Ghost of Clough

I'm going to assume promotion for this and we'll go with a 3412/3421... Loans for: Evans, Rooney, Fornah, Radcliffe, Weston Extensions for: Forsyth (backup and in-game coaching for U21s), Sibley, Thompson and DRobinson Meaning we retain the following squad: GK: Vickers RCB: Nelson, Nyambe CB: Bradley, Forsyth LCB: Cashin RWB: Ward, Wilson LWB: Sibley, Elder DM: - CM: LThompson, DRobinson RW: - LW: Mendez-Laing, Blackett-Taylor CF: Washington, DBrown In my squad, that would leave gaps at GK(x2), CB, LWB, DM(x2), CM, RW(x2), CF(x2) - 11 signings GK, 1st choice - Chris Walton (free, Ipswich) GK, 3rd choice - John Ruddy (free, Birmingham) May want to go somewhere he will get game time which would rule us out. He's at the age where he should be stepping back, and he wouldn't have to move too far if he were to join us. CB, 1st choice - Sam Stubbs (free, Bradford). A risky option, but he's still only 25, dominant in the air, and a good defender. He is slow so could struggle with stepping up a couple of divisions. Saying that, I thought he played very well in his game against us in the EFL Trophy. LWB, rotation - Sam McCallum (free, Norwich) DM, 1st choice - Ebou Adams (£?). Makes our team click without doing anything fancy. Difficult to say what Cardiff would want for him. DM, 2nd choice - Nohan Kenneh (£?, Hibs). He would often train with the first team at Leeds under Bielsa, so you know the type of player he is. A 21 year old version of Adams. CM, 1st choice - Herbie Kane (free, Barnsley). Would take over from Hourihane as the main set-piece taker. RW, rotation - Tyrhys Dolan (compensation, Blackburn). Versitile, coming through as a winger at Blackburn before moving more central this season. The type of player you need in a squad to give the flexibility between formations depending on opposition and injuries within the squad. RW, rotation - Femi Azeez (compensation, Reading). One of the best wingers in the league, with a high goal contribution output. Will be in high demand, so an unlikely signing. CF, 1st choice - Harry Leonard (loan, Blackburn). A good all-round forward who creates as well as scores. We were apparently close to signing him in January, so I can see us going back in for him in the summer. CF, 2nd choice - John McAtee (loan, Luton). More of a #10, but is another hard worker and one of the more creative CFs in L1. A final squad of: GK: Walton, Vickers, Ruddy RCB: Nelson, Nyambe CB: Stubbs, Bradley, Forsyth LCB: Cashin RWB: Ward, Wilson LWB: McCallum, Sibley, Elder DM: Adams, Kenneh CM: Kane, LThompson, DRobinson RW: Dolan, Azeez LW: Mendez-Laing, Blackett-Taylor CF: Leonard, McAtee, Washington, DBrown

I think it's a bit soon to be putting him in . Still only 17 and has barely had half a season at U21 level. I would give him half of next season to see how he's progressing (maybe the full season) before loaning him out. He'll need to learn how to deal with being bullied by opposition players, something he wouldn't have truly experienced before.

With 6 games to go, we've given the 2nd least amount of league minutes to players currently aged 21 or younger (699 mins), only 221 minutes more than Cambridge. We're over 16,000 minutes down on the side leading the charts (Wigan) and over 9600 minutes behind Peterborough (3rd). We are however 4th for minutes given to academy graduates (7977 mins), mostly thanks to Bird and Cashin being regular starters and Sibley being a rotation option. Out of the promotion hopefuls, Peterborough are closest to us, ranked 6th with 5599 mins.

A similar trajectory to what we had under Clough? 2 seasons in the 29,000s, followed by a 6k drop over the next 3 seasons before picking up again under Mac I.

In colour form (red, orange, yellow), something close to this:

Our total club wage bill dwarfs everyone else's, so I think it's fair to say we aren't getting the most out of our expenditure. I also expect us to have the highest first team wage bill in the league, although it will be close to a couple others (such as Bolton). Top 3 is certainly where we should be IMO.

Bob Hoskins, the deceased actor? Or Sam Hoskins, the 31 year old attacker who has scored more than 3 goals in a League 1 season only twice in his career?

