Somehow I find the idea that parachute payments Burnley and recently promoted to league one Stockport are fishing in the same pool for players a tad unlikely

If we are giving players with terrible injury records a chance to win a contract there's this bloke who's on itv a lot we could have a look at

Yeah you are probably right, I was thinking swag might add a mil for that prem money, but then I remembered how cheaply we let kaminski go under similar circumstances.

I'd actually like to see him get a run at 10, I think he might surprise a few.

Gallagher is a solid second or third choice championship striker in a well run squad, it's just that we are paying him to be our first choice striker and leading goal scorer in a badly run squad, so he is/has been poor value for us. If Ipswich are planning for the season after, when they are likely back in the Championship, then I can see why they might want to pick him up, though you'd think that they'd have better targets to go after. He would be cheap relative to their budget now they have premier league money and I think we'd want to sell purely for the wage budget impact so there would definitely be a deal to be done. It would be more than the 1.5m they reportedly bid in January but closer to that than 8m - I'd guess we could probably talk them up to 3-4m maybe, if they are serious. I'd give it maybe a 5% chance of being a real story/actually happening.

I'd argue he is faster and more direct than Palmer, though I admit I haven't seen a ton of either outside of highlights so I might be wrong. There's a EUFA page where you can compare player stats - unfortunately Palmer isn't on it, but it suggests that Saka is faster than Grealish, Foden and Bellingham, and about the same as Sancho in terms of top recorded speed and average top speed per match. Gordon is recorded as faster than all of them.

To be fair if Saka can murder second rate teams he should be starting vs at least one of Serbia or Slovenia, you need to use the whole squad. I think that if you are playing Kane and Bellingham through the centre (which we should be, and they should have license to change through the match - one drops deep, the other pushes forward) and Foden on the left then I'd probably play Saka over Palmer simply because I think he has a bit more pace and that's the one thing our front line is arguably a bit short of. Palmer and Foden with Kane provides bags of technical play but you are relying on Bellingham to do a lot of running - It changes a bit if you play Watkins or Toney up front for a game. I like the idea of having the option to go with a very front foot, fast and aggressive front line with players like Saka, Eze, Gordon against some of the weaker teams or even as a plan B if we find ourselves chasing a game. This might be one of the most well balanced squads we have sent to a tournament in a while - the only thing I wish we had was another left-footed left back.

I mean here's hoping

At times I have wondered if it has reached the point where being able to say 'I own a football club and I don't even care about it' has become a flex in its own right.

If Dolan was rapid and had a peak football brain he wouldn't be playing for us. I used to joke that if Jason Roberts could finish he'd be called Drogba. You have to make do with what you've got to a certain extent, and he's shown that he can play at this level and get a goal or two even if he is frustrating. That said, Dolan is a player I wouldn't object to selling as I think he has the highest perceived value outside the club (fans of other clubs seem to rate him quite highly, at least) compared to his actual ability, I think there's a chance of getting more for him than he is actually worth. Lets be frank though, if we sell him we aren't buying anyone better, we are just hoping that one of the kids can make the step up and be as good or better.

Fair enough. Grealish has had a poor, injury hit season where he has largely been kept out of that position by Foden. Bellingham has played as an attacking player for Madrid for most of the season and scored a lot of goals. Dropping Bellingham deeper effectively to fit Grealish into the squad doesn't make a ton of sense to me. I think Wharton and Rice is a very complimentary pairing.

Foden on the left, Bellingham at 10, Rice and Wharton behind him. Genuinely think it's the strongest lineup England can put out.

Ah I got the order backwards, it's almost like I was seven when it happened...

I mean we kind of didn't, I think signing Shearer was a British record at the time but not close to a European or world record, and that got eclipsed by Man utd signing Keane(?) within a year. He wasn't even a record fee for a British player - Platt and Gascoigne went for more in the same season, just in Italy, assuming Transfermarkt is accurate. That was about it as far as smashing transfer records. Shearer to Newcastle was a world record when it happened. We did spend a lot of money for the time though. I think Chris Sutton was our most expensive signing overall, but we paid less than Man utd did for Andy Cole in the same season. Hendry a bit of an odd one in that he signed in '87 (before Jack), left in '89 and then re-signed in '91, so he both wasn't and was an Uncle Jack signing.

Georgie Gent coming back off 25 odd first team spl appearances for a mid table side must have a shout at going straight in at LB - essentially a new signing. I've said it before, but I think Pickering is too slow for a fullback but otherwise a good player, I'd like him moved more central, either as a left sided CB in a three or a left footed defensive mid, I think he has the attributes. That frees up a bit of room off the bat, then we'll have to see if we get Travis back. Probably play Sig through the middle. For new players a striker will be needed for when Szmodics gets sold - I don't dislike Gallagher as much as some on here but he isn't the player I want as the main man leading the line, then an experienced keeper and either a new centre back or an out and out winger, either side.

Fadz is one of those signings where ideally you aren't actually playing him that much though - he's inexpensive, experienced cover who lets you go to a back five if you need to. I'd have no issue keeping him for another season, but he shouldn't be a 'new signing' contract renewal. I like Dolan, but he's one of the few players we could afford to lose who would actually warrant an alright transfer fee, so we need to make sure he isn't leaving on a free.

A league two Craig Bellamy they called him

Actual club legend, when we take this club back he gets a statue next to Tugay.

The BBC gossip column has us selling Sammie - with other teams it's '(team) will demand at least £Xm for (player)', with us it's 'Blackburn want up to £20m' - its like they know that we'll tentatively ask for it but accept the first bid of £14m and a mediocre 18 year old on loan for a season.

BBC has an article up about Eze and Olise attracting attention from big clubs and having £60m+ price tags slapped on, and about halfway down it there's a paragraph or so about Adam where they seem to be already laying the groundwork for his next move saying he has 'also caught the eye of other teams in the Premier League' [ie. as well as Eze and Olise] For the love of all that's holy please tell me there's a hefty sell on clause here.

The odd thing is that on the (very) rare occasions we've seen him he doesn't look absolutely hopeless, but he can't even get on the pitch so I guess we have to trust the judgement of the coaches. I guess if he goes out on loan to a non league side next year we'll know. I remember one or two of the Portuguese lads from way back when actually looking ok when they eventually got on the pitch, was it Bruno? A right back? Still only made about three appearances and then disappeared back into obscurity after a couple of seasons.

I only really included JRC in that 11 as I expect Brittain will want out, I think Carter would probably have clubs sniffing around and I didn't want to put a ? at right back.

I think a better question might be who do we expect to still be here if we go down - I think in spite of how they've looked this year a fair number of our players would attract interest from championship clubs and let be honest Swag isn't exactly going to be turning down bids is he. Teams will look at last season and missing the playoffs on goal difference as much as this season. Pears JRC - Wharton - O'Riordan - Gent Garret - Buckley Hedges - Markanday - Gilsenan Leonard Bench of Barnes, Batty, Vale, Telalovic and some children? Something like that?

In the last 10 seasons two teams have been relegated with 49 or more points - Reading had 50 last year, and then us on 51. That's got to get us over the line, surely

Ah the good old 5-5-0 formation, just what we need