Ghost of Clough

I’m currently deafened by the sound of  straws being clutched.

As bad as that performance was, we're now 1 point closer to top 6 and 1 point further away from 8th than we were at the start of the day.
 

As bad as that performance was, we're now 1 point closer to top 6 and 1 point further away from 8th than we were at the start of the day.
 

As bad as that performance was, we're now 1 point closer to top 6 and 1 point further away from 8th than we were at the start of the day.
 

As bad as that performance was, we're now 1 point closer to top 6 and 1 point further away from 8th than we were at the start of the day.
 

As bad as that performance was, we're now 1 point closer to top 6 and 1 point further away from 8th than we were at the start of the day.
 

One was a penalty shout in favour of Derby, the other was a penalty shout against Derby

If you're going to use ChatGPT, you need to fact check it.
Mark Thomas joined Oxford from Portsnouth in 2014 and stayed their until he joined us.
Gilbey - Never played for Oxford
Henry - joined in 2017 for free from Wolves and is still at the club
Mousinho - joined on a free from Burton and stayed there until he retired.
Johnson - Came through Forest's academy and is still there, and had a loan at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Grant - came through Forest's academy, spent a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Cullen - Came through Swansea's academy, spent a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Edun - Fulham's academy, a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Woolfenden - Came through the Ipswich academy, is still owned by them, and never played for a club Thomas was working at.

If you're going to use ChatGPT, you need to fact check it.
Mark Thomas joined Oxford from Portsnouth in 2014 and stayed their until he joined us.
Gilbey - Never played for Oxford
Henry - joined in 2017 for free from Wolves and is still at the club
Mousinho - joined on a free from Burton and stayed there until he retired.
Johnson - Came through Forest's academy and is still there, and had a loan at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Grant - came through Forest's academy, spent a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Cullen - Came through Swansea's academy, spent a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Edun - Fulham's academy, a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Woolfenden - Came through the Ipswich academy, is still owned by them, and never played for a club Thomas was working at.

If you're going to use ChatGPT, you need to fact check it.
Mark Thomas joined Oxford from Portsnouth in 2014 and stayed their until he joined us.
Gilbey - Never played for Oxford
Henry - joined in 2017 for free from Wolves and is still at the club
Mousinho - joined on a free from Burton and stayed there until he retired.
Johnson - Came through Forest's academy and is still there, and had a loan at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Grant - came through Forest's academy, spent a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Cullen - Came through Swansea's academy, spent a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Edun - Fulham's academy, a bit of time at Lincoln (where Thomas has never been)
Woolfenden - Came through the Ipswich academy, is still owned by them, and never played for a club Thomas was working at.

Losing 3-0 with 15 mins left. Villa also missed a penalty.
Aghatise cane off after 22 mins due to injury.
Robinson playing CB alongside a first year scholar (Cox)

19/20 top wage bills:

 
21/22 top wage bills:

Note 1: Sunderland's 19/20 figure includes players who were loaned out and were on big wages
Note 2: Sunderland's figure is for 20/21 as they haven't released accounts for 21/22 yet
Note 3: Sheff Wesd not included in 21/22 as they haven't released accounts and there's no reliable data to 'guess' what their wage bill was
In terms of transfer fees paid, only Bolton (21/22), Fleetwood (19/20), Ipswich (19/20 and 21/22), Peterborough (19/20), Sunderland (21/22), and Wigan (21/22) spent more than they received.
 
I think these figures help put our own restriction into perspective. The rumoured £12m wage budget isn't overly restrictive

Why would Sibley want to stay to be constantly played out of position, if played at all? He'd slot atriaght into a team like Coventry and play regularly in his preferred position.
The others could play for top Championship sides. I could see Knight being a squad player for a side newly promoted to the PL. All will be able to progress with their careers and earn far more than they can with us.

He's got at least another year in him at Championship level, in my opinion. I also wouldn't be surprised if someone like Millwall tried to get him if they went up.

I did wonder, either that or Wilson Palacios! 😂

With the above being for another season in L1, I thought I'd do the same for a season in the Championship:
GK: Wildsmith, Bialkowski (Millwall), Evans
RCB: Harding (Rotherham), Rooney
CB: Cashin, Bartley (WBA)
LCB: Latibeaudiere (Swansea),  Roberts (Brighton)
RWB: Coyle (Hull), Mendez-Laing
LWB:  Manning (Swansea), Barkhuizen
RCM: Knight, Wiles (Rotherham)
CM: Bird, Smith
LCM: Sibley, Hourihane
CF: Pukki (Norwich), McGoldrick
CF: Wilson (Wigan), Hardie (Plymouth)

19/20 top wage bills:

 
21/22 top wage bills:

Note 1: Sunderland's 19/20 figure includes players who were loaned out and were on big wages
Note 2: Sunderland's figure is for 20/21 as they haven't released accounts for 21/22 yet
Note 3: Sheff Wesd not included in 21/22 as they haven't released accounts and there's no reliable data to 'guess' what their wage bill was
In terms of transfer fees paid, only Bolton (21/22), Fleetwood (19/20), Ipswich (19/20 and 21/22), Peterborough (19/20), Sunderland (21/22), and Wigan (21/22) spent more than they received.
 
I think these figures help put our own restriction into perspective. The rumoured £12m wage budget isn't overly restrictive

65 seasons in the top division and 54 in the 2nd division would suggest otherwise

65 seasons in the top division and 54 in the 2nd division would suggest otherwise

65 seasons in the top division and 54 in the 2nd division would suggest otherwise

I guess that's what happens when the likes of Charlton are allowed to spend £20m on a turnover of less than £10m and Bolton £14m on a £8.5m turnover.

We already had Cashin, Bird, Knight, Sibley and Thompson in the first team - Thompson loaned out to non-League strugglers due to Warne not giving him game time to develop in the first team
Cybulski, Stretton and Rooney on the fringes. Cybulski sent out on a series of loans and Stretton sold when we didn't have a 3rd choice CF, despite Warne favouring 2 CF starters. Rooney spent the majority of the season in no match days squads, rather than staying match fit in the U21s.
Then the likes of Evans, Robinson, Hawkins, Aghatise, Richards in the U21s, and Thompson, Moloney, Brown, Davidson and Wheeldon in the U18s. 
The evidence is there which proves Warne has no experience with developing academy graduates. That's not to say he can't, because Rotherham's academy is almost nonexistent. They were recently ranked 24th out of all Category 3 academies. However, the pattern so far suggests he's taking the same approach with our Category 1 youngsters as Rotherham's Category 3 youngsters - loans to non-league rather than U21 football or the odd first team game.

ChatGBT needs to do better than that
5 players, 2 who didn't come through the academy, 1 who retired at 23, and 1 who scored 2 league goals in 39 apps before being sent out on a series of loans and eventually sold.
My version gave me slightly different answers, with marginally better choices of player:

It doesn't. The original point being made is that Warne does not have any real experience at bringing players through from the academy to the first team. He has two success stories, with one of those only becoming a success after leaving Rotherham.

ChatGBT response again..
 
Jake Cooper - 0 league games for Rotherham (3 in the Pizza Cup in 19/20) and is now on his 5th non-league loan.
Akeem Hinds - 0 league games for Rotherham (2 in the Pizza Cup in 19/20) and was released in January 2020. Now at his 6th non=league club.
Joshua Kayode - 20 league games for Rotherham and only 1 goal (he's a CF), with 2 goals in 32 games in all competitions. He's been on a season long loan at L1 strugglers MK Dons and has score 0 goals in just 9 games.
Absolutely fantastic examples of Warne bringing through academy graduates.