I’d say JPVH, Elliot, Tosin and the wasted Harrison Reed were all definitely good enough in recent times. I also didn’t mind bringing Chrisene in on loan in Jan as we had injuries as the back and he was good enough to give cover through what was an injury crisis and probably better than Pickering. But you are correct in that many others just aren’t ready and end up learning on the job. Branthwaite and Harwood-Bellis both looked ropey to me and yet a few years later are now better than what we have. They probably are two examples where we didn’t get a great deal back from them from the loans, but we did massively benefit the player, their parent club and their careers. What I don’t like is that, unlike 15+ years ago, football is not in a place where if you get a successful loan you can buy them in the summer. With the stockpiling of home grown players at premier league clubs and the inflated prices it’s always likely to be a one-season deal. Ultimately though, without a big budget, it’s an area we have to act cleverly in.

In which case if they dont improve the first team dont do them. But you can’t question the logic of loaning the likes of Elliot which is where Rigger and Abbey seem to be.

@jim mk2 is right on this one. Of course we would rather develop our academy more than other peoples youngsters, but the aim is also to balance that with achieving the best possible finish in the upcoming season. Bringing in the likes of Van Hecke or Elliot, which improves the first team significantly, is clearly a good move. It brings in a better calibre of player than we could afford just on transfers in. There’s plenty of clubs who have got out of the Championship with a team containing numerous well-sourced loans. Who is to say without the loan of Adam Armstrong that we would definitely have got out of league one. Good loans could also be the difference between staying up or going down. However they have to be regularly in the first team and a definite improvement over what we can field. I’m not sure playing Ayari and Moran benefited us much more that had we blooded Gilsennan during the season, and hopefully whoever scouted the likes of Mola is no longer at the club.

Wonder what Burnley will do with Trafford. They would either need to cut their (big) losses with him or re-instate him as number one next season. Can't really let him rot on the bench at his age and the fee they paid. Once a flapper, always a flapper hopefully.

Will Kompany come for any of our players 😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’ve tried to be as fair as possible. For example Bolton early bird renewal was even cheaper but I’ve looked at it as a new customer. At Burnley the entire Jimmy Mcilroy stand Lower (behind the goals opposite the away end) is £352 as well as the ‘accessible corner’. I’d say our early bird is competitive. The phase 2 and 3 prices are too high, especially the Riverside, which should be £300 standard in phase 1 and be £20 max all match days.

Early bird no. If you decide to buy a ticket before the season starts then yes. Comparing Cheapest area (BBE, Riverside) Mid-Priced areas (JW wings), Expensive areas (JW Central) again other local clubs with 2 or 3 differently-priced areas. EARLY BIRD END OF JULY

I see there are 3 phases now. Phase 1 - Early Bird Phase 2- Buy one before Sky announce how many fixtures are being moved. Phase 3- The cat's out the bag now. Might as well screw anyone else that hasn't bought yet.

Even when the tweet was live the link the the LT article was broken.

First obvious WTF is that after the early bird ends, the price of a ticket for a 12 year old more than doubles to £120.

Post now deleted. Implied it was slightly cheaper than last year in the ‘bottom bowl’ for renewals. Think it said £349. Plus some kind of Riverside ballot. However the link to the article didn’t work.

“Family Stand adult season ticket renewals are priced at £315 during early bird“ So a single adult is £375 or £395

Blackpool now announced at starting from £395 early bird and £425 ongoing for new season ticket holders. Matchday prices from either £27 category 1 games or £31 for category 2 games !! Waggot will like the sound of that for league one. https://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/news/2024/may/20/2024-25-season-tickets-on-sale-now-/

Plus Oxford playing a final at Wembley distance-wise would be similar to us playing one at Leeds.

Never mind lads, you can always remember wildly celebrating on the pitch after beating Barnsley last week.

Looking like no Bolton in the Championship next season unless they can turn this around, and they’ve been abysmal so far.

Yeah it was difficult to put everything in as some have discounts for renewals and some don't, so I did it from the view of a new / lapsed season ticket holder looking to return. But you are right, Bolton's renewal price was £249

North West Football Early bird price and standard prices. Cheapest stand - Mid prices stand - Expensive stand.

Looking at social media, I think their promotion party was 48 hours long at Vardys’s house during the week before the game. Had they not secured the title I’m sure their preparation would have been very different. Having said that, the same applies with Norwich at Birmingham.

We did break the British transfer record for Sutton in the summer of 1994. Cole moved to United in January 1995 and broke it again.

To be fair Pep has done ok in that regard, even with the money. Regenerating a squad into a new squad whilst keeping on top is the sign of a good manager. It's what Fergie continuously did that made him the greatest manager of the PL era, even when the likes of Chelsea arrived with bigger budgets.

And so it begins 😂😂😂😂

Yeah and that big screen wasn’t like modern big screens. It was a pretty poor picture so sometimes when the ball moved quick you couldn’t really follow it. I remember someone fairly late on (McMinn?) shot from the inside right and it went past Mimms and just wide of the far post.You couldn’t tell if it had gone in, you just knew when the camera changed by the Derby players reactions that it hadn’t. Back to the first game, the match finished about 4.45pm, and I’m sure ITV had the highlights on straight away at 5pm.

I can still remember clearly looking around the despondent Blackburn End at 2-0 down thinking “not again”.