1 hour ago, AnglianRed said:

Thats one of the Balti states isn't it...next to Estoneria and Lithernia? 😜

Yeah, they never do good Indian food in that part of the world.

9 minutes ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

It's the sort of thing the Nazi's would have done, Matt 😉

🤐

On the premature speculation front, I was wondering about how many players we would need to bring in if we got promoted. Looking at Sunderland, they spent north of £150m on 13 players and originally had 2 loans until Guiu went back. So far, they are making a decent fist of it and might be the first non-parachute club to survive their first season for a while. I reckon, that level of spending is probably the benchmark. 

So which of our current squad is good enough to be in our usual 1st 11 and who looks good enough to be a first choice back-up? What I reckon is

1st 11 capable
Targett, Morris, Hackney, Nypan? Strelec?
Malanda?  (McGree? If he is ever fit again which is a big if)

2nd 11 capable
Brynn, Brittain, Fry, Jones, Conway
Whittaker? Sene?

2nd 11 back-ups or maybe sent on loan
Hansen, Kante

Nypan isn't our player but good odds we would get him back on loan. Strelec is almost certainly capable based on what we've seen so far but we do need to see how he survives in the Championship meat grinder. Malanda looks to have the attributes to be a Premier league CB but would need to prove it.

I have Whittaker in the 2nd 11 but he hasn't really shown it so far. Sene is early days; he may lack the technique you need in the Premier league. Hansen and Kante may lack the game time this season they need to properly develop and I suspect they would be more likely to go on loan so that they're ready to step back in if we get relegated. I actually think Brynn is potentially Premier league quality but we would likely need a specialist shot-stopper like Travers for the first season because it's going to be all hands to the pumps at the back.

Seems to me that what we end up with is:

1st 11
GK1
Malanda? - CB - LCB
RWB - Morris - Hackney - Targett
RF1 - Nypan?
Strelec?

2nd 11
Brynn
RCB - Fry - Jones
Brittain - CM - DM - LWB
Whittaker? - LF/(McGree?)
Conway 

Back-ups. GK3, Kante, Hansen, Sene

That means, incomings needed
GK1
CB1
LCB1
RWB1
RF1
RCB1/2
LWB1/2
LF1/2
DM1/2
CM2
GK3

A #1 player is intended to be in the first 11. #1/2 means rotating with the initial 1st choice and possibly overtaking him. #2 means second choice.

Budget £20-30m for a #1 rated player, £10m-£20/ for a 1/2 rated player and up to £10m for a #2 or #3 rated player.

£150m is unlikely to stretch to cover all of these so we're going to need at least two top class loans in addition to Nypan as well as a couple of older, experienced free transfers looking for one last season in the Premier. 

It's not impossible and I suspect that if we're in the top 4 at Christmas that Gibson will sanction a move for this generation's Ramirez the same way Sunderland did with Le Fee. 

1 hour ago, Bruce said:

On the premature speculation front, I was wondering about how many players we would need to bring in if we got promoted. Looking at Sunderland, they spent north of £150m on 13 players and originally had 2 loans until Guiu went back. So far, they are making a decent fist of it and might be the first non-parachute club to survive their first season for a while. I reckon, that level of spending is probably the benchmark. 

So which of our current squad is good enough to be in our usual 1st 11 and who looks good enough to be a first choice back-up? What I reckon is

1st 11 capable
Targett, Morris, Hackney, Nypan? Strelec?
Malanda?  (McGree? If he is ever fit again which is a big if)

2nd 11 capable
Brynn, Brittain, Fry, Jones, Conway
Whittaker? Sene?

2nd 11 back-ups or maybe sent on loan
Hansen, Kante

Nypan isn't our player but good odds we would get him back on loan. Strelec is almost certainly capable based on what we've seen so far but we do need to see how he survives in the Championship meat grinder. Malanda looks to have the attributes to be a Premier league CB but would need to prove it.

