Ghost of Clough

Warne has shown himself to be adaptable (with a bit of pursuision). He didn't always play 3 at the back at Rotherham - it was only the 2nd half of 20/21 when he started using it consistently. In his previous 2 seasons in the Championship, he only used 3 at the back on three occasions. With falling back on 4 at the back 2 seasons in a row, I wouldn't bet on that being the intended shape next season either. Blackett-Taylor and Mendez-Laing are both types who will mix it up, particularly when playing on the left when both will cut in.

Whoscored's actual team of the week was slightly different as it's 442 based. The EFL removed Leyton Orient's Sweeney (LB) and Agyei (CF) and Blackpool's Hamilton (RW) to put in Brayford (CB), Wigan's Aasgaard, and Portsmouth's Kamara

I can see Warne's intended style of playing mimicing Klopp's Liverpool. The question then is, can we recruit players in the summer which will allow us to play that way at Championship level. Will we even shape up with a 433? Anything else will sacrifce the press - playing either a 3 at the back or 2 up front would reduce the effectiveness of Klopp's high intensity pressing style.

Not quite that extreme. It looks like we would have to cut our playing staff budget in half to breakeven. We'll also have increased our sponsorship income this season (no shirt sponsor this season. What's hard to judge is the one offs - repairs to stadium and training ground that were sidelined over the previous few years.

I don't think Sibley had the best of games, but I would say he did better than John-Jules. It was only his 1st league start since December 9th (a game he scored in)

If the Bielik amount and legacy agent fees are deducted, the total is about £4.5m. However, this also incldues just over £1.4m in 'transfer profit' which will mostly be Birmingham's contribution towards Bielik - so back up to £5.9m. The difference between 9 months and 12 months won't be far off being linear - wages vs 4 more games of revenue and end of season handouts from the EFL. Let's say, £3m extra on wages and approx £2m in revenue. Still need to pay for general stadium and training ground costs too, but I'll ignore those for simplicity. Total losses for the 12 month period would be back up to the £7m figure.

O'Connor and Coutts were 2012 It looks like Warne plans on primarily using a 2 man midfield. Thompson is ahead of Fornah in the pecking order, and we also appear to want to sign another CM. For the rest of this season, that would mean Hourihane, Bird, Thompson and a new signing. I'm struggling to see Fornah ever being more than a L1 player... maybe a Championship squad player at best. If we do get promoted this year, I woupd expect 2 new signings (unless we sign someone permanently this month) - both of which you'd be comfortable giving regualr starts. I don't see a place for Fornah.

Since you need a reply .. "Can't imagine Rick and Trev sat in the office on the weekend just to get our deal over the line. Any transfers we make WILL be subject to approval, after all. Tomorrow's the day I reckon." I thought those comments implied that we needed to wait until they're in the office on Monday before we could announce the deal. My sincerest apologies for misinterpreting your comments.

Would you have said the same to Nigel Clough? He eventually got the club down to a budget similar to the one we're operating woth now, yet not all signings paid off, with some being moved on quickly. Just looking back through some Nigel Clough signings which cost us money and how little they played for us before being 'binned'... Dave Martin - £100k, 324 mins Lee Hendrie - technically free as we traded him for Jordan Stewart, 440 mins Chris Maguire - £400k, 329 mins Tom Naylor - £100k, 735 mins Michael Jacobs - £600k, 1811 mins (it feels harsh putting him in this list as he had 3 goals and 13 assists, 5 assists in a single game) James O'Connor - undisclosed, 1440 mins Kieron Freeman - undisclosed, 1371 mins

Is a £6.8m loss over 9 months sustainable? Book value is not the same as worth. The squad had a £3.3m book value when Clowes took us out of admin - we later sold 2 players for the majority of that figure. When you add on the minimum fees expected for the like sof Cashin and Bird, then our total squad worth is significantly higher than it's book value. After seeing the figures for the 9 month period, it's now reasonable to assume we'll have the highest wage bill in the league this season. Clowes will be expecting promotion from such outlay, so it's reasonable for fans to expect promotion too.

