Well...I guess I should add I would have considered putting Downing at LB, Davenport in CM, and/or replacing Gally with Chapman, but I understand his decisions and how it's risky to tinker too much with a winning lineup. I'm hoping TM has finally learnt that lesson too, but I've had that false dawn before...

You don't get credit just for not picking Bennett against all logic. Especially when he looked painfully lethargic last time out. Happy with the lineup though. I mean, except Bell, but we don't have an option, and Gallagher where we do have options but none Tony is going to use. He does need to persevere with his 5 million pound lad (not mocking, he really does after BBgate). Down to the lads now.

What's frustrating is we should be coming into this game in high spirits full of hope after a couple of welcome additions to the squad and a few points off the playoffs after two good wins in a row. Instead the game feels clad in a sense of futility knowing it's extremely unlikely we will now have enough in the tank to get over that finish line at season's end, even if we win today. Hopefully the players feel more resolve than many of us do though, and get the win today regardless. It's their job after all.

Or you could just not come back in if you don't want to read it, and let others discuss the outcome and repercussions of the window if you no longer have interest. Zero reason to close it yet.

Why not? It's not as if he is going to be fired. We have the manager we have, and we need to sign players under him as there are glaring weaknesses in our squad depth and even some of our first choices. That needs resolving. Incompetence is no excuse for inactivity. He could always strike lucky even if it was true he didn't have a clue what he was doing. This failure adds fuel to the fire which you seem to think we should just contentedly watch burn.

I've no idea why that confuses you.

Assuming Sharpe is right about that being the end of our so-called business, I'm not sure which part of it frustrates me the most. There are a few leading contenders... 1) That we just completely gave up the ghost at 5.30pm, with 5-and-a-half hours of the window remaining, despite being the only club in the league to sign absolutely nobody and despite an injury crisis in midfield. This one again depends on Sharpe's post at half 5 having been correct. But no checking around old targets to see if the 2) Having said for ages that left back and goalkeeper were our two priorities...I know the Dack injury changed the dynamic, but we then let a young left back and young goalie leave on loan. Admittedly they were low down the pecking order, but if our already poor keeper and LB get injured, we are going to be really scraping. 3) Mowbray's bizarre comments during the window, including announcing that he is a poor negotiator. 4) That our already difficult summer window is likely to now need epic efforts from a recruitment and negotiation team who have shown they aren't up to much. 5) We know wages are our issue. Despite this, we seem to have relied mostly (or at least near the end) on getting charity from Premier League clubs for their players who earn double or more what our highest paid earn. Even though for I think about 18 months now we've been hearing about this European scouting network coming in (even though we haven't yet hired the head scout for it). European clubs and lower league clubs are, as TM himself has pointed out, cheaper targets in terms of fees and wages. Yes we piddled about on the Pole and Curtis (whilst ignoring Maddison), but sounds like we offered 2 when the price was 3. In all honesty, what's offering another 500k or so, a million if needed, really going to matter to us for the right player? Instead we'd rather revert back to the 'lets loan someone we will have to replace again in the summer' model. 6) That Tony apparently never raises his offers (even though we have absolutely done so under him in the past, and even though every other club works that way and expects us to work that way). 7) That we have basically repeated the whole experience of last January, having learnt nothing from it. You all know it...sign nobody when on the cusp of the playoffs, leave some areas of the pitch perilously thin, talk in platitudes about who we 'nearly got' but 'prices were outrageous' while literally everybody else did business, and pray nobody gets injured. The only thing missing now is a critical injury happening imminently. In fact last year was actually better than this one, because we did sign Chapman...then failed to use him. 8- The fact that some fans seem to think all of this is actually fine and dandy. The same ones who are probably going to talk, with all sincerity, about our playoff hopes being good. No, a win tomorrow won't make them good. Overall though the winner really has to be being the only club in the whole league to not sign anyone, despite a pressing need to do so. Ultimately I suppose we now have to hope that either we do sign someone after all, or that this all turns out to be a blessing in disguise, that the youngsters get blooded and prove mostly up to it, reducing our task in the summer.

Even they only lost points which didn't affect their playoff or relegation prospects.

Any progress on this? Everybody seemed to agree it would be fine, but I just ran out of likes again.

