Minty

Hmmm, not sure about a red for that... he led with his arm but it wasn't malicious or intentional and was clearly going for the ball. But after Lamberts red, we'll take it!

And we have the capacity (and current position) to win it. Think positive. Forest fans booing their players off tells the story.

YES! Guly is so ****ing **** isn't he!? lol Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Cynical but perhaps necessary foul from Jos there.

A bit of luck with some route one stuff for them, just gotta pick up the runners and try and stop Harewood winning too much in the air.

One direct attack from them - hardly pressure but we have to deal with it. And we have.

Started brightly, good tempo and sharp passing.

Ooh, good effort from Hammond.

Can only assume Butterfield is not 100% match fit yet... and to be fair, Harding had a good game last week.

I don't see it being a feud, more a case of semantics over pretty much the same point. It depends on: - Our need in the position concerned - how desperate are we? - The selling clubs desire to sell - do they need to? Do they want to? - The competition for the signing from other clubs. - Market forces - Even then the fee is only 'big' relative to other signings happening about the same time, and in the eye of the beholder. And generally only hindsight can tell us if it was worth it or not.

Dodd made 9 changes from the FA Youth Cup side that won in midweek, so that's a good win for what must, I assume, be a younger team.

U-16's won 4-2. Good start to the day.

Missed that post - yes, pretty much spot on.

Jason St Juste... he was on telly in the FA Cup 2nd round I seem to recall... can't remember who for now, but he'd moved on from Garforth Town (just!).

No, it's part of the process and quite feasible that *some* players can come through, just like Man U did. I think if anyone is going to pull together a squad that can perform without spending a fortune, it is Adkins, with his psychological background, but the higher you get up the leagues, the more you need the flashes of brilliance and individual skill that can't be coached or developed on the training ground, so balance will need to be struck somehow. What that will cost will depend on if we can unearth good lower league players, other clubs' Academy talent, or if we need to buy established quality players with price tag to match.

Alright guys, you two are usually pretty good at rising above the sh!te, so how about giving it a go now? To be fair to Rob he did say 'IF we think it is right' to spend more money, then we should do so, not that he thought it was necessary. It's always the extreme examples that highlight a point more than the routine ones, probably hence Ronaldo being mentioned. FWIW, I think we will have to spend perhaps a bit more than average to really improve our squad, partly because of the ever-increasing prices, and partly because we're top and people know we do have some cash. CBFry is right, many, many teams haven't had to spend large amounts to get promoted, and that may well prove to be the case for us, although I suspect we are trying to sign a few key players to make sure (as much as we can) and also to give us a bit of quality to carry us through into the Prem, rather than just getting us there.

And FYI, I have no one on my actual forum ignore list. I just ignore them myself if need be.

lol, tempting, but to be honest it's mental list (in both senses!)... if you've been on here any length of time, you should generally know who can offer some good insight and who can't. Plus, a key thing to remember is that just because someone is right once, doesn't mean they're ITK, and sometimes someone who can be privy to info doesn't always get it right... doesn't mean they're a WUM. I tend to find it's more HOW someone posts their info that is the giveaway. WUM's tend to be more in-your-face or determined to be noticed. Of course, then there's the few who try to mock WUM's by deliberately posting crap in an attempt to lure in the 'Oh go on, tell me, PM me, PLEEEAAAASSSE' brigade. This forum has more levels than Angry Birds.

Just do what I do - make a mental note of the posters name and the info posted. If they come out with something that proves to be true, they get elevated up my personal list of forum members to take more note of (like THEVMAN), and if not, they get relegated down to the massive and ever-expanding list of posters to ignore. Simples.

Opinion is there to be challenged and my points have nothing to do with consensus either. It's just me challenging you. I'm actually trying to do you a favour here, to make you see why other people sometimes don't understand your point of view. If you can explain your reasoning then people are more likely to at least respect your point of view, even if they still don't agree with you. As you correctly state, we don't know the framework or culture that the club operate to but as a result I gauge things by what I DO know of the club and how they operate and as a result am happy to put some trust and faith in them that they are trying to do the right thing. Maybe you're right, maybe we don't do things the right way, but given the body of evidence (i.e. all other transfer activity taking place now, and that has taken place in the past) I don't see us doing anything much different to any other club. My opinion on summer window was covered nicely by batterseasaint's earlier post. So I personally don't think there is much a of problem with that either. So to your final question, was it reactive or proactive? My hunch is that is has always been and was always intended to be proactive, with a range of targets in mind for different scenarios, depending on where we find ourselves and what state our squad was in. And that is only a hunch, but once again, I use the evidence to hand, namely Adkins' continual references to working hard behind the scenes, the work he clearly puts in to prepare for each game and to analyse opponents, and his academic background. Align that with Cortese's obviously very focused (and sometimes controversial) business mind and the 5-year-plan, then I think there is strong evidence to suggest we would be proactive.

On what basis do you think 'a lot of the activity started too late'? Just a hunch? A natural disposition to think the club are incompetant? That's what I'm trying to understand... what reasoning, that I or someone else can appreciate, do you have for this opinion? As for Lee, Adkins also made it quite clear that he has 'red tape' to sort out in Japan... do you know how their border control system works? No, neither do I. So why suspect that NA is again either wrong or lying in that regard too. I don't, however my whole point was why take an automatically negative view in the absence of other evidence, ESPECIALLY given that we KNOW the club try to conduct all their negotiations in private nowadays? Why not actually try believing that the club are being honest and judge them AFTER the window has shut. How would you feel if everyone continually doubted everything you said until you actually produced the goods. It would probably give you inclination to think 'well why should I bother if we're going to be questioned and doubted at every juncture'. The club are bigger than that, but I just think it's a real shame that a clubs fans, the people who are supposed to support and have some faith in their club, should have such an automatically doubtful perspective. As I said, if you can give me some clear reasoning for why you hold this opinion, other than it just being your gut feeling, I might appreciate it a bit more, but it appears to be negativity for the sake of it.

Amen to everything batterseasaint said too btw.

Without being in a position of authority in the club, it is obviously impossible to prove, but given that Adkins has said several times now that they are working hard to bring players in, are you saying that you basically don't believe him, or that he is lying. Do you ever put any faith in the manager and his staff (especially one that has earnt some), or just because nothing has actually been signed sealed and delivered yet, is it imperitive that you judge that to mean that nothing is happening and therefore someone is being negligent. We may have 6 first teamers missing today because of injury and suspension. IMO, NO CLUB would sign enough players in the first 13 days of a transfer window to overcome that problem, especially when quite a few of those players were available for selection when the transfer window opened... I guess we'll have to agree to disagree and while I can understand fans being anxious for news and wanting to hear about transfers, I genuinely fail to see how you can interpret 'We are working hard' to be 'clear latency' and afford the club ZERO benefit of any doubt.

They aren't OVERLY concerned. There's a difference. Of course they will want to redress the balance and get back to winning ways, but they'll do that by staying positive and working hard. You're jumping to some pretty big conclusions btw. He did not sound complacent. He didn't make any excuses. He did not criticise the fans. He just recognises that expectation amongst fans has naturally increased but that they as players need to stay focused and not get carried away or panic as a result of the fans' expectations. Oh, and finding fault is the last thing anyone should be doing. Football is not a black and white game. We haven't dropped points solely because someone has done something wrong. It's down to a combination of factors, some more in our control than others, some that could be foreseen, some that couldn't, and much of it down to human factors which can never be fully predicted or influenced to perfection.

Simon Peach just reported on Twitter that we've had loan offers for him, but that NA is holding out for a permanent deal. Quotes from NA too.