Thanks, it's good to hear that his recovery is ahead of schedule. Just hope we don't rush him back out of desperation and end up causing him further problems.

That's been known about for some time though - so again, why would GB think he could spend a decent chunk on McGuire, presumably as a result of the Wharton sale? Is there literally no communication between our DOF and those above him until the very last second, when a deal has already been made? We've also spent £500k on this Crewe lad and reportedly at least £500k on a loan fee for McGuire, likely instalment based for the Crewe lad at least, but still... some money is there - but seemingly the majority of it can only be spent on players who won't be with us beyond the current season. Nothing good to be concluded from that. Mid-feb return to the first team, or training? Didn't see that interview.

Is Buckley back soon? When is his estimated return? I only know that he had surgery on his shoulder somewhat recently, so assumed he wouldn't be back until around April at best.

Strange in of itself, because if the Wharton money was going towards running costs anyway, why did Broughton think he could spend £2m+ on a striker? Why are we seeing a repeat of the summer where a list is drawn up only to be ripped up by Venky's seemingly without our DoF having any clue that it was going to happen? We're totally dysfunctional and it's being laid bare for the third transfer window in a row.

Doesn't surprise me at all, honestly.

If we're still in the Championship, prepare for relegation. If we're in League 1... probably the same.

Maybe he's been getting tips from old Bucko on how to become our new midfield maestro.

Shebby's Portuguese no-hopers have to be up there as well. Fabio Nunes was here for 2 years and made seven appearances, Paulo Jorge was here for 3 years and made two appearances, and Edinho Junior was here for 2 years and made a single appearance.

Probably a small fee in the low-to-mid hundreds of thousands. I think if they pay enough to cover Ennis' wages and signing on fees - which presumably weren't extortionate - then we'll take it. Seems obvious JDT does not rate him in the slightest and whilst it technically leaves us another man down, the fact is Ennis has - according to Transfermarkt - played a grand total of 338 minutes for us in the league and contributed nothing of note, so tough to say he'd be missed. Assuming McGuire comes in (big if) then we'd have him, Gallagher, Leonard, Dolan and Szmodics as forward options which is probably enough. Scoring goals hasn't been our problem, keeping them out has been the issue.

Unfortunately this was exactly what was said in 2016/17, and they never showed the smallest interest in leaving. I genuinely don't think relegation would make any difference insofar as Venky's deciding to stay or go.

Do they realise we can only have five loan players in the match day squad?

Wouldn't help with our owners. We need to abolish their ownership to have any chance of moving forward.

Well, he did basically nothing for us, barely played and whatever fee we get will at best recoup the wages we've paid him over the past few months and any signing on fee for him and his agent on arrival so... pretty shit by my estimate.

Sounds like O'Brien part 2. I guess we'll see if anyone at Rovers learned anything from last year.

There have been times when he's been out of the team with no obvious news on him being injured, so it's possible for at least some portions of his time here it's been less about injury and more that the manager doesn't rate him, doesn't think he's fit enough or a combo of the two meaning he doesn't fit the way we play. It's possible reuniting with Schumacher will sort him out, and if so then he has upside as an attacker. Simply put, it's tough for any of us to give any serious insight on him as we've rarely seen him play for us.

From what we were hearing yesterday they were relying on his departure to bring in some other fella, but maybe $700k and his wages off the books is enough for them to get that deal done and then revisit selling him in the summer assuming we don't make the deal permanent.

Rak-Sakyi is becoming the new Luca Toni. I think that's three windows now he's been speculated as a potential incoming.

You might catch him for an hour or so if you watch the reserves regularly. Otherwise you might have to pop down to the physio room to get a glimpse of him.

If it's a loan with option to buy then it still ties in with the info that we have zero money to spend on permanent fees. For whatever reason it's alright to spend £500k on a loan fee for four months though 🤷‍♂️ if we assume the ITK tidbits to be more or less accurate then we basically cancelled the permanent deal last night, renegotiated this morning for a loan-to-buy which Orlando accepted on the basis £500k over 4 months is a decent enough deal, and if we make it permanent (we won't, but if) then they get more than they would have initially. One would surmise from this that they are quite desperate to get McGuire off their books to do other business, otherwise they would have just said "lol, no thanks" and if no better offer was forthcoming asked him to return.

If tomorrow doesn't see some major moves on our part I hope JDT tears the owners a new one in the pre-match presser and resigns on the spot. We know they value their supposed pride and that would sting. Won't happen, but, if only.

Budget slashed in the summer, the club decaying at a rapid rate in all areas, best young talent in years sold for £22m with £0 allowed to be spent in replacements anywhere on the pitch as we head into a relegation scrap. "Imagine if Venkys weren't here" Gladly.

I mean, they choose who to employ and are responsible for the competency of those employed, so it's their fault regardless of how you view the situation.

Hard to know what to say. I've said it all before over the past 13 years and it's just more of the same. If this is all true and all non-free transfers are cancelled, with McGuire's transfer cancelled as he's halfway across the atlantic to sign for us, JDT and Broughton need to consider what this is doing to their reputations at this point. It's Waggott's last payday so he'll be here until the bitter end, but anyone with any semblance of ambition or pride in where they work, who they work for and what their work represents would surely resign at this point.

At 17 I'd seen the legends of the 90s play for us, and was watching the likes of Cole, Yorke, Jansen (pre-injury), Duff, Dunn, Big Brad, Tugay and Berg regularly lacing up their boots for us, with Souey as manager. I had Hughes' tenure to look forward to with MGP, Santa Cruz, Benni Mac, Bentley, Nelsen, Samba and various other decent players pulling on our shirt. Incomparable to the present day.

Jeez, this has been a lot to catch up on having not checked the thread since yesterday... Having turned 37 yesterday it smarts to see all the comments about 37 being ancient 😂 although of course in football terms it's very much end-of-career territory. The frustrating thing about the McFadz deal is that it likely wouldn't be necessary if we'd been allowed to sign Batth on a free in the summer - Sunderland's previous player of the season and many years younger than McFadz. But anyway, it is what it is and I guess we'll see how he contributes over the next few months. I know nothing about McGuire but the fee being suggested is decent money for a Championship level striker at a non-parachute payment club. Would be expected to hit the ground running and make an instant impact. Risky but we'll have to hope this striker signing is finally the one they get right. At some point by pure chance alone we have to get one right, don't we?