Ghost of Clough

I think we'll see a transition towards 343/3421. It's the only real way you get Blackett-Taylor, Mendez-Laing and one of Ward/Wilson in the side together. That would mean a back 3 of Nyambe, Nelson and Cashin backed up by Rooney (next season), Bradley and Forsyth. Ward, Wilson, Elder and Sibley our wing backs. If we make Adams permanent (which I expect will be the plan), Hourihane to leave at the end of his contract, and Bird's loan to end... Adams will be partnered with another new signing next season (for now it would be Bird). Thompson and another will be backups. We would also need 2 new wingers to compete with Blackett-Taylor and Mendez-Laing, as well as a couple new forwards (expect a new deal for Collins). When we signed Fornah, I saw nothing in his stats to set him apart from Smith. It's no surprise to me it isn't quite working as Warne had hoped. However, when I looked at Adams' he was averaging close to double Fornah's defensive output, albeit mostly at a lower level and having not played much for a couple of years. I just new he would make a difference. Then his interview... with an infectious personality like his, he's it just adds to the certainty of him being a good signing.

Under a decent contract and still in L1, I think we would have been pushing for £3m. I think a tribunal would have ruled at around £2m with sell-ons, and I reckon that's what we'll have arranged with Bristol.

Most away wins in the league too

Another soft yellow card. This time for Bird. Charlton have committed 3 or 4 fouls worse than that and got nothing

Surprised to see Barkhuizen come off

Wilson and Smith on for Ward and Hourihane to see the game out now. Unless Vickers is injured

Wigan down to 10 men but still 2-0 up vs Peterborough

Ref gave Sibley just 2 seconds to throw the ball in following the Chalton sub. Ridiculous decision by the ref

Hourihane been in acres of space on the edge of the box a couple of times as we broke forward but the ball got stuck out wide

A clear pull on Bradley, which should have been a penalty Lovely dribble from Bird but should have done better with the shot.

Charlton looking good since the break. I think we need to swap Hourihane for Thompson to help us press more effectively.

It's £90k per year between ages 12 and 21 for Cat 1 clubs.

So in this hypothetical scenario, was Warne deliberately using 4 at the back to get worse results than "his way", or does he know that 4 at the back is better than "his way" which is why we kept playing 4 at the back?

Released in January. I'm surprised our Yorkshire scouts have missed Lys Mousset. Hasn't played much since leaving Sheff Utd in 2022 due to an achilles injury, but still only 27. Struggled in the PL, but scored 3 in 7 (320 mins) in the Championship. He would score for fun at this level.

I did laugh at "don't bring in players to replace your better ones, no point" when we finished 7th last season and 3 of most used 11 moved on in the summer.

Our midfield for next season: Xavi, Yaya, and Zidane

Not too surpised by those moves. Jeffcott always seemed to be loan cover whilst Moloney adapts to U21 football and having barely played at U18 level over the previous 2 seasons due to injuries. He also mised the first couple months of this season. Gough will be stepping up full time next season (as well as covering LW), with Gill hoping to get some experience at that level too. I expect the extensions for Oseni and Nunn are an indication of both being released at the end of the season. They'll be 21 and 22 respectively at the setart of next season and are nowhere near our first team. Bartley, Bardell, Radcliffe, Bates, Gibson-Hammond, Nto and Weston are all 20 or over so should be looking at men's football soon. I wouldn't expect any to be in our first team squad next season, so all should be pushing for loans tbh. DRobinson too, in the hope he can mimic Thompsons trajectory since this time last season.

Rotherham don't have a cat 1 academy but neither do Peterborough. Only 1 of those clubs conssitently recruits yougner players. Warne had 6 years at Rotherham. How much time does a manager need to show they're willing to sign youngsters with potential? Our academy wasn't "ravaged". There's only 6 players who would have been part of our U18 or U21 squads during Warne term as manager than have been poached. Only 1 of those would currently be deserving of a place in our first team squad. All others who moved on would have been first team squad members before Warne was appointed. I haven't said the fansbase will be happy with choosing youth over promotion. I have however said we would be more understanding of the journey if youth were used should we fail to win promotion versus failing with older players on the decline. The remit of the manager is to use all the tools at his disposal. The academy is a tool which should be used. We've had this same argument before, but I'll repeat it anyway. Part of a youngsters journey into men's football (particularly for L1 and Championship Cat 1 clubs) is by playing in their own club's first team prior to oing out on loan.

