Blimey, it might not be the Club's fault that it isn't possible to start negotiations until a relatively late stage in any given case, but if they do make the decision to start those negotiations, they know the rules and that it is still incumbent on them to get the deal done in time with all the correct paperwork accompanying it.

Don't start asking awkward questions which get to the nub of the matter. Maybe, despite the line Sharpe has been fed he isn't. It will look very odd if his deal goes through and the major one doesn't. You'd expect that if both deals were genuinely under review by the EFL for the same reason both deals would either stand or both would fail.

No, you hang on, Im not going to post again on this, but you've completely changed the goalposts with your post above. In your original post , you correctly pointed out how imperative it was to serve Court proceedings in the manner prescribed by regulations, then, essentially said (I'm paraphrasing slightly) that it looked as though an employee at the Club might have committed an administrative error therefore it didn't appear the Club were at fault. When I pointed out that that was absolute nonsense you grudgingly agreed with me and admitted the Club were vicariously liable. If someone at your firm cocked up the service of Court proceedings with the result a Client's claim was struck out you wouldn't dream of trying to make out it wasn't your firm's fault so I don't know why you're trying to make out it's not Rovers fault in this instance. As for leaving dealings until the last minute, we can debate until the cows come home whether that's a desirable thing or not but no matter how late negotiations take place we know the regulations and the time deals have to be done by and should know exactly what paperwork has to be filed for each different type of deal so failure to comply with that is either negligent or a deliberate omission.

Absolutely. Shouldn't be scratching around at the eleventh hour risking a last minute disaster I'm despairing somewhat tonight actually, as not only do many posters not seem to think it's a problem we neverdo our business early, it seems that some think we shouldn't even expect those employed by the Club to be conversant with, or follow EFL regulations correctly!

There's no dispute ST sales are in steady decline is there?

Might be, who knows. If he wasn't physically present at the negotiations for a particular player though, it would seem to be an unnecessary duplication to have to send the paperwork to him for him then to send into the EFL. And, he has been at the Club some time and this issue hasn't arisen in the past as far as I'm aware.

What a load of nonsense. And you're a lawyer? IF a Rovers employee made an admin error how is it not the Club's fault the situation arose? Forest's? The EFL?

We'll see. According to Sharpe BOTH deals were in doubt. If that's true it completely blows the "bit unlucky, single document accidentally overlooked" excuse in the O Brien case out of the water. If both deals fail then whoever was dealing with them is clearly completely incompetent. If the outward deal for Markanday and the cheap deal for the kid from Rochdale that no- one cares about go through but the potentially expensive deal for the player we desperately need for the first team fails then attempts are made to apportion blame to the EFL then they really must think we were all born yesterday. Either way, Broughton should be sacked. The football side of the Club is now his responsibility.

Or deliberate.

Nail, hammer, head!

Couldn't resist again .....grrrr..... Are we actually buying this yarn that has been relayed to Sharpe?. I might be missing something but if one of the 2 deals we are allegedly waiting on is the young lad from Rochdale, how come a picture of him holding a Rovers shirt has surfaced at the Rochdale end? Sounds suspiciously like an attempt to shift blame for our own negligence onto the EFL to me.... BUT ......we'll see I suppose.

Wasn't going to comment until something official was announced but can't resist any longer. Why the assumption that IF things have gone wrong it's the owners fault? Surely it would be the fault of those on the ground tasked with getting the deals done. The only way in which the owners could be to blame would be if they'd changed their minds about a deal/deals at the last minute which hardly seems likely. IF everything has gone wrong I think I could cope with an announcement that we've signed no-one and Waggott and Broughton have received their P45's. I could also cope with it if deals have been done and it's merely poor PR but whether it's sheer incompetence or they're sitting there for a few hours pissing themselves watching everyone work themselves up into a lather it's extremely poor form. Right that's it, definitely over and out until official word is forthcoming.

Because?

Hopefully this is just a case of shocking PR. I mean the Club couldn't even be arsed confirming or quashing the rumours about whether our star player has signed a pre contract agreement to leave in summer which surfaced 3-4 days ago. If not, and we've messed up the O Brien deal and failed to land a striker after offloading Hirst and letting Markanday go out on loan then it imo it marks a new low in the day to day running of the Club by those on the ground. The longer the silence goes on the more likely it seems they're trying to compose their excuses. How difficult is it do issue a brief one liner confirming any signings then hold a press conference with the players when convenient? Not commenting further until there's some sort of official word

Ah the site's resident contrarian in full flow this morning. Such a pity the season doesn't end on January 31st.

Why were you so adamant last night it was done then?

Don't be silly. It'll be Markanday off on loan BBD has signed a pre contract agreement to leave at the end of the season AND That concludes business for the day.

Been out. Has O Brien actually signed?

Resigned to it. Anything else will definitely be a bonus.

Why, can we part-ex them for a decent CM and striker? If Carlsberg did transfer deals...............

They haven't had the courage to announce BBD's pre contract agreement yet assuming it's genuine. Allegedly trying to water it down by announcing it alongside another signing.

That's good to hear - no rush. I will lose my shit even more than I have already been doing about the recruitment process if tonight's game is wheeled out as an excuse for not being able to get business done in time at the end of a 31 day window.

Based on what?

Well, we'll only know when any future sale takes place if it included any the training complex. There's no obvious cause for concern on that front at the moment albeit whispers in the background tend to indicate Waggott would still like to move to some random brownfield site somewhere.

To be fair, that was Waggott's idea, which must have been subsequently shelved by someone else, presumably the owners, who then proceeded to inject £16m into the Club for an asset they already owned to keep us temporarily FFP compliant and the training facilities intact.