Are we screwed?

[maffff]

Embargo ends tomorrow

Give us a clue. Money in? Deadweight out?
Hired some FFP loophole lawyers?

No more detail - it's what José said in an interview in Portugal

[Simon's Church]

So surely it ended the day after he gave the interview?

[CountryRoyal]

GYLFI’S COMING HOME

[Snowflake Royal]

GYLFI’S COMING HOME

[URZZZZ]

My thoughts exactly, if we can keep Jose and trim the squad even more then i would be reasonably happy. With a smaller and more hungry squad with a full pre-season under their belts i really think we could push for a mid table finish. It would also be nice to see a few more youngsters having breakout seasons from the U-23s.
I would expect Loader and Oliese to featue more and to continue their improvement, and Rinhomota should get even better which is a huge plus, and anything else will be a bonus.
A fellow Nobber asked the question regarding three teams worse than us? Well its tough to pick three teams worse than us but i do believe theirs a group of maybe 6 teams in the same boat as us.

Wigan - Almost identical to us i believe.
QPR - Fell away badly at the end of last season which often spells danger.
Barnsley - Perennial YO-YO team.
Blackburn - Over achieved last season and may struggle.
Millwall - Same old Millwall lol. Lots of guts but not much class.
Luton - May start well but will get found out quickly. The Champ is a big step up in class.

I reckon you can add Charlton to that list, and possibly Birmingham and Sheff Weds. Birmingham will presumably be selling lots of players to keep FFP balanced this summer, including Che Adams. Sheff Weds have also started a big clear out thought you’d expect Bruce to keep them mid table regardless of players.

Overall FFP may have the benefit of teams reducing squad sizes which will create opportunities for academy players. This can only be good for English football in the long run.

...and hopefully better for us, since we have an academy while other clubs don't.

I fear this may not necessarily be the case, teams probably can/will find loopholes to save themselves

Although I can see something big in football changing soon, there's more and more teams struggling financially - story about Aldershot's relegation, Bolton being unable to pay their own staff etc etc...this is whilst Alexis sits on 300k a week producing no output

Honestly think they should make a new rule with "X" amount of academy players in the squad, and making it a reasonable amount. This should stop the ridiculous amount of foreign players (Chelsea Arsenal Europe league final anyone ) and could hopefully ease money problems if the money can be distributed right down from the bottom

[URZZZZ]

We're in the same dangerous territory we've been in for years.

But a lot of the repairs have started. A tight, well motivated, drilled and dedicated squad can take you a long way in the Championship and there's plenty of promise in our Academy.

With the work we're doing, even if the worst happens and we go down we'll be much better placed to recover than we would have been this season.

My thoughts exactly, if we can keep Jose and trim the squad even more then i would be reasonably happy. With a smaller and more hungry squad with a full pre-season under their belts i really think we could push for a mid table finish. It would also be nice to see a few more youngsters having breakout seasons from the U-23s.
I would expect Loader and Oliese to featue more and to continue their improvement, and Rinhomota should get even better which is a huge plus, and anything else will be a bonus.
A fellow Nobber asked the question regarding three teams worse than us? Well its tough to pick three teams worse than us but i do believe theirs a group of maybe 6 teams in the same boat as us.

Wigan - Almost identical to us i believe.
QPR - Fell away badly at the end of last season which often spells danger.
Barnsley - Perennial YO-YO team.
Blackburn - Over achieved last season and may struggle.
Millwall - Same old Millwall lol. Lots of guts but not much class.
Luton - May start well but will get found out quickly. The Champ is a big step up in class.

I'm not having a dig because it's all about opinions and I think it's always interesting to see how people think the league will shape up, but I think it's slightly basic to just label teams like this. The Championship is so unpredictable and unlike the Prem, anyone can finish anywhere really. For example, did Blackburn over achieve? They were pretty consistent over the season, bar one horrendous run February to March time, may even have sneaked 6th place...

