Im starting to think none of them do

Interestingly, Ryan Whitcut is quoted in the T&A as saying the full cap "of £1.95 million is available to the coach", which I confess is both a big surprise and very welcome news, given that the reduction in TV money has been confirmed for next season. Someone, somewhere is doing something right in the back office if they've brought in enough money to cover that loss, though I guess it could be Omar who has put the money in. I just hope it's not one of those 'mysterious' deposits which just turn up in accounts and have to be repaid....

In the case of Langers, I'd have thought that if we have the full cap to spend then he'd have been offered something - if only for his loyalty over the years. I guess that, the only way to judge the recruitment objectively though, is to wait and see all the other ins and outs and look at what kind of balance we have in the squad when it's all done and dusted. To be fair, it's pretty difficult to judge someone's decisions in an isolated instance when the success of the policy depends on the overall blend; ie the squad as a whole next year.

They said that last year though too, and its blatantly obvious looking at squad assembled that we didnt spend much more than 1-1.2million of player budget. excuse used last year was that there want anyone left worth signing by time we able to start offering contracts. Think we were all expecting reduced budget to apply this year too due to reduced sky money and it was understandable. Cant help thinking Ryans put his foot in his mouth with this comment, especially if we dont now see several new signings materialising.

Can't for the life of me understand Whitcut's comments if taken at face value. I suspect there's more to it.

take the bull by the horns and put some money in to cover the shortfall. There would be a fair bit of fairly pragmatic business sense behind that with some short term speculation hopefully securing long term profitability.

Got to admit it's hard to square Ryan's statement with Franny's earlier one about no "marqee" players, though I do realise you can spend the cap without getting any single big earners.

FC mentions no marquee players, Ryan mentions a much larger squad than what we currently have but still spending a significant amount. Those statements back each other up in my book.
Trouble is, all that's left to bolster our squad is a load of guff.

Well, if that's true, then we'll be OK, as nobody else will be able to sign owt but this load of guff either.

Why is it being reduced to 12? What is the reason for the change?

Ok if we kept Langley, who would you put at centre?

I would like to keep Langley, but I think we a strong in the back row and he isn't really a prop. I would look at improving out back line instead which is what Franny is doing.

I am very concerned why he has only offered Donno a 1 year deal. Cannot see he logic in that at all.

only reason I can think of is if there are still concerns over his injuries long term. Presumably clubs medical staff will know a lot more than us on here about his fitness and how he recovers after games and any ongoing niggles. Possibly they want him to prove himself over a full pre-season (which he missed last year) and early part of next season before comitting to a long term deal. Other clubs offering him a longer deal are taking a bit of a gamble, albeit a lesser one than we took retaining him last year.

Well, yeah, "guff" or not, we're at least in the mix to sign some of the better"guff" this time round so we must be better off.....I hope!

I've been watching Bradford for a fair few years, and many of the very best signings we ever made were "guff". I remember Big L es playing at Wakey and their fans chanting "What a waste of money"



Oh for a man-motivator like the great Peter Fox, who signed up loads of over-the-hill guff which turned out to be some of the best players we (or anyone) ever had.

Also, out there somewhere are the stars of tomorrow, who are not guff at all. A chap called Escare would have been no doubt described in the guff category until recently - "Why do we want a small Frenchie who's only ever played semi-pro in the ty French leagues, if he's not made past St. Esteve at age 20 he must be crap", it would have gone, or something like that.