"We've momentum and we can't afford to lose it tbh"- The '13-'14 summer transfer window thread for PL and beyond

Confirmed? Good deal for lfc if so, he's no 1/4 bale

Liverpool have accepted, no comment from Carroll as yet

Read an article somewhere about how Chelsea couldn't afford to sell Torres because of FFP and what his worth still was, that what they could realistically get for him would put them close to breaching the £25M loss in 3 years condition. The sums from there reckon Carroll is still valued at £21M (£35M contract over 7 years, 4 1/2 remaining, straight depreciation) so a £6M loss on top of the £8M announced for last year doesn't make good FFP reading. Maybe that explains Kolo Toure?

£15m's good, we can use £15m - so long as its not on Ashley Williams, Kolo Toure's wages, or rescuing Deuce from his WHL hell

Thing about Charlton under Curbishley is that they were very rarely genuinely relegation threatened, they tended to go storming away at the start of the season and then slip into midtable in the spring. That's very different from what Pulis did with Stoke - although actually Stoke were virtually impossible to beat for the first third of the season and then completely useless after that.

It's all very well sacking the manager after successive midtable seasons but you've got to have a clue what you're going to do afterwards. Pretty obvious that Pulis didn't have a clue how to take Stoke to the next level - even Mark Hughes managed better at gradually finessing a team of lumpen thugs when he was at Blackburn.

Pulis did pretty well at keeping Stoke up but every time a club like Stoke is overhauled by a Swansea or even a West Brom that achievement looks less impressive.

to west ham, ik (in case you hadn't heard!)

me thinks it's a job for rafa

you know how with food (and prob many other things) they say: cheap, healthy or delicious, you can only have two out of three. For Stoke, I bet Pulis would have been ok if he had two out of three out of: thrifty, attractive or effective, but this year he was 0 for 3, so pretty abominable.

rtc, you're not looking at this the right way. A succession of midtable finishes it may have been, but it was punctuated with glorious defeats of apparently superior teams and some fairly decent football along the way. Only a tiny minority wanted to 'push for Europe' - most of us were very happy just being there, trying to mix it with the big boys, taking our small share of glory. Football support is not something best served terminal - you shouldn't follow a team aiming for continual success and domination - that way madness lies (and heaven knows there are enough mad cunts with a sense of entitlement following football). You support a team because it represents you or your area, and you cheer it on regardless, hoping to win each game, hoping for incremental stylistic developments, but accepting that sometimes their village will defeat yours. In that context, a sustained run of unthreatened Premiership seasons was heaven for us, and I'm sure a sustained run in a grotesquely-inflated Championship (English football IS where the money is) will make us just as happy. Well, until the minority of cunts begin their moaning about how we're not getting promoted. The ones who forget that literally every single Championship club other than the three promoted from League One has extensive Premiership experience, or at least a chance at raising the funds or the team to get there.

every time a club like Stoke is overhauled by a Swansea or even a West Brom that achievement looks less impressive

West Brom picked up only two more points than Stoke in the second half of the season, and one of those was in a lol 5-5 draw. Stoke are 4-6 points from being as "successful" as West Brom or Swansea. Middle to bottom of the league is ridiculously tight and it's been a poor season for them but I think his record since taking over (currently 20 league positions above their 2006 finish) should have been enough to earn another season.

Not everyone can go to whatever the next level is. Stoke may well get in a manager who takes then from 11th-14th up to 8th-11th but I don't think there's any realistic chance of them joining Everton or Spurs and threatening European places - they're just as likely to fuck up the appointment and end up fighting relegation again.

Swansea have won a trophy and West Brom have been in the top half virtually (possibly entirely) all season, and Swansea at least look they can improve next year. I know it's tight in the bottom half of the table but neither of the aforementioned sides seriously looked like getting relegated at any point, and Stoke did. Also, both of them played entertaining football, and Stoke didn't.

they're just as likely to fuck up the appointment and end up fighting relegation again

Totally.

In fact they're very likely to go down.

"Not everyone can go to whatever the next level is. Stoke may well get in a manager who takes then from 11th-14th up to 8th-11th but I don't think there's any realistic chance of them joining Everton or Spurs and threatening European places - they're just as likely to fuck up the appointment and end up fighting relegation again."

But we just come back round to the same argument about pragmatism/sustainability vs romance and imagination. Surely not having a realistic chance of finishing any higher in the league can't actually be an admissible reason to not even try and play with a bit more endeavour and ambition and joy in your game? I'm talking from the fan's perspective here of course, unfortunately too many boards are only after the result.

This season Villa picked up only 3 more points than they did under Eck, but there's been all the difference in the world between the two campaigns. The lows of this season were excruciating from a results perspective (15 for 3 against Chelsea, Spurs and Wigan, going out to Bradford and so on), worse than anything that happened in McLeish's tenure. But it's all forgivable because ethos behind it was that we were going to do our damndest to try and play football, even when that might not have been the most obvious or sensible course at the time.

