Charlton are spending a few million on Kelman who was top scorer in League 1 last season. It does add some perspective when all 3 promoted sides are in different leagues to us financially. Our expectations are so low that a few signings for low fees having seen so much come in and we dont expect it, it leads to some of our fans gloating about it. Still think Charlton will be near the bottom and their signings are very limited to domestic players but in Kelman and Apter they seem to be targetting top league 1 players who are young to mainly invest it. The other 2 should be well away from the bottom and Birmingham will be looking towards the play offs.

Isn't it more likely that we will have them "well sussed" ?

Don't tell me, Batman and Robin jumped in to save the day😂

Eustace has signed yet another x rovers player, Owen Beck on loan. They will have us well sussed out when we play them next season.

To be clear , the club to the best of my knowledge ain't holding the minutes up. They were signed off quickly. The accuracy of them is being discussed with the forum members. Ive been told , they've never asked for edits and nothing in the meeting was explicitly stated to not be minuted.

Yes, I was aware of the requirement regarding future plans for fan engagement. The problem of course is that the language in the Act and the explanatory notes is so vague that it will be some time before anybody can be sure of what quite is going to be required of our or any other club. In the meantime provided meetings continue to go ahead I suspect that delays of a few weeks in the release of minutes will not be seen by the Regulator as an issue.

maybe the rules for League 1 or 2? which don't include U21 loan players as part of the 25

Its more complex than this, club has to submit fan engagement plan forwards. Whilst if they choose to go bare minimum it needs to be a democratic voice.

I was outside the players lounge one game last year and the vast majority of players were out post match signing autographs. Cantwell comes out trapsing behind them all last. Stops, looks at himself in the mirror, then works his way down the line ripping up all the signed autographs. The kids couldn't believe it. Not least when he bust a gut to catch up to a kid making a break for it. Fastest hed run all day is what people were saying

God knows what I read then. Thanks for the info

See that as extremely unlikely, though two groups im in will likely do so

According to the EFL handbook (page 244 if you wish to check, this is last years book, I can't find this years but I assume this rule stays the same) "Under 21 Player’ means a Player under the age of 21 as at the 1 January in the year in which the Season concerned commences". This would mean that Harry Leonard and George Pratt are not U21 players, as they turned 21 before Jan 1st 2025, and Kristi Montgomery and Felix Goddard are U21 players as they turned 21 after Jan 1st 2025 Under 21 Players do not need to be registered Also, loan players, no matter what age they are, need to be registered in a Championship 25 man squad, but not if they are an U21 loan player in a League 1 or 2 squad for some reason

For me it is not so much the delay in publishing the minutes, but the opportunity for the club to edit the minutes. Whether or not this has happened before, there is the opportunity for it to happen.

In that case couldn't the fans forum complain to the EFL and ask them to take the matter up with the club ?

I think the EFL rules - which to a degree may be superseded by the new rules in the Football Governance Act - are that clubs are required to meet twice a season with a representative group of supporters. Not sure what the rules if any are regarding the release of minutes but I doubt if a delay of 2 or 3 weeks in release of the minutes means that those rules have been broken.

Looking forward to the women tomorrow. No predictions here but surely we have to play better. Low block? 😉 Spain most of possession? Who knows? On a side note one thing that irritates. Spain and ‘Pep’ football, (which of course is ubiquitous here now in other teams) obviously highly successful and highly skilful. But…. …take an old fashioned ‘English’ full back challenge on a winger –honest attempt to get the ball, gets it badly wrong and of course it looks horrible and (nowadays) yellow card ensues. The one that irritates is the ‘Pep’ foul – so called weaker side gets the turnover only for the ‘classier’ side to stop the breakaway with what looks like an innocuous foul (the sneaky trip, the push, the pull of shirt etc). This stops breakaways and potential goals – Fernandinho the master – doesn’t look spectacularly bad and often no punishment. You can rotate the person doing the ‘innocuous’ foul too. Anyway, good luck lionesses.

This part is definitely incorrect, all loans whether they are over or under 21 have to be registered. Still pretty certain that Leonard and Montgomery would need registering this coming season.

I believe they are completely breaching the EFL rules on fan engagement if this becomes the only vehicle

The recently enacted Football Governance Act requires that clubs hold regular meetings with a representative group of supporters.

Trust me, I'm extremely frustrated by the rules, but will respect them. Falling out with our fellow supporters is the last thing we need given how hard we've worked to bring the coalition together based on mutual respect. However what I do promise. If the minutes dont reflect what was said then I will be first to break ranks and clear them up. Ive always stood for transparency (I dont know any other way,) This is the supporters club being dismantled and I will always stand by my pledge to members of supporters groups I represent to always act honestly and with the utmost integrity. I've asked tonight where we are up to on mutually agreed minutes amongst the supporter attendees and no doubt will be emailed back once that communication is read. I was asked to attend by the club as the only ewood comms open , and against my own judgement chose to go. I got some points across but as you'd possibly appreciate one meeting was never going to be enough to discuss 15 years of complete incompetence

Definitely has to be under 21. Doesn’t matter if it’s a loan or academy product. So we could loan players u21 and still have them in the 25 man squad if we have reached that limit

Not sure on the fine details - possibly or maybe it's like the under 21 euros where you can play up to the age of 23 if born within a cut off date🤷🏻‍♂️

Best order some more U's in.

This has all the makings of a YouTube player. Some shocking first touches tied into some great skilful turns. Some great finishes matched with some toe bungs. If we end up with the Aldi version (although this guy's never been sold for any actual money) then a strong mobile striker with a yard of pace ticks my boxes

Is there a governing body, that says that clubs must hold these meetings ?