7 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Dingles very much pushing the narrative that they only spent £18m, Transfermarket has them down as spending £55m.

I must be missing something here?

6 hours ago, islander200 said:

Since promotion was secured some of the loans they had became permanent deals so it might be that?

3 hours ago, davulsukur said:

The line they keep spouting is "Parker only spent £18m" so i've assumed that players were brought in before he joined? I dunno. Even if it's a loan turned permanent, it still counts, there isn't any escaping that they spent circa £55m, which is a hell of a lot at this level.

All the ‘loans with an obligation to buy’ are moving purchase all over the place. I imagine it’s done to stay within PSR regs. 
 

If we accept transfermkt as a source of truth (it isn’t but probably best we have) then we’ve spent around 45 million in GBP. That would include the purchases last season of Esteve, Tresor covering about 26 million of that. It doesn’t include this seasons loans with an obligation on promotion (Anthony, Fleming and Humphries) so in real terms about 45 million is probably fairly close. We did also sell about 110 million worth of players.

13 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

My point doesn’t make sense now as it was a reply to longers’ original, now deleted, post that was coming out with the usual tired Dingle stuff about Jack (usual mask slipping from him).

 

Mask slip? All I said was you’d had the benefit of his money AND parachute payments. I don’t know why the post was deleted to be honest. 

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

If you hadn’t have had that first promotion under Dyche none of this would have happened - you were going nowhere pre his appointment.

You’ve a lot to thank him for.

we owe the first promotion to Coyle and a massive slice of good fortune but agreed, Dyche was the one who really pulled everything together for us. He was a once in a lifetime manager and I’ll be forever thankful.

43 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Not sure what your point is?

You think those owners would hang around if you didn’t get out the league before the parachutes ran out? Their whole model is based on PL/parachute income?

Who knows what will happen. It feels more when than if we fail to get promoted within 2 seasons so lord knows what happens then, how much debt we will be carrying, what saleable players we’d have.

My point, if I had one, was simply to point out any success we’ve had in the last 15 years was built by getting promoted without massive investment, not by having parachute payments. The club since that first promotion has been managed mostly exceptionally well and this has given us seasons in the top flight and promotions I never imagined we’d see back in the 4th Division days. Other clubs who’ve  had PL money and parachute payments haven’t necessarily fared quite so well. Middlesbrough, Stoke, WBA spring to mind - even Swansea and Hull. I know it will end for us but until then I’ll try to enjoy the ride.

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

Wait, so it’s not ‘too late’ for that lot like ‘umble Longers was trying to make out the other week?

I did concede that was hyperbole 🤷‍♂️- & we are still in third and we will drop points before the end of the season just as Leeds did today. I firmly believe we are heading into the playoffs but will be delighted to be proven wrong come the end of the season.

9 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

‘Too late for us’, even though there’s 8 games left, they are 25 games unbeaten, just two points away and still have to play the team directly above them.

As always feck off with the ‘little owd Burnley routine’ as a parachute club you are obviously up there because you have better players than most of the league.

 Not little old Burnley at all, a simple of assessment of too many draws and a current top 2 who look fairly relentless. The top 3 are fairly clearly better squads than the rest, the points difference tells that story but one of us has to go into the play offs & that doesn’t always go the way of the ‘best squad’ - look at Leeds last season and many other examples - even us under Coyle who did a Reading side who were far better than us.

So my ‘too late’ might well have been  hyperbole but simply to demonstrate the challenge as I see it and to provide some balance to the posts suggesting we have the momentum.

23 hours ago, Hasta said:

I fear the momentum is with Burnley slightly at the moment. Leeds dropping points away and Sheff United are scrambling wins by the odd goal.

9 hours ago, Gav said:

They were comfotable yesterday Sheff Utd, you could see that extra quality all across the pitch and one goal was always going to win that game yesterday. Wednesday looked a team lacking quality, they've spent no money in years and it showed, bit like us against the top 3 to be honest. I wouldn't back against them to go up automatically, I think Leeds are the onces who will drop out.

