 | Forum
Thread | If you had to guess now how many of last seasons squad will make this seasons?
at 08:28 29 May 2024
On the basis of a 25 man squad I can see 17 of those here last season continuing and 8 players coming in (not including anyone returning from last season).
None of us want to see the club be reckless and no chance that Ashton, McKenna or Gamechanger are going out to spend £200m and put us at risk, but can see the ambition levels being the absolute maximum of what is achievable within that strategy. That was my feeling before McKenna agreed to stay, but if there was any wriggle room there I'd imagine that's now been enhanced due to the talks that have gone on.
Realistically of that 25 last time around I'd see it being something like:
Walton (transferred out)
Slicker
Hladky
Clarke
Davis
Edmundson
Woolfenden
Burgess
Williams (loan ended)
Tuanzebe
Donacien (released)
Morsy
Ball (released)
Taylor
Hutchison (hopefully signed)
Sarmiento (loan ends)
Luongo
Travis (loan ends)
Humphreys (loaned out)
Burns
Chaplin
Harness (transferred out)
Al Hamadi
Jackson
Aluko (retired)
Moore (loan ends)
Hirst
Broadhead
Would imagine they'll be a new GK either to start or be deemed a direct rival to Hladky for the starting line up.
At least one PL ready CB (Rodon would be the one I'd love to see as a ball playing defender for a reasonable fee).
A proper RB to compete with Clarke and potentially allow Axel to compete centrally.
A younger Luongo (Sheaf would be the one player that jumps out here). Probably two players here in reality, with Luongo and Taylor coming on as and when needed.
Can see Sarmiento coming back on loan. Likewise wouldn't be a shock to see Moore signed for a nominal PL fee of a few million. Think there are better options in the PL and it would be someone seen as a step up from Hirst to allow Hirst to be that 60-65 minute replacement.
With Hirst, Moore and Al Hamadi I think we'd get a few goals because of the system but would be concerned with how many they'd get.
Would be gutted to see Janoi go but it's inevitable now really. Harness is one McKenna likes but given his limited involvement in the back end of the season I'd say it's fairly obvious he will move on.
Jackson deserves a chance. He's a great squad option, has an attribute that will terrify even PL players, in games where we may have less of the ball he becomes even more of an asset. Not everyone's favourite, but what a story that would be for someone who went through all the dark days this club had and has just refused to be left out of the picture by putting in a real shift every time he's called upon.
Can imagine 2-4 purchases in the £7m - £12m bracket and maybe a couple of big £15m - £25m purchases, likely Omari is one of those - although a loan with an obligation to buy if we stay up would be very smart business too balancing the books wise.
As much as Chaplin and Broadhead did last season, topping the scoring charts, both of them were very quiet for large parts of matches and the hot take here would be neither of them being seen as starting options come the opening day as upgrades had been brought in, this is where I could see us going for a proper proven Premier League player or two.
If we got a PL quality CB, RB, CM, AM, LF and ST I'd be very very happy with the squads chances of doing a hell of a lot more than just staying up. [Post edited 29 May 8:31]
|
| Forum
Thread | Why all this fuss over Maresca having learned under Pep?
at 09:18 28 May 2024
Everyone knows you're more impressionable when you're young.
Maresca made his debut at 18 at West Brom and played for Gary Megson for a couple of months.
How can a manager of Megson's calibre be completely overlooked in terms of Maresca's philosophy?
Criminal! |
| Forum
Thread | By the end of next season
at 13:57 27 May 2024
I wonder how many of the 91 others in the 92 we’d have played in previous three year period.
You could probably make that two calendar years given we’d play most teams in the second half of a League One season and almost half in the first part of the Premier League campaign.
Got to be close to a record along with the other back to back sides but there’s a chance some people have ticked off half or two thirds of the 92 grounds in a three year period, the same number some other take decades or a lifetime to achieve.
Quite mad really. |
| Forum
Thread | Have we had a proper thread on replacements yet
at 20:30 23 May 2024
Should the worst happen .....
Ones that we actually think Ashton would target from European football that would just about be persuaded to buy into the project, fit the decent character mold and play the sort of football that the squad would benefit from playing?
In short, which managers that finished 3rd - 8th in Serie A or the Bundesliga or 2nd - 6th in Eredivisie and Ligue 1 do we know anything about!
Forget being newly promoted. With the way Ashton and Gamechanger can sell the club, the momentum, the fans, the rejuvenation of the club, a UEFA Cup in the cabinet, the lure of the Premier League and the higher wages paid to managers in the Premier League I'd imagine these are the sort of managers we could both afford and attract if the right fit was available.
I even think they'd be able to convince Graham Potter to take the job if we wanted to go down the route of becoming established.
Names that you'd think would be out of reach I genuinely think could be sold on the club by those at the top. If McKenna did leave for a United or Chelsea I very much doubt that would harm those sorts of conversations with replacements either as would also speak volumes of what he's been able to achieve here with the support of those in charge. |
| Forum
Thread | Another bizarre moving part
at 14:59 23 May 2024
IF Frank was to go to Chelsea then could Brentford be a possible destination for McKenna.
