Andoni Iraola

Kudos said:
Isn't the point that we need someone to actually want to sign them?

If someone has £20M burning a hole in their pocket and a suitable vacancy they could do worse than Billing or Brooks but where are those suitors?

The difference between Billing being £5M player or a £30M one is driven by demand not necessarily his quality.

Also, while I'm not adverse to selling where sensible I don't get where this idea we need to be panic selling half the squad is coming from.
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Yes given ffp. Can we afford to have players like Billing on what I assume is close to one of our highest earners on the books? Coming on as sub or playing in style that's no entirely compatible with him anymore.

Not sure we can afford to keep him really.
 
MB1980 said:
Yes given ffp. Can we afford to have players like Billing on what I assume is close to one of our highest earners on the books? Coming on as sub or playing in style that's no entirely compatible with him anymore.

Not sure we can afford to keep him really.
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Would seem odd to me if we couldn't afford to keep him that we would offer him an extended contract at the start of the season.

I've no issue with selling players where it's prudent to do so but I can't help but feel like we've seen some big signing fees (for us) and gone into full panic mode.
 
Kudos said:
Would seem odd to me if we couldn't afford to keep him that we would offer him an extended contract at the start of the season.

I've no issue with selling players where it's prudent to do so but I can't help but feel like we've seen some big signing fees (for us) and gone into full panic mode.
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It's not that we can't afford to keep him in that sense. Although does need to be considered that he'd have walked for nothing (this summer) if we hadn't persuaded him to sign a new deal.

Also back then, it may not have been so apparent that his style isn't exactly 'optimum' for any role in AI's team style of play.

As a result we likely can use money from aby fee and his wage to sign someone more inline with our style. That's my point.

Just seems poor use of funds, given ffp. And yes likes of Rothwell, Moore, Traore and even perhaps Brooks need to go. Billing is more useful than them of course, but still not 'optimum', given his wage and healthy fee we could glean, and put to better use imo.

You could see that as 'selling half the squad', but ultimately they have rarely been used and haven't exactly produced anything when they have. So I have no issues deeming them 'surplus to requirements' in the summer and moving them on.

I'd much rather see that, than being forced to sell someone like Dom. Assuming Dom won't be 'pushing for a new challenge...' at a bigger club.
 
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MB1980 said:
It's not that we can't afford to keep him in that sense. Although does need to be considered that he'd have walked for nothing (this summer) if we hadn't persuaded him to sign a new deal.

Also back then, it may not have been so apparent that his style isn't exactly 'optimum' for any role in AI's team style of play.

As a result we likely can use money from aby fee and his wage to sign someone more inline with our style. That's my point.

Just seems poor use of funds, given ffp. And yes likes of Rothwell, Moore, Traore and even perhaps Brooks need to go. Billing is more useful than them of course, but still not 'optimum', given his wage and healthy fee we could glean, and put to better use imo.

You could see that as 'selling half the squad', but ultimately they have rarely been used and haven't exactly produced anything when they have. So I have no issues deeming them 'surplus to requirements' in the summer and moving them on.

I'd much rather see that, than being forced to sell someone like Dom. Assuming Dom won't be 'pushing for a new challenge...' at a bigger club.
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He could've left on a free with a significant signing bonus. Anyone willing to spend £20M on him would surely have had a word with his agent that they'd take him on a free with £5M sign on bonus in the summer. I can't see the interest being there so if you'd be fire selling a player because he's not been the first choice 10 for a run of games.

I agree there are areas of the pitch we could get away with trimming a bit AM/Wingers but I don't think there's that much wiggle room available overall.

This season every I think every fit squad member has played and we've needed to play players out of position to cover. Assuming that we can't just live without players then I think the challenge of finding someone better and cheaper with the risk it might not work isn't worth it.

We're already losing a few players at the end of the season so headcount will decrease naturally.

IF we have to sell then fair enough hawk the players but there's no evidence we do.

We've spent less than Forest in transfer fees and we didn't have any crazy Lingard style free transfers or over 35 odd players on the books. They only came in just under £35M over budget. That's just the wages for Lingard three times over.
 
everyone is talking about FFP but aren’t the new rules going to be in place come next season? The ones that allow you to spend a certain amount of your revenue every season but aren’t concerned with profit or loss?
 
blandford_cherry said:
Thing is rumour is Andoni only wanted a one year contract, he eventually took 2. He’s been unable to get his assistant over here, who knows how him
And his family are finding it over here.

Be great for him to sign an extension but who knows.
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Double edged sword too, in terms of footballing side.

Keeps doing what he is now next season, and there'll certainly be offers on tge table from bigger stature clubs, who we'd struggle to compete with at the negotiating table imo, regardless of much ambition/backing Foley is demonstrating.
 
I’m sure the board are really pushing on a new contract. As several clubs have proven, Palace in particular, it’s a struggle to sell a “project” to players when the manager is only on a years contract
 
The main thing for a small club is to have a successor in mind for every position playing and non playing. If his assistant gets off to a good start at Rayo as their boss this could be one hunting ground!
 
Iraola made sweeping changes between victories over Everton and Crystal Palace, with some enforced due to illness and fitness levels.

The Basque boss has tried to keep an unchanged side together throughout the campaign, but as with any club, has had his hands tied by external factors such as injuries and international commitments.

As such, there is the potential for frustration to grow for players outside the starting XI.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1775778633216663728

https://twitter.com/x/status/1775778636798525681
 
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