joey_big_nose

I'd imagine if the coaches are of the view he will play 20+ first team games an offer of around £5k a week would seem reasonable. Thats around half a million a year (up from probably around £25k a year scholars wages?)... Maybe Spurs would pay a bit more than 0.5M if they were desperate to add him to their 23s but I can't see them paying much more tbh. They've got a lot of money but paying scholars huge sums is not something I can imagine Levy going for. The trade off I can see coming is the money people at Venkys/Ewood saying - "okay we will pay him a first team wage but we will now sign one less defender". So it may come down to whether JDT and Broughton want to recognise him as a full first team player or not.

I don't think so really if we view him as a first team player. We pay our first team players more than Prem teams pay their U23s.

I just don't think Spurs are offering him anything like that. @JoeHis I think in the know on this one - are Spurs looking at Phillips as a development player (i.e. U23s) or as a genuine first squad? If they want him for the first squad obviously we don't stand a chance. But if it's a choice between first team with us and U23s with Spurs we will have a good shout imo.

Tricky selection with injuries. Sounds from the injury update that we could potentially start the same XI as against WBA... But I think given the injuries we already have not pushing Brittain and Phillips may be the call... Could look pretty makeshift at the back (Edun-Pickering-Ayala-Buckley?) Playing Ayala three games in a week also sounds to me like an accident waiting to happen... But really no other choice. Need this Sepp lad and 2 more

If he gets signed to go into the spurs first team squad this is true, but I don't think that's what this is about. They want to poach him for their academy. That he's playing first team football for us is a game changer imo, and puts us back in the driving seat.

I don't think anyones got a problem with putting him on a decent first team wage. The issue would be putting him on more or equivalent money than our best performers - the likes of Travis, Buckley, Brereton, Ayala, Kaminski - which would be bizarre imo.. If you were any of those players you would be absolutely livid. I sincerely doubt Spurs are going to offer him that much more to go into the U21s than we currently pay Wharton etc. We've shown we are competitive with Spurs academy by signing Markanday, who was - like Phillips - marked as an exceptional talent . Maybe I'm wrong but as long as we play him we've got a great chance of signing him.

Absolutely, would sow absolute chaos in the dressing room if a player who has played one professional game is put on Ayala money... That said offer him the same money as Wharton and first team football. Spurs can offer the money but they can't offer football. No player I've heard of has given up first team Championship football for academy football. If we give him games we are in a very strong position in negotiations. I'm sure he will sign.

Like em or loath em everything about Venkys suggests BBD isn't going for less than £15m come hell or high water.

If we play Phillips next few games getting him to sign a contract should be pretty straightforward. He isn't going to start first team games at Spurs.

Thought Morton was good. Thought he'd be a lightweight passing midfielder but actually looks a strong all rounder. Impressed.

Great great win... Two quality goals - what a finish by Gallagher! Solid defending under trying circumstances. Only thing I'd say is we know from a few seasons ago (season we had Harvey Elliott and played 433) that if we play a high intensity pressing game we will get a lot of injuries. Seems to be already happening. Ayala could go down for two months at any moment. We really need to sign a few defenders ASAP.

Yeah on the team sheet it's 4231 same as last year but in reality it's very different, the front four are all much more narrow when we are attacking. Do think tbh Pickering will struggle as what's being asked of the full backs is huge, basically cover the entire wing, so it's supreme athleticism required. Edun might be more suited as he has come back looking a beast?

Yeah in recent seasons it's really only Fulham and Norwich who have got promoted through pretty footy. But both of those team has sensational strikers (Mitrovic and Puki) who scored shed loads of goals. Burnley have not got one of those. And of course once Norwich and Fulham got promoted and tried to play total football in the Prem they got absolutely mullered which makes you wonder why even try to get promoted like that if you know you can't keep the same system once your up? Brentfords practical flexible approach is much smarter imo. Or Burnley under Dych. Glad to see JDT already showing he likes to mix it up.

As West Brom are offensively very good I doubt Gallagher will get dropped JDT will want his athleticism for closing WBA down and covering the wing.

To be fair whether you have a great first half then poor second half or vice versa it's the same outcome if you finish 8th. To think anything else is just recency bias. Mowbray did okay. JDT looks like he might be putting something special together or it could be the new manager bounce... will take a couple of months to figure that out. But generally everything JDT and co are doing is stuff I like - playing the youth, high intensity, meaningful passing, good tactical defending. Aside from the personalities involved splitting the three main areas of the club managers role across three qualified people makes sense. JDT - leadership and values; Remy - tactics; Broughton - personnel. Reckon Remy should be looked at as one of the key three individuals. Mowbray was trying to cover all that off on his own (don't think Venus et al did much), and by specializing it does give extra capacity and focus.

On the bit in bold - the vibe I get from Broughton and JDT is that they are happy to play the kids. They haven't been coming out saying experience is an issue, just overall numbers in the squad. I think Vale, A Wharton, Phillips (if he stays), maybe also Garrett are going to get serious game time even when we hopefully sign three or so more. With 5 subs per game now it will be relatively easy to give them 20-30 mins here and there in the Championship, and if they take to water like Travis, S Wharton, Buckley have they will play. I don't think loaning them out is the right thing personally.

Didn't realise Sparky had pitched up at Bradford... Man City to Bradford, that's quite a fall. Really looked like he was destined to be a top manager when he was with us.

Teams out : Pears JRC. Phillips. Wharton. Edun Morton A Wharton . Markanday. Dack. Dolan Vale Good team, will be interesting to see how they do.

But I guess he can't watch it either unless he's at Ewood?

EFL have confirmed no FA cup or League Cup games on iFollow, and only 2 games per round on Sky TV - neither of which is Rovers. I guess that means absolutely no TV for tonight. Want some detailed match reports from those who go! ITV4 has highlights at 10.30pm

Yeah, but then you need to be really lucky with injuries.

Hard to argue with that, only thing I'd say its probably Garrett in the middle as hes more physical than Wharton from what I've seen I'm interested to see what Markanday can do. From how JDT has selected /subbed so far he doesn't seem that keen on him

To be fair we can just do 532 like we did last 20 mins against Swansea. Both Edun and Pickering on. Wonder what theyre thinking at WBA hq - set up to attack us or look to draw us out. Based on our first two matches this is a tricky call for them. Reckon they might come and sit back and see what we can do and hit us on the break. Do to us what we did at Swansea. That's the way with the Championship, everyone responds very quickly to how the other teams play.

Have to disagree - after our last two defensive performances I can't see JDT having any issues with Pickering. That back four will be chiseled in stone - QPR didn't create a sniff, and Swansea cut through maybe twice and had a few long shots.

Yeah, I thought he was too lightweight last year to deputise for Travis, but maybe that is achievable for him based on what I saw on Saturday. Based on who we have been linked with it doesn't seem we are after a physical midfielder, so if Travis gets injured/suspended we are going to be looking at either Edun or Garrett to put the tackles in. Travis is such an animal though they will be very big boots to fill. I'd prefer if we sign someone experienced in that role either on loan or perm.