We aren't playing cute around FFP though, that's the whole problem. Everyone else is, and we are just taking it on the chin. Hell it doesn't even kick in for us until summer 2021 - proper recruitment and we could be promoted by then!! I mean, in the however many years FFP has been running now, how many clubs have been punished by it? Some teams who gambled on the promotion successfully and received paltry fines. Birmingham with their points deduction that didn't tangibly harm them (and now they're spending again). Then that time that I think three of us (us, Forest and someone else) got embargoes but were still able to sign freebies and under certain conditions. An embargo doesn't even massively matter if you just spend the money wisely beforehand. We are one of a very small clutch of clubs who haven't succeeded in playing cute around FFP. We must be the only club who harp on about it to the extent we do. On your last point, why wait til summer to need to get 6 new players PLUS the ones we already need? We can't sign one player in a whole window, I hardly fancy our chances in the summer of signing the 9 that even permanently positive people like Chaddy think we need.

And yet I expect we are one of the clubs who needed to the most. With injuries to Dack, Evans and Rothwell, shocking at left back, paper thin resistance to injury problems in defence and a poor goalie. Not to mention the huge amount of contracts running out this summer. It's unconscionable to not pick anyone up this month.

Same. We pissed away a great opportunity to do this last season when we were the first club to mathematically have nothing to play for, though, so I dunno how committed TM is to that mantra regardless what he says. But if we have no signings, push may come to shove anyway. You can be sure Benno is ahead of every up and comer for first backup option in any position though.

There isn't. We have an option to extend it by 12 months. It's in our favour not the player's according to the LT.

Zurab Khizanishvili.

Graeme Bailey says Bournemouth meant to want 'over 50 million' for King...so we can probably forget that one if true.

Or Luca Tony...eh? Eh? I'll get my coat.

I knew somebody was going to chime in on that sentence with something like that. If I decide to sell watermelons tomorrow, am I best just putting a sign on my door that says 'Buy watermelons here' and see who comes to me, or should I maybe be proactive about it and do some real marketing? Point being you can actively promote your youngsters. Some clubs have a loans manager these days. Whilst we may not have the resources to put someone full time on that, it's hard to believe more can't be done with existing staff and contacts. Other clubs operating at the same or lower youth levels than us seem to manage just fine! We also have a problem of sanctioning loans that appear to be of zero benefit. Wharton can only learn so much from consecutive League Two loans. What was the point of, at the same time, sending Matty Platt, an inferior player to Wharton, to League One to sit on a bench? Fisher couldn't get into a League Two team, but now he will get into a League One team? Why send Tom White almost immediately back to the same semi pro level we got him from when he is like 22? I don't care how anyone dresses it, we have one of the best u-23s sides in the country yet are crap at this.

What have you read? I was going to ask if anyone knew what the likelihood of him breaking into their team was. IMO we are absolutely clueless when it comes to finding good loan moves for our players. In fairness I consider this to have been true back in the Premier League days too.

Me. I should think most of the fanbase too, the ones with brains anyway. He'd be exposed like...well I came up with a few ways to finish that sentence but they were all a bit fucked up.

That's worrying, because he isn't. I mean he 'is' in the same way you or I are...badly.

I'm finding this Maddison to Hull on loan thing very odd. Peterborough were quite adamant they would only take his release clause despite 6 months left on his contract. It appeared that was met by two clubs and contract negotiations failed. Which obviously has pressured Peterborough into selling cheaper now it has gone so late, sure, as they don't want to lose all the money or have him stinking up the place not playing (as they said would be the case). But the financials seem odd, even without knowing any figures. Whatever number Peterborough will actually accept as a permanent fee, you can't see them taking a penny less as a loan fee. Because to them it's the same, as loan or permanent he will never play for them again. Meanwhile, why would Hull pay the same amount for a 6-month loan fee as they could pay to land him permanently? Or even a bit less (not that it makes sense for Peterborough to accept less as I said). They run a very real, maybe even likely, risk of losing the fight for him in the summer and having paid a lot for very little. Yes they will save a bit in wages meanwhile, but this would be counteracted by the larger signing on fee and wages that in-demand free agents normally charge due to the lack of a transfer fee. His stock could also skyrocket in that time if he has a good 6 months. All very odd. The only thing that makes any sense to me is if the loan fee is greatly reduced (say a million or something) and both clubs are having a gamble. Hull on being able to get him in the summer without too much cost, and Peterborough on getting promoted and then being able to convince him to sign a new deal.

Ourselves, Fulham and Forest in for Atsu supposedly Manure set to make second bid on King

Be that as it may, Sharpe is saying one definite outgoing today (which seems to be Fisher on loan) and one possible outgoing (since he mentioned Smallwood or Samuel, I'm guessing he means one of them). Judging by what else he has said, the team coach should have set off by now. Would give an indication to know whether TM was on it.

This time, the stealing is being done by the buying club.

Fair. Hard to tell, when it's something some on here would say in all seriousness!