Summer Transfer Window 2015

Well whatever you want to call our deepest midfielder... they can all play there.

I've also been fighting for Parker for a couple seasons now. I think the stick he gets is ridiculous. He's neither poor defensively nor a poor passer, especially at this level. Sure he's getting older, and fitness is definitely an issue, but I think this squad is far better with him in it. Can he play every week? No. And that was his downfall last season. I don't doubt the stat you mention, but there are a lot of factors that go into that. How many games did he start on the road? How many did he start during our awful run? People last season kept going on about the team's record with Ruiz, but he started mostly home games, so of course his record would be better.

 

O'Hara officially signed. http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/july/07/ohara-signs

Lots o' midfielders so far. Happy to see that, now something for the back line?

 

Adios, senor. He was never appreciated enough for his quality, and conversely, he never lived up to that price tag (unfair or not). For the handful of matches we were able to see him with Dembele and Dempsey, it was an attacking force for Fulham...but I used to walk twenty miles in the snow to get to school.

Best of luck to him. I wish I was off to Portugal about now.

 

Sounds like we should just agree to disagree. Our opinions are too far apart for me to think making a case is worthwhile.

 

Was thinking the same thing, reasonable people can disagree.

Ruiz is an extremely skilled player that just didn't gel with English football. In brief moments when he was given enough time and space to show that skill, he was brilliant. Best of luck to him.

 

I'm curious as to what sort of undisclosed fee we obtained for Bryan. Best of luck to him (just not in the Gold Cup).

 

That's not entirely true. Fulham (as well as every other club) release a financial statement for the season every year. I believe it comes out 8-12 mos after the end of the season. I don't believe transfer fees are itemized, but the total is there. I think the salaries are itemized. If not on that statement then on another release. But they are made public.

The rumors usually aren't that far off base anyway. Agents have big mouths.

 

In this case we do have access to some behind the scenes footage from Motspur Park and Fulham's crack team of negotiators (their code name for Bryan Ruiz is "The World" and "the warhead" is code for exercising their one year extension on his contract):

 

Not Fulham related, but Palace sign Cabaye, a Dutch international signs with Newcastle, and as the article states, the TV money is ungodly and will only continue to increase. The trickle down effect is Championship clubs will need to spend lavishly - just to have a shot at competing for promotion; while this has always been true, to an extent, the gulf b/w Prem $$$ and Champ $$$ (for all but a handful of clubs) is a marked distinction.

http://www.theguardian.com/football...cabaye-crystal-palace-premier-league-tv-money

 

Cabaye to Palace?!? I'd have been over the moon if Fulham could have pulled that off in any of our Prem years. I knew the timing of our drop was bad, but damn.

 

Just saw a rumor that Bournemouth are looking to acquire Scott Parker on a season long loan.

http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=405970

 

Please let just one of those rumors be true.

 

I fall between Matt and CC on Parker as a player, but would rather see him go for wage flexibility.

Naive part of me wishes we'd take some of that Roberts $$, target a couple of defenders and give an offer clubs couldn't refuse. The realistic person knows that we've done more than usual per the calendar and will probably have to wait for the last 48 hours of the window for the dominoes to fall. Here's to naivete winning out!

 

I'll light a candle to further the rumor. I'm fine with that move, but, only if there's a younger, hungrier replacement. All in all, Parker is a presence on the pitch given the intangibles

 

A handful of mostly unreliable reports say scum have made a new 2.5 million pound offer for Bettinelli. Give it up, Jose.

 

Step 1 in his nefarious plan to buy enough of our keepers to force us to play his kid.