Westfield Owl

It's too early to fully judge our transfer business as we still need to appoint a manager whose tactics will suit the players we've got. However going on what's happened since May: Positives: - We've kept hold of Westwood, Bannan and Reach. Our 3 most important players IMO. - Harris looks a class act. Fantastic bit of business. - Better balance to the squad. - We've not spent heavily and we're out of the transfer embargo. - The Luongo transfer for circa £1 million; great bargain is that. - Thankfully we don't have to pay the wages of Abdi, Boyd, Jones, Hooper, Matias and Pudil anymore. Several of these still haven't found a new club yet which tells it's own story. - Finally got some decent pacey options on the wings. - The other new signings are very much welcome; Murphy, Bates, Odubajo all have good pedigree. - Average age of squad is down. - Pleased to see Kirby loaned out to get some league experience. We should be doing this with the majority of our academy products that look like they are ready. Negatives: - Rhodes should have been moved on this summer. We've had enough interest in the player this window from other clubs to strike up a deal. It's concerning that Rhodes is still here. His wages are unsustainable for a player that has been so poor for us. - Underwhelming to miss out on Hector. The main reason we were solid defensively last season was Hector. Our defence doesn't look as strong without him. - A real shame that the Bidwell deal fell through. If we carry on playing Palmer out of position, teams will target our LB area as our weakness. - Forestieri's current transfer value is a fraction of what we could have got in 2016 when offers came in. The player turns 30 this season and his contract is up next summer. Bad business. - £5-7 million transfer fee for Joao really isn't that amazing; it's certainly not going to remove our P&S concerns. Joao is inconsistent and moving the player on was probably the right thing but he's mobile, dynamic and threat from set-pieces. We don't have another striker like that. - If we're going to play 4-3-3 most of the season, we could do with another CM; Hutchinson and Lee will probably miss plenty of games through injury, Pelupessy isn't good enough and the likes of Reach, Palmer are not CMs by trade. - The Thorniley situation is a weird one. We could really do with him being available as we don't have that much cover in defence. - The Bruce saga & the lack of manager replacement. Awful timing and a real blow to lose a decent manager in Bruce, that knows how to get clubs promoted. But the club have had more than long enough to sort out a replacement. Rowett is available; he wants the job, knows the Championship and has got Derby into the playoffs in 2018. What are we waiting for? Outgoings needed before end of August: - The Van Aken situation needs sorting; he obviously wasn't Carlos' number one transfer target back in 2017, he got injured under Luhukay and hasn't been played since. Bullen obviously doesn't rate him and JVA wasn't even on the bench on Saturday. If he isn't going to play much for us then move him on, get him out on loan with a view to a permanent transfer in January, get a loan fee into the accounts and save on his wages. - Baker and Penney could both do with loan spells to League One/Two to build up their experience. - If any club is daft enough to offer to loan Fox, Pelupessy or Winnall, they need to be shifted out. Rating: 7 / 10

At long last we’ve signed some much-needed CM reinforcement. £1 million transfer fee is good value for a 26 year old with plenty of Championship experience. A step in the right direction.

We don’t do “easy” games. When was the last time we really pasted someone in the cup? But I can think of plenty in recent memory where lower league opponents have embarrassed us e.g. Cambridge, Shrewsbury, Port Vale etc. We already have to play 6 league games in August anyway. We could really do without playing Bury in the cup as well. If we do get a buy to the next round, it’s a rare bit of good luck for us IMO.

From a selfish Wednesdayite point of view, it would do us a favour if we got a bye to the next round. One less fixture to prepare for, avoids injuries/fatigue and keep the players fresh to focus on the league.

I don’t want to turn this into yet another Bullen debate as there are already plenty of threads for that. But put it this way, if any other Championship team parted with their manager, how many would be speaking to Lee Bullen asking him to take charge? I disagree with the OP that we are looking like a potential top 6 contender. The main reason being that we haven’t got a manager. The second reason is that I still think we’re short of the required quality in midfield and defence. The third reason is that we have several key players that are injury prone e.g. Fletcher, Lee, Hutchinson and we don’t have the same level of quality to come in to the team as a replacement. Just my two cents.

Well who would have thought that. We’re usually so on the ball with fan communication.

The elephant in the room is the manager situation. Totally unacceptable that we haven’t sorted this out yet. Very few teams get promoted from this league without a quality manager. They can give you that extra 1-2% that makes the difference. Bullen is a great guy. But he’s no manager. I’m not expecting a top 6 finish without one.

Because this has been a rather deflating transfer window/summer off-season. We have a worst squad at the moment than the one that finished last season. Fans need to cling onto some bit of hope.

I’ve pondered that question many times since we became involved with Doyen Sports.

Really hoping we can get Rhodes off the wage bill pronto with a nice juicy transfer fee thrown in. That would be a big relief after 2 and a half seasons of one of the biggest transfer flops in our recent history.

Because João does have that inconsistent/weak willed/lazy streak in him, I’m not having a meltdown about this. Not until we know the transfer fee anyway. If he goes, he goes. Hopefully for a good fee. If the transfer money isn’t all that, it would be a shame to be losing one of our better forwards if we don’t get a big fee. In the current marker, Joao is easily a £5-8 million player. We shouldn’t be dealing for less than that. Maybe if the hierarchy hadn’t totally c*cked up our finances, we’d be in a stronger negotiation position. And therefore, fans like me would be less concerned that we might be getting ripped off.

Pulis would be an worryingly underwhelming appointment for me, mainly because his latest spells at West Brom and Middlesbrough left a lot to be desired, which suggests that he could be a busted flush. But if Pulis gets the job, he’ll get my full support. I think Pulis gets a lot of underserved stick. You don’t rack up so many games as a Premier League manager (300+ in a 9 year period from ‘08 to ‘17; that’s way more than Warnock for example) if you don’t have anything about you. Would be far from my first choice but I’d rather he got the job for a season than the likes of Monk, Pearson, Megson, Clement, Heckingbottom or Zola.

Our precarious financial position is a worry. The stadium sale was a short-term solution to the club’s financial mismanagement of Chansiri’s reign here. The club will not have the option of doing that again if we end up in the same situation next summer. As a paying fan, I’d rather avoid a getting another transfer embargo for the third summer in a row. He was bang on the money.

The LB position has needed sorting since Pudil’s legs went; so about 2 years ago. Really poor that we’re having to play a RB there on the first day of the season. If the likes of Penney & Fox aren’t deemed to be good enough then they either need to loaned out or moved on.

Fair play Lucas. What an important goal. Just wish he could do that more often.