bluebruce

Not really. That's still a year younger than Pickering, technical ability isn't the only attribute relevant for a fullback, and he doesn't have to be our number one fullback to be worth a squad place. He sounds like he could do with a loan out though. Like quite a few of the u23s and fringe youth players.

Translation: Joshua King wants to make a load of money off an inflated signing on fee in the summer.

Fairly sure we had already publicly stated we may want to bring two CBs in, if they weren't paying attention that's on them. But the way TM is, I expect he told them directly that it may be a possibility, too, but that our other CBs are out or injury prone and he would still get game time in a congested fixture list. For an 18 year old, even say 8 or 10 appearances in the Championship is some decent experience to get in six months. Also if we get Kipre, since he hasn't been playing it would probably be a month before TM would consider him 'ready'. This may also have been mentioned to them. Along with 'if he's as good as you think, he will play'.

Ok, you did seem to be endorsing meeting their asking price. If not then fair enough. We are a long way off what they want, we will see if a compromise gets done. Like I've said I think they'll be willing to drop it on deadline day.

Sam has clearly had the last laugh. We got relegated, haven't been back, and he is still managing in the Prem. If I were him I would feel smug pity rather than resentment at this stage.

There's no way we will or should pay close to 18k per week for Pickering. We have bought the most highly-rated LB in League One before, and can you imagine if we had signed Bell to that sort of wage? You would hope Pickering is going to be better, but the fact is he is untested at this level. If you only meant Kipre (the post you quoted mentioned both, so I wasn't sure if you meant either could be worth pushing the boat that far for since we do it for other players), that's still a lot for a lad with half a good season at this level. Probably about 450k just to borrow him for the rest of the season? Assuming no loan fee is also wanted. That's about half of the lad's transfer fee, since which he hasn't played. Unlikely to hit the ground running. I wouldn't be wanting to go there unless we are convinced he will hit the ground running. It's WBA's own fault for slapping the lad on that sort of deal when they didn't need him. They'll probably relent a good chunk on the last day as its just wasted money for them otherwise. I agree loan with a view, if they'll drop their demands enough.

If he gets a few k less from a Championship club (there were actually even reports that we had offered more wage than them, dunno how true that is but they obviously don't value him that much) with a signing on fee, maybe a longer deal, maybe a sweet promotion bonus and the chance to keep playing and get a pay rise with another move etc, that's better for his overall financial outlook in my book. Not that I expect long term thinking from most footballers.

Plans like getting absolutely nowhere near the WBA team for the next few years and becoming a forgotten man of football by the time he needs a new deal elsewhere? He can hardly expect to get another Prem team, and it's fairly unlikely a Championship team steps in to pay Prem wages considering they didn't last time he was available for a modest fee, and he has subsequently not played so will be less fit and have lost momentum. I don't see us getting him on a perm this window though. Loan with a view, at best.

Well we have nine million of those, I'd suggest he starts seeing himself as a defender!

CB, LB and RB (cover anyway) have been areas of serious limitation though. I've mostly heard of him as a CB and LB.

Not watched but I see it is 1-1 at the mo and Annesley been sent off.

He won't be doing the first one. If he saw it and gave nothing he should be fired (mind you, most or all of the refs in this league should be fired). Where I stand on it...yes, blatantly a penalty, and if intent is irrelevant (which I don't think it should be, but rules are rules) then it's a definite red. However. Enough has gone against us this season, far more than has gone for us from the refs, that I just don't feel bad. Other than for the poor lad whose face got smashed. But that said, I don't remember anybody being sent off when Raya or Evans got their faces smashed to pieces. Did we even get free kicks? So I think we are due getting away with breaking someone else's face. Happy to have won today despite predicting we had no chance of better than a draw. Think we rode our luck with it though until after the goal when we came to life. Odd to stick with the planned changes immediately after the goal which saw the scorer and the assist-maker both get hooked immediately. But we won so it doesn't matter.

I'm not sure if that's technically true, it's not as crazy as the Prem money. Most of it is solidarity payments anyway. But I think we get 100k for today's game. Nonetheless, fairly sure my buying a day pass has zero impact on my club getting money and that's the point I was making. I'm not begrudging the Sky money in general. It's just a nicer feeling to pay a tenner to watch entertainment that is rarely worth that tenner in real terms, but knowing the money goes to the club.

