Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2025

[hopper]

Scrambling through as many targets in the space of a day to replace our most important player seemed scattergun in the example of Palhinha in my opinion. We did pull the deal, but only after a player had gone to Munich, completed a medical, posed for their pictures and came back absolutely gutted. It was a circus.

Do you think Palhinha would have been less gutted if the club actively stood in his way rather than attempting to sort out a solution?

Difficult question to answer, you could make an argument either which way. Do you think the club managed that situation well then?

[General]

I don't think there's any justification for us being last every window other than unprofessionalism from the club. While I accept that the outcomes have been fine, and that's the most important thing - it does nothing to help the manager who would love to have new players in at the start of pre-season. Some signings can arrive late and do well, but we so often see a player progress after a full pre-season.

I know there's PSR arguments etc; but we're last on just about everything - season ticket, pre season dates, kits. That combined with the diminishing relationship between fans and the clubs just gives the impression of a pretty dysfunctional operation. Supposedly the Jags also have this reputation.

While yes it's more important to get the right players in than get them soon, I really don't see why it's not possible to be able to do both - even if some deals are done later in the window.

The club under Alistair Macintosh has always treated the fans with disdain in terms of information.

Very reclusive. You can see what he thinks of "legacy" fans with the way he treats the supporters trust.

Not a nice man, despite winning "CEO of the year" lol

Hace you actually had a conversation with AM??

There's a marked difference in just having a conversation with someone who is in many ways a public figure, vs doing something meaningful and of substance with them and having competing views and how those are navigated.

No expectations apart from a nice chat - no issue.

Expectations and nuance - can cause all manner of issues.

I imagine to most fulham fans who are interested enough to just meet him he can come across as very personable..

But to those who want the club to do certain things that he doesn't agree with then it's a different matter entirely, and understandably.

I don't think AM gets all his judgement calls right - but his benefit is that he's in the position, has been for a while and has done a decent enough job for successive chairmen/owners not to loose his place.

In other circumstances, he may have been gotten rid of for a number of reasons..

I think, for instance, it says a lot that the club had a 'waitlist' for season tickets - which were then released to, and the waitlist was either not very long, or the uptake wasn't as expected , to the point the club have now opened up season ticket purchasing to public.. and, from what I can tell, have yet to sell out.

The club may possibly 'sell out' - but without publishing the figures of how many are available, that could just be a marketing spiele...

For that to have gone through the different layers of sales and to have not worked/had the uptick it was suggesting/perhaps hoping for, is to me a simple sign of a strategy not working in the way it was intended..

The clubs ticket pricing being the obvious reason. Which is yet another issue, given the club make assumptions on financial performance based on those initial assumptions on uptake based on pricing - which is not a fair representation of value (compared to all London PL clubs, let alone PL clubs more generally).

It's a sign that AM hasn't done a good job.

Another example is FFCTV - It started off being a full membership subscription model, hiding all unique content behind a paywall as well as highlights.. and now they offer all the content for free on youtube. Again, another failure, not only for the financial reasons, but because it created bad sentiment towards the club from the fan base.

Fundamentally it shows that AM may have significant limitations in terms of how he views value (largely financial), which as an accountant by background makes sense, but as a business operator is outdated and old fashioned.


Whilst he may have been the man on the ground overseeing the rebuild of the riverside, it wasn't without it's teething problems, and simply was a project financed by Shahid Khan. If Shahid didn't want it to go through, then it wouldn't have happened.

Another example of failing to do business properly, is failing to listen to the customers properly - which in this case is the fans. This was done by constant meetings with the FST which bascially pushed back on many of the points brought up and then represented a push back to the point the club alienated Fulham fans, despite a large number finishing a survey on ticket prices that the FST did, to create another Fan board of the clubs own making, and which largely is controlled by the club.

All examples of alienating the club from fan base for benefit of self and shows intellectual limits.

[Tabby]

Scrambling through as many targets in the space of a day to replace our most important player seemed scattergun in the example of Palhinha in my opinion. We did pull the deal, but only after a player had gone to Munich, completed a medical, posed for their pictures and came back absolutely gutted. It was a circus.

Do you think Palhinha would have been less gutted if the club actively stood in his way rather than attempting to sort out a solution?

Difficult question to answer, you could make an argument either which way. Do you think the club managed that situation well then?

I don't think there was a good way to handle the situation. Bayern had seemed to cool their interest from early in the window and then decided to return in the 11th hour. Getting a replacement for Palhinha was contingent on the money you'd get from selling Palhinha. Some of the earlier targets could have moved somewhere else while Bayern were rolling their thumbs.

It does show one problem of trying to get players late in the window though, but from the other end than the one we are used to.

