[baggie82]

I'd say most if not all championship clubs would have yacob in their first 11. wrong decision to release him for me.

110% agree. Just shows that Darren Moore hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing.

[tuamigos]

110% agree. Just shows that Darren Moore hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing.

Maybe that decision was taken out of Moores hands.
Being a new bloke and feeling his feet perhaps he doesn't want to start waves just yet.
I'd would have kept Claudio myself, I always said a bit more pace to his game and he would have played higher up in the Premier League.

[colinmax]

I don't know how good Bobby Reid is but if we wanted him and Bristol City wanted £10M why didn't we pay it before Premiership Cardiff came in as in today's market that is peanuts for a player you have identified.
We missed out on Antoniou by letting W Ham nip in when he thought he was coming to the Albion.
Set your target and go for it as we are aBig Fish in the Championship and most players from the lower leagues would happily sign for us.

[baggiejohn]

More from Matt Wilson E & S

https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/west-bromwich-albion/2018/06/30/comment-west-broms-rebuild-is-on-shaky-ground-already/

What a mess.

[timdon]

At the minute, it feels like everyone wants to leave us and nobody wants to join us. There must be something going on behind the scenes that we dont know about surely.

[mulliganstired]

More from Matt Wilson E & S

https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/west-bromwich-albion/2018/06/30/comment-west-broms-rebuild-is-on-shaky-ground-already/

What a mess.

Over recent seasons, Bolton... Blackburn... Porstmouth... are we next in line?

[baggieboyfred]

can't believe the Yacob  scenario , perfect player for the championship in my view, as for the likes of Foster wanting to go when he has stated he was definitely staying just re-enforces the fact that you get no loyalty from players, my view already stated by others in earlier posts is that all players under contract should be told in no uncertain terms they start the season with the club, I take the point regarding keeping unhappy players , but we have to start with some sort of team , and also these players who aspire to return to premier league with other clubs need to know they are in the shop window and a bad attitude does not sit well with all clubs, obviously if we get an offer that financially to good to turn down then we have to take it, but the apparent lack of activity on the players coming in to the club is very disconcerting, still keep the faith

[Adder]

Totally disagree with this. Yacob has something you can't teach. A bit like a striker who is always in the right place at the right time. Yacob is in the Javier Mascherano mould. Rarely out of position and always in the right place to snuff out an attack. Field has an awful lot of learning to do to come close to Yac. Learning which I'm not sure is even possible.

I'm not saying Sam Field is the same type. I think the key point is do we want a player to do that very specific role that Yacob does (he does it well BUT his passing and movement is very limited and it tends to mean we drop deep). If we play 4-4-2 (strong chance of 4-4-2 under DM) with Yacob in the team it's a recipe for not playing through midfield, very little movement and linking  in midfield...which would probably result in a pretty direct style.

[baggie82]

I'm not saying Sam Field is the same type. I think the key point is do we want a player to do that very specific role that Yacob does (he does it well BUT his passing and movement is very limited and it tends to mean we drop deep). If we play 4-4-2 (strong chance of 4-4-2 under DM) with Yacob in the team it's a recipe for not playing through midfield, very little movement and linking  in midfield...which would probably result in a pretty direct style.

There was nothing wrong with Yacob's passing, he kept is simple and retained possession. we played our best football under Steve Clarke with him alongside Mulumbu. Madness to let him go. Should have kept GMAC as well and you see how the decision has gone down like a lead balloon with the rest of the players.

[Adder]

There was nothing wrong with Yacob's passing, he kept is simple and retained possession. we played our best football under Steve Clarke with him alongside Mulumbu. Madness to let him go. Should have kept GMAC as well and you see how the decision has gone down like a lead balloon with the rest of the players.

We sort of got away with it under Steve Clarke because we usually had a threat up front..Odemwingie, Long and Lakaku in the best year. I'm afraid the other players like Foster should see that a club has to evolve and freshen things up from time to time. If any of Fosters petulence is down to the players we've let go I have to question his judgement as well as the fact it's not his job to protest about management decisions. We've let go ageing players who hardly featured in last years first team.

[Westie]

Incompetence from the Club management again. Sheer stupidity to release GMac and especially Yacob if we want a chance of a quick return to the Prem. Don't release good players, release a certain Chinese fella!

[Dexy]

There was nothing wrong with Yacob's passing, he kept is simple and retained possession. we played our best football under Steve Clarke with him alongside Mulumbu. Madness to let him go. Should have kept GMAC as well and you see how the decision has gone down like a lead balloon with the rest of the players.

Big Yacob fan but the majority of the time his passing was poor unless 5 yards sideways. 

