Elliott is a very good player but not elite level imo. Can't see him ever being a regular starter at Liverpool but if he can carve out a lengthy career there as a reliable squad member then I don't suppose he'll be able to ask for much more

If he can't recover from a couple of poor performances he's in the wrong profession. Will this lad from Villa be an automatic starter or a bench warmer? If the latter the whole thing is completely pointless unless the idea is to shift Battys wage off the wage bill and get the PL Club to pay for their man in exchange for game time.

Very good, unlike your man but even he dropped off markedly in the second half of the season.

Aye, his PR/social media skills are finely honed. Not quite as impressive on the pitch, good luck to him thogh - very nice comments..

But the only way forward in the long term is to play our own youngsters for better or worse in the very short term. As Abbey says we gain absolutely nothing from a short term loan of a middling PL youngster apart from denying our own players experience. There will of course be the occasional exception like Elliott but he's been very much the exception rather than the rule.

Fair enough.

100% Also, what's the point in loaning out Batty to bring in another youngster on loan from Villa? It's absolutely mental - play your own players!

Think Nixon flagged it up at weekend. Crewe want the £500 k up front but we want to pay in installments. So as things stand at present unless something changes the deal will fall through despite a lot of initial fanfare about beating off PNE and other Clubs by "triggering" the release clause. Yet another triumph for the DOF and recruitment department. You think we'd have checked Crewe's terms before pressing ahead and wasting everyone's time and effort.

Heart. Nothing wrong with playing for the current Brighton set up though if he makes it. That IS the very top of the game. Why does everyone assume players HAVE to play for City/United/Liverpool Arsenal?

The last paragraph, you know I do, have said so repeatedly. I note both you and Matty have both conveniently ignored that Mowbray by his own admission tried to downplay the owners expectations after promotion from League 1.

Frankly who cares, he isn't our player, we won't see him again after this season and like Morton last season he seems to have clocked off for the season early having decided that our problems aren't his concern.

Did Hill turn out to be a cracking player? I must admit he left me more in the underwhelmed category - certainly no Van Hecke.

I think this is a cracking tie, currently everything you'd want a Club to against currently everything you wouldn't want a Club to be and I have a very bad feeling about it. Just hope JDT can maintain his welcome knack of winning in the Cups.

Wharton has more talent in his little toe than Moran has in his whole body. Plus as is usually the case with loan players Moran has gone into hiding now the going has got tough. Not really sure what your agenda is by making this comparison in the first place anyway.

Not sure why people find this so hard to believe, had the boat been pushed out in an to secure promotion, then all of a sudden Mowbray is under much greater pressure to secure results and Waggott is under extra pressure to bring more revenue into the Club to balance the books should the attempt fail. As opposed to bumbling on indefinitely on easy street in mid table with no pressure to obtain results etc. Don't forget by his own admission Mowbray said he had to "calm the owners down" and dampen expectations after promotion from League 1. Why would ANY manager want to do that? Crying over spilt milk now, it appears that unless there's another seismic and unexpected shift in circumstances the chances of any success for the foreseeable have gone. As many of us said at the time we should have gone for it when we had the chance.

JDT marking everyone's card and making it clear he's not responsible for any of this ****. But of course he is "happy".

In addition to the wasted money for the appeal last Feb, how much of the Club's money do you reckon he spaffed down the drain on the aborted attempt to sell part of Brockhall?

Are we on about the lad from Crewe? Apologies if it's been mentioned elsewhere but Nixon appears to be claiming the move has hit the buffers because they want the £500 k up front and we want to pay in installments. Sounds fairly typical of our shambolic efforts at recruitment but like you I don't think it would be quite the disaster it would have been had it been the type of player we actually needed.

What a situation to be in. Imo it is a complete waste of time anyone trying to engage with Waggott. Turkeys dont vote for Christmas. The better bet iimo s to try and engage with the owners direct to try and make them see some ssort of sense but that has been tried, all sorts of promises were made and yet here we are. Furthermore now, even if further contact was achievable, they would no doubt argue since the restrictions they are doing all they can in the circumstances. The boat probably sailed with Mowbray and his weird reluctance to make a real push for the Premier League whist it was still a genuine possibility. I know a lot of posters won't have it but I'm still firmly of the view based on what I've been told that Mowbray and Waggott had a substantial watchest made available to them Jan 22 but declined to use it. If these restrictions are going to be an indefinite open ended thing with no time limit then the only thing likely to save us from operating at a level lower than we've ever done is new ownership and if any supporters have any connections in the world of sports ownership or high finance that's probably where everyone's energy should be directed in an attempt to drum up interest.

Interesting post, I'd heard well before GB's arrival that the Club were looking to move towards the DOF model with Waggott being responsible for non footballing issues. "The buck" certainly didn't stop with the DOF for the debacle last January did it? Absolutely zero accountability. Do you think they're both virtually unsackable? It's an extremely grim prospect to contemplate two such unsuitable characters running the separate arms of the Club with zero accountability as long as they keep the lights on and just about keep our noses above water on the pitch.

No he isn't. Wahlstedt is way worse than Pears.

100% With money tight the recruitment HAS to be absolutely spot on. Little or no sign that GB is the man for that job - one big success which we're now hearing may or may not have been his choice anyway and the rest of his recruitment ranging from ordinary to downright abysmal.

Bit of a stretch to call Hyam "a very good signing" - we paid a substantial fee for him, he had a good start to last season but I thought he was fairly poor in the second half of last season when the team as a whole tanked and this season he seems to be getting worse and worse and turning into something of a defensive liability.

The one we've got.

Despite the spin the LT has put on it that article doesn't say he's happy at the Club, it merely says he likes working with the players on a day to day basis etc. He'd get that type of enjoyment working anywhere at any Club. It's what he DOESN'T say that's telling - if he was genuinely happy here he would be quick to point out that Steve and the owners had been incredibly supportive and his DOF had provided some brilliant recruitment etc etc