RevidgeBlue, I agree with much of what you say. not all, but much. I haven’t said anything yet… as I prefer to wait until the window closes, as you say about many of our supporters.😅 After all, the club did finish strong at the end of the season, players coming back, Ismail appeared to make good selections, use his bench more wisely, etc. One thing you said, that I 100% agree with- the club will get several loaners just before the season begins. That has not helped us much in the past, and those longer than the loan, Because we cannot afford to purchase them. I am not a fan of this policy, even though we have got some guys in the past like Harvey Elliott, Branthwaite, etc. it is simply not a beneficial strategy to the long-term welfare of the club. it’s merely a stop gap. The other thing I worry about, is the players we’ve sold off, hardly any of that money seems to go back into the club. I believe most people here feel the owners are using that money to pay off their business losses. I don’t know for sure, & they are taking a huge risk in financing a football club, as few clubs make any money & they are entitled to protect their investment… but our academy, as strong as it’s been, simply cannot produce 2 or 3 quality players a year needed to advance the fortunes of the club. Therefore, the only way to improve the club to the goal of promotion is transfers.

Well I'm going to be negative, people are obviously free to disagree and argue the other side of the coin. The penny really dropped for me today with the Forshaw signing as to just how screwed we really are. Despite all the valiant attempts in certain quarters to depict this as the sensible addition of a bit of experience to the squad, in reality all we're probably seeing is the well worn scenario for us of having drawn a blank with our A, B, and C lists and ending up with something approaching the Z list. We didn't even want him a few weeks back, if we'd wanted him that badly we could have secured his services then. Then when the young Belgian lad with a sketchy record in a poor League was signed, it was justified on the basis he had plenty of pace and this supposedly suited the blueprint that VI allegedly wants to follow of high pressing, high intensity football. Next one through the door .....Adam Forshaw. You'd laugh if you didn't want to cry. The only common denominator these two have apart from probably not being good enough for the Championship is that they're also probably extremely cheap in the general scheme of things. At this point I'm sure there'll be the usual chorus of "Let's see who we've signed by the end of the window!" but tbh I don't expect anything to improve significantly. Most Clubs tend to target their key players and get them in first and pad out their squad a bit later. We tend to get one or two squad fillers in on the general understanding that ""Don't worry, they haven't eaten up too much of the budget" and a sort of "jam tomorrow" promise that the key players in the positions we really need will arrive later in the window. Tomorrow rarely arrives and neither do the key players. Instead we usually see a bit more squad filling and window dressing round the edges bolstered by the last minute addition of Premier League loans which again tend to generally centre around who is still available at the last minute rather than whether they can adequately fill the positions where we are in the most need. I've expected the worst the last two or three seasons and imo we've only been kept afloat by happening on 2 exceptionally talented young Head Coaches who we've then managed to drive away. I've also repeatedly said that imo we're only one bad manager away from oblivion. Has to happen at some point without a complete change of approach.

No but I havent made those comments in any way as a slight on either of the players coming in. To improve, we need to build on our core of good Championship players. I know enough about Travis and indeed Tronstad, Brittain, Hyam, Batth and Dolan to know that they are all good Championship players. They are capable of performing right now at a very good level (unlike Forshaw) and also bring lots of Championship minutes. If we replace a number of these like for like with players from abroad who may be talented but are unproven, that would be incredibly risky and also not address our issues with depth. I dont think what I am saying is negative at all.

Since the abolition of the maximum wage isn't some of that at least partially true? But the really fucking annoying thing is that after Jack 'pump-primed' the club to get us in the Premier League, the new owners only had to continue the good work of John Williams for a little longer and then the much increased TV money would have more than offset our relatively lower crowds. We're no different from, in fact still a bigger (at least as big as) club than, Brentford, Palace, Dingles, Southampton, etc. who have managed to become either established in the top flight or at least yo-yo'ing. Instead we got the Venky's clusterfuck who, ironically, managed to destroy any chance of establishing the model they now want to run, by their actions in the first few seasons. Any fan who thinks we should be grateful to the Venky's needs their bloody head examining!

It’s info or knowledge that everyone has. Just look at the wages other clubs pay compared to us, and look at the players we get linked with who turn up elsewhere. Or the number of times it has been reported in the last 3 years that we’ve made an offer to a player and then low-balled them when they arrive to sign their contract. It’s not a mystery.

Strikes me as either a smokescreen to dissipate some of the anger over the Forshaw signing or if there is anything in it, a possible Travis replacement.

Spending £2m on one player doesn't sound like us at all. But 23 years old and hasn't come through Leicesters academy seems like there could be some potential here. IF Trav and Tronstad are tied down to new deals, this is the sort of signing we should be making.

We do if the recruitment team are signing a load of shite. Especially shite we know to be shite beecause we've already seen them at first hand and as a result have previously (correctly) said we didn't want them only a few weeks back.

You don’t know anything about the player to have ‘huge concerns’ about him being a ‘direct replacement’ for anybody. He might be better than Travis.

I think the comfort comes from knowing I’m still suffering watching this fecking charade, just like the rest of you.

he`s gone home,disgusted by rovers cheapskate antics of putting him up in one of jays properties

I am neutral about it in that like with De Neve, I have never seen him play. I will see what comes out in terms of how he is seen at his current club to gauge a brief opinion, but even then its only an initial second hand hunch. I think if we add players like these in theory around a core of proven quality at this level, which we have but just need to keep. Then it (obviously dependant on how good they are) makes sense in theory. If they are direct replacements, then I become very concerned. Like most I imagine.

Back into hibernation after a very brief excursion! Comforting to know he's still around for some reason I can't identify!

Factual tangent, but you do you. Since we’re just improvising here, can I say that the Parkers Arms in Newton-in-Bowland does the best pies I’ve ever eaten.

I was wondering the same thing. I thought you sounded (compared to your usual tone) really quite enthusiastic about this one.

I presume you are implying that I am being negative based on previous posts. How is that negative?

I was getting my hopes up about Sid ….then I read the reply….

Forshaw is a warm, cosy, fluffy blanket signing. We know him, he knows us, he waited to see if he got a better offer and we didn't bother looking elsewhere. He rang us up to see if he could come back, we said yes. No ambition whatsoever.

The Venkys are NOT funny. Tbf.

Reminds me of Nzonzi!

Here he is 🤣

I remember Tavares being on the fringes at Leicester without breaking through. These signings from Europe, players who arent really young but arent yet at their peak, can make sense if they come into a squad that already has proven players at this level. Their wages will be lower. Which puts more emphasis on getting the likes of Travis, Tronstad, Hyam Dolan, Batth and Brittain tied down. We already know 2 of them are going, if these are direct replacements then it is a huge concern.

Yet all you hear from a sizeable chunk of the fanbase is ‘small club’, ‘only ever up there because of Jack’, ‘crap crowds in the mid 80s’, ‘be grateful for Venky’s’

7 yellow cards in 29 matches for Tavares. Perfect replacement for Trav.

So clear that we didnt actually offer him a deal and just came back to it over a month after.