Rumours flying around on twitter that we have told Gray he can leave. According to the rumours we have told clubs we will let him go for a fee around £8-10mil. Actually think that’s a fair price in today's market and I can see someone paying that. He’s scored some important goals for us, but truth is, he just hasn’t looked interested in a long time. When he was being bossed by League 1 Tranmere, you just knew he needed a fresh start. No ill feelings towards him, but he is useless for us. Can’t see him regaining his form. He needs a fresh start away from watford to reignite his career.
Surely not? You mean to tell me that the people running the club are actually NOT going to delude themselves into thinking the likes of Gray will suddenly be good enough in the Championship just because they were good there X number of years ago, with countless other variables, and before they were way past their primes as they are now? Don't do it. Don't give me hope of seeing a team that doesn't feature the same horrendous, ageing crap like Gray, Deeney, Cathcart and Cleverley.
I'll snap your hand off for £8m! He did a decent job I suppose last season in a front 2, but really needed everything to be geared towards him or else he'd prove absolutely and utterly useless. We all lambast him for being unable to do even basic stuff, but that shouldn't have been news to us, the idea of paying £18m and ****-tons in wages for him to supposedly be our new main man was just sheer lunacy. I don't know if he jacked it in on the pitch (he had a decent cameo off the bench against Newcastle iirc, and given the gaping holes in his game, I'm not sure it should come as a surprise that even League 1 Tranmere had him in their pockets), but he obviously let the club down with the party and the very half-hearted apology, so yeah, time's up Andre!
Not sure if he'll be first choice, but I'd be very surprised to see Cathcart leave, he'll be more comfortable in the Championship and really he'd be ideal as a back-up option (hopefully Wilmot and one or two others are our starters, although I guess Dawson wouldn't be a disaster). I don't know how much Cleverley is on, maybe he could stick around and be a bit part player if his wages aren't too high, but if they are, off to Burnley you go
Don't believe he jacked it in when we played 4-2-3-1 and Deeney is in the team and chosen all the time regardless. If we played 4-4-2 he would've gotten more opportunities. 14 goals in 36 starts for us wasn't a bad return at all considering no-one got double figures in open play for us last season. And a game against 1 team doesn't define a player's time at a club. All our players have had poor games from time to time. I'd be interested to see what he can do in the Championship for us in a front 2 but if he goes I wish him well at his new club.
It's my opinion that a fair few of our players might just be worth hanging on to in the championship to help us bounce back, but also that those same players will need to go at the end of next season once our PL status has been regained, because they will not be good enough for the PL. I would want to see the players you mention above in championship action before deciding whether to sell them on, and I even include Gray in that. I know Gray has been one big flop for us, but I would hate to get rid of him just when he might finally be able to prove his worth as a Championship player, that's why I might be inclined to give him a few games at the beginning of the season to see if he lights up the Chump, before finally deciding whether to offload him or not? As for Cleverly it has to be remembered that he had only just come back from a serious injury before our last 9 games in which he did not perform well, so hopefully he was just a bit rusty. Therefore I think he deserves the chance to prove he is back on his game at the beginning of the season, as he was a quality player before his injury. However if his form has not improved we should probably offload him.
Players like Cathcart, Cleverly and Gray will be fine a league lower. That so many can’t comprehend the difference between the premier league and the championship is quite a worry. That said I’d be delighted if we could shift Gray for £8m, but it’s completely delusional if people think we’ll drop a league and replace players like Cathcart and Cleverly with better, not worse.
Don't think that a solitary tweet from a brand new Twitter account with only 13 followers constitutes 'rumours flying around on Twitter'. I don't get why people create these fake transfer rumour accounts, nor why people are so desperate to repeat and amplify whatever nonsense they pump out.
I would be surprised to see Gray go tbh. There will be zero PL clubs after him, and no championship clubs can afford his wages. He will one of out forwards next year, he will be ok at championship level.
If fookin Monday's ain't bad enough I have to go and read that. Get him out, end of. Whatever it takes. Free his wages up for somebody who can play football.
It won’t be long before your back at the Vic singing “Olay, Olay, Olay, Olay Andre Andre”etc. Count the days down
You’re aware we’ve been relegated? The absolute best outcome we could achieve is to not lose any players, which is extremely unlikely. A lot of the players we will lose are players that would never play in the championship, once we lose them they can only be replaced with players that will play in the championship, so by definition they’re going to be inferior players. The only players we can replace Cleverley and Cathcart with are either Udinese reserves on loan (bearing in mind Okaka and Sema are first teamers there) or existing championship players. By definition existing championship players aren’t as good as players that have mostly been premier league players their entire career. So in summary we’re a league lower so can only attract players who will play a league lower, and we have a £60m deficit to plug, but we can replace our existing players with better players? So why on Earth didn’t we do that while we were still in the premier League, if it’s so easy we can still do it in the championship?
We don't just want "fine" a league lower though, we need a team that will get us promoted again at the first attempt.
Gray won't leave without a massive payoff. There's the Surrey mansion, pop star missus who'll want to be near London, and the fact that Andre is undecided as to whether he's a model or a 'baller. Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
Again, how are you suggesting we go about getting better players than we already have being a league lower and with a £60m deficit to plug? Why did we not replace these players with better players when receiving £140m+ in revenue and in a top league where we can attract better talent? Why now do we now need/can we expect to get better?
If we can get money for Andre which in turn reduces the wage bill that will be great. And if Andre can move on , score 20 goals , and prove his doubters wrong then that will be great as well.
As I say, I don't know how much Cleverley is on, if it's a lot, we might as well get rid because he isn't going to be playing every game in the Championship. Gray may be OK in the Championship (I doubt he'll be much more than than given he's much older now than when he was ripping the division apart), but on those wages, I'd much rather get rid (preferably to someone like Celtic or Rangers)
My old man used to tell me as a kid. Jesus they don't write lyrics like they used too. I put on Jambalaya by the Carpenters which ended that argument immediately.
Rangers have just bought two strikers to supplement the potential loss of Morelos - who still is there and scored twice at the weekend. No chance he’s going to them. I could see WBA taking a punt on Gray. But I suspect his wages are quite prohibitive for a number of clubs. Perhaps some sort of return to Brentford should they lose Watkins? But again, wages...
Assuming we have a few forward options available, would you pick Gray ahead of them to play in the first game of next season? I wouldn't.
Of all the senior forward options we have on our books at the moment, with the possible exception of Success and Penaranda, Gray would be right at the bottom
