Team For The Championship Next Season.

Samir is still a defender who played in a lower half Italian side who compete in a league which is inferior to the PL. He may be better than what we have - but there isn’t much in it. He far more likely to fall back into the pack of their level, than soar above them in terms of talent.

And his career to date pretty much backs that theory up.

He’s better than nothing. But he perfectly encapsulates exactly what we all said Gino would do.

There is very very little about his career that can make anyone say with certainty that he’s a quality operator.

 

I am not sure if you are on the wind up? But I would be surprised if our team looked anything like this.

 

I'm not playing this game......

THE ORNS ARE STAYING UP​

 

Why is everyone so certain that JP will leave? Similar to the Sarr situation of last season, I couldn’t see anyone coughing up the amount of money required for Gino to be interested, he doesn’t seem like the type to throw his toys out the pram itching for a move, and he’s under contract until 2027!

 

You said this over and over last time and it ended up so badly you were advocating suing Hawkeye.

Can you keep saying that we’re getting relegated this time? It might just work.

 

I doubt JP will leave if I am honest. can't see anyone paying a substantial fee for him. He has a long contract and is nowhere near his maximum selling price just yet. He could be worth loads in a couple of years time the way that he is developing.

 

What Gino has done with Samir is akin to shuffling a pack of cards and hoping for the best. On a different day we could easily have signed Nuytinck, De Maio or Becao

 

Agree with this

 

Im not sure if I'm on the wind up either tbh.

Team could be any number of things in the likely scenario of relegation. Who knows if King, JP, Samir etc will be retained. Do new boys have a release clause? I'd have wanted one. Dennis and Sarr are £££.

Our defenders I would bracket quite comfortably with "too good for the championship but not good enough for the premier league". Fletcher was signed with this forward planning in mind. Genius from Duxbury and co.

 

Fletcher has a disastrous goal scoring record at Championship level, he’s only fit for a loan to the Bulgarian 3rd division so we can rake in the loan fees.

 

I'd call Deeney back from his loan, perhaps player/manager?

 

I would agree with this, except for the 'too good for the Championship' bit.

 

JP would probably stay, as would Cucho/Kalu unless we were desperate for cash. We also have Asprilla joining and Zinckernagel to come back. Team would actually be pretty decent bar the defence, as usual.

 

I think the defence would be capable enough in The Chanpionship, there is a gigantic difference in quality between the Championship and Premier League. Hopefully Woy can improve one or two of them even if we don't stay up. We could possibly have a better defence than last time. I am not sure whether Kamara will leave I highly doubt he has a release clause, could get sent to Udinese though.

 

Possibly years loan to a lower Premier Club with no option to buy, perhaps Fulham or Brentford. Save wages, plus possible loan fee. If he did well his value would increase more than staying in the Championship with us.

If we managed to get promoted, we would then have a ready made Premier player.

 

Maybe but I doubt it. I imagine his wages are not massive especially with the mandatory pay cuts. I think there is more chance of going on loan to Italy. I think another full season in the Chanpionship could be great for his development he was just finding his feet last time and he would be a big player this time. If he bangs in 15 plus in the championship his value goes up and we probably do as well.

 

I think JP will undoubtedly see himself as a Premier League level player in general, and indeed by this point - I'm not sure he'll see what another season in the Championship would do for his development.

The cost/demand balance is something that obviously has to be considered, but as Jordan Wiemer said on the post-Norwich Watford Buzz episode the other day, I don't think it would be very surprising if Gino decides that his peak value with us would be to be sold this summer if it ends up in us going down.

 

Well we likely see in the summer as we won't be staying up for toffee. I think he would see what getting regular starts would do for his development for a club that would likely be pushing for promotion back to the Premier League. I honestly don't think he will have achieved anywhere near his peak value in the summer, genuinely wouldn't see us getting too much more than 10 million in the summer.

 

As obvious as it is, this is the other depressing more latent part of relegation, losing all your decent assets and making your next season in the PL even more of a struggle than the one that previously got you relegated, because you’re back to square one yet again. It’s almost like it isn’t worth taking liberties with things like your defence and hoping it will all be ok.

