Chilwell himself has been injured and to be honest isnt that good to begin with. Colwill is obviously more of a centre back but has also been injured. And with Mainoo, he clearly has ability but like Wharton is unproven. Regarding those positions, the worries are not specific to Southgate's selections. We are just very weak in those areas. We could (Southgate sounded pessimistic on Shaw's fitness) very feasibly enter the tournament without a single left back in the squad. And reliant on a 33 year old right back who has himself recently had an injury and some poor form in the last few months to plug that gap. Bellingham isnt going to play and doesnt play in a deeper midfield role. So doesnt count for those positions. I think Wharton and Mainoo should go and compete with Alexander Arnold beside Rice.

Glad that Rashford and Henderson have been dropped but a bit of a strange squad overall. 8 centre backs and only 1 left back who himself is unlikely to make it shows the imbalance, and 6 of the centre backs are likely competing to be understudy to calamity Maguire. We also look thin in midfield with Wharton (who will probably be cut) and Mainoo having potentially a huge responsibility on them. We have a number of injured players, players out of form and players not playing often.

Would any income automatically go in next seasons accounts regardless as even if recieved before June, it relates to services post June so should be deferred?

Because of the difference in money. Brereton would have raised £8m which is a big amount for us. A normal club takes that over keeping him for a solitary year and reinvests a good chunk to replace him. Gallagher also had an extra 6 months on his deal but crucially, it came at a point where the owners pocketed a club record sale and still wouldnt authorise spending a couple of million on a striker. Therefore its fair to assume that any comparatively tiny Gallagher proceeds would have gone the same way. Ideally I would have sold Gallagher and brought in 2 strikers, not happening under these owners, so we had no choice but to cling on because he is considerably better than our only other striker.

Doubt it. Got to save space for Henderson, Maguire, Rashford, Chilwell and probably otherd who are injured and/or havent played well/barely at all in a long while.

I dont doubt that Wharton as an individual had many teams wanting him. But Nixon does that with every player, hes started doing the same with Szmodics. Then when the player moves to one of those clubs at whichever point, which in all probability he will as hes hedged his bets, then he will then as the narcissist that he is pat himself on the back and his merry band of followers will all tell everyone how knowledgable he is.

I dont think a coach needs to have played at elite level to be suitable. If anything, former quality players are likely to get roles because of their name from their playing career.

He played Buckley regularly for years and got form from him since unrepeated and he fits the same physical profile. It was time to go but we saw in the following season under Tomasson a similar fall, not quite as drastic but we still went from comfortably in the top 6 for ages having been in the top 2 before tumbling just outside. I think both did a good job but small squads not strengthened in January saw to our chances twice. Ultimately the state this club is ever in is massively hindered because of the owners. But Tomasson inherited a squad with a big sellable asset of a goalscorer, the club was considerably better off financially post Armstrong sale (sadly like with everyone it vanished) and there were still some good Championship players beyond that. Regarding the academy players, like with Tomasson, they both did well in bedding in and improving the players in the first team but due to the owners we have to rely too much on them.

We finished 8th the season before, had a goalscorer we could have sold that summer, £10-15m from Armstrong the summer prior and some younger players he had brought through. So it was healthy and night and day from what he inherited.

He probably has. Hes the only mainstream reporter who bothers with us and he ensures that he covers all bases, for example he was right on Wharton to Palace because he linked half the Premier League with him.

Theyve also released Gibson and Giannolous.

I am not convinced that Broughton was pushed, at best a mutual parting because "the project changed." I am certainly not expecting it to be part of a plan to improve.

As if selling Wharton was an idea of Broughton. It was the owners, solely the owners, needing to drain the club to cover their dodgy doings.

Thats already been rubbished by the Lancashire Telegraph. Seems like a lazy Eustace based link. Wouldnt be a good signing so lets hope not. He had a bad season and wasnt great to begin with but he isnt one of the worst strikers to ever wear the shirt. Hes hardly prolific and comes with a reputation as a bit of a tear away with questions as to his weight etc.

His seasonal goal tallies are 12, 7, 8, 9, 8 and 5 this season having missed a decent chunk. So 49 in 6 seasons. His goal record is very underwhelming but compare him to some of the strikers weve had under Venkys. Brown, Telalovic, Ennis, Varney, Kazim Richards, Dom Samuel, Hirst, Goodwillie, Edinho. Hes not one of the worst.

He isnt good enough to be in charge of England but those class players become more sparse the further you go back, with a real issue at left back and next to Rice in midfield and next to Stones at CB. Sounds like Kane is really struggling with his back too.

Some absolute crap there that I can understand why Birmingham have released.

If its John Eustace then fair enough. Im not convinced that the owners will authorise a new goalkeeper signing with one of the current clowns having signed a new contract last summer and the other clown being our only real money spent last summer. They dont seem the type of owners to care too much how bad they are.

The question (based on my interpretation) was a simple, I wont get to all the games as I struggle midweek, is there more value to getting a season ticket or buying individually for the games I can/want to attend. Might be wrong. Not sure it required a reply about not buying a season ticket because of Waggott, although buying loads of individual tickets will probably be a not too dissimilar outlay anyway. Equally, not sure it warranted the spiel about supporting the players and head coach, the latter was particularly strange, as if anyone on the fence would go I wasnt sure but Ill go to show my support towards the underwhelming John Eustace. The posters desire to support us and watch the games didnt seem to be in question, just seemed like a question of what is the best approach in his/her situation. If you cant attend midweek games and with Sky about to move games all over the shop, obviously subject to the matchday and season ticket pricing, I would suggest that there may not be any value in a season ticket.

Even if Rovers did renege on the NDA. It would require Broughton to have the desire to slag the club off, he would need to find someone in the media to offload and crucially it wouldnt seen a good luck to potential other employers. So it wont happen.

I dont get how any contact would have been specifically told the exact order of potential signings. Seems like educated guesses and to me probably logical ones based not on what we need but on where we are thinnest in the squad.

Been told by who? We have 2 goalkeepers given long term deals last summer, so if its an educated guess its a logical one. Unfortunately.

And we revert back to the superfan v advising people not to go debate. Picking and choosing but going to a significant number of games is still money going into the club at eventually probably not a dissimilar amount over the season.

Its hard not to reflect on the season as anything other than grimly predictable. City with a 4th title and the 3 promoted sides straight back down, and 2 coming back up with the third a losing play off finalist. With all the Sky money sloshing around, it feels like football in this country is getting more and more predictable.

Its absolutely ridiculous to suggest that Foden is being held back. He has been far and away the best player in the league and perhaps in Europe this season. We tend to look back at players with nostalgia but make no mistake, Foden has been incredible. And not just as part ot a structure, hes still that street footballer that he always was. If you want to see him being held back, wait until Southgate manages him.