Quote Originally Posted by ramAnag View Post
Thanks Rog...to hark back to a previous thread...very professional.
So, in layman's terms, in the opinion of you, Andy and any of the other financial wizards...is this likely to necessitate the selling off of those whose value has accrued but are maybe no longer *****, say Bryson, Russell and Martin (yes I know Rats...all Nige signings ), the sale of the 'crown jewels' or a wholesale loss making clear out of those who just haven't worked out?
I would think we would need to sell some of those players, yes. Clearly the new manager, assuming he is still in charge at the start of the season, will need to resolve a few things, notably which forwards fit into his preferred starting formation. Martin and Vydra might well be incompatible and either one would be an expensive bench warmer. I quite like the Vydra-Nugent axis myself. So there is one sale possibly. Hughes needs retraining into being creative and creating chances. When he first came onto the scene he did this, but, as Andy said, he has become prone to a more and more negative mindset. Russell and Bryson may be expendable and perhaps Buttterfield who seems to be Hughes Light - another creative that has forgotten how to play a forward ball. However we wont get much money for them.

A return of a fit Thorne will give us a better base to build around, and I think Johnson, despite all his doubters, may find a role to play or at least get the opportunity to enhance his market value before selling. However the key is to get the defenders to play higher up the field which they seem reluctant to do due to a lack of pace at the back - this is why I said elsethread that we should consider a 3 CB setup.

We have surplus players, but are any of them really saleable assets? Many have devalued in the last 12 months and some, like Blackman, were worthless when we paid £ 3m for him! It wont be easy to squeeze much development cash out of the squad unless the overall market perception of our team is enhanced by a good end to the season IMO. And then of course people will not want to cash in and sell!