No one leaving, no one coming in?

[Jake Richard Cuthbert]

If it's true, we will never become an established Premier League club with that mentality. To give up in January when there is still half a season left is unforgivable imo. What a waste of a season absolute shambles from top to bottom. On the back of a top 10 finish aswell. Unbeliveable. This season we had the opportunity to establish ourselves in the top division and we've blown it. For me it just completely wipes out last season's success.

Not to mention we missed out on every single one of our main targets last summer.

 

[scouseblade]

5 days to go. No more rumours. Lingard (never thought it would happen) will be going to Wet Spam (only if they sign Benrahma or Dawson on permanent). Who in their right mind is going to join us 12 points adrift! Ah well. We've had worse windows....

 

[SilkyBlade]

If it's true, we will never become an established Premier League club with that mentality. To give up in January when there is still half a season left is unforgivable imo. What a waste of a season absolute shambles from top to bottom. On the back of a top 10 finish aswell. Unbeliveable. This season we had the opportunity to establish ourselves in the top division and we've blown it. For me it just completely wipes out last season's success.

Really? We’d all like better players to come in in a perfect scenario but you certainly can’t blame the board deciding not to spunk anymore money given what they have spent to date inc infrastructure. We do only have 5pts and we are definitely going to be relegated so makes sense to contract in with players in summer on champ wages.

 

[brownblade]

If it's true, we will never become an established Premier League club with that mentality. To give up in January when there is still half a season left is unforgivable imo. What a waste of a season absolute shambles from top to bottom. On the back of a top 10 finish aswell. Unbeliveable. This season we had the opportunity to establish ourselves in the top division and we've blown it. For me it just completely wipes out last season's success.

Give over. Does the phrase "big picture" mean anything to you? We massively overachieved in the eyes of the whole world. This season everything has gone wrong, unfortunately... These things happen. No fans doesn't help. We will be in a good position for a promotion challenge if we keep the manager.

Try and avoid such negativity, you'll feel better for it.

 

[Davalon]

Disappointing but understandable.

It's easy to have a view when you're not in charge of the purse strings.

I'm firmly in the keep Wilder camp but we can't pretend that the serious money spent by our standards since this time last year, has been remotely successful.

If we can't move anyone on for worthwhile money, then considering relegation is so likely, spending nothing more is hardly controversial.

I think if we'd showed some positive signs in the last month or so of slowing turning a corner, then it would be a more arguable point but apart from a penalty to beat a very poor 10 man Newcastle, we still look well short of PL standard sadly.

 

[BlairBlade]

This is such a non-story, stirring trouble.

We targeted the centre half at Sampdoria. He's now back in favour and has signed a new contract. Nothing we could do about that plus Ampadu seems to be settling down there and noises are positive on JOC despite a slight setback

West Ham have just written off about 25m on one of their recent signings. They are THE club that knows how to waste money. As soon as they became interested in Lingard I'm not surprised we walked away or pulled out of the race, whatever you want to call it.

They'll probably pay his wages in full. A whacking 100k+. They'll pay a decent loan fee as well. They are about 7th.

What a total waste of time it would have been, attempting to convince him he's far better turning out for the team rock bottom and Man U that they are better off sending him somewhere that wants help with wages and a small fee when they can pocket probably 4m in wages and fee.

All this for what? To give the players a boost, save the managers ego?

Let's not be penny wise pound foolish. If we beat Palace and Burnley and if we had been the only team offering, maybe this had some merit.

But pushing for it even now? It's not reasonable and it isn't the fault of the Board.

Time for calm heads. January is a notoriously difficult market. Sat here on 5 points, 12 from safety makes it almost impossible.

Be sensible. That 4m gets some good traction in the summer. Not worth it now. Move on.

In all fairness, if what has been reported is true then I am not sure it can be simply described as "a non story".
Some will find it perfectly understandable that the Prince is not willing to see any more money wasted.
Some will wonder how it took the club until 26th January, or thereabouts to figure that they were not going to get anyone in.
The Sampdoria guy might well have been one as well as Linguard. However, one would hope the club had others they were interested who could come straight into the team and ACTUALLY improve it.
Such a lot about this season is WTF is going on?

 

[247Blade]

This is such a non-story, stirring trouble.

We targeted the centre half at Sampdoria. He's now back in favour and has signed a new contract. Nothing we could do about that plus Ampadu seems to be settling down there and noises are positive on JOC despite a slight setback

West Ham have just written off about 25m on one of their recent signings. They are THE club that knows how to waste money. As soon as they became interested in Lingard I'm not surprised we walked away or pulled out of the race, whatever you want to call it.

