Claudio Fannieri

I think the issue is if he does answer that talks have taken place, it leads to further questions, so in this instance the clubs media/PR team have maybe suggested that the silence route, whilst not necessarily putting the club in the best possible light, it does keep the questions down to the bare minimum regards RVN’s future

Makes me smile, Ruud is clearly being communicated to regards these 3 players signing new contracts but at no time has the discussion moved on to his own future. I still don’t buy this story that he doesn’t know or hasn’t had a conversation about his own future.

****ing horrible to still see Faee and Soumare in the starting XI looks like Ndidi and Bilal are off maybe being protected for early sales.

To a young manager on the up in his career we would still be an attractive proposition especially as there will be some level of rebuild and focus on promoting some of the talented academy players coming through, which is why I think Richie Wellens, Miron Muslic or Danny Röhl would all be attainable and would jump at the opportunity but still be very progressive and ambitious appointments who offer a really high ceiling. The problem is Top’s obsession with playing like Man City and our managers having to have some level of premier league experience means the pool we fish in is becoming smaller and less inspiring each time we need to appoint a new man.

I see what you are saying but you honestly believe that Top and Rudkin just keep ignoring Ruud and not speaking to him and yet numerous media outlets are reporting he is leaving at the end of the season and will be replaced and yet Ruud is completely in the dark to it all, I just don’t buy it at all.

If we can shift on Coady and replace with Chris Mepham then even better

Jakub JJ Coady Okoli Thomas Ndidi Skipp Monga Bilal McAteer Evans Subs Iversen Riccy P Aluko Faes Braybrooke Cartwright Facundo Golding Daka

The more I think about it the more I think this whole I know nothing routine is an agreed position that he and the club are hiding behind until the season concludes. The only other responses he can give is the truth which is I am out on my ear as soon as the whistle blows on Sunday and that starts a whole new line of uncomfortable questioning. I honesty think the club has already agree the terms of his departure and this response to this line of questioning is part of the settlement agreement. Honestly I don’t believe a bar of it that he has no idea what is happening, I think his departure will be announced on Monday /Tuesday.

I think it was more that the club couldn’t/wouldn’t offer Vards a new contract on anything like the wages he can command with us dropping back in to the championship.

I will keep saying it until I am blue in the face but Richie Wellens or Miron Muslic for me

Shame we couldn’t get him and Wellens in a double deal

I think the very fact this is now starting to leak out means we have already agreed everything in principle with our 1st choice, and it’s just a case of letting Sunday play out, announce Ruud has left and then I think the new man will formally be in place ready to go within the week. This is more about PR, it’s not a good look to have a new manager announced whilst the current incumbent is still formally in the role.

You could say that about every single manager, most are wedded to a ‘style’ Dyche included. None of us have been party to the conversations with Martin, so we don’t know how his experiences in the premier league will impact his ideals moving forward.

Russell Martin ain’t my first choice by a long way, and yes he had an horrific time of it in the premier league with Southampton, but we are going to be back in the championship, he is still only 39 years old so his potential ceiling is still pretty high, hopefully we will benefit from him learning from past mistakes and he brings a style that is not just possession based but also durable and effective. He is one who will bring through younger players so it at least makes sense that we can build on our academy prospects. As I have said not my preferred option but given where we are, it makes some sense and he is available, and it isn’t a massive step change away like it would have been appointing someone like Dyche. I am luke warm to him which I suppose is better than being ice cold which is where i am with Dyche. If appointed I will back him and hope he is successful.

I really like him, he is committed, hard working and would run through a brick wall for our club, whilst he isn’t tricks and that technically gifted, he is an effective and athletic player and we need a balance. He is a very good squad player has he is very adaptable and versatile, he could play full back, either wing, centre midfield and I also agree I think he could a job as a striker.

😂 Joking aside though what it does show is how bad we are at making critical judgements, whilst we may have been just above the drop zone, the club must have known at the time that we would not be spending substantial money in the January transfer window, it was inevitable without investment and given the injuries at that point in the season we were more likely to struggle than push on. Yet again further evidence of the club continually making big judgement calls based on very best case scenarios rather than worst case or at least what is more probable. Just like when we carried on budgeting for European football and ended up relegated

The worry is if we appoint Russell Martin and his first act is to reintegrate Vesty and Winks, would really stop us from having the much needed reset we so desperately need.

