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How positive are you re our chances in the 2016/17 season?



Kosh

'The' Yaztromo
For my part I fear we are poised on the edge of a knife: A significant part of me is sure we will retain our key players and recruit "from a position of strength."

That said...

A little voice keeps nagging at me and well...

Thus far we have no news, no movement in and plenty of speculation about those who may be "out." We've seen Bruno et al sign, which is great, but we are being made to wait for players on holiday (presumably) to sign extended deals etc. Not really great, when the alternative is to lose them and have to recruit 'big' late in pre-season. The Ulloa fiasco springs to mind. I see Ipswich have made a first foray into the transfer market as have certain other teams. It's most likely that we're aiming high (I hope) and the EC will have an effect on the summer transfer market. Still it's a slight worry.

Losing one of our high level recruitment team is also a worry, this and the fact that Stephen's leaving (if indeed a possibility) could see Kayal go down the river too and perhaps even Hemed. Knocky I can see staying until Jan regardless, but one player out could be enough to de-stabilise everything we worked so hard on last season. Much akin to Vardy, we could be in for a long summer!

I realise much of this has been said, and is probably bordering on doomsday "the end is nigh" stuff, but I'm not feeling much positivity from the club just yet.

It's all a little quiet for comfort. That said; no news is indeed good news (probably), and here's hoping we see a big positive story in the coming week or so.

Finally does anyone else feel or suspect that we identified a series of high level targets based on the dream scenario, and list B looks/feels like a list of little or no ambition (akin to settling for the bang average lady when the 2am bell chimes) with the enthusiasm within the club simply drained by the end of season "man we've got the blues..." reality.

Next season will be one of huge expectation, but I fear the reality is going to be very stark indeed.

Here's hoping for a HUGE season of success anyway,

Kosh
 




Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
Once I know who is staying and who we have added I will let you know. If we don't add at least two quality strikers I think we will fall short again though.

I just enjoy the ride, mostly. It's not my money and I like the Championship whilst we are competitive.
 


Leekbrookgull

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2005
16,237
Leek
ON PAPER the Bookies have/will make Aston Villa,Newcastle and Norwich their favourites for promotion,i wouldn't be so sure.
 






Foul Play Rocks

Well-known member
Feb 23, 2013
5,178
We'll be OK. I'm confident that everything is in place and the right deals will be done.
I hope that the bed wetting is kept to a minimum this year.
 




West Upper Seagull

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2003
1,510
Woodingdean
I don't think anything should be read into the current 'silence' because this is typical for this time of year. Firstly our players will be on their holidays before reporting back for training at the end of the month, so news of Stephens and Kayal signing new contracts is not likely to be any time soon - and the club have said themselves this could take time. Secondly, any new signings the club are targeting are not likely to become publicised until next month, because these players will also be on their holiday (or possibly even playing at the Euros !) while existing player contracts don't end until the end of the month and I believe the transfer window doesn't open until July.

Also, we rarely sign players that are linked with us - nobody linked us with any of the signings we made last summer / January and we didn't know about them until the signings were completed !

Impatience will breed this lack of optimism if people are expecting more activity this month.
 
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Not confident at all,nor will I be all the time Barber is counting the pennies,We should won the league doing hand stands ,just needed that final piece of the jigsaw January.
I'll go as far as to say,we will not make the premier league all the time Barber is CEO.
 


Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
Not confident at all,nor will I be all the time Barber is counting the pennies,We should won the league doing hand stands ,just needed that final piece of the jigsaw January.
I'll go as far as to say,we will not make the premier league all the time Barber is CEO.

I think TB controls the budget not Barber, you are directing your ire at the wrong person IMO.
 


Dolph Ins

Well-known member
May 26, 2014
1,525
Mid Sussex
As far as I know we still have all the players who gave us such a wonderful season missing out on the autos by 2 goals. Does someone know something I don't?
 




Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
As far as I know we still have all the players who gave us such a wonderful season missing out on the autos by 2 goals. Does someone know something I don't?

Well Zamora has gone, he was worth quite a few points. Sickly Wilson has also gone so we are VERY light upfront at the moment.
 


chaileyjem

#BarberIn
NSC Patreon
Jun 27, 2012
13,776
Not confident at all,nor will I be all the time Barber is counting the pennies,We should won the league doing hand stands ,just needed that final piece of the jigsaw January.
I'll go as far as to say,we will not make the premier league all the time Barber is CEO.

Hand Stands !! Textbook.
 


Blue Valkyrie

Not seen such Bravery!
Sep 1, 2012
32,165
Valhalla
I think Rosenior was our first signing last summer on June 23rd.

Plenty of time.

PreSeaon starts on 27th June.
 




Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
16,561
Fiveways
-- It's way too early to form a view (even the start of the season will be too early as the transfer window doesn't close for at least three further weeks.
-- While I recognise the OP has drafted a nuanced response, there are contradictory bits in it, including being concerned that there are no noises coming from the club, and no news being good news.
-- I'm not so concerned about losing Ewan Chester during this window, as I'd imagine most of the lists of potential targets have been drawn up already. If he was pivotal, it may well be an issue for the next window, but I think we're in good hands with TB, CH, PB and PW to identify a decent replacement.
-- My only current observation is that price tags on players in general and strikers in particular are ridiculously high; most will have to come down a little, but this means that I suspect that we might be breaking our transfer fee record in this window.
 






GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,480
Gloucester
Well Zamora has gone, he was worth quite a few points. Sickly Wilson has also gone so we are VERY light upfront at the moment.

We always knew we were going to have to replace those two for next season, and most of us will have been pretty much aware that we would sooner or later have to start replacing some of our ageing defenders. So that's where we are - what's the problem? I'm sure the recruitment team will have been researching for months.
 




SULLY COULDNT SHOOT

Loyal2Family+Albion!
Sep 28, 2004
11,283
Izmir, Southern Turkey
Behave! Pointless thread. We won't hear anything for ages..... everyone's on holiday and there's the Euros.

As for expectations... none at all and won't think about it until everyone's back for pre-season. At this point last year we were all pretty negative.
 


Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
We always knew we were going to have to replace those two for next season, and most of us will have been pretty much aware that we would sooner or later have to start replacing some of our ageing defenders. So that's where we are - what's the problem? I'm sure the recruitment team will have been researching for months.

Umm our success rate in signing decent Championship strikers is of concern to me. I am sure the recruitment team will be trying very hard as well but as things stand we are short up front.
 



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