Didn't Duxbury say at the Supporters Committee that this time players would only leave if it made sense for the club? Lol.
Transfer window doesn't close until 1st September and guessing that they'll be looking at last time in the Championship and thinking that we can start the season without our squad being finalised and still get promoted. Key difference is that this time there is a bigger gap between the start of the season and the window closing. I think we got away with a bit last time and were lucky that Ivic made us hard to beat and got us some points on the board early.
Im going to state my probably very unpopular opinions: 1. I think the club hierarchy are doing a better job at communicating with fans than previously. The appointment of Edwards as a charismatic mouthpiece for the club. A series of interviews in the WO which have addressed questions we would want answering in terms of mistakes with as much reason as you could expect. An adequate explanation for why the fans forum is like it is. 2. We are in the Championship and aim to get promoted from that, not a reasonable premiership season. The difference in the team and squad needed to do that is huge. We cant simultaneously buy risk free, quality, proven players in large numbers on the wages they will want, whilst also keeping all our best players and also not selling enough to keep afloat. The real world isnt a 1990s football management simulator with cheat codes enabled. There are going to players going in this window we would rather not, players staying we would rather not stay and players coming in who are unproven and we are unsure of. We dont have to be perfect everywhere to do very well THIS season. 3. I want to give Edwards at least the preseason and 10 games before I assess properly
I agree with you, other then talk on this forum/social media I havent seen anything that indicates either player actually wanted out. Its disappointing to see them leave as they both would have been real assets this year and along with JP & Louza a core to rebuild around. Even if they did want out, the club is well within its rights to say no especially with these two players who dont strike me as individuals who would have a hissy fit over it and down tools. Its just become a convenient get out excuse. These two were sold because we need to sell before we can bring anyone else in and interest in Dennis, Sarr & Sissoko, who I suspect the club were hoping to ship out quickly, has been luke warm at best. Sarr will be starting for us next season, calling it now. Now if we recruit the right players then fine, my disappointment would be unwarranted but some of the names we've been linked with are under whelming to say the least. And thats before you start patching the team up with academy players & loanees from Villa. Its like we've gone back to the Lewington/Dyche era's. No wonder Edwards doesnt know what system they will be playing this year, he probably doesnt know what squad hes going to have. Thats if he's given time to implement anything - Duxberry might be willing to stand by him but is Gino? He had to be sold on the idea of appointing Edwards in the first place which hardly fills you with confidence. I was feeling quite optimistic and if these two leaving means we bring in the likes of Lucas Jao, Longstaff, Cisse, Ferguson and Doig etc then fine, its a worthwhile trade that leaves the team stronger and I've jumped the gun somewhat. But like I say some of the names we're being linked with are under whelming. Yeah I cant see us making as many signings as that either. The indication seemed to be that we would see 3 or 4 new faces. Build the midfield around Louza, a target man up front & Edwards wants one or two strikers so those are the areas I would expect us to focus on. While we might need an upgrade at CB I wouldnt say it was a priority for this window as we know that what we have can do a job at this level. Likewise if Kiko stays then we should be ok for this season. Making the midfield competitive and improving up front will be the priorities Of course that opinion isnt helped by the lack of communication from the club, afterall as far as I know theres been nothing official from the club that Kings left other thana passing comment by Duxberry so god knows if anyone else has left on the quiet.
I’ve got a 5aside match on Wednesday if any of em want to participate. Cathcart will need to start on the bench though.
I do feel a bit sorry for Craig in a way. He has taken up the Mariappa mantle. Always been a solid servant to the club and would probably be quite popular if he was 4th-5th choice. However, the overwhelming negligence of our recruitment team means he is still the best of an awful bunch.
https://twitter.com/WatfordFC/status/1538846624109080577?t=R0Th_R_jEtYuGZbMJx9WsA&s=19 Edwards is watching them like a hawk. I've no doubt he'll sift out the sh!te.
New training kits haven’t arrived yet mate. London Colney Sainsbury's have lent us their lost and found Employee uniforms.
A good servant but certainly not good enough for us now. He’s a lot better than Mariappa in fairness though.
I still think he is a perfectly fine squad player - especially in the championship. Gets bullied by better players but rarely has a clanger in him (unlike WTE and Kabasele) and is pretty consistently mediocre. He is also the only one who doesnt play football like it is hot potato when he is on the ball.
Anyone know what post this is meant to be referring to? Bad link, or a deleted post? Can't spot Edwards in any of the twitter posts by the club so far.
I’m genuinely disappointed, because the training kit from Kelme has typically been really nice. Another let down from this shyte show of a club.
Going off the tweet where it says “First group” of players, poor Edwards has these lot to work with for his first week.
Surprised to see Samir and Kiko back today. I'm pleased about that as both are a cut above the Championship. The rest are all standard Championship players although some of the younger ones may not even make the grade at Champ level, but we do need a few squad fillers. Players who I feel are above a Championship level, from those I expect might now stay, are:- Kamara, Samir, Louza, Pedro & Kiko. Not a vast number. Oh well, let's hope the situation improves and becomes a little more positive in the coming weeks.
Really? Cathcart is as much a ‘smash it long’ merchant as the others. And he certainly does have clangers in him - they may not be the obvious, glaring ones his fellow CB’s make but his positional sense has been really bad for a while now.
