joey_big_nose

I know we won't do this as we haven't tried it in pre-season but with the singings it does feel like we are more setup for a 343. Mainly because we only have Kargbo and Hedges who are "wide forwards", and we have signed what seem more like wing backs (Alebiouso, De Neve) and we have a lot of number 10s to fit in (Cantwell, Henricksson, Tyor) Toth Hyam Wharton Pickering Alebiouso Travis Tronstad De Neve Cantwell Ohashi Kargbo Subs : Pears, Riberio, McCloughlin, Montgomery, Henricksson, Tyor, Gueye Not sure Hedges even makes the bench...

He was a top player for Birmingham City despite the team being relegated and moved to Bochum in the Budasliga (not Budasliga 2). So in terms of his career he has played at a higher level than any of Travis, Tronstad or Brittain. Hence my confusion on the wages.

Miyoshi is an established Championship player. I am struggling to see how his wage demands would be lower than Brittain, Travis or Tronstad?

I am like others a bit confused about how we fit all of Tavares, Henricksson, Cantwell, Travis and Tronstad into three roles. And I guess Baradji if he signs.

Yeah in terms of current numbers the one definitely on his way out is Buckley if we can find someone to take him. That said I'll be very surprised if both Travis and Tronstad are here on 1st September. I am pretty sure someone will come in with an offer which we cant turn down in the context of their last year of contract.

Carter when he is fit is very mobile imo, can recover well. Agree Wharton and Hyam really struggle once a player gets in behind though. Not seen McCloughlin, hope he has a bit of pace and strength.

Yeah me too... Although we hadnt seen them in a Rovers shirt Baath and Weiman were experienced Championship players you could expect to slot in. Our team for the opener (against Derby) last season. In terms of players not established in the Championship it was jus tGueye, with Ohashi off the bench. JRC lacked real dependability too I guess. Otherwise all pretty solid. This year we look like we will be throwing Alebiouso and De Neve in, with nothing really from the bench in terms of experience. Hedges doesn't worry me as while frustrating attacking wise he will compete and do his job. With total newbies like de neve and Alebiouso theres a chance they just get taken apart...

Agreed... My best guess at the moment is Brittain, Dolan, Travisz Tronstad etc are looking for £10k+ plus and its a hard no, while McCloughlin, Millar etc come in for 6k to 9k. I am completely speculating but it does seem weird we are letting players go for free over say 5k a week which is 0.5M over two years, but if we could sell them at a time of our choosing they would be worth millions to us?

Really? Weve tried different bowlers, giving a new batter a go at opener or number 3 is hardly revolutionary.

On the whole think England did very well across the series, should have wrapped it up but for the injury to Woakes. Only thing I have an issue with is Bethal being picked when hes played virtually no cricket and despite Pope amd Crowley struggling for long periods there seems to be no appetite to even experiment with a couple of other options. I wouldnt change how we play, we're very entertaining and i think it gets as much if not more out of our players than a more conservative approach.

England must have historically the largest number of players abroad in its History by a long way now. There were quite a few big names away when we were banned from europe in the eighties. But the quantity of english players across the skill levels on the continent is a really new phenomenon. IMO Spain, Germany and France being so dominant in international football is very closely connected to the sheer quantity of players they have in the Champions League at clubs far and wide. I think those nations are getting 2x + more CL minutes than English players. Hopefully the exodus of english talent will address that balance to some degree. Edit - found this stat leaderboard... Pretty embarrassing that Switzerland and Belgium were ahead of us considering they only had one club each in the CL and they have populations around a fifth of englands..

On paper feels like WBA are big favorites but each season we surprise by coming out of the blocks pretty well. I like Ismael, has the team fit and motivated and tactically tight. Think we have a decent chance.

Gueye is the player imo in the squad who could do an Armstrong/BBD/Szmodics and have a really exceptional season. He has all the ingredients, totally unplayable on his day. I would really want to keep him. That said... UAE clubs do need to sign quite a lot of random smaller players to make up the numbers with big money players, they will be offering a higher wage also with zero tax. He may speak arabic too coming from Senegal. Sort of feels plausible to me.