 

Not forgetting Asprilla in midfield .

Would be a good introduction to English football for him .

 

As much as I would like to believe this debate is purely academic, I would posit that the first XI for next season might come from...

Okoye/Foster

Ngakia/Femenia
Cathcart/Kabasele
Troost/Samir/SA
Kamara/Massina

Kayembe/Etebo
Sissoko/Cleverly
Louza/Asprilla

Pedro
Kalou/King
Cucho/Sema

Im not sure Sissoko would get too many offers from EPL sides. Lets face it , if he had those in the summer he wouldnt be playing for us.

Other youth players and left of field signings coming in would add to the squad of course.

Assuming Newcastle stayed up at our expense and there were two realistic automatics up for grabs, I think we'd get promoted with some faceless E.European/Spanish manager.

Perhaps with just the one sacking, which would be nice.

If we didnt get immediate promotion then most of the promising young payers would prob leave, but lets cross that bridge when/if we come to it.

 

I think he would get a rapturous applause. The opinions of fans who go to games differ wildly from opinions of fans on this forum.

Im not a fan of his behaviour in latter years , but he deserves his reputation as a club legend.

 

Again another person not understanding that you can be critical of the Pozzo regime on this forum while supporting the team live. Such a simple concept.

I’d give Deeney a very warm welcome on on his return. I think 99% of people would.

 

I'm sure Troy would get a good reception on his return. The problem with Troy is that he should've left 2 seasons earlier and an increasingly number of fans were desperate for him to get out. Now he's gone it's a lot easier to focus on the positives of his time here. People often accused me of having a personal issue with Troy but I never did. I just felt he was harming the club and needed to leave. If Troy plays against us at the vic I'm sure he'll get a good reception.

 

Troy got a very warm welcome at half time in the Chelsea match towards the end of last year. No reason to think it'd be any different if he was actually playing against us.

 

I find it quite hard to guess who we’ll be left with. Players in their prime years who have shown PL quality will go - I think we have 2 of those!
Then we have ageing players who are probably still good enough. Will anyone hand out a contract to King/Sissoko? I suspect so, but who knows for sure.
Then we have the odd talented young player. I think we all know how good JP is, but does the rest of the league? I think he would stay were it not for Udinese. That link means a ready-made exit for assets the Pozzos want to keep in the shop window of a top-tier league.
All the dross and filler will stay put, naturally.

 

Troy will always get an incredible welcome and rightly so, you can be both critical of some of his more recent actions and contribution on the pitch still be hugely appreciative of his overall legacy, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s a bit odd to suggest match going fans have a difference opinion to those on a forum, as there is a significant overlap. Some people are just able to have several different opinions about different things.

 

That would be a very strong squad in the Championship. As long as Poxbury doesn't **** about too much with managers/head coaches. If we went down with Burnley and Norwich I'd fancy us for automatics.

 

I have watched a fair bit of the championship this year and the standard has been poor. I think this squad would comfortably gain automatic promotion.

 

Agreed. I think if Everton, Leeds, or Newcastle drop it would be tougher, however.

 

Luckily I don't see any of them dropping and if they do it may mean we get out of it as despite our performance against Norwich, they or Burnley are no better than we are.

 

Zinc would also be there. It's also worth pointing out Cucho's goal record in his last 2 second tier seasons was about 1 in 2 in Spain and Colombia. Big contrast with his top flight goalscoring in England Spain and Colombia.

 

Bearing in mind Cucho was thought of highly enough to get 3 La Liga loans, I suspect there'll be someone happy enough to take him off our hands, especially on the cheap--I'd be very surprised if we kept him in the Championship

 

Remember the kind of atmosphere and reception you hear at games is different from here on the forum--you very rarely hear any explicit Pozzo out chants at games, and nor, even when Deeney was at his nadir in terms of popularity, apart from a few mumbles and grumbles in the stands, you would hardly have noticed at the stadium