[Forbury Lion]

Honestly think they should make a new rule with "X" amount of academy players in the squad, and making it a reasonable amount. This should stop the ridiculous amount of foreign players (Chelsea Arsenal Europe league final anyone ) and could hopefully ease money problems if the money can be distributed right down from the bottom

This proposal may see the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal etc cast their nets even wider than they already do and snap up more of the local talent that might otherwise go to local academies like Reading's..... If there was a cap on Foreign players that extended to EU players, then Arsenal/Chelsea etc will snap up just as many players, only they would all be from England/UK leaving slim pickings for everyone else.

Also a bit harsh on late bloomers signed from non-league, past examples being Dave KItson, Ian Wright. Both English and home grown, they just grew up playing footy in the park/Sunday league rather than at an accademy.

[URZZZZ]

Honestly think they should make a new rule with "X" amount of academy players in the squad, and making it a reasonable amount. This should stop the ridiculous amount of foreign players (Chelsea Arsenal Europe league final anyone ) and could hopefully ease money problems if the money can be distributed right down from the bottom

This proposal may see the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal etc cast their nets even wider than they already do and snap up more of the local talent that might otherwise go to local academies like Reading's..... If there was a cap on Foreign players that extended to EU players, then Arsenal/Chelsea etc will snap up just as many players, only they would all be from England/UK leaving slim pickings for everyone else.

Also a bit harsh on late bloomers signed from non-league, past examples being Dave KItson, Ian Wright. Both English and home grown, they just grew up playing footy in the park/Sunday league rather than at an accademy.

Some good points

Difficult to try and find an optimal solution. I just found it astounding that out of 22 players in the Europe League final, only one was English. Even then, if Bellerin is fit he's ahead of Maitland Niles. And to me, that's just wrong. And that's not even academy players, that's only English

[Denver Royal]

Honestly think they should make a new rule with "X" amount of academy players in the squad, and making it a reasonable amount. This should stop the ridiculous amount of foreign players (Chelsea Arsenal Europe league final anyone ) and could hopefully ease money problems if the money can be distributed right down from the bottom

This proposal may see the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal etc cast their nets even wider than they already do and snap up more of the local talent that might otherwise go to local academies like Reading's..... If there was a cap on Foreign players that extended to EU players, then Arsenal/Chelsea etc will snap up just as many players, only they would all be from England/UK leaving slim pickings for everyone else.

Also a bit harsh on late bloomers signed from non-league, past examples being Dave KItson, Ian Wright. Both English and home grown, they just grew up playing footy in the park/Sunday league rather than at an accademy.

Some good points

Difficult to try and find an optimal solution. I just found it astounding that out of 22 players in the Europe League final, only one was English. Even then, if Bellerin is fit he's ahead of Maitland Niles. And to me, that's just wrong. And that's not even academy players, that's only English

Wrong forum, but imo Southgate started wrong team/system v Netherlands (was he pressured?). Some of that team don’t start regularly in club footy. Sterling captain?
Netherlands then looked rather ordinary vs Portugal subsequently in the final.

[URZZZZ]

This proposal may see the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal etc cast their nets even wider than they already do and snap up more of the local talent that might otherwise go to local academies like Reading's..... If there was a cap on Foreign players that extended to EU players, then Arsenal/Chelsea etc will snap up just as many players, only they would all be from England/UK leaving slim pickings for everyone else.

Also a bit harsh on late bloomers signed from non-league, past examples being Dave KItson, Ian Wright. Both English and home grown, they just grew up playing footy in the park/Sunday league rather than at an accademy.

Some good points

Difficult to try and find an optimal solution. I just found it astounding that out of 22 players in the Europe League final, only one was English. Even then, if Bellerin is fit he's ahead of Maitland Niles. And to me, that's just wrong. And that's not even academy players, that's only English

Wrong forum, but to me Southgate started wrong team/system vs Netherlands (was he pressured?). Some of that team don’t start regularly in their club footy. Sterling captain?
Netherlands then looked rather ordinary vs Portugal subsequently in the final.

