cowl

I really hope JL plays him at centre back next season, but given that he played him in midfield against Lincoln, it doesn't seem as though he will.

I do rate Fletcher and still think he's got more to give, but getting him off the wage bill is something we should very happily embrace. He's another two years on his contract and he's already 31, however much more I think he may give us going forward, his value to us off the wage bill is much greater in my view.

You mean if DC decided he was no longer going to pay any more wages and bills? Anything the club owes DC would only be permitted to be written off if DC himself permits it. Otherwise, I doubt there's any law or loophole that if invoked would mean the club no longer have to owe anything. If he's borrowed any money and secured it against the club I suppose they'd be able claim the club. It would be a bizarre step from DC though. He'd have to be personally bankrupt, I would've thought, before anything drastic like this were to happen.

I don't recall @rickygoo attacking the club much. The owner certainly, and I'm partial to a bit of that myself because he's done a lot of things worthy of criticism (as well, of course, as the things worthy of praise). I support Sheffield Wednesday. The idea that by criticising the guy that currently owns us I'm contradicting that support is just ridiculous. Some of the fans on here genuinely scare me in what they're willing to defend.

An injury hit season for Westwood and people so quickly forget just how good he was in the previous 3 seasons for us.

Yeah, this is the concern about treading water for a season while we wait for next summer to reshape the squad. I advocate this approach - well, I mean, I accept it's the most sensible approach over all - but it could require a hard sell for a player like Bannan whose contract is up next summer. And since we won't wait until next summer before agreeing a new contract with him, if he's unconvinced of our plans going forward by the time January comes around, I could see us having to sell him, and then once one of our top players leaves the others may also start to feel unsettled.

This is plausible because Giddings is atrocious at speaking to foreign coaches - he makes no effort to accommodate the likelihood their knowledge of English idiomatic phrases might be more than just a little weak. However, I would say he was very clear for once when asking the question, which is at the 08:22 point in the interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06dq0sw

I think outside the microcosm of OwlsTalk, the people I talk to seem to get it.

No, matti. Not really now is it? Basically you said something very stupid.

And I think the vast majority of our fans understand this.

Statement? What are you talking about statements for? Do you know the difference between answering a question posed to you in an interview and releasing a statement?

I'm calm, I'm chilled. What's your problem? Who's place is it to say there is no embargo if there isn't one? Anyone at the club would be 'authorised' to say there isn't one (assuming they could reasonably expect to be in the know about such things - as JL would), I would've thought, because they'd be merely be setting the record straight. To confirm there is one, if there is, would however be something JL would want to avoid having to talk about if it's not already been confirmed officially by the club. This logic is pretty straight forward and reasonable in my view. Of course, it's only reasoning, and JL may merely have been concerned with wanting to communicate how his focus is on the players he has available to him anyway, and not any off-the-field issues, whatever they may be and whether they exist, which is a positive message and consistent with how JL has generally gone about his job thus far - but I do still think in that case that it would be more sensible for him to 'go off message' on this occasion and set the record straight - then neither our more highly-strung fans react to the rumour of an embargo, nor other equally highly-strung fans react to those fans reacting. I'm not sure how much this 'fact' should add to our fans' outlook for the summer anyway. It's clear we need to move players out - every one of us knows this. I hadn't expected any signings anyway, and I'm at ease with this. I think we could do with some strengthening in various positions depending on how JL wants to set us up this season, but I don't think it's absolutely crucial at this stage. I'm also very enthusiastic about JL giving the youth players a chance to shine. I don't expect a spectacular season, but I do expect a solid season - and for the most part fuelled by the much greater emphasis on fitness. I think if we're in and around the top six come January (and, really, why not?!), we might see DC 'roll the dice', but otherwise I think the real changes we'll see will be a year from now which is when we'll have 11 of the current first team squad out of contract. Though I hope a few of them will be offered new contracts, the majority of them will be moved then if not before.

I'd have expected him to say we aren't under an embargo if we aren't though. Otherwise it just fuels precisely this type of speculation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06dq0sw This is the interview.

It's a problem with the keeper position you don't get elsewhere in a team because there's other ways you can shoehorn an outfield player into a side, or also there's more than one such position (centre back, centre midfield, striker) in a team such that it's never obvious that a player is standing in the way of another. If we've got any expectations of finishing top 6 this season, I think we should be going with Westwood because he'll gain us points. Beyond this I personally think Dawson looks a better prospect than Wildsmith, although I'd argue that perhaps both would benefit greatly from a season as first choice at a League One side. For their development that would be ideal, but according to JL last night, he doesn't envisage loaning any of his keepers out.