Chez

Missed the prematch. Where is Les and Sulemana? Dibling out injured I am guessing?

Nah, he's just not playing very well.

I thought that last time. Sheffield United just went top of championship. They were horrible last season too. There is hope for us still.

What kids you talking about?

nah. It's a performance that just says that they are not very good.

or, you could sell him in the summer and buy another striker that scores 35 goals in the championship AND 15 in the prem. Yeah, I know, that's not realistic. Who would buy him for decent money ? May I suggest you just let fans vent on this thread and proper discussion about recruitment can happen later?

never has been good enough. He can play for team in the Prem, but as we saw when he wanted out, no other team at this level thinks he is any good.

Horrible. Starts with Aribo giving it away and then Bednarek doesn't get tight, twice. Too many passengers and lightweights. Second best everywhere.

although in fairness to him, it does bobble a fraction. Not the pass he wanted either. It starts with Downes, who seems to still be playing the same way as we did under RM.

should take a little blame for the goal...but Bednarek is a joke there. Woeful.

Archer busy, and holding the ball up OK with a decent first touch.

I think mine has Paul Robinson.

Sugawara. Fucking hell.

Bringing Charles back suggests that's exactly what we are doing.

They had a discussion internally and then decided to take him back. When you make decisions, the outcome that doesn't happen isn't always "nearly". You seem to know a lot about his personal contract. How so? He was 17 and put in the under 18s - the same age group he was plying at Chelsea. Or are you saying he was made to train with even younger age group?

Sounds like players not good enough for the Prem at this moment, that championship sides might look at. We have a squad of those already...which is why it is up to Juric to make us more competitive over the next 17 games.

Morgan and Rodriguez didn't leave because of blocked pathways.

Fair point, but there are additional counter arguments to this. They have already invested £100m in players in the summer. They have a brought a new manager in (which has cost them more money) to get more out of the players that are here already. The squad is already large. There are young (and inexperienced at this level) players too that can benefit from Prem games. Sulemana, Archer, Sugawara, Dibling, Fernandes, Charles, even Downes. Regular football is reqired to keep improving them. If we want these players to get us up next year, starting to shape them into a proper side playing Juric football now is perhaps no bad thing. Spending money on players might not improve us. We saw that last time with Onuachu, Sulemana, Orsic etc. Maybe the calibre of player we could realistically bring in now won't even be better than what we have. Ferguson might make us better, but is he really going to join us. Doubt it.

Meghoma is at a Prem side and will be at a Prem side next season too. He's playing about as often as he did for us. Jimmy Jay Morgan is playing for the u21s of Chelsea, who will be a Prem team next season too. Gomes Rodriguez is playing for Lyon u19s. Lyon first team are currently 6th, 3 points from a CL place.

That's hardly going out of their way to piss him off. They didn't want him to leave and they were very happy to have him back. There were no issues at all. He simply had to play for the u18s first before going into the u21s. Seems logical. I bet they explained to him up front that's what they would do and I imagine he was perfectly fine with it. He may even have been greatful for that. He wouldn't have wanted to come across as some billy big bollocks anyway. He was a shy lad, part of the reason it didn't work out at Chelsea. He'd want to come back as much under the radar as possible, play well for the u18s and then get promoted on merit to the u21s. I'd of thought every club would do that put in the same situation. It's amazing the rod's some will use to beat SR. There is no need - just use the unarguable ones like employing a no mark like Jones. Inexcusable.

In general yes, good results equates to better business. No argument on that. However that is a big picture argument, what about the specifics of the next 17 games. You spend say £3m on loaning Ferguson until the end of the season. Tell me how SFC make that money back? You ain't doing it in ticket sales, sponsorship or any other commercial aspect. We'd have to get the prize money for coming 19th rather than 20th to get close to getting that money back. Tell me how you are monetising the improved atmosphere Ferguson delivers over the next 17 games? It's all very well as a fan wanting owners to spend money so you have a better team to watch, but they are businessmen in it for the money and the long term business aims are best served by not spending good money after bad now, and use those funds, which go a lot further in the championship, to get us promoted. Promotion and the £120m+ income that promotion is what matters from a business sense. Just to add, that I don't like the fact we are shit, winning no points and potentially stealing Derby's horrific record, but I am trying see the situation through the eyes of the owner. This is why I'd be surprised if we loaned players in unless they were trasferring in permanently in the summer.

Can you expand on this. I don't know that story.

SFC is a football business. The club no longer exists to make fans happy. Is there a good business argument for spending several million on a loan?

Sure, you can always negotiate a settlement, but the player has to agree to it. If I was him I'd demand 100% of the wage. Why settle for anything less than that? He hasn't done anything `wrong'.

Playing at a lower level makes it hard to assess what his impact was, but Armstrong was rock bottom when RM joined and was absolutely flying by the end of the championship season. He eventually got a tune out of Aribo too. Downes got better and better as the season went on. RM created an environment that allowed quite a few players to thrive like Smallbone. In contrast, going up and losing games makes it hard to assess whether individuals are `improving' as players.