The constant reduction in average ages in senior football combined with the flexibility of allowing players who are 21 at the start of qualifying to still be eligible nearly 2 years later (ie at 23) has almost weirdly made this age group feel redundant, at least from an England perspective. Under age teams are obviously intended to be a pathway to senior football. You look through this England side, are the likes of Max Aarons and James Garner ever going to make it at senior level? Probably not. There is a chance for players at centre back so Colwill surely has a good chance but even then, Southgate loves Maguire so much regardless of how bad he is, so its even tough for him. And the likes of Gordon, Jones, Gibbs-White and Smith Rowe, only Gibbs-White is likely to play regular at senior level in the immediate future (that doesn't seem to matter to Southgate, but still) and they are all up against it with better talents already regularly playing at senior level despite either not being older (Foden, Saka, Bellingham etc) or players in their prime years in Grealish, Rashford, Sterling, Maddison etc.

The Charlton was forced by injuries to a few to be fair.

Surely nobody has to buy a ssason ticket then either, doesnt mean people cant comment on how dear those are too. The cost of watching live football legally in this country are extortionate.

Not sure people would resort to digging out DVDs if Sky no longer had shows on!

The worry is that when he was out, that didn't really happen. Big onus on Sigurdsson/Ennis/any other newbies scoring some goals.

Not a realistic proposition anyway, but he would massively improve us. Difficult to judge being in and out (and often wide when he did play) at a much higher level. But stick him up front and he would score goals which is what we need.

I never said he was. But he scored 16 goals, the second highest was 8. He scored 37 in 2 seasons, no one anywhere near that.

One thing I am sure of (really unsure whether he can step up in La Liga) is that he leaves a huge hole in our team, probably more than many realise. So reliant on his goals and goalscorers arent easy to come by. I wonder if some of the excitement around Sigurdsson comes around the potential for him to become a cult hero. Brereton not only was a key player but seemingly a popular one with the whole (under marketed) Diaz/Chile situation. A striker from Plymouth, he might come in and do well and lets hope so but I dont see him as potentially a cult hero, but Sigurdsson does have that vibe. The kind of player that everyone could be talking about.

He scored 28 goals and I think partly because his goalscoring came in front of empty stadiums, he was massively underappreciated. Talk of even him holding us back despite his ridiculous goalscoring.

His nose was knocked out off joint because he had radio silence when he wanted a new deal. He clearly wanted to stay.

Topped his pension up, then pretty much instantly got another job when he left here. If the issue is him earning money, everyone in football is a ****.

Indeed, it is bizarre. The reason that his comments triggered so many is because of who said them, not what was said. It got well beyond people being able to take his comments at face value. Tomasson has spent a whole season dampening down expectations, we arent expected to be in the top 6 or to chsse promotion, yet those comments are never micro-analysed, they if anything are echoed. Its just textbook manager talk, play down expectations. Our own fans regularly dampen expectations themselves regarding comparisons to previous years, and happily encourage selling key players. He is a dour man in general, but he is a pretty good Championship manager who did a pretty good job here. Happy to have Tomasson now, fresh start was badly needed. Its so strange how many hold such a grudge.

Is 2nd in League 1, then 15th, 11th, 15th and 8th, never ever anywhere near the bottom, just avoiding a complete disaster?

Those January funds were never verified and almost certainly not true, but he left soon after anyway, so spending would have likely strengthed his position, not weakened it. You must have a really high opinion of his managerial skills if you think that as soon as he starts trying, success follows. If we had gone up under him, his wage would have gone up and likely his deal would have been extended.

My point was that Mowbray wasn't doing anything but trying his best here. He did a decent job, if that was whilst barely trying then he must be an incredible manager when he does try, it was tongue in cheek. People are so twisted against him that they come up with any way they can to try and have a go, no matter how illogical. 10m of that money "spaffed" on strikers was clawed back, and a profit would have been made on the 3 deals if our owners weren't idiots.

He must be an excellent manager if he can match the points total that Tomasson has been praised over when half arsing it.

Mowbray derangement syndrome indeed. Bizarre.

Mowbray was doing his best too. Deary me.

But you have done a 180 since initially defending him following your chats.

Easy as that, 2 weeks in advance, regardless of where you work.

Getting time off work?

Why are we back to shutting people down for being negative/moaning.

Lot's of generational talents for one club!

Leicester seemingly in talks with Harry Winks and have also been linked in the last couple of days with Zack Steffen, Conor Coady, Tom Cairney and Joel Piroe so they could be strong if they get some of them.

To compete with, ie as good as/at a similar level to Pears? Definitely. As good as Kaminski and better than Pears? Not impossible, but very difficult, especially if not all of the chunk of proceeds made available is needed elsewhere.