Anybody know why when I go to Now TV for Sky Sports it says you can watch it from 5.99 a month, and then when I click on it the best offer is 9.99 for a single day pass?! Some kind of voucher I can apply maybe?

Boro are everything we're not, and their strengths sit perfectly against our weaknesses. I expect defeat. Probably not a thrashing as they don't seem the types, but it will be comfortable for them even if they only win by a goal. I see we have gone for the battle though with our midfield selection. Maybe it will be enough to earn us a draw. Annoyed I have to pay Sky to watch this one, it will be turgid. At least paying ifollow would have meant it (mostly) went direct to the club.

Everything after the first sentence there seems a near-perfect explanation of 'how there's so much debate about the guy'. Did you do that on purpose? Personally I feel that, on current first team evidence, Buckley's technical ability is enormous...ly overstated. He's decent technically and plays some lovely passes at times, but not to a degree or frequency that remotely makes me think 'my, this kid is special'. And that's completely independent of his shortcomings, which for now are too many. As with all our players, I hope he comes along brilliantly. But he will have to play a lot better than he has to impress me, and I don't ever want to see him at RB again. Trundling him out there made me switch from 'Mowbray should go' to 'Mowbray must go'. It was a camel's-back-breaking moment for me. He has precisely none of the qualities needed for that position. That's not his fault of course, but the manager's. Buckley needs to play in his proper position, and regularly, and needs to toughen up. Definitely be sending him on loan to League One personally. We are ruining any talent he does have with this piecemeal part in a league he isn't cut out to compete regularly in yet. He is trying, bless him, I'm surprised how many fouls he is giving away given his build, although that mostly suggests he can't tackle properly (not the be all and end all for his role of course). And I'm not ruling him out, worse-performing players have developed into decent or good ones. But I don't see what the fuss is about, yet.

There is the counterpoint though - namely that we have been very crap for a while now using that system. I think you make the argument well. But I also think the need for a plan B, even if we don't change our plan A beyond a little tinkering, has become increasingly apparent.

I feel as though that talk is merely to dampen expectations though. I expect it would have some, if only a bit, of an impact on the budget (unless it all goes into contracts that we can't quite afford at the mo). My thinking is that we already have those running costs. They already exist and yet a budget has been allocated separate to that. For me, it stands to reason that whilst we are already probably over stretching our budget due to our defensive crisis, if we got a couple of million then surely a few hundred k or so would be made available to ensure either longer term replacements or higher quality short term ones if we honestly believe promotion is on the cards. Then again maybe that's what all this talk of the cost of replacing the pitch is for, to enable it all to be swallowed up no questions asked. But I dunno, since the summer it seems to me we have reacted to the fact we are priced out of nearly every deal we approach by pleading poverty in public. We were more active in the last window than anticipated in the end (albeit partly because Trybull only cost peanuts it turned out).

On top of which I expect him to be afraid of the necessary rebuilding job if he let's too many go. Which, tbf, I would be afraid of it. Increasingly decreasing budgetary support and we have shown before how difficult we can make recruitment. Recruiting from Europe will also be tougher from now on thanks to the Brexit regs. I expect a player sale will be considered necessary to fund improvements...we all know who that will be of.

I'm also confused at the notion that we 'had' to train on Ewood. So what, there wasn't another suitable pitch within 30 miles that we could have borrowed?

I'm confused that the statement says the pitch is now 30 years old, so we are now looking at relaying it. Didn't we relay it a few years ago? I could absolutely swear I remember that happening.

I'm glad my trauma cheered you up, jeez... 😉

Well, with the remedial class in charge, there's a chance.

Pah! You were lucky! Boots coming off? I once played on a pitch so frozen that my boots wouldn't come off. Ever. I had to amputate both feet with an icicle. They're still there on that pitch to this day, frozen in place 20 years later despite the summers since, along with the frigid corpses of the other 21 players and numerous attendees who never made it back that day. Some of them because of the lethal frozen winds, some of them because a polar bear migrated down from the North Pole and savaged us. Ref wouldn't call the bloody game off. We thought he was a stubborn bastard. Turned out he was just frozen dead from just after the kickoff. Still, positives had to be taken from the game. We had 100% possession after our kickoff vanished into the blizzard winds

You'd be thinking though.