I remember being scalded for suggesting we would have to go back to the bad old days of work permits. If anything is even 1% worse than it was before, it’s a bad decision. Oh well!
EDIT: I wonder how far ahead the recruitment people are actually looking in terms of squad structure for next season. The age and salary caps might be a complete and utter con but they’re here now. You can still build a ‘core’ squad of 23 senior players fairly easily though, even if it’s a stitch up:
2 x GK
2 x RB
2 x LB
4 x CB
6 x CM
2 x RW
2 x LW
3 x ST
Just have the fourth choice CB and the sixth choice CM as 19/20 year olds, plus one of the backup full backs, wingers or the third striker, and you’re good to go. When we got promoted from L2 Lundstram, Ruffels, Kenny and O’Dowda would’ve been outside the cap as they were all 21 or under at the start of the season - ditto the likes of Ledson, Rothwell and Martinez the season after - so it can be done. So long as there’s firm planning, so that recruitment is based on the boxes that are empty and which need names in them. That’s my biggest concern over the current recruitment strategy - we don’t seem to always shop based on where the gaps are. It looks more like we occasionally get sucked into signing players we like the look of in isolation, and worry about how it fits together later. A bit like needing bread and milk and coming back with haribo and a bottle of tango. Only in our case it’s needing a full set of balanced defenders but we keep coming back with wingers and attackers, and half of those are gambles based on highlight videos.
We’ve already got 23 players over the age of 21 let alone those who aren’t, hence why we can’t even fit Osei in, so it’s nothing to do with not being able to afford 22 senior footballers. We just have to be willing to actually fill in the blanks and stop getting distracted by mystery boxes and sexy punts in areas that aren’t necessary. If we could actually move towards a world like this starting in January I would be nearly as delighted as that time we played Notts County at home in August 2015, and our starting lineup was a perfect 1-11 in terms of squad numbers