Summer 2020 transfers

[DJBlu]

Well whadya know. Spot on there DSB. TP and IE must be trawling this thread for ideas.

I won't take a commission [kisses badge]

I will, they can pay for the hosting, a year per player you have recommended!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Well whadya know. Spot on there DSB. TP and IE must be trawling this thread for ideas.

I won't take a commission [kisses badge]

I will, they can pay for the hosting, a year per player you have recommended!

Ha! I endorse this sentiment. (In seriousness, you could do a "buy me a coffee" fundraiser - I'm sure plenty of us would be happy to chip in.)

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

That fourth striker comes into focus as Messi announces he wants out of Barcelona

[Worthy4England]

That fourth striker comes into focus as Messi announces he wants out of Barcelona

Quite. Lucky we didn't rush to fill our quota. On a free, so no transfer fee to worry about.

[GhostoftheBok]

That fourth striker comes into focus as Messi announces he wants out of Barcelona

Too small to be a professional footballer. He'll never make it.

[TonyDomingos]

That fourth striker comes into focus as Messi announces he wants out of Barcelona

Too small to be a professional footballer. He'll never make it.

Too old and no experience of the English fourth tier. I'm out.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Stop messing around. He'd be adequate...

[BWFC_Insane]

His release clause is only 700 million Euros...if FV don't pay that they've clearly got no ambition....

[GhostoftheBok]

All agreed then. Too small, too old, won't cut it on a rainy Tuesday night with big lads kicking the shite out of him...and if we don't spend nearly a billion quid on him we might as well not bother showing up.

[TonyDomingos]

All agreed then. Too small, too old, won't cut it on a rainy Tuesday night with big lads kicking the shite out of him...and if we don't spend nearly a billion quid on him we might as well not bother showing up.

"Lionel, son. It's Carlisle away on Boxing Day ..."

[LeverEnd]

Might as well re-sign Chris Taylor.

[brommers95]

I see this happening now. Adam doesn't strike me as the type who is overtly bothered playing for 'only' £1.5k-£2k a week, I think he sees it as a great opportunity to play with his old mates Evatt, Gilks and Baptiste whilst studying under Evatt, with a view to moving into coaching.

I wouldn't be against it, but his fitness does concern me.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Saw this but I'm not sure I'd take Moose's word for it. Not the most nuanced, bless him.

Still think it's somewhat unlikely, personally. Pulling numbers out of the air here but let's say he was on £10k pw at Stoke/Reading, and say Fleetwood and us were offering him a "star player" wage 33% above the salary cap. For us, that would be £1.5k, for Fleetwood (working on League One's £1.7k average cap) £2.5k. Even at Fleetwood he'd be taking a 75% drop, but here it'd be 85%; he'd be going from half a million per year to £75k. And yes, he's earned a bob or two, but you'd be surprised how many players don't have the mortgage paid off or the car HP paid up.

All guesswork, but it's a long way to fall. You might be right that if he wants to get into coaching, this might be a good place for it. But it would surely be a financial risk for him – and that's before we get into our side of the bargain. What if, say, Evatt fancies it but Phoenix (who could sign two young Moneyballers for that wage) doesn't?

[BWFC_Insane]

Saw this but I'm not sure I'd take Moose's word for it. Not the most nuanced, bless him.

Still think it's somewhat unlikely, personally. Pulling numbers out of the air here but let's say he was on £10k pw at Stoke/Reading, and say Fleetwood and us were offering him a "star player" wage 33% above the salary cap. For us, that would be £1.5k, for Fleetwood (working on League One's £1.7k average cap) £2.5k. Even at Fleetwood he'd be taking a 75% drop, but here it'd be 85%; he'd be going from half a million per year to £75k. And yes, he's earned a bob or two, but you'd be surprised how many players don't have the mortgage paid off or the car HP paid up.

All guesswork, but it's a long way to fall. You might be right that if he wants to get into coaching, this might be a good place for it. But it would surely be a financial risk for him – and that's before we get into our side of the bargain. What if, say, Evatt fancies it but Phoenix (who could sign two young Moneyballers for that wage) doesn't?

Was about to post more or less the same. The 'source' is dubious - I suspect he knows nowt more than Adam was training here - Iles said the other day that we're a long way from offering Adam any sort of deal and that was directly after the Wigan game where one presumes he had more than an on-the record with Evatt. The costs don't make any sense unless Charlie doesn't care at all about a massive drop in wages. And does he even fit what we're trying to do here - a fading top two division star who was never a solid game by game player anyway but turned it on in flashes....his experience is no doubt a plus but I'm struggling to see where he would fit in particularly. So perhaps a bit part player but I'd question whether the desire is there on his and our part for him to be the occassional ace up the sleeve.

I just can't see it - but I guess you never know when managers and players know each other....

[GhostoftheBok]

Dunno about Charlie Adam's finances or his coaching desires, but if he is training with us to keep his fitness up then he presumably wants/needs to play next term and his options may be limited. If he needs the money then you take what is on offer, regardless of how big a drop it is. It's not what he was on vs what we can pay, it is what we will pay vs what anyone else will. You can then factor in coaching qualifications etc if that's where he wants to go.

As to where he'd fit into IE's system, I'd say he'd do the same job John Rooney did for him at Barrow. I can only go off the Halifax game (my local side these days) and all the youtube extended highlights, but the attacking trio seemed to have a similar feel to what he's putting together here. There was an out-and-out goal scorer in Quigley (was on loan at Halifax for a bit), a runner in Angus and an old fashioned "free role" forward in Rooney. For us that reads as Doyle, Delboy and one other. We have Crawford and Sarcevic who both look like starters to me, either of whom could play at 10 in L2, but it doesn't look like IE's 10 needs mobility with the high line compacting midfield. When people mentioned Adam I had imagined he'd be for a deeper role, but having trawled through the highlights (I know, not worth all that much) I think he could play the Rooney role even as a fat 34 year old with one working knee. I am talking about someone who can fill in for the two previously mentioned.

