The chiefs at Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday will already be hard at work preparing for next season, and we have already seen new arrivals at Hillsborough. Max Lowe and Ben Hamer have been snapped up by Danny Rohl and his recruitment staff, with the Owls making the most of free agents early on.
The Blades may well do the same, but both sides are also going to have to land their fair share of paid-for signings if they want to meet their ambitions next term. In the meantime, we have rounded up all the latest news surrounding the rest of the Championship clubs.
Wober on possible Leeds exit
Leeds United star Max Wober says there is no progress over a potential permanent deal to join Borussia Monchengladbach after a loan spell with the Bundesliga club. He told BILD: “At the moment there is total radio silence on both sides.
“I learned from Leeds that there will be talks when the European Championship is over. They want me to concentrate on Austria for the time being. In Gladbach, I said goodbye to everyone and thanked them for the cool year. So far, I haven’t heard anything about it.” The update comes after reports in Germany that Monchengladbach wanted to sign the Austria international permanently. In the meantime, he is competing at Euro 2024 with his nation.
Stoke near deal
Stoke City are reportedly on the verge of signing 24-year-old left-back Eric Bocat. The Sint-Truiden was linked with a move to Leicester City during the winter transfer window, but it now looks as though he will be heading to the Potteries.
TeamTalk claim that a deal is close to being reached, with Stoke coming out on top despite recent claims of interest from Trabzonspor. The full-back has made 51 league appearances for his current club, who play in the Belgian top division.
Ridsdale on Lowe’s future
Preston chief Peter Ridsdale has been speaking about the future of manager Ryan Lowe after North End’s 10th place finish last season. He said: “He’s a football manager and their average life span is relatively short,” said Ridsdale. “I think football manager’s life spans at Deepdale are longer than most and ultimately, you are judged on results. Our wage bill – I’ve always quoted 19th – was actually 22nd last year and we finished 10th. Now, that in itself is testament to everyone at the football club. Then, fans say we have no ambition – finishing mid table – which is just nonsense. Of course we have got ambition, but to some extent you then look who you’re playing against and who’s above you in the league.
“The three teams who came down last season had wage bills around the £100m mark and we are £16m – it’s a challenge and yet we beat Leeds, Ipswich, Coventry twice, drew with Southampton and at Norwich. It was the teams at the bottom we were not performing against. QPR beat us twice – that’s not being disrespectful to them but they had a struggling season. Sheffield Wednesday beat us at home. I think, the thing for me going back to the manager and his tenure, if you look at last year the thing I can’t quite get my head around is that we had four spells in the season, with the same manager, staff and broadly the same squad.
“The first eight games we got 20 points. The next 15 games we got 12 points, which is relegation territory. The next 18 games we got 31 points, which is top three territory. And then the last five games we got no points, when the season before we got one point in the last five games. So, when you look at it, of our 63 points we got 51 points out of 26 games. So, then you have to say to yourself ‘Why?’. For all the supporters who jump up and down and say ‘Change manager’ – there are a number of factors. “Just put Ryan to one side, even if you didn’t have a manager then who do you go and hire? You then say ‘What is the cost of a change? And then you say ‘If those players had two spells last year which would’ve put us in the top two or three of the division, isn’t it something else that’s missing?’ And do you really want to spend all that money on changing, to have a new situation where your manager suddenly doesn’t want all of your players anyway and wants his own players, which puts you back three years?
“What we’ve said to all of us, from me down, is look at what we did well during those two spells when we were performing and look at what we didn’t do well in the two spells when we were totally under-performing. If we can do better in the two spells when we under-performed, then changing doesn’t actually do anything other than put you backwards. We have to do better with what we’ve got. Ryan thinks he can and we think he can, so Ryan has got the job of proving he can. And, let’s see what happens.”
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