That would mean 5 players this window... LB - Roberts CM - Arblaster (?) RW - Olakigbe (?) LW - Blackett-Taylor CF - Smith Blackett-Taylor and Smith will probably happen early this week. But the others may depend on players leaving first? Smith, maybe Sibley, etc...?

Do you not remember seeing "subject to EFL approval" when we've announced pretty much every signing in recent history?

We sold him in the January before admin. Rooney didn't want him so got rid. The fee was got for him was the difference between going in to admin when we did, or at the start of September. His record at youth level showed exactly why he needed time to adjust at first team level. Even when stepping up to the U18s and then the U23s he needed time to adjust to the increased physicality.

The administrators report confirmed it was exactly £6,264,636.50 paid to HMRC (25%). MSD loan was £22m. Football creditors totalled £8.85m, but I understand this would have been later reduced to about £7.5m (Lech accepting less for Jozwiak). This had to be paid in full. There was £3.1m of unsecured creditors. A minimum of 25% had to be paid, so just shy of £800k (bur could be anything up to an including the full amount) My total is £36.6m (if minimum paid to unsecured creditors). Note, Clowes accounts state an extraordinary cost (purchase of DCFC) OF £36.6m.

The last one interested me. A few snippets from his LinkedIn page... Whilst studying, shadowing different departments of League One Club Oxford United FC as an informal intern, before starting a formal internship as a Recruitment Analyst/Scout under the supervision of Head of Recruitment Mark Thomas. Coaching staff at Croatian 1. HNL team NK Osijek as their Performance and Opposition Analyst. Derby County FC as First Team Scout, focusing on live and video scouting. Since September 2023, additionally working for Rayo Vallecano as the Assistant Coach for their Juvenil C (U17) to gain practical experience for the upcoming UEFA-C exam.

Presumably Charlie Austin. Swindon are in trouble without Kemp and Young. They were their only 2 good players and were heavily relaint on them. They've alsonlost a couple of other players, so not a club I would be loaning to at this moment in time. I could see a spot for Brown at Tranmere. They're in good form and play a front 2 so easier to get into the side, but will also have an experienced strike partner to coach him through games. Colchester and Walsall both need a forward to replace Joe Taylor and Freddie Draper who were both recalled by Lincoln this month - both teams also play with a front 2 more often than not.

The EFL wanted us to use straight line amortisation without any pre-approved gimmicks (such as impairment), even if it's a commonly used policy. At the start of last season, Bielik's book value would have been c£3m.

I think you know the reason for that. I doubt Warne will ever change his approach either. On Brown scoring 5 (and Weston scoring 3), Warne put the 11-1 win down to the first teamers who played... they played 45 minutes and it was 3-0 when they all came off. The even more surprising thing for me is the relectsnce to use Ward. Not used in the last 3 games, despite chasing a late winner in the last 2 games. Only 27 minutes over 6 games since being hauled off at half time against Lincoln.

Vickers Wilson Nelson Cashin Elder Bird Hourihane Barkhuizen John-Jules Mendez-Laing Collins Subs: Wildsmith, Bradley, Ward, Thompson, Sibley, Blackett-Taylor, DBrown Blackett-Taylor announced in the next 48 hours. Not enough time to get another signing over the line.

I think today showed we're lacking depth - not surprising when we have a whole bench worth of players unavailable: Rooney, Nyambe, Forsyth, Fornah, Smith, Waghorn, and Washington. Blackett-Taylor and a centre forward to add to the mix too. With a full squad available, we would have freshened up our front line today, which would have carried us over the line. The important thing is we keep picking up points and stay within touching distance of the top 2. We'll then regain consistency when more players are back.

It'll be JJ for Elder, with Sibley moving to LB

Bird's having a good game. Mopping up loose balls and tidily knitting play together

Not a bad guess. Only Sibley in for Thompson. Presumably to give us the flexibility of changing to 3 at the back dependant on Lincoln's shape - Elder to LCB?

£800k historic, £250k 'actual'