None of that means we are after him, but I do think he 'could' do a job.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Dunno about Charlie Adam's finances or his coaching desires, but if he is training with us to keep his fitness up then he presumably wants/needs to play next term and his options may be limited. If he needs the money then you take what is on offer, regardless of how big a drop it is. It's not what he was on vs what we can pay, it is what we will pay vs what anyone else will. You can then factor in coaching qualifications etc if that's where he wants to go.

As to where he'd fit into IE's system, I'd say he'd do the same job John Rooney did for him at Barrow. I can only go off the Halifax game (my local side these days) and all the youtube extended highlights, but the attacking trio seemed to have a similar feel to what he's putting together here. There was an out-and-out goal scorer in Quigley (was on loan at Halifax for a bit), a runner in Angus and an old fashioned "free role" forward in Rooney. For us that reads as Doyle, Delboy and one other. We have Crawford and Sarcevic who both look like starters to me, either of whom could play at 10 in L2, but it doesn't look like IE's 10 needs mobility with the high line compacting midfield. When people mentioned Adam I had imagined he'd be for a deeper role, but having trawled through the highlights (I know, not worth all that much) I think he could play the Rooney role even as a fat 34 year old with one working knee. I am talking about someone who can fill in for the two previously mentioned.

None of that means we are after him, but I do think he 'could' do a job.

Interesting re Charlie at 10. I'm not sure meself - think he's better with the play in front of him - but it's a thought.

And you're right in that he may take whatever's on offer, but he also may still be hoping that he gets an offer from the Champo, where the money flows like water and there's no salary cap and not uncoincidentally everyone's up past their bollocks in debt. That offer may not come in until later in the window. If I were he I wouldn't be signing for buttons just yet.

[officer_dibble]

What was it, 10 appearances for reading last season? Is he fit enough for premier league 2? I genuinely don’t know as I haven’t followed it closely enough but the salary cap means if he isn’t attractive to a champ team he’s taking a big wage drop whatever. Why not here if he’s local and has mates at the club?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

What was it, 10 appearances for reading last season? Is he fit enough for premier league 2? I genuinely don’t know as I haven’t followed it closely enough but the salary cap means if he isn’t attractive to a champ team he’s taking a big wage drop whatever. Why not here if he’s local and has mates at the club?

https://lionofviennasuite.sbnation.com/ ... arlie-adam
LoV asked their Reading sister site, who said:

We brought Adam in on a year-long contract to add a bit of experience to the midfield which we didn’t have before. He was probably a Mark Bowen signing as the two had worked together at Stoke previously.

Expectations were low due to his age, Stoke’s decline etc, and he never really seemed to get on well with Jose Gomes (manager when Bowen was sporting director). Bowen came in as manager, used Adam more frequently. Really came into his own over the Christmas period when his experience, calmness in possession and long-range passing added another dimension to our midfield.

Typically played in a double pivot, albeit usually with him pushing higher than the defensive guy next to him. He needs that cover as he hasn’t got the legs. Bypassed too easily defensively. Went out of the team in the new year when we tried some different tactical things and he didn’t get back in.

All in all a solid addition. Think he’s probably got another year or two in him. Experience and ability on the ball will be his key assets, but fitness (won’t be able to play a lot) and general energy are poor.

Indeed, Adam didn't start any of their first 19 league games, then started eight in a row (W4 D3 L1) over December/January, then disappeared again. Topped up with 13 sub appearances and half a dozen cup games – in all comps, 13 starts and 14 subs.

By his recent standards that's busy: in his last two Stoke seasons he'd managed 17 and 16 appearances. He hasn't made 30+ appearances since 2014/15 – and even then he only started 17 of his 35 appearances. Only once in the last six seasons (2016/17) has he made 20 starts. And we've got 46 league games plus at least five cup games.

So the question may not be if he would come here, but rather if we see him as worth it.

[GhostoftheBok]

Interesting re Charlie at 10. I'm not sure meself - think he's better with the play in front of him - but it's a thought.

And you're right in that he may take whatever's on offer, but he also may still be hoping that he gets an offer from the Champo, where the money flows like water and there's no salary cap and not uncoincidentally everyone's up past their bollocks in debt. That offer may not come in until later in the window. If I were he I wouldn't be signing for buttons just yet.

Regarding Adam's position, I agree. I only thought about him at 10 in Evatt's system having watched Rooney play it. Evatt had more athletic players in the squad who had played in advanced roles before, but he went with Rooney who maybe has more in common with Adam than he does with a more modern 10.

Regarding money, yeah. I don't see IE hanging around on the off-chance. Adam is either in his plans or he is not, I'd guess. He wants his business done and I'd assume he knows where he stands with his mate. If Adam wants to wait and see then I'd expect us to go elsewhere.

[The_Gun]

I would assume that if Adam were to drop down to League 2 level he would want to be pretty confident that he'd be getting a decent amount of game time, and I'm not sure that would be a given at Bolton. If he signs I'll support him like any of the other lads, but he wouldn't be one who'd get the pulse racing if he's the next 5pm Twitter GIF.

I'm quite surprised that Amoateng hasn't been signed up yet. I wonder if other clubs have shown interest after his seemingly strong start to pre-season?