bluebruce

Nah, I meant 30 mill including add ons. Vs the 22 mill including add ons. A sizeable difference, but one Venkys would only swallow up anyway tbh. My pride would feel a bit more intact though. So what? I'm just encouraging accurate language. We sold him cheaply, at least relative to his ability and potential. We did not practically give him away. 18 million is a lot of money, especially to a Championship club, and especially to one who have sold absolute stars for less. Duff was sold from a position of being a Prem team who he'd won the League Cup with and he was one of the best wingers in the world at the time. Adam was playing in the Championship and had only just established himself as the regular. The season before, he was struggling (unfairly, mind) to dislodge Tyler fucking Morton. We got below market value thanks to our inept owners, but not by orders of magnitude.

We could only have benefitted from the big bucks if we got promoted. Probably we would have been in for about 25 million, with 30 million being the absolute ceiling I'd say given the league we play in. Assuming no injuries. It's also not 'practically given away' when it's a club record fee. I do think we'd have made more money keeping him though, but as you say, our idiot owners blundered us into trouble. They probably wouldn't have let us spend much of it in either scenario, mind. But at least we'd have had more time with Adam.

I was talking about their progression path rather than where they play at present. Hmm not sure how I'd feel about loaning out Duru. For one thing I think we could do with cover there. JRC has been poor and Brittain is always close to an injury.

They also have occasional appearances from Duru to compete with for potential u21 games I'd imagine, whilst he hopefully completes his transition into a first teamer. Plus whoever it is who usually plays there at u21. Didn't I read we played Bloxham there not so long ago?

I take it from your other post they all play the same position...which position?

It rankles, for sure, but just to play devil's advocate here... It's a year not a few months. £18 million not £16 million is what was widely reported, rising to £22 million dependent on clauses...I don't know how many of them will have been met by sale time, probably a little based on appearances as he wasn't expected to slot straight into the first team like he did, but most will go unmet unless there's a clause that if he's sold for a lot the other clauses are automatically met or something. Doubt we are that savvy with negotiations though. They took a financial risk of £18 million on him, whereas we will have spent far, far below £1 million on developing him, and probably less than that even with the new contract he signed. They've also been in the fortunate position of having the platform to make him into a £50+ million player, a fee we'd never have obtained in this league in a month of Sundays no matter how well he played. As I say, just devil's advocate...it certainly smarts to see them make such quick and easy money, and more than we'll have made.

Seems an odd time for a buying club to go in for him too. Price sounds similar to what they'd have paid in the summer, before his injury, and before the run of indifferent form he had whilst he was carrying his injury.

I've no idea who any of those three players are. U16s? U18s?

Dunno about just before the game, but a few days before it I was seeing odds of about 5 or 6 to 1, I forget which, for us to win. I use Oddschecker rather than a specific site, so those were the best odds around.

Think the odds were about 6 to 1, you'd have made a killing.

I can't get the game working so I've no idea. If he had an awful miss then it's worth criticising. But Dolan gets criticised in general far more than he warrants, and if someone thinks that and is tired of seeing him get pelters for every mistake, that's not 'wokeness', it's a difference of opinion, regardless of who is right about his ability. Having different views on football being 'woke' is as stupid as that Daily Fail article the other day saying our sandwiches are woke because they have chicken in them and not enough have ham 🙄

Yeh that's not what wokeness is. And someone defending one of our own players, having a different opinion to you on them, that's certainly not wokeness.

Wokeness? Wtf are you talking about?

Christ, surprised we have any u21s left at this stage! I guess some have recently returned from their own short loans though?

I think Tyjon is the one coming through at U21 level. That he's 16 isn't really the point, he's made it onto the first team bench a few times and even played briefly. Probably have some more first team appearances by the end of the season. If he's as good as made out, he needs regular U21 football to keep developing, so I'm not really concerned that there isn't someone getting in his way. Next year it will probably be Harvey Higgins pushing into the U21s, if not this season.

Yeh...in terms of going back to Rangers! Doubt you meant this at the time but...

I'd be happy to make it bigger to accommodate it.

What's Latin for 'ran by a shower of villainous bastards'?

We don't know how bad the pitch is currently? Chaddy man, it's literally been called off by the ref. That's how bad it is!

1-1 draw, goal from Murphy-Worrell. Not gonna lie, that's a pretty disappointing result against the likes of Colchester U21s, even with all the players we have out on loan. Looks like QPR drew with them too though. We're second in the 4-team group, behind QPR on GD, ahead of Preston by a point, Colchester by 2. Not sure how many go through.

Definitely right to extend his loan, going well that one. Any idea how many he has played? Stats at that level don't seem easy to find.

And every single one of those is a first time finish...some very good improvised goals there actually.

6 out of those 7 were first touch finishes.

The Academy is probably Premier League level. The squad is Championship level. The majority of the rest of the outfit in general (excepting the occasional genuine professional in our midst) is amateurish at best, and the owners would get told to fuck off by the Dog & Duck reserves.

After his comments about the fans not understanding how things work...I wonder if he's realising we're exactly the ones who knew how things worked here and he could have saved himself some trouble if he'd asked us.