bluebruce

I wouldn't have felt united by Duff at all.

There have been a lot less chances in this than at Ewood, but yet again I can't help feeling that if we swapped keepers we'd have won this. We really, really should've signed Johansen in the summer. We would have made the playoffs with him.

Why the fuck has Sanderson been getting treatment on the sidelines for so long without being subbed off, giving us 10 men and ending any momentum for a while?

Is she a girl or is she a woman?

He's really starting to get on my wick after initial promise. Decision making seems to be terrible and tries to be fancy at all the wrong times. Also loads of pointless petty fouls, on a Buckley level.

This ref doesn't like Gueye one bit. I should've put money on that yellow, he's had it in for him all game.

Oh aye, I know.

No matter how youthful the lineup (and I count I think 3 or 4 players who have sat the first team bench), losing 7-0 to fucking Charlton is a very poor result. They're literally not even in the same league. Even our u18s shouldn't be losing to them by that much.

In the up to maybe 8, 10 million bracket. Not usually in the 18 million bracket I believe. Though I don't follow it as closely these days. I know it does happen but far as I've noticed, if they pay that sort of money they have hopes beyond just hoover and loan out. Not saying they don't loan them either, they need to blood them, but I'd think they're usually expecting one season of loan, if they don't have proper Champs experience already, then break through after.

He's just kidding Man U, Pears is a top drawer keeper worth 30 million. But since we are cash strapped you can probably get him for a bargain 20 mill. He's basically the Adam Wharton of keepers. Mercer is trying to put you off because he's so good is all...

I don't know if you've come in peace, but your username is obnoxious.

Yep, but they also pass on 10x those sorts of players along the way.

You don't have to be a world class talent or even close, to be worth upwards of 18 million to a Prem side at the age of 19. It's peanuts for a good youth prospect at that level.

We don't actually know he has been offered a substantively better financial package at Derby, but even if he has, very few managers if any have moved for money and then come out and said 'I'm just here for the dosh'. It doesn't play well to his new constituents, and it's not reasonable to expect him to say that to placate us. Besides, I consider it fairly obvious the real reason he has left is because we pissed him about and didn't support him to a reasonable degree.

In fairness, promotion wasn't on the cards in January 2024. At the close of the month we were 11 points from the playoffs and only 8 from the relegation spots. At the start of the window we were equidistant to both. Even if we had been on the ball from the start of the month (that can't be guaranteed at most clubs tbf, let alone this clusterfuck of disorganisation), it's speculative at best to say we'd have gone very close to promotion. Our form was already in the toilet. Selling Wharton without reinvesting the funds did, however, make a relegation scrap inevitable. January 2023, however, there can be no excuses for not seizing the iron. We were in a great position and needed reinforcements to get over the line. With the right backing it's extremely likely we'd have at least made the playoffs.

One of the things often forgotten in the 'how much more would we have gotten in the summer' defence of the sale is that we would have had another half a season of Adam Wharton to enjoy. Another thing often forgotten is that any extra money is extra money. Even if it was only a million more, that's nearly as much as we spent on Gueye.

It's literally titled 'most spent on wages'.

Pretty confident Stoke have a higher wage budget than us too. Weren't we showing as about 16th on wage budget on lists a year or two ago, and have continued cutting costs since?

Probably because it was them.

Have fun with whatever you're getting up to (or, hope it goes well - delete as appropriate). Your efforts with this have been immense.

What a shit, pointlessly convoluted system.

Should be one game though I think. Two yellows is an automatic one match ban isn't it? Perfect chance to have got some proper minutes in him though, as it doesn't apply to youth games.

I'd rather the time being wasted is just added on anyway so nobody bothers wasting time on purpose anyway, like I've already said. It's not about getting some special punitive measure that gives my team a better advantage, it's about getting a better outcome with time wasting, and my suggestion does that just fine without any need for weird corners, and is less disruptive to the game.

I can, because you just do it differently at lower levels where the resources aren't there. Isn't that exactly why we don't have VAR in the Championship?

Well to quote you, 'but we know that won't happen'.