Might as well start calling that 7 from 12.

Some ball from Clarkson. Rothwell comfortably our best player today.

Gallagher pulled out of that. If he had committed, keeper would probably have fouled and been in trouble.

A central midfielder, at that. From what we have heard, normally plays fairly deep. Kid must be confused as fuck.

Yeh from West Brom.

Mowbray moaned about what the quality of this game was gonna be like. But so far, if you were a neutral, this is the best and most open game we've had so far. Granted the actual quality is mostly coming from WBA.

Officials showing they're useless already. Like that offside just then against BB even though he stopped running and let it go to their keeper who hoofed it and lost possession. But he gave them a free kick anyway.

Booking all day that.

I'm certain he thinks it's the fans' fault for not letting themselves be fleeced.

They could have scored 3 times in that attack just 30 seconds in. We are going to get dicked.

I've seldom seen a bigger if. But if that did come to pass, it wouldn't be fickle, it would be a rational change of opinion.

What makes you assume we didn't move on before now? Just because it only just hit the press doesn't mean we didn't move on a while ago.

I don't like Mowbray, but why is this absolutely pathetic from him? Clearly the player either isn't very interested or wants more than the club are willing to pay him.

That's not the last time he signed a contract here. He last signed a deal in 2019. A 2 year deal with a 1 year extension option, which we have exercised. I said at the time it was stupid to give him such a short deal (didn't know about the extension option at the time but I'd still have been looking to get him on four years). I wonder if us not being willing to offer him much of a raise is why it was fairly short.

Yes sorry, I forgot to add that caveat this time. Tbf there were rumours that a Spanish side was sniffing, too.

Again, as long as we offer him a contract on equal or better terms to his current deal, he will not leave for nothing to an English club due to his age. Compensation would need to be agreed or set by tribunal, like with Hoilett, Mahoney and King. Due to the fee we paid for him, I imagine it would be reasonably substantial. Though, unlikely to match what we paid or his current market value if he has a good year. Edit - forgot to add, he can still go for free if he moves abroad though.

Tbf I'm going off Football Manager here lol, but their attention to detail on the systemic things is generally spot on. We would still be due some compensation if he moved before pro terms, but it would be small potatoes compared to what you'd normally hope to get from a Prem side. I think that's what happened with Callum Wilson (if I'm remembering the name right) when Leicester swooped in. We got something like 500k or 1 million I think.

Don't think they can sign pro terms until they're 17. Although I assume you can get a pre-contract agreement in place.

Why not? This stretch from now until the end is the most active part of the transfer window.

Hopefully he has just realised we consistently do worse when we control possession, but I doubt it.

It doesn't matter what stage of his development he is at - he is being played out of position.

Tbf he probably has a budget of five buttons and a ball of lint.

Outside of people like Clarkson, there aren't really any of those. Just players who want what's best for their careers and wallet.

If I'm remembering rightly, no football club can 'secure' a 6 year old. They can just train them and hope they decide to stick around later. I don't know what age it kicks in where they can get compensation or a transfer fee for them moving, though I'd expect not until they've signed a scholarship deal, which I think is 16? I'm sure another poster with closer involvement like Sparks can clarify. That said I remember when I was 11 we played a team who had a winger being watched by pretty much all the local teams and his dad had been offered something like 10k by one of them to sign with them, supposedly. So maybe it kicks in earlier than I thought, or maybe they were just paying that to get him in and hope he stuck around later.

I mean, nothing is certain when it comes to 16 year old footballers, but it's great to hear that he looks really promising. Is he a centre half? Was he wearing number 4? As somebody mentioned our number 4 being a beast on FB.