Douglas has done well lately and the shirt is his to keep, and further forward, ideally he could earn a contract. I agree with your desire to get Pickering in now. Ideally bin off Bell but dont pay off his contract would be my choice.

There are 2 aspects that you arent grasping: 1) He will not have been told that he will rarely make the squad. He would have seen an opportunity to join a Premier League squad and play Premier League football and as an ambitious footballer would have not wanted to miss that opportunity. Its ok you being a career adviser unable to put personal bias aside, but 99% would have done what he did. 2) It is also ok taking the moral high ground implying that money should not be at the top of his priorities list. If say he is on 20k instead of 10k, thats half a million a year. Everyone wants more money, to discard it as a reason is naive to the extreme.

I do think that a lot is on reputation though, the way that Reed, Adarabioyo and Elliott have been used is obviously in Mowbray's further. Say the current 2 stay fit and on form for the rest of the season and Harwood Bellis having been convinced to be sent here on loan doesnt play, it has to impact our reputation negatively though. Big clubs often put in clauses where the club is financially penalised for not playing their players. Are you still hopeful that Pickering should sign now, that Bell should be paid off and you would be disappointed if it turns out otherwise?

Watford are a strange one, they look rather impotent going forward with Deeney and Gray I think getting one goal between them from open play this season. This is the thing that people never consider in their desperation to make us seem like we are peasants compared to all of the rich giants in our league is that a large chunk of those resources are tied up in players that end up proving to be liabilities rather than assets. They have some real quality through the team, Sarr is one of the best players in the division, and players like Hughes, Cleverley, Chalobah, Foster (when fit), Kabasele, Femenia, Wilmot etc. But they are not untouchable. One thing we have to lose is the inferiority complex. We need to genuinely believe that we are equal to Watford, Bournemouth, Brentford etc. I remember when we lost a 2 goal lead against Brentford when we was x points from the play offs last season, and people were buzzing with a point! Earlier this season, we lost to Bournemouth and we was made out to be plucky underdogs as if it was a cup game, Prem v League 2. And then we played Watford and lost 3-1 yet it even convinced one member on this form that we were going up! That has to go, these teams are not on a different planet to us, Watford dont have our goal threat, Bournemouth are managed by a rookie, Reading have come from nowhere to leap frog us this season, Swansea and Brentford have both sold key players, when we play these teams, we have ground to make up, we need to target wins.

Cant argue with the reputation, the worry down to the injuries and his increasing age could mean that he is never physically capable of recapturing that form, especially as it would require consistent starts.

Harwood Bellis would be an interesting one. I would welcome another centre back for sure, ideally one with experience hence why I would prefer Kipre who has the know how to slot in, there is always a risk with a kid with barely any senior football even with past success stories as much of his reputation will be based on sanitised kids football. It is a further example of something that Mowbray deserves credit for, he has seemingly boosted our reputation as a potential club to loan players to. Conversely, having Branthwaite AND Harwood Bellis if he signs, wouldnt that mean that at least one (assuming Ayala never gets his place back this season) will be sat on the bench which could then hinder that reputation going forward? Central defence is not an area for rotation so there is also a risk that Mowbray will tinker a little too much in order to keep Ancelotti and Pep equally happy. And I dont think youd want 2 kids together, so we will need to wait and see how it plays out. In an ideal world, we would bring in a more ready made senior defender for whom there wouldnt be third party pressure to play assuming that Lenihan and Branthwaite continue to keep clean sheets, but I suppose especialy financially that is easier said than done.

At that point, he would have fancied his chances of Premier League football, a very difficult prospect to turn down, plus double his wage. I would have done the same, but we dont have a career adviser with a biased viewpoint like yourself.

I personally think that Lenihan is after Armstrong our most under appreciated player. He can be rash, he isnt the most cultured of players and he isnt perfect but we win far more points with him than without him. He wins lots of headers, hes quick across the ground and he is a leader. The only partner he has had trouble with is Ayala, whether that is down to a lack of balance (both struggle on the left of the 2) or Ayala's constant injuries making it difficult to strike up a partnership together. He did have a wobbly spell earlier in the season but his problem is, he is the constant so when we have a decent spell, the credit goes elsewhere. He kept a few clean sheets early on with Williams, but Williams got all the credit for some reason. Wharton came into the team, he was the new kid on the block, the pair did well but Wharton got all the credit. Now Branthwaite, I think Lenihan has been superb in the last month but the new loanee gets all the credit.

Nonsense. Well some might, and wed all be pretty tempted by doubling our wage packet. But because he hasnt played doesnt mean he went there knowing he would never play.

