Fuber

He's one of those players, ala Skuse and Cisse, where you notice when he's not there. He's disciplined, knows the game well, cuts off passing lanes, and plays the simple passes - not as expansive as Naismith - but mentally mu h more switched on and less prone to errors, Every team needs that 7/10 man in midfield, in the Cotts side it was Korey - and we missed having one under LJ when Korey was out and Pack was sold. Fact of the matter is, if you have a deep lying midfielder in a three, and the opposition struggle to play through you and fail to score, but more importantly only have one shot on target? 8/10. Every time.

Are there any Academy players that could make the step up as cover? I.e. Omar Taylor-Clarke, or Jamie Knight-Lebel?

Nope. Not taking another risk with injuries again imo. Wells I could understand due to his availability.

It doesn't kill my argument - it supports it and is quite literally my main point. SL gets equal blame along with Jon, MA, and LJ, I've never stated I don't include SL as accountable as I thought that was a given - I'm very critical of his role in all this as well as his general running of the club. The buck stops with LJ, for me, simply due to the fact the latter can simply have said he no longer needed players, if he was being overridden in his role of manager then he should have resigned - it's quite literally that straight forward if he has/had any integrity on the assumption that was the situation. So for my view of LJ, and this is purely my opinion not fact - he loses face for myself in either situation. My point is that we were reliant on just one or two transfers - but we were relying on keeping that up. Before Semenyo's emergence the last twelve months and Pearson blooding the like of Vyner, Scott, Pring, and others, we were in the proverbial shitter. With regards to a chairman whose message was - 'sustainability' - from the outside in, I view it as utter incompetence and stupidity when contrasting that with the club accounts. For example, we would of needed net transfers profit of £10m per annum to keep anywhere near FFP guidelines, never mind being self-sustaining under the strategy. Demand from outside can not be managed or assumed - ergo its a high exposure risk that should not have been undertaken in that setting. You must reinvest wisely and not blow huge fees out for that system to work, including wages, to emulate the likes of Brentford which is what we in effect needed to do, between academy players, free agents', loans, and a good scouting network getting value for money where possible. The fact that the previous scouting setup was loyal to MA and not the club, speaks greater volumes than anything else. There was nothing sustainable about that period, so no quarter should be given for such. SL is bankrolling his own ****-ups currently, appointing both MA and LJ, and we're in the climax of the storm in terms of weathering the impact of it. Doubt there was one, Nepotism at its finest with zero checks in place to balance actions from the top.

We were if it wasn't for the inflated Webster fees - literally the only reason, we're currently only under it now thanks to NP and Gould. If LJ/MA had kept wages around the 16/17 margin of £20-21m mark, we would have had a wages to turnover ratio of circa 80% and would have been partially sustainable. Only reason why it never happened under early LJ and the Cotts era was due to the stadium revamp capping turnover up to £12-14m, which we were allowed allowances for. If you apply a wage cap of £23m, i e. Up to a 10% increase, between 17-19 would have been sustainable. Not bloating that to £33mpa - which even the likes of Tomlin and Szmodics etc contribute towards as irrespective of breaking even on the transfer fees we still had to pay their wages. The sheer turnover of playing staff was stupidity. Irrespective of it being LJ or MAs responsibility. LJ doesn't help himself when he himself coined the clubs in bag tagline. It was an idiotic strategy that if not for SL would have had us in utter financial peril. Ergo it was never sustainable.

No we were not. As fees received were never guaranteed. On a simple turnover versus playing wages comparison, we were over.

The spending wasn't the problem - the wage spending exacerbated by the bloated squad was, still is, and remains the issue. Fact of the matter is we're in the hole now entirely due to LJs clubs in bags approach, for every good deal - Brownhill, Webster; there is countless others that didn't work, Engvall, Djuric, Adelakun, Szmodics, Eisa, Hegeler, Marinovic, Rodri, Kent, Giefer, Palmer among others.

Only at the backing of £45m in transfer fees and 110% increase in wages. By comparison. Cotts only spent £3m the one window he had. And the former only worked thanks to fees we received for Kodjia, among others.

Anybody could see the wage spending was becoming comical. If LJ didn't, then that's on him. He had dverything he could need at his disposal, he was just a very poor manager. No squad building ability, no singular style of play, no man management, no common sense. He's a decent coach. But that was it. Should never have been our manager. If we had someone like McCarthy or Pearson in charge over that same period (16-19), we would have at least a couple play off finishes. They'd have streamlined the squad, told Ashton to bugger off, and had a backbone, and at least have a set tactic.

By all accounts, my cousin is a Reading fan (poor bastard). In his own words, "Dave Kitson is a c**k".

Does make sense and was the reason for the my suggestion. Thought it may have already been changed to such and missed it. Make more sense now I think about with regards to Kelly's fee and the impact on our FFP outlook when that's outside frame of reference for the calculation. Was not, however, aware of the first point under current rules.

Depends how we take into account the impact of Covid on championship players values in the context of the exposure championship clubs suffered in the same period, while considering strikers tend to be worth more. If I was in City's position, I'd look at spread fees which would be more of a help longer term with FFP. So something akin to £8m up front plus £5m across the next 32 months, with further £1m if Bournemouth avoid relegation from EPL otherwise appearance based clauses, and a standard 10-20% sell-on-profit.

Not sure I agree with this Nick. I think LJs view was very much "I know how to setup to counter X team", he even coined the clubs in bag terminology. Then considering how his reign ended, I've also not known another manager having so many rumours of dressing room unrest during their time in charge. I actually think LJ distances himself too much from the squad - especially how he wouldn't even explain decisions to players per the Fielding interview. Eventually - that's what got him sacked.

