I definitely had more confidence in the strength of the squad last night, much better knowing that most are fit and available and there are squad selection dilemmas. Having players like Edun, Rankin Costello and Vale out of the squad entirely when all are nowhere near being of the level required in favour of genuine options who could impact things is a good sign. You would imagine that Brittain would replace Phillips in the squad when fit and Gallagher will be in the squad so not sure who makes way there. Long season though. The Szmodics situation could be interesting for someone who cost so much though. You look at the 5 attacking players in the squad yesterday, admittedly Dolan's upturn in form is very recent and we don't know how long it will last but throw Gallagher into the mix (I would like Markanday in and around it but not fancied by Tomasson) and he has an uphill battle to make the 18 in the short term. Looked something of nothing from the Blackburn End and not sure that my opinion watching that video changes much, certainly not conclusive of a "punch in the gut." Plus no reaction really either in game or post match suggesting we were hard done by.

Reportedly.

https://www.brentfordfc.com/en/news/article/report-blackburn-rovers-u21-2-brentford-b-3 The under 21s lost tonight. Sounds like Markanday had a good game.

With that length of deal and signed after the closure of the window, perhaps says a lot about him.

Fantastic performance and result tonight, our general level of performance this season has been pretty poor but so much seemed to come together tonight that wasnt evident previously. The team selection was one not many if any would have requested but it really worked. We got a big chunk of luck with their goal that I am not sure why it was ruled out but we deserved a comfortable win. Pressing and one and two touch football that has barely been present across the 8 games prior with the 4 previous wins driven more by heart than by quality, tonight there was both in abundance. Kaminski had little to do really. Pickering seems someone who gets an unfair level of criticism, he has been pretty steady all season and he also links well with Brereton. Carter played well too in an unfamiliar position and no doubting that the middle 3 are all very good, Wharton did look very rusty tonight and nearly cost us twice but we know how good he is. Morton I felt was lucky to start but he more than justified his selection alongisde Travis who makes such a difference in midfield. Brereton should have scored but is always a threat and both Hedges and Dolan have to get goals and assists so well done to both, Hedges deserved the man of the match but Dolan cut out the stupid, unnecessary flicks and step overs and was much more productive, the front 3 were very good. No point going to Luton now and losing, lets build on such an excellent display.

I'd prefer Brereton of course, but you have discarded the part about contracts, Riis for 4 years v Brereton for 1. And as I said, Riis wouldn't necessarily be my number 1 target and that is with much less knowledge of other leagues than our scouts should have.

Brereton wouldnt be worth 10m for a solitary season. Riis was just an example but him for 4 seasons with a couple of million spare carries much more value than Brereton for 1 season.

Not like him to cover all bases.

The Wigan thread is closed but does anyone know if we can claim refunds on those tickets?

He won his first game.

No that would be too low, at such a low price I would have taken the risk and kept him. I think had our stance been less rigid then we could have got more than was offered, even though teams clearly were unwilling to go to £15-20m. But if we had to sell as low as £10m, then spending say £6-8m on a replacement and keeping the rest would have made business sense. Definitely. Buckley is lightweight and has so far struggled with the adaptation to play deeper having always played further forward, it was a big assumption to expect that to happen. Throw in our other options being kids, if we limited ourselves to one more midfielder which I always said was not enough, it had to be someone with experience, Morton alone was nowhere near sufficient nor fit for what we needed. I think I would have preferred Stewart to Riis, although I suspect that story from Nixon is speculative at best. But take Riis, I would prefer him (17 goals last season) on a 4 year deal over Brereton on a 1 year deal, a no brainer business wise even if Brereton is a better player IMO. It was said the other day that Mola is mainly seen as a centre back by the manager.

I would feel much more comfortable with that as if we go with Travis at right back then we are in for a very long night. We need Brittain back ASAP.

If Ayala and Wharton are both available then it is a tough selection as I am not sure that you can look past either of those even for Hyam.

Giving him a specific value based on these factors is only something you can do when a player isnt close to running his deal down. Its overcomplicating the situation to justify the decision to keep him. It really is as simple as treating it as a loan fee, £10m or a season of Brereton. I have never seen Rhys Healey play once. I would have liked someone like Ross Stewart or Emil Riis, I have seen Stewart a few times and I would like him. Brereton leaves 2 holes in 1 player so I would have signed a left winger too, that woule have taken priority over Hirst and Szmodics. If you choose to be so naive then fair enough. Hirst may have been the first choice, point being that if he wasnt, he wouldnt say in public. Morton is playing over Buckley who has already been dropped after struggling further back. He is therefore a replacement for Rothwell. We look weak in central midfield.

