Ghost of Clough

Bizarre that Marriott's extension was withdrawn by the EFL. Would love to hear more on that one.
Massively surprised with the U23s. I felt Foster had a serious chance of being our first choice keeper in a couple of years, and Shonibare could have been a useful squad option for the first team. I also expected Idem to stay on to compete with Foster as the 3rd choice GK.
Also surprised we've left it so late to tie Festy and Archie to new deals.

Bizarre that Marriott's extension was withdrawn by the EFL. Would love to hear more on that one.
Massively surprised with the U23s. I felt Foster had a serious chance of being our first choice keeper in a couple of years, and Shonibare could have been a useful squad option for the first team. I also expected Idem to stay on to compete with Foster as the 3rd choice GK.
Also surprised we've left it so late to tie Festy and Archie to new deals.

Rooney didn't rate him, I thought he'd had another good season and he will do a good job for someone at League level. He was the only one of our youngsters who didn't look intimidated against Chorley. 

That shouldn't apply to players already at the club if offered terms equal to or lower than the existing deal, even if exceeding the limit for a new signing.

That's the one that probably surprised me most out of the released. Always thought he was decent

Well that's simply not true as we finished 10th in the 19/20 and he was our player of the season.
From all players to have started at least 10 games at CB (86), Clarke finished the season as the 6th most aerially dominant CBs in the league.
His most common partner, Wisdom, was 11th worst, winning only 51% of aerial battles.

Even with that 3 point head start I don't feel too positive about winning the league this year

On paper. But we coasted through the last 12 games because we saw a large gap and thought we were safe. If they never had the points deduction our application during the final quarter of the season would have been different - especially the final game of the season where we would have gone all out for the win to guarantee safety

Great to hear the scouting department has expended

Alongside Stones, Mings easily gets in over Coady, White and anyone else in a back 4 at the moment.
Phillips is also the only natural partner to Rice as Southgate wants to play a 2 man base to midfield.
But choosing Trippier who has only played LB a handful of times in recent season over Chillwell, Shaw and even Saka is a tad unfair on those missing out.
Grealish has been one of our best players in recent games too. Sterling has been poor, wasteful, or both for a long time now.

It's always the U18 and U23 retained players and new scholars that I look forward to seeing

I'm fairly certain they all mentioned how they were feeling 

I'm fairly certain they all mentioned how they were feeling 

I'm fairly certain they all mentioned how they were feeling 

He's awake and breathing apparently, thank duck! 

Sadly, I believe the chance of any good news after 10 minutes is miniscule.  Roughly 15 minutes had passed by the time he was carried off the pitch ?

The retained list has been announced on these dates in recent seasons:
15/05/17
18/05/18
03/06/19
03/08/20
As it's getting later every year, we won't find our until late August ?

Well that's simply not true as we finished 10th in the 19/20 and he was our player of the season.
From all players to have started at least 10 games at CB (86), Clarke finished the season as the 6th most aerially dominant CBs in the league.
His most common partner, Wisdom, was 11th worst, winning only 51% of aerial battles.

Joined Accrington on a perm from us. Then went to Crewe, then Carlisle. We won't be getting anything

It's always the U18 and U23 retained players and new scholars that I look forward to seeing

It's always the U18 and U23 retained players and new scholars that I look forward to seeing

1. At the start fo the summer we had a very young squad, so adding experience was viral
2. We only made 4 permanent signings so the second youngest signing being 28 isn't really a concern
Did he suggest it as an absolute must or a dream?
Have they not been successful at it because they haven't invested enough in the youth setup? Norwich were promoted in 18/19 with Lewis, Aarons, Godfrey and Cantwell as regulars. Reading were 7th this season with Rinohmota, Richards, Olise, Holmes and McIntyre making up their first team. Both are two of the biggest academy spenders in the league.
How do you know for sure a £10m signing from the Bundesliga will be a top player in the Championship? You don't. But, by scouting/watching you reduce that risk. Having watched every game possible from the U18s and U23s over the past 10 years I feel I have a reasonable ability to tell if a player is ready to step up or not.
Our CBs are not ready to step up for anything more than in an emergency right now. Whereas McDonald and Ebosele look ready based on what I've seen.

Hence why we didn't bother recruiting Marshall, Byrne, Ibe, Jozwiak and Kazim along with the loanees this season?
Explain how we're falling foul of P&S. I see we've been found guilty of filing non-compliant accounts, but nothing else.
You seem to be arguing against as point that no-one is making. @angieram quite clearly stated utilising the academy AND first team recruitment. That means recruiting to fill voids the academy products can't. For example, our U23 CBs aren't ready to be regulars in the first team, so we'll recruit 2, 3 or even 4 of them this summer. However, Ebosele and McDonald are ready to deputise for Byrne so we won't be after a RB
Marshall, Byrne and Jozwiak have been very good signings, with two of them proving exceptional value for money. Kazim was also recruited as a backup or even 3rd choice CF and also proven to be goof value. We took a punt on Ibe due to our financial position which so far hasn't worked out. Te Wierik seemed to be a victim of circumstance, both Covid and a change in manager.
Last season we signed Bielik who was one of the best players in the league before picking up another injury and Shinnie who again has been good value since signing on a free.
There's enough evidence there to suggest recruitment has improved, but we'll soon see how much of that was down to Cocu's influence.

Based on how he struggled with certain aspects if his game in the Championship, I'll be extremely surprised if he's playing PL football next season 

1. At the start fo the summer we had a very young squad, so adding experience was viral
2. We only made 4 permanent signings so the second youngest signing being 28 isn't really a concern
Did he suggest it as an absolute must or a dream?
Have they not been successful at it because they haven't invested enough in the youth setup? Norwich were promoted in 18/19 with Lewis, Aarons, Godfrey and Cantwell as regulars. Reading were 7th this season with Rinohmota, Richards, Olise, Holmes and McIntyre making up their first team. Both are two of the biggest academy spenders in the league.
How do you know for sure a £10m signing from the Bundesliga will be a top player in the Championship? You don't. But, by scouting/watching you reduce that risk. Having watched every game possible from the U18s and U23s over the past 10 years I feel I have a reasonable ability to tell if a player is ready to step up or not.
Our CBs are not ready to step up for anything more than in an emergency right now. Whereas McDonald and Ebosele look ready based on what I've seen.