We are down. So next season who stays and who goes?

[Jano]

Wouldn't surprise me if Pog stayed, the Zenit story is a non-starter, just need to see their forward line to see he wouldn't get a game (Hulk - €60m? Kerzhakov, keeps Pog out the Russian Squad, Danny €30m a few years back, plus a few others), especially if our style of play changed to a more patient passing game, he would score an absolute tonne in the Chump. Then there is the money issue, if he really is on silly amounts a week.

As for the rest of the team, you have to consider who would be interested in them? Pearce and Le Fondre I can see having a few Prem suitors. Fed's, is he better than any other Prem keeper? I'm not so sure and I can't see him going as a back up player, same goes for Guthrie. If he's given assurances about how the team will play and his place in it, I can see him staying, simply as there isn't anywhere better for him to go. Kebe, too injury prone for anyone to spend the sort of money we would want for him. Who else do we have that's good enough? Karacan to Turkey may be... My biggest concern by far is someone coming in with a big offer for Mariappa, who has (in my view) been our outstanding performer this season.

If Anton's willing to bankrole the wages, I don't see why we would have to sell anyone.

[Uke]

Guthrie won't go, and certainly not to a Prem club - he's ensured he's toxic goods with his behaviour

[Colin Cheeselog]

Why is everybody suggesting we need a new left back? Shorey would probably be the best left back in the Championship, and I can't see him getting too many offers from premier league clubs, so I'm sure he'd be keen to stay.

Adkins is a fan of attacking full backs and Shorey is out of contract. Could well be that Adkins brings in his own man here.

I would describe Shorey as an attacking full back.

[melonhead]

no idea why people want to lose nhunt. i know he is out of contract but he is easily good enough for a 2/3/4th choice strioker in the championship.

He's not going any better (and when was he good enough anyway?) - time to move on and make use of some of the younger players.

yeah. get rid of a proven championship goalscorer, and great team player for someone we dont know is good enough yet

brilliant.


quite happy to blood the youngsters throughout the season, but you have to keep your good players. especially up front

[Mike Hunt]

The biggest? Coming from a club that to this day idolises an alcoholic drug addict, has a former captain who was found guilty of assaulting a woman, has had two Cocaine users play for them in the last 15 years and employed Leroy Lita. Calling someone who told a few hundred moaning 'tards to fcuk off and showed many of the qualities that people would like our current captain to show the "biggest cnut to ever play for us" is a bit of a stretch.

As for role model .

Footballers are only built up as "role models" by lazy parents and the media who are looking for anyone they can to blame the ills of society on. Get back to your Daily Mail Col .

+1

crowd deserved the finger for their discgraceful booing and groaning at our own players.
imo he just wasnt as good as he thought he was

+1

[Royal91]

no idea why people want to lose nhunt. i know he is out of contract but he is easily good enough for a 2/3/4th choice strioker in the championship.

He's not going any better (and when was he good enough anyway?) - time to move on and make use of some of the younger players.

yeah. get rid of a proven championship goalscorer, and great team player for someone we dont know is good enough yet

brilliant.


quite happy to blood the youngsters throughout the season, but you have to keep your good players. especially up front

HAHAHA that is up there with one of the most ridiculous comments I've read.

If we want to progress as a team then Hunt should be the first to go. He has no pace, can't link play, shocking movement (Doesn't drop short), can't make a chance for himself, can't dribble, can't pass, can't control a ball.

Yes fantastic work rate and brilliant in the air but we need more than that. If Hunt is anything but 4th choice next year I would be very worried!!

[Ian Royal]

Hunt is a perfectly adequate back up striker. He's done a good job every time he's had a quality striker to play second fiddle to. Doyle, Long, Roberts. All saw him play well and score goals at Championship level. He didn't score as well last season, but he spent a large part of it partnered with Church, who isn't exactly a leading striker.

We don't really want him to be first choice, but given our dearth of striking options at the moment, he's hardly someone we want to be getting rid of.

Time for Church to move on. There's a good chance Pog will go and a smaller possibility we'll lose ALF. Get rid of Hunt and we could feasibly be having to sign 3 new strikers to support Blackman. Pog, ALF, Hunt and Blackman would be fine and offer us a nice mix of options. Any of them that leave will need replacing.

[royalsteve]

Wouldn't surprise me if Pog stayed, the Zenit story is a non-starter, just need to see their forward line to see he wouldn't get a game (Hulk - €60m? Kerzhakov, keeps Pog out the Russian Squad, Danny €30m a few years back, plus a few others), especially if our style of play changed to a more patient passing game, he would score an absolute tonne in the Chump. Then there is the money issue, if he really is on silly amounts a week.

As for the rest of the team, you have to consider who would be interested in them? Pearce and Le Fondre I can see having a few Prem suitors. Fed's, is he better than any other Prem keeper? I'm not so sure and I can't see him going as a back up player, same goes for Guthrie. If he's given assurances about how the team will play and his place in it, I can see him staying, simply as there isn't anywhere better for him to go. Kebe, too injury prone for anyone to spend the sort of money we would want for him. Who else do we have that's good enough? Karacan to Turkey may be... My biggest concern by far is someone coming in with a big offer for Mariappa, who has (in my view) been our outstanding performer this season.

If Anton's willing to bankrole the wages, I don't see why we would have to sell anyone.

you have to remember that most clubs who will look at our players would be those promoted - I reckon pog defo will go

poss kebe feds., McCarthy (if the club will let both keeps go), karacan, alfie and kanu will also go

leaves our team pretty thin - I hope the likes of kanu will stay as he is one player who can pass/keep hold of the ball and I reckon he'll thrive under adkins - he was good against Scotland - though Scotland were s**t

[Reading4eva]

On the subject of Matt Mills... I would have him back here tomorrow!