I'd have said absolutely not, but then they fall into that attractive Brighton like category do they not?
They'd be a club that gives managers time, has a little bit more of a ceiling available (European football), McKenna wouldn't have to move, he inherits a vastly better squad etc etc.
Just like Brighton, they are one bad season or manager away from potentially being below us again but like Brighton and Palace, they represent a step up as of now.
Can't see that one but it's just bloody ridiculous now and surely they'd want to sound him out too? [Post edited 23 May 15:38]
|
| Forum
Thread | The only real way for me to look at this is simple
at 09:14 23 May 2024
Someone comes along two years ago and says that you'll have a new manager come in, you'll win promotion that season and again the next, with near 100 points and 100 goal seasons, you'll witness some of the best football imaginable, some of the greatest games you've ever seen, the greatest atmospheres you will experience, turn up every week to watch you beat whatever is put in front of you, your fans will completely fall in love with the club again, neutrals will be raving about the club and said manager then departs with you in the Premier League financially secure for god knows how long.
Absolutely everyone is taking that.
We've been incredibly lucky and spoilt. We've lived two of the best seasons it's possible to experience as a football fan. It was always going to end somewhere, with McKenna leaving, with relegation or with fans bored of yet another 9th finish in the Premier League.
I am hoping Kieran stays. I honestly think if he does we stay up comfortably next year. But whatever happens now he was going to leave one day, as will Ashton, as will all of these players that we've come to love. One day it'll be bloody dross again.
But for now, with or without Kieran - hopefully with - we've got memories to last a lifetime, so much to look forward to and the future of our club looks both incredible and, from the away end at Barrow and Charlton not long ago, completely impossible.
One thing the near move to Palace in February helps with is Ashton, who leaves no stone unturned anyway, would no doubt already have a list of perfect replacements for the Premier League and Championship if McKenna was to have left at the end of the season.
The club is in incredible hands and what a time to be a Town fan. But like everything good in football it ends. Really hope that everything that's happened over those two seasons is enough for Kieran to stay for this one season and see how far he can really take us.
But he can do whatever he wants to now for his career or family with nothing but good wishes and thanks from me. I never ever thought I'd get remotely close to the two seasons that man has just given us all. [Post edited 23 May 9:16]
|
| Forum
Thread | What a summer
at 16:39 22 May 2024
I make it a new manager, new backroom, new kits, new players, new division, new opponents, new floodlights, new TV studio, new training pitches, new stand plans ...
Same old premature TWTD meltdowns. |
| Forum
Thread | I am somewhat comforted by the fact that if there is anybody in football
at 16:15 22 May 2024
Anybody, that I would say is entirely likely to be full of integrity, gratitude and make a decisions based on all of the facts it's McKenna.
It doesn't mean he won't leave, he won't be offered an offer he can't turn down but if there was any one manager I'd want in this situation, that I thought felt they had unfinished business, owed the club, owed the fans, knew the grass wasn't greener, wanted to see just how far they could go, it's McKenna.
All we can do now is sit back and see. I think we can also all be confident in the owners and Ashton doing everything they can to keep him too. So if ultimately he decides to move on, there's literally nothing we can do but thank him, wish him well and plan for the future.
I personally don't think McKenna has come this far, building the entire club from top to bottom with his players, to get us into the top flight, in his first job, in a fairytale that's not far off a statue worthy achievement at plenty of other clubs, just to move onto a club that is ahead of now but could be behind us in a year or two, or is ahead of where we'll ever be but a circus full of players who just haven't done it for several arguably world class managers.
Every single element of this that would help us, the ambition, the momentum, the owner, the players, the manager, the connection is at the very highest possible level. So if it did happen then at least we can know there was absolutely nothing more we could have done and no regrets in terms of keeping him.
It was clear from day one he was special and clear soon after he was going to be world class. My big worry was that he'd be lured away before we got this far.
It's going to be a long summer potentially! |
| Forum
Thread | Couldn’t have written this!
at 18:26 18 May 2024
Town back in the Premier League.
Norwich playoff heartbreak.
Bolton playoff heartbreak.
Sheffield United relegated.
Birmingham relegated.
Just need a Leeds playoff heartbreak and that’s the five clubs I dislike the most all miserable whilst we are back in the big time. |
| Forum
Thread | Was told last week by someone that knows Rosenior from his time here
at 11:28 17 May 2024
That he'd been sounded out through his representatives about going to Norwich if they failed to go up.
Was hoping it was Leroy!
But given Rosenior turned down Plymouth, I would imagine it may well have some substance in it and he's on their shortlist.
Which would be a shame. Rosenior seems a really likeable, top bloke. Thought similar about Chris Hughton but managed to find a way to want him to fail miserably so I'm sure I can manage.
