wellfan

True, but my point was that I wouldn't trust him to spend it wisely, so we could end up there anyway.

But with what budget? Kettlewell has already blown his load on a bunch of crocks. The club could double down here and end up with a bloated squad, a massive wage bill beyond our budget, and the cost of sacking the manger come mid-season when it all inevitably continues to go to shite after he's thrown more good money at more crocks. But I guess the club has no option but to back him further and hope it works.

Much better second half performance, but fundamentally nowhere near good enough and Kettlewell does not have the players available or the brains required to change it for the upcoming games. It’s going to be a long August.

No. It was a good finish by Cerny after he was allowed to ghost past our sleeping players.

As pointed out on P&B, this is no longer a bad luck story, this is negligence.

That looks like another muscle injury. We’re either extremely unlucky or something is very wrong with our signing policy and/or our training and medical regimes.

Although we’re losing, I’d say that the one positive is Oxborough.

Seddon and Halliday letting Cerny dance through them there. It was a good finish but we’re making it far too easy for them.

Sensational OG. Well done to Seddon for getting the ball in the box and forcing the mistake.

Instead of having a dig at me, as is customary for you, why not consider that it’s fair for someone to query why a player who signed almost exactly 2 months ago still isn’t fit or good enough to start the season. It’s a concern.

If Balmer isn’t injured, serious questions must now be asked as to why he was signed if he isn’t deemed good enough to start even when the squad is totally fucked.

Starting young Wells - who I think is an excellent talent and prospect - in a depleted team and against the rangers has the potential to have him hung out to dry. I understand that Kettlewell may not have a choice tomorrow, but I'd prefer to see him come off the bench to help us change things up as the game progresses.

Free pies and pints would see me sign up to this.

@Lobey_Dosser pretty much nailed the situation above, so I'll try not to repeat it. Kettlewell can't preach poverty at the same time as having to hurriedly expand the squad beyond what was budgeted for in order to address the massive and partly avoidable injury list. He either starts to learn from his mistakes and spend wisely in terms of transfers or he should not get a fourth transfer window. However, this is always with the caveat that some injuries are just pure bad luck, but not all seem to be this time. Some of them appear to be down to taking a risk on older players with an injury history in key positions, again! Furthermore, him preaching the benefit of getting business done early to allow a settled squad to go to the summer camp and be blooded during the League Cup seems to have actually been of no benefit, as echoed above. Time will tell on some of the signings, but it's generally been a poor and predictable window, and it's not in the least bit surprising. I expect some rabbits to be pulled out of the hat in the coming weeks, which will unfortunately eat into the Bair money and increase the wage bill in the long run, but it has to be done.

Buy cheap, buy twice, seems to be the Kettlewell way. It’s getting ridiculous now.

He’ll be backed further, have his contract extended after winning one game in September, then we’ll find ourselves in an ever bigger mess come January. To think all this could’ve been avoided if McMahon and Co. hadn’t gifted him an unearned and covert extension. I fear we’ve entered the don’t back down, double down phase.

Careful now. The situation we find ourselves in surely cannot be the fault of the man in overall charge of building the squad.

I hope the residents of Mount Florida are preparing for the hordes of mutants about to descend upon them. I can only imagine they’re setting up the holy water cannons and bleach dips as I write this.

I also predicted that we may do well here, so I guess we both need to lay off the glue.

Aye, I guess the overall point is that it's a shame that he's out injured again, but it's troublesome that we still do not seem to have a suitable or fit replacement for Spittal. A player of his type is required to make Kettlewell's system tick and should be a top priority. I guess we can all review and moan/rejoice again come the end of the transfer window.

If I buy a secondhand older vehicle with a known history of breakdowns to a specific part, and I do so because I really like it and it's maybe cheaper than others, it's entirely my fault if it breaks down again on me. If I'm willing to accept that risk, I would buy it as a backup car and not my main car, due to the risk of it being out of action at times. In this scenario, where things break down again after a know history of breakdowns, the buyer carries the can; not the player or anyone else. Nicholson isn't a chancer, but Kettlewell took a chance on him. Add in what @gaz7 said above, which I also watched and was a little shocked at, it's staggering that someone with a known, as well as self-proclaimed history of dodgy knees was brought in on that deal and in such an important position to supposedly cover the loss of Spittal. He was a risky signing and now we're paying for it, as he requires to be replaced this month and at short notice. I wish the guy a speedy recovery.

Signing a 29-year-old, likely as Spittal's replacement, who has a history of serious knee injuries (15/16 & 16/17 knee injury and surgery; 23/24 cruciate ligament injury) was a gamble, and now look who's out with another serious knee injury. This is Kettlewell's most recent faux pas, and there are others. We're going to end up with a massive and expensive squad again, just to replace the donkeys and crocks he continues to sign, which the next manager will have to undo, again. It's so predictable and infuriating, and it's what happens when you let inexperience and stubbornness loose with the chequebook.

There are some excellent, some not so excellent, and some absolute no chance candidates up for election. The outcome being I am struggling to narrow my choices down to four.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/sam-nicholson/verletzungen/spieler/169573

Colin Park 🤣