These particular friendlies are warm ups for a major tournament, but its understandable why Championship players dont get called up when there is quality above them playing in the Premier League,

Sadly he wont be dropped but theres no way Dunk should be going, nowhere near good enough. Quansah, Trafford and Jones are easiest 3 to drop. A decision needs to be made on Shaw, hes obviously our only competent left back so if he will be fit soon then he is perhaps worth taking. Maguire will also not be fit for the tournament, im not keen on taking players carrying injuries unless they are key and even when Maguire is fit he is not a particularly good player so I wouldnt take him either. Stones is an obvious pick, Guehi made a big mistake last night and is a bit rusty but he is a decent player and should go, as should Branthwaite. Konsa also deserves to go, he is best at centre back and more limited but still useful at full back, similar to Gomez. We named 8 centre backs but it is still difficult to find enough who justify selection. Further forward, we pretty much know that the front 4 will be Kane, Foden, Bellingham and Saka, so its all about who can best supplement them. Gordon and Bowen provide a bit more width and have both had very good seasons so they would go as would Palmer who would prefer to play in a position with 2 world class players ahead of him, but has been outstanding this season and can play from the right too. Watkins seems to struggle for his country but with the disparity between his season and Toney's, forgetting one decent friendly performance and penalty from the latter a few months ago, Watkins has to go. Maddison is also unnecessary, to be honest I can't see Eze or a very lucky Grealish really featuring, and im not too fond of Gallagher who shouldnt be near the starting 11. So I would personally cut Trafford, Dunk, Quansah, Jones, Maguire, Maddison and Toney. I think he will cut Trafford, Branthwaite, Quansah, Jones, Wharton, Maddison and Toney.

If he is fit I think Gordon is ahead (or should be) of Grealish, Maddison and Toney in attack, not starting but in the squad. Gives us pace we dont have loads of and works hard going back ahead of an out of position LB.

Theres no way that one midfielder overturns a 20+ point difference. We would have got into the play offs but not to a 90+ automatic promotion season.

There was always a cap to how much he could have been sold for at a Championship club but we definitely could have got more if we were run by normal owners. Had we waited until the summer and had we not been under such pressure to sell to pay the bills and for the owners court case, we wouldnt have been in such a poor negotiating position. Palace knew we had to sell. Had we kept him until the summer, he gets a further half season to impress so that value goes up anyway. Pointless saying only Palace bid and only x and y were rumoured, even if they were the genuinely the only teams showing an interest, in crucially a summer window with Wharton having more games under his belt, more teams would be interested and would be more likely to spend in the summer. And assuming we didnt have to kick him out the door such was our desperation, we get a higher fee.

We wouldnt have fought for 2nd. We were 22 points behind in the end, with poor GD. We would have needed to go on a nigh on perfect run from January.

I dont even know if Waggott or Broughton negotiated, but when with barely any time left in the window you are distressed sellers and other clubs know that, especially as many potential clubs couldnt act due to FFP. These dickhead owners reject bids for players whose is value will soon be nothing yet when they need the money for them then unfortunately we are backed into a corner.

Always difficult to judge friendlies where loads of barely capped players are put together. A 3 nil win flattered England against a very poor Bosnia side after a couple of late goals when they were knackered. I dont think many of what are fringe players did much to guarantee a place on the plane. Watkins doesnt look at home in an England shirt, has had a brilliant season at Villa but seems to struggle with the step up of being the main man for his country and further highlighted the importance of Kane. There is a lot of understandable clamour for Palmer who also had had a great season but he seemed to take one or two touches too many, and both Bowen and in particular Eze did some nice turns but little of consequence beyond that. Guehi seems set to start the tournament but made one terrible error that a better team would punish and Gallagher is nowhere near good enough for a team with the intentions of getting as far as we claim to, so limited on the ball. Alexander Arnold is a bit of a dilemma, he seems more natural at right back but some of his passes stood out and his finish was excellent. Obviously we were comfortable against a limited side with little quality but you would want more from individuals who are pushing not only to guarantee their place on the plane but to be next in line behind the main 4 attacking players. Wharton played as if he was in the park such was his composure.

Venkys are solely to blame. They not only forced a sale to cover their own indiscretions but made none of the proceeds available. Tonight obviously is a proud moment but also a frustrating one. We had such a talented player and a Rovers fan on our hands and we had to rush him out the door because Venkys desperately wanted the money.

Is there a Grealish love in?

Eustace had no clue on budget a month ago, Venkys are notoriously slow and since our director of football and other scouts have gone without replacement. I would be amazed.

