Ghost of Clough

How many people said "no hard task" for you to state "some"?
The target this season absolutely should be top 2 and anything less would he a failure as far as I'm concerned.
The starting point is the performance of the squad last season. We were 4th highest placed out of the teams staying down (Barnsley, Bolton and Peterborough). A lot of that being down to multiple referee decsions.
Then there's the 3 coming down, two of those are in such a mess they'll be lucky if they finish top half. Add only Blackpool to the challenging group.
Portsmouth, Wycombe and Charlton are then next best placed to mount promotion challenges. However, they'd need to improve by 20-30 points on last season to be serious contenders. I just don't see that happening.
Our main list of challengers are therefore: Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton and Peterborough.
Peterborough are trying to sell their top goalscorer, the only player they had who scored more than 10 goals, and are desperately trying to keep hold of their top assister. Two key players they need to replace just to stand still, after sneaking in to 6th due to a referee mistake in a different game.
Evanton has been at Bolton for 3 years now so they've had plenty of time to get the players in to suit his style. I didn't see anything last season which made me think they'll be pushing for the title next season. Trafford and Bradley were two of their most important players last season. Both were only on loan and won't be going back.
Blackpool. 6 players went back to their parents clubs when their season ended and 10 others didn't have their contracts renewed. A lot of players to replace, but they'll be up there.
6 players also left Barnsley to return to their parent clubs. They haven't lost anyone else they want to keep yet. They'll be fancying their chances of winning the league too.
 
We have by far the biggest budget in this league. We have more potential than any other L1 club. Warne has had a long time to prepare for this transfer window. We shouldn't have any excuses for failure this time round.

Burton signed 11 players to replace the 10 departures in January. If you get recruitment right in the summer (and in previous sessons), the turnover won't need to be so great). This gives them an effective players used of 31. 
Only 19 of their player were on the pitch for more than 1000 minutes in all competitions (17 in the league). For Derby, we used 16 in all competitions and 15 in the league.
We may have used 22 players, but we really only had a 15 man squad. Stearman and Chester barely used for obvious reason. Rooney and Tommo perhaps should have been used more, but we're deemed not ready. Osula, White, Springett all loaned in but judged not to be good enough for more gane time.
The target will be for a core squad of 17/18 to play 1000+ mins, with 3 or 4 first team members playing smaller roles (500-999 mins). 5 or 6 youths to be given a taste of first team football (1-499 mins). Then a couple of changes in January due to injuries, fitness, performances, etc...

It'll be Andre Wisdom .... which is why no one has seen his car in the car park 🤔 

Burton signed 11 players to replace the 10 departures in January. If you get recruitment right in the summer (and in previous sessons), the turnover won't need to be so great). This gives them an effective players used of 31. 
Only 19 of their player were on the pitch for more than 1000 minutes in all competitions (17 in the league). For Derby, we used 16 in all competitions and 15 in the league.
We may have used 22 players, but we really only had a 15 man squad. Stearman and Chester barely used for obvious reason. Rooney and Tommo perhaps should have been used more, but we're deemed not ready. Osula, White, Springett all loaned in but judged not to be good enough for more gane time.
The target will be for a core squad of 17/18 to play 1000+ mins, with 3 or 4 first team members playing smaller roles (500-999 mins). 5 or 6 youths to be given a taste of first team football (1-499 mins). Then a couple of changes in January due to injuries, fitness, performances, etc...

Burton signed 11 players to replace the 10 departures in January. If you get recruitment right in the summer (and in previous sessons), the turnover won't need to be so great). This gives them an effective players used of 31. 
Only 19 of their player were on the pitch for more than 1000 minutes in all competitions (17 in the league). For Derby, we used 16 in all competitions and 15 in the league.
We may have used 22 players, but we really only had a 15 man squad. Stearman and Chester barely used for obvious reason. Rooney and Tommo perhaps should have been used more, but we're deemed not ready. Osula, White, Springett all loaned in but judged not to be good enough for more gane time.
The target will be for a core squad of 17/18 to play 1000+ mins, with 3 or 4 first team members playing smaller roles (500-999 mins). 5 or 6 youths to be given a taste of first team football (1-499 mins). Then a couple of changes in January due to injuries, fitness, performances, etc...

