Knapper’s thoughts on Aboh and SVH

[Soldier on 160]

Would love to know what he is thinking. He thinned out the squad so these guys could be involved surely not repeatedly ignored ?

[repman 635]

I think this scene from Moneyball (and the rest of the movie) probably sums up what it's like at Colney between the two right now.

[Nuff Said 5,153]

I’d love to know the Euromillions numbers for Friday but I don’t start threads implying I know them! 😉

[cambridgeshire canary 6,756]

Aboh wants to leave. HugeDonk was a last minute panic signing.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,169]

My guess is that really it's all a lot more prosaic.

We pushed the boat out on wages (not transfer fees) at the beginning of the season.

At the last  minute we then had to incur further unbudgeted wages when Sarge got injured at Huddersfield and we brought in Hwang to cover the gap.

By trimming the squad in January - letting Forshaw, Placheta and Hwang leave - Knapper was trying to balance the books and avoid having to sell Rowe, Sarge or Sara in January.

Knapper had the perfect opportunity to get rid of Wagner in November, but didn't do it. 

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,333]

2 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Aboh wants to leave. HugeDonk was a last minute panic signing.

Maybe if we give him the minutes he wants then he'd change his mind 🤔 

 

Clearly Sydney isn't well thought of though, although she's very good and thwarting ghostface. 

[Thirsty Lizard 3,169]

1 minute ago, GodlyOtsemobor said:

Maybe if we give him the minutes he wants then he'd change his mind 🤔 

 

Clearly Sydney isn't well thought of though, although she's very good and thwarting ghostface. 

Great idea - we let the players pick the team and not Wagner.

Probably destined to fail given that we've got a squad of 25 players and only 11 places on the pitch. 

[Google Bot 3,298]

3 minutes ago, GodlyOtsemobor said:

Maybe if we give him the minutes he wants then he'd change his mind 🤔 

It'd just put him further in the shop window, too.  And he's not even our product to sell is the worse aspect.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,169]

3 minutes ago, GodlyOtsemobor said:

Maybe if we paid him more than Chelsea are offering him he'd change his mind 🤔 

 

Clearly Sydney isn't well thought of though, although she's very good and thwarting ghostface. 

Think this is a lot nearer to the reality. 

[repman 635]

17 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

My guess is that really it's all a lot more prosaic.

We pushed the boat out on wages (not transfer fees) at the beginning of the season.

At the last  minute we then had to incur further unbudgeted wages when Sarge got injured at Huddersfield and we brought in Hwang to cover the gap.

By trimming the squad in January - letting Forshaw, Placheta and Hwang leave - Knapper was trying to balance the books and avoid having to sell Rowe, Sarge or Sara in January.

Knapper had the perfect opportunity to get rid of Wagner in November, but didn't do it. 

Yeah I think your point about wages is true, I'm not sure there was going to be a need to ever sell in January but instead the trimming was done in the hope of getting younger players into the side to prepare for next season. I'd imagine that Knapper has seen the budget for next year (possibly a lot less than right now due to loss of parachute payments) and realised the problems in the squad. We have 4 or 5 players who are 30+ and on contracts that extend beyond the end of this season. Those deals won't be cheap and perhaps more importantly there going to be very hard to get out of. We do have some younger players who we could sell, the issue there is that if they go the money that comes in will presumably be used to cover losses instead of investing straight back into the team. Hence the need to re-open the talent pipeline as soon as possible.

 

[hogesar 9,709]

I think quite simply Knapper wasn't willing to put his b*lls on the line that we could make the playoffs, whilst the players and management believed otherwise.

Unless he genuinely thought SvH looked like a useful addition to a promotion chasing side, in which case we may have a recruitment problem this summer.

[Ulfotto 640]

The joke is that one play off match at Carrow Road would gross over a million quid enough to secure a loan signing or two.

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

1 hour ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

My guess is that really it's all a lot more prosaic.

We pushed the boat out on wages (not transfer fees) at the beginning of the season.

At the last  minute we then had to incur further unbudgeted wages when Sarge got injured at Huddersfield and we brought in Hwang to cover the gap.

By trimming the squad in January - letting Forshaw, Placheta and Hwang leave - Knapper was trying to balance the books and avoid having to sell Rowe, Sarge or Sara in January.

Knapper had the perfect opportunity to get rid of Wagner in November, but didn't do it. 

