Sure. That's not what people mean when they say pay as you play deal though. They just mean it's very heavily weighted towards appearance bonuses and not very much in guaranteed wage. I'd be surprised if anyone is being literal enough when they say it to mean the player doesn't get a bean unless he plays. That's probably actually illegal anyway.

It sounds fucking awful, so you're in for it if you're right!!

Any chance we could get a 'transfer links only' thread like last year, for the people who only want to view that, and have the discussion here? I don't know why some people moaned about that system, I thought it was far better. I'm going to try to summarise the players I've seen us linked to, best as I can recall (no links sorry, cba): Stewart Downing (Winger, predominantly left-sided) Scott Carson (GK) Frank Fielding (GK) Adam Maher (Midfielder) Sam Gallagher (Striker/shunted onto the wing) Patrick Bauer (CH) Liam Lindsay (CH) Daniel Bentley (GK) Bassala Sambou (Striker) Joe Malkin (Striker) The last two are clearly for the youth team initially. I assume we are scouting a few European countries but the only one I've heard confirmed is Holland.

And if nobody offers him a contract with a sizeable guaranteed wage (I assume you mean sizeable, as obviously he'll get some sort of guaranteed wage regardless)? Do you think he'd rather retire? Probably can't afford to wait until January for someone to change their minds.

Didn't last year's India trip actually get cancelled or something? Maybe I'm misremembering. There was also lots of excessive pessimism about what we were going to spend, very early into the window. I don't remember anything from TM last year implying we were going for it. Sounds very like last summer so far (maybe better if I'm right about the India trip).

Didn't you post something the other day about how you would be patient for at least X amount of time? Instead a day or so later you've given up because of one rumour. Come on Adam, you seem a good lad but you do jump from one extreme to the other like this a lot. Be patient mate, let's see how it all actually pans out.

Then there's that time we didn't even make the play offs with TWO strikers who passed the 20-goal mark.

We just need a solid defence to consider a top half push. We were nearly top half as it was, leaking like mad. We may then also need the striker to consider a play off push.

Seen the show a bit but not seen that one, sorry. Something to do with errors in his beloved aunt's obituary maybe?

Maher has been reported a few times, including in the LT. Originally a report from Holland if I remember rightly.

With the amount of info they seem to have on him, for an u-18 keeper, yeh it looks like agent talk to me. I'm not sure there's a debate to be had unless people have seen him play quite a bit or we had quotes from people in the game saying more than 'he'll be a good addition to the squad' like their youth manager was saying. I was a little concerned by the article saying we only kept one player from our academy this spring. Is that right? Does that mean players who signed pro terms after graduating? Did we do this for others this year, but earlier than spring?

Of course they can though, they've got PL money. Sad indictment of football though perhaps.

Being linked to Brentford goalie Bentley. It seems to be originally a Nixon rumour though, so pinch of salt. Don't envision us paying the 4 million mentioned in the article, so maybe more like a pinch of bullshit. Nixon can't seem to make his mind up on whether we can spunk 4 mill on a goalie or need to sell! https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/championship-rumours-bristol-city-blackburn-2909695.amp

Christ, I know. I've repeatedly been tempted to offer them my services. I have no qualifications or official job experience in that area, but you wouldn't see that crap popping up. I did my work experience at the LET at 15 years old. They actually had me proof-reading obituaries at one point, which is pretty shocking in itself, but I fixed a scary amount of errors. You'd think they'd have been more careful with something like that. The Rovers writers (or it may just be Sharpe) also seriously irk me with their tendency to overuse - and often misuse - the word 'admit'. Fair play to them on the content though, mostly. It must be difficult to squeeze out three or so Rovers stories every day.

It was 2 million. So we rightly told them to swivel, not knowing he'd ask for pie in the sky wages come summer.

He's 24 in September, not 25.

They've progressed exactly 2 places every season despite that model (I think it was them anyway). So we just need to do it for a mere 5 seasons and we can have a go at playoffs, by that logic. Woop woop!

That's not what he said on the video. He said we won't 'have as many options this window as we will have in 2 years, 3 years, 4 years.' Because by then the scouting network will have reams of info on every player in the leagues we're watching. He isn't saying it isn't up and running, he isn't saying it will take that time to deliver results. He is just saying it will get better over time.

I know. My point was it was likely just as unbalanced, but the other way. We would find it hard to tell. Nevermind, let's move on, it's not that important.

I checked Vardy, because I figured the same as you. Thing is he didn't play in the 7th tier until he was 24 (25 by the time the season finished like Malkin's now has at 21) so I couldn't really draw comparisons properly. He did smash them in during his one season there though, 31 goals. Season before he was in Conference North, hitting 26, and there's no stats before then. He was actually pretty 'old' when he even reached the Conference. Who knows if in 3/4 years this kid would also be hitting those numbers? Not enough to convince me we should get him though. It's supposed to be for our development squad now that Nuttall is often with the senior team (and may be loaned out) but I don't see why we can't find a younger talent with more potential. Must be some decent players getting released from the youth team of Manure, Liverpool, Arsenal etc, as we've had joy with before. You never know what the scouts have seen in this lad though. Ultimately it won't really matter if it fails anyway, just seems an odd one. Wrighty was 21 when he signed for Greenwich Borough btw. No stats available, and I don't know what amateur tier they were at. Signed for Palace within a couple of months.

Sorry, my sarcasm mustn't have been clear enough. I meant that a Northwest station's coverage with our ex-manager doing the commentary would probably be biased in our direction, much like the Midlands coverage would have been biased to Leicester. We would think the Granada version with Mackay was balanced, because we're biased to Rovers too.

Well whaddya know, an actual link. Prepare to be underwhelmed! Think this guy's name has come up before though. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17656256.rovers-eye-non-league-hot-shot-to-boost-striking-ranks/

The North West commentary by our ex-manager was more balanced than the Midlands commentary when we played a Midlands club?

The Rhodes, Rudy and Marshall of yesteryear, sure. Not sure if any of them have still got what it takes.

I idly mentioned him during a discussion about what Marriott was meant to have cost, and their relative track records. There's not been a link or anything (nor has there to Marriott), just people took my off-hand use of him as an example and ran with it. Nor was I suggesting we sign either player. Thought I'd clarify that before it escalated further, in typical BRFCS fashion. Kind of thing that happens though when there aren't any rumours doing the round.