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Reply | A cold, wet Saturday afternoon in Stoke – Preview
at 08:48 17 Jan 2026
Ditto for me, if he still refuses to play Sam Field with these injuries. It’ll be irrefutable evidence the club are trying to freeze him out and push him to go somewhere else. I feel that will turn out a mistake. |
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Reply | Stoke breaking scary new ground under Robins – Oppo Profile
at 20:05 15 Jan 2026
Ooof. 9 goals and 6 assists so far for Sorba Thomas. That is some return. Our wingers, take notice.
For how many years now have some of us spoken about trying to sign him? He was available. He was within our ball park price wise. Feels like one of those obvious players we should have signed.
Just looked up. He was dropped from West Ham’s academy at 16, and then played non-league for Boreham Wood until Jan 2021. We really should have picked him up at either of those points if we were on it. Failing that, when Huddersfield were relegated, he stood out as an obvious player to pick off. Shame we didn’t. |
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Reply | Team for Stoke?
at 15:58 15 Jan 2026
With the availability, assuming Mbengue out, it’ll surely be:
Walsh
Dunne Edwards Cook RND
Hayden Madsen Field
Smyth Kone Kolli
However, could be Morgan at right back and Dunne with Edwards at centre half.
Sit deep, play on the counter, and try to nick it. |
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Reply | Traitors UK thread **WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS**
at 22:28 14 Jan 2026
What on earth happened to her?? Think her emotions completely got the better of her. All calm and considered analysis, often accurate. And then it seemed she go “angry”. She bizarrely overestimated her own “evidence”, and was way too confident she could harpoon Rachel. What she delivered was weak. In the cold light of day, surely she can recognise that? The whole kamikaze thing was just ego. There was no need to be so aggressive and rude at breakfast.
It’s hard to work out. I think perhaps she is used to be being the most important or senior voice in the room and became angry that she wasn’t in the traitors and that anger blinded her a bit.
All very strange. |
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Reply | Cat 1. Academy Plans
at 21:28 14 Jan 2026
And the cost won’t impact PSR, as far as I’m aware, and Ruben will, you’d hope, convert it the debt to equity again, so, in effect, it’s basically of no commercial impact to the club. That’s why he’s an owner I would be very wary seeing replaced… |
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Reply | Cat 1. Academy Plans
at 15:05 14 Jan 2026
Does this present the possibility that the Youth team could go by other in the League Cup than the first team? It would be very QPR… |
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Reply | Cat 1. Academy Plans
at 11:56 14 Jan 2026
This feels like excellent news, and way better than being stuck in the relative no man’s land of Cat 2.
This has been a topic of discussion for about a decade. Can anyone remember why we didn’t push for Cat 1 before? It obviously involves more cost. Was Ruben not willing to stump it up before, but is now? Did Hoos not think it was a worthwhile investment before, but now does (or Nourry now does)?
Have they been waiting on something? Nourry’s audit of the club was 2-3 years ago, and the new training ground completed about 3 years ago (roughly). Why not do it then? I’m sure I read somewhere that the business case didn’t stack up, but I can’t remember where. Obviously Brentford have gone down completely the other path.
I think this is excellent news but there’s something I can’t remember properly making me think it’s not quite so black and white. |
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Reply | January transfer rumours
at 11:13 14 Jan 2026
Squad has DEFINITELY improved. But it should do if you spend £25m in 18 months, and only sell Charlie Kelman, Lyndon Dykes, and Sinclair Armstrong.
How do you keep that going though, whilst also retaining enough experience and professionalism in the squad, so it’s not a squad full of young gambles, to ensure the team maintains and improves on field results? Again, I would say your Fitness/Performance function is a key to that, but I’ve made that point.
My frustration is that I agreed with Nourry’s words back in May. It felt like a lesson learnt - we need some experience pros around with which to do the player trading so we have consistency and a few players laying standards down. But now those pros are up for sale…to enable more player trading.
