Dreams of 1995

He’s confirmed he’s staying. ?

Playing Harrison Reed at right wing instead of centre midfield was one of the worst howlers I've seen TM make. I never got it. Reed did a good job at right wing but you can tell when he did play centrally it made him that extra bit better. The problem is when we went to sign him again who would you rather go play for? Scott Parker, a class central midfielder in his time, at a team with a squad that should have been automatic play offs in reality, or TM - the bloke who told you that you had a lot to learn from Smallwood. Reed must have been watching some games and thinking how shite must I be if I have to learn from him? That's no major disrespect to Smallwood, but in the times he played that season we got ran over. I think it was the Swansea game when Smallwood came on and they scored 2 goals literally driving through our midfield unopposed. It was embarrassing.

As you say K-Hod, it all depends on your interpretation of over the top. Over the top could mean a dramatic game day "oh he's not good enough!!" or, a few weeks after the last ball has been kicked, we could be faced with dozens of posts about how this professional footballer isn't even 'technically competent'. So, if you are to interpret over the top as dramatic then no, the criticism hasn't been to that level. However, if you define over the top as blatantly not true, then yes, the criticism JRC receives by an albeit extreme minority on here has been. Most of the time it seems like a slight for the sake of a slight. If we are having it right the criticism isn't even "technically" correct. I've watched him use both feet, you have seen videos of him bending balls into the top corner, he can play in several different positions and yet, on here, it isn't considered over the top to be spouting several times about how incompetent he is technically. It's bullshit, that is what it is. Yet, when challenged, it is a game of opinions. An opinion is like an arsehole, we all have one, and some of them stink, and that particular gripe with JRC stinks.

Goals were the same size in both standards of football last time I checked Hoochie. If that had Ederson in goal it wasn’t being saved. Terrific goal and the technique to bend it out and then in was fantastic. Alas, our resident expert considers him hesitant and nothing special technically though. Thank fuck he isn’t our scout because his ability to spot a player is about as non-existent as the hesitancy in JRCs game.

The LT have been selling our players for years now. Every year there's just as many stories ran about people 'interested' in our players as there is about players we are interested in. Shit paper.

That is Whelan. I'm talking about Wigan fans in general. If you can't remember the stick they gave us then you have a short memory, Sparks.

Why? They weren't sympathetic to us, and won't be if Venkys do put us into administration. There was a time when Rovers fans were leading the charge against dodgy owners and whilst clubs like Blackpool, Cov, Charlton and co were firmly on our side clubs like Wigan didn't give two shits. Now the shoe is on the other foot I am supposed to sympathetic? They booed Dack for busting his leg up too. You remember things like that. Make no mistake that if we ever get 12 pts deducted / administration you won't get any sympathy from our neighbours. They showed as much. It is for that reason that if or when it happens to them they won't be getting a tiny bit of my support either.

What is our wage bill each year? I'd support any cap on wages at the moment because it will level the playing field a bit for us. I don't know what the average wage bill for Championship clubs is but I suspect we will be way down the pecking order. Clubs like Derby and Boro have been overspending since time immemorial and it is about time there's some sort of suitable plan in place to stop the poorer Championship clubs being out muscled year after year. That said, we should be one of the richest with our owners, and if they financed the club in the same way others do I'd probably oppose the cap. Fickle game football.

That Ampadu is destined for big things. Think they signed him from Exeter for decent money. He'd definitely be a great loan move but whether or not he sees his place in a division higher is the issue. Paris, Jacques and this Christian lad are all brothers. Jacques Maghoma played for Blues but he's out on a free at the moment.

We aren't to mention that davul. Apparently it is just a conspiracy and it is Mowbray purposely not buying defenders. The only real outlay on a centre half under Venkys has been Scott Dann. I think we paid 400k for Shane Duffy too but that was during the scattergun approach to transfers. There is clearly no appetite from our funders in sanctioning the signings of defenders, and should they eventually do so it will signal a clear shift in policy.

The famous Portugeezers. Someone had a good few bevvies in the Algarve on the back of them signings.

