Kernow

Do we know if he’s in the Charlton squad or not?

I would hope the additional income from being in the Championship would allow us to compete at a level where we aren’t coming straight back down again. We found it tough to properly compete with parachute payments before and ended up in a mess, I don’t think we’re in any danger of competing with them any time soon whether we go up or not.

If players like CBT end up being out of reach because of finances then I would find it concerning. Obviously he could easily end up being announced in the next few ways, but it’s not great to hear a manager being downbeat about additions that might make the difference between getting out of this league or not. I don’t want it look like I’m calling for money to be thrown at getting out of this division recklessly. I’m not, we’ve been there & got the t-shirt. But if we aren’t financially in a position to pip other teams to signings in this league, then it comes down quality of recruitment, which I wouldn’t be overly confident about yet.

Pretty sure the last player we paid a fee for was Jozwiak, so that would’ve been under Cocu. Players like Wilson and Fornah I’m pretty sure could end up having us paying fees but that’s performance dependent. If we’re still in the position where we can only offer performance based incentives then we won’t exactly have the pick of the bunch. It is concerning if we don’t have any money at all to spend, if the restrictions are gone. Our income as a club should greatly exceed almost everyone in this league, and we haven’t had the chance to overspend for a few years now. I recall @Big Trav talking about Clowes looking for investment. It may be the case that any spending rests on whether that can happen and when.

CBT would be a wheelie good signing.

Maybe we should pick Warne’s replacement from the Saudi league as the managers over there don’t half manage to attract some players.

Ffs. Be lucky to stay in the top 6 at this rate 😡

I’m not hugely knowledgable about the extent of the squad depth for teams like Bolton and Pompey. I know that on paper Colby Bishop looked like their key player, but their fans seem to think that their poor form has coincided with his return to injury. On the other hand, if Collins picked up an injury, I wouldn’t trust TJJ to lead the line for half a season, purely because his injury record doesn’t suggest he can. There’s already areas that we can improve on without injury, but I think if we’d been even slightly more ambitious in the January 23 window, we wouldn’t have slipped out of the top 6.

Agreed. That cost us last season and we could make do with what we have, but our lack of depth means that just one or two injuries will derail our season. We are in a much stronger position for top 2 than last season, purely due to the quality of the opposition. If we don’t take this chance this season then we will just suffer more financially and there’s no guarantee we would be in a better position to get promoted next year instead. I understand our budget may not be great, but we have to add quality or we risk just getting left behind. Smart additions in January also help set us up for the summer if we do go up. There’s a thread about what we’d need to get mid table in the Championship. If we go with what we have and it is enough, then that’s a hell of a lot of work to do again in the summer.

Thought I'd have a look at previous winners of this competition. Of the winning teams since 2011 (couldn't be bothered looking any further), Rotherham in 21/22 (well done Paul) and Bristol City in 2014/15 are the only two teams to win the EFL Trophy and get promoted to the Championship in the same season. Clearly, performance and success in this competition means very little and does not correlate to league performance. I would've been one of those who would have been interested if we got to the final, but otherwise, no. I know plenty others have said similar, so it's hard to be upset about exiting a pretty unimportant competition when I have that mindset towards it. Obviously the concerning bit is the performance. But I'm not getting too upset about that either, because our form has been excellent and our performances have been nowhere near reaching the low levels we saw tonight. If we come out against Burton, control the game and win comprehensively then as far as I'm concerned, tonight might as well have never even happened. If we produce another poor performance and poor result, then that's when some concern might start setting in.

I know Bird is a United fan, but would Rashford’s poor form really have that much of an impact on his decision?

January would be an apt time to sign him, although I think he’s a little too young. If we wait until the January 2035 window, we could use the headline ‘Old Lang Signs’

I didn’t expect him until the end of the window, if at all, I guess the injury may influence Sheffield Utd’s decision whether to integrate him now or send him out on loan again. If he’s done as well as he has in L1 already, then he’ll probably be part of their squad in the Championship next season, he might even end up on loan at a Championship side instead this month.

Not sure if the defending or camera work is worse, but he got a hat-trick in extra time in the Irish Cup a few days ago.

By the end of the 2026 season, he’ll be 34. I think being a mid-table(ish) Championship side should be a realistic target for then, given our current position. I’d imagine his weekly wage on a 2 year contract will be less than if we only extended to 2025, but gives him that guaranteed income for an extra year. Even if he’s just a squad player by the end of his contract, I think it’s a smart move for all involved.

Buy the last pie at the City Ground and you can carry out some first hand, primary research.

Good news. The fact it’s til 2026 falls nicely in line with the song about him, gives him enough time at least… First he went to Cardiff and took them to the Prem. Now he’s come to Derby to do the same again… I’ll settle for the Championship but you get the idea.

He’s the kind of player that I’d want here and I think would do really well here. The Vale fans rave about him, seem to think he’s the best loanee they’ve ever had. The article linked in the tweet is worth a read if you can navigate the ads. I doubt he would be one beyond half a season though. Sheff Utd are down, if we were in their position, he’s the kind of player I’d want to start integrating into the team ready for next season. Osula gets decent minutes in the PL for them and didn’t exactly shine in League 1, if Arblaster did as well as he did, then I’m sure SUFC could feature for them too.

Exactly right. Just look at the Portsmouth result a couple hours later, another team fighting for promotion away to a side in the bottom 4, except they lost. These games can look easier on paper, but these are exactly the games we have slipped up in in previous promotion battles over the years. I don't think we played that well, but in a weird way, I don't think we "tried" to. We have a busy schedule, players will get tired. I think Warne is looking to get us to do enough to win, but not exert too much energy needlessly. I think that showed after they got their goal, because we got control of the game straight away and opened up another 2-goal advantage, after being pretty poor and being under pressure from them for 15-20 minutes before that. It's risky, because the tide could have turned and Fleetwood could've gone on to get a point, but I think if they didn't get that goal, we wouldn't have gone out to grab the third because it wasn't necessary. It might not be the prettiest, but it's effective and getting results and that's the most important thing right now.

I think this was the one where Ibe absolutely twatted it into the roof of the net from about 4 yards out. Boxing Day at St Andrews wasn’t it?

Pretty much as well as it could’ve gone then today. Still with a game in hand on Portsmouth but 3 points closer. Only behind Posh on goals scored. Still can’t write off Oxford or Barnsley but I can’t see the top 2 coming from anyone other than the current top 4.

Since their goal we just retook control of the game. I was expecting an onslaught for 10+ minutes but we’ve done well to just push our foot on the accelerator when needed, it’s frustrating that we allowed them a way back in and even gave them a chance. We definitely know how to pick up points away from home, that bodes well. Pompey play later, but for the first time in ages we’re on the same amount of games and the gap is only 4 points. All to play for!