I don't know what point you;re trying to make here. I was also critical of our signings in the past. I even gave an example earlier today when we had Forsyth, Malone, Olsson and Cole all contracted on permanent deals when we had Lowe on the fringes and Buchanan only 1 season away from his club debut. At one point we owned Evans, Johnson, Bryson, Butterfield, Holmes, Thorne, Ledley and Huddlestone (as well as loaning in Mount and King in) - we knew we had Bird, Knight and Sibley coming through, as well as Elsnik who was at least a level above them all at that moment in time. The circustances were also different, particularly under Cocu and Rooney, when the number of players we could sign was limited - only 5 in 21/22, and had a wage limit roughly a third of what we can now spend, whilst balancing it against only 7 outfielders over the age of 23. It ddin't make sense to sign more players aroudn the 20 year mark when that wasn't what our squad needed. The other major factor during this period was the number of youths coming through which negated the need to sign young players from other clubs. This isn't something you can credit to Rotherham.

Potentially, if the Rotherham chairman classes instant relegation from the Championship as success.

This Saturday we'll be blessed by seeing [in Warne's own words] "the strongest bench in League 1 history". Sounds like everyone is fit apart from our trio of CFs (Wash, Wag and JJ)

If we exclude our U18/21 signings: 22/23: 19 yeo Rooney 19 yo Oduroh who was given limited game time by Rosenior, then binned off by Warne 21/22: None signed 20/21: 22 yo winger - cost £4m, sold for £2m 19/20: 21 yo Bielik - cost £8m, sold for up to £1m 18/19: None signed 17/18: None signed 16/17: None signed Up until 2019, MM gambled on the experienced route. Some players such as Lawrence and Holmes just missed the age cut off. Whilst the plan was for any signigns aged 21 or youngesr to come throguh the U18/21/23 squads first - Hutchinson, Plange, Ebiowei (all excluded from my list)

Blackburn when waiting for McGuire to sign for them? Could have been Harry Leonard (who hasn't played much recently) or Niall Ennis who decided to join Stoke late yesterday.

Not just forwards, but this is the full list of January loans in League 1 (bold = players I think would have improved us). GK: Louie Moulden, Jamie Cumming, Craig MacGillivray CB: Caleb Taylor, Elkan Baggott, Sean Grehan, Andy Smith, Jack Shepherd, Elijah Campbell, Rhys Williams, Kacper Lopata, Zane Monlouis, Charlie Goode, Nigel Lonwijk LB: Hayden Coulson, Nathanael Ogbeta, Tolaji Bola, Harry Boyes, Imari Samuels, Nesta Guinness-Walker, Luke Chambers, Saxon Earley RB: Calvin Ramsay, James Gibbons DM/CM/AM: George Byers, Brandon Aguilera, Harry Vaughan, Tyreeq Bakinson, Lewis Fiorini, Luke Harris, Ryan Woods, Gavin Kilkenny, Conor McGrandles, Jay Matete, Myles Peart-Harris, Jensen Weir, Dan Gore, Jack Hinchy, Chem Campbell RW: Jonathan Leko, Michael Olakigbe LW: Jack Diamond, Tony Springett, Alex Mighten CF: Freddie Ladapo, Joe Hugill, Ola-Adebomi, Kyle Hudlin, Antwoine Hackford, Macauley Bonne, Joe Nuttall, Mo Eisa, Daniel Adu-Adjei, Khayon Edwards, Joe Taylor, Tyler Burey, Vadine Oliver, Charlie Kelman, Gideon Kodua

Which is understandable if they were being left out of the first team squads so they could play in the U21 games. However, more often than not they're left on the bench for when we go "3 or 4 up". Except the times we have been 3-0 up they've still been left on the bench. They also go unused in the cups. DRobinson - 4 cup games on the bench and not used and left out completely for 3 cup squads. Left on the bench for Carlisle (2-0) and Barnsley (3-0). DBrown - last minute sub in 1 cup game, 17 mins in another, but an unused sub in 5. Left on the bench when we were hoping to get more than a point against Lincoln (we only used 2 subs) Fans are typically more patient when youngsters are put in the team. Warne could even use it as a reason why he needs more time. Stickign with his expereiecned players it's all or nothing -fail and he's sacked. If he introduced the likes of DRobinson and DBrown into the team he could point to that and say 1 more season and this squad will have improved and be enough to take us up.