I would agree with this except we had hardly anyone playing at the WC and have had more time off than most teams to prepare and yet we have had some performance stinkers against mediocre teams and looked woefully under prepared after the WC break. The flurry of fixtures certainly suits the big squads but you can’t say our players are tired given the amount of time they’ve had off.

PV has some frankly baffling ideas about first XI player choice, set up and substitutions but agree that points wise we are where we more or less should be so you can’t complain too much. The next month or so will be very telling of how our season is going to pan out.

In no way would I knock Roy as he did a very good job for us but he would not have brought or played players like Guehi, Andersen, and Olise and would not have allowed Gallagher to run about all over the pitch like he does.
Vieira is doing a good job. His hands are tied due to the clubs lack of funds but recognises the same areas of team that need addressing as most supporters.
Our recruitment has been brilliant over the last 18 months so, lets hang on to the summer and go again.

How do you know his hands are tied, the recruitment has been brilliant over the last 18 months, but unfortunately it is not showing on the pitch, Freedman is doing the recruiting anyway, how do you know Roy wouldn't have wanted them, PV is doing an OK job, nothing more.

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

I think that the Recruitment is brilliant because every one, maybe bar Edouard, has a sell on value, at he end of this season 8 players costing 60m can walk away free, and you cannot run a club of our size doing that, so a vast improvement on recruitment, but in my opinion, players are performing a long way worse than they should be, why?

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

You're looking at this in the wrong way. Maybe they did together cost £60m, but you should be looking at what they are worth in the market today. So my estimates ;

Butland - £1-2m
Tompkins - Free
Luka - £2m if we're lucky
MacArthur - Free
Zaha - Free
Clyne - Free
Ward - Free
Ferguson - Free

Not all of them will necessarily leave. Wilf has been offered a new deal, although it looks unlikely he'll take it. It's possible that Ward could be offered another year but it's hard to see where the rest could be justified in retaining. Bar Ferguson, none are the right side of 30.

Old, Ungifted and White

In all likelihood we will be in the same position after Mr Hodgson departed whereby several players left the club with no resale value at all.
Replacements will of course cost princely sums and one can only speculate as to whether the club will decide that it needs to offload players who will command significant fees.

Our Net Spend in 2020-21 after the departure of Mr Hodgson was around £75 Mill !

Edited by Willo (24 Jan 2023 4.32pm)