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I agree, they aren't first team ready but I think if they were all given the same opportunities as Tavares, Henriksson and De Neve then I have no doubt they could have had the same impact, if not better. Will they be better players in the long run? Hopefully! but based on what i've seen, I think we've spent a lot of money on the wrong players. I hope they prove us all wrong and improve next season.

To be fair, results were even worse playing 4231. Results in general under him have been shocking.

The question I keep having in my head is: IF we stay up - what has Val learned this season that he can apply next season? Is he brave enough to take a calculated risk? Does he have what it takes to bring out the best in the players? I think there is too much of an over reliance on 'trusting the data'. The trouble is, what data are you trusting and at what point does the data become untrustworthy? Our stats might look better playing a 5-3-2 than a 4-5-1 but at the moment the key stat that is being ignored is the lack of wins. I want Val to look at the overall picture and think "This is clearly not working, despite what the stats say, let's try something DIFFERENT". When I watched Macclesfield beat Palace, they had a plan. The part time players may not have thought winning was likely but they still believed in the manager and his plan and it worked. I appreciate V.I has a lot of injuries but I don't think we could have beaten Crystal Palace the other day if we played them. We don't seem to have a plan that the players believe in or can get the best out of them. I want Val to take on the challenge of having a weakened team and make the players feel 10x better. Instead, they look like they are scared to not let him down rather than try and take on the world.

That's actually a pretty good way to run a football club though, if you do it correctly. Get young and/or "unknown" players in the door, develop them, sell them for a substantial profit, re-invest. If our main transfer business would concern players with Championship experience and high wages, we'd just end up with Paul Downing, Matt Kilgallon, and Chris Brown again (unless we're bought by modern slavers or become vassals in a "multi-club project" of course). You'd of course still have to have a solid backbone of experienced players likely to stay at the club for at least 3 or so seasons, and the economical infrastructure to re-invest transfer fees rather than patching holes in a massive wage bill, but in theory I'd like us to go down that road.

Retweeted by Leonard. Wasn't aware we'd offered a new contract, makes the sale more understandable given he didn't sign it. Also indicates we're low-balling offers.

I wouldn't be surprised.

Odds on.

No doubt thinks the earth is flat or that COVID is fake or some shit. Absolute munter.

Odds on Ismael's contract being the next one that the club extends?

Wonder if that's what Colchester fans said when a young Sammy Szmodics didnt score in a season and a half for them when he started his professional career?

Teams who struggle dont tend to get battered every week. Matches more often than not are decided by fine margins and we even with Gudjohnsen fit more often than not were on the wrong side of those margins.

Im not sure I agree. Dlamini, Powell and Doherty all featured and I think looked miles away from being first team ready. None of them can or should be counted on as first team players at the moment. Some of the youngsters have shown that they are capable. Atcheson has only played a couple of games but has looked like he can play a part. Pratt didnt start yesterday but has made himself part of the first team squad. Litherland is currently now injured and isnt a wing back but also showed enough to suggest he wasnt out of his depth. These players shouldnt be assumed as ready to play week in week out but all 3 to varying degrees have shown that they are ready to be in and around it. Yesterday further highlighted the terrible recruitment and the holes within the squad. Its not realistic though to bring through loads of youngsters every season. The answer is not to just not bother and assume theres somebody coming through, the answer is to recruit properly.

He will absolutely take us down before his 3 year deal is up. I think he will get away with it this season by the skin of his teeth, next year though I can see us not being that much better off than Sheffield Wednesday.

Yes, we lost, but what yesterday’s game really showed us is that our youngsters stepped up and delivered far better performances in the first team than many expected - fans included and especially those within the club making the decisions. Those youngsters have actually exposed a lot of people within the club and shown that the club have wasted a lot of money and time bringing external players into the squad when we already had an equal (arguably better) player already within the ranks. I hope the positive in this poor season is that they look there first before 'trusting the data' elsewhere over 'trusting our own' that we've spent years developing.

Not a chance, he's the next Mowbray. He will be content here whatever happens. Look at some of his horror runs over the years. On that logic we should never enter another competition ever again! Sky have already selected there games for that weekend. All the Championship ones they selected though will be postponed because one of the teams progressed to the next round.

We lack a blunt edge.

When we had Gudjohnson alongside Ohashi we looked a lot more dangerous . I'm confident with Gudjohnson and the addition of a striker or 2 we will stay up.We ain't being battered every week the majority of our games have been close we lack a cutting edge

One man’s nostalgia is another man’s history book 😄 I love hearing these stories 😀

This thread from OwlsTalk from last year when wages first stopped being paid rings a few bells. Whilst they are you’ve no chance with such folk, so forget them. https://www.owlstalk.co.uk/forums/topic/337986-chansiri-fan-boys/

I am.

Tophat club.

This is why we aren’t going to get rid of the owners.

Glad we did our bit for the record goal tally in this year's third round.

they get commission of anything where money is involved

Do agents get commissions on loans?