I have Whittaker in the 2nd 11 but he hasn't really shown it so far. Sene is early days; he may lack the technique you need in the Premier league. Hansen and Kante may lack the game time this season they need to properly develop and I suspect they would be more likely to go on loan so that they're ready to step back in if we get relegated. I actually think Brynn is potentially Premier league quality but we would likely need a specialist shot-stopper like Travers for the first season because it's going to be all hands to the pumps at the back.

Seems to me that what we end up with is:

1st 11
GK1
Malanda? - CB - LCB
RWB - Morris - Hackney - Targett
RF1 - Nypan?
Strelec?

2nd 11
Brynn
RCB - Fry - Jones
Brittain - CM - DM - LWB
Whittaker? - LF/(McGree?)
Conway 

Back-ups. GK3, Kante, Hansen, Sene

That means, incomings needed
GK1
CB1
LCB1
RWB1
RF1
RCB1/2
LWB1/2
LF1/2
DM1/2
CM2
GK3

A #1 player is intended to be in the first 11. #1/2 means rotating with the initial 1st choice and possibly overtaking him. #2 means second choice.

Budget £20-30m for a #1 rated player, £10m-£20/ for a 1/2 rated player and up to £10m for a #2 or #3 rated player.

£150m is unlikely to stretch to cover all of these so we're going to need at least two top class loans in addition to Nypan as well as a couple of older, experienced free transfers looking for one last season in the Premier. 

It's not impossible and I suspect that if we're in the top 4 at Christmas that Gibson will sanction a move for this generation's Ramirez the same way Sunderland did with Le Fee. 

I don't think you need a starting XI full of 20/30m players. Sure you want a few oven ready players but id trust Scott and co to find us some players who were cheaper in other leagues who were perhaps ready

4 hours ago, Bruce said:

On the premature speculation front, I was wondering about how many players we would need to bring in if we got promoted. Looking at Sunderland, they spent north of £150m on 13 players and originally had 2 loans until Guiu went back. So far, they are making a decent fist of it and might be the first non-parachute club to survive their first season for a while. I reckon, that level of spending is probably the benchmark. 

So which of our current squad is good enough to be in our usual 1st 11 and who looks good enough to be a first choice back-up? What I reckon is

1st 11 capable
Targett, Morris, Hackney, Nypan? Strelec?
Malanda?  (McGree? If he is ever fit again which is a big if)

2nd 11 capable
Brynn, Brittain, Fry, Jones, Conway
Whittaker? Sene?

2nd 11 back-ups or maybe sent on loan
Hansen, Kante

Nypan isn't our player but good odds we would get him back on loan. Strelec is almost certainly capable based on what we've seen so far but we do need to see how he survives in the Championship meat grinder. Malanda looks to have the attributes to be a Premier league CB but would need to prove it.

I have Whittaker in the 2nd 11 but he hasn't really shown it so far. Sene is early days; he may lack the technique you need in the Premier league. Hansen and Kante may lack the game time this season they need to properly develop and I suspect they would be more likely to go on loan so that they're ready to step back in if we get relegated. I actually think Brynn is potentially Premier league quality but we would likely need a specialist shot-stopper like Travers for the first season because it's going to be all hands to the pumps at the back.

Seems to me that what we end up with is:

1st 11
GK1
Malanda? - CB - LCB
RWB - Morris - Hackney - Targett
RF1 - Nypan?
Strelec?

2nd 11
Brynn
RCB - Fry - Jones
Brittain - CM - DM - LWB
Whittaker? - LF/(McGree?)
Conway 

Back-ups. GK3, Kante, Hansen, Sene

That means, incomings needed
GK1
CB1
LCB1
RWB1
RF1
RCB1/2
LWB1/2
LF1/2
DM1/2
CM2
GK3

A #1 player is intended to be in the first 11. #1/2 means rotating with the initial 1st choice and possibly overtaking him. #2 means second choice.

Budget £20-30m for a #1 rated player, £10m-£20/ for a 1/2 rated player and up to £10m for a #2 or #3 rated player.

£150m is unlikely to stretch to cover all of these so we're going to need at least two top class loans in addition to Nypan as well as a couple of older, experienced free transfers looking for one last season in the Premier. 

