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If new owners were to show ambition and really go for it, the onus falls on the recruitment team to get it right. We can’t afford to have the reckless clubs-in-the-bag approach of LJ and Ashton again. If we’re to increase costs significantly, we must go either gain promotion to the PL and get the riches that come with it or at the very least not allow record purchases like Fam, Kalas, Palmer or Dasilva to leave without any return on investment.

Agreed, and it baffled me that when Roberts came on it was to play LW, rather than slot him in at LB and push Pring forward. Bell consistently doesn’t do enough for me. He needs to offer a lot more than a good press, but that’s supposedly what he’s in the team for.

Thanks, I knew there was one I missed. Either way, we had enough golden chances to have won that game comfortably IMO.

I’m not sure the pass was on for Cornick, the angle was narrowing, but he scores that if lifts it. Sykes did well, as did most of them. Not MOTM for me after blazing that sitter over the bar.

Sykes had to score, Williams had to score, Cornick had to score. At least Connelly forced a decent save out of Max.

Good performance, but two points dropped for me. Sykes, Williams and Cornick all failed to take golden chances to win it. Knight looked superb and Naismith’s vision helps.

No idea. Either way, it’s a total joke he’s left it that long to put his flag up. It’s like he had someone in his ear, maybe Linnington on mic or a Hull fan; definitely not VAR!

Gutted for Nahki. Looked to me like a) the deflection came off a Hull player and he looked well on when the shot came in, and b) he’s in a borderline position when he taps it in. That linesman is a complete joke

Woeful finishing from Sykes and now Williams. Good spell for us, got to make it count

***** me off how much quality Hull have got. They sold Lewis-Porter last summer for less than we sold Scott for and their new owners showed some ambition and splashed the cash. No surprise they look look in control after a bright start.

Decent start early on, especially from the two CBs, but why do I get the feeling Twine’s going score a screamer tonight?

I’d be more excited if Lansdown was leaving. That would release the shackles.

It’s down to two decades of unambitious ownership IMHO. Look back to 07/08, top at Christmas in a pre-FFP era and crying out for a goalscorer and he didn’t gamble. Cotts’ double-winning team of 15/16 had the nucleus of a competitive squad, deals were agreed for Maguire and Gray only for him to pull the plug while Cotts was on holiday. And now, eight years on, we’re free of FFP and have some cash to spent yet he still keeps a tight reign on the purse strings. I could understand that if it was a consistent strategy over 20+ years, but LJ’s spending spree flies in the face of that. The buck stops with SL.

SL uses deflection very well; he’s never taken any responsibility for his own cock-ups in more than two decades. I would put money on him telling Nige privately something like you can only have 10% of the Scott cash but they have to fit in our wage structure, only to blame him when the shit hits the fan despite Nige always saying he will only sign players who are better than we’ve got. Classic SL.

New owners of our club need genuine ambition first and foremost We’ve had more than 20 years of mediocrity, hot air and constant changes in direction. One minute it’s the five pillars, the next it’s copy Swansea; no, Brighton; make that Brentford; nope, Luton. SL always casts envious glances in the direction of similar-sized or smaller clubs who’ve left us behind and he never looks at anything other than budgets, stripping out any other context for their success (see his latest interview and comparing us to Luton for an example of that). I have said for well over a decade that SL knows absolutely nothing about on-the-pitch matters. He’s a nepotist. “My mate Lee can have the keys to the kingdom, but not the experienced Nige or the successful Cotts… Jon will be a safe successor, look at the commercial success of the badge and the kit.” If we don’t spend some of the Scott cash on at least one player of proven quality before the window closes, I hope others vent at SL.

Neither do I; I don’t think we’ll sign anyone. But, those are the positions we need to strengthen in and Iversen is an upgrade on O’Leary IMO, which fits the profile of the type of player Nige wants.

We need to strengthen the entire spine of the side IMO - GK (Iversen’s available), CB - (Kalas?), AMC - (?), ST (?) - but I don’t think we’ll sign anyone.

Naismith signed in June 2022, not 2023, on a free! Plus I’ve said I’m talking transfer fees in this calendar year. I give up.

Read my post again: I clearly referred to transfer fees only (not signing-on fees etc) and in the calendar year (2023), as that is when Semenyo and Scott were sold. @Fubermade the point originally, so you might want to check where he got his figures, but by my reckoning he ain’t far wrong — Mehmeti (£1m), Cornick (£300k), McCrorie (£2m), Dickie (£600k), Roberts (free), Knight (£2m) — so an estimated total £5.9m. Whether it’s £5m or £6m spent is neither here nor there; my point was it’s still bugger all of the transfer fees we’ve received this year and more funds (either wages or transfer fees) should be available after Scott’s sale IMO.

You and I both. I can smell the bullshit now: “Lee has a proven track record of managing in Europe…” ignoring the context he also lost to an Andorran minnow! ?

It’s pretty clear we are recruiting players who a) have potential and we can develop to sell on for a profit, and b) will fit into our strict wage structure. That limits who we can realistically target and clips the wings of the recruitment team IMO. Generally, we’ve done that pretty well. As someone else said, Nige has generated £35m in transfer fees in 2023 and spent about £5m so I’m not sure that’s a fair stick to bash the recruitment team with. But I share the frustrations that we should be aiming higher, and that’s down to SL loosening the purse strings.

True, but that still doesn’t come close to the £35m net profit we’ve taken this calendar year and yet we’ve reinvested a small fraction of that, compared to Brum.

Nail on the head. That’s the depressing reality of the situation under SL. Push the boat out under a rookie, get an experienced manager to steady the ship only to sell our best players and not replace them with any proven quality. It beggars belief IMO. If we have a strict wage structure - fine. But surely that £25m from Scott might allow us to raise that ceiling without being stupid or repeating the mistakes of LJ/Ashton? It seems to me that SL doesn’t want to spend, and we have to spend to replace quality players.

And that rang out very true. As predicted, Bell didn’t do enough for me again, I was disappointed in Mehmeti, and I’m struggling to see what Cornick offers beyond a long throw. Birmingham look a good side, though, and I expect them to be there or thereabouts this season. They’ve got rid of 13 players for £5.5m and replaced them with nine new signings for £4.7m. While our season won’t be defined on today, we need to sign proven quality at this level before the window shuts IMO.

I don’t doubt that we will try to win; I simply think their XI looks stronger than our XI - and that’s why I’d take a point. Hopefully I’m wrong.