Id be surprised if he does make it as Alexander Arnold and Gallagher start in midfield and Rice and Mainoo will probably play on Friday so he is well down the pecking order. I suppose if there are 7 players to cut, youd imagine Trafford and Quansah are the obvious 2 so it might depend on injuries and squad spaces but there is also Jones too.

Didnt you swerve the last Burnley game due to fear?

You are speaking as if our focus should be on ensuring that Szmodics fulfills his dream. You could argue that it wouldnt be fair to say you arent going no matter what, but it has to be a case whereby a pricetag of certainly more than £8m needs to be met. If it is, we accept, if not then we dont and I am sure amidst frustration if it is communicated at the start of the summer then he would just have to accept that no one wanted him enough to bid the asking price. Amortisation is only really relevant from an FFP perspective whereby any signings fee is spread evenly over the course of his contract, and any sale hits the P&L as a profit or loss in relation to the current net book value of the player, so they are the 2 parts of transfer deals that affect the losses we make. Amortisation also is an artificial figure in that it doesnt correspond to any actual payments, its just an accounting way to decrease the value of an asset over the course of its useful life. I get the installments point from a cash flow perspective and obviously they will differ from deal to deal but I dont think theres any reason to suspect that the installments on our ingoing and outgoing business are significantly different. Take the Wharton deal, if we received say £6m initially then a further £6m across the following 2 years. That payment structure is irrelevant from an FFP perspective, and the sale itself would be purely profit as he didnt cost a fee. But even though we didnt receive it all at once, we have still got a £12m debtor sat on our balance sheet from Palace in addition to £6m in the bank so theres plenty of scope to reinvest. If we bid £3m for someone in 3 installments of £1m, the seller would know that we are receiving money ourselves at those same points. Factoring all this in, both from an accounting/FFP perspective and also an installment perspective, there is no reason to not sign someone upon selling someone else in the same summer. I just think their primary focus has never been about whats going on the pitch. The occasional spending "sprees" just seem to be when maybe they have a bit of interest, the last 2 being upon promotion and funding for a new manager.

I get that obviously money in and out are connected, so there must be somewhat of a connection despite what I am about to say. But even the occasional spending that Venkys allow is never really at the same time as a sale. We spent £4m on the 3 you mentioned when Tomasson came in but that was a year after the Armstrong sale when Mowbray was publically frustrated by having absolutely no scope to reinvest. We also spent £10m when we came up from League 1, that felt like a random sniff of interest from the owners and it ended up funding 4 years worth of prolific goalscorers. Otherwise it has been repeated windows of frugality. On the flip side, the winter we sold Rhodes we were limited to loans. As I mentioned with Armstrong we didnt reinvest. When we sold Wharton we obviously couldnt spend any leading to the McGuire fiasco. When we sold Gestede and Cairney, no money either. The only time when it seemed to be related was when we sold Raya and bought Gallagher in the same summer, and even then money out exceeded money in.

He really isnt a Rovers legend. We certainly shouldnt be giving him away almost because he "deserves it." A normal club if they felt that the player wanted to move and/or his valuation will never be higher would only sell for a big bid and reinvest a big chunk to try and push on. Alas, here any money will vanish so it makes no difference

The house wont fall until the owners are gone.

You could compare the price changes to an overpriced restaurant making miniscule price drops but then making the kids menu really cheap. Wouldnt cause a huge increase in people going.

It might be more a case of you wont have much money to play with. Not that he cant sign anyone at all. Even if he promised a certain amount, that tends to change under these owners.

Not necessarily. Even if it was a case of a low budget, people would still be willing to do the job especially if it is at a club bigger/paying bigger wages comparative to where they are at now.

How many chips could you get for £350?

He probably is one of the first names on the team sheet as it stands, the team almost picks itself because we have no strength in depth due to budget cuts. But has he improved much in those 4 years, or does he still constantly over elaborate with needless skills, with less speed?

The problem at a club as dysfunctional as ours is any extra bridges tend to increase the risk of conflict and time delays.

We also signed Edun, Markanday, Poveda and Clarkson in his season in charge. Limited pool seeing as he was only here for 1 season but its very much a mixed bag.

No one has suggested that Dolan should be the finished article. But the question is, how much has he really improved over 4 years, if at all? He still makes too many poor decisions in the final third and frustrates with the constant need to do 100 stepovers everytime he gets the ball. He also has lost that burst of acceleration he once had. I think you are right though, he shouldnt be starting games as regularly as he does.