bluebruce

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?

Injuries to the defence, I'd imagine.

That's crazy...I didn't mean he'd be destitute though, just that with his injury troubles his stock would fall further by January. There'd be no point holding out for a better offer because he'd get a worse one. Don't really want him anyway...partly because I consider him the most overrated player of his generation (or at least one of them). The info you posted there being a good indicator of it.

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.