You Call The Shots...........

[midlandadie]

i trust last years sqaud to be honest we could do with a bit more strength in depth incase of injuries. if we could sign better players great. but last years players will do a good job. it would be nice to see some of our youth players breaking through into the first team this year.

[Ian Royal]

Worst manager we've had whilst I've been around by a country mile.

You weren't around for the season with Terry Bullivant in charge then?

Yes I was. and Bullivant in my opinion did far less damage to our club than Burns. He may have not been very good, but Burns was appauling.

Sorry Spacey, ambiguous sentence, I was referring to only Brebner with the comment about letting him go for peanuts.

[RG30]

For me, I would have taken Route B. Everyone will always say Charlton done it a good way by not breaking the bank but you look at other clubs who have taken Route B and the notable names of recent years who have survived are Bolton and Portsmouth.

There has been a good quality of players who have been floating around this summer with the likes of Hartson, Sutton etc who have fine Premiership experience and would maybe have a point to prove.

After all this wait, it would be nice to see JM and SC say they gave it they're best in terms of getting players, really pushing for it.

Don't want to sound negative because I'm so excited about the 19th August but I would have taken the older proven players who demand the bigger wages than young players who may possibly cut it or not.

[Woodcote Royal]

As others have said, we were the best team ever to grace the second tier of English football and I see precious little appreciation of that fact from the doom and gloom merchants.

Just because Colin has bought a string of 3rd raters, it's really beyond me why some fans want us to do the same. As Arch said recently, whilst we might be a little short in 1 or 2 positions, a quick head count reveals not only reasonable numbers but mostly players who one would hope could cut it in the Prem.

On that basis, I see it as pointless Coppell buying players that he knows will not be good enough to break into his strongest 11.

Claud Davis is not a bad centre half but would he strengthen our team? No, IMHO. He would strengthen the squad but is that worth what Sheff U paid for him? No, would be my answer here, too.

Steve Coppell was the last major addition to our management team and everything it does these days smacks of a well oiled machine. Had there been someone worth signing that we could afford and who wanted to join us, I believe they would have been signed.

However, it seems to me that the transfer merrygoround is far from over and, as one of those clubs reliant on the fallout from bigger deals, I see the chances of us landing something worthwhile before deadline day as better than 50/50.

But, with 2 players good enough to take the field in the World Cup plus several other full internationals, I believe our young team is a lot better than many are prepared to give it credit for and it should improve next season just for being a year older.

We don't have to gain a single point from the top 3 or 4 in order to finish mid-table and from what I saw of West Brom & Birmingham last season, I don't think either would have lasted long against our first 11............................I'm a "C" just in case you were wondering

[Ian Royal]

Find myself agreeing with everything you said there this time Woodcote, sound sense.

and RG30, Sutton and Hartson? Neither really cut it in the premiership apart from 1 season from Sutton. They both went to Scotland and excelled but Hartson has found his English level. the Championship, whichis about the equivalent of much of the SPL.

Both are knocking on now and if they couldn't do it before they certainly couldn't now. Cynical cheaters the both of them, personally I would see either of their addition to our squad as appauling signings.

[Woodcote Royal]

And I agree with all of that

[tink]

i think martin ling at leyton orient had the right approach. after they got promoted he basically said he would put his faith in the players that got them up and rather than wasting money on new signings, he would see how his players held up and then in the january transfer window he would strengthen - whther it was to fight relegation, maintain position or push for promotion remains to be seen, but i think its a sensible way to approach things.

obviously the prem is a bit differnt to league one, but it seems as tho coppell and co have a similiar idea. no panic buying, and we'll just see how it goes. some higher profile signings in january are expected tho i feel.

[RG30]

What is worrying me is the lack of experience of Premiership football. Some will play it down but it's a major concern that only 2 of our current squad have real Premiership experience (Oster & Makin) while Little spent a 3 month loan spell at Bolton and hardly featured.

Ian Royal, those were just 2 examples of the kind of player that was available on the market but 1 of Wigan's main successes last season was the central defensive partnership pairing of De Zeeuw and Henchoz.

Woodcote, I fully appreciate what a fantastic achievement our's was last season but that's in the past, come the 19th August it's a completely different ball game. Out go's all the memories of Leicester, Derby and QPR and we've got to start well. We've been given a fine opportunity with the opening 4 games, and those are the type of games we'll need to win in order to survive.

[Woodcote Royal]

What I'm saying is that I don't think many fans appreciate just how good the team had to be to walk the Championship in the way that it did and is probably good enough already to hold it's own and more against many of the lesser Prem teams .

