Stan

Bournemouth sign Jack Stephens on loan from Southampton https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62755970

Might be spam. And now they've cleaned out your bank account and on the way to the Bahamas...

Happy with it. Seems like the signing we'd usually make. Young, hungry, potential to improve and potentially high resale value...

Me too

Ironic you talk about being juvenile . You carry on being bitter about something that happened over a year ago. Just for you. Cry more

VAR made a decision. You're unhappy with it. You lost the game. When you're adult enough to admit that, then maybe you will be worthy of entertaining a conversation about it. Until then, carry on reminiscing about what could have happened

Interesting first point as some of those signings, on good record, were predominantly with Rodgers' input. Vestergaard and Bertrand in particular, which in turn has caused the lack of fundings for this summer - £15-20m for both of them, and obscenely high wages (£80k/w allegedly). Interesting observation for the second bit too - we used to be famed for picking out the gems or younger talent from lower divisions or even abroad. Potentially signing Wout Faes from Reims gives me hope we're going back to basics, but I can't help but think it's a Rodgers-led change when it comes to the transfer strategy - away from that younger purchase with high resale, and going for more experienced cast-offs from other clubs. We used to be one of the most successful clubs in the country doing that - buy young, raise players' stock, sell high. It helped with reinvestment because we had the plans and personnel to get away with selling that 1 asset per summer, with the knowledge that a) the rest of the squad would be okay with losing that one player because b) we'd sensibly re-invest as the scouting was of a high-level and the player fitted the profile - young, hungry, determined, high potential, high ceiling etc... We've even been linked with Jeremie Boga today, from Atalanta. They signed him in January. They bought Ademola Lookman to take his place. Lookman was with us last season, and now we're signing the person he's taken over from, for more money than we could have bought Lookman . I know this post is quite anti-Rodgers, but it seems like he's the common denominator (in terms of these transfers but also falling out with players). Follows a similar pattern to what he did at Liverpool and by some accounts, Celtic.

Both if I've understood the question correctly. Every squad needs some re-invigorating to some extent, especially in the summer windows as January transfers can be riskier. We've been hit hardest it seems by the FFP changes (UEFA) that came in in April, and something we seemingly weren't expecting because. The 'cash' is there, but with how shrewd our owners are - not a bad thing - they want to make sure we're not screwing ourselves over with the wages more than we already have done recently. I mentioned last summer that within the next 18-24 months we'll see a sea of change because of how many players are ending their careers (or approaching) and how many will just naturally leave. It's already started - Schmeichel has gone. Fofana as one big asset is 99.9999% gone. Contracts that end Summer 2023: Tielemans (will go for free I expect) Soyuncu (frozen out cruelly by Rodgers, will leave tomorrow or free next summer, or may keep his place if a new manager comes in) Amartey (needs to go) Perez (should go) Evans (new captain, likely to extend) Mendy (meh) Bertrand (get the fuck out). 2024 - arguably worse because of how many first-teamers are here: Ndidi Iheanacho Maddison (!!!) Vestergaard (can fuck right off too) Praet (destined to leave, Rodgers doesn't like him, oddly) Thomas (youth, expect him to be re-signed) Vardy (just renewed, guessing he retires here) Albrighton (bit-part player now, but vice captain, so expect to stay til then) Currently, there's 10 players there that have had matchday involvement so far this season, some obviously way more than others. But the situation is concerning given how important some are and who we're still trying to tie down - especially Maddison. I expect we'll try to renew Ndidi. Same with Iheanacho, or at least we should but again for some reason Rodgers doesn't favour him. Basically we need to get rid of lots of deadwood but presumably because of how much we're overpaying them, clubs don't want to match our demands or that of the player. Take Vestergaard for example - not good enough for us, has had a handful (if that) of decent games. Fulham were ready to meet our valuation, but he's chosen to stay because Fulham couldn't match the money he's on. Vestergaard, Perez, Mendy, Bertrand, Amartey, Soyuncu are all disposable - and all players we could have conceivably got some money in for to help our situation. But we've shot ourselves in the foot in some cases for how much we pay them and now literally paying the price. I suspect we'll see a defender (Faes?) come in with the Fofana money. But it seems like just a case of 'make do with what we have' until January or summer when we are able to spend.

Plot twist. He comes in for Evans, and it's Amartey and Faes at the back

Good shout, that. Shelf-life for managers is very short. He's good at galvanising teams to begin with, but it goes stale.

No worries. I'll clarify, rephrase if you will. It's a fact that we won it because Tielemans scored a worldie and you didn't score more than us

@Danny (for reference: https://talkfootball365.com/topic/17022-spfl-matchday-202223/?do=findComment&comment=626254 )

Looking at going to Lisbon or Geneva for a short city-break end of April/early May. What would the fine folk of TF365 recommend? I've been to Lisbon before about 10 years ago but didn't get to experience it properly as it was only a stag do back then .

I meant binned off by us.

Agree with it all. Celtic fans stay the same. He's past his sell-by date and needs binning.

Challenge for Europe, realistically. What we've had the couple of seasons should not be where it ends for us before we go back to just being a mid table PL club. Right now there's a combination of things not going right. Some players have shown they're not good enough. Some aren't anywhere near consistent enough. The manager needs to take some responsibility and stop being so stubborn in playing in a way that isn't working time and time again.

Because some of the current players are not good enough. Amartey, Vestergaard, Soyuncu, Bertrand, Soumare, Perez just not cutting it at this level. Three of those are CBs, Evans needs a better player next to him. Soyuncu I still have faith in to come good under a different manager, but all signs point to Rodgers staying, sadly. We need better quality going forward. Barnes and Maddison appear to be the only players to get a tune out of. We can't rely on them all season. Ward doesn't seem great. Iversen is unexperienced. Not saying to go crazy, but a few players to get in through the door won't be a bad thing. Next season is big anyway given the amount of players out of contract or likely to move on. To be honest, another manager does do better with this group of players. But if Rodgers isn't getting the boot, we go nowhere fast without some new signings.

Squad needs reinforcements now though.

A CL quarter-final and two campaigns in Europe not count? We've literally never qualified for Europe through the league before and we did it 3 times in 4 years. Underperformed against what? Look at what we've had to compete against. Its impossible to keep up.

Parameters which are very heavily weighted towards the big six.

I think we won it because Tielemans scored a worldie and you didn't score more than us.

And now Loic Bade

Glad to hear of these links to Tapsoba and Lacroix. Would substantially improve the quality at the back. Still definitely need a RW. Not sure about another midfielder.

This is ironic because I'd love to do that to the politicians themselves, as well as the weapons