Eddie

Regarding the first point, I don't think there was any mud slinging. He was open and honest about a situation. Regarding the second, it's one of a series of comments, and it's unprofessional. Doesn't matter what has gone on. That's between her, the club, and, if necessary, her lawyer. She's doing herself absolutely no favours speaking out it in public. She is seemingly looking for a new job and she is making herself look like a child.

It is smarter than letting players leave on a free. That is undeniable.

I've said it previously, but I certainly wouldn't be commenting on it publicly, nor would I encourage any friend or colleague to do so. I've been in companies with toxic cultures, with CEOs with God complexes, and been there during mass layoffs and when people have been forced out. It's not pleasant, but my advice has always been the same - keep your head down, keep your mouth shut, negotiate your best exit, and make yourself look professional throughout. If I were now considering a candidate and saw that they were publicly criticising a former employer? It would be a non-starter for me. I don't care if they were right; I'd want nothing to do with them. If anything, football isn't enough of a business because you'd be making yourself unhirable in most industries with this type of behaviour.

It is possible for people on both sides to be wrong. I'm certainly not defending the club and have strong opinions on the culture and people in senior leadership positions, but I also believe that certain players and (former) staff may be taking advantage of that situation. There were clearly people within the club and the team who were happy to sow seeds of discontent. They're not exactly hiding it. Regardless of what else is going on, that isn't good for the club. Not only that, when it comes to highly paid footballers, that's something that I just can't abide by. Look at how poorly the Sheffield Wednesday staff and players have been treated over the last few months. It's on a different level to even our fiascos, but you still had players rallying around, showing commitment to the club, and focusing on improving the situation. I can understand why players want to leave, and do. I can understand why staff feel mistreated. But you should have enough respect for this club not to be openly mocking the club in public. That's all I ask. It's not asking a lot. As I've said previously, what they're doing is foolish. It makes it seem like those in the leadership positions may have been right about them.

It's hard to defend the club, but it's starting to feel like we may actually be shipping a few bad apples out.

Doesn't really matter. It's still unprofessional and, quite frankly, a bit pathetic. I've had jobs end in bitter circumstances and had instances where I felt like I was mistreated or got the short end of the stick, but I didn't start running my trap on LinkedIn posts or fundamentally trolling my former employer. And that is in an environment where my former employer didn't have fans and supporters. She knows what she's doing or she's a moron. Either way, it's not a great look. A former player liaison is going further than former players are going. Just let that sink in for a minute. It lacks class. It lacks professionalism.

The more of this she's doing, the more she's justifying the fact that the club asked her to move on. Childish and unprofessional. I'm sure she was mistreated at some point, but she's proving all of her critics right. Certainly ruining her chances of being employed by another club or any serious organisation.

Weird question that I've always wondered as someone who visits the area, which hotel do these players live in when they first arrive? In Manchester?

Also have to factor in the cost of living. Some of the wages look great on paper, but once you start paying Dubai prices (with the mindset of a footballer) it can go rather quickly.

We signed 9 (I think?) players last summer. Most of them were players that Eustace really wanted, even though they didn't fit in with the new approach of the club. He very much got his way on that front, and he is employing the exact same tactics at Derby, so it is hard to deny that he was the driving force behind those transfers. It's also easy to just say 'frees and loans', but those do come with wages. Dennis was 20,0000 a week. Cantwell will be on a big wage for us. Weimann and Batth were likely on decent wages. Beck, Baker, and Cozier-Duberry would have been a combination of decent wages and/or decent loan fees. Ismael may find himself in a situation where there is more money available for 'transfers' because he is rejecting (or at least accepting the club's strategy) the idea of loans and older freebies. I'm not defending the club or our owners, and more money should be made available for transfers, but I'm not sure that our signings this summer really represent an increase (even if 5 million is spent on a forward).

Eustace (kind of) did get this backing. JDT was the unlucky loser when it came to real investment in the squad. I've seen a fair bit of Soumane, he could probably best be described as a more complete version of Gueye. He's fast, but not rapid. Good hold-up play, but you can't exactly run your attacking play through him. Decent finisher.

Nonsense? Have to admire the certainty.

