Depends on how good he is. If he's just at their level then one of them will be out on loan - or we don't have to bring someone young in on loan next season. If he's better? Then it changes the outlook significantly.

This is the type of signing that we'd potentially be jealous of if another club pulled it off. A teenager that has garnered interest from premier league clubs and promotion rivals is just the type of signing we should be going for. There's definitely disappointment that we haven't managed to sign a striker, but this I hope to see signings like this on a consistent basis. I'd much rather this than a 19-22 year old on loan from a premier league club. This is our only chance of signing a truly 'special' player.

Part of the 'project', but pretty highly rated: https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-sheffield-united-plot-move-for-rochdale-star-ethan-brierley/

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He's being annoying and disingenuous, but not hypocritical. You can't compare some tweets about a football club/fanbase to racist abuse. Pretty simplistic to say that 'generalising is a trait of racists' and that means that any generalisation is racist. As a fanbase, I do think it would be wise to not appear to be more worked up over some random idiot on twitter than we are over the actual racist abuse in the first place. Interacting with him, editing his wikipedia, and even this thread could be taken the wrong way when there is little reaction and condemnation of the actual act that has started it all.

I'm not sure stuff like this looks great.

The blame for the culture within the squad should fall firmly at the feet of any manager. The owners might tolerate underperformance, they might not change managers when we want, they might not invest exactly how we want, but they aren't there on a daily basis speaking to the players, putting messages out in the media, and setting standards. Mowbray may have realised that he was on the gravy train and was happy to not rock the boat, but he still has to take responsibility for that. Blaming everything on the owners is a colossal oversight and just plays into the idea that managers can come here and stay in cruise control.

No, because it was a critique of THIS messageboard and, in particular, this thread. So what goes on outside of this thread and this messageboard is sort of irrelevant.

Very different scenario. I was firmly in the Mowbray out camp by this time last year as he had been in charge for several years and had time to prove himself, put his squad together, and get the team to play how he wanted to. He also consistently came out in public to temper expectations and set the bar as low as possible for his own performance reviews. Not the same so far under JDT and we are only 6 months into his time here. If we fall apart this season and fall apart next season then I will have less confidence going into a third if we are hearing the same old noises.

We're in the playoff spots...

Neither are really relevant to my point.

Been to Ewood and been to away matches and no, it is more negative on here than it is in person - but that has always been the case.

Anyone who finds the football dull shouldn't possibly find this week-by-week assessment to be entertaining. I've never seen a set of supporters complain so much about a team currently sitting in third (when preseason expectations were not for us to challenge for the title). Hell, most of the negative people on here wouldn't have even given us a shot of the playoffs - there was a talk of relegation preseason. We come across as such a bunch of entitled assholes. If I were a rival supporter reading this I would instantly put us at the top of the list of sides that I would like to see fail.

It is absolutely the same all over the world. I'd actually say that British TV has been a little more reserved.

I genuinely can't wrap my head around those advocating selling Brereton Diaz. In a fairly open and mediocre league we are 4 points clear of 7th. The wheels might come off, but we don't want to guarantee that they do. Will we go up? Probably not. But if we made it to the playoffs he is just the type of player that could be a match winner in the 3 matches that we'd need to win (or, I suppose, come out on top in). You wouldn't hear similar talk from any other side in the top 10, yet we are convinced that things will go wrong. Believe it enough and they will.

The podcast that I'm a part of will be running a tipping competition for the T20 cricket world cup. Entries are 100 and 200 pounds. The 100 pound entry will be a straight pick competition (1 point for the winner of each match). The 200 pounds will be odds based. Just thought I would post it in here in case it interests anyone. Just put a message in the thread or send me a DM and I can pass on the details.

I don't think Chelsea are a good example of how instability can breed success. They spend enough money to keep themselves in the top 4 and have had the odd random cup success in the last decade (obviously winning the Champions League was huge), but fundamentally their success this century is tied to the period of time when they had some stability. I guess the issue I take with the idea of having to 'justify extra time' is that it's not how I would treat anyone in any other job. I don't expect my employees to justify their continued employment on a daily basis. It frames the discussion as if the default position is firing people.

Can't we? Stability would appear to be one of the few common factors when it comes to successful football clubs. Yet fans regularly advocate for handing managers short leashes. Absolutely nothing wrong with our owners giving a manager time. That shouldn't allow them to lower expectations or to go into an entirely stagnant mode, but we shouldn't expect immediate results, nor get rid of managers because they haven't delivered incredible results within 18 months.

But how can you possibly be certain of what those parameters are? He had a healthy summer budget, had no pressure to shift players out, and is now in his first season in charge. Do you want him to appear under pressure? Do you think we could have brought a good manager in by telling them that they could face the chop within their first season (or even their first few months)? In order to make this job attractive it has to be seen as a project. The chance to take a couple of seasons to build a squad and challenge for promotion. Not only is that realistic, but it means that we get a manager - and players - who are actually committed to something beyond this season. I would be tremendously worried if he was talking about the need for immediate results. Implying that some window of opportunity was closing.

How can you possibly judge that based on a handful of appearances? My guess is BBD would have been high on that list after his first few months? Jansen didn't look great at first. Kevin Davies was terrible here, but great elsewhere. The list is long. Judging players after a few matches (and even months) is a bit ridiculous.

Gosh, some of you are hard to please. I know we've all grown wary of words like 'project', but this isn't an overnight affair. Look at some of the best managers in the world in recent seasons (Pep and Klopp included) and they took time to find their feet, build their squad, and install their system of play. To think that we will be able to do it in 6-12 months is simply unrealistic. But, who knows, maybe we will get lucky and sneak into the playoffs. The difference I want to see between the Mowbray era and this one is that I don't want us talked out of the playoffs by our own manager. Expectations can change and adapt over the course of the season. As for why we are sticking to this style of play? Well, it is sort of the dominant approach to playing football these days. Some of our players are unsuited to it, but many aren't. I would rather have a mediocre season because we have a few square pegs playing in round holes than waste 12 months of development for our younger players on a system that they'll never use again. As for the value created by ball retention? Holding onto the ball is not the be-all-and-end-all, but intelligently moving the ball across your own backline and probing for holes will help you to create chances. We're not really there yet and we often choose the wrong pass and go backwards to avoid losing the ball, but in the long-term it could reap major rewards. Basically, he's got 36 months for me unless something goes catastrophically wrong. Time to build a squad, time to implement a system, time to fail. We have no divine right to succeed, but giving up on managers after only a few months is a one way ticket to a divine right to fail.

Think it will be more about FFP and squad registration issues. They'll be loaning him out knowing that he is either a good asset in the Championship or a player that they can resell next summer if they need to.

I do agree that Dembele would have made this a great window and made our squad undoubtedly stronger than last season. As it is, we're in decent shape and it's a decent window, but it will rely on a lot of young player (including signings) stepping up.

I'd bet on him to never score 20 goals again in a season in any division (and I think he will end up back in the Championship).

The highs and lows on this messageboard are more extreme than the crypto markets. Most expected a defeat here, most would have taken 9 points from our opening 5 matches. Our squad is too small, we're playing 3 matches in 6 days. What did everyone truly expect against one of the better sides in the division? I'm choosing to see this as a positive and hope that it reinforces the need for signings.