Wharton has more talent in his little toe than Moran has in his whole body. Plus as is usually the case with loan players Moran has gone into hiding now the going has got tough. Not really sure what your agenda is by making this comparison in the first place anyway.

Not sure why people find this so hard to believe, had the boat been pushed out in an to secure promotion, then all of a sudden Mowbray is under much greater pressure to secure results and Waggott is under extra pressure to bring more revenue into the Club to balance the books should the attempt fail. As opposed to bumbling on indefinitely on easy street in mid table with no pressure to obtain results etc. Don't forget by his own admission Mowbray said he had to "calm the owners down" and dampen expectations after promotion from League 1. Why would ANY manager want to do that? Crying over spilt milk now, it appears that unless there's another seismic and unexpected shift in circumstances the chances of any success for the foreseeable have gone. As many of us said at the time we should have gone for it when we had the chance.

JDT marking everyone's card and making it clear he's not responsible for any of this ****. But of course he is "happy".

In addition to the wasted money for the appeal last Feb, how much of the Club's money do you reckon he spaffed down the drain on the aborted attempt to sell part of Brockhall?

Are we on about the lad from Crewe? Apologies if it's been mentioned elsewhere but Nixon appears to be claiming the move has hit the buffers because they want the £500 k up front and we want to pay in installments. Sounds fairly typical of our shambolic efforts at recruitment but like you I don't think it would be quite the disaster it would have been had it been the type of player we actually needed.

What a situation to be in. Imo it is a complete waste of time anyone trying to engage with Waggott. Turkeys dont vote for Christmas. The better bet iimo s to try and engage with the owners direct to try and make them see some ssort of sense but that has been tried, all sorts of promises were made and yet here we are. Furthermore now, even if further contact was achievable, they would no doubt argue since the restrictions they are doing all they can in the circumstances. The boat probably sailed with Mowbray and his weird reluctance to make a real push for the Premier League whist it was still a genuine possibility. I know a lot of posters won't have it but I'm still firmly of the view based on what I've been told that Mowbray and Waggott had a substantial watchest made available to them Jan 22 but declined to use it. If these restrictions are going to be an indefinite open ended thing with no time limit then the only thing likely to save us from operating at a level lower than we've ever done is new ownership and if any supporters have any connections in the world of sports ownership or high finance that's probably where everyone's energy should be directed in an attempt to drum up interest.

Interesting post, I'd heard well before GB's arrival that the Club were looking to move towards the DOF model with Waggott being responsible for non footballing issues. "The buck" certainly didn't stop with the DOF for the debacle last January did it? Absolutely zero accountability. Do you think they're both virtually unsackable? It's an extremely grim prospect to contemplate two such unsuitable characters running the separate arms of the Club with zero accountability as long as they keep the lights on and just about keep our noses above water on the pitch.

No he isn't. Wahlstedt is way worse than Pears.

100% With money tight the recruitment HAS to be absolutely spot on. Little or no sign that GB is the man for that job - one big success which we're now hearing may or may not have been his choice anyway and the rest of his recruitment ranging from ordinary to downright abysmal.

Bit of a stretch to call Hyam "a very good signing" - we paid a substantial fee for him, he had a good start to last season but I thought he was fairly poor in the second half of last season when the team as a whole tanked and this season he seems to be getting worse and worse and turning into something of a defensive liability.

The one we've got.

Despite the spin the LT has put on it that article doesn't say he's happy at the Club, it merely says he likes working with the players on a day to day basis etc. He'd get that type of enjoyment working anywhere at any Club. It's what he DOESN'T say that's telling - if he was genuinely happy here he would be quick to point out that Steve and the owners had been incredibly supportive and his DOF had provided some brilliant recruitment etc etc

Doesn't matter Hirst has done well at Ipswich. He was abysmal here and a poor signing for us. Similarly Telalovic has done nothing. I'll give you/ GB Szmodics. Hyam/Siggy/Moran/Hill - Meh.

I thought I read elsewhere that each and every item of expenditure had to be itemised by the Club and approved by the Court on it's own merits? The exact opposite of "a precedent".

Got Waggott's fingerprints all over it.

Did the Sunderland board Harbour "a weird hatred" towards him as well then or did they recognise like most of us on here did he wasn't the person to take their Club forward? Ditto the Coventry board and whichever Club he left in the lower Leagues before being rescued off the managerial scrapheap to join us.

Szmodics was dreadful in the first half of last season, if he'd have performed a bit better we'd have made the play offs. Conversely I thought Hyam was really poor in the second half of last season and seemingly hasn't been good this season. I haven't seen much of Tronstad this season as Waggott has temporarily finished me off attending in person but from what I've seen on TV he's a bit of a nothing player, the stats also say no goals no assists and we're in 17th so it doesn't strike me he's pulling up any trees.

How does Mowbray keep getting these gigs? Won't be too long before he's trying to dampen Brady's enthusiasm, telling him that he doesn't want success too quickly and the Club should be on a 5 year journey. Also if he was too far away from his family here and always moaning about it, how does working in Birmingham fly? Looks like the pound notes triumphed over being a family man. Hypocritical arsehole.

OK I'll bite. The "evidence" against GB. Hirst, Telalovic, Ennis, Wahlstedt, Mola The Transfer window debacle last January. One entry on the credit side, a signing we paid top dollar for who has unexpectedly exceeded expectations this season after a poor first campaign in Szmodics. Next best, big money paid for Hyam who I'd say is average at best and now seems to be proving a bit injury prone. "Prejudice" indeed.

It CAN of course happen that you unearth a bargain from time to time but as a rule of thumb imo if you sell one of your better players then replace them with a couple of cheaper ones it makes the team weaker not stronger. How's the hunt to replace Armstrong and Brereton going? That's 'even assuming you're allowed all the funds for reinvestment which probably wouldn't be the case here. And finally, to cap it all off, you've got Broughton leading the search for a replacement. A frightening prospect.

Agreed, also on a more basic level it has always baffled me how people think selling a player then bringing in several for the same money ( who by definition must be inferior) enhances a team/squad. If you think you can replace Travis like for like with a better player - fair enough. But I doubt that's what's happening here.

To be fair, he is probably right. Due to some of the dross Broughton's been signing recently we're probably no longer paying our top wage to "the worst" outfield player at the Club but "one of" the worst. That must make it all OK.

Who knows? but practically everything he's done since being at the Club seems geared to that end.

Hill must be on a fair old screw if the £500 k plus wages for the young CB from Crewe are covered by him being recalled by Bournemouth.

Common theme under Waggott's leadership Waggott Tax - scrapped (I think?) Introduction of match day charge to Blues Bar -scrapped Flogging off the training ground - scrapped Digital Day - scrapped Consistent theme of taking the piss and seeing how much he can get away with. The one thing he seems unwilling to bend on is reversing previous price increases to ST's as that would involve a bit of work in getting more people into the ground to raise the same revenue. Here's a novel idea - how about NOT making these ludicrous decisions at all and making good ones in the first instance?