Don't apologise. The other link was the Daily Fail and I was never going to help them with a click. Glad you posted an alternate site.

It will still be very light though, as with that injury record it's basically signing half a player in squad depth terms.

Probably right they will park the bus. That could be a problem as we are a counter attacking side and this could force a change of game plan. Just have to hope our quality is enough to get through them and we don't get caught on a counter ourselves.

Moreover, they approved the postponement. They would essentially be criticising themselves. Some minor fine is the best that can realistically be expected. If there is a fine it should be distributed to the fans who travelled, but you can bet your arse it wouldn't be. More likely outcome though is nothing.

I think he meant he doesn't care how much we win by as long as we win.

This is literally all I needed to know about him, thanks. It's a resounding 'hell no' from me.

Not a fact whatsoever. In fact it's just wrong as I've seen fans of other teams take notice of him in the past. Not in his best form this season though, granted.

Disagree, though not entirely. But not like we're going to shop top drawer if we go up. I'd anticipate we just elevate our current model and buy some of the better players from the Championship instead of from League One. Probably one or two from Scotland though, yeh, just at the higher end of quality from there. And probably one or two out of contract Premiership players.

That's not the point. The point is that for the past 3 seasons we have consistently scored far more points when we don't have the most possession. It doesn't suit our personnel or our manager to try to dominate possession. Changing from that has been a key ingredient in our upturn in form. The change to a back 3/5 (that actually works this time) has been a factor in our recent form and is really working now, but we were already doing better than we have in most seasons before that change.

Playing possession quite clearly has tons to do with it. The evidence of both eyes and the data is blatant. Even the manager has talked about how our current style suits us.

To an extent. I don't think the problem is that they are desperate to get out of the club though. They're not playing that way. They just want more money on their contract. I think the fear of them leaving in January is more about the club trying to cash in whilst they still have value (and yes, we are stupid enough to do that, Waggott even said that's what we will do in Jan if they don't sign...maybe that picture has changed since our high position, but we all know he is enough of a penny pinching prick to still do it if allowed). My worry has always been us rushing them out to avoid them leaving for free, or them leaving for free in the summer. In either of those scenarios, this incentive changes nothing really. In the scenario that I don't see happening, of them forcing a move in Jan, sure.

Except I should think they will be eligible for it even if they walk for nothing in the summer.

I'm not sure how it incentivises our want out wannabes? Won't they still get the money whether they sign on or not?

Interesting...my mate has just been offered a decent-paying job there, double what I earn. Non-footballing capacity. He knows the owner has that reputation though.

What publication is that in? I don't see how it will make any difference signing on the out of contract players as is implied, as presumably they will get it anyway. Perhaps they mean they won't feel disconnected from the promotion charge, though tbh I wasn't worrying about that. In fact as I said previously I'd have been offering large promotion bonuses in new contract offers, and this seems to negate that possibility, to a meaningful extent anyway. Apart from that, I think it's a very good move if true. Be a shame to lose 10 million as soon as we go up, but well worth it if it gets us over the line to the jackpot in the first place.

Valued where, by transfermarket? If Brighton value Khadra at 250k, get him signed up pronto.

I live in that neck of the woods and know the owner, Haythornthwaite, has a reputation as something of an asshole. Although he has improved the fortunes of the club tbf.

Travis: “You see stuff and comments on social media about just wanting to stay up, I think that’s only helped us trying to prove people wrong,” he explained. Possibly worth quoting next time somebody pipes up with 'don't be negative, it affects the players'. Well, positively in this case.

In fairness we did have some, like Evans, who had promotions under their belts. I tended to think it was a youthful inexperience that did it tbh, and managerial bungling of course. But the current youthful crop do look more fearless so far, and the manager has at least temporarily put his self sabotage to the side. We will have a good idea after this game, as if the nerves hold we shouldn't be losing it when you look at the league places and our fantastic form.

I feel as though we are entering a second testing point. In the past we always seemed to struggle with nerves when we got on the cusp of the playoffs. That duck has been thoroughly broken, but breaching the top two for the first time feels like another test of that ilk. Staying in it for a couple more games too would show me this team has everything it needs to handle the pressure.

A) Offer Newcastle say, 2 million if we get promoted and he scores at least 5 goals (or just the first part if they're not down for that). Offer him a larger than usual promotion bonus. C) Don't tell anyone about these bonuses, and if they find out, point out it will only take effect if he helps them to a career-changing promotion. Might not work, but worth a try.

So the 15k per week wage cap wasn't told in confidence?

Hundreds of extra away fans in a promotion challenge season has more benefit than the cost of paying an extra member of staff to shift them. It's not all about P&L sheets, some things have value beyond money. And I was speculating they might need an extra member of staff for the shop as it could get too busy (potentially leading to less sales of merch too). It may not be required though, I dunno. Either way, keeping the online purchase option going eliminates that need. But hey it is what it is.

Fair enough. A few hundred ticket sales potentially though, not just the odd one. Could be enough to need an extra staff member on what I assume might be a busy day. Still not sure what is achieved by withdrawing online sales though, unless that's a service we pay for on a daily basis.

I can't understand why they would stop the online sales and make people trudge down to the club on xmas eve, as well as having to pay staff to deal with that. Blend of inconveniencing fans and the club spending money we don't need to spend. The only excuse I can think is to allow for older fans who might not use the internet. But surely they've had the chance to buy tickets already?