James Trafford

[Rodri’s ACL]

Like I said when Fabrizio posted we was considering the move…

This will get done.

Also…

Mcatee > Forest

I have been confident on this for a while as you can see.

31 May 2025
‘Nottingham’

The interest has been very real for a while. And I am told Mcatee prefers to stay in the Prem and Nottingham is viewed as a good destination for both football reasons and distance to family.

Do you know if this means MGW is back on?

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

Think I missed the bit where he said he's a "hard man"

Comes across as a hard man, isn't afraid of a tackle, gets stuck in, can take a knock. It's a compliment and adds to his character. I'd be surprised if a few virgins on the internet saying horrible things would force a move.

I didn’t say you can’t question it. Just that more often than not pep gets it right.

But if the end result is Pep and co know what they are doing then the conversation doesn't need to happen to begin with and ends the need of a forum such as this. We all know they know what they are doing but we also know they have got big things wrong too. I am behind Ederson leaving by the way so I am in the camp of trusting the men who get paid a fortune to make them decisions.

 

[Gordyola]

There's surely no chance you watched him with burnley in the prem under Vinny and came to the conclusion he'd be back here one day.

Well Im not making it up and just to check Ive asked my son and he remembers

 

[Utter bobbins]

Not been as good lately though. Some real idiots and flappers on here now

Now you mustn’t have been here very long

 

[ninjamonkey]

Well Im not making it up and just to check Ive asked my son and he remembers

Wasn't questioning whether you made it up, more questioning what you saw in a keeper that was struggling to make the step up to be a premier league keeper and had to be removrd from his role to be able to say they would soon end up at the then leagues most dominant side.

 

[Gordyola]

Wasn't questioning whether you made it up, more questioning what you saw in a keeper that was struggling to make the step up to be a premier league keeper and had to be removrd from his role to be able to say they would soon end up at the then leagues most dominant side.

I saw potential. Vinny was trying to play out from the back, he was making a good effort doing so, unfortunately the quality of player that he had in front of him wasn't capable. Vinny persistent with him for a long time so he also saw something, after 28 PL games he took him out, as his confidence was being affected His shot stopping was fine he was exposed by Vinny refusing to become more pragmatic sticking to his principles I also saw him play a few time when on loan at Bolton so that probably influenced me Didn't see him last season though

 

[Coatigan]

To be honest I have 32000 posts over 13 years and I can't really give a good answer to what the point of a forum is.

Wait, it is not to endlessly argue, with people we may never meet, about pointless things we can't have any influence over, and most don't even care about?

I have been going about this all wrong!

 

[mscenterh750]

There's surely no chance you watched him with burnley in the prem under Vinny and came to the conclusion he'd be back here one day.

He had a disastrous time. Got dropped for Muric who makes multiple mistakes per game because he was having a horrible time and just couldn't cope.

I'm not saying thats him now, I've honestly seen practically nothing of him since then, I'd like to imagine hes improved since, using that experience to steel himself for the future and its just a question of how much hes improved.



Has there been a post thats suggested they'd be unwilling to give him a chance should he come back? You've taken perfectly valid, and in the main, balanced, opinions questioning whether hes good enough to make the steep jump so soon and interpreted them as people writing him off before hes signed. Those two things are very far apart from being put into the same category

No but there’s been plenty commenting on what a bad signing it would be.

 

[Nevizade]

I saw potential. Vinny was trying to play out from the back, he was making a good effort doing so, unfortunately the quality of player that he had in front of him wasn't capable. Vinny persistent with him for a long time so he also saw something, after 28 PL games he took him out, as his confidence was being affected His shot stopping was fine he was exposed by Vinny refusing to become more pragmatic sticking to his principles I also saw him play a few time when on loan at Bolton so that probably influenced me Didn't see him last season though

To be fair one of my mates at work is a Bolton fan and at the time he said you could tell he came from City as his footwork was excellent, even then he said he thought he'd end up at a West Ham or Brighton profile of club. Obviously the player has improved considerably working with Vinny and his staff as well as the England setup but talent has been clear since he was a teenager to those who watched him regularly.

 

[Grealish’s Shinpads]

This would be a great bit of business by the club.

It doesn’t really matter too much whether he is currently better than Ederson or not—the reality is that we have too many non-HG players and need to get rid of some of them. With this transfer we are bringing in arguably the best young HG English goalkeeper who is also club-trained and reducing the non-HG number by selling Ederson.

If Trafford doesn’t quite hit the mark then Ortega is more than capable of being number 1 for a season, as shown by the fact that he was given the nod ahead of Ederson many times last season. We can then look to replace Ortega with a different number 1 next summer once some of our older players are out of contract and there is space for a non-HG player again.

