Tbf it's also possible we just don't know exactly what happened and it's been exaggerated. Nearing transfer deadline it gets very easy for stories to be blown out of proportion. 'We can't confirm it until Wharton is finalised' can quickly snowball into 'the deal has collapsed mid-flight' once a bit of Chinese whispering has reached the clickbait peddlers.

I've watched bits of his videos a handful of times...he's usually quite chirpy and I've never seen him swear before.

Even Chaddy is far less upbeat about it than James Langy Langford... Got to say Chaddy, it's reassuring that, although it clearly takes a helluva lot, you do have it in you to criticise the club. And seeing some of the social media shit, you're not as blind as some!

2,000 fans not turning up would barely be noticed by Swag, it certainly wouldn't register in Pune. 'Oh they're just shit fans over there'. There's been more than that fucked off due to them already. But 2,000 fans singing all game about how shit Venkys are and how they want them gone would absolutely get back to them. They'll do what they want in either case, but if you want them to know about it, non attendance isn't the way. It would take a sub-3000 league attendance I'd wager, for them to hear about it, and that simply won't happen. They really hated that snowball though and I bet they hated the chicken on the pitch too. Anything that gains enough attention to be reported back in India is best.

There is no indication the owners pulled out of the O'Brien deal. As you say, the fact we went on to appeal at presumably a fair bit of cost suggests they didn't. Which would make this once, not twice.

If that's real and not a mock-up, he really doesn't look best pleased by it.

I dunno, I think you could find a few who think it's a signpost for a rapid and painful demise into oblivion.

You don't honestly think Broughton decided to fly a player out from the US and cancel the deal for fun do you? We'll have to wait probably to get the full picture, but so far it seems like the owners or the money men have decided to pull the floor from under our transfer efforts. If GB knew we weren't going to be able to spend fees, he wouldn't have tried to get a 2.5 mill player. If all we wanted to do was act like we've 'tried our best' we can just make that up and nobody (well, the bulk of the general fanbase) will be any the wiser. Flying a player out then cancelling the deal doesn't achieve anything, it's merely embarassing. The only thing it could conceivably achieve can be achieved by just a simple statement like 'we tried some deals for cash purchases but it was just too late in the day to achieve it'. So it's not rational to assume GB did this on purpose, unilaterally.

I never suggested it was important. I just thought it was very weird and a bit amusing to put "Greg" in that punctuation as if you thought it was only allegedly his name. We don't even know if this random Twitterati is right about the deal being off, and if he is, we don't know if it's because Wharton is off, or there's another target. So whilst this doesn't look good at this moment, I'll wait til the deadline has gone before I vent my spleen (which I'll certainly do if it stays this shit).

Did you hear this from someone reliable who isn't Tom Bogert? And did you hear why?

That, or having a better target suddenly available, are the only acceptable reasons (and the latter is still pretty shitty to the player). If the rumour is true.

I'm confused, do you not think that's his name? (Tbf it's not, it's a double-G at the end)

What's she wearing?

I'm very calm, you seem awfully angry though that I'm ruining your weird little game, the one there are more important issues going on than. Maybe don't waste yours and others time on it if that's the case?

Just for the benefit of anyone who isn't familiar with this poster, he likes to make shit like this up during transfer windows for some weird personal amusement. Don't bite.

I think those are slots for signings within a season, rather than players within a squad, so I would imagine once they're used they're gone. Next season the figure will reset (and I think it drops to 2 or 3, or less if you haven't given enough minutes to domestic players, whether auto-qualifying for a permit or not). But like you say, if someone knows for sure that's better... You'd think our erstwhile local rag reporter would have looked into it and mentioned it somewhere...

https://www.transferroom.com/gbe#calculator Keep in mind I think (might have been another one) I used it before for a while and then it stopped me using it without registering, so maybe don't go nuts with it, but I think different browsers and incognito mode should get around it. Also this article seems to say Tronstad auto qualified but the new rules are how we signed Siggy: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23634717.latest-transfer-links-shows-blackburn-rovers-casing-net-wide/

The player in question btw, Fabien Centonze, gets 18 points on the calculator so he passes automatically.

Telalovic, knew I was forgetting some bugger. Easy enough in his case though... McGuire seems to have 12 points on the calculator thing, so he wouldn't qualify automatically but would be eligible to be considered by a panel. If we didn't take it to a panel I'm not sure what that would mean for the exemptions, but I assume he would count as a slot. And there isn't really time for the panel thing, unless we are allowed to sign him in principle til that's concluded with the understanding that we use a slot if not...but probably not the case and by then we would know whether we had any slots free. Like I say though, I'm sure Siggy didn't need an exemption and I don't think Tronstad did (a Norway cap and European football). So we should have at least one, probably two slots free.

Time to remind everyone (for probably about the 6th or 7th time) that all Gregg said was that he made sure O'Brien had something to eat. He never said 'slap up meal' or 'nice food', or anything about going to a fancy restaurant, or anything of the sort. That's a Chinese whisper that seems to have originated on this board and become some sort of Mandela Effect. It could very easily mean he got Billy the Bootboy to grab a few sandwiches from round the corner or got some Chinese delivered.

Yep. We get 4 this season. Our foreign recruits were Leo, Siggy and Tronstad, and I remember one or two of them qualified anyway. Just not which ones...I think Siggy because of his caps and European competition, and I think it was Tronstad too. (I'm not forgetting a foreign recruit am I?)

If that's the case, his agent has seriously underestimated our eagerness to make a quick buck on a sale.

Hasn't been on the last day of January for a while now if memory serves. At least 3 years I think? I'm sure it was on the 2nd Feb once.

O'Brien was in Manchester on deadline day, not the day before. You'd think that, combined with lessons hopefully learned, would mean we shouldn't repeat that here.

Gent is doing well there, so that makes sense. I don't really hold out much hope for Vale making it here, he seems too lazy and limited. But if he has a good loan we may be able to attract a small fee.