the_mighty_bosh

Don't you mean Stuart Elliot from Hull?

IMO there needs to be wage capping in some form, trouble is that I don't know how it can realistically be done.

For a minute there I thought we might see Kes & Bes up front on Saturday.

Hopefully if he's set up with another club then the pay off won't be very big. Tops the list of being Shez's worst signing though!

Bad news. As he's injured he can't play for us even if we want him to and now teams are going to be put off buying him permenantly until the summer so we'll be paying his supposed big wages.

I've been pleasantly surprised when I've seen Rubes play coz his past record with other clubs isn't all that promising. But unfortunately I don't see him having as much impact as Trotters did for two reasons; lack of height and he's not as technically gifted as Trotters on the ground. Don't get me wrong I've been impressed by him and I'm certainly happy having him start alongside Stam at centre back but he won't completely fill the void left by Trotters.

Very disappointed to see him go as, behind Fitz Hall, he's the best Centre Back I've seen at Latics since I started following us. But the club got the deal just right with the £500k up front, appearance bonuses and, most importantly, the sell on clause so well done to all involved. Finally, cheers Neal for the way you played for the short time you were in the first team and best of luck fulfilling the fantastic potential you have!

I'm in the same boat mate. £750K is fantastic money for our level but with the potential he has he could either be the cornerstone of this team's future success and promotions or he could be sold on for lot more in a year or two. With the immediate fee I would mind so much if we only sold him for £500K as long as we put either 15% or 20% sell on clause in the deal because in the long run I'm convinced we'll get more money that way.

If he is a creative midfielder and has signed with a view to a permanent move then I'm impressed. If not, then why have we signed yet another central midfielder??

I think the club MUST offer Trotters a new deal, if he rejects it then IMO we should sell for no less than £500k up front with a 20% sell on clause.

I agree, but both sides of the argument have been done to death now. On a different note, from now until Jan 1 2009 for every post match interview that Colin W**ker DOESN'T blame the officials after his team loses I will give £1 to a charity of OWTB's choice. Anyone care to join me?

Obviously I would never lose faith in Latics. But like many have said I would become disillusioned if we go back to square one YET AGAIN by letting Shez go.

FFS! It's not the truth! It's your opinion!

Exactly.

Terrible news. I am a big fan of TTA are doing and I can see their way of thinking after Portergate but we should have at the very least offered him a deal! Also £350K for a player the potential Trotman has is scandalous! We really shouldn't be in a situation where we are selling our best players for relatively small amounts of money like this, most of all this doesn't make business sense because the chances are that Trotman is going to get even better, either sell him on at a higher price or keep him to help us push up the league next season which, again the chances are, he would do. I'm fast losing optimism for our promotion chances for next season if we're selling all our top young talents! I expect that Eardley may be gone soon.

A blind man on a galloping horse you say? What position and how much?

Nothing to do with the players then?

Good Point.

IIRC Moore gave Vernon the 3 year deal with every intention of using him the following season, but once the opportunity to sign Wellens came around and we weren't willing to pay the £100K Vernon was offered instead of the cash. Also in response to the suggestion of a front 3 of Scotty, Hughesy and Davies I don't think it would happen. We have very rarely moved away from 4-4-2 since Shez took over even when we've had the chance to so there's nothing to suggest that we would do so if Vernon signed for us. 1 of the 3 would drop to the bench IMO.

I put £1m+ for Chrissy T simply because I think we shouldn't be looking to sell any of our young prospects. However, we could do worse than having Vernon competing with Hughes and Davies.

Totally agree. If we can get into the playoffs with the team as it is then brilliant, but realistically we should be looking to complete the team in the January and Summer transfer windows and be ready for a promotion push next season. The most important thing we need to do is to keep the current group of players together, no-one should be allowed to leave unless we get some ridiculous offers, meaning that offering Trotman a new deal should be our top priority. After that we should look to add 5 players before early August... A new 1st choice 'keeper (for next season, Crossley won't be 1st choice and I doubt that Pogs will be favoured) Left-footed Left Back Left-footed Winger Creative Central Midfielder Striker (preferably a target man) who will add competition for Hughes and Davies. Tbh I wouldn't mind too much if we don't bring any players in this month as long as we fill the named positions above in the summer. It will be easier to pick up players in the summer and prices are often higher for players this month anyway and we are not in a position to gamble on next season's success by going flat out for promotion this season.

Surely this is rubbish?! If somehow this did happen it would be terrible! All plans of stability would go out the window!

True his record is tough to argue against as we aren't conceding many goals and today he made some really great saves, but as worrying as this may sound I feel much more confident when we have Pogs in goal. Luckily for Crossley in areas other than shot-stopping he gets a lot of help from his defence, he is surprisingly quiet for someone with the experience he has.

Brilliant commentary... "and it's goal number 16 this season, for DARREN BECKFORD!"