Siriki Dembele

[bristleposh]

That's alright then.

Sarcasm is...
Just think, it’s better than the alternative

[JohnC]

With the intemperate promptings of our garrulous chairman in mind, some fans may be dreaming of a Toney-level windfall.

Can someone reassure me that I'm wrong (there's always a first time) about this? If so, I'll gladly apologise, and willingly withdraw any slight suggestion that anyone is behaving in a less-than-candid manner over this.

I think you're wrong. I don't believe that there are any fans on this or the other message board who are dreaming of a Toney-level windfall. There may be some fans out there who think that but I doubt it.

I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear that I was wondering whether or not I was wrong about Dembele being out of contract at the season's end.
it seems that he is.

As far as fans dreaming of a Toney-like windfall' is concerned:
if the belief that the Toney sale -- to a non-desperate Championship club -- will eventually yield a return of £10m is accurate, then it would be entirely reasonable for fans to register the chairman's '....should he leave us for £15 million or whatever....' comment in conjunction with the subsequent 'Siriki will be the next one we sell to the Premier League. In fact one club is desperate to sign him'observation, and then conclude that a desperate EPL club might at least match what a non-desperate Championship club would pay for a player in demand.

I can understand a chairman attempting to 'talk up' the value of one of his players; it may even be part of the job description. The actuality, however, as far as I can see, can be encapsulated in two simple statements:

1. Dembele is out of contract at the end of this season, when he can depart for nothing.
2. Dembele is free to sign a pre-contract agreement with any club in January.

The 'Grimsby Live' website has had this to say:

Peterborough are determined to keep hold of the player, having turned down multiple bids during the summer.

'Dembele has one year remaining on his contract at London Road, and reports in Cambridgeshire have suggested Dembele will be offered a lucrative contract to stay at Peterborough should they win promotion to the Championship this season.

'If they fail to go up though, Dembele would likely move on, which could lead to Town earning big from any potential deal.

'Speaking last month (October), Peteborough director of football Barry Fry said: “We have no interest in selling Siriki.

“We have had bids for him, but they’ve all been rejected because the manager, the co-owners and myself agreed we would not sell another player this season after Ivan Toney.

“Darragh MacAnthony sat Siriki down when we were at St George’s Park in the summer and explained the situation to him. If he helps us get up, and he is a key man, then we would probably offer him a lucrative contract to stay, but if we don’t go up it would be difficult to keep him.”'

PUFC eventually receiving a substantial transfer fee for Dembele may turn out to be be 'Pie in the Sky'.
Also on the menu: 'Reality Gruel', with a side helping of 'Hard Cheese'.
Place your orders now.

[JohnC]

What surprises me is that some folks don't understand that we are a selling club. Why we sold Courtino and Suarez to Barcelona or Christiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Every club in the World is a selling club if they can make money for their owners or shareholders. We are not alone, it's sad but that's the way the swings and arrows fall.

We did?

'swings and arrows.' Very droll. They may be easy to dodge, but the slings and roundabouts are a bit trickier.

[bristleposh]

Our wonderful moderator pointed that out in a PM I claimed it was an autocorrect problem he didn’t believe me either. Just got my swallows and Amazons mixed up

[JohnC]

Our wonderful moderator pointed that out in a PM I claimed it was an autocorrect problem he didn’t believe me either. Just got my swallows and Amazons mixed up

Well said, sir. Tip of the hat to you. Whatever you're drinking, it seems to be working. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it shrink.

[stumpy]

That's alright then.

Sarcasm is...
Just think, it’s better than the alternative

The problem with your "it could be worse" philosophy is that it does not apply to Posh. We have a wealthy set of owners who have laid out plans for regular championship level football in a brand new stadium - you need to be thinking Reading, Brentford, Huddersfield as comparisons because our owners are. We have seen over £30 million of transfer fees allegedly and that was before Toney. We splashed out big time on Taylor, Szmodics and JCH as well as reportedly investing in larger wages for Beevers, Brown and Thompson...If your ambition is mid-table League 1 football, why spend the millions? Make no mistake, we have under achieved since we were relegated and this year is the "vengeance year" where the big money should create even more distance yet we find the likes of Lincoln and Accrington in the same area of the table as us...it's not good enough and there should be no doubt that we are either not ambitious and are being lied to or, we are not performing as we should be. Selling our most dangerous player would hav a few knowing fans lean towards the former

[JohnC]

That's alright then.

