Eddie Howe

[buzz]

3 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

This window was a negative and right now I need two positives. One to cancel out the negative and another one just so I can have a positive

 

 

 

 

Still, good news about Stack. 

[gbandit]

Probably his most candid press conference so far I’d say. Those lines about difficulties with transfers the other way (e.g. potential sales and outgoings of players we don’t want to sell) is a bit of a concern really

[Yorkie]

Caught up on the presser, quite a lot to digest but the critical thing at the centre of everything is: this is PSR's fault.

 

You can choose not to buy that, and instead question the competency and the decision-making of the staff involved (and/or deduce that there's disharmony behind the scenes).

 

Or you can take him at face value. We wanted to recruit but we couldn't and - scared by rules which are set out to keep the likes of us at arms length - took a decision in the best interests of the club.

 

I appreciated his honesty about the unsettledness of the players, which is really sad to hear but unsurprising. If that can't be repaired then we really are onto a season of treading water but there's plenty of evidence to suggest it can be. Not least the win the other night. 

[ExiledGeordie]

6 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Caught up on the presser, quite a lot to digest but the critical thing at the centre of everything is: this is PSR's fault.

 

You can choose not to buy that, and instead question the competency and the decision-making of the staff involved (and/or try deduce that there's disharmony behind the scenes).

 

Or you can take him at face value. We wanted to recruit but we couldn't and - scared by rules which are set out to keep the likes of us at arms length - took a decision in the best interests of the club.

 

I appreciated his honesty about the unsettledness of the players, which is really sad to hear but unsurprising. If that can't be repaired then we really are onto a season of treading water but there's plenty of evidence to suggest it can be. Not least the win the other night. 

When the club as taken over I envisaged exciting windows where we looked to bring in absolute quality each window but not on a ridiculous, unrealistic level. We’ve obviously made some great signings since the takeover but PSR has totally fucked us really and I think there needs to be a degree of realism moving forwards. We see hamstrung by regulations that perfectly suit the top 6 and makes it very hard for anyone else to progress. I don’t think the club realised how difficult things would be for them. 
 

That said it’s still possible to feel extremely deflated by this window. Whatever the reason is (and Howe has alluded to them in his interview) if you’d told me a few years ago we wouldn’t be signing a single bonafide starting 11 player this window I’d have been shocked and bemused.

 

 

Edited Friday at 12:37 by ExiledGeordie

[SUPERTOON]

6 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Caught up on the presser, quite a lot to digest but the critical thing at the centre of everything is: this is PSR's fault.

 

You can choose not to buy that, and instead question the competency and the decision-making of the staff involved (and/or try deduce that there's disharmony behind the scenes).

 

Or you can take him at face value. We wanted to recruit but we couldn't and - scared by rules which are set out to keep the likes of us at arms length - took a decision in the best interests of the club.

 

I appreciated his honesty about the unsettledness of the players, which is really sad to hear but unsurprising. If that can't be repaired then we really are onto a season of treading water but there's plenty of evidence to suggest it can be. Not least the win the other night. 

Feel like it’s probably been said over and over, but it’s daft crying the PSR line and then bidding 60 odd million for Guehi. It’s contradictory imo.

[Yorkie]

1 hour ago, SUPERTOON said:

Feel like it’s probably been said over and over, but it’s daft crying the PSR line and then bidding 60 odd million for Guehi. It’s contradictory imo.

 

Where's the contradiction? It's not that there's no money, it's that we've tried to use our money on a few targets we believe in, but couldn't secure them. In that context, you then either spend the money on targets you don't believe in or you take (what they consider to be) the most risk-averse approach and do nothing. 

[huss9]

11 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Feel like it’s probably been said over and over, but it’s daft crying the PSR line and then bidding 60 odd million for Guehi. It’s contradictory imo.

he thought Guehi would come in and be a starter with minimum risk - CB sorted.

some of the alternatives may have been risks and if they didnt work out it leaves even less to spend.

probabaly also scarred by how difficult its been to get rid of certain players once you've signed them - even some first teamers.

 

 

Edited Friday at 12:50 by huss9

[Weezertron]

PSR is the reality. Other teams have spent, but that's because they've also sold. The only time we have sold is to fix our overspending. 

 

I guess we just have to let the soft underbelly of our squad leave at the end of their contracts, cause they seemingly have no value to anyone else in the league. 

 

Hopefully some youth players can be promoted into their spots because theres no chance we can bring in 10 players when a bunch of contracts expire at the end of the season. 

 

Having said all this, we'll probably give a majority of them extensions and so the cycle continues. 

 

 

[PRL]

5 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

Where the contradiction? It's not that there's no money, it's that we've tried to use our money on a few targets we believe in, but couldn't secure them. In that context, you then either spend the money on targets you don't believe in or you take (what they consider to be) the most risk-averse approach and do nothing. 

I admire the positivity, but when I look at other clubs business, I really struggle that we had such a limited pool of options. We have seen players in the positions we need move or become available at prices we could have paid. I'm unsure why they aren't good enough for us or we cannot find players with the profile to be good enough. It's a big old world out there, where is the next Botman, Bruno or Isak? We will have to trust the club and none of us will ever know what the requirements are internally, but from the outside looking in, it is disappointing.

 

 

Edited Friday at 12:52 by PRL

[Yorkie]

Just now, Weezertron said:

PSR is the reality. Other teams have spent, but that's because they've also sold. The only time we have sold is to fix our overspending. 

 

I guess we just have to let the soft underbelly of our squad leave at the end of their contracts, cause they seemingly have no value to anyone else in the league. 

 

Hopefully some youth players can be promoted into their spots because theres no chance we can bring in 10 players when a bunch of contracts expire at the end of the season. 

 

Having said all this, we'll probably give a majority of them extensions and so the cycle continues. 

