joey_big_nose

On the whole think England did very well across the series, should have wrapped it up but for the injury to Woakes. Only thing I have an issue with is Bethal being picked when hes played virtually no cricket and despite Pope amd Crowley struggling for long periods there seems to be no appetite to even experiment with a couple of other options. I wouldnt change how we play, we're very entertaining and i think it gets as much if not more out of our players than a more conservative approach.

England must have historically the largest number of players abroad in its History by a long way now. There were quite a few big names away when we were banned from europe in the eighties. But the quantity of english players across the skill levels on the continent is a really new phenomenon. IMO Spain, Germany and France being so dominant in international football is very closely connected to the sheer quantity of players they have in the Champions League at clubs far and wide. I think those nations are getting 2x + more CL minutes than English players. Hopefully the exodus of english talent will address that balance to some degree. Edit - found this stat leaderboard... Pretty embarrassing that Switzerland and Belgium were ahead of us considering they only had one club each in the CL and they have populations around a fifth of englands..

On paper feels like WBA are big favorites but each season we surprise by coming out of the blocks pretty well. I like Ismael, has the team fit and motivated and tactically tight. Think we have a decent chance.

Gueye is the player imo in the squad who could do an Armstrong/BBD/Szmodics and have a really exceptional season. He has all the ingredients, totally unplayable on his day. I would really want to keep him. That said... UAE clubs do need to sign quite a lot of random smaller players to make up the numbers with big money players, they will be offering a higher wage also with zero tax. He may speak arabic too coming from Senegal. Sort of feels plausible to me.

I like Brittain a lot and he had a great season last year, but I think if we went back 18 months ago in the forum there would be a lot saying not good enough etc. I wouldn't say hes guaranteed to have a good season this year. Could be he just had a good season last year. Shame to lose him though, would have loved to keep him. Tronstad and Travis concern me more as they have proven themselves as top Championship performers over a longer period.

Completely agree. Only thing is if the idea is to eventually exit paying off losses as much as possible they need to get to the premier league which doesn't gel that well with this approach.. Their ownership is so baffling. Surely they must have some sort of time horizon. The longer they stick around the more more they lose.

Fantastic - thank you. One thing that is a bit weird about this table is Ipswich are 6th on it despite just being promoted from League One. I didn't realise they were spending so hugely. Surprised we are outspending QPR given they are a London club. What is Impairment?

Hmmm, I broadly agree but not as pessimistic. I think we probably are offering simlar to mid bottom half teams. This is actually a question we can come up with a concrete answer for by looking at the published accounts I think? Which don't break down per player but do show overall wages. There must be site that shows the wage bills by club for the last accounting period? 2023/2024 I guess?

I really doubt some of those figures. If Dolan was really only on £3k a week I am sure he would have signed a new deal as I guess we would have offered around £8k to £10k. For him to hold out I think he must have been on more than that. And I doubt Markanday who we paid a significant figure for and was highly rated at Spurs would have come for £2k a week. I am sure a lot more than that. Woodrow on 20k just doesn't seem right to me either. But I get these are all estimates, and you are just trying to build up a rough picture. And love how you have done it - always good to see some actual maths!

Im 43 and agree with the only change being Batty for Dunn. Don't think Tugay and Dunn ever worked as a pair. Pretty mad that only four or five premier league winners get in. Shows how much the league improved 1995 to 2006 when we are picking players who finished sixth at best over first. Partly also how ridiculously good Shearer was in driving the team to win the league.

I don't think we get any compensation as he has signed for a club outside England? Or am I wrong on that?

I know commenting on changes in the women's game can be construed as condescending but I only mention it as it is so remarkable... the quality is improving at a exponential rate. If anyone watched that game yesterday and compared it to the last three euros finals the difference every four years is massive. The Spanish team's technique and short passing was very very good. The keeping has come on hugely. Both scoring headers were technically excellent. Really impressed. And England well done! Really competitive and great penalties.

I agree, the only real push back is that we thought we had a terrible squad last year and ended up having quite a good season. On the whole as a supporter base we have not been very good at judging how competitive our squad is. Its tended to perform abetter than we anticipate. So we live in hope of this trend continuing.

