Skint. Or all a ploy as @chaddyroverssuggested to make out we have less than we do.

They aren't on a similarly tight budget like we are. This "people would have moaned" argument is constant yet it should play no part whatsoever.

Hyam is out for 3 or 4 weeks. Huge blow and puts emphasis on getting a deal for Porteous done.

It's small change when our main player and asset is being allowed to run his deal down and we are seemingly in the hunt for more loanees! Not consistent with focusing on next season.

I doubt that making big sales are particularly impressive to the owners when they are the ones who block potential sales to the detriment of the football club.

Point being, signing Morton as a loan signing to play every game does NOT fit in with the idea I was quoting about this being a development season with results to come next season. It reduces the game time of Wharton and Garrett when surely if it was a free pass almost, they would play as much as possible. As I said, I hate the idea of writing off seasons anyway so I disagree with this "blocking pathway" bollocks.

It would be easier to get a striker with even £5m over sole reliance on the free transfer market. Seems like that ship has sailed now anyway, hopefully we can get a fee in this window but I doubt it. Piss poor. Regarding Gelhardt, he is going to Wigan anyway. Always hard when you are just fishing for loan deals and the occasional cheap deal, lots of competition.

Very strange comment, but it wasn't Alan Nixon. Someone called Justin Allen.

I think that Undav would seem a more fitting loan signing out of the 2, if we can even do either. I watched Boro v Brighton the other week and he scored with a very good finish, his goal record in general is very good. He is a bit older and we need a number 9 rather than a "flexible" attacker.

Gelhardt has got an assist for Leeds tonight off the bench.

The Sun are reporting that Blackpool are about to appoint Mick McCarthy. Coming off the back of a bit of a dent in his reputation but far better than Appleton.

What a way to run a football club! FFP might have a say, not that it stands as an excuse to anyone defending them.

What utter rubbish. Just unfounded, agenda driven vitriol. The blame lies in India. Agreed, but just to add context as to how the £12m we have missed out on is such a sizeable sum for us purely on transfer fees, and how it can't be dismissed as a wise choice. With that £8m and with any big sale, there is no expectation for the whole sum to be reinvested, just a decent chunk, or even use the £8m and you keep the £4m you planned to invest to help with sustainability and covering unforeseen costs like you mention.

He seems a decent guy and not someone who would kick up a fuss, but we didn't entertain the offers which I suspect he would have been very interested to at least hear out. Had we accepted bids and he had turned them down, then a different situation, but we priced everyone out with an unrealistic price that has left us to cut our nose off to spite our face. The comments about people professing that the new deals are a sign of a new dawn and no more contractual mishaps was not aimed at you specifically. As you say, it is dependant on the owners staying away from the decision making. I can't see any reason to be optimistic that the owners will suddenly change.

That £8m (the bid was reported at a bit more, but say £8m) is a very sizeable amount at this level to aid the current season and also the long term. For context, we spent maybe £4.5m in the summer, £0.5m last summer and £1m the summer before, so it is more than 3 seasons worth of budgets. If there is no consideration of any reinvestment then that is an even bigger bad reflection on the owners. Buying, profiting, reinvesting should be a regular thing.

We have signed a lot of players on new contracts, it has been implied that the likes of Phillips/Buckley/Wharton proves a new dawn under Broughton and Tomasson, and that these Brereton/Rothwell issues will not be replicated. Nonsense. Until the owners stop intervening, they won't. I have never once suggested that Brereton should have been sold in January, in fact I specifically said that the summer was the time. We rejected numerous bids for him including from Nice and Everton, that was the time to sell, to help really fund the start of the Tomasson era and at the last chance where we could have got a substantial sum. We turned down bids, rejected none so Brereton had little choice. Might he have talked to both teams and decided against either? Small chance I suppose, but very doubtful if presented with 2 decent pay rises and either a big French club in a European competition with some big name players or a Premier League club. Rothwell should have been sold in January with all of the money reinvested, wouldn't have even had to cost Venkys to be able to give the manager a decent budget to improve us. Brereton should have gone in the summer. Had we accepted both bids for both players and neither had chosen to move, then the same argument wouldn't apply, but we turned down everything so the grievance IMO is more than a fair one.

https://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/news/2023/january/18/club-statement-michael-appleton/ Little surprise, Appleton has gone.

Quite a few assets have been signed on long term contracts even before Broughton and Tomasson. The likes of Kaminski, Travis, Dolan, Scott Wharton, Dack, Gallagher, Rankin Costello etc all signed deals in the last year or two, just as Buckley, Adam Wharton and Phillips have more recently. Also, the "fans would have been in uproar" line is a load of rubbish. A club shouldn't be operating like that, whenever a big player leaves there will be sadness but so what? He didn't even need to be sold in January, Rothwell did and should have been, especially when the manager had plans on reinvesting that but Brereton could have gone in that summer window for close to 8 figures. The timing would have been great to really help with the supposed start of the rebuild ahead of a new era.

Half a step up from the Championship? The standard of this league is shite. A no brainer for Brereton and a no brainer in a different way from our owners.

Still no news on Dom Hyam?

The Brereton potential pre-contract situation is an absolute farce, and I cannot fathom how so many defend the owners. We will have kept aside over £12m for a season of Brereton (subconsciously not as committed for 6 months no matter what he says) and 6 months of a very uncommitted Rothwell. For context, we have spent about £20m in the 5 seasons since promotion, give or take. We have recouped about £18.5m, maybe less allowing for clauses. Even if Venkys are willing to invest enough to make that £12m insignificant, which the figures above over a 5 period show that they are not, they can't be so flippant anyway because of FFP. The same people defending the above decisions will be the ones bemoaning FFP the next time we inevitably can't spend even if we want to. It has also left us so reliant on too many academy graduates (some ready, some not) and whatever loans we can get in for the cheapest price, leaving us with a thin squad. And the main 2 decisions coupled with the incessant reliance on loans is proof that talk of a long term project is a load of bollocks. How people cannot see through it, I have no clue.

We need to be able to defend, Tosin is a Premier League player and on our budget, being too concerned about a defenders ball playing ability will likely sacrifice defensive ability. Also, left footedness is not like gold dust when the player it is attached too is such a liability when he plays at the moment.

100%, with 9 days after the game to Wigan and 7 days prior. I doubt he will go full strength unfortunately.

If Brown played a minute for us he would be unable to go elsewhere.

What is he and what are we trying to do? What do you not like about him? I dont recall seeing him so what type of defender is he and where would you rank him in the pecking order of Hyam, Ayala, Wharton and Phillips? Doubt its based on ROI, we prefer to let assets run their contracts down.