They had been making steady progress. They were right in the playoff mix as we were in Mowbrays last season and were top of the league this season until Beales shenanigans. I'm sure Ferdinand would agree last season was a disaster. But regardless of his performance what is clear is that this has happened due to a falling out. Right at the start of the transfer window. Any plans they had have been thrown in the bin. It's messy. It's the worst possible time the club. It's also worth noting Qpr have those seasons still been paying off the massive fine the Efl imposed on them for breaching financial fair play. The only club, to ever get that sort of punishment.

Chaos at QPR. Les Ferdinand has resigned as DoF following discussions with Ainsworth about transfer targets. Seems they had very different ideas on a way forwards. Fully expecting Qpr to raid Wycombe for Ainsworths ex players now and be odds om for relegation. I thought he'd be a disaster when people wanted him appointmented here and thought he'd be a disaster for Qpr. They were on a slow upwards trajectory for some time, until Michael Beale jumped ship last season. All feels like panicked reactions now.

I think the main thing with Phillips is to tie him down to a proper 5 year contract like we did with Wharton. If we can do that, then every decision we make can be based on what's best for his development. He only has 2 years remaining on his contract. The amount of interest he's generated at such a young age makes him feel like a special case and every decision we make with him, needing to keep him and his agent happy. I'm not saying he's kicked up any kind of fuss, but they may not always know what is best for his development. I'm sure bigger clubs will still be whispering in his agents ear from time to time. Get him signed up to a long term deal and then we can decide how best to develop him. Even if he went out on loan this season and performed incredibly, it'd be horrible seeing him come back to the club with only 1 year left on his contract.

I think the ideal for Phillips is to source a proper loan. Assurances that the plan is for him to be competing for a starting spot. Get him used to the rough and tumble and minutes in his legs. I would also be looking to tie him down to a five year deal as we did with Wharton. Then bring in an experienced centre back on a shorter term deal.

PSV was the one where it felt like a sure thing he'd go. If Leicester are genuinely interested I think he's gone. Sampdoria and playing in Serie B. That would be a mad move. Feel Leeds fall into the same category but would obviously have a greater appeal. Celtic I think would be 50/50. At the end of the day though, we don't know how many of the clubs have genuine interest. He's an easy name to link to any club at the moment, so half of these could just be click bait. I'm 70% certain he'll still be with us at the start of the season. The biggest worry I have is that we want to progress. If we start the season with a bang, some of this tepid interest will turn into something more tangible once the managerial merry-go-round begins.

For me, it's less about the role itself but the price tag attached to Rice because he's English. As it stands he lacks that little bit extra that someone like Casemiro has, but it's difficult to develop this side of his game in a side which doesn't look to dominate the ball. He may reach that level. The issue is that a 'water carrier' can demand a big fee, but typically not at the same level of an attacking player who can change a game all by themselves. The English premium and the price West Ham are looking for is in this category. As a result I think Rice gets judged a little harshly and I don't think he's quite worth the money which is being touted. As a 'water carrier' though, he is superb.

I think the could but they won't. Liverpool need multiple additions in centre midfield and therefore need to split their budget accordingly. If their squad was near perfect and they only needed 1, maybe 2 summer signings I think they'd be in for him. They've already brought in MacAllister for 35-45 million and will need at least two more. It makes a fee of almost 100m for Rice unaffordable.

If I were looking for a player in Rice's position I'd be looking no further than Amrabat. Based on his performances in the World Cup and in direct comparison last night he is the better player. Perfect positional play, strong, intelligent, great in the tackle and brilliant vision. I'm sure he'd cost half the price of Rice too.

Offset by the £30m they received as a transfer fee. Still, as a Birmingham fan you'd have hoped they'd have been able to negotiate to a minimum of 10%

I love how that article refers to him as the stand out candidate from the recruitment process when Spurs have been knocked back by multiple candidates over a couple of month period.

I was going to mention this. I live in the south so don't get to attend as many games as I'd like. I remember sitting in the away end and Pompey hammered us the majority of the match. Bellamy was absolutely unbelievable that day. Scored two incredible goals all by himself. The first of which he was running full speed, away from the goal on his weaker foot and rifled it straight into the far corner. Benitez misused him when he went to Liverpool. Saw him as nothing but a speed merchant to play on the shoulder of the last defender. He was so much more than that. Incredible player.

I both agree and disagree. Maybe it's a discussion the two of them have had. The only other option JDT would have had, would have been to say, this squad weren't expected to be in the promotion race because of budgets our Director of Football couldn't get deals over the line, which isn't exactly conducive to a good working relationship. Be direct 121 but dont hang your colleagues out to dry publicly. I'm sure they will have spoken about this privately and it's not a comment JDT will have first heard when scrolling on his phone. When speaking privately, I'd bet that JDT's response would have been "if you can get me the players we need, then I won't say it anymore, but if you tell me they were out of our reach financially, then I'll continue to do so". They're meant to be a team. I think they are and I think there's good communication between them both. They'll call each other out and hold each other accountable. So Broughton needs to follow through if he wants to take this narrative off the table. I probably didn't explain it well at first, but this is what I mean by the comments being self reflective.

Gerrard is a significantly better manager than Lampard, but their playing careers have them tied together reputationally. Both reaped the benefits of being big names and were touted for jobs they were yet to earn. Remember Gerrard being the heir to Klopp 😂 But at the same time that hype is now proving costly for Gerrard, with the theory that his managerial career is only down to his name. He's shown some promise as a manager previously, but failed at Villa. Leicester would be the perfect club for him to rebuild his reputation. I think he could be successful there. Lampard on the other hand... I'll be surprised if he ever manages again. He's a chain of clichés, says the right things, but is utterly clueless.

