Haven't seen that reported anywhere, where are you getting that? Only figure I've seen is 2.5 mill. I don't expect that to be up front, no transfer is. Posh paid 1 mill for him, be odd to say they've rejected 3 bids more than they paid and then only take a guarantee of 500k. I can't imagine they're guaranteed any less than 1.5 mill.

I know all of that. That doesn't mean we have paid an appropriate fee or not put too much weight on his late season purple patch. Scouts and managers fuck this up all the time. As I said, time will tell and obviously I wish for him to be a huge success. JDT and Broughton won't have watched him live in a competitive game at all I should imagine. Personally I don't think that matters vs a full video, but some do.

Thank you, an actual point. However, that's 18 months ago (would actually be 20 wouldn't it?), not this January gone, and BBD didn't just click, he set on fire, and has been at least reliable ever since, not just for 7-10 games. Just a rumour anyway that wasn't it, about the loan away? To be clear, I'm not saying I think Szmodics won't succeed here, I'm saying I think we've gone a fair bit above what the market rate for him should have been. As we did with BBD as it happens, and for 2 years that was a financial burden we got nothing back from. If Szmodics delivers to or above his fee, then happy days (we can't afford to wait 2 years for it this time though). I just fear we are using too short a sample of him playing well at this level to justify the expense as things stand.

Ooh matron!

Time well tell, but reading the interview with the Posh chairman is really making me think that, if we paid anything like the 2.5 mill reported, we really got our pants pulled down on Szmodics. Apparently he was close to making a loan move back down to League One in January, with Oxford, presumably whilst P'Boro were fighting relegation. The chairman's comments even suggest he was worried Szmodics would end up on Oxford's bench!! It really sounds like he was pants up to January and was McCann's 'best player for the last seven games'. Broughton has also been quoted as talking about how good he was for the last 10 games. We seem to have bought a player for a lot of money by our standards, on the basis of 7-10 good games at the end of the season. Until I see otherwise on the pitch I feel this move was bad business.

Who scored 5 (22%) less goals last season in 600 more minutes (20% more minutes), has an extra year of mileage and didn't cost them 7 million to buy. BBD is a full Chilean international, with twice the caps and twice the international goals of Gyokeres for Sweden. Gyokeres does, however, have more time left on his deal. But no. They shouldn't be getting similar for him, especially since we will probably get half our fee to spend at best. That's not to say they won't ask for it, but it almost certainly won't be available.

Cartwheel Galaxy, a recent image from JWST.

But you keep insisting he isn't any better up front. Where do you want him to play?

A game we led in but where our attack were huffing out their arses. Then the fact we have gone and spent 2.5 mill, which is a lot for us, on someone else to play his role. Someone who at 26 hasn't been bought for the future. Not seen anybody saying the club are actively planning to discard him. Seen some talk he won't fit in the new system and will see minimal game time, and could get moved on in the future. Also, he did start games for the u23s I believe. They might be less challenging games but he got 90 mins in, I think it was twice, and could have done as much running as he wanted to. Fitness can also be charged up to full levels in training, it's sharpness that only kicks in by playing matches.

I'd be fuming if we lost BBD and didn't bring in a goalscorer, no matter how well we recruited elsewhere.

It does end decades of hurt though. For the women's team, who had never won a major tournament. And also for England as a footballing nation, who haven't won anything since '66. What it doesn't do whatsoever is end decades of hurt for the England men's team. Hopefully that gets put right in Qatar (although in a way that would be bittersweet, as the fact it's being held in Qatar under the circumstances is an absolute stain on the game).

I think we can be certain he isn't here to sit behind Wharton and Garrett in the pecking order. He's in their way now, not the other way around, and it's up to them to force themselves past him and the two already ahead of them.

It does feel like some quarters (especially people I see who I'm sure aren't usually into football) are using it for gender oneupmanship (oneupwomanship) rather than just celebrating the fine achievement in it's own right.

Christ, the Ewood pitch can barely handle one team playing on it!

I think we could do with a few more people telling Jim who Szmodics plays for.

67k when the men played.

Is that right, those three linked up for the first goal? Didn't catch it at the time amidst the excitement

Thought this would be a chattier thread just before kickoff. Go on Lionesses! Don't want the Germans to win their 9th out of the 13 European finals that have happened, at the expense of our first, on our own turf. And in answer to the above question, no.

I'm a bit concerned that Ash Phillips didn't make the bench yesterday even with Carter out. Not a sign he will get much game time this season, especially with another CB or two to come in, and possibly a sign the club don't expect him to pen professional terms.

Told by who?

Because we have very similar size catchment areas, larger in some cases, and historically have outsold them for decades.

That should be the bare minimum every game, not for the season opener.

You call it the right thing to do, I call it cutting off your nose to spite your face.

We can't afford to spend 2.5 mill on someone who 'struggles to get a game'. Not if they're almost 27 like this lad, with minimal room for improvement. I've never even heard of half of those stats. No idea how they're put together. Contrasting them with the Championship average though does suggest poor performance. The saving grace though being that his teammates are poorer than ours, which can make a big difference.

It affects it if our budget is too limited for both plus the other areas we need.