The Championship 2020-21

Brentford will lose half their squad if they don’t go up. Watkins, Benrahma, Dasilva, Mbeumo and Henry will probably all be snatched up.

Norwich will lose Aarons, Lewis, Cantwell, Beundia, and maybe Hernandez.

Bournemouth fans seem to think that King, Wilson, Rico, Brooks, Cook, Ake, Billing and Lerma will want out. If that’s the case, they will have a very different squad.

Thankfully our squad is basically championship anyway.

We will lose Deulofeu, Sarr, Doucoure from our starting 11. Outside of that, I don’t see any other nailed on first team players from this season going.

If the Pozzo’s are serious about us coming back up. Then we will see it in the transfer market and management.

 

I would like to get to a situation where we buy players with names that can we can spell with a little more ease. It has taken me too long to get Delafao, Feminine, Decore, and Capone right.

 

Well, like I said, I accepted relegation before today. The way you have, often correctly, criticised the team and club this season, it shouldn't have been a shock to you either.

So what do you suggest? Shall we assume that we will start with the same team and the same attitude? Should we not be optimistic at all?

As I say, it's up to you but I prefer to be more hopeful and optimistic. I believe the deadwood will either leave or be pushed. I hope some of the young prospects will stay and be given a chance. And perhaps some new signings and players like Hughes will be retained to give a strong and competitive Championship team.

But if you want to believe the worse for next season then go ahead. I think that is a depressing way to live but I guess you should never be disappointed.... although you seem to be today.

 

I'd like to see us tie Gray, Dawson, Cathcart, Foster, Deeney, Kiko and Janmat to new, longer contracts. Show the fans how serious we are.

 

A lot of local Derby’s next season
Luton
Wycombe
QPR
Millwall
Fulham
Reading
Brentford possibly

 

Lose the benefit of home crowd though. Better to be the away leg.

 

After their behaviour the last time they came, I think not.

 

Lol, we won't be a scalp for anyone unless we're near the top of the table and challenging for promotion.

We'll be medium sized fishes in the pond and will need some smart recruitment like the early days of the Pozzos to be able to challenge. Whether they can do that again remains to be seen...

 

And Giraldi wasn’t in charge of signing players last time we were in the Championship.

 

Keep forgetting that the new season starts in just 48 days.

Pre-season is normally about 6 weeks long, or so.

That gives our players about 6 days off before they a back at it. Obviously that’s not going to happen.

However with 46 games in 34 weeks, plus cup games, our players are going to need to be fit and sharp. So I hope Gino tells them they have until August 9th to rest. Monday August 10th preseason starts. Can’t start any later than that. That would give them just over 4 weeks to get back in shape.

Also if Gino is serious about promotion, we need to start signing the majority of players before preseason starts. We wait till the last minute too often and it always hurts us.

 

Anyone expecting Gino to show signs of having learned from this season are in for a disappointment imo.

He's gonna give us more and more of the worst parts of his reign.

He's losing the plot because in order to react positively to lie adversity, he will need to first admit his own failings, something which he seems incapable of doing.

We'll have 3 coaches next season, all worse than each other, and Girardi will continue to stink the place out.

 

We have to be careful about players we sell or let go. We're now an unfashionable Championship club, so it's highly unlikely we'll be able to attract the quality we currently have one our books, no matter how poor we think some of these players are.

In the past we got by with Udinese handouts, but I think that well has dried out now.

We've got to retain the vast majority of players, if not all of them.

Clearly Gomes and Holebas will go, and Pereyra has already gone on record to say he is going.

But of the rest, we've got to keep them. I see no reason why we cannot keep hold of Deulofeu. He's not kicked a ball and is still recovery from his ACL. I'd be surprised he went without proving his fitness over a number of games.

I think we'll keep him until the end of the window at least. Sarr, would be a shame to let him go, but it'll have to be a huge offer to get him. Something north of £50m. There are plenty of interested parties though, so we may well have to cash in on him.

Not too sure how many will go though. Even Doucoure is just living off reputation these days.

We need to keep as much of this squad intact as possible and start using the youth more. Players like Quina, Wilmott, Chalobah, Pedro.....hopefully we can keep Suarez and Cucho. Estupinan will probably be sold, but that's money for a player we've never had in the first place.

If we're smart, we can keep this vastly experienced squad together and incorporate some highly promising young talent, then we'll have a real good go at bouncing back.

We need to get it right though, as this is our one opportunity. If we get it wrong and don't begin the season strongly and the season is a mid-table ending or worse, it will take years to get back to the position we were in only a few months ago as a club.

 

I really don't think we'll be a scalp in the Championship, even there about half the teams are bigger than us, it's not gonna be a 'big' game to anyone other than L*ton and possibly Wycombe (do they have any beef with us?). Brentford will also get absolutely raided if they don't go up too, which fingers crossed will mean there's one less promotion candidate to worry about

 

Looks like Holebas and Foulquier have already left, which is a positive sign that we're gonna get some of that deadwood out of our squad. Sarr will almost certainly leave (we need him to go now really to balance the books), maybe just maybe we can keep a hold of Geri until the end of the window (or maybe even January). There is a big job to be done, but I am positive that we have most of the players needed to bounce back on our books already (Wilmot and one of the Colombians will hopefully be absolutely vital next season), think the most important positions to improve upon are the full-backs

 

I heard Capone is a bit of a hot-shot. Possible Gray replacement?