[cookieg]

I answered it though. Khan, again, openly saying, you get the most value at the end of the window from both price, and options. I can't recall his exact quote, but one was on Anderson when we loaned him saying the loan fee dropped by a large margin from initial stages of the window, to the closing days. he also said, they have a list of options, often, the top players aren't available, due to the dominos in the market, which often move late anyway, so we could go in and pay a bit of a premium for a player who we have as 3rd-5th in our list, or wait, and perhaps get our no.1/2 target. Whereas, if you go early, and opt for 3-5, you'd miss out on 1/2 which could be a real coup.

The obvious anomaly to this rule is when players are much coveted and we go in early and get them, at a premium, off the market, ie like Smith Rowe last year or Palinha a few years before that.

I remember that interview, but I think that being our entire strategy is bonkers, it's got a lot of risk attached to it and means players don't get a full pre-season.

I still think it reeks of unprofessionalism. Plenty of examples of it, Solomon saga; Willian circus two summers ago; scrambling around for any DM we could buy after Bayern deal agreed; Justin Kluivert deal falling through at the 11th hour; Ernest Nuamah saga on deadline day last summer.

Some of your examples seem to be a bit off. Bayern came in really late for Palhinha, and before that we didn't have to buy a DM. In the end we couldn't get it done, and therefore we didn't sell Palhinha. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with the strategy you are referring to.

For Kluivert, it fell through not because we procrastinated, but because there was a clear flaw in the work permit system that messed everything up. Maybe the club should have been aware, but as I remembered it the rules in place that happened to apply because Kluivert had been loaned out the previous season resulted in such a stupid and illogical outcome so that maybe it was actually hard to believe it would come to that.

Scrambling through as many targets in the space of a day to replace our most important player seemed scattergun in the example of Palhinha in my opinion. We did pull the deal, but only after a player had gone to Munich, completed a medical, posed for their pictures and came back absolutely gutted. It was a circus.

Regarding Kluivert, clubs should A - know all the rules and B - not try and leave signings to the last minute as if there are bureaucratic issues we are unable to resolve them and one player less than we hoped to be.

Happy for people to have a difference of opinion, but able to give so many examples of reasons to think the club off the pitch are unprofessional.

The only reason we were scrambling around for targets is because Bayern left it so late, they probably thought they could shaft us. As I see it we did all we could to help JP get his move but if we couldn't replace him the deal was off. Perfectly sensible from the club.

As for Kluivert his agent and selling club should have been as much aware of the regulations re work permits as we were supposedly meant to be after all they want to move the player on.

And as for the club being unprofessional, spending £100m plus on players who mostly weren't the right fit certainly is unprofessional. Getting the right players in that the manager wants is sensible and will take whatever time it takes.

[hopper]

And as for the club being unprofessional, spending £100m plus on players who mostly weren't the right fit certainly is unprofessional. Getting the right players in that the manager wants is sensible and will take whatever time it takes.

So many discussions on this forum end up with a worst case scenario counterpoint that nobody would advocate for, and weren't arguing for in the first place.

It's not a matter of being patient or simply overspending/mis-spending. It's about striking a balance between getting some players in for the start of pre-season, and on some other targets being willing to wait a bit should the deal not make sense.

I don't think it's an either/or case. The fact of us being last every year makes us an extreme outlier; and I don't buy the suggestion that is an exclusively good thing.

[FFC1987]

And as for the club being unprofessional, spending £100m plus on players who mostly weren't the right fit certainly is unprofessional. Getting the right players in that the manager wants is sensible and will take whatever time it takes.

So many discussions on this forum end up with a worst case scenario counterpoint that nobody would advocate for, and weren't arguing for in the first place.

It's not a matter of being patient or simply overspending/mis-spending. It's about striking a balance between getting some players in for the start of pre-season, and on some other targets being willing to wait a bit should the deal not make sense.

I don't think it's an either/or case. The fact of us being last every year makes us an extreme outlier; and I don't buy the suggestion that is an exclusively good thing.

With all due respect, you've done exactly what you claimed happens in your opening sentence. 'It's about striking a balance between getting some players in for the start of pre-season' We do have a history of bringing in players earlier in the window. We just do *more* business towards the back end.

This comes up a lot and I used to be on board with it that players coming in/teams do better with a more settled pre season. Facts are, that's not had a lick of difference for years now and we continually start the season well.

[hopper]

And as for the club being unprofessional, spending £100m plus on players who mostly weren't the right fit certainly is unprofessional. Getting the right players in that the manager wants is sensible and will take whatever time it takes.

