The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - DEADLINE DAY 31st August 2021

[Russ1201]

I spammed your post because of the bandwagon gratuitous anti-Levy/Enic portion. However, I agreed with the rest of your post so didn't want to put a disagree. I thought about it and decided that what I considered to be rabble-rousing Levy/Enic nonsense was better served with a spam rating. Last night's anti-Levy hate-fest had pissed me off, and you weighed in with another bit, which I thought was unjustified, and had little to do with your intelligent point about Traore's value next year.
I would also mention that a week or so ago, I got a spam rating (not from you) for mentioning - on a thread dedicated to the British Heart Foundation - that I had had a stroke, and encouraging people to contribute to the Foundation! So I wouldn't fret too much about other people's views of your posts.
No serious hard feelings I hope.

Thanks for the explanation mate no hard feelings. I get so fed up with people spamming and WTF ratings for no particular reasons. I even see ITK''s get spammed and harsh ratings that i strongly disagree with. Wish the boss would remove the Spam and WTF rating but none of my business?
I think the anti levy fans just get so fed up with transfer side and sticking his nose into the footballing side to much. I don't hate Levy i appreciate his running of the day to day side and stadium etc just wish he left the football side to Fab.

 

[spanners]

Then Levy is a fool, probably thinks the Kane saga has strengthened him more than it really has.

He's on thin ice and is a few bad results away from a very discontented fanbase turning on him again.

Agree, plus the Kane saga is far from over, if he goes next summer than we have to find a replacement and over recent years we haven't been good at buying strikers. That's even if they want to come to us.

 

[Russ1201]

I spammed your post because of the bandwagon gratuitous anti-Levy/Enic portion. However, I agreed with the rest of your post so didn't want to put a disagree. I thought about it and decided that what I considered to be rabble-rousing Levy/Enic nonsense was better served with a spam rating. Last night's anti-Levy hate-fest had pissed me off, and you weighed in with another bit, which I thought was unjustified, and had little to do with your intelligent point about Traore's value next year.
I would also mention that a week or so ago, I got a spam rating (not from you) for mentioning - on a thread dedicated to the British Heart Foundation - that I had had a stroke, and encouraging people to contribute to the Foundation! So I wouldn't fret too much about other people's views of your posts.
No serious hard feelings I hope.

That's crazy that someone could spam you for that, some people i seriously think do these ratings for badness and get reactions mate.

 

[Trix]

Sorry that wasn't a dig, in fact last night when all was kicking off I said exactly that. Whenever info passes hands it's always embellished a little with each person's opinion but that's just human nature.

Anyway I hope you keep posting as I do love ITK and all the Twitter stuff as it's all part of the game for me. I never base whole opinions on what I hear as some do so when info changes even if it was accurate at the time I stay level headed with it all and emotions aren't as big an issue, again it has to be said unlike some on here.

I think you are quite level headed in general with your posts and neutral but I think when respected members start wielding the Levy axe it sparks a very nasty atmosphere in here. I was defending Levy which I never thought I'd do lol

No worries pal I know you weren't . Just happened yours was a post I could use to post a few points. It's all good

 

[mil1lion]

Aint too shabby View attachment 96147

I would have Sanchez or Romero as right centre back, Rodon or Dier left centre back. I think those are their best sides and the best combinations. Sess also gives us an attacking alternative at left back or further forward. My first choice 3 in midfield would be Skipp, Hojbjerg and Lo Celso. For me the only ball playing midfielders who make us play nicer are Lo Celso and Ndombele so I'm always happier when 1 of those 2 starts. Then you have Gil and Kane as creative forwards and the others are direct runners (although Gil is a good dribbler too).

It's close to the ideal team but Scarlett is more like Son than Kane, he will make runs behind. We will miss having a focal point if Kane is out, someone to drop for the ball and play with back to goal. We also lack the ball player in centre midfield if Lo Celso is out unless Ndombele can come good. This window was back to our usual form of leaving ourselves just short of what we need. We can still do well but need Nuno to squeeze the most out of the players like Poch did.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

My money would be on him holding out. He has the whip hand and everything Wolves did yesterday will have pissed him off.

