He thinks he is better, allegedly. (I'd normally preserve the term allegedly for something with pretty much criminal implications...I'd say Gladwin claiming he is better than Dack more or less is criminal)

Nah it was nothing like that. Fairly cheap deal. Don't remember the reported fee but it was a lot less than that.

Thing is, which odds are you referring to? The names on there include young European players as well as experienced players from the league above.

No point getting into who we sign first, apparently they're almost certain to fail: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17691644.who-rovers-have-signed-first-in-each-of-the-last-10-years/

I did pretty much cover that though. I accepted it can also go very right if you're lucky (more clubs fail at it than succeed though) and that there are ways around it (those are finally being challenged though). If rich owners could come in with the will and nous to pump money in without coming a cropper, and manage the club sensibly within those resources, obviously that'd be ideal. I'd just hate after all this suffering, to think we were free and then it be out of the frying pan into the fire. You can if they literally never call it in. They keep suggesting that's the case. 'No expectation of repayment' shows up in every accounts publication. Obviously I'm not fool enough to assume that's true, but it's like anything else with those mad fucks - maybe, maybe not. Agree it often feels like we have dependency on a drug that's killing us though. It's crazy that we've become reliant on cash injections from the people who ruined us. Even crazier that they've always rejected overtures to buy us out of hand.

Obviously we have plenty of cause to celebrate the day Venkys sell the club. That said...(tin hat on) Would this even benefit us all that much at this point? FFP nonsense means we can't spend any more than we seem to be planning on spending over the next couple of years without suffering points deductions etc. Unless they would be more willing to find creative ways around it, of course. What the club needs to progress is, therefore, smarter and more sensible owners. Not a big ask, but are Sheikhs whose approach to success has been to chuck inordinate amounts of money at problems going to help or hinder? It might simply shatter the stability we finally seem to be finding. Or see us overspend, fail to be promoted, and get smacked with punishments. (Yes I know the alternative outcome would be huge spending and promotion) On the other hand, this completely-not-happening story gave me a semi.

So you didn't read those few new pages then, you just decided to assume we weren't being linked to anyone. We are being linked with Glenn Whelan. Granted it might as well be no-one, but it's happened.

I'm more concerned by the implication in the LT article that we won't be using the European market this summer after all, or that it will be fairly minimal anyway. I'll be surprised if we sign more than one 34/35 year old. I expect TM just thinks the squad needs to replace the level of experience lost in Conway. It may also be with half an eye on Rodwell going (in terms of bringing in someone with top level experience). I wouldn't worry that multiple links to old players means we will sign multiple old players.

That was my thought when I saw his girlfriend's name in the very URL of the link. I do wonder in general how much of the redtop transfer speculation on Dack is due to his missus and the idea that churning out stories about him will make good clickbait.

OK well he hasn't according to the LT. I'm surprised too, but that's the case. And yep I'd definitely take 1-1.5 million for Bennett. I like him as a squad player, but the manager being unable to start him every week regardless would be the main benefit. He is probably in our higher tier of earners too (albeit at the lower end of that tier) given when he signed and being one of our 'senior pros'. It'd also be good value for him anyway. Don't see us being offered it.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9229634/aston-villa-brighton-blackburn-bradley-dack-love-island-olivia-attwood-transfer/ Villa, Brighton looking at Dack. Also a mention of Spurs. The Sun, so avoid clicking it if you can ?

So it begins...(The Sun, so take it with a couple of bags of salt of course) https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9229634/aston-villa-brighton-blackburn-bradley-dack-love-island-olivia-attwood-transfer/

That's what I was saying.

Matt Jansen I assume? Bit harsh! Don't think the lad took his foot off the pedal...in fact you could argue the opposite was the problem. He was never the same after that and I don't think it was anything to do with desire.

We have exactly a couple of players considering an offer. Rodwell and Gladwin.

Followed by our chief exec actively talking about our interest.

Ouch...and I wouldn't really want to pay him 10 or so tbh. I don't believe I want us to pay him any amount he would actually come for, although I do think he'd be an upgrade on Conway. Rather get someone younger. I feel like the wing is probably the absolute most vulnerable position to becoming not good enough overnight when your legs go.

You must be watching a different Adam Armstrong then mate if you reckon you've never seen it, or you're grossly exaggerating. No, he's not a winger. But let's not make things up.

That's categorically wrong, he's beaten plenty of full backs. Largely due to being faster than the vast majority of them. He doesn't do it with trickery, it's mostly kick and rush, but he absolutely can do it. Not much of a crosser though.

Yep, never get tired of showing people this. Starts slow but wow. Show your lad Jack.

It's been made very clear that Rodwell wants to play centre half not midfield. Unless he's changed his mind. Waggott's words also seemed to imply to me that we were about to offer him better terms. If so, I don't understand why. His decision will be based on where he will play as much as he needs to, I suspect, much more than the money aspect. He hasn't convinced me enough yet to just throw more cash at him in either case, but if he's going to pick based on career path, we risk giving him more cash for no reason. If I'm right.

Aye of course, no offence meant to Scotland by the league being poor relative to English football. You have about 10 percent of the population of England so it's not remotely surprising. In theory you'd probably expect it to be a bit worse than it is, by that figure. Scotland used to have a decent national team too. I'm sure it will happen again some day.

A funny thing, this statement of the budget is 'similar' to last season's. Things to consider... 1. We supposedly didn't spend all of that budget. This means the budget is, in theory, larger than what we actually spent last summer. There may also be funds left over which are added to this budget, or we could be including those funds already, or those funds could have been pure fiction. 2. 'Similar'...that could mean a few million more, it could mean a few million less. 3. The 'flex'. This isn't all transfer budget. Not many of our new signings last year would have been on big wages. A couple of experienced players on bigger deals could eat into the budget much quicker than you'd think. 4. How much of last season's budget was taken up by the new contracts we dished out? 5. Venkys have been known to suddenly sanction a marquee signing on occasion, outside of the budget. Some speculate this is what Brereton was, but it's definitely what Rhodes was. So this might mean we can knock about 7 million off what our 'budget' from last year was, or that we don't, yet could potentially get an added Rhodes-like signing on top. As ever (even under the Trust) the real budget is going to remain a bit of a mystery until the end of the window or beyond, as it should be in fairness. Based on all the above, we could see just a few million spent on fees (if we focus on better wages), or we could be splurging 15 million or so, or anything in-between (most likely). All assuming no sales.

It is pony, absolutely. But there are still good players as you say, and even good teams there. I expect Celtic would kick our arse. He outscored every Celtic player, whilst playing for a worse team, in midfield, at 19. A goal every 2 games. 4 or 5 assists too (depending on the source). That's definitely eye-catching. Obviously it won't tell the whole story...maybe his pace or physicality would be shown up in this league. But got to be worth a closer look you'd think. If he was English and did that in League One at his age you'd be talking more than £3 million.

I think very little of the Scottish league...but I completely agree. First my eyes took in 16 goals (actually 15 turns out) in the SPL, and I went 'eh', then I read onto 'from midfield' and thought 'ooh interesting' then that he was only 19 and suddenly I'm very interested. Not a player I know, obviously, but surely worth scouting and considering. Sounds like 2.5 million from the article you put up, and maybe could be obtained a touch cheaper. Try to make a chunk incentivised etc... Also worth considering 'midfield' covers a lot of different roles. Anyone know more about whether he plays in that Dack-type 'midfield' role, the wings, etc?