Ghost of Clough

I don't believe any of them to be 'true' 1. I can criticise a manager (or player) but still support the team on matchday 2. I highly doubt Clowes doesn't have a contingency plan in case he felt he needed to sack any member of staff 3. We're "in this mess" because our former owner agreed to spend more than he could actually afford. If we had changed managers just as often, but with a style of play in mind and a sensible budget, we wouldn't have gone into administration. 4. A manager willing to look at the long term picture by recruiting accordingly and introducing academy prospects is looking at the long term picture.

Based on form this season (with the exception of LB where we lack players who can stay fit): GK: Pope RB: Walker CB: Stones CB: Guehi LB: Shaw/Chilwell CM: Ward-Prowse CM: Rice AM: Bellingham RW: Saka LW: Gordon CF: Kane

For last season, our revenue will have been higher with similar losses

Isn't he a wing back, plays predominantly on the left? Definitely one to keep an eye on for when we make the permanent shift to 3/5 at the back under Warne

Just the type of winger we need. A 28 year old who has only scored more than 2 goals in a season twice

Are they checking to see if the ball came off the defender?

Macedonia not getting the Maguire one was a worse decsion than that one from Lewis

Has anyone claimed we should be starting anyone from the academy on a regualr basis? At most, there have been a handful of people who have claimed the likes of Brown should have been given the odd start when our other players were out of form. I think it's also common sense to use the academy to ease the physical burden on the relatively small first team squad. Warne wants to play a high intensity style of play, which the older players in our first team struggle with when playing Saturday-Tuesday for several weeks on a row. Giving them a few minutes here and a game there is a key part in their development to ensure they are ready to play a regular part in the first team in the future. It's rare for a player to go from a handful of games at U18/21 level to being a first team regular. Instead, it's a gradually increase in exposure, and often with a loan or two. The best chance for then to earn a loan is by putting their name in the shop window when they play for the first team - those games show potential suitors if they're mentally ready for first team football, whislt only their technical ability can be seen from youth football.

1. We could have paid a fee in the summer but chose not to. 2. We will pays fees for players we bought in the summer depending on promotion and sell-ons. 3. We signed 4 players who are 30 or older in the summer, when younger players were available (even on a free). 4. We would have a younger squad if we used the academy more than we have been,

What is a 'solid base'? When looking at the most used 11 (by mins played in all competitions) we're using fewer new signings than the top 2 sides in the league - both finished below us last season too. Derby: 3 Portsmouth: 7 Oxford: 5

Did you bother fact checking before making that claim? Barnsley, Carlisle, Charlton and Oxford made just as many signings as us (12). Bristol Rovers, Burton, Cheltenham, Exeter, Portsmouth, Port Vale, Reading, Shrewsbury, Stevenage and Wycombe made more signings Of the sides signings fewer players than us, the majority signed 11.

Promotion is the aim, so I can't see us selling either in January without replacing them. If replaced in January with permanent signings, then it keeps the turnover of players down in the summer. If not sold and we win promotion, then I would expect them to sign new deals.

10 straight wins, but the first two were under Davies and the last with Mac. Even Jewell beat them in the League Cup. Clough won all 6 of his games against Leeds.

I can't be bothered to look further back, but here is my own post after only 1 month of Warne being manager, highlighting the concerns.

Those goal posts have never moved since day 1. The concerns since the day he was appointed were: style of play, use of academy players, retaining academy graduates, risk to the 'feel good factor' around the club. The pattern (in particular this season) has been for one or two of those concerns to appear addressed, only for us to take a backwards step in the next game. Whilst results are ultimately all that matter, all those other little bits buy the manager more time when results aren't going too well. Warne's performance as manager can be described as "bare minimum" to stay in the job, and he his given himself no safety net to rely on when we do have a bad run.

The hope should be that everyone contracted beyond this summer should at least be a sqaud player next season, and not surplus to requirements. Some who would be starters in L1 would be backup in the Championship. There's still time for a number of new signings to adjust to playing for our club and prove they're good signings. I think it's also reasonable to assume we'll change to 3412 next season. Assuming promotion: GK: ???, Vickers, ??? RCB: Nelson, Rooney CB: ???, Bradley LCB: ???, ??? RWB: Ward, Wilson LWB: ???, Elder RCM: ???, Fornah LCM: ???, ??? AM: ???, ??? RCF: ???, ??? LCF: ???, Washington That means we're currently short 14 players, 9 of which would need to be starters. A massive turnover of players, but that can be minimised by extending a number of contracts, and giving opportunities to the academy players to see if they are capable of filling those gaps. Personally, I would try to extend the contracts for the following players to form my Championship squad: Wildsmith, Cashin, Forsyth, Bird, Thompson and Sibley. That leaves the following gaps: 6 starters (CB, LWB, CM, AM, CF, CF) and 2 backups (GK, CF) This is where your concern kicks in - Warne is doing very little to aid transition. We need to give more minutes to those who are contracted beyond this season to see where they will fit in (as starters or backup), and test the best of our academy players to see if they can make that step up - either as squad players or even leap first team players and become regualr starters. In particular, Fornah and Thompson (when fit) should be starting ahead of Smith and/or Hourihane, eith the likes of Cox, DRobinson, Weston and Brown getting the odd opportunity too.

Spotted wearing red for Liverpool U18s yesterday (finished 1-0 to Blackburn)