[Slick_Footwork]

Don't really understand this Yann M'Vila deal to be honest.

Fair enough, he's got good pedigree, over 20 caps for France, did well in the Premier League for Sunderland etc.

But he's now 33, been without a club for over 6 months and plays in a position where we already have Nathaniel Chalobah as back up...

I can't imagine there's any way he will have been able to keep himself match fit having not played for so long at his age. For all we know, he might not even have the capability to get himself fit again given he'll probably be starting from scratch at 33. I hope I'm wrong, but it just feels like he's after a "final pay day". Surely if he wanted to play, he wouldn't have been sat on the sofa for 6 months.

I have a suspicion that we might've agreed a deal to release Chalobah based on getting M'Vila in as a replacement. Assuming Chalobah was due to leave in the summer anyway, this might save us a few quid on wages in the interim. Although I doubt M'Vila is coming for pittance and quality wise, he might even be a downgrade if his legs have gone. I don't think Chalobah has done badly lately.

If this isn't the case and we're just accommodating both of them, that doesn't make sense to me at all.

The position we're desperate for is a proper striker to hold the ball up and bring our wingers into play.

[drewks]

Don't really understand this Yann M'Vila deal to be honest.

Fair enough, he's got good pedigree, over 20 caps for France, did well in the Premier League for Sunderland etc.

But he's now 33, been without a club for over 6 months and plays in a position where we already have Nathaniel Chalobah as back up...

I can't imagine there's any way he will have been able to keep himself match fit having not played for so long at his age. For all we know, he might not even have the capability to get himself fit again given he'll probably be starting from scratch at 33. I hope I'm wrong, but it just feels like he's after a "final pay day". Surely if he wanted to play, he wouldn't have been sat on the sofa for 6 months.

I have a suspicion that we might've agreed a deal to release Chalobah based on getting M'Vila in as a replacement. Assuming Chalobah was due to leave in the summer anyway, this might save us a few quid on wages in the interim. Although I doubt M'Vila is coming for pittance and quality wise, he might even be a downgrade if his legs have gone. I don't think Chalobah has done badly lately.

If this isn't the case and we're just accommodating both of them, that doesn't make sense to me at all.

The position we're desperate for is a proper striker to hold the ball up and bring our wingers into play.

Well, you'd hope and expect that we've done our homework re his fitness etc....
... and surely Mr Weimann is the striker you describe...?
Have faith, Slick

[Salopbaggie]

Don't really understand this Yann M'Vila deal to be honest.

Fair enough, he's got good pedigree, over 20 caps for France, did well in the Premier League for Sunderland etc.

But he's now 33, been without a club for over 6 months and plays in a position where we already have Nathaniel Chalobah as back up...

I can't imagine there's any way he will have been able to keep himself match fit having not played for so long at his age. For all we know, he might not even have the capability to get himself fit again given he'll probably be starting from scratch at 33. I hope I'm wrong, but it just feels like he's after a "final pay day". Surely if he wanted to play, he wouldn't have been sat on the sofa for 6 months.

I have a suspicion that we might've agreed a deal to release Chalobah based on getting M'Vila in as a replacement. Assuming Chalobah was due to leave in the summer anyway, this might save us a few quid on wages in the interim. Although I doubt M'Vila is coming for pittance and quality wise, he might even be a downgrade if his legs have gone. I don't think Chalobah has done badly lately.

If this isn't the case and we're just accommodating both of them, that doesn't make sense to me at all.

The position we're desperate for is a proper striker to hold the ball up and bring our wingers into play.

I thought he was being brought in as a temporary stand in for Molumby and when you think we had Molumby and Chalobah, why wouldn't we have M'Vila and Chalobah?

[Slick_Footwork]

Don't really understand this Yann M'Vila deal to be honest.

Fair enough, he's got good pedigree, over 20 caps for France, did well in the Premier League for Sunderland etc.

But he's now 33, been without a club for over 6 months and plays in a position where we already have Nathaniel Chalobah as back up...

I can't imagine there's any way he will have been able to keep himself match fit having not played for so long at his age. For all we know, he might not even have the capability to get himself fit again given he'll probably be starting from scratch at 33. I hope I'm wrong, but it just feels like he's after a "final pay day". Surely if he wanted to play, he wouldn't have been sat on the sofa for 6 months.

I have a suspicion that we might've agreed a deal to release Chalobah based on getting M'Vila in as a replacement. Assuming Chalobah was due to leave in the summer anyway, this might save us a few quid on wages in the interim. Although I doubt M'Vila is coming for pittance and quality wise, he might even be a downgrade if his legs have gone. I don't think Chalobah has done badly lately.

If this isn't the case and we're just accommodating both of them, that doesn't make sense to me at all.

The position we're desperate for is a proper striker to hold the ball up and bring our wingers into play.

I thought he was being brought in as a temporary stand in for Molumby and when you think we had Molumby and Chalobah, why wouldn't we have M'Vila and Chalobah?

M'Vila coming in as cover for Molumby would make sense from a footballing point of view.

But what gives me doubts about him coming without any outgoings is our financial position...

Bringing in M'Vila in addition to what we already have means we're now paying 5 orthodox centre mids vying for 2 positions. With the exception of Mowatt, they have all come from top flight teams and probably on big wages. I'm surprised we can afford to add M'Vila considering we've been trying to cut costs and it was reported we lost money in Jan.

That's why I could imagine Chalobah negotiating an exit and going abroad.

I could be wrong of course, as we do have the new owner and M'Vila could've potentially accepted a low salary. But I'm not sure he's got enough cash to keep losing money every month. Time will tell.

[Blue Baggie]

Looks like the brown envelopes are still being passed around. I hope he doesn't plan on using the hydropool to help regain his fitness - it's full.

[Blue Baggie]

Food for thought -The club continues to lose £500k a week although the current player wage bill is £25m (down from £30m )
The thoughts of getting rid of high earners is not going to solve our losses issue. HP signings and not selling players has to be sorted if we are to get our losses down. Admittedly Reach, Dike, Kelly, Phillips, Grant, Kipre, Challaboa, Bartley, if they all left would save us £150k (approx) a week after we got new players in our savings would be £100k a week that still leaves a £400k a week loss. I'm afraid deep cuts across the whole club would be needed to reach a sustainable financial position. It's either sell players or hope our new owner has deep pockets. Of course promotion would solve all these problems.
The idea that getting rid of high earners is an answer to our money woes, while it helps it barely scratches the surface.

[Stairs]

Out of contract (unless I have missed anything): Andrews, Ashworth, Bartley, Chalobah, Ingram, Kelly, Kipre, Malcom, Mowatt, Philips, Pipa, Reach, Taylor

Loans to leave: Johnston, Weismann

Dead weights still out there: Grant (coming back from Cardiff loan)

[Baggievicar]

I'm sure we'll still be in the Champ next season, so...
Buy Johnston if we can
I doubt if we'll hang on to the kids barring Taylor. Forgot Malcolm existed - can't remember seeing him as part of anything recently.
We can't get rid of all the centre backs, so keep Taylor and, I suppose, Kipre. Need to find a gem to go with them, though.
Of the rest, Mowatt and Pipa are the only ones I'd think about keeping - Mowatt because he seems to have something more creative in him and Pipa because I haven't a clue what he's like - Carols seemed really keen to bring him in but never uses him. Which probably means there's no point keeping him anyway.