Can I just say..

Its all about opinions' personally I think Hourihane is a far better all round player than Readfern was.

 

Very little between Conor and Neil. I'd say Conor has plays at a level it took Redfearn longer to reach and could go on to be even better, if Villa don't ruin him...

 

You've ducked the main point -- the Club is in a better financial position than it was a month ago but the team is weaker.
The implications of that is that we will probably finish in a lower league position than we hoped for.

 

Ducked nothing. You're making assumptions. I reckon we will finish this season higher than most supporters 'hoped' for, which was survival. Check the BBS archive.

 

When we got promoted to the Prem, we would not have got even close without Redfearn.

The team weren't bursting with talented individuals that went off to make their fortune elsewhere.

Redfearn was obviously the driving force - and produced a regular finish himself.

Neither Hourihane nor Redfearn were glorious from introduction. They both took a while to shine.

Hourihane improved immeasurably over the last 12-15 months. His is our biggest loss.

And while it is of course tosh to say that one of these players is "far" better than the other, on balance I would reckon Redders bar is never gonna be renamed "Conor's".

 

Redders moved better with the ball and put himself about more. Hourihane is the better provider and Redders the more prolific finisher.

 

Just a yes or no will do.

Do you think we now have a weaker team than we had six weeks ago?

 

No.

 

seriously?,losing our top scorer and best midfielder hasnt weakened the team?

btw,i agree with you that we will finish up much higher than most thought.

 

What are you using as a pointer to assume that?

 

He asked me a question I was only ever going to give one answer to, based on loyalty. As if I was ever going to say 'yes' to it.

None of us know the answer anyway, not yet. We'd all be guessing.

Time will tell how weaker or stronger we are.

 

But when we finish the season nowhere near the play off challengers we were pre sales we will be lower than any of us hoped to be. We can't drop off badly for the rest of the season but still call it a success just because last summer 4th bottom was deemed good enough.

 

Answer to the question was "don't know".

We all know that .

Based on common sense.

Correction - we don't all know that.

 

...and nobody can say what league position we might have been at the end of the season if they had stayed! Any player can suffer loss of form or goal scorers enter a drought period as Winnall has done on many occasions. It is totally impossible to state that the pre-January team would have fared better in the second half of the season than the post-January team and pointless anyway!

 

Yes, check the archive. I had us to win the league by 10 points. 7 now Conor's gone.

 

You're dealing in hypothesis, but stating things as facts.

I can post hypothetically too.

We may have slid down the table with Winnall, Bree and Hourihane in the side.
We might not slide down the table now they've gone (won one, lost one so far).
All three may have suffered career-ending injuries against Wolves had they stayed.

You're just panicking. I understand why you are. But it's a sorry and defeatist state of mind. It's lovely that you're wishing the likes of Conor well for joining a club 8 points below us, it truly is. Makes a change from hammering others we've had who left for the Premier League. But you're Barnsley supporters and the Club still needs your support.

Do me the courtesy of outlining what YOU would have rather seen happen in January.

 

Were money not a factor we all would have loved the squad stick together till the end of the season.

Seen what happened.

That would take away all the "what if's".

Football's a business. Though. Sadly.

We haven't taken the gamble. Fair enough.

 

Your loyalty is unquestionable but fans are rightly frustrated when we sell our best players . I suppose it all depends what you are content with . Personally I don't think we should be eternally grateful of being 8th in a average championship and I know where we've come from 12 months ago as we keep getting reminded . We all have a dream but 8th in the championship isn't mine .

 

Your dream is the top flight, I'm sure that's a dream shared by all.

And Gabrielle said all there needs to be said about dreams.

 

"Dreams can come true

Not if you flog Sam and Hourihane too" ?