Tewkesbury

Christ. All I said was I had a feeling that they may want to play as main striker somewhere, and if they didn't then that's OK too. It's not rocket science. Calm down.

If they all stay, it's all good. Just hope DM can manage it well. As for the 7 strikers at once, seem to remember it failed to get us up, and completely screwed us in the long run. Not the best example, to be fair.

Have you seen the new ECL format? It's going to be a 36 team league instead of the group stages. https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0268-12157d69ce2d-9f011c70f6fa-1000--new-format-for-champions-league-post-2024-everything-you-need-t/

These financial rules will change things a lot. It's an end to chancers buying a club, funding a promotion squad by loaning the club money, then creaming the profits through loan repayments. Under these rules, we wouldn't have been penalised, as Chansiri could have put money in without messing with the ground and sponsorship, Derby wouldn't have happened as Morris' injections wouldn't have strings attached. It also stipulated debt repayment timings so debts can't build up, the taxman gets paid straight away. It's essentially SCMP that we're under now in L1 and 2, which is actually a pretty good set of rules. The ESL is finished, UEFA have just replicated it with the new ECL format, so it's not needed.

"This is why we changed the name. The name fair play was interpreted as creating a level playing field.” Awesome quote, finally a bit of sense.

Not his biggest fan. But. In his defence, the two things he seems to still get slated for, the set pieces and his experiments with NML in attack were two of the things he did right. We were much better with set pieces, both defensively and offensively late on, without the corners, we wouldn't have made the playoffs. NML, we really needed something to beat the press, and it's usually pace that does it. In the absence of Windass, we struggled to break down some teams and really needed something different. He was it. Again, without him, we probably wouldn't have made the playoffs as he opened up a few teams when we had no answers otherwise.

Good strikers like scoring goals. They want both the minutes and conditions to score those goals. I can't see all 4 competing for a couple of spots, when they are all good enough to be the main man in a different team in this league. Windass and Wilks still have other contracts after this so will want to raise their stock back to Championship level at least and that takes minutes. Smith and Gregory, although probably set for now, will still both want to be playing and scoring as much as possible. Why be on rotation here when you can be the main man somewhere else? It's that simple.

Think it goes a bit deeper. I and seemingly, from his experiments, DM, thought that a fast striker next to Gregory would give us the pace needed to stretch teams and beat the press, but it didn't work out in the end, with NML of Windass. We'll see at the start of play.

The difference last season was that Gregory was an automatic starter, as well as Windass no matter what. The others were filling in or to try and open it up with pace in NMLs case. None of the others were there to compete for the top job, I still think that's why Kamberi and Sow gave up last season, they thought they had a chance to fight for a place as a regular starter then got slapped down.

Maybe. If he does then great. Just have a feeling that there will be more twists this window with a couple of unexpected departures on top of the signings. Maybe something really late on to Derby if they get the takeover sorted, for instance.

Maybe he will stay. Our tactics last season were designed to get him in scoring positions, slowly moving up the pitch, balls to feet. They didn't suit any of the other strikers as they were very specific. All three of Windass, Smith and Wilks are more suited to a faster, more direct approach. So are we going to carry on with what we did last season, or are we going to go more direct, where he really struggled last season. 5 subs and a tactical change may be the option, I honestly think that he'd score more coming on for the last 20-30 minutes every game than he would playing the full 90, but he's not going to be top of the pecking order, starting every game available any more.

A lot has changed in the last week or two. He was the undisputed number 9 when he said that. Smith and Wilks will change the attacking dynamic massively, both are going to want guaranteed minutes and both will want to play in a way that suits them. I'd love all 4 to stay, but I just can't see it.

Probably to get his appearance clause removed so Smith can get a game.

He may do, depending on acquisitions. I think he'd be behind Palmer and Pato in the pecking order in an ideal world, but both of them are too useful elsewhere (same with NML last season), so if we're still short at the start of the season at LB, CB or attack (as I can see Gregory, Windass or both leaving), then he may well start at WB, but if we do go 4231, I can't see him playing. Then again, that's the perfect spot for a loan player to come in, especially if DM wants to play as high up the pitch as Hunt did toward the end of the season.

OK. I like how NML gets blamed when teams have been knocking the ball behind Hunt all season. Maybe if we could have played a bit different sitting deep and banging it in behind the fullbacks wouldn't have worked, as it did for a few teams last season and we would have gone up automatically.