They'll probably pay his wages in full. A whacking 100k+. They'll pay a decent loan fee as well. They are about 7th.

What a total waste of time it would have been, attempting to convince him he's far better turning out for the team rock bottom and Man U that they are better off sending him somewhere that wants help with wages and a small fee when they can pocket probably 4m in wages and fee.

All this for what? To give the players a boost, save the managers ego?

Let's not be penny wise pound foolish. If we beat Palace and Burnley and if we had been the only team offering, maybe this had some merit.

But pushing for it even now? It's not reasonable and it isn't the fault of the Board.

Time for calm heads. January is a notoriously difficult market. Sat here on 5 points, 12 from safety makes it almost impossible.

Be sensible. That 4m gets some good traction in the summer. Not worth it now. Move on.

We target loads of players and that's as far as it goes .... thought McCabe was tight but I'm not optimistic going forward

 

[1889]

I don’t blame the board, two loan players, who can’t get in their own clubs first team, are hardly going to be the catalyst for a miraculous relegation escape.

The fact is we are already down, hopefully we can get 12 points, but that is the only realistic target for us now.
Wilders happily taken the plaudits for our meteoric rise and superb football. Well he now needs to accept the criticism and take responsibility for our current position. Stand up, dust himself down, come back next season stronger and better equipped to take the Championship title.

But instead, from what I’m seeing, he’s sulking and feeling sorry for himself. He needs to snap out of it, what’s done is done, now is the time for him to show his mettle and showcase his managerial excellence. He quite rightly has huge credit with the fans, but that won’t last forever.

Financially I reckon, we have made best part of £300m from our Premier League status, with £130m spent on players and £50m buying the property assets. I think we are still in a very healthy position to take on the Championship next season, while those teams around us will be struggling to cover the loss of gate receipts.

I think the board are taking a very sensible approach, in terms of transfers, a top Championship team will be a far more attractive proposition to quality players and their agents, than one that’s rock bottom of the Prem, awaiting their inevitable relegation.

 

[ancientblade]

If it's true, we will never become an established Premier League club with that mentality. To give up in January when there is still half a season left is unforgivable imo. What a waste of a season absolute shambles from top to bottom. On the back of a top 10 finish aswell. Unbeliveable. This season we had the opportunity to establish ourselves in the top division and we've blown it. For me it just completely wipes out last season's success.

the mistakes were made in the last window its too late now were not going to pull back a 12 point deficit so i dont blame the board on this one the mentality should have been to sign better quality and pay higher salaries before the season started

 

[BushBlade]

The loans brought in last January weren't used. Fair to say they were unlikely to be players Wilder identified

The players Wilder has brought in himself haven't provided anything like the value for money required, or even competent performance levels for the most

I completely understand (although I'm disappointed) why the board would decide it's not worth it. The recruitment plan is broken and it needs fixing between now and the start of the Championship season

Why do you think the players we brought in during the JTW weren’t Wilder’s signings but the ones we signed in the summer are? Brewster doesn’t seem to be a typical Wilder signing, Burke was offered as a makeweight and is a bit more like a Wilder ‘project’, Ramsdale is quite untypical too. He tends to prefer experience. Is he being told he can only sign players with a potential re-sale value? (I’ve no idea, just speculating). I have vague recollections of Spurs doing similar with Redknapp towards the end of his reign.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Why do you think the players we brought in during the JTW weren’t Wilder’s signings but the ones we signed in the summer are? Brewster doesn’t seem to be a typical Wilder signing, Burke was offered as a makeweight and is a bit more like a Wilder ‘project’, Ramsdale is quite untypical too. He tends to prefer experience. Is he being told he can only sign players with a potential re-sale value? (I’ve no idea, just speculating). I have vague recollections of Spurs doing similar with Redknapp towards the end of his reign.

That's fair, I'm speculating based on the pools Wilder has swum in previously. The Retsos and Zivcovic deals are miles outside of his comfort zone. They certainly felt like they were given to him rather than requested.

Brewster was a long term target by all accounts but we wanted a loan. The shoddy start to the season led to the panic. Wilder had a personal relationship with Ramsdale and had sung his praises on multiple occasions. But I'm 100% with you on the experience thing, that was what we looked for. But the place we have always looked for it under Wilder has been England, and especially the Championship.

There was a conscious effort to reduce the average age of the squad. I have no idea where that came from. But the comfort level with players we've paid money for (29 under Wilder) has almost always matched the profile of the players signed this summer.

 

[Pedro Verde]

However, one would hope the club had others they were interested who could come straight into the team and ACTUALLY improve it.

