Two new recruiment analysts have come in, which it sounds like Park was at least partly responsible for bringing in. Tom Sutton from Oxford United and Karl Newton from Stockport County. They don't have the best calibre in terms of their previous club, although the lower leagues is inevitably a market we have to look at.

In what way? How much of a role he played in it is in question, due to the nature of a youth development, but what Glimt did was pretty Leicester-esque. If anything, better, as they sustained it. The only other real difference is they finished 2nd before they won it (then won it again). But they'd finished towards the bottom end of the table the year before that.

Phillips signed a professional pre-contract that takes effect when he turns 17 (the first point at which a pro deal legally can)

Patrick Gamble signs pro deal...1 year. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2022/june/21/pat-pens-pro-deal/?fbclid=IwAR3nO8WnCtgA4Up10puxChdGHS5vBtSoH3RrG4mRmbEduARHicjSpyyAywk I tend to feel a one year deal for a youth player is a sign of 'Eh we're not sure you have it, but we'll see if you kick on this season'. They're not the biggest shows of faith. Also if the player does kick on successfully we are vulnerable to them being poached. I thought I'd heard fairly good things about Gamble, so a bit surprised it wasn't at least 2 years. He's 18, I think it's fair to assume he's on relative peanuts.

They have just activated another year for him yes. That's why he's not out of contract already.

Why do you think he will be one of our first signings? Just from what you say about him, those don't sound like traits JDT will appreciate.

The same logic could easily extend to JDT, that he is nothing special otherwise he would be managing in the Prem. Which, Wilder totally has done before btw, putting a club there himself, all the way from League One.

I remember when we were linked with him back in the day before he came to England.

Makes a change from "Harrison, you need to learn from Corry."

He's the right sneaky telltale, according to some posters on here. Meant to report to Pasha I think it was.

Yes. “Yes there is money available on transfer fees, we have a healthy budget, within the same wage budget we had last year, and we are really looking forward to bringing in players to supplement the great group of players that we’ve got.” However, the caveats should be noted; he says we should look 'inwardly before externally', and 'we have a healthy budget, within the same wage budget we had last year'. So our budget is probably only boosted by departures this summer. He also says "The Championship is an enormously unequal playing field because of the parachute payment" so we have that old chestnut TM used to cultivate. But he still describes our budget as 'very competitive in the league' outside those clubs. It really seems we will assess our youth options before making too many moves in the market though: “We have to recruit well, make sure it starts off by looking internally. I’ve worked at clubs before where you can have this sexy new player from outside and everyone is excited by that, but there could be a player inside the club who you know what he can do, know any character flaws he has and what character strengths he has and that player can often get overlooked. “We always start recruitment by looking internally and look externally outside of that.” Whilst a focus on internal prospects can be very good long term, my hope is we don't paralyse our activity for a few weeks with this period of internal analysis. Since they've only just got here, I shouldn't think they'll be able to decide too quickly which recruitment needs can be ignored in favour of youth players. There are a few echoes of previous transfer market speak.

Broughton on work permits and European recruiting since Brexit: “I’d say a lot more difficult, it’s shrunk enormously, I’d say by around 80 percent, compared to where it was two or three years ago. I bring knowledge of that market, Jon brings knowledge of that market, but I don’t think it will be our primary market." That means it's five times harder to get what you're looking for now, if it's 20 percent of what it once was. At least the process can be simplified with things like that registration points calculation tool.

Good thing shagging everyone's wives isn't part of his job description.

The sad part is, we could have been in a decent position to attempt an immediate challenge if better long-term planning had been done by the previous incumbents. On the plus side, the gap in squad numbers, if funded adequately which is a big if, represents an opportunity to rebuild the squad in his own image which may not have really been possible in one summer if we still had a more or less full squad suited to a different style. But it's most likely that new players will need time to gel. I just hope fans exhibit some patience. If the usual alarmist culprits are shouting for his head after the first 3 games, I'll be joining the happy clappers in telling them to chill a while.

Danish pastries anyway.

But we aren't going to be in the fight for promotion. Not this season, not realistically. I think it's important for fans to grasp that this will be a transitional season. Whether we like it or not. Regardless of the posts I've seen that 'we finished 8th, we need to do better this season', it's not a realistic ask. We had a purple patch for a few months last season, but we were absolutely abysmal for an entire half a season after that, the most recent half. It just came together beautifully for a bit, and one man (BBD) who won't be here next season in all likelihood was a huge part of that. We need to face facts. We have half a squad, probably not much of a budget, and a new management structure and team that we have appointed a few weeks later than would have been ideal, who have all switched countries. If we do replace the squad losses adequately, the new players will still need time to settle in to their new environments and teammates. The existing squad are clearly going to need to adapt to a new playing style. I'm not saying this to be doom and gloom at all. I'm just preaching patience, and giving JDT the time he needs to make things tick. With all the above factors, there is every chance we get off to a slow start to the season, and it's crucial that despair doesn't set in amongst the fanbase. Obviously we don't want any several year journey to nowhere bullshit again, and losing all our first 5 games wouldn't be acceptable, but it's unlikely we achieve success overnight with everything considered. Not saying it can't happen either, maybe everything comes together perfectly again but without an incompetent in the hotseat and we get over the line. But being realistic, a mid-table finish with signs of growth as the season goes on is all we should really expect this season. With a promotion challenge the next season being a must. So I'm not surprised they're not talking about promotion this season. They've talked about becoming a stable Prem club though so it's clearly in the plan going forward. (p.s. - Totally agree it's a bit concerning if Broughton thinks Mowbray overachieved for years, but hopefully he's just paying lip service)

Because a head-hunting agency found Broughton and then Broughton found JDT? Nah that doesn't cut it. Even if you're right and we have Waggott to thank for these appointments (if thank is the right word - time will tell of course), a couple of weeks of good work after years of pretty much sabotaging the club for 300k a year...no, he's not just a very soft target, he really can go fuck himself.

Nope. Got to do some work worthy of the name to deserve a holiday...

Anderlecht are one of the bigger clubs in Belgium. In fact historically at least they're the most successful team there, and have dominated it more than Malmo (most successful team domestically in Sweden) have dominated Sweden. 34 top flight wins to 22. I don't know much about their recent fortunes, but they are definitely a bigger club than Union Saint-Gilloise who were in their first top flight season for decades last season but finished top of the league. Looks like they use one of those stupid playoff systems in Belgium now to decide the title, that are becoming more common. That had better never happen over here.

I'm sure it won't be for the sake of it, but it's a region our new manager and DoF have extensive experience of between them. So it's a natural assumption they will consider the market and that links and speculation will be made for players there. Frankly I find it a refreshing change from links to the usual candidates.

So what you're saying is, he will take some of our best players when he leaves, and he will jump ship if we get relegated, got it 😉

But it means plenty to what they pay I bet. We need to carefully source a replacement here. Thing is, being a Championship club that isn't well resourced and has an excellent academy competing in the top youth league and churning out first team regulars, anybody working in our youth setup is going to not only look good but look highly poachable to Prem teams whose academies aren't as good. This sort of turnover amongst our youth managers is likely to continue until we get promotion (if we ever do) or until the U23s get relegated.

Plus this 5 hours ago: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/20210135.blackburn-rovers-coach-leave-premier-league-side/ Nixon doesn't get credit for this one.

Thinking about it logically and requiring proof of the pudding is precisely what everyone else is doing. God knows what logic you're using or what type of pudding you enjoy if you think Swag is alright.

Why is Swag still in post, or why does the fact the utterly incompetent liability still being in post mean the owners haven't wised up? I shouldn't think the latter needs answering.