It's not impossible and I suspect that if we're in the top 4 at Christmas that Gibson will sanction a move for this generation's Ramirez the same way Sunderland did with Le Fee. 

I think we’d need to spend big money in the rf/lf positions and LWB, maybe GK

I like how we've gone from people dooming so much they were suggesting we'd be in a relegation fight this season, to speculating on which players will be good enough to stay in the squad when we get promoted!

If we were to be promoted, we would need to spend big on a “Bags man” someone who knows where the goal is, & puts the ball in it. 
 

BNB

1 hour ago, BoroNBred said:

If we were to be promoted, we would need to spend big on a “Bags man” someone who knows where the goal is, & puts the ball in it. 
 

BNB

That’s the thing though we’ll be going up with 3 strikers here already, 2 of them we don’t really know how good they could be, same in midfield we’d be going up with 2 established CMs plus Kante.

It depends how all those players end up progressing this season. 
 

If we did go up I can see the club giving Brittain, Hackney, Morris, Conway, Strelec, Sene, Fry, Malanda, Hansen all the trust to be important players at that level. 
 

Id say we’d be focusing on a CB, LWB, CM (Browne replacement), GK and at least one wide player.

It will be interesting if we do go back for arfsten if we’re top 2/4 in January. Or do we wait till summer at that point incase we go up and can spend on a better player.

7 minutes ago, LinoJo3 said:

That’s the thing though we’ll be going up with 3 strikers here already, 2 of them we don’t really know how good they could be, same in midfield we’d be going up with 2 established CMs plus Kante.

It depends how all those players end up progressing this season. 
 

If we did go up I can see the club giving Brittain, Hackney, Morris, Conway, Strelec, Sene, Fry, Malanda, Hansen all the trust to be important players at that level. 
 

Id say we’d be focusing on a CB, LWB, CM (Browne replacement), GK and at least one wide player.

It will be interesting if we do go back for arfsten if we’re top 2/4 in January. Or do we wait till summer at that point incase we go up and can spend on a better player.

I agree partially because a lot will be based on how our major signings develop this season. If Strelec and Malanda are as good as they look then they I think they'll be ready to step up. Add them to Targett, Hackney and Morris and we have a good start providing that those 5 are our 5 weakest regular starters. No shade on those 5 but if we have 8 other regular starters and they are better than Hackney in their positions, we can stay up because they will also massively improve Hackney et al. 

I haven't been paying a huge amount of attention to the Premier league but every time I do watch a game it's clear that the level is several steps higher than it was last time we were there. The likes of Fry, Brittain, Jones, Hansen, Sene and Conway can do a job from the bench (and hopefully one or two of them will go up several levels with the competition) but if we're relying on them to be regular starters we're going back down in a hurry. 

Ipswich thought they could crack the league by buying the best young players in the Championship and ran into a brick wall. If you look at what Sunderland have done, they have bought at least 8 players who are better than their best players last season. We're going to need to do something similar.

Sky did a pretty comprehensive article on PL survival and worked out that to pretty much guarantee staying up you need to spend somewhere between 5-10x average net spend for the season so somewhere north of £200m 

https://www.skysports.com/football/story-telling/11715/13413860/premier-league-relegation-2025-26-sky-sports-analyses-how-to-survive-in-englands-top-flight-after-last-six-promoted-clubs-stuggled

23 minutes ago, Bruce said:

I agree partially because a lot will be based on how our major signings develop this season. If Strelec and Malanda are as good as they look then they I think they'll be ready to step up. Add them to Targett, Hackney and Morris and we have a good start providing that those 5 are our 5 weakest regular starters. No shade on those 5 but if we have 8 other regular starters and they are better than Hackney in their positions, we can stay up because they will also massively improve Hackney et al. 

I haven't been paying a huge amount of attention to the Premier league but every time I do watch a game it's clear that the level is several steps higher than it was last time we were there. The likes of Fry, Brittain, Jones, Hansen, Sene and Conway can do a job from the bench (and hopefully one or two of them will go up several levels with the competition) but if we're relying on them to be regular starters we're going back down in a hurry. 