Balance. I say it all the time. Not every player in the team/squad can be a signing to sell, a signing on potential, a signing who hasn’t done it at this level yet. You need to some meat and potatoes in there, that are reliable and experienced at this level, who you don’t sell, and age at the club, helping to bring on the high potential players. [Post edited 14 Jan 11:14]
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Reply | January transfer rumours
at 10:05 14 Jan 2026
So what you’re both saying is the squad building/management has been somewhat messy, and, because of all the money we have spent, we may need to sell some reliable, “good sort” bench players (starters in the recent past), with years of good service, on long term deals, for relatively little.
Wonderful. That sound strategic…
I refer people back to Nourry’s comments when he extended Field onto this massive deal last May.
He talked about how he’d secured the long term futures of the spine of the side now: JCS, Field, Chair, around which they could build with new, high potential signings, and young players. He then re-signed Dunne a month or two later. He spoke of their commitment to the project.
Now, actually, we need to sell some of them, because the bets placed on the £25m of new signings haven’t yet come off - in that we might not be able to sell any of them this summer, or not sell enough - so actually, some of that spine needs to be shifted too. And if you shift the likes of Field can’t replace with more U24s for risk of the team/squad becoming unbalanced. You do need some experience on the pitch. People who organise and do the donkey work off the ball.
I’m sorry. It’s not strategic. It’s flying by the seat of your pants stuff.
I absolutely get that things change in football and in business.
But just like the game model (all hot and heavy, and public about it, to ditching it, allowing the Head Coach to play his own system, and start referring to it as some broad concept in the ether), this is another major thing on the playing side where we’re completely pivoting from what the CEO/DOF himself said less than a year ago. Why? Because we need it to fund his rampant desire to play Football Manager in real life.
I’m sure people will think I’m being unfair. Perhaps I am. But it feels an awful lot like he’s making up the approach as he goes along. |
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Reply | January transfer rumours
at 09:23 14 Jan 2026
Where are those figures from?
I’d be very surprised if Field (and Dunne) aren’t on a lot more than £8k per week. Both have had recent long term contract extensions which will have come with salary rises. My guess is your 1.2m figure is half what it could be.
An experienced squad player on £8k a week would actually be decent value. But I get the point that someone on double that wouldn’t be.
What does this say about Isaac Hayden though? Potentially on similar money and 4-5 years older… Yet the club proactively signed him this season. Doesn’t seemed aligned or consistent as a strategy.
My issue is that I don’t think he should be a squad player. I think he should be starting, so I’d keep him.
But it’s clear they have been trying to force him out.
I don’t think there is a load of strategy or long term thinking at play with regards to who we sell.
We need to sell, given everything we have spent, some of our players won’t get any interest due to time left on their contract, age, form, injuries, so we’ll get what we can for the rest.
Dunne and Field are 28/27 and contracted for another 3.5 years most likely, so we have some leverage if there is interest. The issue, if there isn’t much interest, is we’ll have to give them away to get the salaries off the books, which is where the approach fails. |
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Reply | threadbare squad
at 15:08 13 Jan 2026
Excellent post.
I understand what Nix is saying with regards to context, in terms of football in general changing, and some other clubs having similar or worse situations than us.
However, I think the context you provide regards Williams’ stint at the Nets, coupled with our injury record and conditioning both last season and this (I’m focussing on the first team only here), does also provide relevant context on him.
Do we have the best “Performance” (Fitness, Medical, Physio) lead we could have? Are his methods actually working? Remember he was ex-cycling before coming to us. He’s implemented a method and approach from that sphere, so we are bucking the trend to gain an advantage. Are we though? Do his methods work? Brooklyn Nets appeared not to think so and dispensed with his services after one , injury hit, season.
As I have posted before, in a Player Trading strategy, where you’re amortising transfer fees to allow you to place more bets and sign more players up front, keeping those assets fit is absolutely critical. No one’s value goes up when they are injured. The model simply cannot allow us to have a middling to bad injury record in the first team AND be amortising such amounts (for a club of our income).
