Think there are a few of us who remember Butcher! When Paul Bradshaw left for Wolves I remember Butcher's girl friend telling me at the time 'John will be better than Paul and go on to play for England'! Think my response was simply 'let's wait and see'!

Definitely the silly season ... Leeds United midfielder, Ao Tanaka thought to be of interest to a number of championship clubs. Leeds want at least £8m for the versatile oriental. Blackburn Rovers most keen, but are only willing to do a swap deal.

If anyone wants you can download load a. Free version of the DZAN site and watch all the games .

Hmmm... While the current squad has declined a bit since 2021 (when Kane, Walker and Stones were in their pomp) - I would say the current squad is substantially better than the one Southgate first ran with in 2018. The raw bones for 2026 are there - Kane still going, Bellingham and Rice are proven talents at CL level, quite a lot of talented attacking players (Palmer, Saka, Gordon, Eze). The three things we need to do are : 1) sort out the central defence (our number one problem). Since the Euros we have been very unsettled. I would just commit to Guehi and Stones as a pair as it worked well, but injuries have disrupted this. 2) Get the "pivot" in central midfield sorted to smooth out our play through the middle (has to be Wharton surely?) and get the best out of the attacking players 3) Find the right setup for Kane up front. I think we need to drop playing a number 10 as Kane wants to do that himself. Need players around him who focus on getting forward, and work their nuts off on and off the ball. I guess my team would be Gordon Kane Saka Bellingham Wharton Rice Lewis-Skelly Guehi Stones Alexander Arnold Pickford I am not happy about the defensive quality of our full backs, but maybe seems our best options above. But I think it is a hard ask for Tuchel to say he i significantly worse off in his squad than Southgate.

Hee Hee Chaplin's inside the Oak Tree which is now a Tesco Express. There's a blast from the past. Not all things change for the better sadly.

Nobbers at Dumpdale

I remember Butch very well. Obviously an admission that we are old timers. 🙂

Well one of those 2 is no loss at all but the other is a crucial loss. Any team needs heart not just ability. Travis has it.

I’ve found some old concert tickets 🙂. Here’s #1 Genesis at the NEC in December 1981. Hadn’t long passed my driving test, borrowed my aunty’s Mini, drove down from Accrington after work, got home roughly 2am…in work for 8am. Oh to be young & foolish…😁

I think it’s likely to be Pears and Travis to be flogged, Tonstadt and Brittain to stay. Imagine they can’t wait to get Travis’ salary off the books and I reckon Pears will be on a decent whack as well. He came in from Boro under Mowbray

Sounds like us, but it's our owners that put us under said restrictions, not the governing body.....

The Premier League have said there being no Boxing Day games is due to their commitment to give players more time between matches during the festive period - but they added that games can be moved to Boxing Day for TV. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

As it states 'fee restriction' I took that to mean they can sign players but maybe only free or low value signings. I recall something similar with us when we were under an embargo and I think there was also a limit we could pay new signings.

30th June I think I saw Elliot say.

Aye, John the Flapper Butcher liked his ale too much, and was often seen staggering along Livesey Branch road after a session at Charlies Disco.. 😉

When are the players back for pre season?

He's a politician first and foremost who was brought in by the FA to pour oil on troubled waters after the Big Sam debacle. Did better than expected initially, healed factions within the squad and imo did pretty well in 2018 and 2020 apart from the crucial games where his lack of proactivity and in game management cost us. Should have been replaced after the Italy final for me. Heard a rerun of an interview between Simon Jordan and Allardyce recently where big Sam attributed Southgate's failings to lack of managerial experience. He said the longer you've been doing it the better you are at in game decision making.

Still have my 125th Anniversary Season ticket....when we had people running our Club who gave a damn.

That was John Butcher for the old timers. Not many modern keepers confident with crosses these days.

Another clown who should be nowhere near ownership of a football club . Wednesday banned from making ANY signings for the next three windows.

Dracula?

Yeah it is odd that they haven't scheduled anything in for boxing day to be fair. Can't be a time where that has happened before.

https://news.bet365.com/en-gb/article/premier-league-boxing-day-new-years-day-fixtures/2025061808503860465 They are subject to change but why didn't they just arrange the programme for Boxing Day and then give the 'subject to change' line (which all fixtures are anyway).

Rovers are still paying his existing contract, and will be doing so until the end of the month, when his contract expires and he moves to Chesterfield completes