Let's pretend we don't have the highest first team wage bill in the league then? Our first team players are collectively on more than the entire wage bill for at least 18 clubs in this division. Last season, we had a turnover of £20.443m and a SCMP of 42.0%, equating to £8.56m. This figure excludes first teamers such as Knight, Cashin, Sibley, Thompson and Rooney, so the true first team wage bill was higher than this (approx £9.5m?). We're expected to pay out similar (if not more) this season. Based on the latest released accounts, only Charlton (£10.6m in 21/22), Bolton (10.2m in 21/22) and Barnsley (£9.3m in 22/23) had a total wage bill higher than our SCMP figure, and only 2 of them higher than the approximate first team wage bill. This season, Wigan's and Reading's will be lower than these figures, whilst Reading's is anyone's guess. Either way, there won't be more than 5 team with a total wage bill higher than our first team wage bill. Hardly bargain basement in terms of wages.

I always said he just needed a run of games to adjust to men's football by gaining that sense of "belonging" in men's football. The minimum he should be playing next season is L1, and depending on his pre-season, could even be with our first team in the Championship. Is it 9 goals and 2 assists in 14 games now (half of the games were 10 mins off the bench)? He would be exactly the type of signing we should be looking at signing if we fail to go up, so has to be in with a serious shout next season.

Fapetu is a CM

Wilson is better at RW than Ward

Fornah, Wilson and Washington were 'undisclosed'. Further details revealed nothing was paid upfront, but fees will be due upon certain clauses (promotion, sell-on, etc...) John-Jules will have cost a loan fee in the form of a wage contribution. This is the same for all loans, although you typically get charged a lump fee on top at Championship level.

No, academy would be U21 squad and down with all staff and maybe building costs included. U21 players are simply excluded from the SCMP calculation.

Weston would do a job if partnered with Waggy or Collins. If playing with a front 3, he would have to be used on the wing. Potentially starting with Wilson, Waghorn, Blackett-Taylor, then finish with Weston, Collins and Washington

Any player aged under 21 as of Jan 1st prior to the season starting (ie born in 2001 or later for last season). I thought it was only academy graduates, but it seems to include signigs too (such as Rooney). For the current season, Sibley and Cashin are no logner excluded from the SCMP calculation, but Thompson and Rooney still are. The academy costs around £4m a year at the moment.

That £7.3m didn't include: Bielik and all other players out on loan; Knight, Sibley, Cashin and Thompson as they fall into the U21 academy system category; potentially Rooney and Oduroh for the same reason; potentially Loach due to being a part-time coach.

That was because Wildsmith had plenty of time to claim that long ball. His starring position wasn't too far off where it bounced in the box. Instead, he backed off, forcing Cashin to deal woth it instead.

No, because Warne won't use him anyway. Waghorn will start vs Blackpool, with Washington and Collins on the bench. The hope would be to get at least one of them fully fit.

A question at the fans forum was raised, asking Buxton and Hale if they think the U18/21 players ahold have been given more of an opportunity this season. The response being "they haven't done enough to convince Warne". They also stated Thomspon not being a top performer in the U21s, but stepping up seamlessly under Rooney. None have played more than Robinson, who has only got 90 minutes vs a Wolves U21 side and hasn't played in any other game. The only player to feature in the League (Brown) has only got 13 minutes, I would be extremely surprised to see someone getting a chance this season. Take that Wolves U21 game away, then you really see how willing Warne is to using them: Brown (30 mins), Radcliffe (11 mins) Weston (6 mins) and Fapetu (2 mins). It's pathetic. They could have had a meaningful amount of minutes earlier in the season, even against the likes of Crewe or Bradford in Cup competitions, or when 2 goals up against Carlisle, Leyton Orient, and Bristol Rovers. If they were, we'd now have a better idea of whether they could step in for a couple of games. Even if they weren't ready, using them in more games would have helped keep our older players fresher, and potentially injury free.

I think Bradley just can't cope with any sort of pressure. He struggled when making his first few starts at home, and he's now crumbled under the pressure of expectation.

Wildsmith Ward Nelson Cashin Elder Smith Adams Wilson Sibley Blackett-Taylor Waghorn Subs: Evans, DRobinson, Thompson, Hourihane, Weston, Washington, Collins

Injuries and suspension XI: Vickers Nyambe Rooney Bradley Forsyth Mendez-Laing Bird Fornah Barkhuizen Collins Gayle Subs: John-Jules

What an idiot

Ref conned by their players calling for it.