BFC1997

First couple of years in the PL, I’m not sure I’d have replaced him for anyone. In the 23/24 season he was according to the Opta data (the gold standard) the best CB in the Premier League. We signed him off the back of a L1 season he had...

I wouldn’t get hung up on transfer fees that get reported. There are now very very few players in world football who are 1) good enough to materially improve our squad 2) financially sustainable for us salary-wise 3) Willing to join us and 4)...

My prediction as to what this means: Meghoma goes on loan (if West Ham haven’t replaced Diouf yet, could he go there?) Henry leaves next summer, and I don’t think we’ll see as much of him this season. Be more of a 25/26 Pinnock-style role. KLP...

I didn’t think he was that terrible, was just hardly available. If someone gets him fit and healthy for an entire season and doesn’t pay a transfer fee they’ll have done good business. Probably won’t happen though

Chance that Forest gazump?

I'm going to turn up and expect to be able to buy a ticket so fingers crossed :cool:

I just don’t think it’s as straightforward as that. To me, Wilson much more likely to come off the bench in the PL, but he is not a 90 minute player. Partly it is age but also partly it is profile, I don’t see CW as leading a line as a solo No...

Unless it has been misreported or it has numerous break clauses, I’m staggered by the fact he’s been offered a 3+1 year deal by a PL club. A multi-million pound fee too. Just fantastic for club and player if all true.

At 34 is “keeping sharp” playing in 3 games a week and doing 90 minutes in a cup game? He’ll probably play but you must get my point

I don’t feel like Wilson is a 90 minute player. At his age if we want to keep him sharp for the PL do we want him playing these kinds of matches? I’d go with this:

Looking for any last minute spare

I don’t know why, as a mod, you feel this is worth derailing the thread over. If you won’t take my posts seriously because of a joke from a while (which you have quite firmly overstated above) — then ban me outright from this site or put me on...

Forgot we still have KJS in the building as well, but he’s another you’d expect will get loaned out.

I don’t disagree, but I think we’d have seen him vs Rennes or Frankfurt instead of Ethan though if that was the intention.

Fair enough, I just wouldn’t consider it some huge drop off if we were to finish below any of these teams. L4 D5 W3 against them last season.

It’s not relevant to this thread, really. What did you vote for in this poll? Champions League? Is that any less bold than 15th?

My logic is that I don’t think there’s going to be a huge difference in quality between the teams that will finish 8th and 17th. I’m confident we aren’t going down — much more so than in any previous season — and my prediction might feel...

The context is you feel it was “essential” because otherwise you couldn’t have finished 5th or reached the UCL quarter finals. If you can’t hear how silly that sounds, on several levels, then good luck to you 😂

😂😂😂😂 It was completely essential to sign Rashford, Sancho, Garnacho and Asensio on loan. You literally had NO CHOICE.

He has one

Interesting way of looking at it. Villa just had to pay more in wages to get re-established. Those other clubs that operate a sustainable model must carry the risk of relegation but the same rule can’t be applied to Villa, who obviously had to...

Simple solution is not have an option in a poll if you don’t want anyone to vote on it, or if you would consider such a vote as ban-worthy. There is no trolling here, and I’d be honestly pretty happy with finishing 15th in the PL, it’s a pretty...

Not sure what is meant by this but we’ve finished ahead of Chelsea, United, Spurs in the table. In the case of Chelsea and Spurs we’ve done that across multiple recent seasons. Aston Villa have taken players like Rashford, Sancho and Garnacho...

I don’t think predicting 15th place in this poll is ridiculous at all though and not sure why that would be anyone’s instinctive response. Save for the relegated sides, perhaps, it will be very hard earned to finish any team in this division...

Crikey, when did we get so self-entitled that my predicting a 15th place finish in the Premier League is viewed as ban-worthy and “not an opinion” 😂

We are starting the season without VdB, Arthur has gone out on loan, Stephenson not been involved in first team pre-season. True enough we’ve got Schuster and Fredrick in the building still, but one reading of the pre-season games could be that...

I think the improvement is probably players coming back into form and fitness, a new manager, and a positive outlook as much as it is new incomings. They are an unknown but can’t see 17th again

I’ve seen a lot of these predictions by now. The general groupings are…. Relegation threatened: Hull Ipswich Cov Could get drawn in: Fulham Crystal Palace Midtable: Sunderland Everton Newcastle Forest Brentford Leeds Brighton Bournemouth...

For a laugh last night I had a read through of a matchday thread for a pre-season friendly where our first team lost away at Staines town. It wasn’t even that long ago. Now we are pulling crowds like that (more than GP could hold at capacity)...