islander200

Just waiting for Boro to announce Mowbray as their new head of recruitment

That isn't my ambition.But do you really think a Bradley Johnson or a Hourihane are firing us to promotion glory? Throughout these years of the championship we have had plenty of "experience" and where has it got us? Buckley looked a lot better last season.Why? Because he had a run of games Similar with Brererton. We have had plenty of 30/31 year olds here or given new deals at that age and we got nothing but mid table with them. Buckley will be alongside Travis next season

Id be against doing what we did with Bradley Johnson and others like him. Giving them 2 or 3 deals here.If lucky we get six decent months out of them. It depends on the player.The ones we have signed up to now achieved nothing with us.I dont think this is a league with a lot of quality and it doesn't take much to finish mid table so I would rather see a younger player brought in.Unless we are spending money and taking a 30/31 year old from another club who don't particularly want to lose him then the likelihood is we will just end up with another who doesn't contribute enough to justify their wage and the 2+1 year deal we most likely have given them There is a reason Hourihane ended up at Derby and it won't be money as they are under restrictions.I noticed earlier you would have been happy with him signing?Out of interest where would you have played him? The club has been burnt many times with contracts we have given to players coming to the end. Agree about the experience but they have to be able to contribute on the field aswell and over the period we have given them contracts for. Plenty of 27/28 year olds are experienced.

We ain't going to have half the side as teenagers. But why can't Batty or Garrett make an impact just because they are in their teens? Other teams in the championship blood teenagers and our academy is amongst the best in the Championship. Garrett and Batty both played/play underage for England, not seen too much of Batty myself but seen a bit of Garrett and think he could be capable. I'm not advocating we don't spend any money and I agree we need some ready made players brought in but I would rather a young player get minutes than sign and give a 2/3 year deal to a player on his way down like a Hourihane or Bradley Johnson

Garrets 19 and would probably contribute more than Bradley Johnson did last season. Do the Rotherhams, Birmingham's Readings etc of the league have squad depth? Players will come in but hopefully Dack will be back fit and functioning, I'm excited to see what Markanday can do, hopefully after a second loan Carter can come back and have an impact like Wharton. As it stands I'd disagree with you that we would be in the bottom 3.Players will come in

Then you ain't looking too deep into other teams squads. Birmingham,Reading and Rotherham at a minimum have worse squads than we do and other teams are worse off than us imo. Players will come before the season begins

Which doesn't look like happening any time soon if ever.As our external debt isn't big enough for the Indians to cut and run. Not directed at you but being put into admin is mentioned nearly every summer on here. Hopefully some day soon they will have had enough and look to move the club on ,one good thing about the wage bill being cut and becoming a little more sustainable we will be more attractive to prospective buyers If the club is ever put on the market. I just don't think administration Is the way it will end .

So then our position is nothing like Derby's in the main our debt is owed to the owners.

Derby owed HMRC £30 million,they owed £20 million to Dell and roughly 10 million to other outside creditors. They even came to a deal with HMRC over the amount paid back. We don't owe the taxman anything like those sort of figures. Do we have any loans with Bank of India?Or is it overdraft facility only?

The creditors are Venkys themselves tho isn't it? The situation isn't comparable to Derby as they and Morris owed every man and his dog money?Including the tax man.

Yeah apparently Tony sent Lenihen a lovely message congratulating him on his move to Boro

Did someone say 6 signings would be brought in this week?

