Gelhardt has got an assist for Leeds tonight off the bench.

The Sun are reporting that Blackpool are about to appoint Mick McCarthy. Coming off the back of a bit of a dent in his reputation but far better than Appleton.

What a way to run a football club! FFP might have a say, not that it stands as an excuse to anyone defending them.

What utter rubbish. Just unfounded, agenda driven vitriol. The blame lies in India. Agreed, but just to add context as to how the £12m we have missed out on is such a sizeable sum for us purely on transfer fees, and how it can't be dismissed as a wise choice. With that £8m and with any big sale, there is no expectation for the whole sum to be reinvested, just a decent chunk, or even use the £8m and you keep the £4m you planned to invest to help with sustainability and covering unforeseen costs like you mention.

He seems a decent guy and not someone who would kick up a fuss, but we didn't entertain the offers which I suspect he would have been very interested to at least hear out. Had we accepted bids and he had turned them down, then a different situation, but we priced everyone out with an unrealistic price that has left us to cut our nose off to spite our face. The comments about people professing that the new deals are a sign of a new dawn and no more contractual mishaps was not aimed at you specifically. As you say, it is dependant on the owners staying away from the decision making. I can't see any reason to be optimistic that the owners will suddenly change.

That £8m (the bid was reported at a bit more, but say £8m) is a very sizeable amount at this level to aid the current season and also the long term. For context, we spent maybe £4.5m in the summer, £0.5m last summer and £1m the summer before, so it is more than 3 seasons worth of budgets. If there is no consideration of any reinvestment then that is an even bigger bad reflection on the owners. Buying, profiting, reinvesting should be a regular thing.

We have signed a lot of players on new contracts, it has been implied that the likes of Phillips/Buckley/Wharton proves a new dawn under Broughton and Tomasson, and that these Brereton/Rothwell issues will not be replicated. Nonsense. Until the owners stop intervening, they won't. I have never once suggested that Brereton should have been sold in January, in fact I specifically said that the summer was the time. We rejected numerous bids for him including from Nice and Everton, that was the time to sell, to help really fund the start of the Tomasson era and at the last chance where we could have got a substantial sum. We turned down bids, rejected none so Brereton had little choice. Might he have talked to both teams and decided against either? Small chance I suppose, but very doubtful if presented with 2 decent pay rises and either a big French club in a European competition with some big name players or a Premier League club. Rothwell should have been sold in January with all of the money reinvested, wouldn't have even had to cost Venkys to be able to give the manager a decent budget to improve us. Brereton should have gone in the summer. Had we accepted both bids for both players and neither had chosen to move, then the same argument wouldn't apply, but we turned down everything so the grievance IMO is more than a fair one.

https://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/news/2023/january/18/club-statement-michael-appleton/ Little surprise, Appleton has gone.

Quite a few assets have been signed on long term contracts even before Broughton and Tomasson. The likes of Kaminski, Travis, Dolan, Scott Wharton, Dack, Gallagher, Rankin Costello etc all signed deals in the last year or two, just as Buckley, Adam Wharton and Phillips have more recently. Also, the "fans would have been in uproar" line is a load of rubbish. A club shouldn't be operating like that, whenever a big player leaves there will be sadness but so what? He didn't even need to be sold in January, Rothwell did and should have been, especially when the manager had plans on reinvesting that but Brereton could have gone in that summer window for close to 8 figures. The timing would have been great to really help with the supposed start of the rebuild ahead of a new era.

Half a step up from the Championship? The standard of this league is shite. A no brainer for Brereton and a no brainer in a different way from our owners.

Still no news on Dom Hyam?

The Brereton potential pre-contract situation is an absolute farce, and I cannot fathom how so many defend the owners. We will have kept aside over £12m for a season of Brereton (subconsciously not as committed for 6 months no matter what he says) and 6 months of a very uncommitted Rothwell. For context, we have spent about £20m in the 5 seasons since promotion, give or take. We have recouped about £18.5m, maybe less allowing for clauses. Even if Venkys are willing to invest enough to make that £12m insignificant, which the figures above over a 5 period show that they are not, they can't be so flippant anyway because of FFP. The same people defending the above decisions will be the ones bemoaning FFP the next time we inevitably can't spend even if we want to. It has also left us so reliant on too many academy graduates (some ready, some not) and whatever loans we can get in for the cheapest price, leaving us with a thin squad. And the main 2 decisions coupled with the incessant reliance on loans is proof that talk of a long term project is a load of bollocks. How people cannot see through it, I have no clue.

