VDH JUMPS SHIP

The Blobster

Prediction Champ
Mike has not renewed his contract and said his goodbyes on the swans site.
Negotiations continue with Naughton and Routledge but it looks like they are letting Dyer go .

Now we will see how good our recruitment team are at scraping the barrel !
 
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Yankee_Jack

Key Player
The exodus begins.

Remember the rush to get out of the door when the season ended after Monk had replaced Laudrup. Deja Vu all over again.

This will tell you what the players really think.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Looking at Ayala on a free. We were once interested in him a few seasons back. Didn't he play with Chico at one stage of his career?
 

CroJack

Key Player
That was expected. I am pretty sure the club will sell Ayew and Grimes. Celina will probably send a transfer request, and some other players who haven't played much under Cooper (Dhanda, Byers) won't be happy either.
I'm curious what Roberts is going to do when he see that the current squad is being ripped apart.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
If we replace VdH with Ayala the comparison is interesting. Mike is 27 years old; Ayala is 29. Both are 6ft 3" tall and both were rated as prospects by top clubs - VdH with Ajax and Ayala at Liverpool. Mike has scored 16 'senior' goals whilst Ayala has half as many again with 24. So long as we retain Rodon, Cabango and Guehi, the experience of Ayala could be useful. That's if we sign him....... :unsure:
 

Borini

Key Player
If we replace VdH with Ayala the comparison is interesting. Mike is 27 years old; Ayala is 29. Both are 6ft 3" tall and both were rated as prospects by top clubs - VdH with Ajax and Ayala at Liverpool. Mike has scored 16 'senior' goals whilst Ayala has half as many again with 24. So long as we retain Rodon, Cabango and Guehi, the experience of Ayala could be useful. That's if we sign him....... :unsure:
Would he want to come though?
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Would he want to come though?
I may be wrong but I think he once played alongside Chico. He could give us a ringing endorsement. :) That apart, at the level he can now expect to play, we are as well placed as any other team.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Mike has not renewed his contract and said his goodbyes on the swans site.
Negotiations continue with Naughton and Routledge but it looks like they are letting Dyer go .

Now we will see how good our recruitment team are at scraping the barrel !
Should that read VDH jumps sinking ship.
 

KVetch

Key Player
I haven't heard anything lately about clubs making offers for Rodon or Ayew outside of the PSG rumour. I hope they try and keep it together fpr another run.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Ayew is unlikely to be going anywhere. At 30 he is not attractive to any club except on a free transfer; no club in the Premier is going to want him. If we don’t keep him it will be because the Club and he negotiated a release for cost cutting measures.

Similarly with our other players.

Let’s sum up the season: we were a club that failed to get promotion and for most of the season (80%j bumped along earning points barely above relegation rate. We had two spurts - the first month and the last month - outside these periods we were dire and under achieved. Let’s not harbour delusions of grandeur. This persistent inability for much of the season to execute basic football to a required standard is not lost on anybody in the game outside our rosy spectacled crowd and Andy Pandy acolytes.

And most of the “talent” was borrowed from elsewhere: we had more players on loan than we could dress for a game. That’s what WE (the Club) thought of players that were and still are our property ... other club’s kids were better than our own kids and experienced players.

Championship clubs are going to be in financial starvation mode .... no bums in seats means virtual season tickets for streaming only, minimal commercial revenue, and most likely a reduction in media revenue ... why would Sky pay full freight when a good part of the asset / product is being passed back to the clubs for live broadcast. Skint mode means little to no money for transfer fees. The transfer market will be illiquid and freeze.

Our current players are going nowhere and only players out of contract are coming in.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Next season is Fulton's season. Time for him to step up and assert himself. He is going to be one of our senior pros, behind Ayew and Bidwell .... yes people, it's come to that! Fulton needs to lead, get a grip on the midfield and dominate that position. Grimes needs to step it up also.

There will be no loan outs to lesser clubs next season. There will be limited lesser league play if any. So, the likes of McKay, Peterson et al will have to stay home and be practice fodder or find a gear and command a place in the team. It's lean and mean time. Maybe, just maybe, we will get the likes of Gallagher (who I'm not totally sold on), and Guehi (who I'm not totally sold on), back. Wilmot will stay with Watford - he will be what remains after their fire sale.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
I thought that Guehi showed great improvement when he got regular games and I'm happy enough with him. Gallagher didn't produce the form he showed with Charlton but, nonetheless, he played his part. Don't think he'll be back anyway; seems there's a glut of German clubs interested. No doubt their superior coaches will speed his progress better than Cooper did.
 

CroJack

Key Player
Ayew in this form, and as a player who is a top professional, will have many offers. Not only the bottom league Premier League clubs, but clubs from France, Germany, Italy and Turkey will be interested. His current salary is nothing for the Middle East and Chinese clubs. If the club gets an offer of around £3 m, he will be sold. We can't afford him anymore.
 

KVetch

Key Player
What to make of the PSG rumours? Seems like something an agent would put out there to find a buyer.
 
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