I'm a bit concerned that Ash Phillips didn't make the bench yesterday even with Carter out. Not a sign he will get much game time this season, especially with another CB or two to come in, and possibly a sign the club don't expect him to pen professional terms.

Told by who?

Because we have very similar size catchment areas, larger in some cases, and historically have outsold them for decades.

That should be the bare minimum every game, not for the season opener.

You call it the right thing to do, I call it cutting off your nose to spite your face.

We can't afford to spend 2.5 mill on someone who 'struggles to get a game'. Not if they're almost 27 like this lad, with minimal room for improvement. I've never even heard of half of those stats. No idea how they're put together. Contrasting them with the Championship average though does suggest poor performance. The saving grace though being that his teammates are poorer than ours, which can make a big difference.

It affects it if our budget is too limited for both plus the other areas we need.

Reckon at least one of the pages so far could be put together from you talking about how many pages there are.

I assume DeeCee was talking about how we had two captains for a while under TM, with I think it was called a Team Captain, and a Club Captain. Think it was pretty much brought in just for the sake of Bennett or Mulgrew to feel important when they weren't getting in the team, I forget which of them it was.

@bazza This is the other video I mentioned. It presents a version of reality I find surprisingly plausible (not saying this is how things are, just that I can't think of a way to disprove it). It's also just an interesting, thoughtful story that makes me reflect.

36 games not 26. Although his minutes played balance out to an equivalent of just over 26 games. Looks like he had a run of 4 games in a row where he was on the bench but never came off it, and only got 4 minutes in the 5th one. 4 of his 6 goals came in two matches (Blackpool and Bristol City). Transfermarkt has him as having played CF against Bristol City. So that's 4 goals from midfield (1 more than Buckley, and 6 less assists), all of which came in the last 2 months of the season. On paper he doesn't look too consistent. Not convinced this lad is value at the prices being mentioned, but sounds like we will find out.

Well yes, we got £0 for them. If you mean what we could have got for them, how? He will be 28 September next year. He would have to seriously outperform his efforts from last season to be worth anything like the £10+ million we probably could have got for them fully contracted. Rothwell alone was subject to a bid of around 4.5 mill with 6 months left on his deal remember. It would need a Prem team to be willing to pay £10 mill upwards for him, I'm hearing and seeing nothing to indicate he will be interesting Prem sides a year from now at pushing 28.

Would much rather sign Styles than Szmodics.

Or drinking and hangovers.

I know that, I'm just saying for me it confirms this signing was pointless. It won't work out. That token Birmingham game is probably the only one he will ever play for us. And personally, for that reason I'd have kept hold until a League One team showed interest. If they didn't, I'd have kept him as cover. And looked to loan JRC (Which I'd have been doing anyway as he's shite at RB).

2.5 mill for Szmodics seems highly excessive. They sold Dembele for about that, and not only is he seemingly better than Szmodics but that's before they got relegated. Hard pass for me.

For me, Brown moving to League Two cements it as a pointless signing. At his age, realistically we need to see what he can do in League One, right now, for him to have any chance of making the first team here. His deal keeps him here until June 2024 (then a one-year option) but next summer he is 25. Are we really going to be able to rely on him even as cover having one season in League Two as his only professional experience at 25? He's going to have to absolutely kill it for that to be even a remote possibility IMO. Or for our finances and squad to be absolutely shot I guess...

In September I'm sure you'll be telling us the time to judge is December/January.

Not in a normal world, in an ideal world. I bet there is barely a team in the league that will have all their signings in place by Saturday and not make any more.

I feel like this must be a joke, and yet I can't make out the punchline.

Think the mods should block the word 'soccer'.

Those sorts of stats aren't easy to compare reliably. He played for a relegated team who will have been under the cosh more than we were. Different system, lots of variables. Besides, Nyambe can lose a 'ground duel' (not even sure how that's defined) and still be fast enough to get back around you and take it back. Still not seen anybody who has actually seen him play say he's a very good defender. We will see, looking forward to judging him with my own eyes. I wouldn't have laughed in your face, he was obviously a good defender. That spree of own goals aside, which was a blatant and disgusting attempt to get a move (and I still suspect involved some dodgy gambling in the background).

Fuck knows how you draw that conclusion. We are three good players down from that lineup and have only brought in one. Edit - alright sorry three, since we signed Hedges and Markanday in Jan and that was a last summer lineup. But I don't see how those two trumps having Lenihan and Rothwell.

I'm not remotely panicking or hysterical, thanks. Ask the Barnsley fans if defending is Brittain's forte. I've heard utterly nothing to suggest it is. It was definitely Nyambe's.

And then there's also the incalculable factor of how many 'not conceded goals' we need to replace, with the three key defenders who have left. Only one of them replaced so far, with someone who the stats suggest will help us bag a couple more goals, but likely isn't as good a defender.