I’d keep Rodwell personally - looks a real clever bastard at times, offers quality in more than one position!

Why are you criticising the manager constantly then if he’s irrelevant? After all this is his thread!

You took my point and turned it into “venkys out” mate.

First start up front in the league then?

Have to agree, Rodwell looked quality today (albeit against the poorest team we’ve played all season!)

First start at home? Correct me if I’m wrong like, but what better way to mark the occasion !

Why criticise the manager or the players then? If it’s all such a pointless exercise under these owners, why do we even bother turning up.

Why is everything always a binary yes or no, right or wrong, black or white? Nobody said TM has completely turned the club around, they just pointed out the improvement in just over two years. I always feel with you Stuart, if you hadn’t made your mind up about TM before his first game, you wouldn’t be hyper-criticising everything we do now. You know, you don’t have to make your mind up, you know? Can I add - screen shotting this and replying on Twitter is one of the saddest ways to make a point. “Sub tweeting” is modern day social media “shade” 101!

Very true, next year is the best platform we’ve had to move forward since GBs days. The frustration I have with the discussion here, many seem to be ignorant of how we’ve been put in this position.

The highlighted part is pretty much what happened, just it’s heavily criticised because the main part of the budget is for one of the “duds”.

Signing a 19 year old striker when you need players in that position is unjustifiable? You’re making my point fantastically though. In two years the squad overall has been excellent yet many would only focus on Brereton because (at this time) its a poor signing. I haven’t made my mind up yet - and you keep nastily bringing back up “defending” when I merely said (in October/November) its too early to judge.

I don’t get your point? Was signing Rothwell, Armstrong, Reed et al poor management too? My point remains - people focus on stuff to criticise. It’s easy. Balance says many decisions are good too - but carry on ignoring those!

So what are Dack and Rothwell examples of? Better management and scouting behind the scenes? I can fully understand why people would point out mistakes that tally with the poor owner situation - but balance surely involves both the bad and the good?

Bobby Moore really should’ve been a goalkeeper though tbf....

You seem to be doing a lot of “the negative” or “defending” stuff this week - as opposed to focusing on points. You ignored all my other responses but I’ll have another plump on this post. Looking at the whole picture, it would’ve been nice to see more u23s in the first team but perhaps it’s actually balanced to see reasons for keeping a largely unchanged team to the one that’s performed well last two outings. Especially with 2 games in 3 days, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dack and Graham rested Monday. Equally balanced to say if JLeut is going to leave, or if our intent is to strengthen GK - why not give him a game (a dead rubber?) to see if they can rise to the opportunity? Travis did against Charlton last year, whereas Caddis opportunity in the same game pointed out his days as numbered. You can think it’s a different approach to your own personal one without criticism you know? The criticism of how Travis has been turned into a first team player is also without balance if it only focuses on “should’ve been sooner” - a more open and honest view would admit the decision not to loan him out turned out great, and perhaps the moving backwards after that red served his attitude and mentality on the pitch!

First paragraph - mentioned three who you want to play, who don’t play, I see it as finding/developing players that are turning into quality players through our system. Rothwell particularly - I’m sure I don’t have to point out the irony in “look, I told you he’d do well if he played regularly” when it’s the manager who has worked the particular player into the system in training, and the team reaped the rewards. Many will openly criticise the BB 7m disaster, but I don’t see anyone here praising Joe R’s signing adding way more than that cost into the first team for zip! Smallwood, Bennett, Evans, Conway - castigated for their inclusion at times, but a more reasonable commentary would be the senior players have played there part this season. Most fans know the dangers of changing things too rapidly, yet many here would sell/release 5/6 players without even blinking. I think some individual things could’ve been done differently, Elliott Bennett at number 10 would’ve never happened for me either, but in a season with 1000’s of individual decisions like that, we’ve got far more correct. (Despite TM ruining Bobby Moores career in a different life) On squad building - there’s an assumption it’s a simple task too - the way you particularly compared DJ’s squad assembly for the PL2 with TM’s for the championship shows how little you seemingly understand the competition for the better players in the top few tiers of football, and the huge jump between cost from second to top tier. For all the “warning signs” being ignored, I could point out good signs across the board, in the first team, overall squad, attitude and application at ALL levels, potential within the group, the u23s, recruitment, expectation et al. You think it will turn sour, and I’m not denying that possibility, but I think you and others need to start embracing the positive steps the club has taken in 25 months of the current manager’s stewardship. If TM walked tomorrow, the club he inherited is a completely different to the one he’d leave!