If the gamble on Trafford pays off then we’ve got a first choice goalkeeper for many years to come. If it doesn’t it’s not a huge loss. There will be other PL teams wanting a young HG English player (on reasonable wages) even if he doesn’t manage to establish himself as number 1.

 

[wattle]

Comes across as a hard man, isn't afraid of a tackle, gets stuck in, can take a knock. It's a compliment and adds to his character. I'd be surprised if a few virgins on the internet saying horrible things would force a move.

Ah right. I thought you were being a dick haha. Apologies. The joys of being a middle aged autistic and misunderstanding everyone haha. Yeh - I'm pretty sure the abuse isn't a deciding factor in him wanting to leave. Not actually sure why he wants to leave, unless him and his family are fed up with England/Manchester. I hope we get Trafford instead of Costa though. Trafford has loads of ability but is still learning and Ortega can step in if he needs dropping/given a break at any time. Costa looks like a car crash to me

 

[BringBackSwales]

To be honest I have 32000 posts over 13 years and I can't really give a good answer to what the point of a forum is.My wife and my son think it's a pointless, load of old people talking bollocks.Though it can be good for swapping information, and finding stuff out.:)

I always thought it was to call as many different posters as possible a ****

 

[jimharri]

To be honest I have 32000 posts over 13 years and I can't really give a good answer to what the point of a forum is.My wife and my son think it's a pointless, load of old people talking bollocks.Though it can be good for swapping information, and finding stuff out.:)

Clever woman. And re your son, he clearly takes after mater.

 

[Maly]

To be honest I have 32000 posts over 13 years and I can't really give a good answer to what the point of a forum is.My wife and my son think it's a pointless, load of old people talking bollocks.Though it can be good for swapping information, and finding stuff out.:)

Bluemoon Information Highway :)

 

[blueparrot]

I always thought it was to call as many different posters as possible a ****

It can be whatever you want to make it

Clever woman. And re your son, he clearly takes after mater.

yes, he came into here when he was about 17/18 but didn’t postby 21 he’d sussed us out and gone off to get a proper hobby:)

 

[super_city_si]

To be honest I have 32000 posts over 13 years and I can't really give a good answer to what the point of a forum is.My wife and my son think it's a pointless, load of old people talking bollocks.Though it can be good for swapping information, and finding stuff out.:)

I like the footy bollocks but have genuinely learned loads from off topic.

 

[Match Fixer]

Also conversely we wont be anywhere near as comfortable playing out from the back and we will give the ball away more to teams who press us.
Ederson has been pivotal to the way we have played over the last few years.

There is also the fact to consider that a lot of the goals scored against us are high percentage chances which means very few are even saveable ....our back 4 needs a lot of attention or we are going to have an inexperienced keeper being exposed and under intense scrutiny and pressure.

I think that with so many teams able to press to great effect, we may not be so focused on playing out from the back. Either way, Ederson is cooked, and his mind is elsewhere.

 

[super_city_si]

Wasn't questioning whether you made it up, more questioning what you saw in a keeper that was struggling to make the step up to be a premier league keeper and had to be removrd from his role to be able to say they would soon end up at the then leagues most dominant side.

That premier league campaign sits in my mind still, I vividly remember seeing him makes loads of cock ups, especially on crosses. It’s why I’m reticent but he had great reviews last seaosn ansd I watched some highlights and he seems better and looks comfortable with his feet.

Hope the prem season was a sharp learning curve for him.

 

[simon23]

I think that with so many teams able to press to great effect, we may not be so focused on playing out from the back. Either way, Ederson is cooked, and his mind is elsewhere.

Ederson is good enough to play round any press...Trafford isn't. Trafford is the better shot stopper but if we continue to play out from the back without Ederson, Trafford could get exposed due to the improvement of teams pressing in general as you pointed out

 

[ninjamonkey]

That premier league campaign sits in my mind still, I vividly remember seeing him makes loads of cock ups, especially on crosses. It’s why I’m reticent but he had great reviews last seaosn ansd I watched some highlights and he seems better and looks comfortable with his feet.

Hope the prem season was a sharp learning curve for him.

That's also my last real memory of him having not seen him in the championship. I hear he had a great season last year but he also had a great season 3 years ago when they last got promoted.

The hope is hes learned, benefitted from the experinece and improved enough to now belong at this level but until he makes the step up and shows hes premier league level every 3/4 days theres going to be legitimate question marks which makes him a tremendous risk.