Pickford struggling

[Dreamkiller]

Not sure if the point's already been made, but Pickford secured his big money move and talk of an England spot on the back of letting goals in for fun with Sunderland. 

Obviously it's not all about the goals you concede, but your performances within those matches. Ultimately though, whether the media notice you and start a bandwagon is as big a determining factor as any when it comes to being in the running for an England place. 

The Albion seem to struggle in that respect, just as we did when we were actually half decent.

[wba13]

Ramsdale in the England U21 squad

Gallagher too (as expected)

And Griffiths

When is he signing for Chelsea / Liverpool / Man City?

Or Barcelona so he can go to villa.

[SW4Baggie]

Not sure if the point's already been made, but Pickford secured his big money move and talk of an England spot on the back of letting goals in for fun with Sunderland. 

Obviously it's not all about the goals you concede, but your performances within those matches. Ultimately though, whether the media notice you and start a bandwagon is as big a determining factor as any when it comes to being in the running for an England place. 

The Albion seem to struggle in that respect, just as we did when we were actually half decent.

We had a policy of player retention, hence paying some hefty wages to players - especially in the latter PL years so I imagine it was very much in our interests to play down players' performances and abilities.

Other than the various Odemwingie stories, I can't really remember any of our players being consistently linked with a move elsewhere and you'd have thought players like Morrison, Olsson, Brunt and Mulumu in their prime would have had plenty of suitors!

[Dreamkiller]

Not sure if the point's already been made, but Pickford secured his big money move and talk of an England spot on the back of letting goals in for fun with Sunderland. 

Obviously it's not all about the goals you concede, but your performances within those matches. Ultimately though, whether the media notice you and start a bandwagon is as big a determining factor as any when it comes to being in the running for an England place. 

The Albion seem to struggle in that respect, just as we did when we were actually half decent.

We had a policy of player retention, hence paying some hefty wages to players - especially in the latter PL years so I imagine it was very much in our interests to play down players' performances and abilities.

Other than the various Odemwingie stories, I can't really remember any of our players being consistently linked with a move elsewhere and you'd have thought players like Morrison, Olsson, Brunt and Mulumu in their prime would have had plenty of suitors!

We were the same. Problem was that we had to pay top dollar to attract them to a club like Stoke. We also started to offer long contracts because we were scared that the type of player we were starting to attract would leave for free after three years. This seemed to destabilise and demotivate both the player concerned and all those teammates on lesser contracts.

The only player we made a real profit on during our Prem days was Arnie - we then blew his money on Wimmer. Shakiri's agent was clever enough to have a relegation clause put in so he went for the same amount that we bought him for. 

I don't think we ever tried to downplay any player's performances. If anything, we probably saw their inclusion with England in particular as making us a more attractive proposition. 

Sadly, only Shawcross and Butland made it that far. Shawcross was given one chance and had a mare, and Butland picked up the injury playing for England that very much started his steep and rapid decline. 

When things go wrong for a club like ours, they really go very wrong.

[Lightnin]

Ramsdale in the England U21 squad

Gallagher too (as expected)

And Griffiths

So Southgate must be watching Cheltenham then. Well, whoever is in charge of u21’s?

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Is Alex McCarthy at Southampton English? I’m sure he’s been called up before too