I think our days paying for experienced premier league players are long gone now. In todays market we wouldn't even be able to get Downing or Graham. It really stretches us to get even experienced Championship players like Cantwell, Baath or Wieman. We're obviously trying to stick to 10k p/w max. I get the sense Eustace really had to push to get Cantwell.

The issue for Philips is hes decent but not outstanding at Championship level. For him going to Spurs made sense as his wasn't going to be a key player at a Championship club, so taking the short term wage boost at Spurs and being loaned out was the best financial option. For a player at 16/17 who is a step above, like Wharton or hopefully Tyjon the financial reckoning is a bit different. 1) Rovers will offer a much higher wage than Philips had on the table 2) if they go on and play 30+ games they then will get bigger offers after a season or two 3) for a player who is good enough to be a key player they get the security of being prioritised and developed by their championship club rather than shunted around on different loans. I think we are in a pretty good position with Tyjon. If it was someone truly exceptional like Rooney then we wouldnt have a chance as they could go straight into a prem first team squad. But Tyjon is in the zone where Rovers can offer him more development by being a key player.

Well hopefully hes just good enough to play straight away, and it looks promising in that regard, so signing on solves itself. His agents will look at their clients and their own earning potential and know a good Championship season will make them a lot more money than skulking round the reserve leagues and loans for a couple of seasons.

I agree on Philips. On Tyjon I dont think its loyalty, its recognising that your own value and career progression is reay tied up in how many first team games you are playing. Its worth more to his career playing first team in the Championship than U21s for a prem team.

I disagree.. if he is getting first team games he will sign up. Issue with Ash Phillips was he only got a few token games here or there. If hed been given a regular start he would have signed imo. Im not saying Phillips was worth playing as a first team regular, just that a scholar who gets first team games is going to sign. Same for Tyjon. Creates a strange incentive where shakier players are getting games just because they could be worth more when eventually sold. But that is where we are.

Bellamy was so quick but also technically superb. He did a few things Ive only seen Henry do. The end to end goal against Boro was absolutely ridiculous. He did okay career wise but he should have done much better with his talent, just such a total knobhead unfortunately.

What i thought was weird about Derek was for a big lad he was really poor in the air... Could get his head on things but had very little control over where it went. Made him impotent in the opposition box and very dangerous to us defending high balls centrally. Think he played full back to keep him away from our goal as opposed to any talent as a left back.

As far as Tyjon goes I think it's instructive to think of the 9 and 10 role together. Across the two roles we now have four players - Ohashi, Gueye, Tyjon and Cantwell. I think without blocking Tyjon we need at an absolute minimum one more in there. Ideally someone who could play either as a 9 or a 10 as I don't think we can have only four players for two crucial roles, especially when we get into the November to February madness. Even if we count Tyjon as a new first team squad player (and we should) five players in those forward position who have left (Dolan, Weimann, Woodrow, Dennis, ACB) so we are four short. Getting one more back in is the absolute minimum imo. In May last year we had eight players (Ohashi, Gueye, Weiman, Dolan, Dennis, Woodrow, Cantwell, ACB) who played across 9 and 10. I am sure we will sign someone. Maybe two. And that would be no real impediment to Tyjon, he will get plenty of game time.

Not sure I agree with your point on the CB front - we have signed good prem loans who did not arrive as guaranteed starters - e.g. Van Heck, James Hill etc.

Also Wharton is chronically injured, and while Hyam was ever present last season he had serious injury issues year before. Does feel like we are very light if we dont get one more senior CB.

I like Wharton a lot, but Id be really surprised if he can hold down a place. So injury prone, and as others have said , hes one of those defenders who has a regular unforced error in him without the pace to recover. Shame as he is good in the air, has a decent left foot and is Rovers through and through. Hope he proves me wrong.

Yeah, I thought maybe wed got a turkey after JDT and Eustace, but seems we have made another good call. Not sure how we keep doing it considering everything else at the club is such a mess.