 

The Championship?

What, you mean there's a league OUTSIDE of the Premier League?

Who knew?!

I just thought we'd blink out of existence in the moment of relegation.

Probably been spending too much time on the forum.

 

I suspect they will want at least one of our fixtures against Luton to take place whilst supporters aren't allowed to go, so one of those will be before October. Personally I can't see any of us being allowed back before the New Year though so who knows

First game will be Derby at home

 

We’ll piss this silly little league

 

*WAYNE ROONEY’s Derby at home


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Get Vydra back from Burnley anyone?

Prob should never have let him go ?

 

Once again HB1 it's nice to see you agree with me with many of the points you make in this post. I'm amazed at how often we do seem to agree, sometimes it's like reading my own words, as our points are so similar.

That old saying "great minds think alike" must be very prevalent between us

 

Will be fascinating to see what team we have when the window closes. We had poor finances before CV19 and even poorer after relegation. We have to cut payroll cost and get in fees where we can. Will we really pay any transfer fees to sign anyone ? Maybe if we are really successful in getting decent fees for Sarr, GD, Doucs and Pereyra?

 

Totally agree. It will also be interesting to see what other clubs do too. It's been widely reported that some teams in the championship are really struggling financially.

Will the transfer market be quiet this year? Will prices be suppressed?

We have some advantages over other clubs. The parachute payments and a squad that has the potential to be competitive in the Championship are two.

But clubs that were in the Championship last year will probably start the season with largely the same squads. They will already be set to play at this level.

The first few games are going to be telling and I can't wait now!

 

It wou

We will surely need to balance the books. Sarr, Doucoure, Del b and Pervis should raise enough cash to do that. We won’t get as much as we think for those player, maybe £50m for the lot. As one of the high wage earners I also see Deeney going (unless we can agree a lower salary). Pereyra will go as well, but not sure we will get anything from him. I don’t see Wellbeck staying, I think a Premier League club, may take a chance on him. We will probably keep most of the rest, and play some of the young players e.g Pedro, Quina, and Willmot. Possible options are also Suraez/Cucho/Sema/Pusetto. Many Championship clubs will be struggling financially, so we may look to reinvest some cash.

 

This is the most important transfer window since the Pozzos took over. We have the parachute payment, and more saleable assets than the other clubs (debate as to whether they are worth this another time, but perception, eh?). With finances around the league suppressed by COVID it feels like a “one-time” opportunity to get straight back by investing sensible but strongly to create a core who will see us for the next 5 (hopefully Prem years).

 

We'll get a lot more than £50m for the lot. We'll probably get more than that for Sarr, as many clubs are interested in him and I can see some sort of bidding auction going on. Geri will be around £25m and Pererya probably £15m. Doucoure will probably be around £20m, but I can't see too many takers for him though as he's been very disappointing this season. I'd say we'd probably get around £100-110m for those players, and if we don't then we don't sell. They are all under contract.

 

I can't believe you've included Chalobah and Gray in there - not only are they both a busted flush, but they're lucky to still be here given their lockdown antics. They certainly haven't shown the character to indicate they're players one would want to "build a squad around". I'd happily show them the door if any clubs are willing to take them.

Masina will also probably be fine in the Championship, but I'm pretty much fed up with watching the dozy sod.

 

I don't see Sarr going unless it is for a significant amount of money.

 

The problem with this is we’re not in a strong position. We will be needing to sell a player who won’t be wanting to play for us - that drives the price down. We might get back what we paid.

 

Good luck, I’ll be following the season with interest. I know the Premier League is where it’s at for most fans, the prestige, the coverage, the always insightful Twitter banter..... The Championship can be such great fun though, personally with the exception of one season all of my favourite Leicester squads and campaigns have been outside of the top flight.

Being in The Championship is a bit like being a student. You’re skint, constantly dealing with bad decisions, annoyed by your neighbours, dreaming of the days when you’re earning good money and you don’t have to choose between having food or having fun. But just like in life, comfort can be boring, you miss the chaos and possibilities that each day might bring, just like the feeling after a few seasons in the Premier League. Personally I think the Premier League has become tacky and ****, it’s spreading across football and it remains to be seen what whorish acts lower league clubs will have to perform post-covid in order to survive.

For now though, I think The Championship still has its charms. You come across a far more diverse and interesting range of opposition teams and fans. What matchdays lack in quality football is more than made up for the sense of tension and back and forth in my opinion. The Prem makes fans spongy and dull, I haven’t experienced and genuinely good atmosphere in this league in about three years.

Anyways, chin up. Just because Stoke, Hull and Huddersfield have had torrid times since dropping down doesn’t mean you will too. Hopefully a good clear out and hard ******* coming in to replace Pearson will energise you once more. You need a Wilder rather than a Potter if you get what I mean. I’ll be rooting for you, give Forest, the Sheep and Covscum a good seeing to while you’re down there and we’ll meet again soon I hope. After ‘THE BIG SIX’ (vomit) **** off and join some kind of super league with any luck.

 

Swap him for Gray.

 

Surely they wouldn't want to swap Vydra for Gray, Super Mat is a far better player and was doing alright for Burnley at the end of the season.