Warren

Troy Deeney has been sacked as manager of Forest Green after 29 days. Won 0, drew 3, lost 3. A club unravelling at the speed of light.

Actually I'm just superb at it. Especially fraud investigation.

Sky report Cheltenham striker Will Goodwin has moved to Oxford for £400k.

Crosby went through what I regard as a deeply mistaken phase of playing two unfit strikers giving each 60 / 30 etc. So numbers are inflated.

Uche was man of the match v Charlton. He has come back to the club after a period of not playing and has worked up to speed. Having invested in him to get to this stage I'm keen he stays at least to the end of the season. Whether he can be kept on longer must surely depend on wage expectations. I'm not keen on us going after the holy grail of the prolific striker. For example, Stockton pretended to be in that category and Burton soon found out that actually he's ..mmmm

Going to Australia! Wiki.

I think Wycombe are in or trying to complete a phase of rebuilding. They are now several years on from having an L1 promotion squad.

I see Uche as important. That's because as a target man he enables us to play forward that way. Not just through a pile of passes going sideways and backwards. Plus of course he's a presence in both boxes. He's played for some good clubs and, although not prolific as a goal scorer, that says he's widely valued as the type of player he is. I don't know the financials of course. But I'm up for getting him signed up on a reasonably lengthy contract rather than let him leave.

If Charlton and Wycombe are interested in Uche, it makes geographical sense as he was born in Harrow and previously played for Wycombe. I suspect both clubs can pay higher wages than us. I have never quite worked out how Wycombe can do that. They have been in L1 / L2 this century with one season in the Championship. Would I be concerned if we lost Uche. Yes, and especially to a L1 rival. Has he thought about Australia?

I guess that is the issue with signing him on a short term contract. He quickly enters the last 6 months of it.

The Uche perspective only goes so far. Middlesbrough's centre halves thought he was very handleable.

Yes, he never felt right to me. Slightly dismissive by me, but he's been successful at Morecambe and done OK at Tranmere. He's not worth the relatively high wages he likely wanted. I suspect he was very well managed at Morecambe (a non libellous hint).

Very well written. Aside from sharing concerns about the style of play adopted by Crosby in terms of entertainment - which he seems to have addressed - I disagree with you. At the top of English football, the Premier League is the strongest top division in the world and the strongest national league there has ever been. It's spectacularly entertaining every week. This means the leagues below are also stronger than ever. Players are pushed down the pyramid. The top clubs loan out talented players that can't get into the first team squads yet. Some run a subsidiary business dedicated to loaning players out (e.g. Chelsea). Port Vale was a big investment to buy and has required a lot of money to put right the infrastructure. We were about to follow Bury under Smurthwaite and if Covid-19 struck with him in charge. So I am deeply respectful of Carol and family's funding of the club. Port Vale and clubs like us are not good business investments. They are opportunities to enjoy running an expensive community asset. Port Vale needs to be exceptionally well run to compete at L1 level. There is clearly a significant barrier to going higher in the league structure for clubs of our size. I expect the wheels to come off at Barrow in the next five years as they have done at Forest Green. Barrow has a population of 55k stuck on the southern tip of Cumbria. Even the street lighting columns had obsolete electrical systems when I audited them in 2011! Plus its located in a position people dont go to. Inherently off the main roads in Cumbria inclufing the M6 and the coastal route towards Whitehaven and Workington et al. It's in rugby league land as well. Go figure.

Devine has replaced a loanee from Everton who has gone back due to injury. Plymouth are 8 points above the bottom 3. They need to push on in the remaining games to stay clear of trouble. I think Devine will get regular sub appearances to start with and if he develops could get starts. He's not gone to a club cruising and will get good real life experience.

Devine has gone down to Plymouth.

He clearly needs rehabilitation from a staying fit perspective and re whatever went wrong at Aberdeen. There is big money at stake here for Liverpool. Plus we can see in the current Liverpool squad, as we can in the Port Vale squad now, a commitment to bringing young players through.

He's played 9 games for the Liverpool first team including 5 in the PL. He's capped at England U18, U19 and U21 levels. One of the reasons I'm of this opinion is the Financial Fair Play Rules. All the top clubs are going to be severely restricted by these. Arsenal can't afford a striker for example. Liverpool clearly need new cover at fullback and are second favourites to sign Mbappe from PSG behind Real Madrid. They could do with not having to spend £50 million on a new centre half. But we are 100% sure they need a new centre half at the end of the season.

Manip is leaving. They need 4 centre halves. They'll have 3.

To be fair I think flights Manchester to Aberdeen are possible. So I'll withdraw my concerns on that front if so.

He made 17 appearances for Blackpool in 2022/3. But I get your drift. To me the taller you get the more issues there can be to back / spine. I made a comment about Aberdeen being a long way away. I know it is because I go to Arbroath quite a lot which is 50 miles south. The point is that will not help in getting fitness / injury issues fixed, whereas Port Vale is only 70 mile from Liverpool. Hence this is a good move for him. Standard of football between the SPL and EFL L1 is about the same. I think Liverpool will be desperate to get him fit and playing regularly. They need a new central defender for next season and if he comes through at PV he is the man saving them £ millions. Matip is out for the season and at the end of his contract.

Head everything out of our box, block all the shots in the centre and be better than our midfield on the ball. Oh, and score from our corners and freekicks.

Smith will still be here when all these are gone.

Signing Rhys Williams is brilliant for us. He's exactly what is needed. For Liverpool, they have issues at centre half with injuries and contracts ending. If Williams proves his fitness over 20 games he could save them say £50 million by going back into their first team squad.

There is risk to be managed which was done poorly last Jan. But a big difference this time is the large number of our young players we have brought through to the first team squad. We need to give them a lot of opportunities whilst not over playing / relying on them. The loan players we've brought in recently fit the development model the club has. In general we are not now taking on loan old farts. I'm an old fart by the way, so I can say that!