Correct - I should have amended that all were established under Cotts, not signed by him. Error on my part. Both Freeman and Ayling were signed by Cotts, and sold by LJ for Peanuts or let go for free, and improved once correctly utilised by other clubs at our level - at the time.

That's the remit of every manager at this level - parachute payments aside. Most of his best players that he sold, he didn't even sign. Flint, Pack, Kodjia, Bryan, and Reid all had come through or were signed under Cotts. He gets credit for improving them - as I said he's a decent coach. But his weakness is squad building and man-management. Which are vital in this league. Only of the players signed under his reign sold at a profit I believe we're Brownhill who he knew from Barnsley, and Webster.

Wasn't he subbed off first half for Dolan? Then the latter ripped us apart. May be miss-remembering.

On the pitch sure. But as manager, he even said he had sign off on transfers and left us a bloated tragic mess. Him, MA, and SL were an unmitigated disaster financially that ruined any prospective of future building - irrespective of Covid. If it was NP, getting no shots on target with a squad of that value, he'd be given the P45 at the final wistle as soon as it happened. For contrast, current squad fees are - Academy, Academy, £1.6m, Free, 300k, £100k (Compensation), Academy, Free, £2m (LJ), £4m (LJ), Academy. LJs squad at a time in 18/19, on paper, was worth fees of up to £42m. And that's ignoring that player wage increases year on year to over and beyond our turnover. All of LJs progression was sheer forced improvement of the tools he had via increasing overheads without even getting rid of the deadwood he replaced. Id usually point the finger squarely at MA. However, LJ seems to be at it again at Hibs, 30 players he's used, in 6 months. For contrast, St Mirren, in fifth, have used 22 players. He's an OK Coach, but a horrific manager in that he's doesnt have a set system and focuses on countering the opposition through a range of differing ideas, massively over complicating player instructions, leading to a lack of clear identity on the pitch. We saw it time and again, game after game. Once the luck runs out, and his teams lose the small margins, the bad runs starts and he struggled horrifically to recover from them. The second he finds a system that works, he sticks with it until it stutters, and rather than adapt it, starts from scratch again and again until he finds one that works, rinse and repeat. He'll be sacked from Hibs before the end of the season. Apologies for the rant, but I think a few people are really rose tinting the cup run season and misremembering some of the utter squalor from the following two seasons, Webster's mazy dribbles aside.

It's an odd one. Agent fees mostly come from bonuses rather than retainer, so its oddly the opposite. Just strange as it's not something you usually see. Is it possible that Nige just wants to see the project through, and after a turbulent time with Covid last season, maybe the agent - who may have a good rapport with Nige, just wants to him to succeed? Alternatively, Nige was debating retirement after this job iirc, so maybe simply wants to keepretainer fee on his books.

Agreed, square peg round hole. Didn't suite the system. But that was also down to the manager not really having a system in the first place. Not sure you can blame the player for that. Fammy was never a pressing forward, and he was very inconsistent when the ball was played into him, agreed. However, there's a reason Wells' is having to play that role and not TC in the current setup. Conway is a poacher, his actual link up play, in my opinion, isn't as good as Fammy, in my opinion. He can get bullied and disappear too easily from games - there's a reason he went through a spell 7-8 games in when he started getting hooked as he became a bystander. He is, however, as per my previous point, young and inexperienced, which isn't a problem as long as he's able to adapt and learn. As for the bit in bold, sure - but what what was said teams squad composition like? We, as a comparison, are horrific in that metric with regards to aerial duels overall - and that comes down to recruitment, which as has been discussed, is where Pearson's hands are tied to just free agents and academy graduates. Not disbuting that Conway is arguably the better player. But as a squad, I know who on paper would be more useful in our situation.

Agreed. Althought I'd temper that and say, I dedinateky think with regards to Williams, injuries have likely had an impact, same with DaSilva. Ashton appointing Rolls was one of the most damaging actions the former undertook imo. No coincidence that Hamstring injuries are appearing at Ipswich.

In pure goalscoring terms, sure. And as much as I can't believe I'm saying this, Fammy was a weapon when it came to defending his own box. The latter was also great for us in enabling us to mix play. He was stronger than Tommy and better aerially, which meant you could more easily play it into him from deep, and not as slow as Martin, so you could still play it into the channel. For the above reasons, for me, with our current imbalance with regards to height, and weakness to set pieces, I'd have Fammy back in pretty sharpish. Enabling the likes of Bell to go out on loan.

We still have less coaches in the current team than what LJ had at any point. Former had two assistants. No reason not to have more than 2 coaches.

It ain't. For me, anyway. Should NP be doing better, yep. However, comparing squads - I'd be shocked anyone can look at them and say our squad now is stronger. Johnson had numerous experienced professionals and way more depth, too much even. Now we have none, and NP has bled more academy players in the past 12 months than LJ did in 36. At the time Lee was sacked, he'd won once in 11. Yes, the likes of Scott, Conway, are likely better than Paterson and others. But they are not, nor should they be expected - to be as consistent, as we saw Boxing Day. The likes of Maenpaa, Diedhiou, Benkovic, even Pedro Pereira - walk into this team. Over the likes of Bentley, Conway, Vyner, Tanner, etc. They were also then on double the likes of Atkinson's current wages now. Ultimately, the only point that matters is the lack of available investment in the playing squad, and no matter how its framed, that rests squarely with the Lansdowns ownership of the club.

His record has been atrocious his last few clubs.

Instead of the same names being banded about - how about going the European route, ala Kompany, Wagner, Farke, etc?