SHA Small Heath Alliance

Unless a bargain pops up, keep funds until summer, any loans I'd prefer with a view to signing, flog any of the out of contract players if possible.

Iain_Gavin

I think we will end up mid table with this squad - would rather any budget was saved until the summer personally

I'm with you. Unless somebody amazing becomes available at a good deal I wouldn't bother.

Depends on the outgoings. If Atalanta stump up the cash for James (don’t think they will) then he would need to be replaced.

Same for if Hogan goes or if we terminate the Burke loan.

Would like to see Drameh signed on a permanent, he’s ace.

I wonder if we might look at a couple of loan to permanent signings to get around FFP.

Assuming evreyone is fit and in form I don't think we need too much. Striker and a goalie really. The rest are plenty good enough to get us mid-table under Mowbray.

I completely agree, think we’ve got enough strength in the squad as it is but would be a huge loss to sell JJ

Which is mad to think that a lot of people were calling for an upheaval of the squad in Jan as WR couldn’t get them to play his ‘style’ and deemed the players as ‘not good enough’

We have the strongest attacking players for a long time and think we have a good chance to build properly in the Summer

What if Rooney wasn't the issue though and the current squad minus those who haven't been and may not be available much this season are removed and we are still crap? It is not implausible to imagine that Laird, Anderson, Hall, Long & both Roberts will miss big chunks of the remainder of the season given their recent injury records.

If despite the manager change our centre halves still make bodges and our goalscoring is dribs and drabs and reliant on midfielders rather than strikers? It feels to me a bit of a risk that TM can find the right tune in these chaps without some strengthening.

GasmanDong

I completely agree, think we’ve got enough strength in the squad as it is but would be a huge loss to sell JJ

Which is mad to think that a lot of people were calling for an upheaval of the squad in Jan as WR couldn’t get them to play his ‘style’ and deemed the players as ‘not good enough’

We have the strongest attacking players for a long time and think we have a good chance to build properly in the Summer

I think in Bacuna, JJ, Dembele and Miyoshi we have more goalscoring in mid / attacking mid than in a long time but I think given our lack of strikers it would be a significant stretch to say we have the strongest attack in a long time (although the bar is low)

GasmanDong

I completely agree, think we’ve got enough strength in the squad as it is but would be a huge loss to sell JJ

Which is mad to think that a lot of people were calling for an upheaval of the squad in Jan as WR couldn’t get them to play his ‘style’ and deemed the players as ‘not good enough’

We have the strongest attacking players for a long time and think we have a good chance to build properly in the Summer

I agree, I'd stick with what we've got but it's largely dependant on who leaves us.

JJ will need replacing assuming he is off.

If we managed to shift the likes of Hogan/Etheridge we would suddenly need the numbers through the door to replace them too, they might not play much in terms of minutes but they are almost always in match day squads, we'd be too small of a squad without them especially accounting for injuries.

I know where you’re coming from, I wouldn’t expect to see those players to get a massive amount of time on the pitch but even without, I still think the team has enough talent to compete in this league.

We said a few weeks ago that we wouldn’t take any of Bristol City players as they all looked average, they could have said the same about our team but sometimes it's just as important how the team is set up and can play comfortably with each others strengths & weaknesses

Iain_Gavin

I think we will end up mid table with this squad - would rather any budget was saved until the summer personally

All I’d say is if it’s a player you really want and can only get now I understand doing it. Preferably a permanent deal though in that case

Stansfield is a solid number 10 as well, I know he’s not actually our player but I still included him in our attacking players for this season. I love Myoshi and thought he was the main player pre WR

Dembele is fantastic on his day and Bacuna has been more consistent this season as well.

So overall, much better than Jukes, Hogan, Deeney, Leko and Cosgrove IMO

My Blue Heaven

With a negotiated fee on the table for aiwu I’d doubt he’d have a recall or termination clause. I don’t think I’d send him back either without guarantee we’d get anyone in better.

I’d definitely sign Drameh now rather than run the risk of him interesting over clubs.

He’s good as it gets as cover in this league

I thought we’d have him done already

I expect we want to see if the new manager likes Drameh.

That being said, he'd be my number one bit of business this window. Get him signed.

I would also spend the relatively small fee required to get Max Bird in before he goes on a free in the summer.

The only other signing I would make is a striker on loan, something different to what we have. Something like Khadra last season, who made a really positive difference.

I'd like to get a couple of young players in. Say current fringe players at Sunderland or Blackburn, who Mowbray rates or League One players.
Nothing expensive, but start to get things ready for next season.

A young permanent signing of a striker would be good.

Same. I kind of expected it done

Can only imagine Leeds are looking for a replacement for Spence