I see what you are saying but have we really curbed our spending and have we really learnt any lessons, I would suggest absolutely not, if anything we have continued to throw our lucrative contracts but just to a lower level of player. When we came down last time we had players like Hamza, Ward, Daka and Soumare who between them were on £250k per week, those 4 are still here, despite relegation and a supposed reset we then offered Winks and Coady contracts worth over £130k per week in the championship and close on £200k per week in the prem between them. We then double down again by spending £40m and another circa £250k per week in wages to the likes of Skipp, Ayew, Eduaord and BDCR. All of which were the recommendations of a manager that the owner didn’t really want. Where have we learnt, where have we curbed our spending. Similar if not smaller sized clubs to us such Brighton, Palace, Bournemouth, Brentford and Fulham all seem to stay compliant and competitive, whilst we throw lucrative contracts to players who are not deserving of them in the view that is what makes us challenge the big 6, no it isn’t. We used to scout well, recruit young hungry players with a high ceiling, this is what made us successful, then we got lazy and instead of continuing to refresh we started to pay big wages across the majority of the squad, rank average players earning in excess of £2-3m per year to be squad fillers and bench warmers. Now the level of player we attract has reduced however we still seem happy to reward with big contracts. How anyone can continue to defend the directors of this club, who continually flout the rules, that have been in place for long enough, whilst delivering 2 relegations is absolutely beyond me, especially when the 5 clubs I mentioned have all been challenging for European qualification whilst remaining compliant with PSR rules. If this was at any other club, we would be watching on from afar aghast at the mismanagement of a club. I don’t feel sorry for the club, the club are not victims, they have shown time and time again a blatant disregard for the rules and it’s now caught up with the club who will be punished, I do feel sorry for the fans, us who can see how our club is being run into the ground and yet continually fail to make the systemic changes needed to reset. Make no mistake, any sadness I had as to how we have fallen, has long been replaced with anger, towards a board too arrogant to listen or acknowledge any mistakes, accountability or responsibility. A refusal to change anything and an almost unwavering stubbornness to just carry on regardless. We are not hard done to by the authorities we are reckless and this is going to have some pretty serious repercussions. If this does not make us as a fanbase unite to fight for change for our club then I really do not know what will. Yes we were in league one once, but honestly this is as bad in terms of ownership, decision making and leadership as I have ever known it. Currently there are zero redeeming qualities, we have borrowed money to the hilt, supporters disconnected to club, on field shambles, off field we don’t have a clue.. This is really really bad and with a points deduction on the horizon I cannot see it improving for some time, unless Top sells up or suddenly clears out the current directors.

Enter Jon Rudkin …….hold my beer

Wonder what Graham Brock has to say about this one ……

It will be enough for us to finish at least one place lower in league, so 19th instead of 18th which would also cost us £3m in lost revenue.

Reckon these charges will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back regards Ruud, wouldn’t be shocked to see him walk it by mutual consent. Whilst it’s been a bit of a disaster, I have some sympathy for him given the utter clusterfcuk he took on and was clearly misled regards transfer funds etc for January.

Not sure he can be sacked though, however if he is not prepared to oversee systemic change then he should accept it’s time to step back and either sell up or appoint someone to oversee the running of the club, he can still be the owner but step back from being chairman.

Agreed, we have masters of our own downfall and our breaches are of our own making, after relegation did we really need to spunk nearly £20m on Winks and Coady and pay them over £125k per week in wages in the championship? Then this season we sign Skipp for £20m + then sign aging players like Ayew, BDCR on multi year contracts, whilst spunking millions on a loan deal for Eduaord who has barely made an appearance. The club will decry we are being punished for trying to compete, when in truth we are being punished because we are a shambles and have become accustomed to paying over the top in fees and wages to bang average players.

Wonder how this will hamstring us for next season, especially if Ruud walks which I think he will do after this news. &nbsp if we have an impending points deduction awaiting us for next season, will make it challenging to attract a new manager of note, last season we ended up with Cooper due to the risk of a points deduction, if we have similar this summer the pool of managers may be smaller than we hoped. if this does happen means even more that we have to have a project type manager, as we have to start again. Also surely Rudkin and Whelan cannot survive this yet again…….