[Salopbaggie]

Am I asleep and having a nightmare, we sell Fellows to a rival, for an amount that 'COULD' rise to £10million, so how much is it now, what muppet agreed a sale of anything less than £15+ million? Then we sell our only established full back on either side of the pitch to another league team, all seems nightmarish to me.

---

I’m guessing that the acquisition of Mepham will mean the sale of Caleb Taylor.

Not so sure I would have thought he would be a replacement for Heggs, but who knows anything in this madness?

[4evaabaggie]

Am I asleep and having a nightmare, we sell Fellows to a rival, for an amount that 'COULD' rise to £10million, so how much is it now, what muppet agreed a sale of anything less than £15+ million? Then we sell our only established full back on either side of the pitch to another league team, all seems nightmarish to me.

---

I’m guessing that the acquisition of Mepham will mean the sale of Caleb Taylor.

Not so sure I would have thought he would be a replacement for Heggs, but who knows anything in this madness?

Just read on news now, Caleb Taylor has a medical booked at millwall ahead of a permanent transfer. Did not read on to see what sort of a fee …. WTF.
I thought our squad was already paper thin, we need to strengthen and with just the weekend to make deals …. WTF.

This is Albion always making things difficult for themselves.

Disappointed about fellows to a poor Saints and for peanuts, a future England great. How come Saints sell their academy player for £35 million but we let Tom go for so little.

[BaggieSteve]

Am I asleep and having a nightmare, we sell Fellows to a rival, for an amount that 'COULD' rise to £10million, so how much is it now, what muppet agreed a sale of anything less than £15+ million? Then we sell our only established full back on either side of the pitch to another league team, all seems nightmarish to me.

---

I’m guessing that the acquisition of Mepham will mean the sale of Caleb Taylor.

Not so sure I would have thought he would be a replacement for Heggs, but who knows anything in this madness?

Just read on news now, Caleb Taylor has a medical booked at millwall ahead of a permanent transfer. Did not read on to see what sort of a fee …. WTF.
I thought our squad was already paper thin, we need to strengthen and with just the weekend to make deals …. WTF.

This is Albion always making things difficult for themselves.

Disappointed about fellows to a poor Saints and for peanuts, a future England great. How come Saints sell their academy player for £35 million but we let Tom go for so little.

£40 million for Dibling and £40 million for Fernandes! How come Finn Azaz costs them £12 million but we sell Fellows for a fee that “could rise to £10 million”. I think a statement from the club is essential if they don’t want a riot

[Stairs]

It’s all weird but I’ve said it on here before about Fellows. I do think he has peaked and his style of play is predictable. I’d expect us to be able to stop him having an impact against us based on what we know and so maybe this was the time to sell.

After-all, his contract expire end of season and he and his agent might have been giving us warning signs?

Furlong is good business and if we can get shit if Taylor and Cole then I am happy with the outgoings SO LONG as we are about to make new signings (loans or other).

Bilkul have done us proud so far and I know that these sales will help with PSR and I, for once, have confidence that there is a plan in place.

The plan might be longer term I.e. beyond this season. But even so, I feel confident of the future, at last.

[Baggievicar]

If all this is true, do we fancy Fellows running at Styles later in the season?

[4evaabaggie]

Stairs, I believe we have a plan, I believe our future is brighter, I trust in the owners, the manager and the training staff to know what they’re doing. The thing that puzzles me is how come other teams get bigger transfer fees for their less talented players and why are we letting players go when their replacements aren’t here. We work behind closed doors a lot of the time, I hope deals are done and just need topping and tailing as we need a quality squad and not just the first eleven or fifteen but a squad with quality in depth.
The plan maybe for next year but each year the financial gap gets wider.

[Slick_Footwork]

I'm happy with the Chris Mepham deal. £1.5m seems like a good deal for a player who cost Bournemouth £12m and has almost 50 international caps at 27.

As far as the outgoings go, I think £4m for Darnell Furlong is excellent business. I think he improved tremendously under Carlos Corberan and became a "steady" performer, but that's as far as it goes really. I'll never knock him for his effort or commitment to the club as he's always tried and has a great injury record, However, the reality is, the lad has never really been able to play. At 29, it seems like good business.

But he will need replacing and pronto. Yes, Williams looked good against a second string Derby side in the cup, but we need a senior option. I'm not sure who will play at Stoke.

I assume Caleb Taylor will go for more money than we're paying for Mepham. Only time will tell if this is a good decision, but for the here and now, it seems to make sense.

As for Fellows, I think we missed our chance to get more money for him in January. We took a gamble and it didn't pay off. Unfortunately, since then, his performances have tailed off and so has any Premier League interest by the looks of things. I'll probably get slated for this, but I can't say I'm surprised. Personally, I don't really see a Premier League player there. He's very good one-on-one with the full back, but he lacks variation and creativity. Also never really looks much of a goal threat, even at this level.

Nonetheless, I would've liked to have kept him. But I don't think he'll be as big of a miss as we might think, especially as we have others who can play there.

If we use some of that money to buy a creator who can pick a pass, it could have more overall impact on the team / style of play IMO.

Ultimately we're having to do lot of wheeling and dealing to balance the books, but we seem to be doing okay. Paying a million here and there for experience like Bielik and Mepham seems like decent business. Being honest, I don't see the squad that we started the season with being good enough to mount a playoff push, so I'm happy to see some lads go and us return to a financially stable base to push in the future.

Would be nice to see a goalkeeper, Furlong replacement, left back and creator come in before the window closes. Who knows, if we get a couple of gems in, we could even be a stronger side than what started the season.

[harrogatebaggie]

I can understand Furlong at 4million, as long as we have a replacement lined up. I can even understand Caleb, if he thinks he can get regular football elsewhere anyone know the fee there. 

However what grates with me, is Fellows, never sell to a close rival, unless they come up with an offer that is too good to turn down, which would be £18 million in my mind. I woul d rather have kept him, and I think we could get at least 15 million after another good 5 months, to a premier league side in January. 

Think Mepham is a steal if we got him for anything close to the £1M being touted around. 

Having said all that I still believe in the current owners, who are wheeling and dealing to get us through this difficult financial mess they inherited.

Onwards and upwards if only steadily.

Slick you must have been typing at the same time as me. Similar conclusions. ?

[Blue Baggie]

£10 million for an academy lad, good business.
Fellows arguably was worth more, but we don't know details of any sell on clauses in his contract. Fingers crossed a direct replacement has already been picked. £3.5 for Furlong is a reasonable fee we already have replacement in place (£1.5m)
Could be smart business by the new owners only time will tell.

[drewks]

It's very interesting to read the different takes on all this.
Personally, I feel that STABILITY is the the absolute key for us as a club at the moment. As others have said, it may mean we have another year or two where balancing the books will lead to mid table 'mediocrity', but I applaud our new owners and RM for their commitment and medium /long term vision - hopefully then we will still HAVE a club that is full of character, purpose, and able to challenge to be where we all think we belong.