I agree with NV and whoever else upthread that were arguing for the journey as opposed to the destination. Idk, I think Pulis had ample opportunity to start buying more interesting or creative players and showing a little bit of intent to change things up, but nope, it was Adam/Kightly/Cameron/Nzonzi and here we go again.

it's not like it was a sacking tbf to stoke. he prob was as bored as they were. better leave with dignity than do shit next year.

I think Pulis bought a few players he could have expected more from and for the last season and a half he hasn't got the best from his squad (I predicted them to go down). Maybe LG's right and he agreed it was the end of the road.

arguing for the journey as opposed to the destination

I'm sure their fans loved going months at a time without losing a home game. I'm sure they also took some pleasure in football purists telling them they were doing it wrong.

they're from Stoke, entertainment options are pretty fucking limited

"it's not like it was a sacking tbf to stoke. he prob was as bored as they were. better leave with dignity than do shit next year."

Yeah tbf I was making some fairly sweeping assertions in that post given that we don't even know who's coming in yet.

And onimo, I'm sure you're right about their fans being happy enough when things were going their way. Maybe I'm being unrealistic? Idk, 6-1 against Sunderland for Villa was more enjoyable and satisfying than any result I can remember from the O'Neill tenure at Villa

Caroll back to Liverpool loooool

some fans are happy with results over performance, maybe the majority, but if that's all you aspire to then you get what you deserve imo. i don't think it's really purism to prefer to watch your team outplay the opposition rather than just neutralize them.

i cant see Carroll back in liverpool tbh

good posts both from windsor and onimo

but

Stoke are 4-6 points from being as "successful" as West Brom or Swansea.

is a bit disingenuous. 4-6 points is fucking massive, very often the difference between a terrible/fine or good/great season. almost always the difference tbh.

and while i dont doubt that stoke will never trouble the top 7, there are ways to not trouble the top 7. even for stoke fans. i dont think you need necessarily to play like swansea or whoever is this year's bright light surprise (mostly those guys get fucked out in year two i would think) but when you spend a lot of money and get worse that's when you've hung yourself. i doubt this was anything more than a resources/return decision tbph.

wonder where pulis will go now then

Wolves

rugby league

i can promise you, tho i'm sure it's not gonna happen, i will not pay one second's attention to any team with that fucking twat in charge

Pulis in as special guest ref for a no-holds-barred tag match of Keano, Chiles and Southgate vs Lawro and the Two Alans. Losers have to take it in turns doing Lineker's back, sack and crack every week for all eternity.

4-6 points is fucking massive, very often the difference between a terrible/fine or good/great season. almost always the difference tbh.

It depends on the season and where you are in the league - obviously it would have made a big difference this season when we had half a dozen teams within a week of being relegated or finishing mid-table. Stoke finished 13th with 42 points, last season they were 14th with 45 but weren't really flirting with relegation.

46 points got them 13th two years ago, this season that gets you 9th place and people talking you up for bigger jobs.

And not just any bigger jobs, Real Madrid ffs! I mean obviously it's Michael Laudrup and everything so it's a whole different kettle of boiling water, but my god, just imagine... One of history's great unanswered questions: who would Tony Pulis have bought if he was managing Real Madrid with their budget in 2010? Lawrence Dallaglio? Geoff Capes? It would have been a sight of terror and wonder, and no mistake.

Carl Froch at defensive mid

would appresh nominations for a team of bigs and brutals that has skill and/or european rep

obv pepe wd be retained. made captain, even

De jong

Witsel

Ivanovic

Fellaini prob

I suppose Yaya and Didier are like the platonic ideal of that form of bigness and skill, but I can't help but think that Pulis would have wanted to throw his chequebook at POJT and TWP if he had the necessary denarii.

Benteke tbfttl

Dembele at CAM

Belgium are actually dead good at this. Benteke, Lukaku, Dembele, Fellaini, Witsel, Kompany, Vertonghen and Vermaelen. How you gonna deal with that at corners ffs

Sorry, I'm aware that that's drifting somewhat away from the original intention of finding big lads with continental cred and a good set of feet. Lukaku ffs

Dont know about the last few, not rly 'bigs' theyre just big

Rooney and terry otmfm tho

Matic

Shawx and huth travel with him tbf

Yeah but once you've marked up Benteke, Fellaini and Kompany who does that leave to deal with the others? Pulis for Belgium manager at Brasil 2014 tbh

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/sports/soccer/a-guide-to-attending-a-premier-league-game.html

that article contains the odd factual inaccuracy ime

I love that

Fantastic

Bovril, a hot beef-flavored bouillon masquerading as soup

as good a description of liquid beef as I've seen

Pulis would have bought Edin Dzeko and everyone called Diarra.