Burton signed 11 players to replace the 10 departures in January. If you get recruitment right in the summer (and in previous sessons), the turnover won't need to be so great). This gives them an effective players used of 31. 
Only 19 of their player were on the pitch for more than 1000 minutes in all competitions (17 in the league). For Derby, we used 16 in all competitions and 15 in the league.
We may have used 22 players, but we really only had a 15 man squad. Stearman and Chester barely used for obvious reason. Rooney and Tommo perhaps should have been used more, but we're deemed not ready. Osula, White, Springett all loaned in but judged not to be good enough for more gane time.
The target will be for a core squad of 17/18 to play 1000+ mins, with 3 or 4 first team members playing smaller roles (500-999 mins). 5 or 6 youths to be given a taste of first team football (1-499 mins). Then a couple of changes in January due to injuries, fitness, performances, etc...

Burton signed 11 players to replace the 10 departures in January. If you get recruitment right in the summer (and in previous sessons), the turnover won't need to be so great). This gives them an effective players used of 31. 
Only 19 of their player were on the pitch for more than 1000 minutes in all competitions (17 in the league). For Derby, we used 16 in all competitions and 15 in the league.
We may have used 22 players, but we really only had a 15 man squad. Stearman and Chester barely used for obvious reason. Rooney and Tommo perhaps should have been used more, but we're deemed not ready. Osula, White, Springett all loaned in but judged not to be good enough for more gane time.
The target will be for a core squad of 17/18 to play 1000+ mins, with 3 or 4 first team members playing smaller roles (500-999 mins). 5 or 6 youths to be given a taste of first team football (1-499 mins). Then a couple of changes in January due to injuries, fitness, performances, etc...

What utter bull...

It's been common knowledge that it was £8m rising to £10m upon promotion to the PL.
 
I'm not reading through those linked articles, but it states £8m owed to Arsenal. I'm assuming that is in relation to when we went in to admin, and still Ower Arsenal the remaining balance.
At the start of admin, we 'owed' just under £8.4m for Bielik, Jozwiak and any other player with clauses. This figure will have included all potential add-ons such as appearances, goals, or promotion.
Knock off £2m for Jozwiak and £2m for Bielik related clauses (promotion), and it would have been £4.4m guaranteed left to pay for Bielik.
When we entered admin, we had completed 2 seasons out of the 5 Bielik was contracted for. If the rumoured £8m fee evenly spread over 5 years would have meant a £4.8m balance remaining. Not too far off my finger in the air calculations.
The payment structure for Bielik could have been non-linear, but we also could have had add-ons such as a Lawrence promotion bonus. It's much more likely that the real figure we owed Arsenal at the time of administration was £4m or less.

"22 isn’t really enough either. I generally say 25 is the ideal squad amount. Any major injuries and you’re ducked with only 22 players. With only 20 you’re ducked anyway, that’s ridiculously thin."
20-22 is core squad size, not players used over a season. U21/18 players would not be included in this figure. Neither would January replacements. I dount Warne is including a backup keeper or 3rd choice (Loach) in the 20-22. 
We had a tiny squad last season? We still used 28 players in all competitions.
1 GK, 5 CB, 4 WB, 4 CM, 4 W/AM, 3 CF is 21 first team players. That looks perfect to me.
 
"We can’t rely on the academy as things stand, it’s a mess. There’s no quality coming through any time soon. The new academy manager will be sorting that out, but it takes time. I’d be surprised if anyone comes through for the next 3 years."
The academy as a whole has a lot of talent in it. I'd love to know your knowledge of all age groups for you to conclude the academy is a mess.
You're basijg your entire argument on U21 team results rather than individual performances. There are few who were in the U21s last season whilst still being eligible for the U18s.
A massive fault with the U21s last season was failing to play actual CBs at CB. I can't think of many games where we managed to field 2 of Chester, Rooney, Bardell, Solomon. Those 4 played a combined 1181 minutes in 20 league games, the equivalent to 13 games. We were reliant on first yesr scholars, CMs and full backs filling in. No wonder we conceded so many.
Of those who played at least 25% of the league minutes, 11 have left the club. Your argument is based on the performances of a lot of players who are no longer at the club.
I can count at least 10 players who will be in the U21 squad for 23/34 who I expect to breakthrough into the first team. Some as soon as this upcoming season, others will take longer due to needing to adjust to men's football first.
DRobinson and Richards had a taste of first team football in 21/22. DRobinson featured again in 22/23, with Bardell also appearing. Hawkins and DBrown made the bench but didn't get used.

"22 isn’t really enough either. I generally say 25 is the ideal squad amount. Any major injuries and you’re ducked with only 22 players. With only 20 you’re ducked anyway, that’s ridiculously thin."
20-22 is core squad size, not players used over a season. U21/18 players would not be included in this figure. Neither would January replacements. I dount Warne is including a backup keeper or 3rd choice (Loach) in the 20-22. 
We had a tiny squad last season? We still used 28 players in all competitions.
1 GK, 5 CB, 4 WB, 4 CM, 4 W/AM, 3 CF is 21 first team players. That looks perfect to me.
 
