Amazing!

In your opinion, but your opinion is that Smallwood is a "maybe" and Evans as Championship standard. Only Mulgrew, Bell, Dack, Graham would go on my definite Championship quality list. Nyambe, Williams and Lenihan on the maybe list. Evans and Bennett didn't convince last time in the Championship. Raya on the "f***ing terrifies me" list. Smallwood for me isn't a Championship player. Reed, Rothwell and the rest of signings on the "who knows" list. Palmer on the "looks like a player who has talent but won't put in a shift" list. So hopefully from that you can see why I'm not convinced. I do think that Mowbray can potentially get more from the less talented players but the original point was he's taken a risk that he didn't need to take. I'd have preferred him take a safety first approach with his recruitment policy, then do something extravagant once we have roots in this league.

I disagree.

Accy Stanley fans would occasionally turn up as well. My Dad's workmate was a West Ham fan and he had a Rovers season ticket

I've no idea what he is yet. As I said on another thread I'm more concerned about the implications of the signing itself rather than the player. For the moment.

The six fingers on his hands or feet?

It's not easy but how many people would say throwing £6m at an unproven 19 year old is the right way to go when we have pretty much a League 1 squad and other areas of the team to strengthen. I'd say if anything Mowbray has made his job a heck of a lot harder as Brereton has to work, for that money it can't not. He's not dealing with reasonable people, he's dealing with Venkys who will want some form of return on that investment. More than likely that deal means we're looking through the Jan transfer window in vain too. I can't think of anyone to replace Graham because I've not really thought about it. It doesn't take a football genius to see how we're going to struggle without someone to step in for Graham, someone strengthening the defence, some natural width and competition for an unpredictable goalie. That £6m could have gone some way to resolving some of those issues rather than waiting for a young lad to fulfill his potential. Teams like Chelsea can do that, we can't. Every signing is a gamble, but some are bigger gambles than others. £6m on a young lad is the biggest gamble the club has taken in a long time, probably since the Rhodes transfer. And at least Rhodes was extraordinarily prolific in League 1 before he came here.

Why do I need to offer alternatives when it's easy for anyone to see that without Graham in the team we struggle to hold the ball up? It doesn't take much footballing knowledge to work out that we need cover for him given his age. It's a problem, it should be addressed, that's the point. Mowbray clearly isn't a stupid man so I'd have expected him to at least attempt to address it rather than taking a gamble on a young lad for a lot of money. I not sure why Villa matters, they can make as many mistakes as they like. I'll care about that if I'm ever reincarnated as a Villa fan.

I'm not the manager, or a scout but I'm sure there must be players out there who can hold the ball up. Or did those players die out when 4-4-2 did?

What we really needed is a younger player in the Graham mould if we were shelling out megabucks on a forward. Just someone to hold the ball up for players like Dack, and contribute with a handful of goals per season. It's not just Brereton, I have to question why we signed Armstrong for what he would have cost. Too many risks on young players unproven at this level for my liking.

Difficult not to scrutinize a player, and the decision to spend that amount on the player when the fee and stakes are so high.

Posted this before but I'll never forget in the 90's seeing North End fans coming to Ewood to watch Rovers when Preston were playing away (they would stand out as they usually wore PNE scarves and hats). Couldn't quite understand why another teams fans would come to another teams ground to watch them. My Dad explained it, matter of factly. "Well, they'll probably never watch a top Premier League side in the flesh."

I couldn't care less what he's done since he left, I know what he did when he was here and saw it with my own eyes. I wasn't one of these people who thought he didn't contribute enough, I was firmly in the camp that believed Bowyer underachieved and with a better manager we'd have been challenging for the play-offs. I'd rather have someone who we know can be consistent rather than a very expensive punt which may eventually cost an otherwise decent manager his job. I know what Rhodes ability is, Brereton I don't but from what I've seen he doesn't look like what we need right now. But, I said I wish we could swap Brereton for Rhodes, not "I want Rhodes back" and there is a difference as he probably isn't what we need right now (but neither is Brereton in my opinion). If wishes came true I'd much rather he spent the money on a decent defender and a good goalie.

Dare I say it, I wish we could swap Brereton for Rhodes. Hope Brereton proves me wrong.

It's not a problem if you completely forget everything that's happened under Venkys so far and still think we can soak that kind of loss up.

It's difficult to reach the keyboard now he's back in the stocks.

Imagine how the guy will have been literally burning with resentment over the decades.

I thought both Smallwood and Evans were poor, but especially Smallwood. Both better than Palmer and Conway though.

Some played like they were under the influence of charlie.

It was more of a fingers crossed performance.

A very lucky point there. I think every player made their fair share of mistakes in that one.

Smallwood shouldn't be in the team, he's brilliant at passing to the opposition but offers little else.

Smallwood, bloody hell.