 

 

Haha, thanks for the vote of confidence but sadly for us I think it’s too late for us. We will lose sooner or later, have arguably the tougher run in (inc Sheffield United, Coventry, Bristol City and a seemingly resurgent Derby). Right now Coventry are the form team in the top 6 and I can’t say I’d feel confident in a play off lottery. I just don’t see the top 2 dropping points as much as I can see us doing. Sheffield in particular are looking relentless with Leeds having had a small wobble.
 

All that said it is in our own hands, if we match Sheffield United’s results and beat them at home we are top 2. 

10 hours ago, DE. said:

Pretty much all of their home games at the very least are in must-win territory now. Their remaining home games are:

Rovers (8th)
Coventry (5th)
PNE (15th)
Burnley (3rd)
Luton (22nd)
Stoke (20th)

Some tough games in there - Stoke and Luton games in particular likely to be crucial. If they very optimistically win 4 of those 6 games (keeping in mind they've only won 7 in the entire season) that would get them to 41 points. Realistically nowhere near enough to survive. So then they're going to need to take a fair few points from their away matches, which are:

Plymouth (23rd)
Swansea (16th)
Portsmouth (17th)
WBA (6th)
Hull (19th)
 

Overall you'd have to say they theoretically have more chance of picking up points against these teams, but the games being away is problematic, especially when you factor in Derby have only won one away game all season. The other six were all at home.

So yeah, they look like they are cooked. It would require a hell of a turnaround in form for them to escape the drop at this juncture.

If we keep playing the way we have the last 2 games they might upset the odds in that one. We’ve been all over the place.

32 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Ah. Didn't realise they played each other on Monday. That opens the door a little bit for you.

The game against Sheffield United will be potentially huge.

Mmm we might also be looking for you to do us a favour last game of the season 😮

2 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Burnley will comfortably finish third now. For their lack of goals, they have won 5-0 and 4-0 in recent weeks, I just suspect it is too little too late in terms of automatics as Leeds and Sheffield United are showing no signs of slowing down. The top four probably stays exactly as it is.

You'd have to think that's it for Carrick at Boro now. They were well in control of a playoff place at one point and appear to have bottled it. January appears to have done them more harm than good in terms of recruitment and losing Latte Lath as well.

Sheff Utd and Leeds can’t both win on Monday and Sheff United have to play Burnley again. In theory it remains in our own hands. Sadly I think you are right though because we struggle to score consistently - although Edwards does look a level above so his addition might help us in that area.

I can’t quite get my head around what has happened at Boro - they looked good then suddenly their form falls off a cliff. I know they sold Latte Lath but they also invested. Maybe bringing in so many players upset the dressing room - or is it just they relied on him so heavily?

Right now you have to be fancying your chances for the playoffs - imagine if we both made the final … 

15 minutes ago, DeeCee said:

4-0 win, here he is 👀🙄

As I was after the dire Preston 0-0, the Leeds 0-0 … You must have missed those posts I guess.

7 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Part of me wants to look up the xG for the Burnley - Sheffield Weds game.

Watching the highlights, Wednesday missed two sitters I'd fancy I could bury.

Only really one stat that counts, the score line. Possesion, xG etc etc are all great and a good way to assess performances but if you are on the wrong side of main one it doesn’t matter.

Fair to say first half Wednesday were well on top in terms of chances etc - even at the start of the second. I’m tempted to say we were poor but that wouldn’t give them the credit they deserve but we definitely contributed to our own problems.

But as for the ‘Burnley are lucky’ comments. All teams get lucky at various times but you don’t go 13 consecutive games without conceding, 25 clean sheets in 34 games, only 9 goals conceded in 34 games and no team - so far - scoring more than one goal in a game against us by just luck. Just in the same way the dearth of goals at the other end isn’t just bad luck.

26 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Wasn't Benson on the bench? 

All depends you go for. 

You spend big on Foster and then played him wide, How much did he cost? 

around £10 million 

Benson has for little (besides pick up injuries) since the Championship season - and even then he was always a 30/40 minute impact sub mostly.

We spent on Foster 2 years ago, about 8 or 9 million I think and at the minute he couldn’t hit a barn door - did you see his misses yesterday?

