Ghost of Clough

I assumed everyone knew Simmo just makes rumours up pretending to be ITK

See G of C post 

You talking to yourself again 👻😉

Matt Ryan and Marek Rodak are probably the two best keepers avaialbe who would be realistic for Championship clubs, but I would expect both to want more than we'll be willing to pay, especially Rodak. Rodak spent 2 years on loan at Rotherham, so Warne could potentially sway him to come here.
A more realistic choice would be Walton, who had 23 clean sheets for Ipswich in 22/23 and 14 the year before. He also had 21 clean sheets in 80 Championship games for Wigan and Blackburn (plus 19 in 31 L1 games for Wigan)
I've always been impressed by Joel Pereira (Reading) on the rare occasions I've seen him. He only broke into Reading's side for the final 9 games of the season.

I assumed everyone knew Simmo just makes rumours up pretending to be ITK

I assumed everyone knew Simmo just makes rumours up pretending to be ITK

I assumed everyone knew Simmo just makes rumours up pretending to be ITK

He's 22 so will command a compensation fee - essentially he'll go to the highest bidder and out of our price range.

I assumed everyone knew Simmo just makes rumours up pretending to be ITK

A very interesting read:
https://offtheline599656488.wordpress.com/2024/01/18/in-the-spotlight-15-dan-ellison/

A very interesting read:
https://offtheline599656488.wordpress.com/2024/01/18/in-the-spotlight-15-dan-ellison/

Forsyth, Adams and Collins are the types of player you want in your squad as they set standards for the rest of the squad - professionalism off the pitch as well as effort and determination on it.
All three are good enough to be at least Championship squad players, so as long as they're happy with wages to match their role, then we should be trying to keep them around.

Forsyth, Adams and Collins are the types of player you want in your squad as they set standards for the rest of the squad - professionalism off the pitch as well as effort and determination on it.
All three are good enough to be at least Championship squad players, so as long as they're happy with wages to match their role, then we should be trying to keep them around.

I'm betting we signed just as many players as most clubs over the past 2 seasons.
Last summer, we made roughly the same number of signings as the league's average, but had a quiet January. We also had a quiet January last season.
According to Transfermarket, out of the 31 clubs to have played in L1 over the past 2 seasons, we've actually made the joint 3rd least signings (36) with only Wednesday and Bolton (both 32) signing less.
3 clubs signed at least 60 players and 10 other clubs signing over 50 over the course of 4 transfer windows.

It's fair to say we'll have a midtable wage bill next season. The same can't be said about transfer fees. This season, only 5 clubs spent less than £2m (according to Transfermarkt), a figure I'll be amazed if we exceed. If you exclude player sales from all clubs, I would still expect our total budget (wages plus fees) to be lower midtable (13th-18th).
Preston's wage bill was £21m in 22/23. We'll be closer to Swansea, Blackburn and QPR who were in the £25-26m region last season. Swansea and Blackburn both having a cat 1 academy so are reasonable comparisons in relation to first team budget.

Forsyth, Adams and Collins are the types of player you want in your squad as they set standards for the rest of the squad - professionalism off the pitch as well as effort and determination on it.
All three are good enough to be at least Championship squad players, so as long as they're happy with wages to match their role, then we should be trying to keep them around.

It doesn't matter what a club's turnover is, it's how much an owner is prepared to lose.
A league average wage bill of £30m would be about right if using the latest Championship accounts, and estimating wages for the clubs 'new' to the league. I would actually estiamte it at closer to £31m for the current season.
However, if you exclude the top 6 and bottom 6, the average would be close to £26.5m, roughly where I expect us to be for 24/25, and rank us 12th in the league.

Forsyth, Adams and Collins are the types of player you want in your squad as they set standards for the rest of the squad - professionalism off the pitch as well as effort and determination on it.
All three are good enough to be at least Championship squad players, so as long as they're happy with wages to match their role, then we should be trying to keep them around.

The first 2 cost no transfer fee whilst the 3rd would cost more up front than we paid Rooney in wages during his time as player and manager with us. It's a transfer fee which would mean no budget for any other signing during the summer.

Forsyth, Adams and Collins are the types of player you want in your squad as they set standards for the rest of the squad - professionalism off the pitch as well as effort and determination on it.
All three are good enough to be at least Championship squad players, so as long as they're happy with wages to match their role, then we should be trying to keep them around.

Forsyth, Adams and Collins are the types of player you want in your squad as they set standards for the rest of the squad - professionalism off the pitch as well as effort and determination on it.
All three are good enough to be at least Championship squad players, so as long as they're happy with wages to match their role, then we should be trying to keep them around.

When Warne was first appointed as manager, I pointed out a number of my concerns.
I think it's still fair to say a couple of those concerns remain: style of play, reducing the chances of keeping our academy graduates
Style of play must improve in the future. As shown this season, when we don't win, there is nothing to fall back on and results in a lot of unhappy fans. Perhaps fans as a whole will be more forgiving when we're considered underdogs in games and we expect to lose? We've also lost Knight and Bird, and eere close to losing Cashin. Are we going to keep Sibley and Thompson this summer? 
I think it's also fair to say recruitment has emerged as a concern, in particular the apparent lack in plans to sign players to suit a system, which has also resulted in a mixed success rate. Not signing any wingers but signing wing backs in the summer, only to play a back 4 and wingers after the window closed, followed by signing a winger in January, only to stop using wingers afterwards.
 
However, it's only right for me to point out where my concerns appear to have been addressed: damage to the academy [retention of top prospects], dwindling attendances, the destruction of the feel good factor around the club, etc... 
So far, we managed to retain all of our top talent, with suggestions of us recruiting some very good youngsters from other clubs. Attendances also picked up, especially for the run in. Our average for the season was also our highest since 16/17 despite fewer away fans. It's also undeniable that the feel good factor is back!

Forsyth, Adams and Collins are the types of player you want in your squad as they set standards for the rest of the squad - professionalism off the pitch as well as effort and determination on it.
All three are good enough to be at least Championship squad players, so as long as they're happy with wages to match their role, then we should be trying to keep them around.