First of all nobody is saying that different routes couldn’t have been taken. My own perspective is the criticism of BB and the club on this was premature, and continues to be OTT. There’s room for criticism - but not much of it is warranted/fair imo. Fantastic example to say he has not shown any potential at all. We both know that is subjective, and from my perspective “bull shit”. If the standard answer is “when?” Just read through the thread, we’ve been at this part of the circle a few times already. In hindsight I think everyone knows the answer to that question. The difference of opinion lies upon my reluctance to completely write off a prospect as early as many did in this thread, and to suggest this is an utter distaster of a move, making little sense or potential to be “the worst transfer in 20 years” (or words thereabouts) Thats not in anyway suggesting there aren’t obvious signs of this being a panic buying, or legs in the young / English / capital investment directive from the board/owners. I do also think there are reasonable reasons to see why we’d end up with a punt like Ben, in our scenario - wage, current stature / promotion prospects / his availability et al - whereas many do not. Many see transfers as cost alone, not wages, taxes, personality, interest in club - so the idea nobody thinks transfer business is simple, is more on brand “Bullshit” Hence why I said more time. You’re correct that it was a waste of time though, Almost but not as boring as reading you use this one transfer to pad out every other criticism you post. Still waiting for you to blame Ben for ticket surcharges and then we’ve a full house

I don’t think it would be far off. You've also got to take into account the relative “pull” of clubs in regards to recent stature and wage bill. I know some here cannot accept that we aren’t going to be seen by players (and agents) as a favourite to get into the premier league. Signing a new player on 25k a week when the rest of your key players are on 15/20 will also cost you a dollop in renewals. Deep

As Waggott spelled out in an interview, the pot of cash we had to spend was for fees and wages. From my perspective we missed out on the Bamford’s and Celina’s et al because we didn’t have the fee AND the wages to pull this ilk in.

I’m not wasting more time on this thread talking about assumed figures. Like I said, I don’t think he’s one of the top earners.

The club signed him. The club continues to employ and utilise him. Another example of the overall decent level of recruitment. I’m not suggesting it’s perfect and I’m sure we both know the club probably expected more from BB this year. That doesn’t make it such a disaster in my opinion - criticism from certain posters is way OTT now, as it was premature back before he hadn’t even started a game for us! Even if he never kicks on, how ridiculous is it to suggest “in 20 years time people will be talking about him as the worst signing in the clubs history” when Dixon Etuhu is fresh in memory. I don’t think that at all. I don’t think he’s our top earner by any stretch either, however I’m sure any of those three players you mention would’ve at least be in the same bracket as Graham/Dack/Mulgrew- to convince them to join BRFC above any other top half championship team. Naivity is how I’d describe the views who see transfer business as simple and easy. It’s as if you dismiss any competition, as if Chris Wilder isn’t a fantastic manager doing a great job.

He’s come on leaps and bounds in 12 months, and I see no reason why this cannot continue.

Horrendously poor - I prefer to save that for Danny Murphy-esque performances, or team displays similar to Oldham away in 2017.

Nuttall is looking a fantastic acquisition, and a potential, that’s a plus for the club’s recruitment from my perspective. Not an excuse to criticise someone else. Plus, this assumption that transfer business as simple as we’d want it to be is a fallacy. How many top end championship players could we sign for either a) less than 5m or b) on a wage comparable to a 19 year old ? If you think this is simple stuff, I can only assume you’ve completely ignored the constant and exponential growth in transfer cost/wages for the last 30 years.