Ghost of Clough

Wildsmith Wilson Nelson Cashin Elder Bird Hourihane Thompson Barkhuizen Collins Mendez-Laing Subs: Vickers, Bradley, Ward, Sibley, DRobinson, DBrown, John-Jules Vickers hasn't done enough to prove why he should be in the team ahead of Wildsmith. Elder needs to build on his first start. Out current version of 442 lacks balance, hence a change to 433. If Forsyth was fit, I would be starting Sibley at AM. However, he'll be needed at LB to finish the game so a place on the bench it is.

It's worth remembering it was only Elder's first league start since September. It'll take him a few games to get up to speed but I thought he was very solid up until the mistake for their equaliser. Elder and Sibley will be good enough until Forsyth is back. By which point, we can judge if he deserves to keep a starting spot over Forsyth.

Since Mark Thomas contractually couldn't work for our club until the summer, it's possible that our summer signings were predominantly Warne signings. With a few months to settle in and set his team up, I would expect recruitment to improve going forward - this could be possible mitigation towards Warne with regards to not having the tools available to do the best job he possibly could. The players we've been linked to this window appear to be more Mark Thomas targets than the summer signings.

For reference, we paid £350k for Ben Davies over 10 years ago and felt it was reasonable value for money.

A few possible clubs he'll be watching - Mansfield, Carlisle, Wigan, Chesterfield

We are struggling a bit with their long throws 😅

Looks like Bradley is coming on at half time

John-Jules looks off it tonight. I'd bring Thompson on the help woth our press and add a bit of pace to recover from their counter attacks

Another I can think of is Freddie Draper who was released at 16. Still only 19 now and had 10 goals and 3 assists in his 21 L2 games at Walsall. Recalled by Lincoln last week.

Your 03/04 has the teams promoted to the Premier League. It should be Plymouth, QPR, Brighton - Brighton relegated after 2 seasons

"There were academy representatives who said we think you'll have a good career, maybe in non-League or at National League level, if you work hard. I don't know how anyone came to that conclusion after watching him at U18 level. In his first year, he scored 5 goals in 17 games as we clinched the U18 title, then scored 2 and assisted 2 the following year as we went on our European adventures. We then almost released him before opting for a short contract the season prior to our administration.

A bit late for that?

Warne already confirmed negotiations are underway - offers, counter-offers, counter-counter-offers, etc...

Vickers > Evans - Vickers has featured for just 130 minutes in the league. We lost the first game and won the 2nd 3-1. I don't think using Evans instead would have cost us anything Ward > Bardell - At RB Bardell would be a more reliable defender. Overall a big drop off in quality and Bardell is an injury risk, but we would still have Wilson as RB/RWB cover anyway Fornah > DRobinson - 763 mins in the league. I personally consider Robinson to be low end L1 level anyway, and I would have included him in my first team squad rather than sign Fornah in the first place. Washington > Weston - 497 mins may be pushing it a bit for where Weston is at John-Jules > Brown - only 201 mins in the league... The amount of football I would expect from Brown at this level anyway If we were in this league for another season, I would definitely be including more academy players in my first team squad. Cox and Radcliffe joining the 'academy' options.

Has someone found an old article from 2016, when he joined QPR from Peterborough for around that amount? 😅

We already have Rooney, Thompson and Sibley who I would put in that group. Put Evans, Bardell, Robinson, Weston and a Brown in for Vickers, Ward, Fornah, Washington and John-Jules and you have your 8. There's obviously a drop off in quality at this point in time, but it's not as if 4 out of the 5 I listed have had much game time in the league anyway.

Max Dean is a player to keep an eye on. Signed from Leeds last January, but only got regular starts for MK Dons in October. He's now got 9 goals and 1 assist in his last 14 games (including a goal vs Reading in the FA Cup).

Based on the players Warne includes in his first team squad... Group 1 (good enough to be a Championship regular): Wildsmith, Nyambe, Nelson, Cashin, Bird, Mendez-Laing Group 1.5 (good enough to be a regular in a top 6 team): Forsyth, Hourihane, Collins Group 2 (top 6 squad players): Vickers, Ward, Wilson, Bradley, Elder, Fornah, Barkhuizen, John-Jules, Washington, Waghorn Academy (graduates not yet regular starters): Rooney, Thompson, Sibley None of the above: Loach, Smith

How anyone can come up with that headline is beyond me

I would put it closer to £12m than £10m. Our playing staff wages will be one of the highest in the division, but I reckon our non-playing staff wages are THE highest. Charlton, Portsmouth and Bolton in the same wage bracket, Oxford just behind.

£5k would be more like the average for a first team player in our squad.

He wouldn't be a starter he, but at 20 he's a decent player to have in the squad and develop. Whilst I would prefer Arblaster, I wouldn't be upset if we signed Savage to be backup to Bird.

According to Transfermarkt, there are also 'unknowns' (undisclosed) for Blackpool, Bolton, Burton, Cambridge, Carlisle, Cheltenham, Exeter, Fleetwood, Leyton Orient, Lincoln, Oxford, Peterbrough, Portsmouth, Port Vale, Reading, Shrewsbury, Stevenage, Wycombe, and ourselves. Northampton and Wigan the only clubs who aren't listed.

Around 50 of them stayed on the pitch for just over an hour