This strikes me as pretty close to reality. I also think that Knapper will be delighted at being able to hold onto his 'lightning rod' in Wagner until the end of the season; yes, he could have sacked him in November, but then his new man would've had to hit the ground running and get us marching up the table, despite the evident lack of funds to spend in January.

This suits all parties; we most likely get an unexpected crack at the playoffs, Wagner gets an honourable discharge at the end of the season, and Knapper gets a few more months to tinker in the background, instil his ways of working and identify playing and coaching targets for the summer.

Of course we 'want' promotion if it lands in our lap, but holding onto Wagner in the PL would seem as unwise as sacking him would seem harsh. A clean slate for a new head coach in a weaker Championship next season isn't such a bad proposition; I doubt Luton or Sheffield United would be troubling the top two, although Kompany could well 'do a Farke' with Burnley.

[NewNestCarrow 202]

38 minutes ago, Ulfotto said:

The joke is that one play off match at Carrow Road would gross over a million quid enough to secure a loan signing or two.

As ticketing income last season averaged out at just £15 per-fan per-match, your £1m figure would require some horrific price increases

[Google Bot 3,298]

9 minutes ago, Feedthewolf said:

A clean slate for a new head coach in a weaker Championship next season isn't such a bad proposition; I doubt Luton or Sheffield United would be troubling the top two, although Kompany could well 'do a Farke' with Burnley.

It's a certainty that one of Leeds, Saints, Leicester or Ipswich are still in the league next season, though.  WBA could increase that to two if they made promotion.

A mix of Leeds, Southampton and Burnley in this league next season would make it incredibly hard due to their ability to dominate games.  Not to mention the risk that Everton or Forest could be falling down if it's not Luton.

What's puzzling is not knowing Knapper's preferred system and profile of player, I presume it's based on the Arsenal way and thus would seek to bring in more technically gifted players.  Question is, where's he going to get them from, and who will he task with coaching them?

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

21 minutes ago, Google Bot said:

It's a certainty that one of Leeds, Saints, Leicester or Ipswich are still in the league next season, though.  WBA could increase that to two if they made promotion.

A mix of Leeds, Southampton and Burnley in this league next season would make it incredibly hard due to their ability to dominate games.  Not to mention the risk that Everton or Forest could be falling down if it's not Luton.

What's puzzling is not knowing Knapper's preferred system and profile of player, I presume it's based on the Arsenal way and thus would seek to bring in more technically gifted players.  Question is, where's he going to get them from, and who will he task with coaching them?

If Ipswich don't go up then I doubt they'll be challenging for the top two next season, unless they can somehow keep hold of McKenna. A lot is resting on Knapper's recruitment and choice of head coach, that's for sure.

[Indy 3,307]

3 hours ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

Knapper had the perfect opportunity to get rid of Wagner in November, but didn't do it. 

Wasn’t there a rumour doing the rounds and in the press that Cuesta is in his sights but won’t leave Arsenal till the summer?

[Bomber 48]

1 hour ago, NewNestCarrow said:

As ticketing income last season averaged out at just £15 per-fan per-match, your £1m figure would require some horrific price increases

TV money plus yes probably a hike in tickets 

[Thirsty Lizard 3,169]

1 hour ago, Indy said:

Wasn’t there a rumour doing the rounds and in the press that Cuesta is in his sights but won’t leave Arsenal till the summer?

Sure, yes there was. We'll find out in time if there was anything in it.

It could be that Knapper knows Cuesta from his time at Arsenal - likes him - and will bring him in in the summer.

It could also be that Cuesta and his agent were looking to get him a pay rise from Arsenal and deliberately put the story out there to put pressure on the Arsenal board, knowing that it would have a ring of truth about it because Knapper had been at Arsenal before he came to us.

Who knows?

[Ulfotto 640]

3 hours ago, NewNestCarrow said:

As ticketing income last season averaged out at just £15 per-fan per-match, your £1m figure would require some horrific price increases

Really only £15 natively I thought 27000 paying a average of £30 plus the tv bonus plus money made on drinks and food.

How do I get casual tickets at £15!!

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,289]

Does anyone actually know Wagners thoughts - has he been asked the question directly RE SVH??

