S-Clarke

A total WUM account, nothing to see there. But out of interest, why wouldn't we be preparing for the Championship? It's the most sensible thing we can do at this stage, which is why I'm somewhat happy we've not blasted loads of money around in a vein attempt to stay up - which has been over for months.

I assume SSN are ramping this up as one of the greatest, dramatic deadline days ever? It seems pretty null and void from what I've read. Sky Sports website is mainly reporting on SPL and random lower league loans.

You're not wrong, I thought in the main we were pretty shit. In fact it was a truly horrible game of football to watch, a proper slug fest between two awful sides. We came out on top of this one, but based on that I can't imagine us pulling any sort of run together against better sides, of which all 18 others are.

Ammar Jemal and Elliot Ward vibes.

A buy clause certainly makes more sense if we're giving them SAA with a buy clause. Not sure we'll be spending £15m on both him and Albert in the Championship though, gives us an option though I guess.

I think they evolved physically, certainly Morgan. But 10-15 years ago the league allowed players like that to evolve and adapt if you know what I mean, you don't get a chance these days - you have to be ready straight away. I even look at some of Ipswich buys, top Champ players in Clarke (absolute cheat code down there) and Greaves at CB - but Clarke in particular hasn't been able to adapt at all. Maybe spending big on 2 or 3 'ready' players to lift the overall level of the squad would help, and allow these guys some room to evolve - but I think we've just thrown Downes and THB (as two examples) into the lions den and expected them to evolve and grow on the job. Not sure that's possible anymore.

If anything illustrates how big the gap has become it's those two. Absolute cheat codes in the Championship, but physically lacking in the PL. It's really difficult to compete, you need so much power and pace in the top flight nowadays - not just up front, but all over the pitch. 10-15 years ago we got promoted with Cork, Fonte, Morgan etc - I wouldn't say they were particularly powerful or quick, but they were able to adapt. If the same guys came up now I can't say they'd fare as well.

Of all our players, Downes has been the one who has disappointed me the most. He was arguably pivotal to us last year, we couldn't handle the midfield without him - so I thought both himself and THB would make the step up a little more comfortably than they have. Downes has been awful, really weak, really slow and caught out way too much at this level. Our biggest issue this year has been a lack of midfield structure and he is culpable in that, he's just looked out of his depth.

Not directly, nope. But he hasn't been given much game time. The thing with SAA is that it looked like he 'could' impact games, he just wasn't given the chance to show. We'll see what happens, I assume it's part of the deal to get their CB - but I'd be disappointed if we give them our player and don't have any form of option on their CB.

I guess it's not just Juric who has come to that conclusion, as Martin was very reluctant to use him either. There must be something we're not privy to, i.e how he trains or there are some flaws in his game which make him a risk in a certain system. No idea. Trying to make some logic out of it!

I'm quite sad for Armstrong personally at how it's turned out this year. After last season he'd had a reset at Saints, understanding the players around him, fans appreciating him, scoring bags of goals etc. I think he and we all thought he'd deserved another crack at the PL and would hopefully fare a little better as he's come up with momentum, although you have to appreciate he is pretty limited. But the fact it's gone even worse this time round in the PL is really sad. I'd keep him for next year as I think he's a Champ player, but he may feel that he now needs a change of scenery personally.

I did hope so, but this summer was a mess. Fernandes was a good pick, but they've let themselves down with the likes of BBD, Suguwara, Lallana, Taylor, Cornet etc. It seems for every good addition there is another 3 or 4 crap ones.

This is true, but then you just have to be ruthless upon promotion. We bought Billy Sharp to get us promoted in the Champ, then almost immediately discarded him in the Prem. Same went for guys like Hammond, Harding, Richardson, Barnard, Connolly etc - mainstays from our promotion teams but with a realisation that they weren't good enough, so we evolved from them. Building a Championship team full of players who can make the step up is impossible and financially irresponsible I'd say. They wouldn't be cheap and would want $$$. Build a team for where you are today, with an eye on players who could evolve.

