the Czech of those picking him up on this…

Dekuji! 

I wasn't moaning at his English whatsoever, I was just wondering if it was a bit of an odd thing to say.

[maxjak]

On 30/08/2023 at 18:25, Silvio Dante said:

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

Yep...we are desperate for reinforcements in our defence, yet.........we let Tomas join a German 2nd Division club, for the sake of a few hundred grand?   He was settled in Bristol, he knew the club inside and out, and despite his injury issues, it would seem he had no trouble passing the Schalke medical?   Tomas was, is, and remains a class act, and at 30, has a good few years left.   Yet another pheck up, in the long line of pheck ups in the contract and transfer arena by our club......and so it goes!

[Mr Popodopolous]

14 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Yep...we are desperate for reinforcements in our defence, yet.........we let Tomas join a German 2nd Division club, for the sake of a few hundred grand?   He was settled in Bristol, he knew the club inside and out, and despite his injury issues, it would seem he had no trouble passing the Schalke medical?   Tomas was, is, and remains a class act, and at 30, has a good few years left.   Yet another pheck up, in the long line of pheck ups in the contract and transfer arena by our club......and so it goes!

Schalke are a major German club who have hit some difficult times.. they are far from a typical 2nd tier club.

Would he have stayed or gone to Schalke in a toss up?

Edited September 1, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[maxjak]

5 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Schalke are a major German club who have hit some difficult times.. they are far from a typical 2nd tier club.

Would he have stayed or gone to Schalke in a toss up?

I follow the   Bundesliga...so i know Schalke are a big club with big gates who just got relegated.  It shows how highly he is rated, so if we had offered him a decent contract  he would probably would have stayed IMO...and we wouldn't need to spend money on a new defender, but on his wages.  He has gone,  so they're  you go.   I understand all the long term injury aspect, but i think we made a mistake getting rid of an international defender 

[Port Said Red]

9 hours ago, maxjak said:

Yep...we are desperate for reinforcements in our defence, yet.........we let Tomas join a German 2nd Division club, for the sake of a few hundred grand?   He was settled in Bristol, he knew the club inside and out, and despite his injury issues, it would seem he had no trouble passing the Schalke medical?   Tomas was, is, and remains a class act, and at 30, has a good few years left.   Yet another pheck up, in the long line of pheck ups in the contract and transfer arena by our club......and so it goes!

But this is how it goes, just " few hundred grand " here, "only another million" there and the next thing you know we are back in the Ashton era.

It's really galling to me that because we have come into some money and we have had a couple of injuries, the same people who would be critical of MA and LJ for the "clubs in the bag" policy, suddenly think we should be added more and more players.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

On 30/08/2023 at 18:25, Silvio Dante said:

That actually, for once in these leaving messages, comes across as pretty genuine and heartfelt. I may be being naive here, obviously - and we know that had we stumped up more cash he’d have stayed, but definitely one player who I’ve got time for.

Okies at bottom.of the Kalas article there was a link to 'vyner signs 3 year deal'

Is tha correct? I do hope so 

[alexukhc]

43 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Okies at bottom.of the Kalas article there was a link to 'vyner signs 3 year deal'

Is tha correct? I do hope so 

Yea it’s correct

[Nogbad the Bad]

3 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

But this is how it goes, just " few hundred grand " here, "only another million" there and the next thing you know we are back in the Ashton era.

It's really galling to me that because we have come into some money and we have had a couple of injuries, the same people who would be critical of MA and LJ for the "clubs in the bag" policy, suddenly think we should be added more and more players.

Not sure they would be the same people but the difference here is that many would say (Nige included imo) we actually need a couple of targeted signings to strengthen a small squad, rather than newcomers being clubs in the bag.

No one I've seen on here was asking for much really, just using a small amount of the Scott money on a couple of necessary signings.