Maybe someone can try & get Salgado involved, he knows a lot about what went on during the early years I believe, and he has an ongoing afinity with the club.

Not only that, they extended his contract in improved terms!!!

I was arguing with some yesterday, them saying he has no plan B and his subs are wrong / ineffective. Well yes, because he has nothing of any worth to choose from after such a poor window. He is a coach, not a manager. He is reliant on the club signing players he identifies who have the qualities for him to coach them into the style of play that fits his approach, otherwise the model doesn't work. That's been clear from day one, "ask Gregg, the club knows what I want, it's up to the club to get it". Well that's 4 tranfer windows now, has the club provided him with any of his preferences? Clearly not, with incomings being full of loans & short term freebies despite a £20m sale & the on/off/kind-of-back-on-again/on/done-deal/oops McGuire deal to boot, as the project he was promised has changed completely & the finances rug has been pulled out from under Gregg's feet by the owners. Only one place where fault lies. Nothing to see in JDT's direction.

Supportive at first as we started reasonably brightly, but got gradually more nervous as the game progressed, then was toxic by the time they went 2 up. Chants against Venkys & Waggott, fans arguing amongst themselves as to whether JDT was culpable (imo not).

Ooh, another project, how exciting!! (I get the sentiment though)

JDT can't win. He quits, he gets labelled a quitter, heart not in it, not up to a scrap etc. He stays, whether out of loyalty to the players/fans/GB/"the project" or whatever, he cannot achieve his aim because he has insufficient support or tools for the job. F'in shambles, this club is a circus.

I feel that the bad defence thing only applies to the last 10 weeks, which coincides with Wahlstedt deputising for the injured Pears. If a defence, which has itself suffered from injuries caysing the need for regular rotation, has a young, inexperienced and nervous keeper behind it then it's likely only going to go one way... Seems strange to say given the problems Pears has had in his tenure, but had Pears not got injured & Wahlstedt not been thrown into the deep end so soon after his arrival, we'd probably only be 4 or 5 points off 6th place...

Seems a long way off right now!!

I guess he nearly did...

What do you understand to be the reason then? You're usually on the pulse I think...

You can never measure the success of a transfer window the day after it's closed. All the new arrivals deserve the opportunity to show what they can do, they ought not to be judged on the basis of previous deals that came good or went sour, or in the context of when / how they were signed. We've certainly got numbers in (4 first team squad members out, 8 in is it?), experience & a bit of no-nonesense clout, all of which we have been in dire need of these last 2 months, so amen to that at least. None of us know exactly what the position is re finances; is it true that Wharton needed to be sold to keep the lights on for 6 months (sounds plausible, albeit inexcusable in the grander scheme of things) or rather is it true that the AW deal was genuinely in the balance until so late in the day that it was impossible to spend the money wisely in 6 hours (also equally plausible)? Who knows. Taking a step back, losing AW itself is something we all knew would happen & £18m plus is too much to ignore, especially given the benefit of hindsight in not selling BBD, Rothwell, Lenihan, etc when the chances were there, and missing out on big money for Dack due to unlucky injury. Hopefully he succeeds & gets a bigger move & we get further add ons. What galls most is how soon it's happened in his development, but even more than that is that it's Palace he's gone to, a very average club all things considered. Such is where our esteemed owners have positioned us in the food chain. For those criticising GB, I do feel that's unfairly harsh. It's nigh on impossible to focus on well organised, proper long term recruitment if the budgetary goalposts shift so significantly (like they did in summer, like they probably did last week when the High Court hearing - which the club is seemingly confident will go Venkys' way - was unexpectedly delayed, and like they seemingly did this week with it taking 4 days to complete the AW transfer). One thing that is inescapable is that there has been no true ambition shown by Venkys in all their tenure. There've been words said, platitudes given, even no shortage of money spent (just very badly to cover theur own mistakes), but no real plan that has been devised & followed through cohesively, hence lurching from one window to the next without any real progress. That's on them and only them. Until they go it'll be more of the same I'm afraid. Sad but true.

I seem to remember the business that Stoke did a couple of summers back was lauded on here as being light years ahead of what we did... didn't work out too great for them in the end, might be similar for Hull. Just trying to focus on potential positives!!

C'mon, that's being selective just to suit your narrative, I'm sorry. Hyam was POTY last season, & this season was solid before injury (though I accept has struggled since coming back, probably still not 100% fit). Tronstad has been a standout performer this season, deffo in top 3.

Szmodics? Hyam? Tronstad?

McFadzean confirmed, free until end of season. Hope he does well, Cov fans seem sad to see him go. At least it's not Kyle Walker...

Missed quite a few names - perms & loans - off that list (Hedges, JRC, O'Riordan, Ayeri, Chrisene, Buckley, Moran, Leonard, Markanday), all of whom deserve to be mentioned & are clearly in 1st team squad (albeit some v new in, and still doesn't include Ennis or Telalovic)

Re para 1 - so by that rationale are Palace getting poor value for money for Wharton? Or does that rationale re buying in January just apply to us?? Surely it has to work both ways! Re para 2 - the season is not over. A team nearly always emerges from the lower reaches in the 2nd half of the season to push for or reach the playoffs, why can't that be us? We have senior players coming back, a seemingly decent striker inbound to complement the division's top scorer, we're 11 points behind 6th place with a game in hand. Plus we've a 5th round FA Cup tie to come at home! I get all things aren't rosy, but yours is a v defeatist attitude to take and I'm glad you're not part of the coaching staff (I hope!!).

Clearly not, as we've experienced all-too-paibfully over the last 13 years!!

Except Grabbi cost £7m 25 years ago... I agree with the first paragraph.

He's also been instrumental in tying players down to new, longer extended contracts & making sure assets don't walk for free unless it's on our terms. Sounds basic, but it's what didn't happen under Mowbray & Venus and is a big part of why GB & JDT haven't had more than two pennies to rub together on transfers. It's also a big reason behind us being able to command a record fee for AW.

I get this, I really do. But we cannot strengthen significantly elsewhere without it. It sucks, I wish it weren't true but it is. Venkys out (but they're going nowhere)

Didn't do Brentford any harm, or Brighton, or Burnley in fact going back a bit further.

I don't know why folk are surprised at the sale of Wharton, it's the first part of the "Brentford Model" that so many have been jealous of. He's universally seen as a generational talent; even as a prem club we were selling those types of players to clubs higher up the pecking order than us. Obviously the fact it's only Palace that we're selling to is a bit galling, but we are where we are in the pecking order (regardless of how we got here) & have to be realistic. I hope he does well, & secures a bigger move & provides further cash into the coffers. The key now is reinvesting in strengthening the squad overall, like W Ham did after selling Rice. That's the acid test, if that doesn't happen this isn't a good move and purely shows that the sale is a "needs must" situation just to keep the lights on whilst we await the outcome of the Indian legal process.

I ordered 3 tickets a couple of hours back. I tried online first, but for some reason it didn't complete the process with my bank, but I couldn't re-try as the seats I'd selected were still greyed out. So I phoned the club, after multiple menu selections I got into the queue in 6th place; it took 15 mins to get down to 2nd, only to then get cut off! So i phoned back, but by then was in 13th place!! I nearly gave up, but whilst on hold I went back online & managed to get 3 seats nearby my initial intention. Positive - there appears to be a good number of fans getting late tickets. Negative - they don't half make it bloody difficult!! Good job I'm persistent...

I don't think we can start a second XI can we, we barely have enough players for a first XI!!