"We can’t rely on the academy as things stand, it’s a mess. There’s no quality coming through any time soon. The new academy manager will be sorting that out, but it takes time. I’d be surprised if anyone comes through for the next 3 years."
The academy as a whole has a lot of talent in it. I'd love to know your knowledge of all age groups for you to conclude the academy is a mess.
You're basijg your entire argument on U21 team results rather than individual performances. There are few who were in the U21s last season whilst still being eligible for the U18s.
A massive fault with the U21s last season was failing to play actual CBs at CB. I can't think of many games where we managed to field 2 of Chester, Rooney, Bardell, Solomon. Those 4 played a combined 1181 minutes in 20 league games, the equivalent to 13 games. We were reliant on first yesr scholars, CMs and full backs filling in. No wonder we conceded so many.
Of those who played at least 25% of the league minutes, 11 have left the club. Your argument is based on the performances of a lot of players who are no longer at the club.
I can count at least 10 players who will be in the U21 squad for 23/34 who I expect to breakthrough into the first team. Some as soon as this upcoming season, others will take longer due to needing to adjust to men's football first.
DRobinson and Richards had a taste of first team football in 21/22. DRobinson featured again in 22/23, with Bardell also appearing. Hawkins and DBrown made the bench but didn't get used.

"22 isn’t really enough either. I generally say 25 is the ideal squad amount. Any major injuries and you’re ducked with only 22 players. With only 20 you’re ducked anyway, that’s ridiculously thin."
20-22 is core squad size, not players used over a season. U21/18 players would not be included in this figure. Neither would January replacements. I dount Warne is including a backup keeper or 3rd choice (Loach) in the 20-22. 
We had a tiny squad last season? We still used 28 players in all competitions.
1 GK, 5 CB, 4 WB, 4 CM, 4 W/AM, 3 CF is 21 first team players. That looks perfect to me.
 
"We can’t rely on the academy as things stand, it’s a mess. There’s no quality coming through any time soon. The new academy manager will be sorting that out, but it takes time. I’d be surprised if anyone comes through for the next 3 years."
The academy as a whole has a lot of talent in it. I'd love to know your knowledge of all age groups for you to conclude the academy is a mess.
You're basijg your entire argument on U21 team results rather than individual performances. There are few who were in the U21s last season whilst still being eligible for the U18s.
A massive fault with the U21s last season was failing to play actual CBs at CB. I can't think of many games where we managed to field 2 of Chester, Rooney, Bardell, Solomon. Those 4 played a combined 1181 minutes in 20 league games, the equivalent to 13 games. We were reliant on first yesr scholars, CMs and full backs filling in. No wonder we conceded so many.
Of those who played at least 25% of the league minutes, 11 have left the club. Your argument is based on the performances of a lot of players who are no longer at the club.
I can count at least 10 players who will be in the U21 squad for 23/34 who I expect to breakthrough into the first team. Some as soon as this upcoming season, others will take longer due to needing to adjust to men's football first.
DRobinson and Richards had a taste of first team football in 21/22. DRobinson featured again in 22/23, with Bardell also appearing. Hawkins and DBrown made the bench but didn't get used.

"22 isn’t really enough either. I generally say 25 is the ideal squad amount. Any major injuries and you’re ducked with only 22 players. With only 20 you’re ducked anyway, that’s ridiculously thin."
20-22 is core squad size, not players used over a season. U21/18 players would not be included in this figure. Neither would January replacements. I dount Warne is including a backup keeper or 3rd choice (Loach) in the 20-22. 
We had a tiny squad last season? We still used 28 players in all competitions.
1 GK, 5 CB, 4 WB, 4 CM, 4 W/AM, 3 CF is 21 first team players. That looks perfect to me.
 
