oldishowl

One rumour I was told last week is that the reason we haven’t announced Borner and Ojubado , although both have signed, is that we are under a soft embargo until the end of June. Why things will change at the end of June I have no idea and whether it is any better than any other rumour who knows......

People seem to forget what Lee brought to the team and what his strengths were when he was at his best. He consistently did more running in a game than anybody else in the league . No matter where the ball was he was in the same area , either getting a foot in, linking play or getting on the end of a cross. His anticipation was fantastic and he was impossible to mark. It was like playing with 12 men. He didn’t impose himself on a game, mainly because of his style but also because he isn’t that kind of a personality. Can he get back to those levels? Will be tough. He is 31 this month but is natural athlete and the medics will know the state of his big injuries. Definitely worth a year to find out.

We are going into full blown recovery mode both financially and on the pitch. We tried to get promoted with a plan that was based on very short term decisions in all respects, advisors, manager, players and narrowly failed. Bruce has said he will need several windows to turn the squad around and I don’t think anybody would argue with that. He has also said that the fans expect us to be competing at the top end of the table, again can’t argue with that. We still have players on big contracts who ideally Bruce probably doesn’t want but nobody will take them off our hands. We can’t afford another season with top paid players not contributing so if they are still here at the start of the season he needs to use them. We are a big club and I think Bruce is the right man to sort us out but we need to accept where we are and give him time

Morsy is a decent player but only that. The kind of player who we should be capable of finding for a lot less money than is being mentioned for Morsy We won’t be signing him for a few million as seems to have been mentioned and I would be disappointed if we did

To make 352 work consistently especially from an attacking perspective you need the right players and a lot of work on the training ground. The advantages are it gives you 3 in central midfield and 2 strikers. The weakness is getting outnumbered out wide. To prevent this you two wingbacks who can run all day yet still deliver decent crosses. You also need wide centre backs who are happy to cover wide when the wing backs attack. Lees would have to play central in the three. Perhaps Iorfa as a right centre back but not really seen enough of him yet Borner? I don’t think Bruce will go 352

I have seen him a few times this season and he is off the pace in League 1. He is obviously more experienced in this league than Joey but will not improve us

So what do you think of Cattermole?

Cattermole is old and rubbish Don’t believe we are considering him. Would be a massive mistake and to be honest would make me doubt Bruce

This is the other issue with Hector. Not just any fee but the fact other clubs could probably pay him more Especially somebody like Villa who have Premier money and could offer top league football.

I am happy FFP ain’t a problem as I see on the O/S that we are recruiting a laundry assistant . Unless of course they are needed for sh*tstorm Friday if it gets messy

Can’t see us signing Bidwell and Lazaar. If we do we will have to start thinking of a collective noun for fullbacks! Lazaar looked a good player. If we do sign him then Bruce must be happy that his injury here, hamstring?, was to do with pushing him when he hadn’t had any football before he came rather than him being injury prone

Presumably they will have to compete with Villa for Maupay . That won’t be just a cash issue if Dean Smith wants him

Well the “rumours “ that we have signed Borner and Ojubado appear to be about as concrete as these things can be until they are announced. In these cases formal announcements will be after the 30th June as it would be rude to announce their signing when somebody else is paying them . So how do we think we can get these signings accepted by the Football League If we are in effect under an embargo. The league will just say, sorry but no.

Bruce is not stupid. He was simply playing the best cards he had. Lazaar played about one and a half games and Palmer was a far better option at left back than Fox. Palmer deserves a new contract. However next season I just think Bruce will want full backs who carry the team up the pitch and make things happen. He has at his previous teams. Palmer struggles to do this but obviously if the other options turn out to be poor defensively he will play.

Iorfa came into our side after not playing any football previously last season. Obviously not match fit and very rusty on the ball. It will be interesting to see him after a full pre season with the team and games under his belt. He is a big unit and a big character with the ability to make things happen. If we get him fit and confident he will scare teams to death attacking down the flank, and at set pieces. We need characters like this in the team, we have been insipid for too long. Of course he has to show he can defend, something Palmer was brilliant at last season. But Bruce likes character in his team and at full back he likes players that can get backward and forward all day. This is why I think he brought two full backs in in January. Neither Palmer nor Fox have the stamina and energy to do this.