Which according to unleaded we have scrapped. Funnily enough I am strangely reassured to hear that we've scrapped anything that was to do with Park but if true it does leave us very much up against it time wise

But the Club has known they'd both be leaving for twelve months or more in reality. So to be scratching around now with half a squad and no Head of Recruitment with less than four weeks to go before the start of the season is as usual pretty poor forward planning tbh. Can JDT turn the situation around? We can only hope so.

Noble words, but so far we have failed to do that or even get players in maybe not quite the best available within our budget. And our need is even more desperate than normal having allowed three absolutely key first teamers to walk out for nothing. You can only judge the recruitment department on results and who actually comes through the door not hard luck stories and kudos because we were after a potentially higher grade of player who ended up elsewhere. That's no use to anyone.

That's the £64m dollar question. It should be clear roughly what players are after in terms of wages within 5 minutes of speaking to their agent. As far as the defender we were after that has gone to Sheff Utd is concerned, in terms of the time and effort spent chasing him, we might as well have been chasing Virgil Van Dyke, the net result is the same, the player hasn't ended up coming here. Under the old regime I used to (only partially) joke that working in the recruitment department appeared a bit of a doddle. - Low ball various Clubs/ players at the start of the window with offers that are never going to be accepted. Leak a story to the lapdog local press that offers are on the table for various players. - Pick fluff out of your navel for about half the window. Leak another story about still being "hopeful" of signing players X, Y, and Z to quell any mounting unrest. - When the alleged target finally moves elsewhere to another Club for roughly what they were after, Leak a final hard luck story about being gazumped at the last minute by a Club coming in offering more money. - Pick the phone up and see what last minute scraps are available off the Premier League loan table irrespective of whether they are the players we need in the positions we most urgently need filling. - Job done! Put your feet up until the next window. Rinse and repeat. I hope we're not going down a similar route with the new regime and have not merely added an unnecessary extra wage to the pay roll in Broughton. As for Park, no loss at all, but if it was known he was going to be replaced some time ago he should have been replaced at the end of the season or even earlier and the new man brought in. His replacement might not fancy the names he was scouting particularly if he was merely dredging Scotland for low grade dross like Hedges.

Genuine question because I don't know the answer - Do losses for FFP purposes completely reset at the end of every three year cycle or are they calculated over the previous three seasons on a permanent rolling basis?

It wasn't our decision to pull out on the grounds of financial prudence though, the player seemingly turned us down. The bottom line is it seems this guy was a priority target for us and we've failed to land him. I was hoping for a massive improvement in the area of recruitment under the new regime. Must also be massively disappointing for JDT who has worked with the player before. Not particularly encouraging going forward.

No offence chaddy; but talk about a contradiction in terms!

I know that's about the best we can cobble together as things stand but that's a fairly horrific looking line up imo. Defensively Carter is primarily a centre half not a RB and we will sorely miss the excellent Nyambe. The crock Ayala needs turfing out, jury's out on Pickering. Further forward Hedges is pony imo, Markanday is completely unproven and it's unclear at this stage whether Dack can get back to anything approaching his best. Brereton might not even be staying. Anyone who thinks Mowbray left us with a solid platform needs to look at the above and give their head a wobble. The rest of us will probably be reflecting on what a vulnerable position Mowbray has left us in and what a complete waste of time and money the last four seasons have been.

I second the above. Although I think everyone is getting on chaddy's case rather unfairly here, I thought he posted quite clearly that he had a meeting with Waggott to discuss the pitch etc. How can he divulge what was said before the meeting has even taken place?

Not sure if that is aimed at me but don't know what you're on about if it was. You'll have noticed I really loved the Coventrio...........and Park. Three down, one to go. (Hopefully)

Really dispiriting interview with Waggott in the LT today. Lots of psycho babble, waffle and moaning about operating from 3 bases. (Sounds like Brockhall is still under threat if he gets his way eventually) Edit: Do they communicate by telegram? Can they not pick up the bloody phone to one another? Also part of the budget for players taken up with players already here. What does that even mean? And what's the point of Broughton if he has to go trailing back to Waggott for approval on everything? Sounds like an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and Waggott trying to make it appear like he actually does something worthwhile and is indispensable.

Always "expected" and "hoped" with our lot. Never "will be".

You're going nowhere fast relying on Gallagher. Apart from maybe League 1. We'd be as well off trying to get £3m back on him than trying to pimp BBD out imo.

You know my view on that. No-one's been banging that particular drum harder than me for the last 3 seasons.

Must admit, was hoping for some fireworks myself next week, anyone who's out of contract will be a free agent by 00.01 Saturday morning so it might concentrate a few minds and start the ball rolling.

Don't disagree on either of the above. It's surely down to the manager and CEO to identify and prioritise the key assets in the squad however.......

It was not "not allowed" when Armstrong left, Obafemi turned us down and Maja failed a medical here.

Yes, Exactly what is needed .........if it happens. Even more so than usual this time round having lost three first team regulars due to Mowbray and Waggott's negligence. Plus the usual summer exodus of loanees which leaves us scratching about as normal.

Yep, I was led to believe there was a lot more than a million or two made available to spend as well. Albeit it is now completely water under the bridge.

I didn't think he looked that good! Really poor signing imo.

Unless the Peterborough Chairman was lying we submitted an identical bid to Bournemouth for Dembele so that bid obviously wasn't reliant on any Rothwell sale and would tend to indicate there was money available to spend.

The Club would have been in a far better position imo if the owners had actually been a lot more invested and hands on and over-ruled Mowbray on various occasions over the years. - Not paying £2m over 2 years for Mulgrew to play for League 1 Clubs - Not handing Gladwin a new deal to train with us to get fit. - Not handing out lengthy deals to dross like Evans and Bennett and the ageing Graham - Not giving Downing another deal then never using him. - Not paying players who hadnt featured at all in the Covid hit season for another 3 months at the end - Not paying £5m for Gallagher who wasn't particularly good first time he was here - Not signing Chapman twice and rarely playing him on either occasion. - Not signing Davenport and rarely playing him - Not handing out a 4 year deal to the useless Pears and another to a Greek keeper who was never used - Pre pandemic, not running massively bloated squads full of squad fillers - In conjunction with the above, stipulating on the contrary that the key assets in the squad should be protected and not be allowed to approach the last twelve months (or less) of their contracts. You think I have an agenda against Mowbray and you'd be right in that respect as I regard him as pound for pound one of the worst managers we've ever had. On the flip side of the coin I find your insistence on defending him against every single word of criticism very odd. It comes across as if you were related to him.

Well, hopefully. That's why I was concerned about him being in Portugal.

Most of what you say is very fair. Would you not accept however there is a LOT to do before the start of the season? Maybe the recruitment experience will be a completely different animal under Broughton ,JDT and his team to that under Waggott, Mowbray, Venus and Park. I think people can be forgiven for being nervous though as it seems to me we've had immense trouble landing players in general over the last 5 years and have been virtually unable to land "oven ready" (sorry) or off the peg experienced Championship performers.

Well, when we get round to signing someone we can discuss it. Meanwhile........