8 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Feeling the Heat Longsider old chap?😁

Nope, to be honest we’ve looked short since the first couple of weeks of the season. I’m quite enjoying the season, being hard to score against etc - just as long as we don’t fade you in the playoffs, my heart couldn’t take it, win or lose.

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

A 20 goal a season striker costs £20m, but a potential PL defender costs £40m?

Well a 20 goal a season in the Championship Striker against the best Centre Half in the division by a country mile - especially once you add the PL tax.

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

you don`t need to get bitter just because you can`t score goals and your chief promotion rivals can,your ****** either way,go up and the big boys steal your two centre backs and goal keeper,stay down and they`ll still go but for cheaper,base your whole game on defending will eventually come back and haunt you,see you next season🤣

Steal our centre backs and goal keeper, How will that work? Will they come with shotguns and balaclavas? 🤷‍♂️

I would imagine you mean they will buy them of course. Not much we can do. Esteve and Trafford will go for between 30 and 40 million each, that’s good profit and the business model we have. Egan-Riley potentially more painful as he’s out of contract so much less for him.

But going up is definitely a bit of almost a Hobsons choice. You want to play at the highest level but know once you get there it’s often a pretty s***e experience - and we know Parker has historically been found lacking in the top flight.

PS our whole game isn’t based on defending.

38 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

do you agree that Parker is safety first manager and he won't go for games in attacking sense and why are your best attacking players on the bench? 

Also why didn't you signed Proven striker in January and is there not money available? 

It certainly feels that way on Parker. Not sure our best attacking players were on the bench though beyond Edwards who hasn’t played much football recently and Brownhill who’s just back from Injury so that makes sense. On the striker thing I guess it comes down to money. A 20+ a season striker probably costs 18-20 million that we can’t afford to risk, if we even have it to risk. I mean Szmodics had one exceptional season for you and went for what 12/14 million was it?

14 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

I wonder if these consecutive clean sheets are now becoming detrimental to your chances of the automatic places.

I say this as, subconsciously at least, they may be trying to extend this run when ‘risking’ it ending could result in you turning more of your draws in to wins.

 

4 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

I said exactly the same thing to my lad yesterday.

Really good questions. Even as a fan I think we’ve got to a point where we’d rather win 1 or 2 nil than say 4 or 5 to 1. In some bizarre way conceding would almost be a relief.

But I still think there is a fundamental issue with us scoring goals, we are way down the a league on every stat in terms of goals, from the basic how many we’ve scored to the number of shots and even the one I hate most xG. What I anticipate happening next is Edwards coming in on the right, Anthony moving left as inverted wingers which might improve things but frankly the play offs seems most likely and we all know what an absolute lottery that is.

21 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

north end the better side.burnley content to sit back and try and nick one later,not sure this dingle approach can take them much further,can`t see them getting automatic promotion

😂😂😂, yeah of course they were the better side.

20 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Whenever I’ve seen them, they don’t look like they’re parking the bus, they are trying to score, they just don’t have enough up front. They’re well wasteful in front of goal.

That Esteve at centre half is absolutely superb though,  as much as it pains me to say it.

No, we don’t park the bus. Unfortunately I think there are 3 very simple things that are causing our dearth of goals. Firstly the first instinct seems to be to play it safe and go backwards. This has improved but is still there. Secondly we seem scared to have a crack, we just don’t get enough shots away at all then lastly the shots we do get off are nowhere near high enough quality. Edwards coming in represents our best hope to change this if/when he is fit enough to start. Despite the doom and gloom Sheffield Utd still have to play Leeds and they can’t both win. They also have to play us. The reality is we have, on paper, the easier run in. Of course the game isn’t played on paper and if we can’t find a way to regularly score the relative quality of the opposition matters not a jot - and that includes any play offs games.

Still 39 points to play for, nothing is decided yet - but for the record I’ve said for a while now I expect Leeds to be champions convincingly.

6 hours ago, Groundhog said:

I should have italicised "that" in the sentence "they don't look that good". Of course they are good, I'd have either in my team (with Rovers at the minute I'd even consider Rondon from Leeds and that's saying something). But what are we seeing here, how come they are only 9 goals conceded in what is it now, 28 good? Maybe someone with greater footballing and tactical knowledge can point it out - is it a case of they are greater than the sum of their parts alongside Trafford, is it the whole defence-first philosophy from Parker? If you take Egan-Riley out and put him in Sheff Utd's team is he still keeping that many clean sheets? They seem incredibly strong, cover ground and organised. Will be really interesting if you draw say Chelsea in the cup. 