 

This is such a crucial point which hasn't been raised enough in the whole debate. We absolutely have to press on with the academy development. There's clearly some green shoots but even our last DoF said fucking ages ago that we couldn't just keep having spenny transfer window after spenny transfer window. 

[huss9]

crystal ball time. 

may have been an idea to sell a "name" eg Gordon.

but we all would have fucking lost it.

 

people say brighton  have less ambition but they will overtake us this season.

 

PSR is to blame.

we arent in a place to risk more than £10m on a player unless we know he's class.

 

 

[Doops]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

 

Where the contradiction? It's not that there's no money, it's that we've tried to use our money on a few targets we believe in, but couldn't secure them. In that context, you either spend the money on targets you don't believe in or you take (what they consider to be) the most risk-averse approach and do nothing. 

How can they only have a few targets they believe in though? In the whole world there's only a few? It's just very odd. If you can't get what you want then surely you compromise for the next best thing on what should be an extensive list. These guys are on millions of pounds to create a highly intelligent plan. I don't think relying on what we have is too smart.

[timnufc22]

But surely there is a failure in scouting and judgement if you cant identify more than just a handful of players who are good enough to improve us and would come, baring in mind you have £70m to play with.

[Gallowgate Toon]

3 minutes ago, huss9 said:

crystal ball time. 

may have been an idea to sell a "name" eg Gordon.

but we all would have fucking lost it.

 

people say brighton  have less ambition but they will overtake us this season.

 

PSR is to blame.

we arent in a place to risk more than £10m on a player unless we know he's class.

 

 

I really don't rate their business that highly  squad feels imbalanced and I don't think their spine is strong. Big unknowns with the coach too.

 

Obviously, I'd love to have been as busy as them in the window.

 

 

Edited Friday at 12:59 by Gallowgate Toon

[Theregulars]

I think part of the gripe is that the club is back to looking disorganised and a bit foolish publicly (rightly or wrongly). It’s not long gone since that was our daily reality, and nobody wants to go back there. 
 

The PSR point is a big part of it but I think it’s reasonable to have doubts that nobody was realistically available to improve the squad. The club simply have to get better / more realistic about selling fringe and deadwood, although I accept that we can’t just force people and that Howe would rather show inclusion and kindness. There are some things that are just ludicrous and unprofessional to me: the keeper situation, the handling of the Gordon thing in public, de-captaining trippier when it turns out we still very much need him and being involved in a pretty squalid saga with a blowhard chancer like Steve Parish. I had hoped having someone like Mitchell would mean people like parish could be fairly easily dealt with. 
 

 

[TRon]

12 minutes ago, Doops said:

How can they only have a few targets they believe in though? In the whole world there's only a few? It's just very odd. If you can't get what you want then surely you compromise for the next best thing on what should be an extensive list. These guys are on millions of pounds to create a highly intelligent plan. I don't think relying on what we have is too smart.

 

It doesn't look too good when you are relying on Steve Bruce signings to play centre half when they were bought ostensibly to play full back.

[Novocastrian]

PSR has a much greater impact if you forget the first lesson that there’s not much value in buying from the PL.

[The Prophet]

While I can see why the club might look disorganised, I don't think it looks particularly foolish. It's another case of "club priced out of top target".

[Jonas]

In all honesty and frankness its just delusional to pretend PSR isn't the predominant factor by far.

 

In our delicate situation, entirely because of PSR, you cant dick around now like before taking punts on players that were down your shortlist that only might improve the team when its taking money off the table for purples you think will improve the team in the future and if they don't work out its storing up more of the same problem with dead wood which will restrict us.

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, Jonas said:

In all honesty and frankness its just delusional to pretend PSR isn't the predominant factor by far.

 

In our delicate situation, entirely because of PSR, you cant dick around now like before taking punts on players that were down your shortlist that only might improve the team when its taking money off the table for purples you think will improve the team in the future and if they don't work out its storing up more of the same problem with dead wood which will restrict us.

You also dont plan to spend your whole budget on one and have no backup plan.

[Jonas]

We did with Shearer. Worked out okay.

[alexf]

Main bit that concerns me from that conference is that last revealing answer about has the window effected the players.

 

Normally you would expect a straight bat denial, but he admitted that the players were feeling the same as the fans. Hints that people like Gordon and maybe others are potentially not in the right head space right now? Perhaps he just means the likes of Miggy and Trippier. 

[nufcjmc]

Been willing to go all in with reported 60 or 65m on one player does mean there is money to spend so that's what makes this more maddening. Hopefully the club learn to deal with more of with the wheeling dealing risk style transfers Mitchell is known for. If we are constantly in threat of PSR shopping in the ready made Premier league bracket brings more certainty on adapting but doesn't appear currently financially viable

Buying more from abroad will lead to more misses but it's potentially coming in at a lower fee. 

[PauloGeordio]

51 minutes ago, huss9 said:

crystal ball time. 

may have been an idea to sell a "name" eg Gordon.

but we all would have fucking lost it.

 

people say brighton  have less ambition but they will overtake us this season.

 

PSR is to blame.

we arent in a place to risk more than £10m on a player unless we know he's class.

 

 

The good news is we spent £10 mil plus £5 mil add ons on Osula so get the class fucker on the pitch Edwardo! 

 

 

Edited Friday at 13:47 by PauloGeordio

[SUPERTOON]

14 minutes ago, alexf said:

Main bit that concerns me from that conference is that last revealing answer about has the window effected the players.

 

Normally you would expect a straight bat denial, but he admitted that the players were feeling the same as the fans. Hints that people like Gordon and maybe others are potentially not in the right head space right now? Perhaps he just means the likes of Miggy and Trippier. 

Be amazed if he wasn’t on about Gordon after we offered him to Liverpool.