Not only did they not sell him as he wanted, but Wolves completely bollocksed their transfer window to the extent that their manager, who was complaining that he needed more players in his squad because he only had 19, ended up with 18 because the Board loaned one out. Apparently, Jeff Shi, their Chairman, believed there would be plenty of bargains in Europe on the final day and had set his strategy accordingly, only to find that a) there weren't, b) those that were didn't want to come to Wolverhampton c) the one that did wouldn't be fit for several months and d) he didn't have any money anyway because Daniel refused to give him any.

Everyone associated with Wolves is deeply pissed off and Molineux Mix is calling him 'Jeff Shi with the silent T' at the moment.

Honestly, I think by the time we get to January, Wolves will be in the bottom three still. I appreciate this may be wishful thinking on my part because Kenny Hibbitt's a **** and I hate Wolves, but I do think they'll struggle and, come January, they'll have a depreciating asset and a desperate need to re-evaluate their squad options. That doesn't mean that Traore comes to us, or that we'll still want him, or that we'll pony up the cash if we do, but it does mean that there's absolutely no benefit in him committing himself to Wolves IMO.

Where’s the humour, Nine? You’re losing it for the sake of sensible posts

 

[M.I.B.]

Aint too shabby View attachment 96147

Docherty says hi.........

 

[WOTspur]

Docherty says hi.........

Never heard of him

 

[JerryGarcia]

So have we completely given up on signings? Aren't there usually some deals to be done for crap players without clubs after the window shuts? Maybe there's a hidden gem out there or failing that, a turd we could polish?

 

[Nocando]

Where’s the humour, Nine? You’re losing it for the sake of sensible posts

I read the entire post expecting a punchline at the end.

 

[Pebble Dash]

As much as I wanted Traore I’m with Levy on this one. His end product (stats) simply do not justify a £50m price tag especially when we’re in the middle of a pandemic and funds are tight. Yes he creates space and is a nightmare to play against but £50m for a player with 2 years left on his contract and coming off the back of a poor season isn’t worth £50m.

For me we’ve made some very astute signings and in addition to the appointment of Nuno we now find ourselves in a much stronger position than we would have hoped in May. Yes performances aren’t great but we’ve picked up 9/9 pts and have shown a much improved mentality. What’s important is that we now appear to be on an upward trajectory and long may it continue.

 

[Thenewcat]

That said I've not enjoyed this window at all. I think the tone towards those that pass bits on has been pretty poor throughout. I know it's a minority but I do feel the snide digs, the circumventing of the rules via clever wording in posts and how the emoji system has been abused to say things posters can't outright say has increased quite substantially. So I am fairly sure I'll be changing how I pass things on in the future because everything now is jumped upon as soon as it doesn't quite pan out in the readers mind.

No one can tell you how to feel, but your info is massively appreciated by the overwhelming majority on here. As I write this you have just passed 160,000 positive reactions with 295 negative. That should give you an idea of how your info is perceived. I’d love to see the mods deal with the consistent offenders but look forward to anything else you can share in future. Like others have said it’s fascinating and part of the game of transfer windows to feel like we have a window into what’s happening

 

[Thenewcat]

As much as I wanted Traore I’m with Levy on this one. His end product (stats) simply do not justify a £50m price tag especially when we’re in the middle of a pandemic and funds are tight. Yes he creates space and is a nightmare to play against but £50m for a player with 2 years left on his contract and coming off the back of a poor season isn’t worth £50m.

For me we’ve made some very astute signings and in addition to the appointment of Nuno we now find ourselves in a much stronger position than we would have hoped in May. Yes performances aren’t great but we’ve picked up 9/9 pts and have shown a much improved mentality. What’s important is that we now appear to be on an upward trajectory and long may it continue.