Yeah did mention that in one of the other threads about his XI not being representative of club form. Not sure who would pressure him and as someone did say, at least he is giving some players a chance, Rice, Sancho, Hudson Odoi etc. Just too many dubious ones at the same time

Didn’t watch Netherlands Portugal but saw the stats after it and it looked pretty one sided

[Denver Royal]

Some good points

Difficult to try and find an optimal solution. I just found it astounding that out of 22 players in the Europe League final, only one was English. Even then, if Bellerin is fit he's ahead of Maitland Niles. And to me, that's just wrong. And that's not even academy players, that's only English

Wrong forum, but to me Southgate started wrong team/system vs Netherlands (was he pressured?). Some of that team don’t start regularly in their club footy. Sterling captain?
Netherlands then looked rather ordinary vs Portugal subsequently in the final.

Yeah did mention that in one of the other threads about his XI not being representative of club form. Not sure who would pressure him and as someone did say, at least he is giving some players a chance, Rice, Sancho, Hudson Odoi etc. Just too many dubious ones at the same time

Didn’t watch Netherlands Portugal but saw the stats after it and it looked pretty one sided

Pee’d at missed silverware. I’m approaching 60 and it wrankles

[SpaghettiHoop]

I’m approaching 60 and it wrankles

I'm well over 60 and find it wrinkles.

[earleypr]

At first glance I don't see any teams in a weaker position than Reading so I understand the cause for concern. But I've often seen teams tipped for relegation finish in the playoff positions, so I'm not getting too carried away with panic at this point. IMO it's going to take something special to finish higher than the bottom 6-8, but nothing's impossible. With the right mix of youth, inexpensive signings with something to prove, and less reliance on loans I think the club could get back up the table. There needs to be more of a long term plan and less doom and gloom to lift the team.

[Maneki Neko]

jose was wrong.
couple this statement with his we need to sort our transfers early statement that he made at the end of last season, he must be pretty pissed off

[Hound]

as it has always been, the key is to sell off the deadwood. The soft embargo actually sounds surprisingly sensible

I think Jose was optimistically hoping we'd be shot of the likes of Kelly and Meyler by now, but the reality is very few clubs are buying yet. It sounds like talks to sell off a few are well underway, and hopefully something in the next few weeks.

Proper painful position the previous management has got us in though, no doubts

[Wallsy]

jose was wrong.
couple this statement with his we need to sort our transfers early statement that he made at the end of last season, he must be pretty pissed off

If Derby are interested in Jose, as a potential Lampard replacement, it’s hard to see him turning them down considering the mess we’re in (again).

[andrew1957]

I think our business so far this summer (assuming we do get Ejaria and Miazga) has been much more positive than I expected. I can only assume that the Stacey money and selling Kelly/Bod gave us the wriggle room to add some players.

I don't know if it is just me but when I look at the squad being assembled and with a strong group in the Academy, I think that if we make a good start to the season (a big "if") that a top half finish is now quite possible and perhaps even a push towards the play offs.

Ideally we just need an attacking midfielder and a striker to top things off.

[WestYorksRoyal]

No need for attacking midfielder. Swift and Ejaria are good options, with Olise and Barrett also capable of the role.

Maybe a winger is necessary. But more depth at CM is most critical. What is our plan beyond Rino and Adam? (Nobody say Swift - he is an attacking midfielder and has never succeeded in a deeper role in his 3 years here)

[Royalwaster]

I think our business so far this summer (assuming we do get Ejaria and Miazga) has been much more positive than I expected. I can only assume that the Stacey money and selling Kelly/Bod gave us the wriggle room to add some players.

I don't know if it is just me but when I look at the squad being assembled and with a strong group in the Academy, I think that if we make a good start to the season (a big "if") that a top half finish is now quite possible and perhaps even a push towards the play offs.

Ideally we just need an attacking midfielder and a striker to top things off.

Agree it looks better than expected but still expect us to be fighting relegation .... survival in the Championship would be a good outcome from my perspective.

[Snowflake Royal]

Goalkeeper is at least adequate.
Defence looks good.
Midfield is desperate.
Attack looks solid.
Striker is shallow and weak.

A first choice midfielder and striker will do wonders, though we'll still be in trouble if injuries stack up unless more Academy lads than is reasonable to expect step up.

As is, we're going to really struggle IMO.