Below is the schedule for the new season.
The window may close on the 8th August but surely we must have new players embedded in the squad well in advance of the season start!
I accept opportunities may occur up to the deadline but for me we need to have our main business done before we head to Portugal.
That gives us less than 4 weeks, I'm not confident but what do you think?
Saturday 22nd June – Players report to Motspur Park for their first day of training
Saturday 6th July – Behind-closed-doors friendly
Monday 8th July – Squad flies out to Portugal for a training camp
Friday 12th July – Behind-closed-doors friendly
Tuesday 16th July – Friendly versus FC Porto
Wednesday 17th July – Squad returns to the UK
Saturday 20th July – Friendly versus Brighton & Hove Albion
Tuesday 23rd July – Friendly versus Oxford United
Saturday 27th July – Friendly versus West Ham United
Saturday 3rd August – Sky Bet Championship season commences*
Thursday 8th August – Summer transfer window closes at 5pm
Well, obviously before the end of June but as we all know that just will not happen.
The best we can hope for is before the first match but the chances are we will be looking to make at least one signing for a critical position on deadline day.
It would be great if it happened before the Portugal training camp to give the news players a chance to bond but this will happen when 079.gif
I anticipate our player recruitment will consist of 2 free agents and 5 loan signings the week commencing 5th August.
Anyone who we expect to be in the starting XI needs to be in by Mid-July, Brighton game IMO
Quote from: Statto on June 12, 2019, 02:51:13 PM
Anyone who we expect to be in the starting XI needs to be in by Mid-July, Brighton game IMO
I agree, my hope of it being before the training camp was fantasy.
I just hope your reasonable expectation is not beyond the club!
Tomorrow😵
End of June
The only players we can buy are those with 0% chance of playing Premier League. The quality of player that has given up playing Premier League for the season increases dramatically around Deadline Day. Last years recruiting before the 30th July was disastrous (MLM, Seri and Fabri).
Realistically we're going to make a signing or two on Deadline Day. I think the last time we didn't make a deadline day signing was January 2015, so in that sense our recruitment won't be done until the night of August the 8th.
My hope would be that we had the core of the team we wanted to start the first game of the season together by the Brighton/Oxford games. Personally think we only need 6 or 7 signings even with likely departures- and based on form 1 or 2 of those will be Deadline Day so I'm not going to get too worked up about inactivity until it's looking like we're not going to be replacing the ones we've lost in mid July.
The best time to buy players is on Deadline Day one transfer window in advance of when you need the players. We will need squad replacements for Odoi, Ream, Atyie and Fonte in early 2020, we need to buy them now.
Quote from: The Rational Fan on June 13, 2019, 02:04:26 AM
The best time to buy players is on Deadline Day one transfer window in advance of when you need the players. We will need squad replacements for Odoi, Ream, Atyie and Fonte in early 2020, we need to buy them now.
Unless I have misunderstood you. By your calculations I can envisage our preseasons will never be organised or prepared, and for that reason we shall be playing catch up until around a Christmas, that is not very bright or helpful to any manager.
