that the remains of the team from last season, such as Parker, Stockdale, Richardson, Hugo (cant yet comment on the players who played in the World Cup, as they I assume are not back yet) etc etc etc have bought into the Khan/Magath method and want to play in the Championship for Fulham, also noted from the East Fife game that Peter Grant was the main man doing the shouting from the side-lines.....we can only assume the players who have left or been released did not want to be part of Fulham in the Championship.......we also now only have two players over 30 in the first team Parker (33) who I think will do a good job for us in the Championship and Stek (31) who is making noises and body language that he doesn't want to be part of our future
Too early to say what is polite propaganda by players who have stayed. Or if players still want to leave. But I think it is fair to say that the club appear to be trying to replace nearly a complete squad of players. So far they seem to be doing ok.
I think the players who have left were mostly pushed. There are exceptions. But after years of neglect, that is what it was, our club is beginning the slow build back to being a normal club.
Too many managers and players let the fans down in the past few years. Along with an owner who wanted to sell the club. A great owner for us but not in the last few seasons. So it is very hard to read and believe all that is happening and will happen. But at least something is happening. Which has to be a change for the better.
I think that with mr khans arrival the club has got a bit ruthless in other words it is not going to become a rest home for ageing and past it players. For every older player you keep a younger prospect needs to be let go. So in my opinion this is the right way to go forward.
being fair to Stek, Mcgath obviously doesn't want him so he has to look for something else, on his day he is a top keeper so deserves to lay some where.
Like Lighthouse I think it is to early to say what the players who have so far stayed actually think or want to do , maybe they cannot find clubs yet and so have not asked to go, maybe they want to stay. Parker is an interesting case as he stated he did not want to play in the championship that's why he joined us, now that could of been because he thought he would make the world cup squad (always unlikely to happen) or he actually doesn't want to play there, if that's the case he may well be looking to move on. Who knows what agents are saying to the likes of Roberts or Dembele and what they should do.
One thing is for certain we wont know who is doing what or who wants to play for us until after the window closes.
There are quite a few comments here that seem to be reading too much into the situation.
Firstly, most of those who left were out of contract so it was easy to let them go to reduce the wage bill and make space. We didn't hear too many complaints about those who left in that bunch.
Then Riether has left after what most thought was a disappointing second season and Kasami who was struggling to secure a regular position.
We are not going to attract aging quality players now we are no longer a Premiership club. Inevitably the average age will drop because there are few players still playing as old as some of those we had. We have a good Academy so it would be folly to fail to bring those through to the first team particularly when playing at a lower level in the Championship.
It was inevitable that there would be a major rebuild this year because we had failed to sensibly maintain and upgrade the squad every year for at least as far back as under Roy Hodgson for various reasons discussed elsewhere.
And I imagine there will be further departures, either as sales or loans, with Steklenburg, Ruiz and Mitroglou as very likely candidates.
I don't think the turnover is directly down to the change of owner. We should have invested more last summer than we did (as we should have in the previous few seasons) as that might have kept us in the PL. Now, with relegation, the aging and poorly performing squad and a manager in his first transfer window, it is inevitable that there will be more changes than we have seen since Al-Fayed arrived.
Quote from: Andy S on July 10, 2014, 10:54:23 AM
I think that with mr khans arrival the club has got a bit ruthless in other words it is not going to become a rest home for ageing and past it players. For every older player you keep a younger prospect needs to be let go. So in my opinion this is the right way to go forward.
It's only been ruthless cos it's needed to be. We should have got rid of the deadwood over 2/3/4 years, rather than having it kept for that time then in effect chopping off entire limbs in one summer.
I will be over the moon if we could keep hold of Richardson and Dejagah. Richardson being pictured with the team the other day was positive, he came on leaps and bounds last season. Dejagah will have his well earned break now, and I assume he will discuss his future with Magath when he returns. Hugo is passionate, and will be a useful player this season. I've backed Stockdale since Christmas last year, and it's finally nice to see him No. 1. Stekelenburg is too good to be back up, and is most likely on very high wages. Parker, well he is a leader and very determined, however, his legs don't agree. I'm sure he'll play a more player/mentor role next season, and he will be club captain for sure, just maybe not team captain.
I think Parker "wants to play for us in the championship" because he's 33, nobody else will sign him and he's on a massive wage
Just crossing my fingers we can keep hold of Dejagah and Richardson from the older statesmen. The rest (Parker...Stek etc.) I'm not fussed about.
Quote from: H4usuallysitting on July 10, 2014, 10:37:06 AM
... Stek (31) who is making noises and body language that he doesn't want to be part of our future
Is he? I haven't seen anything like this and actually have been surprised at the lack of rumors about him.