Given that, and given how we hold Head Coaches accountable, why would we not explore trying to replace him with someone better? On the evidence we have, it doesn’t seem like it’s likely we’d replace with someone who would produce worse results, so what does the club have to lose?
I understand Nourry and Williams are very close, but surely Nourry wouldn’t die in a ditch over Williams if his methods torpedo Nourry’s Player Trading model.
Replacing your Performance Lead shouldn’t be a big deal. |
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Reply | Kolli
at 22:21 11 Jan 2026
Really don’t think that is the case.
He’s widely considered a nice lad. And after the incident with you know who at the training ground several of the players consoled him when he was visibly upset. |
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Reply | Kolli
at 20:26 11 Jan 2026
Kolli stood out to me.
He had the touch and technical ability to make it in the Prem. Today was a big moment for him and the club. He showed he has it.
At 20, he is a serious asset for the club, especially in our player trading/amortisation model.
Regardless of whether Koki is here, we need to be playing Kolli week in week out.
He needs games, experience and nurturing.
If he played most of next season and picked up 10 goals and 5-6 assists, at 21, we’d be looking at 10-20m in the current market for him.
Lots of “ifs” there, but we have to try to make that happen. Egos need parking and pride swallowing for the good of the club. [Post edited 11 Jan 20:28]
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Reply | Fourth Round Here We Come Match Thread
at 13:43 11 Jan 2026
Field and Smyth would be in my best XI.
Struggle with the logic of picking Hayden over Field when the latter is under contract for 4 years on a high salary (coupled with everything he’s given the club over the last 3-4 seasons), whereas the former is on a short term deal and is about 5 years older…unless of course they are trying to freeze Field out. |
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Reply | Sell Jon Varane ?
at 12:54 10 Jan 2026
This is a bit of a straw man. Around me, Pu, there are quite a few who don’t rate Varane. Against Wednesday there were audible groans around the ground when he did his slow 4 touch 360 turn before laying it off backwards a couple of times. The Varane song also died a death when it was started up. It’s hardly a case he’s loved at the ground and hated on here. Some people, as is evidenced in this thread like him. And he has played some great games. But his form at the minute isn’t good. He doesn’t seem to be improving at all.
Equally, lots of astute posters on here really rate Kolli. Again, don’t think it’s the case at all that he gets bashed on here but loved in the ground. I think he’s pretty popular on here. Most want to see him given a run now Burrell is injured.
£5m is a great price for a central midfielder we paid c. £1m for 18 months ago, who isn’t showing any signs of improving this season. Field is better than Varane defensively, certainly tracks runners far better, and breaks up play better IMO. We also have Hayden who can play there. Selling won’t weaken the side and we need to sell to make this Player Trading/Amortisation model work. It is what it is. We’ll have to sell regularly. |
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Reply | RND - Whats occurring ??
at 19:59 9 Jan 2026
I think he’s much better than 6/10 most weeks. I also think he’s significantly better than Bidwell or Wallace or Paal. I really do. Best left back we have had for a very long time. Physically he’s meets the needs of modern football too.
The issues are a) his injury record, and b) at 26 he’ll have limited resale value.
Now, I’m a believer that you have to balance signings between the “will turn a profit” and “make today’s team better” camps. He certainly fits the latter.
All that said, I’d probably say £1m is fair deal.
Problem is, I suspect Utd will want him and play him. He was highly rated before he missed two seasons. He’s done well for us. I doubt they’d sell him on the cheap. |
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Reply | January transfer rumours
at 17:38 9 Jan 2026
Yep. Would bite your hand off for £5m (up front). Be mad not to sell. |
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Reply | January transfer rumours
at 13:47 9 Jan 2026
Well, indeed. If the only rumour is about someone being interested in him for less than we paid, it’s a non-starter, isn’t it? |
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