John Fleck 2.0. Abysmal.

Garrett was getting recalled regardless of Baker. Barely played a minute for Bristol Rovers in last few months and not making the squad. But every chance we end up in same position as last season now with a weaker squad after the January transfer window than before it. Baker didn't pull up any trees, but he was a decent enough squad option and had a goal in him too. Now need at least 4 in: CB/LB cover, CM cover, ST, LW at a minimum.

I really don't get the Ruddy pursuit at all. Not just from a football POV, but from Ruddy's POV he's made a choice to go to a Premiership team knowing that he: a) won't play so no stress or pressure b) will get paid a ton of money c) likely doesn't have to travel for matches as not included in the game day squad so gets to spend weekends with his family He made that decision less than 2 months ago. Why would he be interested in going to a lower mid table Championship squad where he will be expected to play most weeks for less than half the money?

If we're looking for a left-sided centre half with Championship experience available on the cheap then we should look at Yoann Barbet at Bordeaux. 200 Championship appearances with Brentford and QPR, can play centre half and left back. Just turned 31 so should have a season or two left in him.

Newcastle will be paying him silly money (20-30k+) to train for a few hours a day and with pretty much no expectation of playing. I'd take 12 months of that over scrambling around at the bottom of the Championship for half that if I was at the end of my career.

Southgate on Wharton: “He has settled in really confidently with the ball. I like the fact he likes to play forward as quickly as he can. "He sees pictures when he receives [the ball], and we have been short of these types of players for seven or eight years, if I am honest. At times, that has had an effect on the way we have been able to play.” That £18m was £32m short of what it should have been.

No surprise if true that Fleck failed a medical. Broken both legs in the last couple of years and collapsed on the pitch - surprised we got 15 minutes out of him to be honest.

Just to say that I was in the 'put the kids out' camp for this game, but delighted with the performance. Great to see the whole squad contributing - I thought Ayari, Garrett, Koumetio etc coming on would mean we'd roll over for the last 20 minutes but they were excellent. If we play with that much heart and determination for the remaining 12 games then I've no doubts we'll get to 50 sooner rather than later. Also not worried about the 'tougher' games of those 12 anymore - we've shown we can compete and put bodies on the line for a result. Massive credit to Eustace and the squad for stepping up last night. They should all take massive confidence from it.

I'd be writing off the Newcastle game right now. It's a fixture we could do without based on league position, squad depth and number of games coming up. Getting through (however unlikely) would be just another game for a stretched squad. Call Eddie Howe and tell him we're putting the kids out and they can do the same. We've got 14 games left and I reckon 51 points needed to stay up (3 wins/5 draws/6 losses or 4 wins/2 draws/8 losses). That would leave QPR needing 5 wins/4 draws and Sheffield Wednesday needing 6 wins/4 draws from their 13 remaining games.

Fleck signing after McGuire is pretty straightforward. He could be signed anytime before the last Thursday in March (the deadline for unregistered players) so long as Sheffield United released him from his contract before 11pm - which they did. Most likely story is Silvester logs on to the portal after 11pm to add details of the Fleck signing as a free, inputs the detail and gets the confirmation then goes back and wonders why McGuire says 'Pending' or 'Not submitted' and thinks 'OH BOLLOCKS'.

I understand the system is meant to indicate that something has been submitted. I've also worked with similar ropey I.T systems, but there's no excuse really. I suspect Rovers argument is that by uploading the documents and clicking 'Save', the documents were 'sent' to the League (i.e they were uploaded onto the League's servers before the 11pm deadline) but just weren't accessible in the system's front end to the League. That is something that EFL developers should be able to confirm in the database very easily. However, there's some assumptions there on my part about the technical set up of the system. After last year, the final step of the process should either be to print a copy / take a screenshot of any confirmation from the system then ring the league and confirm they have received the paperwork. I like Gregg, but it's a big oversight on his part if that wasn't added to the process. I don't see how his position is tenable after what he said last year and the same for Ian Silvester. They should both walk - I think Gregg does, but Silvester doesn't bother.