YorkshireRam

That's surely backup for the JCH deal, if true? I know Leaburn is injured for another few months but would be very strange to bump him that far down the pecking order when he was one of the standout young talents in the league last season

I'm not superstitious at all... until it comes to football. Genuinely grimaced reading that he'd won 😂

Smith on loan would be good competition/cover for Collins, and relieves the pressure off Waghorn and Washington to rush back from injury. It'd be a very underwhelming first signing though. I want signings for the future, not Collins MK.II- both in age and playing style. If it's Smith + CBT and a midfielder, or something, then I'm okay, but when all we hear this week is basically ''budget is tighter than we thought'' and we then hear about signing Michael Smith, then if that's true, it seems a bit of an ominous sign for our transfer window as a whole.

Didn't quite make the point clearly, more that it built up fan expectations that we'd likely be able to target and sign players we want, rather than having to sift through freebies and loans. I've half wondered when Warne has sounded frustrated about transfers if it's because he expected this to be the case, also?

Nope, and this is why I've pointed out before that I doubt this is Warne's ideal transfer strategy; brought in to oversee a complete rebuild and hasn't been allowed to buy a player yet... This would all be fine, except for all the comments in summer about having one of the best budgets in the league. I still can't work out why we'd say something like that when what we've seen is that clubs like Charlton can seemingly outbid us for players...

It was reported at the time the deal was agreed and all but signed, and they turned round at the eleventh hour and asked for more money. Cue Warne talking about ''liars in his next press conference. There was a lot of talk around this at the time, not sure how you missed it? Also weakens your own argument about Warne having an adverse effect on potential signings if you're not aware of the context...

He's got them to turn up when it actually matters which is in 9/11 recent league games, not that you'll ever credit that to the same degree which you highlight the negatives... Honestly the only annoyance about last night for me is having to tolerate the doomsayers emerging from their recent hibernation 😂

Get him signed and then we can have a La(i)ng on both flanks Rated him for a couple of seasons now but not done as much this season as I thought he would have done. For the right price, definitely the sort of player that may be able to give us a push in the second half of the season ie. Broadhead at Ipswich last year.

I had a thought while commenting earlier: shouldn't coaches make better pundits than players? They understand the tactics better than players, have to analyse as part of the coaching gig, and also have to a certain level of communication skills. Arguably that set of skills lends itself better to punditry than that of a former player? I want insight and analysis I can't infer myself from just watching the game. Hearing about 'double pivots' and 'inverted wingbacks' and technical terms you don't hear in the concourses at games or in day-to-day discussions. One of the better pundits to emerge recently that weaves his own personal experience into what he says is Daniel Sturridge. But the fact he stands out for this is largely my point. If pundits can't weave their subjective experience into their commentary, then the only upside provided by being an ex-pro is lost, and they're likely not going to offer insight above what someone in the pub may be able to. Ashley Williams was a decent centre half in his day but I don't half find him dull to listen to, same with Jermaine Jenas- great presenter, boring pundit.

Ah gotcha, like premeditated patterns of play. Yeah I agree on this front, was definitely more noticeable earlier in the season that we sometimes didn't look like we knew what to do when in possession. Now i'm thinking out loud here, what if putting it into the channels to cross is just a vague blueprint which the end goal is to deviate from? As in, create that first instinct in the players so we have an established pattern of play, then trust once it's working that the players are smart enough to know when to change it up and break through the middle? There's so much about high-level coaching that I know absolutely nothing about, I'd love to spend a day amongst training just to see what goes on, gets talked about, focused on etc.

I'd say we looked like a cohesive attacking unit for the first goal on Saturday- one touch stuff, neat flicks, tidy finish. That was through the middle of the park? Same with the third, though less players involved in the build-up Maybe we're still on a downward trend of seeing less of the predictable 'work it out wide and cross' gameplan. We've definitely stopped lumping diagonals as much as we did at the start of the season, so maybe this is the next step, and we're still not quite the finished article?