Not saying you’re wrong overall but now long Traore has left on his contract is irrelevant on judging his value to us. He’s either worth the price quoted or he isn’t

 

[EZSpur]

As much as I agree, if we got him and loaned him out to a championship side, he’d be classed as HG in a few years.

Very good point! I didn't think about that

 

[rossdapep]

The average age of our outgoings this summer was 29 years and 9 months. The average age of our incomings was 21 years and 9 months.

indicative this window is setting us on the right path…

(Credit to an anonymous source for that stat)

This is the positive take of the window. It doesn't set us up for righr now.

However, I was listening to Liverpool fans complaining about their window. At first I couldn't really understand it as they are in a good position. But once I started analysing their squad I noticed that Salah, Mane, VVD are soon to be 30, Firmino is 30, Milner is 35, Henderson 31 and they've lost Wijnaldum. Thiago has come in and hasn't been the success they thought, he's 30 as well. Oxlade-Chamberlain is getting on too and is injured a lot anyway.

It leaves them with Fabinho, Keita, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott. Keita hasn't done as well as they'd hoped, Curtis Jones has a long way to go and Elliott may be the next coming but its a risk.

Other than Jota and Konate, they haven't really brought in any younger players who can replace these names. Of course, they still have time but I must admit, I do think they ought to have brought in another young attacker and midfielder.

So I can kind of see why their fans are at least concerned. They clearly need more younger players as their current group is reaching the end of the cycle and they can't replace them all in one window. It'll take time.

So at least weve got that ball rolling. A few more next summer and we may have a squad built for the next few years.

 

[Hercules]

Alrighty, here we go.



Our DoF was given a budget, which he performed miracles, and kept well within. Basically near net-spend, without getting tied down on exact figures. If you take time to calculate our signings, they were basically ‘loans’ in essence. Yes! There are ‘Options/Obligations’. So not much spent.



Our DoF took on his role, as he was assured DL would not interfere once given his budget. The only time he would is if we were likely to exceed it. The financial department, and DL would sign off.



I said privately our DoF requested the help of Mendez on certain deals , more to assist the selling club, but also us. And I will not divulge beyond that. Around three weeks ago we started to make moves for Traoré, but for this to happen Mendez had to get a ‘mandate’ to assist. This was known privately, even before the media got wind of it.



The player himself made it known to Wolves, he wanted to join us. Liverpool were interested, but knocked back. We offered a derisory sum to Wolves. This at the interference of DL, who did not like the sound of ‘cash’ in any form, though spread out over term of his contract. He then suggested we do ‘Loan with option’ and insulting offer. He then offered ‘obligation’ but same offer. The initial down payment was a joke.



His view was ‘Traoré has around just under two years left’ and feel it was bad business to offer what Wolves wanted. Traoré told Wolves he would not be signing a new contract. Tuesday agreement was reached we would as good as meet their valuation, based upon realistic incentives, which was relayed they would accept. A meeting was held by DL and those involved, and he was not happy to sanction such an outlay. And argued on Stevie, Lucas, Gil, Lucas as ‘just as good’ and better. And we should use them in the mid-term.



There is/was money for a ‘special purchase’ and was being saved for the striker department. Nuno viewed Traoré as the ideal player to fulfil various roles, and create space etc, for our ‘capabilities to create goal scoring opportunities for players like Dele, Kane, Lucas, Gil, Son, GLC’

It was viewed that we need to cover this area, seeing we failed to bring in a striker, even on loan. We also tried for Neves lol.



I will be surprised if Paratici is here at the end of his contract, and already clubs over here looking at him. If you really believe Nuno will work under these conditions beyond his remit (2 years) we are wrong. Same reasons why he left Wolves



My conclusion is Mr Daniel Levy cannot let go, cannot grip himself. And Paratici is no glove puppet. For all of us very long-suffering supporters, I feel for us, because our club is a drug in our veins. COYS

 

[Jody]

Thanks @Hercules . Depressing and informative in equal measures!