So many discussions on this forum end up with a worst case scenario counterpoint that nobody would advocate for, and weren't arguing for in the first place.

It's not a matter of being patient or simply overspending/mis-spending. It's about striking a balance between getting some players in for the start of pre-season, and on some other targets being willing to wait a bit should the deal not make sense.

I don't think it's an either/or case. The fact of us being last every year makes us an extreme outlier; and I don't buy the suggestion that is an exclusively good thing.

With all due respect, you've done exactly what you claimed happens in your opening sentence. 'It's about striking a balance between getting some players in for the start of pre-season' We do have a history of bringing in players earlier in the window. We just do *more* business towards the back end.

This comes up a lot and I used to be on board with it that players coming in/teams do better with a more settled pre season. Facts are, that's not had a lick of difference for years now and we continually start the season well.

How so? My argument is that we are statistically always the last club to bring anyone in; not that all our deals are at the very end.

I've maintained all the way through that the outcome is more important than getting players in earlier; so I'm not posing binary extremes as an argument.

[Coastwalker]

Let's have a bit of transfer gossip for a change.
Spurs have bid for Gibbs White of Forest
If he goes that'll be two top men have left Forest.

[hopper]

Would it make sense for there to be a rumours only thread; and then a separate discussion thread where people respond. Might be better in theory than reality.

Can understand why some people don't like it veering off course; but it's inevitable that rumours or lack thereof lead to discussion.

[Twig]

I don't think there's any justification for us being last every window other than unprofessionalism from the club. While I accept that the outcomes have been fine, and that's the most important thing - it does nothing to help the manager who would love to have new players in at the start of pre-season. Some signings can arrive late and do well, but we so often see a player progress after a full pre-season.

I know there's PSR arguments etc; but we're last on just about everything - season ticket, pre season dates, kits. That combined with the diminishing relationship between fans and the clubs just gives the impression of a pretty dysfunctional operation. Supposedly the Jags also have this reputation.

While yes it's more important to get the right players in than get them soon, I really don't see why it's not possible to be able to do both - even if some deals are done later in the window.

The club under Alistair Macintosh has always treated the fans with disdain in terms of information.

Very reclusive. You can see what he thinks of "legacy" fans with the way he treats the supporters trust.

Not a nice man, despite winning "CEO of the year" lol

Hace you actually had a conversation with AM??

I don't know whether Irish Mike has had a conversation with AM or not but I have sat through an entire meeting which the FST where AM led the FFC team. He just about remained polite but nonetheless managed to make it clear he had little interest in the FST agenda items, was only there to say; no, not possible, not feasible and let's move on to the next item please.

[cookieg]

I don't think there's any justification for us being last every window other than unprofessionalism from the club. While I accept that the outcomes have been fine, and that's the most important thing - it does nothing to help the manager who would love to have new players in at the start of pre-season. Some signings can arrive late and do well, but we so often see a player progress after a full pre-season.

I know there's PSR arguments etc; but we're last on just about everything - season ticket, pre season dates, kits. That combined with the diminishing relationship between fans and the clubs just gives the impression of a pretty dysfunctional operation. Supposedly the Jags also have this reputation.

While yes it's more important to get the right players in than get them soon, I really don't see why it's not possible to be able to do both - even if some deals are done later in the window.

The club under Alistair Macintosh has always treated the fans with disdain in terms of information.

Very reclusive. You can see what he thinks of "legacy" fans with the way he treats the supporters trust.

Not a nice man, despite winning "CEO of the year" lol

Hace you actually had a conversation with AM??

I don't know whether Irish Mike has had a conversation with AM or not but I have sat through an entire meeting which the FST where AM led the FFC team. He just about remained polite but nonetheless managed to make it clear he had little interest in the FST agenda items, was only there to say; no, not possible, not feasible and let's move on to the next item please.

Those are exactly the responses I make when my wife wants to go shopping and wants something.

[Drewry66]

Well done guys. All our nonsense chat has got us to 100 extra fast this year. Really proud of us all. Signing someone is officially on now. 

    

[Drewry66]

Let's have a bit of transfer gossip for a change.
Spurs have bid for Gibbs White of Forest
If he goes that'll be two top men have left Forest.

Didn't realise he had a £60m release clause. Surprised no one has triggered that before to be honest as a very good player. Tottenham are going all out aren't they.

[hopper]

Let's have a bit of transfer gossip for a change.
Spurs have bid for Gibbs White of Forest
If he goes that'll be two top men have left Forest.

Didn't realise he had a £60m release clause. Surprised no one has triggered that before to be honest as a very good player. Tottenham are going all out aren't they.

He's been a talisman for them, imagine Edu has a plan for Forest.

