Ghost of Clough

I may not be a scout, but I believe I'm a very good judge of player in our academy. Over the past 10 years or so I can only recall being wrong about 2 players 'making it' in our first team - Callum Ball and Brad Foster - and there's still time for my call on Foster to be proven right. Well, I guess you can add Whittaker to the list too. From as far back as the Rowett season I identified Knight as a player who would make an impact on the first team (he was 16/17 at the time). Most people hadn't even heard his name until the end of the 18/19 season when he appeared in the playoff squads.
 
You don't like the comparison with Reading, despite their squad fighting relegation for the majority of the previous season (they only made 5 signings that summer, 3 on loan and 1 from L1).. so here's one with a Derby side which made a late challenge for top 6 2 seasons ago. Only 5 gaps, so chuck in a 6th summer signing in wherever you see fit.

Don't be daft, signing a couple of experienced pros on short deals, when we've lots of youngsters and a shortage in certain positions ain't the same as paying silly money for players like Anya and Blackman.

Yeah, it's someone having a laugh

Spain don't get the point of this game do they? They're Man City until the penalty area and then they're Exeter City. 
Don't know why pundits drool over them. 

Dylan Williams.
2nd year scholar.
LB, CM, LW

I believe that's Dylan Williams from the U18s
https://www.dcfc.co.uk/teams/player/dylan-williams

Are we sure he's not just here to collect the money we owe Wycombe?

I may not be a scout, but I believe I'm a very good judge of player in our academy. Over the past 10 years or so I can only recall being wrong about 2 players 'making it' in our first team - Callum Ball and Brad Foster - and there's still time for my call on Foster to be proven right. Well, I guess you can add Whittaker to the list too. From as far back as the Rowett season I identified Knight as a player who would make an impact on the first team (he was 16/17 at the time). Most people hadn't even heard his name until the end of the 18/19 season when he appeared in the playoff squads.
 
You don't like the comparison with Reading, despite their squad fighting relegation for the majority of the previous season (they only made 5 signings that summer, 3 on loan and 1 from L1).. so here's one with a Derby side which made a late challenge for top 6 2 seasons ago. Only 5 gaps, so chuck in a 6th summer signing in wherever you see fit.

Grealish on the field lifts the crowd which in turn lifts the team. 

So you're basing a full formational change based on 5 games from last season?
I can make a judgement on Stretton based on what I've seen. Inches away from scoring on his league debut for us, 3 goals in 173 minutes for Stockport and 8 in 696 minutes for the U23s last season. Since he became a first year scholar in 18/19, he's scored 37 in 3654 minutes of football at various levels, not far off 1 every 90 minutes. Some players, such as Whittaker, take time to adjust to the increased physicality. Stretton so far has stepped up seamlessly every single time.
10 games for 3rd choice isn't too unreasonable, I agree. But, it's something we can leave until January to re-evaluate. Keeping Davies as 3rd choice until then is also reasonable, as it's only asking him to step in for 5 games.
"At rb we're relying on two untested youth players if Byrne gets injured". Well evidence shows Byrne will play in 90% of the available minutes, so the amount of games we have to 'rely' on McDonald or Ebosele is minimal.
McDonald played against Norwich, Reading, Cardiff and Brentford, plus very short periods on the pitch vs Bristol, QPR and Bournemouth. That was 6 appearances vs top 9 sides. I think that shows he has Rooney's trust.
Yes, it's not unusual for young players in their debut seasons to have a bad run of form. Especially for a wing back during a congested schedule. We won't get any money for Forsyth and he'll be on low wages anyway, so it makes little sense to sign a replacement backup.
Lawrence was involved in 34 goals in his first 3 seasons with us (18 the season before). If that's "average", then there must be a lot excellent wingers in this league.
Don't forget the RB becuae you don't want us to rely on McDonald or Ebosele. Why not throw a GK in there too and we can have a whole new 11.
To have a squad which doesn't 'rely' on academy graduates filling tiny gaps as you seem to desire, you'd need at least 30 players. That's exceptionally unreasonable.
Reading used the 2nd fewest players last season with 27. I'm using them as my example as they're similar to us in terms of the academies. Of those 27, 7 played fewer than 180 minutes of football with a few more playing around 5 games. Essentially a 20 man squad, which contained 5 academy graduates (Rinomhota, Richards, Olise, Holmes, McIntyre) - similar to us with Buchanan, Bird, Knight and Sibley
Our squad make-up would match theirs with just 5/6 signings. A rough comparison of our squad for the upcoming season vs their from last season:

I may not be a scout, but I believe I'm a very good judge of player in our academy. Over the past 10 years or so I can only recall being wrong about 2 players 'making it' in our first team - Callum Ball and Brad Foster - and there's still time for my call on Foster to be proven right. Well, I guess you can add Whittaker to the list too. From as far back as the Rowett season I identified Knight as a player who would make an impact on the first team (he was 16/17 at the time). Most people hadn't even heard his name until the end of the 18/19 season when he appeared in the playoff squads.
 
You don't like the comparison with Reading, despite their squad fighting relegation for the majority of the previous season (they only made 5 signings that summer, 3 on loan and 1 from L1).. so here's one with a Derby side which made a late challenge for top 6 2 seasons ago. Only 5 gaps, so chuck in a 6th summer signing in wherever you see fit.

I may not be a scout, but I believe I'm a very good judge of player in our academy. Over the past 10 years or so I can only recall being wrong about 2 players 'making it' in our first team - Callum Ball and Brad Foster - and there's still time for my call on Foster to be proven right. Well, I guess you can add Whittaker to the list too. From as far back as the Rowett season I identified Knight as a player who would make an impact on the first team (he was 16/17 at the time). Most people hadn't even heard his name until the end of the 18/19 season when he appeared in the playoff squads.
 
You don't like the comparison with Reading, despite their squad fighting relegation for the majority of the previous season (they only made 5 signings that summer, 3 on loan and 1 from L1).. so here's one with a Derby side which made a late challenge for top 6 2 seasons ago. Only 5 gaps, so chuck in a 6th summer signing in wherever you see fit.

Our defence.

I'd rather have no signings, if we renew Davies and get these two, we'll have 3 CB's with a combined age of 107...

So you're basing a full formational change based on 5 games from last season?
I can make a judgement on Stretton based on what I've seen. Inches away from scoring on his league debut for us, 3 goals in 173 minutes for Stockport and 8 in 696 minutes for the U23s last season. Since he became a first year scholar in 18/19, he's scored 37 in 3654 minutes of football at various levels, not far off 1 every 90 minutes. Some players, such as Whittaker, take time to adjust to the increased physicality. Stretton so far has stepped up seamlessly every single time.
10 games for 3rd choice isn't too unreasonable, I agree. But, it's something we can leave until January to re-evaluate. Keeping Davies as 3rd choice until then is also reasonable, as it's only asking him to step in for 5 games.
"At rb we're relying on two untested youth players if Byrne gets injured". Well evidence shows Byrne will play in 90% of the available minutes, so the amount of games we have to 'rely' on McDonald or Ebosele is minimal.
McDonald played against Norwich, Reading, Cardiff and Brentford, plus very short periods on the pitch vs Bristol, QPR and Bournemouth. That was 6 appearances vs top 9 sides. I think that shows he has Rooney's trust.
Yes, it's not unusual for young players in their debut seasons to have a bad run of form. Especially for a wing back during a congested schedule. We won't get any money for Forsyth and he'll be on low wages anyway, so it makes little sense to sign a replacement backup.
Lawrence was involved in 34 goals in his first 3 seasons with us (18 the season before). If that's "average", then there must be a lot excellent wingers in this league.
Don't forget the RB becuae you don't want us to rely on McDonald or Ebosele. Why not throw a GK in there too and we can have a whole new 11.
To have a squad which doesn't 'rely' on academy graduates filling tiny gaps as you seem to desire, you'd need at least 30 players. That's exceptionally unreasonable.
Reading used the 2nd fewest players last season with 27. I'm using them as my example as they're similar to us in terms of the academies. Of those 27, 7 played fewer than 180 minutes of football with a few more playing around 5 games. Essentially a 20 man squad, which contained 5 academy graduates (Rinomhota, Richards, Olise, Holmes, McIntyre) - similar to us with Buchanan, Bird, Knight and Sibley
Our squad make-up would match theirs with just 5/6 signings. A rough comparison of our squad for the upcoming season vs their from last season:

