[SIGNED perm] William Troost-ekong

My problem with this view is it mostly arises from tittle-tattle. We don't really have that much insight into the goings on in the club, we just sometimes believe we do. Pearson got a terrific bounce out of the players and while we were beating Liverpool and Bournemouth they looked fit, focussed professional. I genuinely believe that had Deulofeo stayed fit we would have narrowly avoided the drop. Capoue at the end was a massive blow too. Our relegation was dozens of blows we couldn't quite survive this time.

The problem with the Premier League for clubs our size is that to compete you have to spend and those spends become hulking great liabilities. I don't think that's ill will on anyone's part, we just didn't have the flexibility to bin them when needed. After signing good defenders when we got promoted it was a bit odd that we failed to do so thereafter. This apart, most players decisions have not been too bad.

So without the ability to flex we had inevitably to crash. We just did it in our way. Stoke and Sunderland did it in theirs. This is very exciting because we are getting the clear out we need and the good points of the model - the ability to bring in Estupinan, Suarez, Wilmot after a relegation, will hopefully come to the fore.

 

Is that where we hold up Ludo pieces and chant 'no blocking allowed'?

 

I don’t see the loans detailed in the accounts, the expenditure in the accounts, Giraldi hanging round the dugout and baffling contract extensions as “tittle tattle” to be honest. It’s a different view on how we are run than you have but no need to dismiss it as lack of insight when some of the items are matters of fact.

I agree with your last sentence though. Less convinced we are having success with the clear out though. Some of our poor previous contract decisions are going to make some players hard to move. Cathcart will be here until 2023 for example. Deeney/Success/Peneranda will be hard to move on as well.

Franky, it’s a mess.

 

Who’s Franky?

 

That’s me. Old blue eyes.

 

I think I'm a pretty objective guy and I certainly don't want to argue with you. We are all entitled to our own opinions.
For a small club to stay in the top league for 5 years they must have got a hell of a lot of decisions right over the last 6-7 years would you agree ? Yes communication hasn't been great, structure seems odd, managers come and go, and the quality of acquisitions over last 18 months have been mixed and led to relegation. But there's a danger that as fans we expect everything to be perfect and just criticise the bits that aren't. I've no idea whay they didn't strengthen the defence for example but perhaps they tried and failed or perhaps they had lots of stats that suggested as a unit it worked as was ?
"However it’s hard not to feel we should be in a better spot than this after 5 years in the top division"....why ? We were barely breaking even with the costs of staying there. There seems to be this assumption that as a small club once you've survived 5 years, that's it, you've made it and should now be able to prosper and flourish. Like Bolton, Stoke, Swansea, WBA etc ? Other than Burnley there are no established small clubs in the prem and Burnley will be down in the next few years, we all know it. If we get back up it will be for a short period and then we will be down again. If the owners, structure etc were more standard maybe we wouldn't have been promoted and maybe we'd just be bumping around the lower champ like Reading, QPR etc, that's what I expect we will be doing for the majority of the next 10 years...why should we expect better than those other clubs ?

 

Look at Burnley’s balance sheet compared to ours. I’m not complaining that we failed. I’m complaining about our financial state even while we were up there. That and our hire/fire interfering structure which doesn’t allow a manager to build.

I think our new set of accounts could be miserable reading indeed.

I don’t disagree with your point that we are in reality a “championship” size club and will always bounce around. I also agree that the first 4/5 years the owners did very well. However the last 3 years have been poor and wasteful in my view.

 

Yes Burnley have done a great job on and off the pitch, clearly better than we have. But why get so upset that we aren't the very very best ? There are dozens with better resources than ours who should have done better than we have over the last 6 years and haven't. They have made many wrong calls but on balance they have got most things right otherwise we wouldn't have just had 5 years in the prem. The accounts aren't great but it's a balance isn't it ? The accounts would look far better if we hadn't bought Sarr and GD but then as fans we'd have moaned about lack of investment and just accepting relegation too easily. I know we all feel sore about relegation but we are never going to be an established prem team, the odds are just too heavily stacked against us.

 

I’m not asking to beat Burnley’s performance. Just not to be a polar opposite. We have borrowed against assets, future TV money and future transfer receipts. Everything.

How have we got into this state? Sarr aside we haven’t been especially reckless in the market and the wage bill seemed controlled (relatively).

Sure we can sell some players and plug the financial gaps. That will leave us with below par players sometimes on long contracts (Cathcart, Success, Peneranda) and some promising younger players who are the only ones who give me hope right now. As I say not a lot to show for our adventure.

You keep saying I want us to be an established premier league team. That’s not what I am arguing.

 

Finance thread please lads....

 

OK. Basically they have borrowed what they can, to spend what they can, to try to keep us up. Bad signings and poor player commitment in the last 18m means we are relegated and the extent of borrowing gives us some financial challenges in the future. Alternatively we could have done a Norwich and been relegated more quickly but with better finances ? Probably enough on the finances for now ....??

 

Do you remember me? Franky?

Do you remember me?

 

With regard to Troost-Ekong, do we feel this is still likely or have we moved on to other targets?

 

He’s back at Udinese and part of their plans according to Leventhal’s comments on a podcast yesterday.

 

gon 2 ollywood m8.

 

Good question.

Also: for a club our size, our level of ambition and the healthiness of our balance sheet are understandable. Discuss.

 

I'm sure even the great GT stated that to be able to make us an established top 30 club would be an excellent achievement...and that was before the advent of the EPL & how it has further separated the haves from the others. Seems to me that's where we are right now.

 

Thanks, didn't get a chance to listen to the podcast yet.

 

I thought it was when you go into your local kitchen showroom with the intention to buy a new worktop. Unsure of which one to choose from the many on offer , you ask the sales assistant to try some out for you.

 

Frankly says "Relax"

 

Ungrateful little ingrates, don't they realise they rely on that Premier League money?

 

Don't shoot the messenger...just relaying what I've been told!

Not done yet - But Troost-Ekong looks likely again. Rumoured 5-year deal.

 

Sounds good if true

 

Can't troost twitter m8.

 

I want a left-footed CB.
Any chance we can sign this guy, sell 2 of Dawson/Cathcart/Kabasele and bring in someone brilliant to play on the left of T-E and Wilmot?

 

The club are looking to bring in a left-footed CB. Ivic said he wants 2 players in each position, so 6 CBs if we play a back 3. We currently have 5, so WTE would take us up to 6. We would probably look to offload one of the three you mentioned and replace them with a leftie.

 

Kabasele is fine at this level

 

I hear Rochdale may be releasing someone next week. If he's left footed, we are in !

 

Fingers crossed. The recruitment team must be due a good signing by now.

 

Fake news, we only offer 5 year deals to centre backs once they're 30

 

To be fair Ajayi was brilliant for West Brom. Maybe there are a few more kicking around.

 

He's been commenting on players instagram's which would suggest he's been in the UK...

 

@LouOrns posted a Nigerian flag tweet on Twitter but it seems to have disappeared since.

@Burnsy was @LouOrns your source?

 

He told me yes. And I’ve subsequently asked a question elsewhere and had it confirmed that he was at the training ground yesterday.

(Disclaimer: When I say ‘confirmed’ - the person I know didn’t know who it was but he was being shown around with what was assumed to be an agent/PA, Giaretta and spent some time with medical staff...I subsequently sent them a picture of the player and they said ‘99% sure’ it’s the same person)