That wasn't in the post in which you said 'let me fill you in on the gaps'.

Not sure what gaps that filled in. You merely quoted something you say is well documented, then speculate.

Why the hell did he pick a spot where there was a load of snow to test it when there was still time to scrape that off? I can't tell if it lands on the snow, the grass, or half and half. But either way it clearly wasn't the best spot to pick. Also, that bounce still looks playable to me.

Especially strange since infrastructure costs are exempted from FFP calculations. We are always told they're happy to sign cheques. Well, them not investing heavily in the playing squad can be explained due to FFP, but things like this just show that really, what they're bothered about is losing money hand over fist, and FFP is a convenient excuse.

Rather him up front than at right back or the wing...

He didn't die after our promotion, he died just after the start of the promotion season. Which makes it even sadder as he died not knowing that we made it back up. On the other hand, it served as inspiration for the players and fans I think, to get back and 'do it for Jack'. I often wonder if Jack later regretted not investing more in the summer of 1995. I think it was obvious at the time it should be done, especially if he wanted to make us as big as he initially said, and especially with a new untested manager who may not get as much out of the current crop and may have his own ideas he wanted to implement, but I understand he probably thought he had put in enough and the current side was good enough to at least remain in the top 2. But a mistake, with hindsight and with foresight. What hindsight alone brings out though is just how much of a perfect time in the sport it was to keep investing. The amounts we needed at the time to stay on top were far smaller than the amounts we spunked a few years later just trying to break even. The money in the game kept on inflating and inflating, and still is. Every, or at least nearly every, player we signed up to our title challenge was sold on for a profit. Often a very large one. It's likely that any other shrewd buys we would have made (Zidane in particular) would have gone on to net profits too. Plus the Sky money and Champions League money continued to go up and up. If we had hired the right manager and spent wisely, Jack could even have been in profit himself, along with creating the huge club he wanted. I know we are a town team with a small catchment, and a year as champions didn't give us a huge fanbase, but a few more years at the top and we probably would have seen it grow further afield. You only have to look at City and Chelsea for how a spell at the very top can give you fans (and income) from far and wide. It really was a defining moment for the club's future and unfortunately, our hero chose wrong. (Obviously, we are all very grateful for what he did though, and nobody is perfect)

Anyone heard anything today about the likelihood of the game being on?

Well, we could afford it. The owners have the money. It just wasn't in the club's own budget. We could have done it, as a calculated gamble to win the mega pot of money in the Prem. Not that you need to spend 10 mill to get a good striker, but you tend to need that, or something like it, to get someone who is more or less guaranteed a decent goal return at this level. That said, Keiffer Moore went for 5 mill didn't he? He scored plenty last year and is painful to play against. Although at 29 and the wages Bournemouth are probably giving him, beating those would still be a large value short term gamble. If it pays off you're laughing of course, with nearly 200 million in pocket. But it would be a bit ridiculous to refuse to pay the contract rebels what they want because of our wage structure, then annihilate our wage structure bringing someone in on more than 20k a week. Might create disharmony. All a balancing act, and about calculated gambles. I think when it comes to strikers, we will always struggle at this level to recruit someone who has shown they can notch 20+ in the Championship even if we meet the fee, because of the wage demands. That's why we need to sign diamonds and polish them up. I'm more or less fine with that approach most seasons, but the golden opportunity this season changed the dynamic. We could perhaps have taken a punt on another attacker though...although, we have a few players already who are attackers in the 'developing' bracket, so it may have acheived nothing. Funnily enough, Maja might have been our best bet, a loan with no obligation to buy, potentially able to hit the ground running (but also with injury worries). I'm still disappointed we didn't strengthen other positions though.

Plenty of people were saying it before Brereton got injured and before the window closed. Personally, I agreed but disagreed with that at the time. As in, I agreed we needed another proven goalscorer, but I felt our budget was likely to be too limited to get one of the required quality and that we had other positions that needed sorting more urgently which should be cheaper to deal with (CM, backup goalie, and probably a backup CB, though I'd rather have kept Carter around). In the end we did neither.

Butterworth is out on loan anyway. Vale is our youth team emergency backup striker for now. Tbf we did add firepower, in Markanday and Giles. Just that Markanday got injured immediately...we've barely seen Giles so he could still come good, but he hasn't done much so far. I was never convinced by that deal but we will see how he gets on.

They said how long he is out?

Christ, that was a 7 year old post you were replying to!

I doubt there is anyone below Fulham who isn't anxiously checking the results of other sides around them. Even some Fulham fans will be doing.

I was once out for months and months at uni with what I'd initially thought was a toe stub type of injury (admittedly what I 'stubbed' it on was a massive lad's huge foot). Difference being I tried to play through the match and again for a few weeks, and didn't bother getting any professional assessment of it or physio. Just kept thinking it would be fine again soon. Ended up being the beginning of my transition from injury-proof ever-present to walking sicknote (probably from resting as much as possible to avoid agitating it, which made the rest of my body weaker, triggering new injuries when I returned). Thankfully, Brereton has a team of professionals and physios around him so I'm sure none of that will happen! Like you say, hopefully no major damage. We can't afford to miss him for more than the odd game (if that).

Oh thank fuck for that.

Wow, that might turn out to be the worst thing to come out of tonight (assuming BBD is alright).

What about her, she fit?

We did get a very very soft free kick a couple of minutes or so ago when Carroll was penalised for simply winning a header.

Tbf he was only drafted onto the bench because of the last minute Ayala injury, he wasn't initially on it. But I agree he is the most natural choice for when we brought JRC off (if not before). If he won't be used now, fuck knows when.

I haven't played since November but I'm similarly confident.

Looking like we switched to 4 at the back? Maybe too soon to tell

JRC, an injury prone player on a yellow, taking a knock...if TM won't take him off now he is the most stubborn old goat I've ever seen. Dolan warming up.

Get the deal done.

This game has a distinct whiff of the inevitable about it. On the plus side, WBA don't appear to be very good at present, so we might manage a 0-0.

How did he make those appearances and score those goals last season then? Must be some player!