I think Broughton is smart enough to know when he's got a talented person working for him. He'll fully understand the improvements JDT has brought to the club. I think the budget comments are more of a self reflection, that he needs to bring the right players in, and not use budgets as an excuse. I can see strain in the relationship the opposite way though. After the January transfer dealings JDT was clearly not impressed, but he's professional and still puts his all into his work. Broughton will know this. Under JDT's chirpy exterior is somebody who is refreshingly direct. He's mentioned it in interviews, but he will have had direct conversations with Broughton saying his January request was for a striker, that failure to do so cost us and that actions speak louder than words. In this instance, Broughton failed and needs to do better this time around. Again referring to not using budgets as an excuse. Overall I think JDT is relatively happy working here, but he's ambitious and will make very objective decisions regarding his future.

For me, as a JDT fan it's been a relief to see the speculation around his future die down. Feyernoord and he was gone. We're now faced with Leicester and Leeds being the only other clubs who had rumoured interest. He doesn't feature anywhere in the odds for the Leicester job, leaving only Leeds. Given the clear lack of a plan, combustible owners and the news around the owners trying to use their stadium to fund a loan to purchase Sampdoria, I'm not sure they are an attractive proposition for any manager. JDT strikes me as a smart guy. Make no mistake, if the right job comes up, he will leave as he's ambitious. But I'd be hopeful he'd turn them down. Reputationally there is a lot to lose by moving there, and I could see him biding his time and waiting for the right offer. In that time, hopefully he'll have helped us progress further. If we improve on this season but fail to win promotion I can't see him being with us past next summer, but I'd be pleased that he'd have set the proper groundwork for the next coach to come in and improve upon.

Named the family dog Friedel. He loves playing ball and has a safe pair of paws.

First thing I'd do is attempt to rebuild a relationship with the fanbase. Have fans employed by the club to help do this. In my experience throughout life, people are capable of forgiveness if they are listened too. Pricing, matchday experience, communication, not just paying lip service to fans, community projects, investment in the ground, transport, engaging with all demographics, honesty, respect, freebies. Essentially just make the fans feels as important as they are. The club belongs to the fans and its important that, that is felt.

Of the relegated teams I think Southampton are best set to bounce back. They employed a strategy of buying a lot of young players with scope to improve. As such many of them will be on wages which will be sustainable on parachute payments, though they'll still need to make a couple of signings. Leeds seem in disarray with no tangible plan whilst Leicester will see half their squad leave on free transfers with a couple of big sales of players 'too good' for this division. Of course all three clubs will be well set if they make some shrewd transfers with the excess money available, and employ decent managers. Southampton will have the most settled squad, whom I think may benefit from a year in the championship.

Everytime Spurs appoint a decent manager they sack them before they've managed to change the culture of the club, whilst only half backing them. They'll tend to back them for a window when they first arrive before the money dries up. Levy is like a bloke with commitment issues. Sees a beautiful girl walk past and after 6 months gets rid when she's calling him out on his crap. All the while he's spending a load of money on expensive dates in those first few months. But he's getting older now and the charm and looks are fading.

He's a cheating bastard. His shit eating grin and not admitting it afterwards is what ground my gears. I hope Luton win for that reason alone. Plus it'll be quite funny to see Luton trying to kick lumps out of everyone in the Premier League.

It seems grossly unfair when compared to other cases. I thought he'd been let off lightly when the ban was first announced, but now the news has broken that he bet on his own team and even bet on himself scoring, it's unbelievably lenient. I didn't really want to see him banned for a long time as his career has been impressive. Other players who've received harsher bans must be furious though. Joey Barton effectively had his career ended with an 18 month ban for betting. Its simply not fair. It strikes me as favoritism. Toney on the verge of the England squad vs Barton, the wrongun of Engliah football. Apparently the ban was reduced because of a gambling addiction. That doesn't wash with me at all. With the amount of money footballers earn, I think you can argue an element of addiction for any player doing it. All very crooked in my opinion.

On the set piece coach. Small margins add up and can be the difference when chasing promotion. I'm happy to see us having a more professional set up at the club. Carter scoring his header against Luton kept us scrapping until the final day. In that game i thought we were dead and buried. For a team struggling for goals set pieces can be a get out of jail free card.

Far more hopeful of him staying now. I fully imagine Arne Slot will leave Feyernoord next summer. If that's the job JDT wants, it doesn't look great for a manager to leave two clubs after only a single season. Might be in his beat interest to stay with us now, though that will only be the case if he's successful here and for that he needs to be backed.

Rooney was a phenomenal player but you don't need to have a sports science degree to see he didn't look after his body. Rooney often out boozing & shagging grannies or JDT getting players to prepare presentations of their performances and attending many u21, League 1 & League 2 games. There's no comparison as players and there's no comparison as managers. JDT sets the standard and demands professionalism, Rooney is nothing more than an inspirational name.

I think he's gone. It will be a stroke of luck if he's ends up staying. Too many clubs being linked, all of which are attractive propositions for various reasons. Even if we'd had a sudden influx of cash and had made zero mistakes over the last year, it would still be a challenge retaining him. If he goes, I think he's raised the standards here, but it would be disappointing to not see him continue what he's started.