[telford baggie]

Incompetence from the Club management again. Sheer stupidity to release GMac and especially Yacob if we want a chance of a quick return to the Prem. Don't release good players, release a certain Chinese fella!

the age of the squad needs to come down and old guards replacing as there is obviously a clique, keeping Gmac would have been madness

[baggie82]

the age of the squad needs to come down and old guards replacing as there is obviously a clique, keeping Gmac would have been madness

We need a bigger squad for 46 championship games than the average PL season to mount a decent promotion challenge. Hence releasing proven players on bosons who are the heart beat of the club is stupid. It will cost more to replace them and whoever we bring in may be useless and is a risk. Club has no structure, plan or nous. Rookie manager with no support and a few bean counters trying to play championship manager behind him. We used to be a model for other clubs to follow. We are in danger of wasting our best chance to get promoted which is this season when we have the parachute payments. Mess it up and we have lost our competitive advantage over the rest of the league.

[darbolina]

Im not panicking yet. If by the time England have won the World Cup ()we have a good assistant manager in place, a permanent DoF,  have replaced Foster with say Sam Johnstone and Dawson with a solid mid 20s centre back I won't be too worried. We still have the nucleus of what should be a very good championship squad, if we can add goals via an attacking midfielder , two or three strikers ( depends who leaves)  and a good left winger to replace the very average McClean , we'll be fine .

The biggest worry is Jenkins having such responsibility . We need some football leadership and nouse to be able to successfully wheel and deal to the extent we need to.

It's criminal to have wasted three months with Terraneo apparently peeing everyone off and achieving nothing. Another in a long line of rubbish decisions by the leaders of our club.

Time for us to get serious!!

[baggie82]

Im not panicking yet.... we have replaced.... Dawson with a solid mid 20s centre back I won't be too worried.

Players with the heart, talent and consistency of Dawson come around once in a blue moon. Fantastic signing and very difficult if not impossible to replace. Proven quality premier league defender, excellent commitment. Experienced and yet a good age. You can't just sign another one off the shelf. Anyone with his calibre wouldn't sign for us now we in the second division (hence why he wants out). We'd have to take a gamble on an unproven replacement. Need to try to keep him at all costs this season.

[baggie53]

Totally disagree with this. Yacob has something you can't teach. A bit like a striker who is always in the right place at the right time. Yacob is in the Javier Mascherano mould. Rarely out of position and always in the right place to snuff out an attack. Field has an awful lot of learning to do to come close to Yac. Learning which I'm not sure is even possible.

Sad to see Claudio go, but at least we don't have to put up with people mis-spelling his name as Jacob
That used to irritate me so much

[beechyboy90]

All I know is we need to sign some defenders. We only have like 4 on the books excluding the kids

[costa blanca baggie]

All I know is we need to sign some defenders. We only have like 4 on the books excluding the kids

Call me old fashioned, but it’s bad enough listening to 'like' used as a .... nope, I’m to happy to care.

[wba_1996]

As it stands right now (assuming Foster is gone this week), we need:

Back-up GK
RB
CB
DM/CM

The rest is just like-for-like dependent on outgoings. Think McClean, Rondon, Chadli, Dawson and Hegazi are the most likely to go. That would bring in £60-65m going by the fees and release clauses being reported. I think the rest will still be here unless they try to force a move, nobody is going to pay what we'd want for the likes of Rodriguez, Phillips, Gibbs and Livermore. In terms of players I'd actively be looking to move on, there's only really Barry and HRK, with Morrison obviously depending on fitness.

[Mr Cynical]

All I know is we need to sign some defenders. We only have like 4 on the books excluding the kids

... and 2 of those are planning to leave.

[darbolina]

I must admit, for a while, I've thought that we had too much of a clique of players who seemed to be too influential. I don't think it's a bad thing to break this up a bit and replace it with players who want to prove something. An example is probably Johnstone replacing Foster. If we can do similar deals to replace others who clearly feel they're better than us, then we'll be going in the right direction. We need a younger, hungrier team to push us on this season, it might even be exciting........imagine that after a few years of Pulis!

[spencer Baggie]

110% agree. Just shows that Darren Moore hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing.

What a ridiculous comment.

If he's been told he'll get the funds to replace then it's absolutely the right decision. If he then doesn't get the backing to replace Yacob then that's a totally different matter.

[baggiejohn]

I'm starting to get the impression, there's been a change of thinking.

Rather than go for a "quick fix" return to the Premier League, we appear to be moving towards a "long game" approach.

According to most of the Chinese experts, China is positioning itself to be a principal player in Global Football. I believe GL sees his organisation as being a big part of that, & the investment in WBA is for long term gain.

[koren]

Dawson handed in transfer request. Hegazi may leave also because of his £10m relegation clause.
We have one CB, Fitzwater only.
We need to sign at least 3 CBs and hope they can gel together before season starts...