Yes but he would have done some research and would have been aware how many first team players have departed. And agreed he Could have been given False promises just think it is a little early to be worrying no money to spend or won't be any permanent signings of the required quality as Broughton did say that they would have a good luck internally first. The time it took to appoint Broughton and JDT Is the major reason we have inactive so far. IF the speculation is correct and we were in for Anel then we must have a little bit of money available

I agree the team needs investment but I'm not having we are in relegation trouble as it stands. There are more than 3 teams in worse shape than us The wage bill has been massively reduced ,in the main by getting rid of players that contributed next to nothing. And I would say our wage bill is still higher than a fair few teams in this division

I'm a fan of Nyambe but don't you think it strange he hasn't been signed by anyone else yet? Maybe he just isn't rated as highly by people within the game as WE do on here or by his agent The wage bill needed cutting final offers should have been made to Nyambe, Rothwell and Lenihen last summer of January 21 and if no give by the players we should have been making the market aware they were available. I don't think it's criminal that the club failed to get them to sign new deals but It is criminal that we got no money for them. I'd love to know what it would have taken to get Rothwell to sign a new deal 18/12 months ago?If he was looking for money that would have put him in line with our highest earners then I'd say the club were Right not to agree to such terms. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but apart from half a season last year Rothwells performances didn't warrant a lengthy contract on good money. Course Travis Money would have gone up considerably since he last signed a contract, he had become a mainstay in the side and captaining us on occasion.He signed on for another 4 year

Yeah but we also overpaid our players for years. Venkys can be blamed for a lot of things but their reluctance to pay bigger wages is something I can understand a little. How many players have been given long contracts here on the managers recommendation (not just Mowbray)for them to either contribute very little or we have ended up paying off their contracts?Many Many millions wasted . I know you have said otherwise and not saying you are definitely wrong but from what I heard Darragh Lenihen was offered a deal that would have made him the best paid player at the club, but his mind was made up and wanted to join Wilder at Boro. And last season you said about players that came through the academy not being offered deals in line with their contribution to the first team. That may have been true but something must have changed with Travis committing to a long term deal.He would have got interest elsewhere if he wanted to leave.

Derby will be In the premier league before we are? Didn't work when Morris tried to buy promotion.

Yeah but coming to a team that finished 8th in the previous season, and has lost 6 of its strongest players and if the budget only allows loans ,frees and academy to replace them then JDT would have been utterly daft to sign a contract here. He had a contract offer on the table from FC Zurich, yeah not a powerhouse league but they are in champs league and will be one of the top teams domestically. Why turn that down in preference for a team in the championship who have no money for signings and without it won't go anywhere near 8th next season?

Derby can only pay their new signings a maximum of 8k per week. It was your understanding that Ferguson would be the new gaffer. Stop trying to create a frenzy with an unsubstantiated rumour that Hourihane turned us down for Derby County.

I can't recall him mentioning it either but why would he come here without any money to spend? He surely doesn't want his managerial career to die a death and I'm sure he would have done his research and will have known how many from last year's squad have departed. A Coyle ,A Mowbray managers like that were desperate to get back in and would agree to working under those conditions.Why would a young manager like Tomosson when he had other offers?

It was Broughton himself who said they would be taking some time to assess what we have internally before moving into the market and presumably that's why he travelled to Portugal with the squad. Fingers crossed we start to see some movement over the next week

I know but he left there for a new challenge, I doubt it was his dream to come to a team that needs 6/7 first team players and can only use the academy, free transfers or loans to replace them. My point was in mentioning Malmo, he left a comfortable job to further his ambitions he would have obviously wanted some sort of guarantee over finance, the club ambition etc when choosing his next job. Could have gone to Zurich, champions league football and challenging for the title domestically

A young ambitious manager like JDT won't stand for that though.If he isn't given funds to replace what we lost from the first team last season he will be off imo. That shit might work with the likes of Mowbray , Coyle etc who were desperate to get back into the game and in the last chance saloon but not for a guy like JDT who left a comfortable job at Malmö and turned down a team in the champions league and one of the bigger teams in their domestic league to come here.

Never confident with regards to how quick we get transfers over the line since the Venkys turned up. Do think JDT would have been given some assurances over transfers to get him here though.He will know 6/7 regulars from last season won't be with us anymore, and just don't think he would have chosen to come here if he had to be reliant on the free transfer/loan Market,he had other offers

In fairness to Sharpe he said signings would be made this week, never said anything about it being Monday or Tuesday when we would see some new signings