Sarcasm is...
Just think, it’s better than the alternative

The problem with your "it could be worse" philosophy is that it does not apply to Posh. We have a wealthy set of owners who have laid out plans for regular championship level football in a brand new stadium - you need to be thinking Reading, Brentford, Huddersfield as comparisons because our owners are. We have seen over £30 million of transfer fees allegedly and that was before Toney. We splashed out big time on Taylor, Szmodics and JCH as well as reportedly investing in larger wages for Beevers, Brown and Thompson...If your ambition is mid-table League 1 football, why spend the millions? Make no mistake, we have under achieved since we were relegated and this year is the "vengeance year" where the big money should create even more distance yet we find the likes of Lincoln and Accrington in the same area of the table as us...it's not good enough and there should be no doubt that we are either not ambitious and are being lied to or, we are not performing as we should be. Selling our most dangerous player would hav a few knowing fans lean towards the former

I agree with every word of this (except 'hav').

[stumpy]

Sarcasm is...
Just think, it’s better than the alternative

The problem with your "it could be worse" philosophy is that it does not apply to Posh. We have a wealthy set of owners who have laid out plans for regular championship level football in a brand new stadium - you need to be thinking Reading, Brentford, Huddersfield as comparisons because our owners are. We have seen over £30 million of transfer fees allegedly and that was before Toney. We splashed out big time on Taylor, Szmodics and JCH as well as reportedly investing in larger wages for Beevers, Brown and Thompson...If your ambition is mid-table League 1 football, why spend the millions? Make no mistake, we have under achieved since we were relegated and this year is the "vengeance year" where the big money should create even more distance yet we find the likes of Lincoln and Accrington in the same area of the table as us...it's not good enough and there should be no doubt that we are either not ambitious and are being lied to or, we are not performing as we should be. Selling our most dangerous player would hav a few knowing fans lean towards the former

I agree with every word of this (except 'hav').

My keyboard is very temperamental with the "e" key unfortunately...I'm finding many words have an "e"

[JohnC]

I have no idea perhaps ask the supporters of Southend and Bury, Wigan and Bolton. None but a few survive we have a working model that sees us win more than we lose most seasons

I suspect that Bury, Wigan and Bolton were unduly energetic in contributing to their respective downfalls. In the normal course of events, there are success stories to complement the failures. Forest Green (under Mark Cooper) and Salford City are currently in the top eight of League Two. In League One, we'll shortly be getting a crick in our collective neck peering up at Accrington Stanley.

Last season, all of the top twelve teams in League One won more games than they lost.

Maybe we should take a peep at Rotherham's 'working model'. They've spent four of the last six seasons (during which we've averaged a ninth-place finish in League One) in the Championship. They're up there again this season.

[bristleposh]

It helps. Do we know if Dembele is likely to pass the ball to a colleague

[ashman]

It helps. Do we know if Dembele is likely to pass the ball to a colleague

If he returns in anything like his recent form, he wouldn't be able to pass a covid test!

[pleasureboy60]

Say what you like about Dembele, but he's the type of player you pay to watch. Can't really say that about many more of our current squad. Slag him off to your hearts content, but just like Toney, Dembele will be a massive loss when he's sold.

[bristleposh]

Say what you like about Dembele, but he's the type of player you pay to watch. Can't really say that about many more of our current squad. Slag him off to your hearts content, but just like Toney, Dembele will be a massive loss when he's sold.

In much the same way Maddison was? Dembélé and Toney are different in every respect, one was a wonderful team player the other you can more or less compare to Maddison, less end result. Maddison has wonderful statistics but did anyone ever work out how many times he lost possession in a dangerous position that if not causing us goals conceded simply put us in trouble. Much the same can be said of Dembélé.

[ashman]

Say what you like about Dembele, but he's the type of player you pay to watch. Can't really say that about many more of our current squad. Slag him off to your hearts content, but just like Toney, Dembele will be a massive loss when he's sold.

Totally agree about Dembele and to an extent Maddison. Both of them were good crowd pullers and made you sit up and get excited. Unfortunately in the three years that he has been here Sirike has only scored a total of 15 goals, 17 assists and 6 yellows and a red. Maddison, although it was over five full seasons scored 52 goals, 71 assists, 32 yellows and one red card. Hardly comparable.
Ivan Toney in just two seasons scored 43 goals, 12 assists, 20 yellows and one red. Dembele is now 24 and should be at the zenith of his footballing career but I can see very little evidence that he will approach anything like either Toney or Marcus Maddison.
I will still enjoy his skills but hope sincerely that he becomes aware of what is going on around him as well as in his own little world.

[tonyp]

It helps. Do we know if Dembele is likely to pass the ball to a colleague

If he returns in anything like his recent form, he wouldn't be able to pass a covid test!

Why can't folks be a touch more positive instead of immediately searching for previous failures?