Dean Smith - Confirmed

[chrisw1]

Where do people come up with the stuff?

Whose been promoted recently needing to have spent £50m?

to guarantee staying up is the point, and lets face it Fulham spent much more than that in May, and 20m  to get promoted with far fewer players to replace than us

But once you're up you can do a fair amount of rebuilding with the PL windfall.  Yes, in an ideal world a number of our players will be able to make the step up, but we really don't need to build a PL ready squad before getting promoted.

[sickbeggar]

Where do people come up with the stuff?

Whose been promoted recently needing to have spent £50m?

to guarantee staying up is the point, and lets face it Fulham spent much more than that in May, and 20m  to get promoted with far fewer players to replace than us

But once you're up you can do a fair amount of rebuilding with the PL windfall.  Yes, in an ideal world a number of our players will be able to make the step up, but we really don't need to build a PL ready squad before getting promoted.

but in Fulham's case who spent 90m when they came up they're still bottom of the league

[oldhill_avfc]

but with a squad if it stays together would walk the current Championship and go back up again ... and more likely to stay up 2nd time around

[Brassneck]

There's no right or wrong way - Fulham spent the money and look like they are coming straight back down.  Cardiff & Huddersfield haven't spent money and both could well also come down, Huddersfield albeit after 2 seasons.

I agree that we should get there first before worrying about staying there.

However, I think we do need to spend a considerable amount on rebuilding.  The most likely source to fund this would be from the sale of Jack and possibly McGinn.  I've reached the point where I think that the Derby/Middlesboro performances have gone and won't be returning with the current squad.  Smith needs to rebuild and needs his own players.  It's clear that the current staff are not going to be the answer.  It reminds me a bit of the scenario when Brian Little took over Big Ron's aging team of household names.

[sickbeggar]

but with a squad if it stays together would walk the current Championship and go back up again ... and more likely to stay up 2nd time around

well yeah but is that the objective? yo-yo club? Even wolves who look like surviving spent 82m in May and they had a much better squad than fulham

[sickbeggar]

There's no right or wrong way - Fulham spent the money and look like they are coming straight back down.  Cardiff & Huddersfield haven't spent money and both could well also come down, Huddersfield albeit after 2 seasons.

I agree that we should get there first before worrying about staying there.

However, I think we do need to spend a considerable amount on rebuilding.  The most likely source to fund this would be from the sale of Jack and possibly McGinn.  I've reached the point where I think that the Derby/Middlesboro performances have gone and won't be returning with the current squad.  Smith needs to rebuild and needs his own players.  It's clear that the current staff are not going to be the answer.  It reminds me a bit of the scenario when Brian Little took over Big Ron's aging team of household names.

yeah and its going to take money

Centre half - we will have 1centre half in May currently. I'd like 2 in (6m)
Fullbacks - we need one of each. None at the club can play how Smith wants to (6m)
Centre midfielder - 1 minimum 3m
Bolaise/el ghazi - replace with youth/more loans?
Abraham - try and get him again on loan or someone else or pay 10m for a championship striker?

the bare minimum I make it is 15m and i'm not exactly sure 3m per player is realistic

[Brassneck]

There's no right or wrong way - Fulham spent the money and look like they are coming straight back down.  Cardiff & Huddersfield haven't spent money and both could well also come down, Huddersfield albeit after 2 seasons.

I agree that we should get there first before worrying about staying there.

However, I think we do need to spend a considerable amount on rebuilding.  The most likely source to fund this would be from the sale of Jack and possibly McGinn.  I've reached the point where I think that the Derby/Middlesboro performances have gone and won't be returning with the current squad.  Smith needs to rebuild and needs his own players.  It's clear that the current staff are not going to be the answer.  It reminds me a bit of the scenario when Brian Little took over Big Ron's aging team of household names.

yeah and its going to take money

Centre half - we will have 1centre half in May currently. I'd like 2 in (6m)
Fullbacks - we need one of each. None at the club can play how Smith wants to (6m)
Centre midfielder - 1 minimum 3m
Bolaise/el ghazi - replace with youth/more loans?
Abraham - try and get him again on loan or someone else or pay 10m for a championship striker?

the bare minimum I make it is 15m and i'm not exactly sure 3m per player is realistic

& therein lies another problem.  It's all very well stating that we don't want loans.  I don't think anyone wants loans in an ideal world but when you don't have the funds and you have an opportunity of loaning a player that is better than what you've got, you would be foolish not to take that opportunity.

[papa lazarou]

But it's gonna take money, a whole lot of spending money, it's gonna take plenty of money, to do it right, child
It's gonna take time, a whole lot of precious time, it's gonna take patience and time
To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it right, child

[mr underhill]

By George, I think you're onto something there.

[mike]

I wouldn't waste too much time just yet worrying about what happens when we get promoted.

[Pvb1968]

But it's gonna take money, a whole lot of spending money, it's gonna take plenty of money, to do it right, child
It's gonna take time, a whole lot of precious time, it's gonna take patience and time
To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it right, child

My sweet lord your spot on.

[paul_e]

We have to consider where we want to be in 2-3 years when we're making signings, we're giving 3-4 year contracts so these should be players that we're confident can provide something in the long term.

In terms of the squad come the summer (assuming no one leaves who isn't scheduled to) I make is as having the following and in brackets I've put how many first team options i'd like in each.

GK (3)
Kalinic, Nyland, Sarkic

Right Back (2)
Bree, Elmo

Left Back (2)
Taylor, Clark

Centre Back (4)
Chester, Hause, New {Suliman} {Revan} {Bedeau}

Centre Mid (6)
Bjarnason, Hourihane, McGinn, Lansbury, Grealish, {Doyle-Hayes} {Clarke} {Lyden}

Wing (3)
Adomah, Green, New {O'Hare}

Strikers (4)
Kodjia, Hogan, Davis, New/{Hepburn-Murphy}

I've assumed that Hause will stay and I've added all the kids because whilst some of them will be out of contract we don't know how many will be kept, those contract negotiations generally run quite late.


I've also marked (in italics) the players that I'd like to see sold and replaced if possible but that are part of the squad for now.


I think Mitch Clark and Green should be considered part of the first team squad, both have, in my opinion, shown they're good enough for this level. The youngsters who are either out of contract or I'm not sure about I've put in as backup options.


So 2-3 signings to give us the depth we want in each position and then we're looking to get upgrades on another 5. That's a lot of work but if we can get some of the kids some gametime (either here or on loan) between now and the summer they might be the answer to a couple of those. There's a few very good frees available in the summer so that could cover a couple of those as well and then I'd be ok with 1-2 loans where our kids are struggling to step up.


With good scouting, good coaching and an attitude of improving the players we have alongside new signings we could spend around £10m in the summer (and see a massive drop in wage costs) and be in a much better place with a younger and fitter squad and plenty of players who could step up a level with us. Keeping Jack would be a massive positive, I'm not that worried about McGinn going just yet, he's been pretty much under the radar so far.

[PeterWithesShin]

I like the look of that Size fella.

[Damo70]

I like the look of that Size fella.

Fitz Hall? Is he still playing?

[walsall villain]

I like the look of that Size fella.

The utility player we’ve been after, looks like he can play many positions.