He may have been first choice but Tomasson is never going to say "well we didn't want Hirst but we will make do now our main targets have gone elsewhere" is he? Surely Morton has replaced Rothwell? And why is your attitude either that you decide now that they are good signings ie Hyam and Brittain but if there are doubts, you refuse to pass comment? Surely you either wait to judge them all or you pass comment on them now, both positively and negatively where applicable?

But its impossible to define cheap. Ultimately this summer we were left with a big decision but its irrelevant what we think he might be worth in normal circumstances, we either could take perhaps a slightly reduced fee which is still a big chunk of money or just let him go for free. We judge everyone over the season, but we are discussing now. Equally, Hyam and Brittain might make loads of mistakes and prove not to be the sensible additions that we think. My comments on Szmodics are based around the fee (half of our budget) his position in terms of whether we needed to spend so much there and also on his poor track record at this level. There would never be a guarantee of a goalscorer coming in but it would be a much easier task with the majority of say £10m than it would be with nothing. We are going to be left with the same issue next summer but be in a worse position to deal with it. You mentioned that the owners may decide to chuck loads of money on a new striker regardless but it is this lack of joined up thinking (within the club, not you) that sums up how inefficient we are. No more moaning of FFP when we are wasting such big opportunities for reinvestment, we could have had at least £13/14m in the last year.

Watford are a difficult team to prepare for, last game they played Bayo and Pedro up front and a back 3 and drew at Rotherham, the former scored and the latter is possibly their biggest threat, but I presume Sarr is fit again so I am unsure if they will carry on in that formation. Plus they have Keinan Davis who bullied us last season. They have a potential weakness down the right of their defence, whether it is someone out of position or Gaspar who is an older player settling in.

The main thing we do that hinders our financial ability to compete is the decision to stubbornly decline offers for players who we then allow to run their contracts down. The key is profiting on players continuously, we have never done that under Venkys. On the transfers from the summer, gaps at centre back and right back were obvious and seem to have been filled well. I think we were crying out for experience in midfield and Morton has not impressed so far, I would question whether he was fit for purpose in terms of what we needed there. Szmodics again I agree, questions there, the biggest fee, was it spent wisely?

His value to us for one season isnt 10 million, ie if we loaned him for that amount for a season, there would justifiably be uproar.

£10m is almost certainly better than one solitary extra season with Brereton.

He wont sign a new contract so we have essentially paid at least 10 million euros to loan him for a season in which many dont seem to have genuine ambitions of promotion.

Its irrelevant what random figure we deemed to be fair and its cutting off our nose to spite our face to hold that attitude. We have loaned Brereton for a minimum of £8.4m, most likely more. That cant be justified. There should have been a target lined up ready to instantly get a deal done once he left, regardless of how late, although the Nice offer was weeks before the deadline. The other replacements for other players had already been sourced.

Even if you assume that we couldnt have possibly got a bid of over 10 million euros, then even that makes sense to take and reinvest. Would you pay that amount to loan a goalscorer for a season?

You implied that the "penny has dropped" with Broughton. Whilst new deals for Wharton and Phillips would be welcomed, ultimately the biggest decision this summer was the Brereton one and we have chosen not to cash in, similarly to last season with the 3 that left, all of whom combined werent as valuable as Brereton. Until we stop allowing this to happen then I dont see how the penny has dropped. Last season we chose to cash in on Armstrong rather than letting him running his contract down as well as giving new deals to Travis, Kaminski and Gallagher so even prior to Broughton contractually it wasnt a total disaster.

Of course Brereton should have had a contract agreed earlier, but this summer we was dealt with a situation of either selling or keeping and losing any fee. Nice offered 10 million euros but I have little doubt that had our stance been less rigid (high asking price, meet it exactly or he stays) that we could have got more. We have essentially paid a big fee in an opportunity cost to loan Brereton for a season, a season in which many have written off as a transitional one. Its bonkers. The owners should never overrule the manager. Tomasson is never going to say that he wants Brereton out and he also regularly mentioned understanding if he did go. Whoever has had the final decision to keep/set a high asking price has made a stupid decision.