Am surprised Spurs are signing both MGW and Kudus (both big money buys) when they play the same position.

[Willham]

Well done guys. All our nonsense chat has got us to 100 extra fast this year. Really proud of us all. Signing someone is officially on now. 

    

Can anyone remember our record? Im quite confident we've hit 100 before the first signing in the last 3 years (including this one)

Im also quite confident our record was like 170 - 179, also done in a quite recent season.

Anyone out there, remember?

[jayffc]

Wilson is known quality at CAM, brilliant there for Wales.

Iwobi is a starter for us, was one of our players of the season before falling off a bit towards the end, and also many argue he's as good at CAM if not better than he is at LW (certainly my arsenal buddies always said this) so it's not just depth like a poor backuop bench option - they're people who could legit start there in their own right and would cost us millions to buy if we went out looking for them.

And all of that is IF ESR doesnt hit the heights we expect from him and bought him here for. I would be suprised if the club just gave up on him that quickly after such an outlay, and if the club are confident in his improvement and moving passed the niggling injury issue he had last year, then why spend a significant portion of our budget there when there are so many other more important positions to cover where that money could be focussed. Namely - and obviously CF, CM, LW first. I'm all for having more great players in all positions but its not a priority, and club sources have said as such

ESR is a very talented player when in full flow, who even having an ok season if not a great one, managed 9 Goal contributions despite a niggling injury. I'm sure the club are hoping for more from him this coming season and I doubt they'd just give up on him being who they think he can be and replace him with a major £25m player the next summer. King is hotly tipped as a top talent and will be another year older chomping at the bit the get starting minutes. Those 4 seem very good compeition to me (+possibly TC)

If any of those are an upgrade on AP, they should theoretically have started ahead of him most weeks in the #10 role in the season just gone. And yet, they didn't...

Not really that simple is it.

1.ESR very often did start over AP at CAM , but was also playing through a niggling injury issue that needed managing, as per emile and Silva themselves.

2. ESR absolutely has the potential to be better than AP, better G/A on less minutes last year despite apparently being troubled by injury. And same (but on balance more goals than assists than APs previous year where he was playing at CAM

3. AP actually played 8 more games at CM than he did CAM last year.

4. The club reasonably I would assume hope to see improvement from ESR next year given we know what hes capable of when confident and fit. And King is another year older and so again reasonable to expect some level of development on last seasons Josh too who already showed signs in his cameos that he could be very effective. The club will know better than either of us his potential ceiling

5. Iwobi and Wilson as 3rd and 4th options are great (4th and 5th if we still have TC at CAM)...and only need to be utilised IF ESR and King struggle to perform as we expect. They didn't need to be trialed inside last year because they were performing brilliantly on the wings and we had plenty options at CAM. Doesn't mean if they got the chance there theyre incapable or unlikely to do better than AP.

fact is that actually most people were calling for AP to be dropped time and time again last year in favour of playing others more centrally, Silva isn't necessarily right about every decision he makes.

Now again

Not even saying it wouldn't be nice to have an extra big money CAM. It just understandably isn't really a priority position at this stage and it'd massively inhibits Kings development who the club are clearly high on.

[Bill2]

Why do we even bother with this post, lots of gossip and hot air on the daily news post, other than that a big nothing has happened.

[LC]

Let's have a bit of transfer gossip for a change.
Spurs have bid for Gibbs White of Forest
If he goes that'll be two top men have left Forest.

Didn't realise he had a £60m release clause. Surprised no one has triggered that before to be honest as a very good player. Tottenham are going all out aren't they.

He's been a talisman for them, imagine Edu has a plan for Forest.

Am surprised Spurs are signing both MGW and Kudus (both big money buys) when they play the same position.

Not to mention both James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski best positions are also as number 10s so very strange unless one or both are going.

Would love Maddison.

[Drewry66]

Well done guys. All our nonsense chat has got us to 100 extra fast this year. Really proud of us all. Signing someone is officially on now. 

    

Can anyone remember our record? Im quite confident we've hit 100 before the first signing in the last 3 years (including this one)

Im also quite confident our record was like 170 - 179, also done in a quite recent season.

Anyone out there, remember?

Believe it's a common joke we always get to 100.

No idea what the record is however.

Christ it had better not get to 170+ or I really fear that some of posters on here may hunt Tony Khan down and batter him to death with their cheese boards.

He'd love going out with a bang however as the sight would surely get him record figures on All Elite Wrestling and that is all he really cares about of course.

  

[bahay18]

So we had Tete sign a new deal as a first attempt at a ' new signing ' . Now the socials are reporting ' 3 years of AP ' . Reposting old signings to paper over the cracks ?