I can see your thinking - after all it's only been one good season (arguably half season.) That said given his talent and contract status he would be relatively cheap - if we only got £15 mill for Armstrong who had a longer track record of scoring in the championship I reckon Bereton would be below this - then they might well take a gamble.

I'm not making up facts at all. The point was that not getting points in the first few games - whether that's through substandard signings or lack of them - is problematic. I.e. we can't afford to write off these games. @Admiral Nelsenabsolutely get your point. It's probably both! I do wonder if there's an element of what you suggest though in expecting all these youngsters to fill the gaps? History, football throughout the ages, tells us some will make it and some won't. So banking on them, even for a few games is very dangerous. Anyway the point I'm trying to make (not as well as I thought!) is that every game counts and whilst we must get the right people in, there is a time factor and games that has to be considered.

Bit ironic given what we have added, no?

For those saying there is plenty of time, remember what happened under Coyle and (in effect) throwing away those first 5 games. The squad wasn't strengthened to the end of the window, we lost 4 or 5 and that was the difference maker. Sure there were plenty of opportunities to rectify it all the way through the season but what's done cannot be undone. I'd have thought after that not too distant debacle we wouldn't be so blase about getting signings in in decent time. Of course not all business would be done till the end of the window and of course it's vital to get the right people in rather than any old duffer. But we have also learnt under Venkys someone is better than no one and there are 4 first 11 places that needed filling plus squad players plus arguably Armstrong and Elliott. That we have only done one of these so far before the start of the season is pretty alarming. Added to which this is on top of any other business that may need to be done. If Bereton goes that's another striker needed. And we don't do deals quickly - goodness there's only so much time in the day under the most competent of outfits - so leaving it all to the last minute seems dangerous in the extreme.

The issue is we aren't just trying to replace 3 first teamers who we lost for nothing - a tricky challenge in itself - but also the loss of Armstrong and all the other loanees and squad players we haven't really replaced. Plus potentially Bereton. Obviously not every outgoing will need to be replaced but when you keep using a sticky plaster approach sooner or later it's going to cost you.

He's just as much chance of saving a shot over there. Is a return ticket really necessary?

I didn't think that's a load of utter tripe really made the point.

I'm a big fan of Dack and the idea of a high pressing game but to say Dack is suited to said style is blatantly untrue. He's never shown any tendancy to do so, it's not been part of his game even before two very serious injuries, and he has never looked the fittest of players. All in all I cannot see a shred of evidence to back up said claim.

Clever move for Watford. Armstrong is clearly a championship level striker, not got enough about his game for the Premier League. But £8 mill for a guy who can get you the goals for promotion - and a loan first so can pull out if necessary (possibly?) - is good going. With these fees am.a bit worried what we will get for Bereton. Granted he's a keeper but proven Prem level keeper Pope gone for £10 mill allegedly. Armstrong with a better Championship track record £8 million. Makes getting a big fee for Ben much harder imo.

I do wonder why our openers bother walking out to the crease... Still think it's a very doable target and England "should" win.

Mate, that's a really poor do. You should be getting her a ticket for the game as well. It is her birthday after all.

That's a helpful and appreciated reply. I still can't get away from the fact that even when you factor in your other info PNE - a much smaller club than us - are still doing better with season ticket sales, which really isn't good. When you consider the fan base we had, goodness just consider the potential fan base from the last game of the League 1 season or even the sales of ST under Bowyer, you can see we are massively underperforming in this area. As for "them" caring. I'll believe it when I see it, and as yet one potentially good managerial appointment aside, there is very little to suggest they care or are listening. Just two pieces of evidence on this: TM staying in post all season despite a second half season collapse of epic proportions and season ticket prices. On top of the previous 11 years of misrule I think it's fairly safe to say they don't give the proverbial flying...

Basic GCSE business studies states you have to entice the consumer. You can either do that by making a desirable product or having a price where people think it's worth giving it a go. Results is imo the primary thing but given we have had another collapse and given the product (for all JDT's positive intro) is limited in the amount it can be improved for the consumer in the close season then the price has to be competitive and an attraction. Add in the cost of living crisis and price becomes even more pertinent. If this is basic GCSE business stuff than how come our CEO and marketing team can't get it?

Just checking I'm not misreading this. Are you saying these clubs are lying on their website about how many tickets they have sold? If so I struggle to see why they would or even if they could do so. And if this is your stance, I'm a bit confused as to how you can be sceptical of the veracity of the ticket sales yet are accepting as to how the owners/CEO have the best intentions for our club.

Why can't we express the negatives when the appointment is made? I'm really not following this at all! Of course I want him to do well, and I'm really pleased it's not TM in the driver's seat and it's not a terrible appointment. But it doesn't make it a choice without issues and think it's fair to share these when analysing the new appointment. And if we should be deliriously happy Venkys haven't appointed an absolute stinker- that in itself shows what a dark place the club is in and how low our standards have fallen. To just be pleased it's not a total arse up. Goodness, this lot - Venkys to be clear - need to go and soon.

