I'm hoping that some of you lovely lot would like to indulge in a bit of fantasy squad building for next season. Realistically, who do you think we could sign or make a transfer offer for?

I don't think TAA will be on our shortlist, but what additions would you realistically like to see?

 

 

Edited April 25, 20251 yr by SalCity Biggie
Website link was shite

26 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

It's not, it's about whether or not they're British ciitzens (or qualify via GBE)

Getting hard work isn't it! 😁

12 minutes ago, Zico said:

It all sounds messy 

I did think there might be different "rules" for championship and L1 which might also be a pain in the arse for relegated clubs

A good point that.

Presumably there is some leeway for clubs coming down, but I don't know.

Whether that complication is, in part at least, down to rules around visas etc generally I don't know. 

The system is highly complex, but with the best of intentions. 

2 hours ago, masi 51 said:

The clue is TWO EU Nationals..........We had at least 4 who played for countries around the world last season

Jones ,Firino , Gomes and Sharples Ahmed.......Schon being our only EU national

I don't the rules apply to Brits like Jones and Forino who opt to play for another country for a laugh and something to do on international breaks

25 minutes ago, Zico said:

I don't the rules apply to Brits like Jones and Forino who opt to play for another country for a laugh and something to do on international breaks

Even if they did it wouldn't matter as this is about players from the EU not the rest of the world.

38 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Even if they did it wouldn't matter as this is about players from the EU not the rest of the world.

It isn't. 

The rules apply to everyone who is foreign.

1 hour ago, Zico said:

I don't the rules apply to Brits like Jones and Forino who opt to play for another country for a laugh and something to do on international breaks

Correct. Jones, Forino, Mendes Gomes are all British citizens. Who they choose to play for in international football is irrelevant to their citizenship. Schon, however, is not a British citizen.

Some interesting comments in the BN about our style of play. 

Gaffer pointing out deficiencies in sticking to plan, loss of formation etc.

 

43 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

It isn't. 

The rules apply to everyone who is foreign.

Why we saying EU nationals then

22 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Some interesting comments in the BN about our style of play. 

Gaffer pointing out deficiencies in sticking to plan, loss of formation etc.

 

Saw that, essentially we're lacking in structure and organisation, can make us hard to defend against when players pop up in random areas but easy to score against because we're all over the place when we lose it

8 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Saw that, essentially we're lacking in structure and organisation, can make us hard to defend against when players pop up in random areas but easy to score against because we're all over the place when we lose it

What happens when you sign players based on data and not mindset.

46 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Some interesting comments in the BN about our style of play. 

Gaffer pointing out deficiencies in sticking to plan, loss of formation etc.

 

Although worryingly he said 'a friend' pointed it out to him!

24 minutes ago, thebells said:

Although worryingly he said 'a friend' pointed it out to him!

Ryan Lowe?

25 minutes ago, thebells said:

Although worryingly he said 'a friend' pointed it out to him!

Ian Evatt !

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Why we saying EU nationals then

The point of EU nationals is that, prior to 2020, EU nationals were free to work in the UK, under freedom of movement rules. Once we left the EU, EU nationals now work in the UK under the same rules as the rest of the world.

Edited May 8, 20251 yr by Rival Son
Edited for clarity

5 minutes ago, Rizlar said:

Ian Evatt !

A bit like Trump telling the next US President the country's a bit fucked!

39 minutes ago, gonzo said:

What happens when you sign players based on data and not mindset.

It’s also what happens when your whole style is based on having a fully fit Santos in his prime who used to be able to deal with those break aways and one on ones pretty easily. He bailed us out pretty much every match until the 2nd half of last season (play off final season). Once we lost that, our whole system was exposed and couldn’t be adapted.

7 minutes ago, Blondi said:

Ryan Lowe?

Maybe. With all these things, written words don't convey the context. And by nature i try to read the subtext. I just thought it was interesting he said a friend told him, but i'd prefer to think he already knew and his friend merely verified it!

I'll not go too far into it here, but my gut feeling with SS is that he's got a good way of managing players individually, and is clear in his own vision of what he wants from a football team. I don't know that he has a deep tactical brain, but if he has good people around him he doesn't need to. Could be doing him a massive disservice but that's my gut feel at this point.

In many ways the opposite of IE, a massive football overthinker!

Long response to your short comment sorry 🙂 

50 minutes ago, gonzo said:

What happens when you sign players based on data and not mindset.

You're right, goes back for me to Evatt and his Pep-lite approach. Like City, it worked well at first when, if we did lose it, we had players who could get it back quickly with graft and strong pressing. As City struggled when they dropped off the level with that recovery of the ball, so have we with changes in personnel. We've regressed as we give it away more easily and have the likes of Collins and McAtee who contribute little to getting it back.

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

Why we saying EU nationals then

The Lt was being a little bit naughty, chucking in a little humorous pot stirring. 

As he's since posted, the rules apply to everyone "foreign" equally. 

 

1 hour ago, thebells said:

Although worryingly he said 'a friend' pointed it out to him!

Sometimes a different view of things helps.

Whether that is a manager sitting in the stand, or another voice, so be it.

Main thing is to look at it, and learn.

It was Evatt who always said he wanted his players to fund solutions-maybe thar "free" style was found out and exploited.

Always a risk of going to far the other way and becoming over rigid.

Perhaps at this level, it's difficult to get players with enough ability to play that way, but also to cover for each other when possession is lost.

Motd did a piece the other day about Bernado Silva, and how he works so hard off the ball to close opponents, see potential breakaways as well as do his creative bit.

That was and is for me the biggest aspect of top Premier league teams- what they do with the ball obviously, but how quickly they get it back too.

Birmingham had 9 non Brits in the squad this season?

2 minutes ago, tomski said:

Birmingham had 9 non Brits in the squad this season?

See above.

Very complicated. 

On 05/05/2025 at 22:19, Krimzon said:

Thats the old Amiga game . The update disk had Mark Winstanley as one of the background pics. Its freeware so it can be played via an emulator or downlaoded for free just make sure its from a proper website . Not sure how they got around the security where you had to enter a score from a particular page in the manual .

For the very first Champ Man game which is also freeware you could print off the scores and page numbers from the manual so Im assuming that its the same for 93/94 . My first champ man game . I played over 100 seasons before my discs became corrupted . Sold the original big box Amiga game for a decent amount 12 months ago. 

found it

 

1 hour ago, Zico said:

found it

 

Excellent . Damn that screenshot takes me back ! 

Thats it for you for the whole summer now. 

1 hour ago, Zico said:

found it

 

Ive been going through my storage unit full of allsorts of stuff and Ive actually found where the photo came from . 

Ill post soon .