I have noticed especially in the last year that the number of people and twitter accounts doing their own analysis has really multiplied for whatever reason. As I have mentioned, a scout at a Championship football club surely would watch a player numerous times and not select players solely on data/metrics/stats etc, and I am skeptical as to the use of them in general. He ticks a lot of boxes, a young player who can fill the position for years if up to it quality wise and seems highly rated. I would take far more comfort in the opinions of Crewe supporters (assuming they are positive about him which it seems they are) over random data about how many crosses he does a game, how many progressive runs, how many expected assists he gets etc, even backed up with compilations of assists he has got. I have been criticised for putting too much stock into opinions of fans from other clubs and they obviously wont always bear fruit on how they will do here but I would put much more credibility into fans opinions who have seen the player week in week out over basing an opinion solely on data. Not only can you not conclude based solely on data and highlights but I have noticed that all of the data out there show off the attacking side of his game, when what we have been constantly calling for and what we at the moment have managed to achieve is clean sheets, can Pickering help us with that? So I am cautiously optimistic based on this signing but I do think it is a shame that he seemingly wont sign until the summer. I do think the shirt should be Douglas' for the time being but if his form dips again or he gets injured, Bell is crap. I would suggest that the task for Douglas now would be to earn a years contract for next season with his performances and that would then conclude any business for that position for the next 18 months. If we can get Nyambe signed up long term, which I doubt at this stage, maybe we could have a pair of full backs to build on for quite a few years?

Not on the pitch anymore im afraid. He isnt versatile in that I dont think he is capable of filling in especially at full back and doing a competent job at this stage. I take on board the stuff about his obvious off the field personality but then again, if he chose to reject Shrewsbury to be an off field mascot here, would that not be the same as Smallwood and Mulgrew in the past who both got criticised for choosing that route of being here and not in the team? Until the next injury.

He has scored 2 more goals for us, he would be.

You could say the same about us if Armstrong got injured with our second top scorer on 4. They also have Meite who has been injured who returned to the squad last night. 8 points is a lot to make up, 3 more wins whilst keeping up with them for the rest of the time. Bournemouth look the most vulnerable, their squad is definitely better and more rounded than us and indeed I would suggest everyone bar maybe Norwich but they are not performing to their maximum under Tindall.

Im not sure if Reading are that vulnerable, I understand that they werent top 6 favourites before the start of the season but an imaginative and inspired managerial appointment has made them the real deal. They are 8 points ahead of us which is a lot, they looked brilliant again last night and they have real quality in attacking areas with Joao, Olise, Meite, Swift and Ejaria. Brentford have also gone on a brilliant run and seem to be right in the mix for the top 2, backing up a good season last season. Bournemouth seem the most vulnerable but their squad is packed full of quality and are perhaps underachieving under a rookie manager, they have just added Pearson and Wilshire to a squad already containing quality throughout, Begovic, Mepham, Cook, Smith, Kelly, Stacey, Rico, Lerma, Lewis Cook, Billing, King, Danjuma, Stanislas, Brooks and Solanke.

Looks like Pickering will be strangely loaned back. But if we kept him we may aswell have a third left back rather than literally just piss the money up the wall.

It is simply not true that Armstrong blasts half a dozen 30 yard glory shots over the bar a match. He had that one game against Bristol City where he had too many stupid shots and it has left his reputation in the gutter. Today he had 2 other shots that I can remember, one was our only other one on target, and one was in the first half, poor execution of a player out of form but he was correct to shoot. I suspect his goal to shot ratio is better than most in the league simply due to his goal number.

"The odd one" is actually 18 this season, nearly 30 since last January. In the last couple of months he has won at least 3 games with late winners. To make out as if he is a burden holding us back is baseless and crazy, that we would be lucky to get only 10m again senseless and if they would all chip in more without Armstrong, why dont they when Armstrong is off his game, today when he whipped in a cross why was no one on the end of it?

Whats bizarre is that people seem to think that the goals cover up the flaws in his game, losing track of the primary function of a striker. Also, when we dont score, we criticise the player who has 18 goals before the rest, none of whom have got past 4 goals. Summed things up when he drifted wide, put in a brilliant cross and no one was in the box. Elliott, Rothwell and Brereton all were equally quiet, the latter 2 have flattered to deceive consistently throughout, so I find it strange that 95% of the criticism goes again to Armstrong. Hes a victim of his own success. No one has ever implied that he is perfect or the finished article, no Championship player ever could be. But he is not fully appreciated, something Rhodes shared with goalscoring not deemed as important as it actually is.

People dont put so much time, effort and indeed money to want their team to lose. End of.

It goes against all instincts to be willing to accept a loss and its all hypothetical as if he has ever been one loss from the sack. I cant ever get on board with such notions. But as mattyblue correctly says it isnt out of enjoying us losing as was suggested.

It wouldnt make sense to loan him back.

Im not sure what side of Bells full back play that would be argued as his strongest. I dont think that hes got an assist in his time here, hes never shown any attacking quality IMO.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19052228.rovers-closing-crewe-alex-left-back-harry-pickering/ But a deal which would see him move to Rovers is expected to go through, however, there is the prospect of Pickering being loaned back to the League One club for the remainder of the season.

I dont think you appreciate that we will have to pay him no matter what. If no one wants him then just keep him around just in case.

Why do you think people arent pulling for the team? Offering praise and criticism alike on an internet messageboard doesnt affect performances or suggest that people are not desperate for the team to win. Lets stop this nonsense.