S-Clarke

They are in a little bit of a mess to be fair, it's transpired that the guys they signed in January (Rutter, Max Wober) had relegation release clauses, not for a fee, but loan clauses! Max Wobber has already left on loan, Rutter is going out on loan too apparently. Then you've got Harrison, signed a new deal in January but that also came with the big relegation loan clause in it - so the move to Everton will be a loan deal, not any fee. They also lost their top scorer Rodrigo for £2m due to a ridiculously low relegation release clause, so the problem they have now is that they're not generating any revenue by losing their better players - so they're stuck signing freebies like Sam Byram and the odd loan here and there.

We'd only sign Piroe if Adams went, if our strikers stay the same as they are now then we won't be adding anymore to it. So he'd be a straight replacement for Adams and should start most weeks if that move transpires. You've got the likes of Ballard in the background as well, so we need to keep the door open for them.

I think that's a little bit harsh on Piroe, his strength and power enables him to bring others into the game. A lot is made of him just being a penalty box finisher, but he's more than that.

I'd describe Downes as more of a natural CDM, yeah - given where he's played for Swansea, and WHU in his cameos. I'd see it as a two of Downes, Smallbone with Charly floating around in the 10.

Depends how bad his injury is tbf.

It must be weird being a Sheffield United fan for example, the euphoria of getting promoted, yet they are staring Derby's record in the face this year - they are absolutely inept, by all accounts Palace didn't even have to turn up today. Promotion just seems pointless if they're just going to get walked over for 38 games. This is going to be a joyless season for them and may well set that club back for many years.

Dortmund is a great move for ABK, and if we get our £20m asking price then even better. Need to get another ABK style CB in if that happens, someone tall and quick - way too easy to attack atm.

I'd describe him as an out and out CDM, gets stuck in, wins the ball, physical but technically very good. There were a fair few clubs sniffing (I think we were one of them) when he was at Swansea, but he ended up going to WHU for £15m. Interestingly signing Downes from Ipswich was one of the stipulations Martin put onto the Swansea owners when he moved there. A top Championship CDM, hasn't been given a huge opportunity at WHU to be fair - certainly could do a job at the top level, so we're fortunate to get him in my eyes.

Loan with an option to make permanent.

We'd need to lose both ABK and Lyanco to consider a new CB imo. That's probably way down our list. Need to lose one of Armstrong and Adams before we bring in a ST too. CM is the only area I can see immediate incomings, as we've lost two.

Sort of player we needed today, someone steady and able to tackle. We seemed allergic to tackling in the midfield today.

Well that was pretty chaotic to say the least. The main problem I saw today was a total lack of control in the middle of the park, they were able to get in behind on the turnover and bypass our midfield so quickly - and continuously. Some of the goals were absolute shit house, like Manning falling over himself and everyone leaving Rowe to head it in. Their second goal was a screamer though. Attacking wise we played okay, but the problem will continue to be the turnover if don't have control of the midfield. I thought Charles came on and provided a little more of an anchor in there and we actually had more control with him on the pitch, so it just goes to show how important that style of player is. In effect we started Central Midfield with just attacking midfielders, and because of that we were totally overrun on the counters. It was great entertainment though, we didn't go into our shells to be fair and we kept coming back which was good to see. Lots of work to be done though, didn't think our football was as sharp as it was at Wednesday, but Norwich were much quicker to us and didn't give us the time. We'll have too much for a lot of teams in an attacking sense, but you do feel that we can be got at (certainly if we play a midfield full of attackers)

Maybe - but Gnonto at Leeds is also acting up, after Leeds have rejected the overtures of Everton and are refusing to deal with them. It's probably a scouse thing!

Nah, I think it's just the way football is. First and foremost it's pretty much general rule to sound out a players interest before putting any money on the table. So before a fee or an enquiry is even put onto the table of the players parent club, the player via his agent will know of the interest and will be willing to talk - so the club know it's not a waste of time attempting to agree a fee. Then clubs will open talks and start negotiating, but behind the scenes the agents and the players will be thrashing out his terms. The agreement of the fee between the clubs is now almost always the final thing to happen.

They've got JWP now anyway, so it's a mute point really. I don't think they'd go to the £45-50m Utd wanted for McTominay.

Last year (although that may change this year), they had a category for Championship games - they showed all 3pm ones, via that Ifollow thingy. Not the greatest of quality, but it was something. Be interesting to see if that is still available this year as I've not had any response to my renewal yet.

I'm so shocked that during the summer managerial merry-go-round, that no club has yet picked up the 'greatest manager of all time'. They must all be blind.

That game was our last league win of that season I think, we only picked up 4 or so points after that and we never really recovered ever again - as it followed through to the next season and our ultimate demise.

Oh for sure, I know I was only talking up the headline figures - but still, for a Championship club this is huge, huge money - unprecedented for this level. The problem we have is that there are only a couple of weeks to go, and selling clubs know we have stacks of cash burning a hole in the back of our sofa.

You've got to imagine that this is going to be such a head fuck for Lavia. He's only a kid, he's being pulled all over the place. The way Chelsea do business is horrible, they've always done it - buy players to stop the oppo getting them, then let them rot away out on loan for years to come.

But when the oppo have Halland there is simply no contest.

Absolutely, the scouting has to be totally on point. We can't waste this opportunity like we pissed the VVD fortune up the wall.

Gnonto's head has gone. "Following those conversations, Gnonto felt he was unable to play in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup tie with Shrewsbury Town. "Despite training for the last two days, Willy has informed Daniel Farke that he still does not feel able to play this weekend and has not travelled to Birmingham for the game tomorrow. "This is now an internal disciplinary matter and the club will make no further comment, other than to reiterate that Willy is not for sale."

£55m feels like we've held out well on this one, he is one of the best young DM's in the world. Given that there is a £40m re-sale which kicks in next summer, this makes sense. Hopefully a fair chunk up front. £30m for JWP, £32m for Tino and £50m for Lavia - over £100m on just those 3. We've also sold Salisu for £15m Orsic, DCC, Diallo, Ely, Theo off the wage bill. I'd argue that there has never, ever been a more cash rich team in the Championship. We simply have to make this work, we have no excuses.

That didn't take long. How many for Halland this season then?