Everything is about cutting costs now. We sign/usually borrow what we can get not what we need.

The thing is inevitably you see light at the end of tunnel with the prospect of seemingly a fully fit squad and a few have come back in the last week or 2 but inevitably you will almost always have at least a couple of players unavailable and as some come back, 2 are out long term now. Im also not sure what the situation is with Hedges who seemed to be in line at one point to return before 2 or 3 of the recent returnees that have leapfrogged him.

Interesting to read your comments on Ayari, he from day 1 has seemed like a peculiar signing. Replacing our captain and a player with a decent amount of experience in seasons near the top with a lightweight number 10 who had struggled to get into a Championship side. And in both league games since in which we have needed a spark, he has remained unused. Where abouts did he play, deeper or further forward? Reviews on here are mixed yet more positive on twitter. Obviously it wasnt a senior competitive game but good to see Chrisene seemingly do well, I thought he struggled on his debut. Dolan we need back which perhaps shows how light we are, although not sure where he will fit in. He indicated this week that he prefers a central role but I think we need him out wide.

Leonard, Ennis and Telalovic it is then.

Jimmy Dunne is shite. Avoid. And nothing to do with playing for Burnley.

Palace could be appealing. A bit pay rise, probably a better shot at regular football playing along other young talents like Eze, Olise and Guehi, as opposed to a club whose owners have long since deserted us as we tread water in the second tier.

Usually the most obvious explanation is the most accurate. Venkys probably didnt sanction a January war chest that was turned down, Venkys probably didnt sanction a deal purposely to fall through and Broughton is probably genuine in wanting experience and being disappointed in not getting it. Whether that is specifically because the owners wont allow players over a certain age or whether its because we cant afford the going rate for Championship players hence why we had to borrow a young defender for minimal/no wage contribution instead, who knows.

He specifically said that he wanted Batth but it wasnt possible. Why would he even target him if he didnt want him?

And its not about whether they entertain the idea. It wont be their choice.

Where have you seen that Hedges is back in training?

And some (at least a reasonable chunk) of the money likely will swiftly exit the club never to return.

The key thing is his wages will presumably be low as a 20 year old coming from Crewe. Even if a more experienced player and/or a player already in the Championship was a freebie, his wages would likely mean that the cost of the deal would be far more. The 500k fee (probably in bits and pieces hence the delay as you touch on) is hardly a sign of splashing the cash all things considered.

They are different situations as Whartons value is going up, not about to turn to nil. If he wants to go, then its difficult to keep him. The issue as ever is that we wont see the money unlike normal clubs.

Hard to get overly excited at a 20 year old from Crewe. However when you have to massively slash the wage budget and you cant sign players over a certain age, you get what you can, not what you need. Seems highly rated and to be missed by Crewe fans from what ive read but they also seem unconvinced that he is Championship ready. Our squad is still weaker compared to how we came into the window. If we sell Wharton then we will end up miles weaker.

I think the best approach would be to say you get 70% say of any fee received to reinvest, do as you wish, sell who you want, you know football more than us. Also a policy on players with a year to go. That way you always have scope to invest in the team. Not, we will decide on fees, you wont see any of it, we will give you a few million randomly every few years but otherwise you are brassic and when we do accept bids you wont see any of it. No player for over 2m in 5 years. 12m of fees down the drain which is more than our combined spend in that time.

Surely for money to be reinvested, it should be in the same window. No good replacing a striker 12 months later with a right back, an attacking midfielder and a centre back. They do have the occasional random investment window but they are outweighed by sales that totally vanish and sale opportunities that they decline. All in all, no joined up thinking at all.

Some of them no, people like Vale/Markanday/Leonard, or injured players like Carter and Pickering. Some of the others like Sigurdsson, Tronstad, Hyam etc, they wouldnt generate significant fees, you have some players that have just joined so will likely be against moving and they are important to us so it will be hard to equally replace them, never mind improve. But the fact you seem to be ignoring is that Venkys dont allow wheeling and dealing. The money wont just be sat waiting to be re spent.

Ive not doubted that. My points are: - Venkys have history of repeatedly either allowing none or only a small slither of sales proceeds to be reinvested. - Venkys do not allow full autonomy over sales. They have rejected bids above the head of and at times against the wishes of those in charge of transfers. - We have wheeled and dealed this very season under these restrictions. We are still skint. - We barely have anyone to sell after year after year of minimal funding in the playing squad. So even if he does try to wheel and deal, it likely wont lead to being able to spend money.

Again fixating on others. He did want an Armstrong replacement, he kept moaning about it all summer. And even if its a continuation of your weird theory that it was just Mowbray being a dick, why not retain the money and give it to Tomasson upon his appointment? Different manager when Rhodes was sold and when Gestede was sold, money not made available. Even if you discount occasions when the owners overuled and decided to reject substantial opportunities to reinvest into the squad, leaving ramifications both short and long term that have led to a squad that is full of kids. As if we are in a position to take a £12m gamble. This summer we barely spent anything. Cheap loans, a nominal fee and 800k. With a further restriction where we cant sign a player over a certain age. It is unequivocally clear that over a lengthy period of time that funds have simply not been available from the owners (directly or even via potential sales) to invest in the team. And now you are blaming the DOF for not magically creating a budget himself. Even for you, incredible.

We should do that but the owners are tbe ones that never allow any proceeds to be available! We made quite a bit in the summer and spent less than a fifth. We sold Armstrong and didnt spent the money. We sold Rhodes, Cairney, Gestede, nothing. They wouldnt even let us sell Brereton and Rothwell to do that. So again, who is to blame?

We sold 5m worth of players in the summer and barely spent any. The owners are the ones that intervene when bigger offers come in too. We barely have any fringe players due to season after season of minimal funding. And no one here has ever had full autonomy to spend even a reasonable chunk of fees received. Even for you, blaming Broughton for our lack of budget is impressive.

I cant fathom what your argument even is now. How can Broughton muster up a transfer budget when it is down to the owners to give him one? Thats not down to him and his failings. I am not doubting that there are government issues by the way. I just think based on strong evidence over a number of years that the owners would have been unlikely to provide much if any transfer budget anyway. We have not spent over £2m on a player in 5 years.

Newcastle cant sign anyone due to being right on the line with FFP. So the Wharton link isnt right, certainly not now anyway.

You would have to work literal magic to muster up anything of note with the budget cuts at the moment and it takes considerable mental gymnastics to deflect back to him for that.

They arent going to give us a sudden warchest even if the supposed case does go well. Cant imagine Balaji waddling out the courtroom to make a call to Blackburn to give us the green light on splashing the cash somehow. They havent been interested in improving the team for years prior to this.