Summer 26 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Dave]

The league is definitely stronger on the whole. It would be a surprise if it weren't, given how much money is poured into it compared to other leagues.

But I still don't think that it's particularly controversial to think that we have also been helped out by Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool all choosing this season to be, worse than most people expected them to be.

[Chris Smith]

The league is definitely stronger on the whole. It would be a surprise if it weren't, given how much money is poured into it compared to other leagues.

But I still don't think that it's particularly controversial to think that we have also been helped out by Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool all choosing this season to be, worse than most people expected them to be.

Chelsea and Liverpool maybe but I don’t think there any surprise about Spurs being crap again.

[dave.woodhall]

The only bit of luck we've had is persuading the best manager on this or any other planet to join us.

[eamonn]

We under-performed for years relative to resources. To be the other side of the coin is fantastic, next stage is to establish ourselves at the top.

[Dave]

The league is definitely stronger on the whole. It would be a surprise if it weren't, given how much money is poured into it compared to other leagues.

But I still don't think that it's particularly controversial to think that we have also been helped out by Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool all choosing this season to be, worse than most people expected them to be.

Chelsea and Liverpool maybe but I don’t think there any surprise about Spurs being crap again.

I don't think many people would have put them 18th in the league with five games to go though.

[PeterWithesShin]

We're lucky Wolves and Burnley are having an off season.

[cdbearsfan]

Yeah, I don't buy that the league is weaker at all.

Yep. It was clearly much weaker a few years ago when Liverpool got 98 points IIRC and finished second. Tedious as fuck when the top teams win all the time, that's a traditional English criticism of the Scottish League. Newcastle have loads of good players and are 14th. Palace can beat anyone on their day and are 13th. Tottenham pissed the Champions League group stage and are fighting to avoid the drop. The league is stronger than it has ever  been, IMO. Transplant any of those teams back ten years and they'd probably be challenging for top four.

[PeterWithesShin]

Spurs have been massively shit for over 18 months, it's zero shock they could go down.

[OCD]

Spurs won 2-0 away to Man City in August. I don't recall many people tipping them for relegation back then. In fact, most of the talk was about them challenging for the title *snigger*

[PeterWithesShin]

They've won 12 of their last 59 league games. As we know, when you're that shit there's a decent chance you'll drop.

[cdbearsfan]

They were mostly shit in the second half of last season because three teams were so far adrift they could afford to concentrate entirely on the Europa League. They've still been in and around the top six for most of the last two decades and have resources that dwarf most of their competitors. Their relegation would be the second biggest shock in Premier League history after Leicester winning the league.

[Percy McCarthy]

I agree with all of that and it also leans into my point that where we are isn't about luck, it's about us and Man Utd being the 2 strongest of the pack of teams that were chasing European spots, despite also being fairly inconsistent ourselves.

Yep, agree with that.  After all, you can only beat who is in front of you, and in that pack we've been slightly better at it than them.  It's been over 20 years since a team finished in the top 5 with less than 60 points, and it's also amazing we're almost at the end of April, with 4 or 5 games to go, and the team in 12th still has realistic hopes of European football. It's all very congested, which makes it much more interesting, I think.

It's a bit like the Leicester season, lots of mediocre sides, but Leicester were less mediocre than everyone else.  You can look at it as they beat everyone put in front of them that season with no luck involved, or you can say they were lucky that they peaked in a season when the normal challengers were all mediocre.  It's a far cry from Man City and Liverpool all getting well in the 90s, season after season (thankfully).  It seems bonkers today that Liverpool got 97 points one season and DIDN'T win the league... but then maybe that season they benefited from a bottom half of the league all being dross and easy to hammer week in week out.

This year i don't think it's about mediocrity but rather the exact opposite, it's that the quality in the bottom half has increased massively and it's dragged the top half back to condense the league.

Precisely. Premier League TV money in full effect.

[PeterWithesShin]

They were shit from the 13th game. Long before they were resting anyone late on. They shouldn't be where they are based purely on resources, but we shouldn't have got 17 points with the 9th highest wage bill. Once you're in a death spiral it can be very hard to get out of it and if you're making bad decisions football doesn't care where you were X years ago or how much money your stadium generates.

I'd describe it like this, it's a shock if Spurs the club go down but it's not a surprise if this Spurs setup goes down.

[brontebilly]

Yeah, I don't buy that the league is weaker at all.

It's weaker at the top end anyway. Not exactly an elite level CL this season either. Maybe the lack of downtime is having an impact, the best players hardly have any pre/post season now.

[brontebilly]

Spurs won 2-0 away to Man City in August. I don't recall many people tipping them for relegation back then. In fact, most of the talk was about them challenging for the title *snigger*

They could have gone second I think if they beat us at WHL.