There are not many players that would willingly come that are ready made to come straight into a struggling PL team and improve us to the extent of being a catylist for us to avoid relegation

 

[BlairBlade]

We target loads of players and that's as far as it goes .... thought McCabe was tight but I'm not optimistic going forward

If only we were going forward.

 

[BlairBlade]

There are not many players that would willingly come that are ready made to come straight into a struggling PL team and improve us to the extent of being a catylist for us to avoid relegation

That must be right.
But it does seem that over the last 4 transfer windows there has been so little, if any, real improvement overall in the team that I'm not just dazed and confused dot com for so long it's not true but utterly bewitched, buggered and bewildered - in the nicest possible sense!

 

[Bladeinleeds]

This is such a non-story, stirring trouble.

We targeted the centre half at Sampdoria. He's now back in favour and has signed a new contract. Nothing we could do about that plus Ampadu seems to be settling down there and noises are positive on JOC despite a slight setback

West Ham have just written off about 25m on one of their recent signings. They are THE club that knows how to waste money. As soon as they became interested in Lingard I'm not surprised we walked away or pulled out of the race, whatever you want to call it.

They'll probably pay his wages in full. A whacking 100k+. They'll pay a decent loan fee as well. They are about 7th.

What a total waste of time it would have been, attempting to convince him he's far better turning out for the team rock bottom and Man U that they are better off sending him somewhere that wants help with wages and a small fee when they can pocket probably 4m in wages and fee.

All this for what? To give the players a boost, save the managers ego?

Let's not be penny wise pound foolish. If we beat Palace and Burnley and if we had been the only team offering, maybe this had some merit.

But pushing for it even now? It's not reasonable and it isn't the fault of the Board.

Time for calm heads. January is a notoriously difficult market. Sat here on 5 points, 12 from safety makes it almost impossible.

Be sensible. That 4m gets some good traction in the summer. Not worth it now. Move on.

agree - we are in a position where haven’t even given ourselves a fighting chance of staying up. If we had pulled off a couple of victories against palace, Burnley not shit ourselves against Westbrom. We would be at least in a relegation scrap.

if you’re say 6 points from safety - maybe you push the boat out. (We are 12 points from safety and not even on tract to earn that if we played out the entire season.)

We just aren’t staying up. We are in a position where we will need to win at least 50% of our remaining games to stand any chance. It would be financial madness, as it won’t change anything about the season.

 

[Sam64]

 

[ormester]

And wilder wasted money

 

[ancientblade]

Why do you think the players we brought in during the JTW weren’t Wilder’s signings but the ones we signed in the summer are? Brewster doesn’t seem to be a typical Wilder signing, Burke was offered as a makeweight and is a bit more like a Wilder ‘project’, Ramsdale is quite untypical too. He tends to prefer experience. Is he being told he can only sign players with a potential re-sale value? (I’ve no idea, just speculating). I have vague recollections of Spurs doing similar with Redknapp towards the end of his reign.

cant disagree with em on this one and surely even chris cant be suprised with this decision

 

[Broomhall Blade]

This is such a non-story, stirring trouble.

We targeted the centre half at Sampdoria. He's now back in favour and has signed a new contract. Nothing we could do about that plus Ampadu seems to be settling down there and noises are positive on JOC despite a slight setback

West Ham have just written off about 25m on one of their recent signings. They are THE club that knows how to waste money. As soon as they became interested in Lingard I'm not surprised we walked away or pulled out of the race, whatever you want to call it.

They'll probably pay his wages in full. A whacking 100k+. They'll pay a decent loan fee as well. They are about 7th.

What a total waste of time it would have been, attempting to convince him he's far better turning out for the team rock bottom and Man U that they are better off sending him somewhere that wants help with wages and a small fee when they can pocket probably 4m in wages and fee.

All this for what? To give the players a boost, save the managers ego?

Let's not be penny wise pound foolish. If we beat Palace and Burnley and if we had been the only team offering, maybe this had some merit.

But pushing for it even now? It's not reasonable and it isn't the fault of the Board.

Time for calm heads. January is a notoriously difficult market. Sat here on 5 points, 12 from safety makes it almost impossible.

Be sensible. That 4m gets some good traction in the summer. Not worth it now. Move on.

Just as a matter of interest if us fans were allowed in grounds should we just give up as well.
I mean whats the point if we are not going to give it ago regardless how big the mountain is, we might as well go to the coast for the day or go walking in Derbyshire or maybe catch the latest release at the cinema.