Ipswich thought they could crack the league by buying the best young players in the Championship and ran into a brick wall. If you look at what Sunderland have done, they have bought at least 8 players who are better than their best players last season. We're going to need to do something similar.

I mean I did list at least 5 positions where we will 100% buy for, you seem to be arguing as if I’m saying we don’t need to buy anyone. Even those 5 positions could easily get us close to £150m depending on the level of player we go for. 
 

We can’t go on all summer about how great Hackney is and how is crazy he’s still here and then replace him the first chance we get. 
 

When talking to Hackney and all these players we’ve brought in such as Kante, Malanda, Strelec etc we will have sold them the dream of developing them, promotion and all of that, there’s no way we are just going to suddenly replace them. Malanda for example would have been here 4 months, of course he’s here with one eye on him being good enough to step up.
 

I feel like you’re doing the players a disservice and under estimating them like just because we haven’t bought them for 10s of millions and they haven’t yet played at a high level means they should be left in the dust for already established high level players. We have to have some level of trust not only in the players ability but also in the recruitment team that they’ve brought players in who will develop into players able to handle that level. 
 

Let’s say it’s a couple of years ago and we’d just brought in Strand Larsen, Ardon Jashiri and Tyler Morton for arguments sake (the type of players we look to bring in). Would you have been saying the same thing? Probably yes, but it’s easier now with hindsight to think no we’d have seen they were good enough already etc etc. 

Right now we don’t have that hindsight but we should have some expectation that the players we’ve ended up with will take a similar trajectory. My point is if that happens we maybe wont have to spend as much as you’re imagining.

Either way we’ll have a better idea by January. 

4 hours ago, BoroNBred said:

If we were to be promoted, we would need to spend big on a “Bags man” someone who knows where the goal is, & puts the ball in it. 
 

BNB

Strelec is already here mate 

Edited September 7, 2025Sep 7 by alxdickens

5 hours ago, alxdickens said:

Strelec is already here mate 

Haven't you read the latest? He is now a "Corner Flags man" and can't hit a cow's asre with a banjo.

  

 Jan?

16 hours ago, LinoJo3 said:

I feel like you’re doing the players a disservice and under estimating them like just because we haven’t bought them for 10s of millions and they haven’t yet played at a high level means they should be left in the dust for already established high level players. We have to have some level of trust not only in the players ability but also in the recruitment team that they’ve brought players in who will develop into players able to handle that level. 

I'm possibly not being clear. What I think is that it's likely that Hackney, Morris, Targett, Nypan (if we get him back), Strelec, and Malanda are good enough to be Premier league starters next season. What I reckon is that we need another 8 players who are at at least that standard and preferably higher to add to them. At that point we have 14 players who ought to be good enough as regular starters to keep us up. Ideally, all 14 could play at the same time but I suspect that wouldn't be allowed. 

For example, if we could get someone equivalent to Christian Norgaard (maybe even Norgaard himself if Arsenal decide they only wanted one year) then Norgaard-clone with Hackney and Morris is a midfield unit I would feel confident about. Sometimes you would pick 2 from 3 other times all 3 would play. If you don't get a Norgaard-clone then there is too much pressure on Hackney and Morris to carry the team.

Opposite way around with Targett. He would need a young, attacking back-up so we can change up when needed. Obviously we could try again for Arfsten or I really liked the look of the Aussie left wing back Jordan Bos; he's just been signed by Feyenoord. 

If Strelec is good enough then I think you need a levelled-up Tommy Conway type to play alongside him or rotate. It means Conway starts games on the bench but he'll get game time and that gives him the chance to show he can step up without pressure on him to lead the line.

My feeling if we get promoted is that Brynn, Brittain, Fry, Jones, Conway, Hansen, Whittaker and maybe Sene are reliable squad members who can do a job from the bench. If McGree recovers he would be up there with Conway as someone who might take really well to the Premier league. 

I don't think that's under-estimating our players. These days, if you're a non-parachute club and you have 6 players who can step up to the Premier league you're doing really well, If you then have another 8 or so who can do a job as back-ups then you have a foundation that you can build on.