Ric Flair

" It’s expected that the three-man attacking line behind Jamie Vardy will be formed by Bilal El Khannouss centrally and then Kasey McAteer and Jordan Ayew wide. " You couldn't gas light me anymore if you tried Leicester.

My requirements are very clear. Must be willing to bring through academy players as a number one priority, even if it risks short term success. Likewise have a philosophy and ideally a track record of building a side of young players, improving them and raising significant funds to reinvest and grow. A lot of this needs to be the mandate from the top of the club as much as the managers natural ideals but if there is a manager fixated on that like for example Enzo is wedded to his particular philosophy then I'd be 100% on board. I'm trying to do some research for such candidates. @Claudio Fannieri suggestion of Muslic at Plymouth is one of the best shouts I've heard all season. He ticks a lot of the above boxes, he did a lot of this at Cercle Brugge.

Yeah perhaps there's an explanation, there's a few more too. Stuart Armstrong 33 Nathaniel Chalobah 30 I'm just nervous we get yet another manager not brave enough to do what's needed.

But they already had an ageing and experienced squad and he has opted to add more. Like we did and Cooper added to it. Saying Rohl has signed a few young players as well is the same as saying Cooper did, but was a coward when it came to playing them. Them having minimal money doesn't mean signing experience was the only option, I'd argue the opposite. Rohl would need a very good explanation as to why he'd be suited to a rebuild here where we need to bring through half a dozen academy players and other young players. He's not an obvious fit.

You need them to be aligned though and follow the mandate. You also need them to have the bra ery to develop young players.

Which should see younger players signed on loan or picked up from bigger clubs on frees. It's a concerning pattern.

If so, even more of a red flag on the signings made which are the majority older experienced players. I'd want him to explain why he's done what he's done.

Would absolutely love him here and feel like he's got a 5+ year stint at a club in him. A builder.

Yeah we've proven that doesn't matter what success, however much of an outlier it is, we seem to be a magnet for unsustainability. This way of thinking by the current owners/board is quite possibly another reason for them to realise they're time is up and changes must occur.

Wow this week has been my first week in a while where I'm majorly struggling. Hay-fever has scuppered me getting up early every day so I've felt like my motivation for running has fell off a cliff. Went out to do a speed session at lunch yesterday and thankfully my watch wasn't recording the distance on the warm up so having realised after 15 mins, I just then did another 7km steady run. Legs are tired from last week and the heat I need to get used to again. Will try and get out tonight for a skirmish and then planning to do the Bosworth half marathon route this weekend ahead of the race there the following Sunday. I am determined to plan for any hills after what Kettering did to me in my quest to go 1hr 45 or below 😂

Are you sure?

The Championship has proven in recent years that overwhelmingly it's the clubs with the biggest budget or the progressive manager that prevails. Whilst Farke, Parker and possibly Wilder lead their clubs to promotion this season, it's the parachute payments as much as their experience. The year before Maresca, McKenna and Martin got promotion with minimal experience so you'd hope we realise that promotion should be more likely than not but only if we get our act together and appointing managers proven to be poor in the PL over a progressive but untested manager wouldn't be laying down the foundations for long term building. At this stage all I want is a manager who will be brave to build a young squad, in particular with a nucleus from our academy and his side play with pace and aggression.

Haha I've unpicked it. Matt Elliott's daughter, previously married to Matt Mills.

Freddy Woodman as competition for Stolarczyk would actually be very good business, although he's supposedly going Man Utd to be their 3rd choice keeper.

Gary Mills

Seemed to be concrete interest for him in January and a mooted release clause in his renewed contract signed last summer. That figure is likely to be different to the relegation release clause. So if Atletico for example wanted him in January but weren't willing to pay his release clause (higher than £9m) maybe them or another club would be back interested for a lower amount. I'm confident someone will activate that.

Get on the Muslic from Plymouth train with me and @Claudio Fannieri

It's been Brussell Martin since May 2023 when they first flirted with him. There's an inevitability stronger than gravity.

He doesn't even have to make th3 decision yet. Can't sign a pro deal with any club until 10th July 2026. Yes, he will benefit I'm sure from the moment he opts to leave us and go to a bigger club but it won't be to the magnitude of what he's in line for the year after. He could wait to see what happens over the next year knowing he will play a large chunk of games in the Championship which he won't get a sniff in the PL for a year or two and that's being generous.

@CosbehFox HEREWEGO

Just been reading further. Ueda got sold and he just turned Denkey in to a beast instead. It's the proven track record of a young squad, bringing through players from their academy and signing young players too. Olaigbe he got for a nominal fee and has since gone to Rennes and looks to be a superstar in the making. Now we've badly been let down by Cooper and RvN who you could say did similar at previous clubs but it's still the profile of manager I want our club to be targeting and demanding that's their ethos.

And Kristiansen has gone on to be revolting once again for us and undoing any improvement on his potential on the continent, whilst Yunus has gone back to Gala been deployed more on the left than previous and ripped it up this season. Whilst it'll never be as appalling as opting not to sign Lookman for £13m. The £6m or whatever it was really stings, will likely be less outlay on the books in 24/25 than the Bounanotte loan.

Interesting shout this pal. You look at the young players he had at Cercle Brugge and it fits with the type of manager we might require if we're serious about rebuilding via bringing through our academy talent and recruiting some lesser known players as we look to move the high earners on. I'm going to do some more research on him. I've kept an eye on their results in recent months and can't help but be impressed given how heinous Rooney was.

It's not out the realms of possibility he has to be sold before the end of June/the summer. All depends if we're a) facing a PSR breach for 24/25 without significant sales or b) facing problems evidencing complying for 25/26 and need to front load our attempts to comply. He's a £40-50m player in the making but you look through this squad and scratch your head as to where we can even turn £10-20m profit on anyone other than Hermansen and that's quite possibly not enough. Sickening.

Yeah, we should have signed him under Maresca but definitely last summer under Cooper. Stupidity.