So you're basing a full formational change based on 5 games from last season?
I can make a judgement on Stretton based on what I've seen. Inches away from scoring on his league debut for us, 3 goals in 173 minutes for Stockport and 8 in 696 minutes for the U23s last season. Since he became a first year scholar in 18/19, he's scored 37 in 3654 minutes of football at various levels, not far off 1 every 90 minutes. Some players, such as Whittaker, take time to adjust to the increased physicality. Stretton so far has stepped up seamlessly every single time.
10 games for 3rd choice isn't too unreasonable, I agree. But, it's something we can leave until January to re-evaluate. Keeping Davies as 3rd choice until then is also reasonable, as it's only asking him to step in for 5 games.
"At rb we're relying on two untested youth players if Byrne gets injured". Well evidence shows Byrne will play in 90% of the available minutes, so the amount of games we have to 'rely' on McDonald or Ebosele is minimal.
McDonald played against Norwich, Reading, Cardiff and Brentford, plus very short periods on the pitch vs Bristol, QPR and Bournemouth. That was 6 appearances vs top 9 sides. I think that shows he has Rooney's trust.
Yes, it's not unusual for young players in their debut seasons to have a bad run of form. Especially for a wing back during a congested schedule. We won't get any money for Forsyth and he'll be on low wages anyway, so it makes little sense to sign a replacement backup.
Lawrence was involved in 34 goals in his first 3 seasons with us (18 the season before). If that's "average", then there must be a lot excellent wingers in this league.
Don't forget the RB becuae you don't want us to rely on McDonald or Ebosele. Why not throw a GK in there too and we can have a whole new 11.
To have a squad which doesn't 'rely' on academy graduates filling tiny gaps as you seem to desire, you'd need at least 30 players. That's exceptionally unreasonable.
Reading used the 2nd fewest players last season with 27. I'm using them as my example as they're similar to us in terms of the academies. Of those 27, 7 played fewer than 180 minutes of football with a few more playing around 5 games. Essentially a 20 man squad, which contained 5 academy graduates (Rinomhota, Richards, Olise, Holmes, McIntyre) - similar to us with Buchanan, Bird, Knight and Sibley
Our squad make-up would match theirs with just 5/6 signings. A rough comparison of our squad for the upcoming season vs their from last season:

Looks to me like Bartosz Cybulski and Alex Matthews are both in this group photo.

You say the squad is weaker, and it is numbers wise. However;
57 appearances between Roberts, Waghorn and Gregory managed a massive 9 goals. Not hard to replace. 
In midfield only Rooney and Holmes have left or stopped playing that had double figures appearance wise last season. Both will not be missed. 
Which leaves us with Clarke, Wisdom and Edmunson in defence missing.  
If we aren't capable of signing a striker who can score 10 in 40 odd games to replace the dross up front, a midfielder to cover the 'loss' of Rooney and Holmes and a couple of defenders then we will be in trouble. 
If Mengi can perform as well as Wisdom, we can get a replacement for Clarke, sign a decent midfielder and get a half decent striker, we will be no worse off. Possibly better off. 
It really isn't a lot to ask for. I'm sure if we sign 5 or 6 players, they will add more to the squad than what has left on the fraction of the wages. 
And I'm sure with the youth players having more experience, the management team having more experience, we'd get more points. Only my opinion, but I'm not really panicking.