"We can’t rely on the academy as things stand, it’s a mess. There’s no quality coming through any time soon. The new academy manager will be sorting that out, but it takes time. I’d be surprised if anyone comes through for the next 3 years."
The academy as a whole has a lot of talent in it. I'd love to know your knowledge of all age groups for you to conclude the academy is a mess.
You're basijg your entire argument on U21 team results rather than individual performances. There are few who were in the U21s last season whilst still being eligible for the U18s.
A massive fault with the U21s last season was failing to play actual CBs at CB. I can't think of many games where we managed to field 2 of Chester, Rooney, Bardell, Solomon. Those 4 played a combined 1181 minutes in 20 league games, the equivalent to 13 games. We were reliant on first yesr scholars, CMs and full backs filling in. No wonder we conceded so many.
Of those who played at least 25% of the league minutes, 11 have left the club. Your argument is based on the performances of a lot of players who are no longer at the club.
I can count at least 10 players who will be in the U21 squad for 23/34 who I expect to breakthrough into the first team. Some as soon as this upcoming season, others will take longer due to needing to adjust to men's football first.
DRobinson and Richards had a taste of first team football in 21/22. DRobinson featured again in 22/23, with Bardell also appearing. Hawkins and DBrown made the bench but didn't get used.

What utter bull...

"22 isn’t really enough either. I generally say 25 is the ideal squad amount. Any major injuries and you’re ducked with only 22 players. With only 20 you’re ducked anyway, that’s ridiculously thin."
20-22 is core squad size, not players used over a season. U21/18 players would not be included in this figure. Neither would January replacements. I dount Warne is including a backup keeper or 3rd choice (Loach) in the 20-22. 
We had a tiny squad last season? We still used 28 players in all competitions.
1 GK, 5 CB, 4 WB, 4 CM, 4 W/AM, 3 CF is 21 first team players. That looks perfect to me.
 
"We can’t rely on the academy as things stand, it’s a mess. There’s no quality coming through any time soon. The new academy manager will be sorting that out, but it takes time. I’d be surprised if anyone comes through for the next 3 years."
The academy as a whole has a lot of talent in it. I'd love to know your knowledge of all age groups for you to conclude the academy is a mess.
You're basijg your entire argument on U21 team results rather than individual performances. There are few who were in the U21s last season whilst still being eligible for the U18s.
A massive fault with the U21s last season was failing to play actual CBs at CB. I can't think of many games where we managed to field 2 of Chester, Rooney, Bardell, Solomon. Those 4 played a combined 1181 minutes in 20 league games, the equivalent to 13 games. We were reliant on first yesr scholars, CMs and full backs filling in. No wonder we conceded so many.
Of those who played at least 25% of the league minutes, 11 have left the club. Your argument is based on the performances of a lot of players who are no longer at the club.
I can count at least 10 players who will be in the U21 squad for 23/34 who I expect to breakthrough into the first team. Some as soon as this upcoming season, others will take longer due to needing to adjust to men's football first.
DRobinson and Richards had a taste of first team football in 21/22. DRobinson featured again in 22/23, with Bardell also appearing. Hawkins and DBrown made the bench but didn't get used.

A free transfer would create a £2m loss, but save £2m depreciation ( last year of his contract, his ‘value’ disappears either way)
Any return is better than nothing, plus saves wages.
The “bad business” part was done years ago.

What utter bull...

What utter bull...

What utter bull...

3 goals and 13 assists from RB in 21/22 to help Forest Green win the league ahead of Exeter.

3 goals and 13 assists from RB in 21/22 to help Forest Green win the league ahead of Exeter.

What sort of game time are you expecting him to get if he stays? Historically, Warne has mostly used just 4 CBs throughout a season, with 5th choice rarely getting over 500 minutes on the pitch in all competition.
It would be in his best interests to go out and play every game for another side. Add a recall clause for January so we can reassess his development and look to making him a regular in our first team. At the moment, he's not good enough to be a regular in a top 2 side.

Since Forsyth will be 4th or 5th choice CB, it makes perfect sense to loan Rooney out to ensure he gets game time and continues his development. I'll be very disappointed if we don't loan him out. Same for Tommo.

We're now moving into the 2024 3 year cycle (21/22, 22/23, 23/24)
21/22 - £24.8m loss
22/23 - Fairly similar to 21/22. Slight reduction in wage bill, slightly less profit on sales. Let's keep it simple and say a £24.8m loss
23/24 - Approx £10m from Jobe and Jude Bellingham transfers. Reduction in wage bill. Probably looking at a £10m loss.
It's safe to assume they were within allowable limits in the previous periods. They're about £3m behind where they were in the previous 2023 cycle, which means they won't have much wiggle room for this season.

Ross Sykes - CB - Played very well at Accrington in 20/21. Aerially dominant and a threat from set pieces. Only 24 but is on a long term contract at St Gilloise in the Belgian top division.
Derry Murkin - LWB - 5 assists for FC Volendam in the Dutch league. Born in England but moved to the Netherlands aged 4. 23 years old, 1 year left on his contract. Scored 20 goals for their U21 side in 18/19 (playing as a winger). Converted to LWB in 20/21.