bluebruce

We have fixtures two days in a row? How is that even allowed?

Exactly. There has been plenty of time before the window opened for us to get in touch with clubs of prospective players and see if there is a realistic chance of signing them. Whether it's the scouts or other personnel, the point remains the same - we have wasted time on this one. Honestly, it just reeks of the usual 'we tried' policy of bidding for players we know we can't afford so that we look like we have ambition. Then spending a paltry amount. We see this every January and most summers, it's hardly our first rodeo.

The likes of transfermarkt etc are not a remotely reliable show of value, if that's what you mean. A look through our own squad will show that.

Scouts aren't only supposed to look at players. They're supposed to have contacts, put out feelers. Have a general understanding of whether a player might be realistically in reach. Like you said 'that could possibly fall within their budget'. They don't really have a great sense of that if they've recommended someone who will cost 5 times what we can offer. I think the 28 year old striker one is fair enough to be surprised by, that's an outrageous fee to demand. But the young, promising Cleary was likely always out of reach.

The scouts are there to identify players we can potentially afford. We are nowhere near affording this one. Like Ricky said, we can all identify good players the club can't afford. That Adam Wharton looks alright. Messi, Haaland, Gyokeres, they should be able to fix our attacking woes.

I'm not sure you've noticed the weather the last 15 years.

They really should let him go. If they don't want to pay him off, send him out on loan until his contract ends. I don't care what level. These defeats sap the confidence of our young lads as they develop.

I saw Khan in that lineup and instantly knew we would lose. The game isn't over but at about 70 minutes we are 3 nil down and he has conceded 3 out of 5 shots on target.

Barnsley have some truly ludicrous valuations of their players. Presumably they're just not really willing to sell them, realistically. Unless a stupid and unlikely bid comes in. I can respect that. But I wouldn't pay half that for a 28 year old player with his CV.

Shenhua seem to have paid double that for another player. But those two signings appear to be more than half the expenditure for their entire league. Unless there is some 'undisclosed' magic at play of course.

Yeh I heard the government had cut down on it all, but I didn't realise it had changed so much that a 1 million euro Makhtar Gueye was now a title statement.

All the money that has been thrown around in China, and they want to build a title winning team around Gueye, and only paid about a million Euros? He'd best not be on three times that a year or something daft.

I don't think his movement is better at all. I think the only thing he has over Gudjohnsen (based on the Leonard of last season, absolutely he may be improving) is workrate.

Definitely better for me, yes. As shown by him scoring similar goal numbers in a higher league.

Given Peterborough presumably offered more with theirs, no.

Do agents get commissions on loans?

We can't spend a bit more in wages because we have self-imposed a stupid 10k pw wage cap. It came in this summer, so you won't see a Dennis style wage splurge again, even on a loanee I'd imagine. Was Woodrow a relatively large wage? Christ that's even more mystifying why we ever bothered. That's not a hindsight thing either, his goals record was absolutely atrocious for a few consecutive seasons before he came. He had just come off the back of 3 goals in his last 66 league appearances! Or 7 in his last 94 if we want to make it look more 'generous'.

You'd think clubs would learn we actually have good youth players, worth loaning and playing.

Several people had already mentioned it. Clear penalty. Ref was useless all game.

Sure am. Nothing ill-mannered about me today, minus this horrible cough I've got. Just saying, you can't bleat about people giving you stick for it, then bring him up yourself unprovoked.

To be clear, you're saying it should have been a Hull free kick because of that? Because that means he was first to the ball.

We should be signing Joseph up pronto. Does Higgins' scholarship end summer 2027?

What a bad game...apparently 29 shots, but only 3 on target, in the whole match (although other stats I saw say 21 shots in total)

Really good guess! You even got the order right, the only difference was Doherty took the last one not Miller. Funny, the two I would most expect to score missed, and the three I had least confidence in all notched.

Concerning how quickly that comes down to defenders.