Genuine question then: do you think stature as an ex-professional player is a more important qualification for the role of pundit, than being able to speak eloquently about football? Just wondering why the people providing commentary and analysis need to be ''relevant''? I'd much rather hear a complete nobody provide tactical insight where I learn something, than I would watch someone clumsily stumble through cliches, who's only there because they used to be a pro...

'Direct' and 'technical' are not correlated so struggling to see your point there. You don't score the 3rd v Peterborough (A) bending it round the keeper like that without being technically gifted. If you disagree, let's take a ball to the park and see how many attempts it takes us to recreate in a completely unpressured situation 😂 Who are you referring to, and what more would you need to see out of them (highlighted bit)? Barkhuizen has been handled perfectly, and his G/A seriously flatters him; I'm still annoyed at the complete apathy to track the runner and stop the cross v Portsmouth which led directly to their equaliser. Sibley I rate but hasn't done enough to be a starter yet. Just curious what you'd be wanting to see to maybe flip your opinion to a wholly positive one? More wins always help I guess!

''What's before'' was a generational playing talent in Alan Hansen saying ''you'll never win anything with kids'' and then getting proved wrong repeatedly... I want tactical and analytical insight, you don't need to be an ex-pro to provide that. I've heard more of it from Alex Scott than I ever did from Mark Lawrenson- so you also don't need to be a man to provide it. You just have to know the game.

The burden of proof is on you here if you're making the assertion that their inclusion is purely tokenistic. You don't need to be an ex-pro to be a good pundit. It isn't usually down to experience, it's down to preparation. Personal insight can be useful, but most pundits don't know how to weave it into commentary effectively, which sort of negates gender as an important factor in whether someone does a good job. I'm not a huge fan of Fara William's punditry, but I am of Courtney Sweetman-Kirk's. Fara William's earlier inclusion in BBC programming will be part of the reason I get to hear from CSK, which is a positive for me. Without equality of opportunity, meritocracy isn't the fairly-weighted system it's described as being, and sometimes that needs to be forced a little bit to change overall for the better.

Fornah has produced the best bit of close control/skill i've seen this season, while Ward is easily the best crosser of the ball at the club- think you're doing them a disservice by not describing them as technical. Waghorn rattling in a hattrick of classy finishes also doesn't fit this brief; it seems very much like you're trying to bend facts to suit an agenda here... No mention of the recruitment of Wilson who is a flair player that loves to nutmeg people either? NML is on track to have his most productive season to date? Bird influencing games far more thanks to Warne recognising he could be more effective as an #8 than a #4? Cashin's form under Warne has been outstanding (barring the early blip) and he's a very technical centre half, consistently preferred to marquee signing Bradley. Again, I'd argue Warne has improved our technical players as much as anyone else.

Tom Naylor?

I've just thought about it and the recent exception may well be Luke Plange. He's still young and plenty of time to improve, but looking at what he's done since he left, £1m looks good business to me?

€1.5m was reported for Buchanan as compensation. I'm not sure Ebiowei's has even been decided yet, but they only offered us a measly £30k, which we obviously rejected and so it's gone to tribunal.

Never knew the compensation included sell on clauses. That's interesting, and potentially good news for us. Suppose it means there's even less urgency to sell if we're practically guaranteed 7 figures + 20% sell on at the end of the season anyway... that's a remarkably good deal for a player ending his contract with us!

I haven't got the source, but I distinctly remember someone saying the compensation from tribunal would likely be more than bids we'd receive in January, hence the club's relaxed stance about selling him and not needing to cash in this window. That implies easily 7 figures if true.

Chris Powell?

Which I haven't done at any stage, I've actually been fairly careful in pointing out proper criticism always has its place. But a reminder that footballer's are human, and experience emotional responses to public criticism is important. I think it's easy to forget how public some online spaces are, and that awareness was what I was alluding to. If people had a quick thought of ''what if the subject of my post sees this?'', would they phrase things quite as harshly maybe? Essentially this: 😂