Will Hughes Hair

CBA with this off-season.

The Max Bird who has been Man of the Match in nearly every pre-season game?
This would be very disappointing and our last hope of actually seeing some finesse this season gone.  

No point, we couldn’t invest the knight or bielek money so why lose one of our best players now?

Speaks absolute Megavolumes about Birdy's professionalism and dedication...we so need to keep hold of Bird. 

Trouble with having a terrier in midfield is that he often gets bypassed.
 

Last seasons academy training kit. 

But not every player in the team needs to play further forward. In a team sport it’s about combinations within the side. If we had a midfield of Hourihane, Bird and Sibley with all 3 playing in an attacking way the defence would be exposed. If you’re saying Thompson played well in games where we had to defend at a higher level then the attributes you claim not to see are clearly around his ability to play a defensive midfield role, harrying opponents, tackling and playing the simple ball so the likes of Bird and Hourihane can go create. If Smith is first choice in that regard Thompson is his understudy, that’s the role he can play in the squad. 
You’re suggestion that if we’d signed him from another club he’d be getting slaughtered is your opinion, I have a different opinion of him and think he is a good squad option, I’d still think that if we’d signed him from elsewhere. He’s 21, has a good touch, close control, a good engine on him, brave and willing to learn. For me there’s plenty to like about him.

I'd be a) gobsmacked and b) VERY disappointed if Bird went. 

Trust me, I've played champ manager. I know what I'm on about.

I think it is designed for the average supporter to wear, which will straighten it all out so it is a proper checked pattern once we've stretched it into shape.....

How does any of this link in with the new colour schemes they launched recently? I find that really weird. Or do you reckon they settled in these kits before those colours were launched?

Heard that we’re so far down our list of strikers now, we’ve turned our attention to train drivers.

It definitely is for strikers, honestly don't see many other options than scouring abroad for cost-effective options. Premier League clubs have little choice. The UK market is so sparse that carthorses like Keinan Davis are being talked about in the realms of £5m - a goal every 366 minutes in the Championship and every 810 minutes in the Premier League. He's a player that I would struggle to get excited about in League One, nevermind in the Championship or higher. 
There are players out there, of course, Notts County signed Macaulay Langstaff from Gateshead for £50k. He scored 30 in 47 for them and gone on to score 41 in 47 for Notts County. I would like to bet that he scores a lot of goals next season too. We've just not been a club who has been proactive in scouting players, take a look at Sheff Utd on the other hand - they signed both N'Diaye and Che Adams from non-league recently. Che Adams on our own back yard. 
I hoped that things would change under the new ownership/management with regards to recruitment, but does seem to be similar trend - we've just looked at players from the Championship out of contract and who may drop into League One and got the ones that suited the system. Nothing wrong with that at all, that's not my point, but while we've been picking up Bradley, Nelson, Elder, etc. Barnsley have gone to non-league to find players and signed a few: Dallas, Lofthouse, Lopata. They may be bad signings who can't cut it, but I was hoping to see some creativity in our recruitment strategy this season, perhaps a couple of non-league/league two players with a bit of potential. We don't do too bad at recruiting for the academy, typically, perhaps we will see something from the lads we've picked up to play for our U21s but our recruitment for the first team, on the other hand, has been as bland as unseasoned chicken. 

What’s unusual and a bit interesting is how he/they speak of an annual budget this year and include recurrent (wages) expenses and capital outlays (transfer fees) in that one number ..
Would be interesting to know how the incoming transfer income (Knight) is being accounted for in all of this … sounds like it’s being used to either ‘bank’ or to pay off some form of debt…

I’ve heard he turned up on a Yamaha, did a skid, killed a kid and hit his head on a dustbin lid.

I once submitted 10 puns to a joke competition. 
I really thought with that many, one was sure to be a winner…Sadly, no pun in ten did! 
 I’ll get my coat😆

Brown won't be going out. He needs a full season of U21 football, with a few games at first team level. The situation can be reassessed if he makes an impact in those first team games.

If Brown is capable of having a breakthrough season then Waghorn might actually be a good, cheap option to have as support for him.

Claude Davies would have been on the list I'd have thought. 

That’s disappointing, honestly.
I hope the club know what they’re doing, because it’s for me, it’s a critical year and if they fail to win promotion this season, next season will be a lot more difficult - guarantee there won’t be 21-22k season ticket holders without a promotion. Bird and Cashin probably don’t sign without a promotion too, so I would argue that it’s important that we do what we can to make sure we’re in the best possible position for promotion.
I didn’t expect a spending spree but thought we would at least show some intent by reinvesting some of the cash from sales by bringing in players with some resale value and freshening up the squad. If our plan is to just recycle through free agents every year then it will be difficult to build towards anything sustainable. 

I think Warne is managing expectations down, including those of players' agents who think we're a big club to rinse. Have faith.

It’s a squad game over a long season. Having options like Barkhuizen and Sibley in the squad provides Warne with options. 3-5-2 isn’t working? go 4-3-3 and use them two. 3-5-2 isn’t working? Use the 3-4-2-1 from the end of last season and play Sibley and A.N.Other as the two 10s.
Need an attacking midfielder driving forward in the 3-5-2? Sibley plays that role with 2 of Smith/Hourihane/Bird as the 2 other midfielders. 
Barkhuizen could be surplus or reduced to a squad/rotation option, Sibley I think has a big role to play. 

At this rate Warne will have to resort to plan X, Y or Z.
47 year old Roy Benson and 52 year old walking football superstar Tony Hedges.

I know there’s a lot of negative talk of Dobbin but frankly he’s what this squad is missing at the moment. Pace and the ability to beat a man. Yes his finishing was iffy, but find a perfect player who’s coming on loan to league one and you’ll struggle. He scared defenders and made things happen, the frustrating times is just a byproduct of the style of footballer he was. We need someone who possesses similar attributes to add to the squad. 

A seasonal football club budget is completely different to a personal budget.
Your personal budget has to cater for a potential rainy day at any point in the future. However, a football club budget will be the assigned amount available to spend in that season. You could hold some back in case you need to add to the squad in January, but as Warne has stated, he sees the January window as a period to fix the mistakes from the summer. But, you could use the full budget in the summer and make sure you have adequate quality and depth for the whole season.