A decent forward might have seen us do well enough to get TM a contract extension - see every cloud has a silver lining 🙂

Mmm pie and peas

Why are these players in their final contract year ? Is that down to the owners ? The budgets will be down to the owners - but how we spend it "appears" to be closer to home. According to many posters we have repeatedly paid large loan fees to achieve nothing - even when our own manager claims we should bring in our own players. Prior to Armstrong the only player that brought in money was Raya and that was wasted on Gallagher. IMO TM was deflecting when he said the owners wouldn't pay the contract extensions. Only to then say we would have paid to keep Armstrong, none of that adds up. I am not defending the owners, but they have given TM money while we lived beyond our means. The owners should expect that their CEO would keep a reign on finances to keep within FFP - it is obvious that somebody has miscalculated - be that Covid, Dacks injury etc. The other aspect - in the previous FFP cycle they did the same thing with the finances to keep within FFP. The CEO and TM must have known this - they gambled last year and failed massively.

Personally I don't blame Venkys on this one. IMO this is down to local mis-management of finances and contracts. There is some impact from Covid - but there has been a lack of forward planning. But ultimately it is all guess work - the only thing we know for definite is that we wasted £12m on two strikers, and wasted our best squad for some time last season.

But the unpredictability is the predictable thing - it has been the same during TM's tenure.

Is it really unpredictable ? Our transfer business this year is much like previous years - very last minute (though this is in someways driven by finances). We will flirt with top 6, prior to flirting with relegation - before (hopefully) ending lower mid-table. We will play the odd good match - though rarely for 90 minutes. We won't get thrashed by many - but will mainly be on the wrong side of single goal defeats. Which will allow TM to persist with the narrative that we are almost there. We will make a star for at least one Premiership club - as we polish their rough diamonds for them. TM will blame the referee, pitch, injuries, finances, bad luck - but rarely himself. Fans will blame TM for poor tactics, picking the wrong team - actually the list goes on a while - he should have walked at the end of last season. Crowds will continue to dwindle. The only difference this year - many fans had high expectations of top 6 last year - TBH we had the players. This year is different - but some high quality loans could make all the difference.

The one thing Johnson does add is height and heading ability to the midfield, may have been useful against WBA at the weekend or against a team playing long ball as they get increasingly desperate towards the end of a match. I do agree his ball retention isn't the best at times.

Or a Tiny Taylor

Especially when he heads over his own keeper - one of my favourite Ewood games 😁

First time I have watched a full Burnley match - what a bunch of thugs, talk about dark arts. Elliott did very well in patches - definitely didn't look out of place.

Part of me is happy that they are sticking to a wage structure. But a larger part of me is annoyed that we have wasted so much money in previous seasons on Gallagher and Brereton (in truth we paid at least double what we should have), contracts for players like Downing and then not playing him - and in truth not selling players at the most opportune time. In balance though - I do think they have been unlucky with Covid - as any long term plans will have been blown by the financial impact of the last 18 months

It is good news - but we need Brereton, Rothwell and Nyambe to follow Carter's lead.

I was being kind when I said average - (based on results so far that is). Swansea 1pt Millwall 2pt Forest 0pt

7 points away from relegation. Taking nothing away from the effort the team are putting in - we have beaten 2 average teams, and got out of jail with our only shot on target in the other. Having said that, confidence is a huge thing in football - just need a bit of luck at the weekend.

For me it adds up to our lack of finances. TBH if I was manager I would probably have to follow a similar path - having to play a bit of brinkmanship to get in the best players for the money we have available.

Did we not sign Downing after the deadline - or have the rules changed ?

The asset we had at the end of it was Wharton ready for the first team.

Reid (even if miss-used), Armstrong, Antonson (bit mixed, but scored some important goals) - also immediately spring to mind.

For those questioning the loan market- one example where it worked to our advantage, Tosin came in, allowing us to loan out Wharton. The following season he would have been a first team regular - but for injury. Good loans can give our players more time to develop. Equally they can fill gaps that would have seen us being forced into paying over the top fees - e.g. last seasons centre half crisis. TBH - Mowbrays record in the loan market isn't bad.

I thought we were allowed only three subs - Butterworth, Chapman and Carter - when did Davenport come on ?

Sounds same for both teams tbh. They bringing us to their level or us to them 🙂

Hope we have a 40% sell on fee 🙂

How does Brexit impact transfers from Europe (just a thought)

Depends on the quality of player being brought in - another Tosin or Harwood-Bellis, yes please - Branthwaite, no thank you.

It's all smoke and mirrors to put Newcastle off the scent from ours and Southampton's cunning plan 😉