 

[Mannnos]

Alrighty, here we go.



Our DoF was given a budget, which he performed miracles, and kept well within. Basically near net-spend, without getting tied down on exact figures. If you take time to calculate our signings, they were basically ‘loans’ in essence. Yes! There are ‘Options/Obligations’. So not much spent.



Our DoF took on his role, as he was assured DL would not interfere once given his budget. The only time he would is if we were likely to exceed it. The financial department, and DL would sign off.



I said privately our DoF requested the help of Mendez on certain deals , more to assist the selling club, but also us. And I will not divulge beyond that. Around three weeks ago we started to make moves for Traoré, but for this to happen Mendez had to get a ‘mandate’ to assist. This was known privately, even before the media got wind of it.



The player himself made it known to Wolves, he wanted to join us. Liverpool were interested, but knocked back. We offered a derisory sum to Wolves. This at the interference of DL, who did not like tge sound of ‘cash’ in any form, though spread out over term of his contract. He then suggested we do ‘Loan with option’ and insulting offer. He then offered ‘obligation’ but same offer. The initial down payment was a joke.



His view was ‘Traoré has around just under two years left’ and feel it was bad business to offer what Wolves wanted. Traoré told Wolves he would not be signing a new contract. Tuesday agreement was reached we would as good as meet their valuation, based upon realistic incentives, which was relayed they would accept. A meeting was held by DL and those involved, and he was not happy to sanction such an outlay. And argued on Stevie, Lucas, Gil, Lucas as ‘just as good’ and better. And we should use them in the mid-term.



Their is/was money for a ‘special purchase’ and was being saved for the striker department. Nuno viewed Traoré as the ideal player to fulfil various roles, and create space etc, for our ‘capabilities to create goal scoring opportunities for players like Dele, Kane, Lucas, Gil, Son, GLC’

It was viewed that we need to cover this area, seeing we failed to bring in a striker, even on loan. We also tried for Neves lol.



I will be surprised if Paratici is here at the end of his contract, and already clubs over here looking at him. If you really believe Nuno will work under these conditions beyond his remit (2 years) we are wrong. Same reasons why he left Wolves



My conclusion is Mr Daniel Levy cannot let go, cannot grip himself. And Paratici is no glove puppet. For all of us very long-suffering supporters, I feel for us, because our club is a drug in our veins. COYS

Levy is the embodiment of the Meme, but we have "..." at home. I love what levy has done for this club, it would not be close to where it is today without him, but fk me can he also stifle it. He is like a drug addict with his money, he can not give it up to save himself, he finally moved onto 2015 prices last year and by the time we spend todays prices it will be 2025. It is sad to read because he really has done a fantastic job.

What is that saying about levy, he would ask for the world in payment, you would offer it and then he would ask for the moon on top of that. The question is how do we progress with him and how do we progress without him?

 

[IamSpurtacus]

Thanks for the update Herc

It's so disheartening, but a leopard doesn't change it's spots

As long as Levy is in charge, we will never make that final step to challenge seriously because he doesn't have the mindset to build a team or squad with that capability.

 

[Amo]

As much as I wanted Traore I’m with Levy on this one. His end product (stats) simply do not justify a £50m price tag especially when we’re in the middle of a pandemic and funds are tight. Yes he creates space and is a nightmare to play against but £50m for a player with 2 years left on his contract and coming off the back of a poor season isn’t worth £50m.

For me we’ve made some very astute signings and in addition to the appointment of Nuno we now find ourselves in a much stronger position than we would have hoped in May. Yes performances aren’t great but we’ve picked up 9/9 pts and have shown a much improved mentality. What’s important is that we now appear to be on an upward trajectory and long may it continue.

I agree would Levy on this one too but still think he shouldn't interfere.

Which player did you think we did well on this window? If Levy vetoed that deal what would your response be to those agreeing with Levy on it?

It's besides the point.