We need to be able to defend, Tosin is a Premier League player and on our budget, being too concerned about a defenders ball playing ability will likely sacrifice defensive ability. Also, left footedness is not like gold dust when the player it is attached too is such a liability when he plays at the moment.

100%, with 9 days after the game to Wigan and 7 days prior. I doubt he will go full strength unfortunately.

If Brown played a minute for us he would be unable to go elsewhere.

What is he and what are we trying to do? What do you not like about him? I dont recall seeing him so what type of defender is he and where would you rank him in the pecking order of Hyam, Ayala, Wharton and Phillips? Doubt its based on ROI, we prefer to let assets run their contracts down.

I cant see any sense in Hedges at right wing back which he cannot play effectively whilst dropping Dack and not starting Markanday. Plus Wharton is injured. Kaminski Rankin Costello Ayala Hyam/Wharton Pickering Travis Buckley Markanday Dack Dolan Brereton Subs: Pears, Wharton/Phillips, Carter, Morton, Szmodics, Hedges, Gallagher

@JoeH did you imply at one point that Porteous would not be a particularly good signing and is very slow? And is this based on data or watching him?

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/hibs-in-no-rush-to-accept-latest-ryan-porteous-offer-as-new-signing-targeted-in-time-to-face-hearts-3989866 Mentions that the player is "seduced" by a foreign move. Also hints that our bid is insufficient.

A few people on here seemed very aggrieved that Mowbray didnt use Davenport more and subsequently we released him. Lincoln have also released him after barely featuring.

If we was run normally and selling assets and reinvesting, an opportunity to sign a well thought of player at a knock down price would be easily done rather than such a huge part of the budget.

Its such an inefficient way to seperate generating funds through sales and buying players. There are numerous summers in which we have barely spent anything, its all random. Even if there is an unlimited Venkys pot, which there isnt. Surely there should be a focus on sustainability especially with everyones favourite excuse, FFP. No one in the club can ever bemoan FFP when the owners are dismissing the idea of generating funds through sales to reinvest. You also mention the summer spending, say we spent roughly £5m, a very reasonable net spend. Rothwell and Brereton in the last year could have generated over double that, so it pales into insignificance. Even had we taken the say £12m, reinvested that and Venkys could keep the budget of £5m they planned to spend, we would still be in a better position.

A key driver of turnover ie the selling and subsequent reinvestment of player sales is just totally discarded, these figures pale into insignificance if our owners keep pissing potential transfer fees away. Where is this from? Would be an expected piss take. Not sure where £5m comes from but you don't seem to fathom the fact that the alternative to taking these sums is to replace Brereton for free. Straight question, do you think we can sign a quality striker on a permanent contract on a free transfer, as well as a left sided midfielder? Would it be easier with £5m even or zilch? You are throwing lots of excuses in front of the club regarding transfers. Surely now we have created this extensive recruitment team supposedly, we are in a strong position to deal with the hurdles of signing players to be able to do it effectively?

As you will have gathered, I think the idea of essentially writing a season off at this level with so many poor teams is a nonsense. But I don't think that it is genuinely the case anyway. The Brereton situation is the obvious sign, but we would have discarded the idea of loans, why sign Morton if we have 4 central midfielders of our own, of which Morton is I think in the middle age wise and not an upgrade on them? We aren't behaving like a club regardless of interpretation of any soundbites and I can't fathom how people can be pacified by them against tangible evidence of some short term thinking. The most constructive way of going about things would have been to sell Brereton, sign a couple of loans if anyone was available to improve the team by all means, and have a push with a newly signed striker bought with the Brereton money, knowing that even if we don't go up, we won't have a huge gap in the summer and no money to fill it. We go into next season in a massively worse position without our only goalscorer and penniless, so how can this be the foundation of anything? I think you have lost my point in your attempts to defend every thing the club does. The initial reply was to the assertion that this season is a platform towards next season. My point is that there are numerous blatant decisions that have been made with short term priorities, so I can't fathom how anyone can trust the process IF the plan is to use this season as a springboard for next season. Take the Morton example. I am not saying that we should dismiss the idea of loans because I hate the idea of writing off seasons, each team selection should be made to win that individual game. My point is that having him at the club at all doesn't tie into the idea of next season being the one that we push on in.

Not disagreeing with any of those reasons, but again this doesn't fit the narrative that this season is purely one of laying the foundations for next. Brereton won't be here next season, so keeping him and playing him every week not only reduces the game time for those who will, but loses us a significant sum to reinvest to aid that. I am not saying we shouldn't play Brereton, Dack and Ayala, we are a much better team with those 3. But I am not having this supposed idea that we essentially write a season off and more importantly, numerous decisions made go against this idea.