A really excellent performance. As with any Championship match, we rode our luck a tiny bit and survived Hull's brief dominant spell in the first half. We were in total control from the time the first goal went in and could easily have won by 5 or 6. The team deserves credit for the commitment and effort that they showed, and there does seem to be a good understanding of the system and the style of play that is being put in place. I thought Hedges' chest thumping of the badge after his goal was somewhat significant. It could be a solid indication that some players feel let down by Travis and others, and that it may not be as simple as every player wanting out or seeing the overall atmosphere as toxic. It's amazing how much the mood can change based on a win, but we really should have 7 points from our opening 3 matches. Things aren't quite as doom and gloom as they seemed a few days ago. Now we need a bit of adventure in our signings over the next week, and we may have a chance at a positive season.

San Diego is also a wonderful place (my favourite city in the US). Can't blame anyone for choosing to make that move.

That's an insult to Kuqi. He would mop up in the Championship at the moment.

Under-21s don't need to be registered, so he can play in any league match at any point.

Eyal Berkovic did quite well for us. We could also run through a long list of players who have left the SPL who we'd be delighted to sign. I know the question is direct SPL to Championship, but there's lots of talent in Scotland.

Why? I mean, I get it because of how the club is run, but we need more central midfield options. Our season was derailed last season because of injuries to TWO central midfielders. Adding three this summer would be sensible.

And just so that everyone remembers, no one was excited about Batth signing last year.

Sensible signing. In isolation, it feels like a good swap for Batth. More experience and reliability at the back, but less likely to drop off a cliff due to age.

I probably worded it poorly, but by breaking into the first team, I don't mean the squad itself, but actually becoming a consistent figure in the first 11. Even in 22/23, he played in nearly every match, but he was a sub for 19 of those appearances. It was only in the last 2 seasons that he was really first choice for his position and considered an integral part of our plans and system.

We kind of do. He did go public about what he was on when he first joined Rovers and how his next contract wasn't an exponential increase. We do also have a report from the club in Turkey that, whilst unsubstantiated, may give an indication of what he now feels he is worth.

I would guess that our offer 2-2 1/2 years ago wasn't lower than he was worth at the time. He was only just breaking into the first team. It's a big hypothetical on the 15,000. As is the guess that we only offered 6,000 and that he was already making 2,000. But, sure, we can come up with numbers that somewhat justify the decision to actively earn less for over 2 years. But you would have to go hard to convince me that he wouldn't be better off on a higher sum here, with one year left on a deal, established in a decent Championship club, and positioning himself for either a move this summer (seemingly there wouldn't be demand) or moving on a free in 12 months after he had really built a reputation. This isn't even factoring in the possibility that he could have had a serious injury at any point in the last 2 seasons and significantly reduced his future earning potential. Players should almost always take the contract 2/3 years before their current deal runs out as they still maintain all of the power to demand a new one or manufacture a move. It's why our inability to get players to sign new deals 2/3 years out is such a strong indicator of how poorly run the club is.

To the final part, yes, but he is still only getting his low salary that he signed up for years ago. As for the part about not accepting the contract two years ago, it is difficult to justify. Let's use your figures and say that it was a 4,000 a week raise, that's a difference of over 100,000 pounds over the 2 1/2ish years since that offer was rumoured to be on the table. There's also a solid chance that he is currently on less than 2,000 a week and that his new offer was more than 6,000. Now, in the world of football, it's easy to turn your nose up at 'just' 100,000 more. But based on what Dolan is earning at the moment, that's a huge difference in income. We also assume that his current salary is irrelevant for any future contract negotiations, but there's a chance that he's now receiving offers where the interested club says, 'we know you are only on 2,000 a week now, so 10,000 a week is a huge raise and a fair offer'. He was dumb not to take a higher offer before, and he has put himself in a weaker position as a result.

I think it is difficult to look at how this has unfolded so far and not think that Dolan and his agent have misplayed this situation. Should he have received our most recent contract offers - if there even were any? Probably not. Should he have accepted better terms that were definitely offered to him under Broughton? Yes. He's missed out on 2+ years of higher earning and is now 2+ weeks into receiving no salary. He would absolutely have benefited from another season in a stable environemnt as a guaranteed starter. He's probably now finding out just how small his current reputation is and that he didn't have the types of offers he was hoping for. I'm sure he will end up at a decent Championship club, but it will be a lateral move that will delay any bigger steps by a year or two.