They are all made into athletes now from a young age that's what academies do but sadly they don't turn all those athletes into good footballers. Used to be the other way around the number of good on the ball players there was blowing out their arse after 25 mins in the 80's. Its gone full circle now.

I think it's pretty obvious there's always been something else in the background with the Nyambe situation. TM has always been quick to heave him out now and again whilst others get away with it and i don't think it's just because of Bennett. If you go back and read his comments about some of his absences i think there's been quite a few different reason given by the manager. Maybe it's just his way of getting a tune out of a young player or maybe he just plain doesn't rate him or like him. Of course in public he'll always be referred to as a great human being.

Ha ha that's a great example of TM now playing to the gallery obviously been made aware again what people are saying in the SM world. Best manager we've had for that kind of thing the penny always drops eventually....

If only they could be put on furlough ! Agree with all of that though its reached that point and no doubt he'd got offers and doesn't fancy another loan. Solution is he bites the bullet and asks to be released on a mutual agreement. If he wants a big settlement he should be told to find himself some suitable loan option for the next 12 months. Time this club stopped bending over backwards for anyone and everyone.

These are the fine lines between moving forwards or remaining where we are. We'll get away with Bennett there sometimes and that's enough for midtable. That's the mentality that needs to change but it's unlikely especially now there's no brass to bring in proper back up.

The greatest fear with Nyambe going is Bennett at right back as odd game aside filling in that's a pathetic way to go. Also given how tight finances are and the last time Mowbray signed a right back it was Caddis i'd say it's very important to keep Nyambe. Seems the brainwashing is beginning on that one now so probably inevitable he'll leave.

He'll be after either playing or getting a pay off so he can go where he wants. He's probably in limbo with it all like the club now is but at the heart of it he's thinking of himself so the loyalty line is a bit thin.

I do although he could prove me wrong but i think it far more likely a top championship club would be after him. Or one in the Prem near the bottom with half an eye on if they did go down he'd be in place ready to help try go back up. He's good on the ball and has a good football brain but has never looked fit enough or sharp enough to be a player coveted by Prem clubs. Not for the money we'd want anyway but who knows. Right now he's got to just get back to being able to cut it at midtable champ level the rest is irrelevant.

Strikers thrive on service and on confidence most of them know where the net is but they won't hit it regularly without the other 2. Give him and his natural position and a run of games, same with Gallagher although he really needs the service of a winger so those 2 will probably not gel in the same line up. Having said that a front 3 of Brereton right, Gallagher middle and Armstrong left could and should be a decent enough forward line if it's worked on hard enough.

They should have built from the back and it should have started in lge 1 but if not then the min we got promoted. Now it's arse over elbow because there is not enough finance to do it properly it's mainly gap plugging. That's the top and bottom of it all if they'd done that there might have been a good keeper already there to step in after Raya and a more established back line. There probably wouldn't have been 2 expensive misfit forwards still being shoehorned into a line up to try and get something in return. But that's how this club and manager do things so the hope now is the front players catch fire and keep us in the goal;s because the back line will still leak them. Barring some last min rabbit out the hat deals the defence and keeper spots still aren't strong enough for anything other than keeping our heads above water, IF we are banging them in at the other end.

But we don't pay everyone 10 grand per week do we that's the point. Maybe there's been a strict change in policy now but we've been paying decent players way above that it only averages out at that because we now have a lot of youngsters on way less. Plus some plodders of course and it isn't a massive squad. So just going off these averages doesn't really tell the whole story some still feel we haven''t made the best use of the resources we have. Rather than looking at the overal averages we should perhaps look a bit closer at the better paid players and what we've been getting out of them. I'd say we've been a very competitive club wages wise for our size of course and outside of the huge crowd clubs.

We get transfer pots of 7 then 5 million, we've been paying million pound loan fees. Signing short term older players on 20k pwk and have about a dozen on 10 to 15k pwk which is on or above the average champ wage if that graph is to be believed. Please don't tell me we can't compete with 2 thirds of this league on the park at least. We bloody well should be able to this seems to be replacing FFP as the go to excuse now. Yes we aren't going to outpay a Prem sde but not many are. Plenty other good players in the world.

Maybe been handled and over protected with kid gloves a bit too much this lad but it was MOwbray himself not long ago questioning the fire in his belly. If you come into a camp and get treated like that and told nothing much is expected of you yet then you'll soon fall into a comfortable plod.

Squad sizes will have some bearing on that plus don't forget Downing, Graham, Mulgrew, Evans in our squad to name a few will be on good championship money. Then there's Sam Gallagher and Armstrong so all is not as it seems we pay more to some players than other clubs can afford. It's balanced by a lot of younger ones on a lot less i'd wager. So looking at those names and their pay you'd expect a bit of bang for your bucks.

Sounds like he's leaving it till the last min and sounds like Rovers might leave their deal on the table till the last min. Could leave us short hope TM doesn't counter it by offering Williams a new deal ! Rovers being played here.

Agent trying to drive up wages offer from other interested parties probably.

Hopefully there's been a better sales pitch to him than there was to Bauer at least he should know he isn't coming to play second fiddle to Williams.

Didn't that come from something calling itself EFL transfers with about 13 followers ? Similar popped up last window.

So much for covid killing prices looking at that QPR/Palace deal

I firmly believed Nixon to be another dancing to tantric tunes back in the day.

I'd love WBA to spew their budget on Duffy and not just because that might land us Kipre. Lets see the twohats dream move to Celtic go tits up in favor of a relegation battle.

That's partly why it probably ended up for sale as it was sustainable whilst run correctly and having a player to sell every 3 years. It was getting to the point though it needed some proper reinvestment and Williams and co were at fault themselves not buying in a few decent young ones with potential now and again. I think he became a bit complacent with wagers although the likes of Emerton & MGP were usually good value for them. However giving Keef Andrews a deal that ended with him on parity of 33k pwk was ridiculous.

Williams used to say similar about us in the Prem to justify us paying big wages and he was more or less proven right. However every season in every division with possibly the exception of the top 6 Prem there is a few teams who disprove it. It's called punching above your weight and being ambitious and that's the clutch of clubs we have to strive to be in. No point just turning out every season and just accepting where you are then using these facts as reason to justify not having a go. Often the manager and his staff really are the difference, that's another fact.

It is good we are evidently genuinely in for these kind of players so they can't be accused of the usual window dressing. These are the kind of players we need to replace the ones moving or trying to be moved out.

Always a long shot, hopefully plan B is somebody worthwhile.