OK, so I'm getting worried...

[splutcho]

I actually am worried now. We're going into what is an extremely important start with a pretty poor looking defence and a striker light (judging by the no. 9 shirt not yet being handed out).

 

[KeiranShikari]

Be worried if we're bottom and haven't signed anyone when the window closes. Now it just seems pointless. 

 

[splutcho]

Forever the pessimist, me. 

 

[Brian Fantana]

I have been thinking about this more as the season approaches and I do understand the point about newly promoted teams needing to strengthen but let us not forget that the team we start with is very similar, if not stronger than the one that survived in CH's first year. I think most of us agree that if we had still had Lambert (peace be upon him) instead of CH in our relegation year we would have not been in the trouble we were and would not have gone down. Whether or not AN turns out to be as good as Lambert (peace be upon him) is yet to be seen but the squad we have is very good.

Although, I would love to see an imposing centre half come half in but I won't be too surprised if one doesn't.

 

[Canaryboy]

I think the issue we are having is disposing of players. I hope it won't stop us signing a quality centre back at the very least, but signing a striker may be dependent on us shifting one first? 

25 senior players on the books, one in and one out. 

What we've got to remember is that unlike most promoted sides we will have already had a wage bill of almost Premier League standards by the time everybody had been given their pay rise. 

And that has probably lumbered us with a few players who are realistically Championship standard but aren't going to voluntarily accept Championship wages, and who can blame them.

Michael Turner and Kyle Lafferty for example. And who knows how much Van Wolfswinkel is being paid if Sporting Lisbon can't afford his wages, they were capable of agreeing contracts with Bryan Ruiz and Kevin-Prince Boateng (deal feel through due to image rights, not wages). 

Fulham were probably more than happy to cover Turner's wages when he'd had a 50% pay cut, but they aren't going to cover his wages now that he's had a 100% pay rise. 

So I really don't expect too much more business this summer, to be honest, shifting Van Wolfswinkel would probably help massively? 

 

[Brian Fantana]

'Apparently' Ricky is on £30k pw, not a silly amount in terms of the Prem but for the 'lesser' leagues of Europe probably a significant sum. I can only see a loan move for him where we pay a % of his wage until his contract runs down.

 

[Canaryboy]

Could alternatively sell him and then give him a lump sum from the transfer fee which covers his lost earnings.

If he is on £30k here but could only get £20k elsewhere, that would just mean us giving him around £1m out of the transfer fee to cover the difference over two years? If the fee were around £4m that would still leave us with a bit of money, plus we'd get his wages off the books. 

I doubt we'll be seeing £2m loan fees for him again, didn't set the world alight at St Etienne.

Also, lets put ourselves out of our misery, if we loan him out again this season we'll be having the whole RVW debate again next pre-season. Best thing for all concerned is for the club to sever ties with him.