I like Brittain a lot and he had a great season last year, but I think if we went back 18 months ago in the forum there would be a lot saying not good enough etc. I wouldn't say hes guaranteed to have a good season this year. Could be he just had a good season last year. Shame to lose him though, would have loved to keep him. Tronstad and Travis concern me more as they have proven themselves as top Championship performers over a longer period.

Completely agree. Only thing is if the idea is to eventually exit paying off losses as much as possible they need to get to the premier league which doesn't gel that well with this approach.. Their ownership is so baffling. Surely they must have some sort of time horizon. The longer they stick around the more more they lose.

Fantastic - thank you. One thing that is a bit weird about this table is Ipswich are 6th on it despite just being promoted from League One. I didn't realise they were spending so hugely. Surprised we are outspending QPR given they are a London club. What is Impairment?

Hmmm, I broadly agree but not as pessimistic. I think we probably are offering simlar to mid bottom half teams. This is actually a question we can come up with a concrete answer for by looking at the published accounts I think? Which don't break down per player but do show overall wages. There must be site that shows the wage bills by club for the last accounting period? 2023/2024 I guess?

I really doubt some of those figures. If Dolan was really only on £3k a week I am sure he would have signed a new deal as I guess we would have offered around £8k to £10k. For him to hold out I think he must have been on more than that. And I doubt Markanday who we paid a significant figure for and was highly rated at Spurs would have come for £2k a week. I am sure a lot more than that. Woodrow on 20k just doesn't seem right to me either. But I get these are all estimates, and you are just trying to build up a rough picture. And love how you have done it - always good to see some actual maths!

Im 43 and agree with the only change being Batty for Dunn. Don't think Tugay and Dunn ever worked as a pair. Pretty mad that only four or five premier league winners get in. Shows how much the league improved 1995 to 2006 when we are picking players who finished sixth at best over first. Partly also how ridiculously good Shearer was in driving the team to win the league.

I don't think we get any compensation as he has signed for a club outside England? Or am I wrong on that?

I know commenting on changes in the women's game can be construed as condescending but I only mention it as it is so remarkable... the quality is improving at a exponential rate. If anyone watched that game yesterday and compared it to the last three euros finals the difference every four years is massive. The Spanish team's technique and short passing was very very good. The keeping has come on hugely. Both scoring headers were technically excellent. Really impressed. And England well done! Really competitive and great penalties.

I agree, the only real push back is that we thought we had a terrible squad last year and ended up having quite a good season. On the whole as a supporter base we have not been very good at judging how competitive our squad is. Its tended to perform abetter than we anticipate. So we live in hope of this trend continuing.

I think our days paying for experienced premier league players are long gone now. In todays market we wouldn't even be able to get Downing or Graham. It really stretches us to get even experienced Championship players like Cantwell, Baath or Wieman. We're obviously trying to stick to 10k p/w max. I get the sense Eustace really had to push to get Cantwell.

The issue for Philips is hes decent but not outstanding at Championship level. For him going to Spurs made sense as his wasn't going to be a key player at a Championship club, so taking the short term wage boost at Spurs and being loaned out was the best financial option. For a player at 16/17 who is a step above, like Wharton or hopefully Tyjon the financial reckoning is a bit different. 1) Rovers will offer a much higher wage than Philips had on the table 2) if they go on and play 30+ games they then will get bigger offers after a season or two 3) for a player who is good enough to be a key player they get the security of being prioritised and developed by their championship club rather than shunted around on different loans. I think we are in a pretty good position with Tyjon. If it was someone truly exceptional like Rooney then we wouldnt have a chance as they could go straight into a prem first team squad. But Tyjon is in the zone where Rovers can offer him more development by being a key player.

Well hopefully hes just good enough to play straight away, and it looks promising in that regard, so signing on solves itself. His agents will look at their clients and their own earning potential and know a good Championship season will make them a lot more money than skulking round the reserve leagues and loans for a couple of seasons.