Is that so unreasonable? Over a month to go until our first league game so plenty of time to strengthen. Even with just 4 loans and 2 free the squad looks completely different.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: Free, JBrown/Solomon/Cashin
CB: Mengi, Davies
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, Loan
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, Free
LW: Lawrence, Loan
CF: Loan, Kazim, Stretton
 
Roos and Marshall have both proven to be enough for the Championship.
We don't need a 4th senior CB, as we should be recruiting players who aren't injury prone (we've made that mistake too many times). This means JBrown/Cashin/Solomon's game time is limited to just a few late subs, or emergency cover if Davies picks up an injury. This position can be re-evaluated in January.
Full backs are fine, as Byrne and Buchanan have so far shown themselves to be fairly robust, meaning Forsyth and Ebosele/McDonald will only be needed for the odd game here and there during periods of fixture congestion.
Bird, Knight, Shinnie, Sibley and A.N.Other is enough to cover the 3 CM positions. This can also be re-evaluated in January depending on the recovery of Bielik and progression of Watson (or other U23)
4 wingers is obviously enough in this league.
3 CFs is enough for 1 position. The signing would expect to be a regular, with Kazim and Stretton providing good backup.
We should not be making signings for the unfortunate event of an injury. We've done that in the past and it led to a bloated wage bill, full of players we couldn't get rid of.

I'd assume if we did sell someone, it would be for enough to at least buy a replacement of equal ability.

Is that so unreasonable? Over a month to go until our first league game so plenty of time to strengthen. Even with just 4 loans and 2 free the squad looks completely different.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: Free, JBrown/Solomon/Cashin
CB: Mengi, Davies
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, Loan
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, Free
LW: Lawrence, Loan
CF: Loan, Kazim, Stretton
 
Roos and Marshall have both proven to be enough for the Championship.
We don't need a 4th senior CB, as we should be recruiting players who aren't injury prone (we've made that mistake too many times). This means JBrown/Cashin/Solomon's game time is limited to just a few late subs, or emergency cover if Davies picks up an injury. This position can be re-evaluated in January.
Full backs are fine, as Byrne and Buchanan have so far shown themselves to be fairly robust, meaning Forsyth and Ebosele/McDonald will only be needed for the odd game here and there during periods of fixture congestion.
Bird, Knight, Shinnie, Sibley and A.N.Other is enough to cover the 3 CM positions. This can also be re-evaluated in January depending on the recovery of Bielik and progression of Watson (or other U23)
4 wingers is obviously enough in this league.
3 CFs is enough for 1 position. The signing would expect to be a regular, with Kazim and Stretton providing good backup.
We should not be making signings for the unfortunate event of an injury. We've done that in the past and it led to a bloated wage bill, full of players we couldn't get rid of.

We're in an embargo at the moment so can't pay anything anyway ?

I'd assume if we did sell someone, it would be for enough to at least buy a replacement of equal ability.

Is that so unreasonable? Over a month to go until our first league game so plenty of time to strengthen. Even with just 4 loans and 2 free the squad looks completely different.
GK: Roos, Marshall
RB: Byrne, Ebosele/McDonald
CB: Free, JBrown/Solomon/Cashin
CB: Mengi, Davies
LB: Buchanan, Forsyth
CM: Knight, Bird
CM: Shinnie, Bielik, Loan
AM: Sibley, Watson
RW: Jozwiak, Free
LW: Lawrence, Loan
CF: Loan, Kazim, Stretton
 
Roos and Marshall have both proven to be enough for the Championship.
We don't need a 4th senior CB, as we should be recruiting players who aren't injury prone (we've made that mistake too many times). This means JBrown/Cashin/Solomon's game time is limited to just a few late subs, or emergency cover if Davies picks up an injury. This position can be re-evaluated in January.
Full backs are fine, as Byrne and Buchanan have so far shown themselves to be fairly robust, meaning Forsyth and Ebosele/McDonald will only be needed for the odd game here and there during periods of fixture congestion.
Bird, Knight, Shinnie, Sibley and A.N.Other is enough to cover the 3 CM positions. This can also be re-evaluated in January depending on the recovery of Bielik and progression of Watson (or other U23)
4 wingers is obviously enough in this league.
3 CFs is enough for 1 position. The signing would expect to be a regular, with Kazim and Stretton providing good backup.
We should not be making signings for the unfortunate event of an injury. We've done that in the past and it led to a bloated wage bill, full of players we couldn't get rid of.