Atmosphere?

I'd imagine it could well be a frosty atmosphere at the training ground today. The Ben have even listed the names of players who were made available. (Mears, Ream, Mills, N'Gog & Knight).

What will Dougie do with regards to Knight and the captaincy? I presume Dougie will drop him from the first team and strip him of the Captain's armband, but we're short on players.

Will Dougie want some of the above mentioned players around the dressing room or in the first team? Especially because Dougie has been critical publically about certain players attitudes etc.

What do you think Dougie should or will do?

I think Ream being offered is weird given that he just found a new role in front of the defence and did an outstanding job at it, so thought Dougie may wish to explore that option further.
Interestingly he also seems to be sticking with Wheater who has hardly covered himself in glory since his return.
Question is if he's shown willing to let these guys go, is he now prepared to drop them, or was he hoping to get in loanees to fill those positions if they went?

Either way it's a kick up the arse for them, so maybe they'll improve as a result. But I would like to see a bit more creativity in team selection and a fair competition in all positions for a first team place.
And a change in the system.

We may have no money to spend, but increasing competitiveness, experimenting with other players and other systems costs nowt so maybe there is some good to come out of this after all?

It'll all be forgotten by the Leeds game. Shite will still be captain with him promising to buck up,!!

I said it last week, even if he can't shift these players out then do what kenny jackett has done at wolves and simply not pick them and play the youngsters who want to play for the club.

If he has a pair of bollocks to do it then he won't mind upsetting some of these big time charlies who couldn't give a fuck.

On the note of Wheater, apparently he is off to M'boro next week on loan when the window opens.

Not really a surprise we couldn't shift any of them to be fair, the worst thing about it is between them they're costing us around £100,000 a week just in basic salary. It's little wonder that we can't afford to bring in players when our limited resources are being taken up by this.

As they're still here I've no idea what Dougie will do. I really want to see Knight dropped and somebody else given a go. Bolger, Baptiste (White coming in at full back) and Ream I think should all get a try.

My guess is the board refused to gamble and bring somebody in on the promise of Wheater being off the wage bill in a couple of weeks, instead waiting till he's gone. I'd still keep Wheater over any of the three listed above, but clearly he's the only one with any interest being shown in him.