Wigan and West Ham certainly bucked the trend of recent seasons, and had to strengthen to gain impressive mid-table finishes, but neither side was close to being as good us before those players were bought in.

[Stranded]

I do agree with ou WR that we have a very good basis of a squad, they way we strolled last year shows that but IMHO we do need two more players one CB and one CM.

Whilst I don't mind us starting the season without them, we need at least one if not both in by the 31st. We got lucky with the centre half pairing last year with neither missing a game through injury/suspension and whilst we have players who can cover there I feel one more recognised CB to push the other two for a place is vital for cover and competition.

[Alan Partridge]

That's a fine earlier post Woodcote and I agree wholeheartedly about (a) our team not getting enough credit and (b) Sheffield Utd's transfers.

However I do think we are still a few short and it's all well and good saying we'll wait till January, well we'll have to because of the transfer window, it COULD be all too little too late. You have to have a bigger squad in the Premiership especially if your a promoted club because a few of the players simply won't be good enough. That's just a fact of life, and it's harsh in many ways that those players could be players that have served us so well over the last couple of years.

The one thing that has to be said is that there haven't been that transfers where I've thought 'I wish we'd gone for him' Only Lescott and probably Hartson. Apart from that there have been hardly any (realistic) transfers that have happened that would seriously strengthen our team, if any. Whereas Seol would walk into both of the other promoted teams first XI and possibly one or two others in the league and yet he isn't guaranteed a start here!

It seems as though the club had banked on getting Mensah but thus far Rennes are still mucking them around, that's the sort of signing that would take us to the next level and RFC are clearly in that market.

I have faith in a lot of our players being more than good enough, we just don't have enough of them!!....yet

[Only one Trevor Morley]

That's a fine earlier post Woodcote and I agree wholeheartedly about (a) our team not getting enough credit and (b) Sheffield Utd's transfers.

However I do think we are still a few short and it's all well and good saying we'll wait till January, well we'll have to because of the transfer window, it COULD be all too little too late. You have to have a bigger squad in the Premiership especially if your a promoted club because a few of the players simply won't be good enough. That's just a fact of life, and it's harsh in many ways that those players could be players that have served us so well over the last couple of years.

The one thing that has to be said is that there haven't been that transfers where I've thought 'I wish we'd gone for him' Only Lescott and probably Hartson. Apart from that there have been hardly any (realistic) transfers that have happened that would seriously strengthen our team, if any. Whereas Seol would walk into both of the other promoted teams first XI and possibly one or two others in the league and yet he isn't guaranteed a start here!

It seems as though the club had banked on getting Mensah but thus far Rennes are still mucking them around, that's the sort of signing that would take us to the next level and RFC are clearly in that market.

I have faith in a lot of our players being more than good enough, we just don't have enough of them!!....yet

Didnt we bid for Lescott? I agree completely about Hartson....

[Alan Partridge]

That's a fine earlier post Woodcote and I agree wholeheartedly about (a) our team not getting enough credit and (b) Sheffield Utd's transfers.

However I do think we are still a few short and it's all well and good saying we'll wait till January, well we'll have to because of the transfer window, it COULD be all too little too late. You have to have a bigger squad in the Premiership especially if your a promoted club because a few of the players simply won't be good enough. That's just a fact of life, and it's harsh in many ways that those players could be players that have served us so well over the last couple of years.

The one thing that has to be said is that there haven't been that transfers where I've thought 'I wish we'd gone for him' Only Lescott and probably Hartson. Apart from that there have been hardly any (realistic) transfers that have happened that would seriously strengthen our team, if any. Whereas Seol would walk into both of the other promoted teams first XI and possibly one or two others in the league and yet he isn't guaranteed a start here!

It seems as though the club had banked on getting Mensah but thus far Rennes are still mucking them around, that's the sort of signing that would take us to the next level and RFC are clearly in that market.

I have faith in a lot of our players being more than good enough, we just don't have enough of them!!....yet

Didnt we bid for Lescott? I agree completely about Hartson....

It was never confirmed, only in the papers. Apparantly we made 'enquiries' I too felt Hartson would offer us a different threat and experience of a very high level, I fully expect himto get 20 goals for WBA.

[Woodcote Royal]

I do agree with ou WR that we have a very good basis of a squad, they way we strolled last year shows that but IMHO we do need two more players one CB and one CM.

Whilst I don't mind us starting the season without them, we need at least one if not both in by the 31st. We got lucky with the centre half pairing last year with neither missing a game through injury/suspension and whilst we have players who can cover there I feel one more recognised CB to push the other two for a place is vital for cover and competition.

I wouldn't disagree with that, it's just there's no point in bringing someone in because we can't find what we really need.