Hopefully it's this Arsenal guy however. Feel like that's more of a risk. First they welcome the coaches with pyro's, then they look to take on the assistant of a top Premier club. Where do they get their ideas? [Post edited 17 May 11:29]
|
| Forum
Thread | Ipswich Town is famous for being a decent, friendly club
at 11:25 17 May 2024
Ashton has done so much great work in the local community, I thought perhaps the good folk of TWTD could come together and help those just outside of that range, especially our good friends struggling in Norfolk.
For many years we have been told that history doesn't count. Having been Champions of England, UEFA Cup winners, FA Cup winners, it doesn't matter. It is in the past. Unless of course it's 1993 and it's the best team you ever had (one that matched Town's fifth greatest feat, which we managed several times) and a win against the worst Bayern Munich side statistically in the previous 70 years or so. Then of course it counts.
But Norwich need not worry about that. Because a lot of us would have begrudgingly agreed that the here and now counts too. But oops. We seem to have found ourselves a bloody division higher didn't we. So I guess the here and now can't be a true indicator of success after all. Because they'd have to concede we are better now AND better historically.
So I guess we can at least give them the small award of having better attendances and a bigger stadium and all that. But hang on. We seem to have overtaken them there too. The stadium is of course bigger. But somehow, with a Town smaller in population than their City we now seem to be getting bigger crowds too. With sell outs next year that can only continue. Oh well. For a while when we were better than them currently and previously at least they had crowds.
So help me out here. I'm struggling. All that REALLY matters in football is not the now or the past but the very specific head to head fixtures over a period of time, carefully selected, when your team had a £400m advantage from multiple Premier League promotions which was ultimately frittered away with nothing at all to show for it apart from a much older, weaker squad.
So come on. Help them out. They need our support. We've got head to head record (you know the sort of thing that means that ultimately Cheltenham are better than us and that we are better than Real Madrid. That's how it works right? That's what matters.
They also have more social media followers. But to be honest we all know the moment we step into the Premier League we will overtake them too with all the new Town fans from across the globe.
So what can we give them?
- Higher mustard production?
- More celebrity chefs on the board?
- More incoherent drunken ramblings during half time speeches?
I'm struggling now. There must be something. After all they are The Pride of Anglia don't you know. |
| Forum
Thread | It’s ……
at 21:31 16 May 2024
Four. [Post edited 16 May 21:33]
|
| Forum
Thread | If Town could only wear one home kit for the rest all time
at 14:55 14 May 2024
What would you choose?
Options would be:
Blue shirt
Blue shirt, white pinstripes
Blue shirt, white sleeves
With
White shorts, Blue socks
Blue shorts, Blue socks
With
Traditional yellow crest
New red crest
Shade of blue is non-negotiable as anyone choosing the 2001 TXU Energi blue is banned from any such vote!
|
| Forum
Thread | Back to back promotions is one thing. But with the same script?
at 11:02 8 May 2024
It's just completely crazy that (aside from clean sheets in League One and conceding a load in the Championship) we had pretty much the same script throughout.
Out of the blocks with a crazy run of wins, cementing our place in the Top 2 with a solitary home defeat all season thrown in.
Winter months hit and we go through a bad patch which is actually just too many draws but a couple of defeats in there too.
Then a strong January window, a relentless winning run amongst our end to the season that culminated in a team throwing away a massive lead at the top, a brief potential four horse race, before an away win all but secured it.
Really all that was different was winning every game 4-3 and 3-2 instead of 4-0 and 3-0. One year it was clean sheets, the other it was come backs.
That aside it was absolutely spooky how similar it was. Unless McKenna really is that bloody good. |
| Forum
Thread | Can we now all agree that Saturday was the final nail
at 10:25 8 May 2024
In a great big, banter-era sized coffin?
At Coventry I felt sick for parts of the game. Pretty much everyone around me was a total mess. When the goals went in and when the whistle went there were top tier limbs and the scenes afterwards will live with me forever just like Barnsley last season, Bolton at home, Wembley.
But on Saturday as the teams ran out. Nothing. No nerves. No sick feeling. No jeopardy. Just this completely unlikely calm and absolute confidence that this team and this manager and these fans would not disappoint. It was done. It was just a matter of time. Never in my time supporting Town have I ever felt that. I feel apprehensive before an end of season encounter when we are guaranteed 12th!
So for all the rubbish that went on before. That's done.
Good riddance banter era. No a single crumb of that time remains. |
| Forum
Thread | For those not old enough to remember
at 09:01 6 May 2024
There was a time when we used to watch the Euros and the World Cup wondering who we might sign.
There was a time before that when a lot of our existing players would pop up in those tournaments too.
Who is the current Batistuta anyway? |
| Forum
Thread | The one stat that blows my mind
at 20:49 5 May 2024
More than 96 points. More than 93 goals. More than back to back promotions.
Is that every Championship team hit double figures for defeats except us.
Six defeats. The level of consistency to do that it absolutely ridiculous whatever squad teams have had at this level.
To do that with a side willing to play in League One that we basically added 2-3 excellent loans to is just staggering. |
| | Asa
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 1357 | | Comment Votes: | 9 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 1366 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.