Tell you what I am sceptical about JDT but I'd rather him than Kompany any day of the week. Kompany may have a better chance of getting youngsters from City on loan, and may be a bigger name for attracting players, but in terms of past managerial performance and experience JDT beats him hands down. Much rather have the guy with proven success in a smaller league than one who, as you say, hasn't done that well at all.

Never said it was. Although it is often a factor. Didn't realise that. Good to know someone has some experience of the Championship. Mate I've looked at the positives and the negatives! I think it's called balance, if not realism. No appointment is ever going to be completely good or completely bad (well Kean but he wasn't a manager but a con job) so there will be pros and cons. It's ok to acknowledge both. It doesn't make you a super fan pretending the latter don't exist.

My first thoughts are meh. I think JDT benefits from the same things TM did - not being the previous incumbent and being an actual manager. That created a lot of optimism for TM, and I think likewise for JDT. Not being Mr Death Spiral nor one of the dollopers mentioned as a candidate shines a significantly positive light on JDT. Perhaps more than Is warranted. There are positives, he's won a few things as a manager, and the director and head coach set up isn't something we have tried before. And hey, it is so, so good to try something a bit different and innovative. Negatives for every foreign manager who succeeds there's one who fails (thinking the Leeds Danish manager as the first who comes to mind) and the guy doesn't have a huge track record of success. The lack of English Championship experience, especially as a manager is also a big worry. I think had it not been such a laborious process and this was plan A, I'd be a tad more.optimistic. But it's clear we have been stumbling around in the dark a bit and landed on this, which doesn't inspire confidence. So overall meh. Could have been much much worse and not a bad appointment but I'm not too confident either. One last thing - whilst it is more by dint of not being TM, welcome JDT. Delighted the lying, incompetent has gone and I can at least have a shade of optimism.and enthusiasm at games going forward.

@Miller11great post. After the sneaking the training ground attempted sale though which Waggott must have had a hand in, I find it hard to think of him as a good guy.

No to Warne. Compared to Ainsworth I'd say he doesn't compare favourably. Hasn't kept Rotherham up with a better base than Wycombe have. Wycombe are doing well to be league 1. So Ainsworth of the two. Warne I'm not sold on.

Don't like to be the spelling police but you have missed a few letters. There's a l and a u after the C, followed by an l e s s after the E. There's also a t before the O and after the O there's an s s e r. There's also a space between the e and the t.

How many managerial novices do well in the championship? Can't think of many - most of them struggle. That alone makes Ferguson a huge risk. What we need is a price smart operator on a limited budget. The Rowetts and Neil's of this world. Missed a trick when both of them were available on a free.

Not trying to be hyperbole whatsoever. Imo we have solely appointed poor managers like TM. We have also appointed people who don't even deserve the moniker of manager and are far worse than poor! Kean wasn't a poor managerial appointment he was corruption and incompetence personified. But to not have had a single manager under them get us into the championship playoffs - that shows what a bad lot we have had since day 1 of them rocking up. Like you I would love to be surprised but the record so far is pretty dire.

See here's the thing for me Gav is it does seem orchestrated. If it was just random cluelessness then statically they would have got one appointment right by now. I thought they had with Lambert, but credit to Venkys, they could spot a dud quicker than I could on that score. I'm not sure in Rovers history we have ever had such a bad run of managers. Certainly not in my lifetime. Nor can I ever recall another club of similar size having such a run of poor managers, which I think speaks volumes.

This is a bit of a silly comment. Of course there are differences in circumstances - with every situation where a club needs a new manager. Just off the top of my head the circumstances and situation at Watford's hire and fire policy is very different to say when Southampton potted Adkins (I think) after 2 promotions, to England looking for a manager after the Big Sam articles to name but three (admittedly extreme to show the point) examples. To say all vacancies and searches are normal or all due to poor planning simply isn't true. Even at a most basic level, a club struggling for months to get someone vs a club who takes a few weeks shows a difference in quality of the managerial search. I'll give you another more recent example. Spurs managerial appointment last summer was a farcical process. They ended up with about the 5th choice guy. To class that search as them needing a manager the same as other clubs at that time would have been incorrect as it was a badly handled process. Contrast that with the appointment of Conte more recently. All needing to fill vacancies are clearly not the same. Absolutely agree with your last statement 100%. And IF we are taking our time because of that, then that's fair enough and I'll be delighted with a good appointment. I'm pretty sure though, that's not the case. Basing it off the fact we had plenty of time to do the ground work before TM left and our previous horrific managerial searches and results I'm pretty certain we are disorganised and dithering. In particular having known this was in the offing for quite a while I would have suspected the work to have gone on before now.