Definitely. I have had my fair share of humblings when it comes to writing players off in the past. The only thing I am looking at is his history in comparison to what we already have. He's only played 30+ senior games, which although at top division level is not a lot. I don't know the standard of the Polish league but judging by their performances against other top division European clubs it isn't all that great. By contrast we have Wharton who has had more professional appearances, a few promotions under his belt and a tonne of credit given to him. He has to be knocking on the door of our squad otherwise what is the point in him being here? With any luck Maghouma is a better player than him, but I feel as though we should be saving our money signings for players we 100% know will make a difference. With all that said though I have not seen his scouting report and the team might be convinced Maghouma will make that difference.

Not exactly had a brilliant career has he? You have to wonder whether he will come in ahead of Scott Wharton. Playing for a club like Spurs doesn't automatically make you a good player.

Has he been and gone on there now? Any mention of Rovers? The fact Jim White had him on the show after the whole "Venkys, we are coming for you" is hypocritical bullshit and why I never watch the big drama made around him on deadline day. Sod Jim White and sod his show.

Fair play, and I will caveat my own post by saying I don't think you was one of the posters to round on Bburn (whatever his name was) last summer that eventually lead to him stop posting. Either way, just feck it, we barely have any inside knowledge of the club anymore and any tiny bit helps keep us that touch more excited than what the copy and paste jobs the LT gives us nowadays ? I need a bit of hope in these summer months.

His posts are a hell of a lot more interesting than watching you pick apart every single one of Chaddy's posts on practically every single thread. Whether it rubs you up the wrong way or not is irrelevant. That's not 'eating out of his hand' at all.

Don't get the beef with Mani, so what if he claims to know people, any little bits of information on here are very welcome in my opinion. We don't get anywhere near the level of national coverage some fans of other clubs do, so if there are any people out there that know a bit, or a lot, and can post on here then do so. It happened with Bburn something or other last year too. He was accurate and clearly had an inside line - one or two rumours didn't come true and a few posters rounded on him and now he doesn't post. Disappointing. If you have beef with the way a guy posts, or the innuendos, then just skip past it. The joys of the scroll bar!

I’d love to be able to get Tosin back but it’s all meaningless if he has to be partnered with Bell and Bennett as full backs. He needs a defence around him worthy of his and Lenihans quality.

I wouldn't blame him either. I enjoy my job currently, but as soon as something better comes along I'll take it and move. Such is the way of life.

Bloody hell. Usually all we hear from the club is how we do have money to spend “if we need it” or some crap along them lines. Now it is all cloak and dagger time is it. I don’t think the venkys have it in them to be shrewd in the transfer market. Takes them 4 weeks to fax back a yes or a no ffs

Bloody hell he scouted Walton? Not worth the time it took to read that. It was literally the last word that blew me away

He might have wrists with more structure than a poppadom You know what I meant though ? An old coach of mine used to explain wherever he wanted a player by markings on the pitch. The striker wasn't to leave either side of the goalposts; me as the defensive midfielder was too far wide if I left the edges of the 18 yard box, and too far forward if I was closer to their D than the semi-circle / the ball was between me and the goalkeeper. Maybe someone should try and do the same to our strikers, who without Graham and Dack are never in the bloody box when we need them to be.

Like anything in life you pay for what you get. Downing is class and unfortunately it took until he was 35 before he walked through our doors. You don't represent England that many times if you are a plodder. I'd keep Downing around so long as it doesn't interfere with a potential signing. If, for Downing's wages, we can sign a centre half and actually invest all of the money saved from Downing into him, then for me it is a no brainer. A player like Downing is a luxury, one which we may not be able to afford given the gaps we have currently.

Cauley Woodrow is a good player but you can't help but feel Gallagher can give us that if he plays between the goalposts. But, for £2.5m, I'd sign him every day of the week. I want to see us linked with a feckin goalkeeper though. Our name should be thrown in with literally every available keeper out there even if out of pure lazy journalism... we don't have one ffs.

We used 3 at the back a few times in League 1 and struggled then too. Never worked out for us, probably down to a lack of full back options. Whenever I have seen Nyambe I’ve never thought centre half. He’s electric down the flank but needs to work on his crossing. That can be done though, and if we had a striker who wanted to get his head or foot on the ball it becomes a hell of a lot easier. Gallagher got goals under Coyle working with two wingers crossing the ball in. He has to play centrally, although I can see the benefit of his work rate out wide. I just don’t think it gets enough out of him. In any case, you don’t spent £5m for work rate. We need a left back, CB, GK and potentially another starting midfielder and shipping out of Johnson. Don’t rate the bloke at all.