 

[Toronto Blade fan]

Just as a matter of interest if us fans were allowed in grounds should we just give up as well.
I mean whats the point if we are not going to give it ago regardless how big the mountain is, we might as well go to the coast for the day or go walking in Derbyshire or maybe catch the latest release at the cinema.

100% agree with this statement. I feel the club owes its fans something....not asking for the club to toss out another 20m, but at least bring in one or two reinforcements to the club. If we continue down this losing path, who knows what long term impact it will have on the players minds.

 

[alcoblade]

Here we go again. I’d love to know what makes you think we’ll be top 6 ‘at least’ next season. Using actual facts and data, if you could.

Whilst I don’t match his optimism, let’s remember that most of the content on here is obviously opinion. Suffixing everything with IMHO is a bit of a waste of time.

 

[Davalon]

100% agree with this statement. I feel the club owes its fans something....not asking for the club to toss out another 20m, but at least bring in one or two reinforcements to the club. If we continue down this losing path, who knows what long term impact it will have on the players minds.

Totally agree with your last sentence as that's my concern but rightly or wrongly, the board may feel that the couple of loans that CW is wanting are unlikely to make the outlay worthwhile.

 

[Grappler]

Whilst I don’t match his optimism, let’s remember that most of the content on here is obviously opinion. Suffixing everything with IMHO is a bit of a waste of time.

Yep, totally agree IMHO.

 

[BlairBlade]

Yep, totally agree IMHO.

IMHO I can’t agree with that, totally.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

Totally agree with your last sentence as that's my concern but rightly or wrongly, the board may feel that the couple of loans that CW is wanting are unlikely to make the outlay worthwhile.

Wilder has pissed over £100m up against the wall. I’m not surprised they’ve cut off the money.

 

[Champagneblade]

100% agree with this statement. I feel the club owes its fans something....not asking for the club to toss out another 20m, but at least bring in one or two reinforcements to the club. If we continue down this losing path, who knows what long term impact it will have on the players minds.

I do get this point but aside from the money aspect it does seem his targets are simply not gettable.

Colley signed a new deal and is no longer available. Lingard will have a chance to reunite with a former manager and join a team currently in 4th.

Even Chris' list won't be endless. You get so far down it, so you just sign someone for the sake of it?

 

[A Storm of Blades]

I do get this point but aside from the money aspect it does seem his targets are simply not gettable.

Colley signed a new deal and is no longer available. Lingard will have a chance to reunite with a former manager and join a team currently in 4th.

Even Chris' list won't be endless. You get so far down it, so you just sign someone for the sake of it?

Personally, I’m focusing on both how poor and exposed our midfield is, and has been all season. I’m flabbergasted he hasn’t been allowed to bring someone in. We’re desperate for a lift as a club, this is precisely the opposite. No way Wilder isn’t letting everyone know he’s got monk on for the next few games either, making everything worse.

 

[Revolution]

Personally, I’m focusing on both how poor and exposed our midfield is, and has been all season. I’m flabbergasted he hasn’t been allowed to bring someone in. We’re desperate for a lift as a club, this is precisely the opposite. No way Wilder isn’t letting everyone know he’s got monk on for the next few games either, making everything worse.

This is where I am with it. We have been relegated- in effect - since we lost to WBA. I understand the reluctance to spend money in that context, and to be honest I don’t trust Wilder with money either given the disaster of the last 12 months re transfers (although arguably if the board feel like this they should sack him).

But then again:

- there is another target. Avoiding being the worst PL side ever. I think it is worth trying to avoid that and you could use loans to try to help with that

- we are threadbare in terms of quality midfielders and we do not have a fit competent LCB or GK. Some players - Norwood, Bryan, arguably Ramsdale - are only playing because there is literally no one else. Again, loans could have prevented that being a problem.

I think the board should have let Wilder freshen the squad with loans.

Oh well, on with this Death March of a season tonight.

 

[bertieblade]

Why pay for loans as a short term fix, when the money is surely better saved until the summer when we can spend on transfers for players to take us forward not to put a sticking plaster on something which is already bleeding to death,

 

[Toronto Blade fan]

I do get this point but aside from the money aspect it does seem his targets are simply not gettable.

Colley signed a new deal and is no longer available. Lingard will have a chance to reunite with a former manager and join a team currently in 4th.

Even Chris' list won't be endless. You get so far down it, so you just sign someone for the sake of it?

I think we do have to sign someone just for the sake of it. We literally don't have another midfielder on the bench.

The sad thing is - if we break the record for the lowest points, all those amazing accomplishments the team has achieved over the Wilder years will be completely overshadowed. The owners owe it to the team. Prove to the players they haven't given up on them..... Do something.