[NewNestCarrow 202]

59 minutes ago, Ulfotto said:

Really only £15 natively I thought 27000 paying a average of £30 plus the tv bonus plus money made on drinks and food.

How do I get casual tickets at £15!!

Be under-17.

EFL are not obliged to pay any TV fee for PO Semi-Finals.

 

[Capt. Pants 4,263]

5 hours ago, Ulfotto said:

The joke is that one play off match at Carrow Road would gross over a million quid enough to secure a loan signing or two.

The FA Cup tie at Liverpool would have earned a fair old chunk as well, and the club wouldn't have factored that in at the beginning of the season.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,565]

7 hours ago, hogesar said:

I think quite simply Knapper wasn't willing to put his b*lls on the line that we could make the playoffs, whilst the players and management believed otherwise.

I don't think many fans would have dreamt we'd have been in the running for playoffs either. Me included.

Also, Knapper wouldn't have just been putting his balls on the line, but he'd be putting the club's financial security at greater risk.

 

[Soldier on 160]

Getting back on point sure there is a budgetary factor in the decision made to trim the squad. However knapper was big on making a pathway for younger players. I am certain that he will be at the very least irritated by Wagner’s refusal to use these two more than he has. It’s almost like he’s trying to prove a point which ultimately won’t end well for Wagner.

[Harry53 209]

18 hours ago, Ulfotto said:

The joke is that one play off match at Carrow Road would gross over a million quid enough to secure a loan signing or two.

Really that much? Where does the money come from...I never knew being in the play offs could be lucrative 

[king canary 7,643]

12 hours ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

I don't think many fans would have dreamt we'd have been in the running for playoffs either. Me included.

Also, Knapper wouldn't have just been putting his balls on the line, but he'd be putting the club's financial security at greater risk.

 

Hmm not sure about this.

I personally didn't think we were going to be in the play off running back in December but after we beat West Brom on January 20th we were two points off the top 6 with 18 games to go.

Also I don't think @hogesar is advocating that we should have gone out and splurged millions on a new player- a better loanee that SVH and maybe another loanee aren't going to bankrupt us.

Saying that...it is kind of funny to me that we've now got @hogesar advocating for the SD to be willing to take short term financial risks...

[canarycop 206]

If Wagner said that he warned about the squad being too thin is he now not preparing us to fail ? Surely if BK had said that he wants more youth involved and wagner is ignoring them as well as SVH then he is inviting dismissal whatever way this season pans out. BK may well be using this period to suss out Wagners policy on using younger players and he is failing miserably on that front. The other night was a casing point. Aboh or SVH on for Sarge would have been what 99 % of managers would have done but for his own stubbornness Wagner didn't. Could have kept Barnes at 10 and let either put themselves about but he didn’t 

[S_81 816]

39 minutes ago, canarycop said:

If Wagner said that he warned about the squad being too thin is he now not preparing us to fail ? Surely if BK had said that he wants more youth involved and wagner is ignoring them as well as SVH then he is inviting dismissal whatever way this season pans out. BK may well be using this period to suss out Wagners policy on using younger players and he is failing miserably on that front. The other night was a casing point. Aboh or SVH on for Sarge would have been what 99 % of managers would have done but for his own stubbornness Wagner didn't. Could have kept Barnes at 10 and let either put themselves about but he didn’t 

Agreed. A knackered Barnes as a 9 simply cannot be a better alternative in a game we are 2.0 up in than putting on Aboh or SVH. Nor do I believe Gibbs a better alternative.  Wagner is clearly making a point, for reasons unknown. 

[ridgeman 132]

1 hour ago, canarycop said:

If Wagner said that he warned about the squad being too thin is he now not preparing us to fail ? Surely if BK had said that he wants more youth involved and wagner is ignoring them as well as SVH then he is inviting dismissal whatever way this season pans out. BK may well be using this period to suss out Wagners policy on using younger players and he is failing miserably on that front. The other night was a casing point. Aboh or SVH on for Sarge would have been what 99 % of managers would have done but for his own stubbornness Wagner didn't. Could have kept Barnes at 10 and let either put themselves about but he didn’t 

We don’t know what Knappers brief was when he was appointed, was it to trim wages, was it to promote youth, was it to keep Wagner. Knapper must have a clearer picture of what he has to do now and let’s hope it is for the better he has already said his football will be played on the front foot but that’s not always the case with Wagner. Here’s hoping.