They've already told you the plan - the next tranche of Academy players will fill out the squad. Duru, Batty, Powell, Montgomery, Gilsenan, Tyjon, Michalski et al are all in line for plenty of minutes. To be fair that's what Broughton wanted to do too - he just wanted to spend far more on the starting XI and initial reserves (say top 16 players total) and use the Academy for depth / development. I'd be amazed if we're not weaker next season, it's inevitable with how they run the club.

I think Hedges is a decent defensive winger / wing back that's been miscast as a wide attacking player. He falls apart in the final third of the pitch. Dolan is in a massive purple patch at the moment - if he could put it all together consistently he'd be a top half of the Championship player. Sadly he blows hot and cold - and his final ball / decision making is often infuriatingly poor. You can't fault his work rate, even if he looks like he's running in treacle.

He at least seems qualified - has held the position at multiple clubs before and has a UEFA Pro license.

We'll need another CF if Gueye leaves. I like Ohashi, but absolutely nothing sticks when he's playing upfront. He gets bullied.

Considering Eustace is one of the better managers in this division, why wouldn't he go to Derby? They'll finish above us next year.

Everyone around me seems to be renewing, including my parents - sad state of affairs.

Yes. He'll know where he's going too.

If PNE go down do we think they get stuck there? They're hardly a financial powerhouse - I wonder if they'd struggle to mount a promotion challenge, especially if one or two players left for cheap.

You'd think they'd clean the Venkys logos on top of the Riverside Stand if they were bothered about keeping up their profile...

Neither one is an athlete.

I thought Cantwell was outstanding today - looked like the player I thought we were signing in the summer.

It's why I fully subscribe to the notion that something incredibly shady has / is happening at Rovers. The books must be a horror show and they don't want to open them to scrutiny to a potential buyer / the authorities.

Why don't we go full circle and approach the man they bought the house from that started their trouble in India? Gary Neville. He certainly has the platform.

I mean he's right - any money generated through transfers clearly goes into paying the bills of the football club. It's not reinvested into the squad.

Ohashi's second against Bristol City.

Should have bid for him in January when he was injured with just 6 months left to go on his contract. That's how canny operators work. Birmingham are flush with cash so they're overpaying him - when you factor in the Stansfield transfer they're going to run foul of the FFP rules eventually.

He was 17! He played 14 times for us, they were clearly desperate to integrate him into the squad.

I'll watch it later, but if he thinks 7 or 8 Academy players (not graduates [i.e. Travis, Wharton, Carter], players) will be part of the 25 man squad next season then we're going down.

You really think they wanted to go out and sign McFadzean and Batth? He'd have played A LOT if he'd have stayed. Spurs think so highly of him that they're playing an 18 year old CM at CB instead of him.

I wouldn't even say it was a shift of approach between JDT and Eustace - there simply weren't any First Team level Academy graduates coming through last year. You could argue MAYBE Duru (albeit he's now injured) could have been involved more, but that's a stretch. Batty has fallen below expectations (and they've just signed Ribeiro so clearly they don't plan for him to be around the squad next year either). Then you're looking at 16/17 year olds. Nobody in the older age groups has gone away on loan and set the world on fire and obviously Phillips and Finneran (the next two cabs off the rank) were stolen for peanuts from the crib. Carter, S. Wharton, Travis et al took years to develop - they weren't ready in their teens. A. Wharton was an anomoly.

Considering absolutely nothing sticks upfront when Ohashi is on, there's a place for Gueye in the side. I'd start him each and every week.

We need an incredible run of results to make the Playoffs now. It's not going to happen.

Which is worrying because he's utter dogshit.

You can't completely change your style of play upon promotion. Not without buying a new starting XI. Realistically you have to double down on what got you there and not wildly overspend, accepting that you're probably going to get relegated, but your club will be stronger as a result. The gulf is cavernous now.

I think it's very, very difficult to get recruitment right when everyone knows you're pretty much nailed on for relegation. You have to have some great scouts to find gems the other PL teams aren't aware of.