My entire initial point was, very obviously, being literal. People like to say new players can't be worse, but they absolutely and very obviously can, and most of the time when we hear that, the next player is indeed worse. Hirst was worse. In a less literal sense, 'X player is shit so I'll take absolutely anybody else' is a pretty stupid approach. Thank god you don't work in recruitment.

So Vale and Gally are literally the worst two strikers in football then? Whatever you say BankEndy Boy.

People love to say this sort of thing, but no, he doesn't have to be better than them.

If he had said FB isn't his best position, fine, but he said he will never be one as long as he has a hole in his arse, when he just won MOTM playing at FB. It was an odd post.

Was he not playing as a fullback?

Yeh if he hasn't engaged with supporters for 5 years and his under his desk, I don't reckon he's about to agree to take such a message to Pune.

Then we need to bring in a tough-tackling midfielder...to injure him in training.

Buckley got dropped because he was playing very badly. Adam Wharton is the one whose path has been blocked by Morton.

In the 'substitute him' sense, or by sniper rifle? At this point either sounds appealing...

Until that's announced I won't be taking it as fact. This Juve lad, reading between the lines of your post, it's just a name that you've heard we are looking at rather than one we are close to signing?

Scoreline was 2-1 to Manure if anyone is wondering. Ben Fyles with our goal.

If we signed a winger and a central striker, I'd be inclined to think we were planning to play with a central striker. I'm sure he'd be better than Gallagher even if you stuck him out wide though. Never been the number one striker and been a squad man? Not followed his career too closely, so maybe you're right, but he scored 19 in 39 in the league 2020/21. He does seem to have played less in the last two seasons, but given he still had a good goals rate, is that not injury or something? Seems odd to drop a player who keeps scoring goals (his ratio has dropped off this season though, to his lowest since he was with us, still 4 in 14 though which isn't horrendous), usually at a 1 in 3 rate or better. If we did sign Joao (which I should remind anyone reading, is just theoretical as he's available, there hasn't been a rumour) I'd expect him to be an instant starter until he showed he should be otherwise. 15k p/w is the sort of figure I expect the club to sanction for somebody expected to start most weeks. If he was being signed as a squad player, then I'd disagree with you and agree with the club if they didn't want to pay 15k p/w for that. We simply don't have the budget to squander that on a squad player, that sort of wage needs to be reserved for our best players.

Combined.

Why would he be starting from the bench most weeks? If he gets into even a semblance of form, he's better than anyone we have up top bar Brereton (who is distinctly out of form).

😲 That's some Messi shit right there!

Same for most of us...

Talking about the overall standard of the league, obviously we know world class players have come from Belgium. But there's a lot of dross too.

Why ecstatic? That seems strong. I'm struggling to understand why some people are so delighted at the prospect of Undav. Yes his goals record is decent, but how good is the Belgian league really? Some strong sides better than us, but several we would likely paste. I admit I don't know it well, but always seemed a bit SPL-y to me. He had ONE season in the top Belgian league, with a good goals record, and 8 goalless Prem games (amounting to less than 90 minutes total I was told). Before that, his football took place in the Belgian second tier (one season), German third tier (two seasons) and the German fourth tier (four seasons), and I can't say I put any stock at all in those leagues. I'd class it as a decent, potentially interesting signing that certainly may turn out well if we manage it (after all, Brighton rated him enough to pay a few million, but only similar to what we paid for Gally and look how that turned out...a transfer fee is no guarantee of quality). But ecstatic seems a stretch, personally. I think people are just pleasantly surprised we are chasing a 26-year old striker that has actually scored goals at a good rate somewhere, and not really thinking the profile and accomplishments of the player through that much. He's also 5 ft 10, just for those who are convinced we need to stick a big lump up top.

It's possible. It's unlikely, without good reinforcements. We had a purple patch where we often got results we didn't look good value for, but we are currently in a bit of a freefall, something a lot of the current squad have form for, whether it was the manager's fault or not. Reinforcements aside, we would probably need BBD (and perhaps some others) to return to his earlier season form. Which looks unlikely given his head has been turned more than the girl from The Exorcist. Currently, I'm expecting we will finish somewhere from about 8th to 10th.

A profit machine? 🤣 I'm guessing you've never read any of the reports or posts about the annual financial statements then...

Ahh yes, I remember him saying that! What a stupid plan that was.

Uh, I don't, but the post you were quoting said Watford bid 200k and that we bid 300k more. I was going off that basis for argument sake, hence I said 'sounds like'. Maybe you should have asked them how they know what we bid instead of me.

So he will have to cross low. Which begs two questions - is he any good at that, and won't that get a bit predictable for opposition defenders? There's also a bit of a skill to moving onto the end of low, drilled crosses. I know Dack can do it, though he's not our quickest. The faster lads it's partially unknown, as we haven't really played that way. Hopefully there is a plan to go with this signing, and we are confident (and correct) about being able to match our approach to it successfully. I do have my doubts though, that we have personnel equipped to get on the end of it, and also that we have just one player who can deliver them. What happens when he is injured or out of form, and what are we going to produce from the other side?

Sounds like we should have bid less and put it towards the wage package.

13 in the league. Bishop has 11 in the league and it's only January. Should end up with a few more than Hirst if he stays you'd think. Though I should say their minutes per goal are similar. On the other hand, the most Dack had scored in that league before we bought him was 13. He does play slightly further back though. League One is really a crap shoot when it comes to bringing players from there to the Championship. I'd say our experiences of it are hit and miss. Dack and arguably Armstrong (hadn't shone above League One), but also Bell, Hirst...then you can argue over Smallwood (I'd say did enough of a job first season back up avoiding relegation, but not really good enough for anything above that at this level) and Pickering (alright but too slow). Edun is likely to end his time here under the failure umbrella too. I'm sure I'm forgetting some players. Back in the day didn't we also get Stead for the Prem when he was in League One, or the equivalent at the time? Saved our bacon that year, then was shit...hit and miss in one player!