£20m tug of war

[blades58]

Unfortunately the injury to Coutts may force the issue. We can't afford for Fleck to get injured also without quality cover it will derail our season. Our high intensity game is already causing a number of injuries and our squad needs to be able to cover this. If we continue to be in the automatic places come January the Board will have some big decisions to make. We will not have a better chance of going up.

I don't see the mindset of McCabe and co changing because they don't have the money to invest so don't expect any significant funds that could make a difference in the next transfer window. We will be in the Cole and Leonard market only.

We need two quality midfield replacements unless the current back ups suprise us in the next 8 games and turn out to be as good or better than Fleck and Coutts, that is highly unlikely. There are also no guarantees yet that Blackman and CCV will be here for the rest of the season.

The way to finance a push for the premiership is to sell Brooks. Unless McCabe pulls a Chinese investor out of the hat whether we like it or not this is the only option. I don't like it because he could be worth double the figure quoted at the end of the season if we go up.

In a parallel universe I'd like to imagine we have a Board that will provide a huge boost to the transfer fund and say Brooks is going nowhere, but that won't happen. We can continue to hope that we'll get promotion on the cheap by scraping through the play offs like Huddersfield or we can build in some contingency by investing significant funds and go for automatic.

So who will twitch first? probably the most important transfer window coming up in many a year.

Personally don't think a lot will change in terms of strategy. Maybe a little more funds made available to allow a Coutts replacement

CW and AK already have their targets in mind. The board will already have been made aware of these and now we need one more. Wouldn't even surprise me if the target for Coutts replacement is already on that original list because CW knows we lack suitable cover in that area anyway

We'll see, but for me, whatever was in mind regards strategy for Jan hasn't changed an awful lot since Friday night

[JJBlade]

We might have a team that is built on togetherness but there's no reason why we should not pay higher wages for even better quality and gradually improve.

There is a difference in our players pay packets even now and it doesn't cause any problems because the players attitude is right.
Does anyone think Sharp is going to have the face on if someone comes in earning a grand a week more than him ?

Will any other players care knowing that Sharp earns more than them anyway.

Our players all realise that if they work hard they will be rewarded, the fact that somebody else has worked hard elsewhere and deserves a move to us won't worry our players.

I've no idea how much he'd cost and I've no idea what salary he's on but Tom Cairney at Fulham is Paul Coutts, he is an absolute dead ringer in terms of type of player
Everything he does is Paul Coutts like.

This is the kind of player we need if improvement is to be made.

And yes the wages will be higher but providing the player has a good attitude (which he seems to have) it won't be a problem

[FatherKnowsBest]

Neither of our glorious leaders are so short of a bob that we need to get a payday loan to bring in another player or two. Does anyone think Tufty hasn't got his dossier of candidates well-prepared..?

Lets be honest, we haven't seen what the step-up players will do either. I know Lundstram hasn't wowed us yet, but if we'd sold Coutts before last season, there wouldn't have been any shortage of people happy to drive him to his new club. Not worth a panic, imo.

[blades58]

We might have a team that is built on togetherness but there's no reason why we should not pay higher wages for even better quality and gradually improve.

There is a difference in our players pay packets even now and it doesn't cause any problems because the players attitude is right.
Does anyone think Sharp is going to have the face on if someone comes in earning a grand a week more than him ?

Will any other players care knowing that Sharp earns more than them anyway.

Our players all realise that if they work hard they will be rewarded, the fact that somebody else has worked hard elsewhere and deserves a move to us won't worry our players.

I've no idea how much he'd cost and I've no idea what salary he's on but Tom Cairney at Fulham is Paul Coutts, he is an absolute dead ringer in terms of type of player
Everything he does is Paul Coutts like.

This is the kind of player we need if improvement is to be made.

And yes the wages will be higher but providing the player has a good attitude (which he seems to have) it won't be a problem

I like Cairney, but realistically I don't see it happening

Our targets have tended to be lower league and when we have gone for a Championship player it's either been because they are not getting a game at their respective club, or because they are nearing the end of their contract. Cairney is a main player for Fulham. Is he anywhere near the end of his contract?

[Longshortandtall]

I like Cairney, but realistically I don't see it happening

Our targets have tended to be lower league and when we have gone for a Championship player it's either been because they are not getting a game at their respective club, or because they are nearing the end of their contract. Cairney is a main player for Fulham. Is he anywhere near the end of his contract?

Valued at £20m and contract to 2021, way out of our league. Ryan Woods Brentford for me another good Coutts type player would probably be in the £5m region a more realistic target but again I don't see our Board paying out this type of money at the moment unless that includes selling our best prospect.

My point is when are we going to go for it. If we are top of the league in January isn't that the time to change strategy, restructure the budget and put down a marker. We have to have contingency not just for losing Coutts but Fleck also if it did happen.

Huddersfield who we seem to aspire to be like fell away badly at the end of last season when in automatic places in January. No-ones panicking just hoping we have a forward plan beyond consolidation that plots automatic promotion with solutions that include going for a higher category of player than the ones we are going for now to get us over the line.

[charliejoejohn2]

What the press don’t know they’ll invent.

[GrayBlade]

The only way Carney would come would be if we matched his current most likely Premiership level package, the same goes for other players of that ilk. It’s not going to happen until we get into the Premiership and then the whole club’s pay scales will have to be reviewed.

Bringing in a player or players on several times the rest of the teams’ average would also creat a financial them and us situation like we had under Adkins and Robson, and I think we’re also seeing right now at the Sty. Just the opposite of what Wilder strives to prevent as he builds a close knit squad at this level. He won’t let anybody rock the boat and wages will need to be addressed but not in January.

[CHIPBUTTYBLADE]

Did Wilder say Brooks is going nowhere,a short while ago,i'm sure he did,so that means Brooks is going nowhere.

[shorehamoldboy]

ive got a feeling chris might still go back in for leonard he obviously sees something in him that he can work on 1mill would get him

[bulmer1889]

I think he's the more likely option wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the targets from the summer remain the same except for the lad from Watford who probably burnt his bridges and Holmes who wouldn't be needed if as I think will happen we hang on to Brooks in jan