I work with a few Burnley fans and they are really frustrated with the side, defence aside - and are worried if it comes to the playoffs can the side perform in tournament football when up against it. 

Definitely a team effort but those 2 do stand out - and Trafford is having an exceptional season as well. 9 in 29 is ridiculous - but then again we’ve only scored 36 with 14 of those being in 3 games - so 22 in 26 games!

The playoffs are always a lottery but I just think we are a little short on attacking threat for the top 2 so I fear that’s where we end up - but my heart couldn’t take facing you guys in the playoffs, I’ve already got hypertension, that would finish me off.

12 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

if they lose any of those two at the back they might be in trouble,egan riley and esteve holding them together

11 hours ago, Groundhog said:

Their goals against record this season is frankly bonkers, yet the two lads at the back don't look that good - yes they're quick and cover a lot of ground, and they seem to be able to stand up and snuff out 1 v 1s with ease, but I feel teams don't test them enough, we certainly didn't at Ewood - the commentators were waxing lyrical about them but I think I could have nodded away most of our attempts at crosses...

They get a lot of praise for their long diagonal passes, but tonight almost every ball was hit long. 

 

So they are Schrodingers centrebacks, so good we'd be in trouble without them yet so poor any decent team would easily walk past them?

No question it was a turgid game. As I said somewhere earlier in the season on this thread, we aren't good enough and are a striker light - and none seem to be on the horizon. That said we are top 3 with, in theory at least, a run of more winnable games to come before West Brom in March - but if we can't find a way to score more consistently the level of the opposition makes little difference - and it will be Leeds and Shef Utd for top 2.

54 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's certainly something beginning with a c.

I thought that was me?

Just popped by in peace. I know you won’t believe me but I actually had a suspicion you’d get something today. You have the right game for Leeds and went into it on the back of some decent results. A lot of games between now and the 4th of Jan but as things stand it should be a right game.

1 hour ago, Tom said:

They’ve had some ridiculous luck already this season, sadly nailed on for promotion 

Absolutely nowhere near nailed on. We will need to improve considerably to have any chance at promotion.

16 hours ago, Upside Down said:

One less relegation place to worry about then.

I'm absolutely gutted he didn't get the Dingle job.

Suggestions I hear is Pace wanted Rooney

7 hours ago, bazza said:

So when you come to Ewood shall we expect another "El Crapico"?

Well I wouldn’t be anticipating anything stellar from our side unless we magically ‘click’ as I’ve kidded myself we might. I’ve not seen enough of you to say how you’ll fare.

Right now  I’m expecting a lot of passion and endeavour but not much quality football.

23 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

God awful Burnley side rag last minute win via Penalty.

If we cant give that Shower a real going over at Ewood we never will again.

Your best chance in over a decade. I’m not even sure how we are supposed to be playing. It’s all very slow. Sideways and Backwards. 
 

Reasonable defence but that’s about it. We are a long way from being one of the best sides in the division.

1 hour ago, toogs said:

I can see it now, dynamic pricing for football matches!

Don't Look Back In Anger.

 

Indeed, you can see it now and it seems almost as inevitable. You get into the PL, Arsenal are in town and suddenly the fans whose families have supported the club for generations are priced out of the game.

Here in peace.

Weve partnered with Ticketmaster this season and I’ve read lots of negative stuff about it.

Now personally I like digital and as a ST holder I can download each match to my phone (I can even forward it to a friend apparently, if only I had one) and that has worked a treat for me but there have been issues with enforcing loyalty point access periods and general sales issues according to a stories I’ve seen online. 

That said, I’ve had no issues personally and our issues might well be more Ticketmaster than basic digital issues.

This feels inevitable but I doubt the motivation of the clubs/game, when was the last time they made any change that was about improving the experience of the fans? Surely there is no real issue with allowing those that want a digital ticket to have one whilst those that prefer a more traditional one can have one of those 🤷‍♂️