Jackal

All 12 of them, I'll have you know! 🙄

What constitutes 'a lot' of Gateshead fans?

I think the attachment to our own youngsters is understandable, but probably taints our view a bit.
If we had been looking to bring in a conference bench warmer in Jan, there would have been little enthusiasm.
Let the lad develope with no pressure this season and come back with a better idea of where he needs to be this summer.

Interesting that all the paperwork was done before the deadline friday so he could play against stevenage but efl held it up 
but they let reading sign player after player and do not pay them on time 
i've got a feeling they might block this don't know why but it seems a bit weird not to ratify a free agent who needs a living wage a job

He is exactly what we have needed for a considerable length of time. Interviews very well too. What a guy. The impact his presence is having on Bird is also very noticeable. As a team they stood up yesterday and I think Stevenage were a little surprised by how strong we were. Long may it continue. Ebooooooooooo

He's just signed a new 2.5 year contract, has finally found a footballing home at the age of 31 and is playing the best football of his career. He's going nowhere, other than to the Championship with Derby.

Have you seen match threads? Some of the comments on there are as rational as a toddler fuelled on blue Smarties. 

I’d be looking at Tom Bayliss for the summer. Free transfer, tidy midfielder, will be 25, Derby fan. 

Please don’t be Bob Malcom. Please don’t be Bob Malcom. Please don’t be Bob Malcom. Please don’t be Bob Malcom. Please don’t be Bob Malcom. 
 
 
Appearance #1: optimism at 10/10 from me. 
let’s hope he kicks in and doesn’t become BM mark 2. 
 
 

Good eggs and a list of where to get more. 

Wildsmith’s confiscated goalkeeping gloves ?

Love that you’ve picked up on this. I suspect it contains:
1. A signed photo of Delia Smith.
2. A copy of Charles Hughes’ “Hoofball for Dummies”. 
3. A discarded list of current football league “Available Strikers” with addresses & phone numbers sent to Warney last September that Warney keeps meaning to get around to looking at but has put off up to now, in favour of watching cartoons on YouTube. 

I noticed the last requirement was a full driving licence...obviously to analyse ones drinking performance when players go out on bonding sessions 😁 

I agree with your first paragraph, but only when you're in the position Pep is in should your second paragraph apply. As I have quoted many times - King Arthur Cox, "I was looking for Ted McMinn's replacement 5 minutes after he signed for me"*
You should ALWAYS be looking to buy better than what you already have. What you have then becomes your reserve player (yes, I know, you also need to keep those now reserve players happy).
*contextual

The EFL business plan is complex
A loan pot of money, a permanent transfer pot of money. that cannot be cross subsidise each other
Maybe just maybe other clubs know this and the structuring of deals to make them work is too much for most, plus EFL approval makes the negotiations less straight forward.
 
I agree that buying for buying sake is stupid, we need better than we have on permanents as we are going to go up a division.
i reckon most of our loan pot when the Blackett -Taylor (loan to permanent) so the ability to loan players reduced.
Now we get into free agents and  loans - can be as good as we’ve got, no need to be better, as good as we’ve got will cover for injuries and still get us promoted without having players not good enough for the championship on long contracts.
 
anyway the EFL business plan ends this season so the next window is the real test of Warne and Clowrs in an unrestricted window

I think Clowes is as committed as ever. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have sanctioned the move for CBT, for example. £400,000 is £400,000 more than he might have felt necessary.
If you look at the signings since he took over the club, I think Clowes has tried to build a competitive team and strike a good balance between ambition and prudence.
People want to complain about our transfer business this season, but every season has cases of players not working out. I think people seem to forget that only 11 players can play at any one time and not every signing will work because other players are getting game time and playing well and getting recognition.
Last season, there were senior players like Stearman, Davies, Chester and Loach who barely got a kick. There were young players signed like Oduroh who never looked like making an impact. So it happens, not just with Warne signings but there are all kinds of managers get signings wrong. 

I think his upturn in scoring rate has coincided with him getting into the penalty area for when the ball comes in, instead if spending too much time outside the area chasing the ball. He deserves praise for making the adjustment! It has also come at the sane time that we started using the midfield a little more and playing with the ball closer to the ground instead if the players needing a stepladder to even see how high the cross had been.
Keep it going, James!

Good character 

Love the lad personally and partly because of that, I think a move elsewhere is a probably not such a bad move for him. Folk have questioned whether Brizzle can match our ambitions, but they overlook the fact that if Max were all about ambition, he'd have left Derby years back. As it is, Bristol are a Championship club, located in a vibrant city, there are strong links through Jason Knight and Max will presumably be on a very decent salary too. Not a move entirely without merit then! 
Clearly a good few would disagree, but I say more power to him, he owes us the square root of FA. He's shown his loyalty though thick and thin and yet still isn't really appreciated by a significant number of us fans. The football side of that debate will rage on no doubt, but their opinions have been made loud and clear, so perhaps this too plays into his thinking. It would mine.
What is clear, is that Max is doing this on his own terms and I believe securing a positive outcome for Derby too, also ranks a priority. I think the deal structure, is actually quite telling. The fee, by all accounts, is a fair one and if reports are accurate, a fair bit more than we could sensibly expect at a tribunal. We also retain his services until the end of the season, not a benefit for some on here, I concede, but certainly one in my mind and after that, Max gets what he wants, which sadly, is a fresh start and a clean slate after the summer break in pastures new.
TBH, I'm gutted the lad has not chosen to take another tilt with Derby, but he's a been very loyal for a lad at the right end of his career and I can only thank him and wish him all the best.
OAR

You joke but that's probably our Plan Z for a new striker....

I’m loathed to say anything as my lad has told me a few things he’s heard Max say, more so Sibbo. The pair of them were very proud to come through our academy, they are professionals and want the best career’s possible. One day many might hear a story, a younger Max wasn’t that complimentary about Cocu at one point “allegedly” I’ve heard, but he’s always sought to improve his game and why shouldn’t he want new challenges, maybe better money etc.
Some comments are so savage, like we’re entitled to own careers or gain promotions. The same kind of comments that wrote off Morgan Whittaker and said good riddance etc; yet it was clear he was still developing and now look. Just maybe Max needs to move to develop his game more too; after all plenty day he’s not suited to Warne’s style, similar to Hourihane, can’t play together you name it.
Why can’t people be happy we’ve developed a young lads career, enjoy what he gave and wish him well; more so if we made what the club feel is decent money!

Really sad he's going but unsurprised. Stuck with us when others forced moves. Dont get the vitriol at all - Knight didnt get it did he? Will be so upset for him if he gets hostility at Pride Park - hoping twitter is full of fools who arent old enough to go to matches unaccompanied. Just hope we dont waste the money 

Best midfielder at the club. Leaving as won't sign a new contract. Good fee. Keep the player for the rest of the season.
He came through the ranks, stood by us when we were on our arse, does his best, good egg arond the place, getting a bigger wage in a higher division, club doesn't lose out.
Max Bird comes out well, Derby County come out well. 
Moaners, please shush. I'm embarrassed by you.

That's the second time I've heard that today, caught one of my wife's friends saying it to her, funny, didn't know she was into football transfers!! 🤔🙄😁