Quinn31

If we lose at the weekend, he is done for me. Part of me would sack him immediately, begin the search for a new manager, and let Big Dunc and Unsworth run the team in the interim. They'd probably reinstill some fun/morale in the dressing room, let the boys have a go, and possibly give some other players a chance who have been out of favor (or youth players not yet given a go) under Martinez. The other part of me still respects Martinez despite all his flaws and wants to respect him and let him finish out the season. The further along we go, the more I am preferring the former option.

Must I say, I find it ironic that the fact that we don't have enough experienced centerbacks (and have known this all year) finally will bite us before the biggest match of the year.

Not sure the investment in the squad will be as big as everyone seems to hope. If Pienaar, Gibson, Osman, Hibbert, McGeady, others all depart, then we may need to bring in a squad filler or two.

And what is going to change this? The board demanding we hire a sensible German as assistant manager?

Completely agree. Needed a fourth Centerback with experience this year and we didn't bring one in.

"You're getting sacked in the morning" chants, should we lose the semi-final, anyone?

Think Norwich are in real trouble if they lose this to Sunderland--Shame, would rather see them try and stay in the league for an extended period rather than see Sunderland inevitably end up in another relegation fight. In fairness, if anyone can finally bring in the right players and consolidate them into a midtable side, it is Big Sam.

To respond to the doubts about Dyche, I will say that he reminds me of a young Moyes in many ways. He is able to produce solid, tight sides that play with incredible effort and team spirit. I think he's done quite well with a bunch of grafters at Burnley, but whether he has the vision and ability to take a bunch of top players and make them compete in the Premier League is another question.

Would agree, but I will again say that McGeady has an excellent bag of tricks but not enough vision/mental ability to properly deploy those tricks.

What about Ronald Koeman? I don't know if we could attract him given Southampton outperforming us, but possibly given our squad and the promise of bigger spending-- He's done a good job at Southampton. Sean Dyche?

Would be nice if we were linked to a defender who could provide immediate cover as opposed to a bunch of youngsters. Need proper right back cover and a 4th centerback (Maybe Galloway is ready for the latter role?)

For me, it is definitely time to move on from Hibbert and Pienaar (as players, at least) and quite possibly Osman. They are all past it and have struggled to maintain fitness and also have been mediocre when given playing time. I'm probably the lone fan of Gibson on this board, but I recognize that injuries and other issues have prevented him from playing a role at this club and these issues show no promise of improving. McGeady is an obvious sell and an example of someone with a great bag of tricks whose mental abilities and decision making will prevent him from every being a success in the PL-- Think he'd do well in Spain or France and definitely a place like the MLS. Howard's time has passed-- He has been quite poor since coming back from WC2014 and appears to be set on a move to the MLS. Shame because he's had great seasons for us but also plenty of inconsistent ones, but lately he's been flat out poor. Always will remember him as a brilliant shotstopper who lacked a top level command of his box and prone to making a silly error. Leftback is an interesting one, if Garbutt is really the real deal and showing promise, then I really think it may be time to move on from Baines or Oviedo. Both have shown fitness issues and Baines is probably going to be on the decline for the remainder of his career. With that being said, Baines is a staple of this club and it would probably be difficult to move him on given his high wages and the fact that he almost certainly wouldn't want to leave Merseyside. Oviedo has shown promise, but his fitness has been so bad and he is at a point in his career where he would probably welcome the opportunity to move to a lesser club if it meant being the clear #1 leftback. To add to the leftback confusion, I don't know if Galloway is being groomed as a leftback or centerback but he shows promise. Kone- really not sure about this one. He works well with Rom and has shown good moments as a squad player, but will obviously be someone who declines in ability and it would be nice to clear room to bring in another younger striker with potential. Mirallas- Example of a great player that doesn't always have the right attitude. Funny that he's been touted for potential moves to big clubs, but as I see it, he performs much better when he is the big fish in the little pond or the clear star at the club. He's really not taken well to Barkley's rise, Deulofeu, Lennon and Cleverley's arrivals that have made him have to work much harder for playing time. Think it's time for both parties to end this marriage. It would be quite a hectic summer to move on from all these players, but so many of them play such small roles as it is, so it might not be as disruptive as one might think. We'll see what happens. Ratings to move on for me: Hibbert- 10/10 Pienaar- 10/10 McGeady- 10/10 Howard- 10/10 Gibson- 9/10 Oviedo- 8/10 Osman-8/10 Kone- 7/10 Baines- 5/10 Mirallas- 8/10

Wasn't aware of this. Just don't want someone whose ability tops out in non-league football ever between the sticks for us.

That's what I meant. I forgot who our emergency keeper would be. I wouldn't want Stanek or Griffiths anywhere near the first team unless they truly are showing promise of being half-decent keepers.

Can we finally sign an emergency third keeper this summer? Offer Richard Wright 4K/week. It seriously worries me that one of these years we will be forced to our third keeper due to injury or suspension and we will stick some 18 year old in the sticks whose best hopes are for a career in non-league football (Springthorpe)

We may have an increased budget, but the new investment won't even put us level with Spurs when it comes to financial power, I reckon. We need to continue to focus on finding 1. shrewd signings with a few years left in them (Barry) 2. young talent with potential to kick on and become real class and 3. Forgotten about/out of favor talent at the big clubs. Certainly we can find better versions of the above three categories given that our wage budget and transfer budget has likely increased, but even with more money we won't be a club that can blow $100m on transfers that don't pan out and work out the issues in a short matter of time.

I'll wait and see just how much actually gets done. Not to be a pessimist, but I definitely don't see us splashing out too much more than usual on player acquisitions and who knows how long the stadium deal will take to get done (and then built).

These things take time and are generally kept quiet. I wouldn't be concerned that no update has been given.

Zero chance we do that to the club captain who is still playing quite well and we have minimal depth at Centerhalf. On Adam Johnson: He was released from his contract... rightly so.

Both wanted to leave after a bid had been accepted by the club. You do realize that we literally can't force a player to leave, right? The club has to agree to a fee but then the player has to agree to terms with the bidding club for a deal to happen.

We can't force him to leave if he is under contract....

I could be wrong, but I don't take Jagielka for the type to leave us for a payday yet. I think he still has a few good years left him and wants to spend those playing at the highest level.

Probably will finance a significant portion of the acquisition with debt and then the equity (Cash) portion of the purchase will be split up amongst a consortium of investors.

Mixed feelings about this. Some football owners buy clubs as an investment while others do it as a hobby. This smells very much of the investment sort for me, so I really don't think we'll see much investment from this ownership group unless they believe it will directly improve their financial return on invesment.