[Reading4eva]

I can see Roberts retiring, Church definately going, Hunt leaving too. Whose gonna come in and buy Pog in all seriousness with Mickey Mouse wages? At least he's better than Zigic.
I think Legs will stay providing he's happy leaving if we go back up but should Lallana become available as understood he is unsettled I can see Legs going to Crystal Palace or like. Guthrie is probably rejoicing and could now play like a beast seeing as he didn't like McD, if he confined tantrums with Adkins however I can't see him getting nicer treatment and will probably be sent packing on loan (I recommend AFC Wimbledon to open his eyes up to the strains of a lower league footballer), permanantly or to rot in the reserves!
I too am concerned about Mariappa - he's the one player people will look at and consider him good enough!

All in all we need one striker one midfielder and a left back!

For left back from my own knowledge could I recommend Deigo Reyes from Club America! Very good when seen him

[Colin Cheeselog]

I reckon pog defo will go poss kebe feds., McCarthy (if the club will let both keeps go), karacan, alfie and kanu will also go

Who is going to sign all of these mediocre players?

[melonhead]

He's not going any better (and when was he good enough anyway?) - time to move on and make use of some of the younger players.

yeah. get rid of a proven championship goalscorer, and great team player for someone we dont know is good enough yet

brilliant.


quite happy to blood the youngsters throughout the season, but you have to keep your good players. especially up front

HAHAHA that is up there with one of the most ridiculous comments I've read.

If we want to progress as a team then Hunt should be the first to go. He has no pace, can't link play, shocking movement (Doesn't drop short), can't make a chance for himself, can't dribble, can't pass, can't control a ball.

Yes fantastic work rate and brilliant in the air but we need more than that. If Hunt is anything but 4th choice next year I would be very worried!!

scores goals, brings others into the game and gets th ebest out of them, AND works harder than anyone


youre wrong

[winchester_royal]

I like Noel, I do, but next season should be about building a fresh team capable of competing at a higher level so unless he's happy being 4th/5th choice I'd let him go with a heavy heart.

[melonhead]

hes been happy being back up his whole time here, cant see that changing.

as has been said swapping almost our entire front line in one summer may be a bit of a big job. so why would you lose the one player you know does a job at that level.

blackman looks good to me, but it utterly unproven even in the champ. church and pog will go.
we need two new strikers already, lets not make it three

[under the tin]

next season should be about building a fresh team capable of competing at a higher level

^^^This.

[melonhead]

we should be building a new team capable of playing in the prem, AS WELL AS playing well enough in the championship to have a chance of going up.
a total rebuild is only going to set us back by a year or more.

needs to be steady and gradual.
let those go as get older, and as better players become available, bring through the yoof, yes. but you have to keep any proven quality you have

that said, his contract is up, and its possible/probable it wont be renewed

[Royalclapper]

Must be a possibility of Gunter moving to Cardiff. He's not been successful here but he is in the Welsh national side and it wouldn't be that unpopular with their lot I suspect. They are coming up this time and at least we could recoup some of the transfer fee by selling him on.

Hopefully Kelly will stay as he will get first team football here as a regular. Harte needs to move now and Church can't have much left to do here. N Hunt is shit but I agree with some of the others, he's plenty good enough for a Champ squad striker.

[under the tin]

A total rebuild was not implied.
Everybody knows that things will evolve, but how it evolves hinges on the long term plan.
You have to look back at the 2006 side. Its success in that first season was built on a settled side that effectively picked itself. A side that was built in the Championship, and went up, "Prem ready"

I think it is daft to build a side that does a job in getting out of the Champ, only to dismantle it completely upon promotion in order to build another that is capable of surviving at the higher level.
The "bedding in" time for the new players/systems only serves to put the newly-promoted rebuilt side at a further disadvantage to the established Prem clubs.

I suppose what I'm saying is that those who have proved this season that they cannot hack it at the top level represent only a short term fix in the Champ.

FWIW, I'd be surprised to see us bounce straight back up at the first attempt, anyway.

[marcusopp]

Just because we didn't accumulate enough points, doesn't mean our squad is a complete flop at this level.
On paper QPR have a much better squad, but have the same points as us.
It's not necessarily up to the club who stays and who goes either. We didn't want to sell Stephen Hunt remember, but an offer came in and he wanted to leave.
I reckon we'll lose;
Pogbrebyak
Le Fondre
Pearce
Federici
Mariappa
Kebe
Guthrie
All to 'higher' clubs
While others like Church, Tabb could be released.

Noel Hunt is a good servant to the club, and puts in a shift when he plays. There aren't many strikers who don't throw their toys out of the pram when they're on the bench each week.

[Esteban]

Just because we didn't accumulate enough points, doesn't mean our squad is a complete flop at this level.
On paper QPR have a much better squad, but have the same points as us.
It's not necessarily up to the club who stays and who goes either. We didn't want to sell Stephen Hunt remember, but an offer came in and he wanted to leave.
I reckon we'll lose;
Pogbrebyak
Le Fondre
Pearce
Federici
Mariappa
Kebe
Guthrie
All to 'higher' clubs
While others like Church, Tabb could be released.

Noel Hunt is a good servant to the club, and puts in a shift when he plays. There aren't many strikers who don't throw their toys out of the pram when they're on the bench each week.

+1 and a huge OUCH at the players you rightly point out are quite likely on some clubs' wanted lists.