Our new man from Brentford remains an unknown quantity, and surely represents some form of insurance, but I remain convinced that we'll find a suitable centre half before deadline day and it's just a case of everyone holding their nerve.

[Hoop Blah]

What I'm saying is that I don't think many fans appreciate just how good the team had to be to walk the Championship in the way that it did and is probably good enough already to hold it's own and more against many of the lesser Prem teams .

Wigan and West Ham certainly bucked the trend of recent seasons, and had to strengthen to gain impressive mid-table finishes, but neither side was close to being as good us before those players were bought in.

Whlist I agree that the starting XI plus a couple last season were obviously outstanding I still feel we got a little lucky last year. We were outstading, no arguement, but it was a bit of a freak the run we went on and I wouldn't expect us to do it again if we were still in the Championship this season. The momentum was incredible and how we won some of the games we did when we probably didn't deserve to was fantastic.

We used so few players though that I don't think we can be as lucky this time round. We have no real cover at centre half or central midfield and at the moment that is a major worry as we're not even sure yet how well our players who excelled last year will perform in the new league.

In Sonko and Ivar we have a steady partnership at centre back, I'd be a little unconfortable with them as first choice for the whole season, but maybe not a state of panic over it. If one of them picks up a knock all we have is Sodjie or Gunnarson who'll be needed in midfield. No disrespect to those two but that worries me no end.

The same can be said in midfield where after Sidwell, Harper and Gunnarson we have no cover. Thats fine if the squad are 100% fit but realistically we need more players to compete for both the starting XI and so that we have a better standard of player on the bench.

Out wide I think we might be ok, at least for now. We have 5 wingers competing for two places, and the same can be said at full back too. There maybe question marks against a couple of the options but I'm reasonbly confident that we'll be ok there.

Upfront I still think we are one player short. You can bet we'll be missing one of Kits, Lita or Doyle at some point for a large chunk of the season. That means it's two vying for two starting places with only Long (and Cox!!) as backup. That for me isn't enough.

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

i think we've done ok so far with signings, the transfer window is still open and don't forget last year our squad was the best ever in the championship.

[Alan Partridge]

What I'm saying is that I don't think many fans appreciate just how good the team had to be to walk the Championship in the way that it did and is probably good enough already to hold it's own and more against many of the lesser Prem teams .

Wigan and West Ham certainly bucked the trend of recent seasons, and had to strengthen to gain impressive mid-table finishes, but neither side was close to being as good us before those players were bought in.

Whlist I agree that the starting XI plus a couple last season were obviously outstanding I still feel we got a little lucky last year. We were outstading, no arguement, but it was a bit of a freak the run we went on and I wouldn't expect us to do it again if we were still in the Championship this season. The momentum was incredible and how we won some of the games we did when we probably didn't deserve to was fantastic.

We used so few players though that I don't think we can be as lucky this time round. We have no real cover at centre half or central midfield and at the moment that is a major worry as we're not even sure yet how well our players who excelled last year will perform in the new league.

In Sonko and Ivar we have a steady partnership at centre back, I'd be a little unconfortable with them as first choice for the whole season, but maybe not a state of panic over it. If one of them picks up a knock all we have is Sodjie or Gunnarson who'll be needed in midfield. No disrespect to those two but that worries me no end.

The same can be said in midfield where after Sidwell, Harper and Gunnarson we have no cover. Thats fine if the squad are 100% fit but realistically we need more players to compete for both the starting XI and so that we have a better standard of player on the bench.

Out wide I think we might be ok, at least for now. We have 5 wingers competing for two places, and the same can be said at full back too. There maybe question marks against a couple of the options but I'm reasonbly confident that we'll be ok there.

Upfront I still think we are one player short. You can bet we'll be missing one of Kits, Lita or Doyle at some point for a large chunk of the season. That means it's two vying for two starting places with only Long (and Cox!!) as backup. That for me isn't enough.

Which is exactly why SC is in the market for both a top centre half and a midfielder. Up front seems to split fans opinion, personally I'm with you and would have liked that experienced, taeget man for when Kitson is inevitably out injured. The likes of a Hartson would have been good, but I wouldn't want to be spending £2.2million on the likes of Hulse that Sheffield United have done.

['lista]

I'm a "C" just in case you were wondering

Many here have known this for sometime......

['lista]

If no Category C players are available, why not try signing some Category C prisoners instead?

They are plentiful and I don't think wages would be a problem.

[Alan Partridge]

If no Category C players are available, why not try signing some Category C prisoners instead?

They are plentiful and I don't think wages would be a problem.

No but cages could be a problem instead.