I'm proud to say I didn't watch a minute of it. At the moment with being new the Competition lacks any credibility and might as well be a series of pre season friendlies. The South American sides seemed to take it incredibly seriously though so we'll have to see whether it captures the imagination of the Public and gains gravitas the more it's played, or just eventually gets shit canned as a silly idea.

Not true, Mowbray being a key case in point without wanting to rehash the same old argument.

I thought that when I read it at first - I thought "What is he talking about,he's just blaming the same people that are there now." I suppose you you could spin it to pin the blame on Waggott who has form for this going back a number of years but yes, that's no excuse why Rudy couldn't have sorted it himself.

Not really, some like Eustace and JDT want to do well and be successful in addition to just collecting their wage.

I mean that's fair enough if you apply the same rule to every player and stick to it and ( as fans) if you ignore Rudy's recent comments about sales not making the slightest bit of difference to the budget.

Yes. His output improved massively last year.

I've said many times I thought he was one of our slightly better players. I'd agree with Chaddy he'd be worth about £15k p.w over 3 years. Why do people criticise Dolan for only scoring "the odd goal" (seven last season actually) but never anyone else for scoring similar or less?

He's gone from here as his contract has expired. He's not gone anywhere else - yet.

Arguably, he's already here. Hedges.

Which even if correct puts him probably about two brackets above the calibre of player we're currently targeting.

He seems to be saying "I'd like them to stay but we're going to lose them because of the contract situation". Shrug of the shoulders, "Nothing to do with me Guv, blame it on the previous administration." I find him completely uninspiring myself. Only here to pick up his pay cheque. Not a scrap of ambition about him.

Tough one! 🤔

It seems quite clear that we're no longer prepared to pay the going rate for established Championship players either in terms of transfer fees or wages. It really is as simple as that and is only going to go one way. I've no idea how anyone can call any of the players greedy or expect any of the slightly better ones to extend their stays here under those circumstances.

Ok, if you want to be pedantic, I don't believe he was ever made a REALISTIC offer of a new contract back then otherwise he would undoubtedly have signed it. Just like I don't believe he's been made an offer which reflects anything like his true worth now. Although of course now, he'll have a lot more options having been allowed to run his contract down and can afford to be a bit more choosy.

No, because who would risk leaving an eye watering amount of money on the table like that? If he was ever offered anything it would have been for a nominal increase on his existing deal and not even worth considering. But at least then the Club would have been able to change the narrative and pin the blame on the player.

Like I believe what he'd say. King of the bullshitters. Exiled floated some figures earlier. As if Dolan would leave c £400k over 2 years on the table here on the off chance he might get a better move at the end of his contract.

A L1 season ticket.

Only if we were intending flogging them straight away for a profit like Wharton.

Where has this notion that Dolan was previously offered a new deal or refused to entertain a new deal come from? I'm going to call BS on that one. He signed one new deal after being at the Club and there's no way he would have refused to sign another improved deal a while ago.

Ah OK, thought you were on about Batth not Hyam. Apologies.

Was he playing at left CB in the second half of his first season? (Genuine question as I dont specifically recall)

Ok. It's not happening though is it? If it hadn't been a foot injury something would have happened somewhere along the line to scupper the deal in O Brien/ Mcguire/ "someone else has made them an offer they want to take" style. Edit: If however we do go back in for him once the injury has cleared up, and get the deal done I'll emerge from behind the grassy knoll with my "Conspiracy Nutter!" hat on and hold my hands up. 🙂

Hell of a lot of talent we've allowed to walk out for free over the last few years Lenihan, Rothwell, Nyambe, Brereton, Dolan, to be followed eventually by Travis and Tronstad? And we're likely only getting a fee for Brittain because he's forced the issue. We've never really grasped the significance of this Bosman lark have we?

If he thinks he can secure a Premier League gig that's his prerogative. Players like managers usually have an inflated view of their own ability. Whether or not he's correct or not we'll know by the start of the season but either way I'd wager at worst he'll be somewhere else in the Championship on considerably more money than he would have been here.

If he did sign he'd likely only be 2-3 weeks behind Tavares in terms of recovery time. Of course if Travis and/or Tronstad are being sold we'll need bodies in earlier.