2024/25 Kevin Thelwell

[toffeeblue9]

Not entirely sure what to make of that interview. Thought he spoke quite well generally. There was a little too much going round in circles trying to explain the restrictions of recent years.

He said we could "attack" the summer market which is good to hear and right towards the end uses the phrase "conservatively strategic" to describe the approach that would be taken.

It will all come down to where we stand squad wise when the window is shut. We certainly need to be strategic and that's a word also used by TFG but we can't really be conservative. This summer they have to push the margins as much as restrictions allow. We need to begin the process of recovery and catch-up and the correction of years of under-investment, that cannot be conservative.

I guess though he is just allowing some legroom there and not trying to get expectations up too much. Evolution and not revolution he also said.

Fair enough but things must look a lot better by the end of the summer.

They also need to get a stadium naming rights deal over the line and announced. That is going to be a critical component of making us more competitive. We need to hear something about that soon, with the test event next Monday.

I speak from a position of relative uncertainty here, as I don't fully understand how the new PSR rules will apply on the 3 year rolling periods they've been previously using, given there's a new formula from next season.

Anyway, the point here being is that I took Thelwell to mean that we couldn't splurge outrageously this summer at the expense of future windows too, hence his "evolution not revolution" comment.

I think it's sensible and understandable - we want to be competitive in the future. Rather than sign 12 players this summer, I'd rather retain a few like Gueye, Keane etc for a year if it means we sign half a dozen or so, minimise the upheaval and ensure we can spend similarly again the following year.

Loan market will also be something we look at I'd guess.

He does hunt v strongly that this will be a big summer, but I think there's a difference between "big" and an entire squad overhaul in one window which some people might think we can do.