Before the season had even finished you were claiming it was essential that we replaced Mowbray within 2 weeks to allow him time to bring in players for the start of pre-season. You seemed to think there was a need to rush then, what’s changed? Or are you just altering your opinions based on the (in)actions of the club again?

A little, but then you look at all the other players in the same boat and I doubt Nyambe has any worries. Cyrus Christie who has been heralded by many as massively better than Nyambe is still without a club too. The wage bill has been cut to the bone over the last two years. It needs increasing from where it stands now if we are to avoid relegation, let alone have any aspirations of promotion.

Stopping giving out stupid contracts/extensions is fine, but not at the expense of losing valuable, contributing players through a new found frugal approach. I expect we will see the effects with Travis on his next deal. I don’t think much has fundamentally changed, as evidenced by Nyambe. Timing has also worked in our favour with Travis, but against Nyambe… breaking through as young as he did hasn’t helped him. Plus we engaged Travis in a timely manner and didn’t stop negotiating for 12 months or so like we did with the others. They only need to look back 6 years to see what happens when they cut the playing budget too far.

And we choose to offer established first teamers less than this so they walk away. As it stands we probably only have 4 players on over 8k per week.

Which is exactly what happened with Lenihan on our existing wage structure apparently. Wanting “Ayala money” is the phrase someone used. I’ve not seen anyone advocating smashing through any wage cap, but the current structure punishes loyalty and undervalues academy graduates. It’s not fit for purpose. I listened to Mark Atkins the other week talking about how when Shearer came in he was on 10 times the wages of most of the rest of the players, and none of them begrudged it. I think the whole “keeping the group happy” is a load of nonsense… players get paid varying amounts and ideally their wage should be commensurate with their contribution. Underpaying everyone isn’t a solution.

I’m our last lot of published accounts the annual wage bill was £25.7 million, basically the same as the previous year. Since those figures were taken into account we’ve lost the following first team players: Bennett, Evans, Mulgrew, Downing, Bell, Holtby, Armstrong, Chapman, Stergiakis, Johnson, Davenport, Lenihan, Rothwell, Nyambe We’ve brought in the following: Edun, Hedges, Brown, Markanday Thats all of the top of my head, so I may have missed some. There’s obviously the usual churn of youth players, plus the usual loans, where the cost is probably similar year on year. Even taking into account a few improved deals in the meantime, our wage bill must be significantly lower than 25 million now. Add to that the training ground sale and Armstrong transfer fee, we ought to have some room in the budget to make significant signings. We should also be in the best position we’ve been in for years in terms of FFP as well with those windfalls last summer. Obviously there is a chance the budget has been significantly reduced… and if that’s the case you can see how Waggott ticks boxes for Venky’s.

If there is a desire for quick defenders we might see Magloire get another chance. I wonder if Pickering will fall into the same bracket as Ayala considering his lack of pace. Either way, it’s going to be a very new look defence.

Actually he is unemployed, but clubs have to pay players whose deal is expiring for the month of July if they haven’t got a club yet. He will also be entitled to various payments at the end of his contract.

I believe some of the ground staff share the same worry

Not wanting to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you would’ve bought one if you’d been allowed to at the same price as someone renewing? Don’t blame you if this is the case. The entire offering from the club is backwards and rubbish.

Thats exactly why the whole situation with Nyambe, Lenihan and Rothwell is so completely unacceptable

Absolutely agree. It’s going to be a massive ask to replace those three with better, especially on permanent deals.

From the Telegraph article today, I’m expecting us to be a lot less active in the transfer market than we’ve all hoped. It looks like we are going to try and fast track academy players through to the first team quicker than we have. I’m pretty pleased with this, but we need to supplement this with a few experienced heads. Unfortunately I can see us trying to do it primarily with loans instead.

For a club that pleads poverty whenever it suits, yes it was completely ridiculous. It made no sense if he wasn’t going to be involved. He only really got a kick after we’d completely capitulated. I tell a lie, he also appeared in the defeats to Swansea and Forest where Mowbray decided to try and be clever with his new signings. That Swansea game was the turning point that killed our season, in my opinion.

The ridiculous thing with Hedges was paying a fee for him when he could’ve just joined us on a free at the seasons end. Waste of a transfer fee and a wage.

I don’t disagree. Sadly he’s a million times better owner than Venky’s though.

Jack Walker, Daniel Levy and most owners have the best interests of their club at heart. They also tend to show an interest in what’s going on and employ competent people they trust. Can’t say I’ve seen any evidence of this being the case with Venky’s.

Got three, could’ve had 7! Seemed to sharpen up as the game went on, movement was decent. Harlock had a really good game, and impressed by Montgomery down the right hand side, he looks about 14 though.

It’s a first team game for them.

forgot about this thread

Darwen can manage this for a friendly…

I’ve heard that Nyambe’s initial offer was “derisory” and “insulting” from two journalists whose every word Chaddy usually hangs on. It was described to me as “not even a raise, just an extension” by a club employee. There would have to be some serious movement in the negotiation process for the terms he turned down to be described as “a good offer”.

Not all heroes wear capes… some wear knee length shorts.

The home shirt was folded up, so I really only saw the front. From the sleeves and shoulders it looked like the colours would be reversed on the back, but I’m having doubts now.

I’m really sick of hearing the “best ever” line coming from the club. This season we are selling tickets “quicker than ever” last season we had our best selling kit “ever”. All total and utter bollocks. For people who like to continually remind us it’s not 1995 anymore, they really ought to be aware that we have been around longer than the last 5 years. Our current ticket sales would have been unthinkable 15 years ago, but no doubt some of our fanbase will parrot the best ever line.