Summer Window 2026 - Rumours and Discussion

Are we unique in thinking all our players will go at the first opportunity? 

Be disappointed if we get any more loans from fellow Championship sides. If they were Championship standard their clubs would keep them around, given the size of squad you need in the league.  And if they do turn out decent, they get recalled anyway.

Bostonaddick said:

There is a reason he has the most clearances in the championship.  One is he is an excellent defender and two he is the most comfortable clearing the ball and safe passes along the back line.  He is not your traditional ball playing center half.  There will be plenty of interest in him.  I just doubt any payout would be high enough to justify the risk of losing him from the squad.  I fully expect his agent to leak some rumors this summer as a negotiation tactic and I also expect him to sign an extension.

I reckon that's because we give the ball back to the opposition every 5 seconds and play a low possession style of football, I feel sorry for him.

MarcusH26 said:

Sorba Thomas who we could have signed from Boreham Wood if we'd managed to agree a fee. 

We offered fifty quid and some old training bibs. Boreham Wood were tempted but dithering, so we threw in Charlie Kirk to sweeten the deal. The Wood couldn't get away fast enough.

Turned out that their chairman was looking for a seven-figure fee. Everyone laughed at him, but he was obviously a better judge of a player than we were.

Few points I’d like to make.

1) NJ has recently said Lloyd Jones is irreplaceable for us. There will be no desire for him to leave, as there is also no desire from him to leave. He’s found a real home here and would love to stay for even longer. He won’t be going anywhere.

2) I think we’ve spent so long in League One that so many of us get hung up on the players in that league. That’s not a dig, it’s understandable, we’ve watched so much of it. However, as we’ve seen, it’s a huge jump up to The Championship and it’s not easy for players to make. You’ll rarely find a top Championship club sign players from League One and are a real success. And if they are, that’s usually because they’re surrounded by far more talented players than we currently have. Additionally, yes our top 3 players this season were in League One last season, but that’s also because the vast majority of our squad were. So unless the top 3 were going to be Bell, Kaminski, and say Rakin-Costello, it’s a moot point.

3) We desperately need quality in to help the players we signed last summer become good Championship players. The more we sign from a level below, the less the quality will be in training, the lower the standards, the slower players develop etc. - we need players who can really hurt teams, who can build our attacking play within a game, who can get about the pitch, be comfortable on the ball… players who will help us score more goals.

If we want to evolve as a team, if we want to be successful and pushing much higher up the league, we can’t be sentimental, we can’t be shopping in the market below us throughout the summer like we did last summer because our recruitment was so late. We need a better quality of player now.

If no one had got any points deductions this season we would’ve stayed up by a point. That’s not good enough for us now. We’ve survived, we can now kick on and aim to be getting the return we were seeing in the first third of the season, this time for a whole season. That’s the aim. That’s only going to be achieved through quality recruitment.

Can see a total clearout happening. We have been terrible since November. 

Just a reminder that I was told a month ago by a member of the backroom staff that we are looking to bring in 11/12 players this summer. 

bolloxbolder said:

Just a reminder that I was told a month ago by a member of the backroom staff that we are looking to bring in 11/12 players this summer. 

There is a lot of players need getting rid of and that is easier said than done. Someone said to me recently that it was refreshing that we hardly have any players out of contract. I disagree when you look at the players coming back from Loan spells that at have least a year or more left on their current deals

Then we have the likes of Lloyd Jones, Greg Docherty, Conor Coventry and Kayne Ramsay with only a year left. 

It's going to be an interesting summer 

shirty5 said:

bolloxbolder said:

Just a reminder that I was told a month ago by a member of the backroom staff that we are looking to bring in 11/12 players this summer. 

There is a lot of players need getting rid of and that is easier said than done. Someone said to me recently that it was refreshing that we hardly have any players out of contract. I disagree when you look at the players coming back from Loan spells that at have least a year or more left on their current deals

Then we have the likes of Lloyd Jones, Greg Docherty, Conor Coventry and Kayne Ramsay with only a year left. 

It's going to be an interesting summer 

At least with many coming back from loans they will be relatively easy to move on if that is the preference 

Asiimwe, Anderson, Z Mitchell won't be on much £ and have probably done enough to get moves.
Taylor is out of contract.
A Mitchell will be in demand.
Kanu and M'bick I would think we will want to keep both.

Leaves Ahadme, Tanto and Apter.  Even Tanto I see as a guy who will have plenty of L1 suitors and someone who will want to play, not waste a career in reserves so should be able to move on with a hit on his fee.

The other two are more difficult as I see them both as individuals happy to collect a wage and do little.

We need to be looking at starting kelman every game and building a team around what can get him the most service, a complete waste of a player if we dont at least attempt that. 

I don’t even know where Adhame is. 

"I've been absolutely ruthless. That's why I've only given Berry another two years."