And with our recruitment you have to worry... I don't have an issue with some of these guys leaving on loan and getting game time per-say, like Charles, but it's our insistence on adding 'obligations to buy' which is confusing me. Like you say, they'd be assets next year but we seem prepared to give them up. Maybe we're a bit up the creek financially?

I find the SAA really frustrating too, he's been sitting there crying out for a chance both last season and this. What are we not seeing that coaches are? Last season you had Sulemana struggling to get a place, and even Manning deployed as a winger before we even touched SAA. Granted, we have a couple more options this year, but I'd still have expected to see more of him. He never looked out of place when he played. The only logic I can apply to this is that he won't sign a new deal, he's out of contract in 2026 and we don't want to get into a situation where he's running his contract down and we lose value. We need to sort out our pathway though as it's not really there anymore. From SR's perspective, they're about to pocket £20m for two players they bought for £1.5m. (Meghoma and SAA). From a business POV it makes sense, but it's a shame it's more about business these days.

What is this odd feeling I have? I'm not sure what to do. I've not felt like this after 5 on a Saturday for some time. Looking at it objectively, I thought that was a showing of two pretty poor teams. The second half became more of a slog and I think that suited Juric a bit more. I'm still not keen on the 3 at the back, and I think it's confusing THB. He was charging forward so much and leaving the other two (or usually Bednarek) totally exposed, and that's why we let Delap run through free. I really enjoyed Wellingtons performance though, he reminded me of Bertrand in his style. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on over the coming weeks. Nice to finally get closer to that Derby point total though, maybe, just maybe, we'll end up getting enough points to avoid that embarrassment now.

As soon as the media started interviewing their CEO and proclaiming how much 'profit' they've made, you just knew it was over.

The 'groin tweak' for Archer is quite obviously bull. Leeds pushing hard for him.

I feel like Brighton have lost their way this year, it was always likely though - clubs of that size cannot continue to compete at the top end, one bad transfer window and it's curtains (as we found out). They had a disaster of a window last time out, and they spent £200m - of all that, I'd say only Rutter has been a regular for them. They dumped all their scouts as well. Their manager choice has been questionable too, I'd say a good chunk of their fans want him gone and have done for a while.

He's not moving now, in the summer yeah - as he screams $$$$ for SR. We're at the very least going to be flush with cash in the Championship again the next time round, Dibling has been an unexpected success of this season.

I remember that Championship game against them (back in 2011). It was early in the season but that was the game where I thought, hang on, we've got something unbelievable brewing here. We absolutley tore them to pieces.

MB is one of the best posters on here, stop trying to cause problems where there aren't any. If they're valid or not, who cares - they're posted for the right reasons, not just to get reactions.

Yep, something which has always irked me. Like you say, we still seem obsessed with the fact we got Mane/Tadic/Lovren/Wanyama etc for around that £10-15m ballpark. Yep, amazing that we did - but the same level of quality now, if we take Matt O'Reilly as a 'current' Wanyama player in terms of rep and stature at Celtic.....they're double the price, if not more. £30-40m There may be examples of getting high potential players in that 10-15m if they are into their final year of contract, sure, but if we really want to find the Tadic/Mane etc of tomorrow we're going to need to spend upwards of £30m on single players. It's just fact. Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Fulham have all joined that club - we have to, or you'll see continuation of what we see now. Don't get me wrong, Dragan has spent money but as you say it's been on quantity rather than outright quality buys that lift our team. At best it just allows us to standstill, and you can't stand still in the PL. We've got to re-approach that.

We all know Jack is pretty limited and he really should have been replaced, but I don't like reading the personal vitriol and hate he gets all over social media to be honest. He's an honest lad and clearly cares about the club, he's not a Sulemana waiting for the next exit. Yeah for sure he's not going to be taking us to the next level, but I think he deserves a bit more respect from the fanbase than he gets. The very least you want is someone who cares, and he does.

I guess the lack of rumours around him suggests there is very little interest? If he's still here in Feb it probably tells you how other coaches see him! We've pretty much said to anyone he's available, I read that we were willing to cover 100% wages as well just to ensure he got a club.