I'm glad you're not in charge of picking the team!

We were linked with him a while back weren't we? Looks as though he doesn't play for QPR anymore.

Literally never heard of Greg Cunningham before he was linked to us, but he sounds like a good signing from what people are saying. If this does indeed go ahead, at least it's a sign that Mowbray realises we have an issue at left back!

Too early for Mowbray out calls IMO. Give it 10 games then see where we are. If there are no positive signs at that stage, then I agree he's got to go. A couple of things are really annoying me though. Our pre season didn't include any real tests. We should've been fit and firing for Charlton and instead we just seemed woefully underprepared. Defence wise, I won't even go there. We all know what Mowbray said about last season and we all know what we saw last season. That needed to be addressed and it hasn't.

Did they say when it would be released?

Not sure whether there is one already but Rothwell definitely needs a chant. During the L1 season you could see Mowbray getting twitchy on the sidelines whenever we chanted for Chapman. Give the fans what they want.

I've not looked into this properly and I don't know where the data is sourced from, however this website is quite interesting in terms of wages at different levels of the football pyramid. Seems to be based on the season we were in L1. https://www.footy.com/footballers-vs-the-fans/#you-vs-your-club

Bizarre situation with Wharton. I understand wanting to keep hold of assets who may come good in future, but a 3 year deal seems excessive for someone who doesn't seem to be anywhere near the first team. I'm actually quite surprised he's still only 21. Fair play to him for breaking through when he did a couple of seasons back. As for the loan, why is he going back to L2?? The only way that would make sense for us is if they've guaranteed that he'll play every game when fit. Otherwise he should be trying to play regularly at a L1 club like Hart did last season.

I appreciate the extra details about the match, but you've completely missed the point of my post. No bother though.

I don't think you mean to say what you have. If it was a sight for sore eyes, what you saw in the second half was pleasing. Sorry for being pedantic!

I'd have been happy with Forster and Skrtel (although I did think they seemed very unlikely at the time they were mentioned). I'd pass on Sinclair. Struggles to get a game for Celtic nowadays. He's not at the level he used to be.

I literally know nothing about him. Is he meant to be any good?

Sorry if it's been covered earlier in the thread, but have you revealed who the goalkeeper target was that we were trying to bring in? I assume it wasn't Walton and we might've missed out on them.

Personally I don't buy these comments and I mean no offence by that. In his signing interviews Downing specifically talked about how he likes Mowbray's (perceived) attacking style and that it would bring more out of him than his previous manager did (I'm sure that was Pulls and Karanka before that?). Sounds like he wants to get as far as away as possible from being a more defensive player. That's not to say he won't play more defensive from time to time. After all, we know Mowbray loves playing people out of position.

Alan Judge for a third time? No thanks.

Completely fair comment. I just wouldn't use his limited performances for us in League 1 two seasons ago as a stick to beat him with. He's apparently had a good season in League 1 since and turned up in pre season looking an improved player.

There is such a thing as development you know.. I haven't been impressed by him either when I've seen him, but I'm happy to reserve a bit of judgement on him until I've seen him play again. He's hardly had any opportunities for us to date. By all accounts he's been playing well in pre season and people who have actually seen him play live this pre season seem to think he could be a viable option at left back. Seems strange that you would outright dismiss that.

I'm fairly pleased with the Walton signing, if not a little underwhelmed. All the big names we seemed to be linked with and we've ended up signing a young (but promising) lad on loan. I think it speaks volumes though that Brighton see him as a potential number 1 (seen this pop up a few times on twitter). Seems to have done a decent job at Wigan.

What an awful away shirt. Can't see many people buying that!

They play with a high press. None of the front three play in the traditional striker role. Mane and Salah play as wide forwards and often cut inside, whilst Firmino plays as a false 9 linking the midfield trio to the front line. We sort of have the players to play the system, but not in terms of quality obviously. Dack would be the most likely to play the Firmino role, which I can see, but only if he does play deeper, allowing the two wide forwards to play more centrally. The natural fits for that role would be Gallagher and Armstrong; capable of playing wide, whilst also having the fire power to score goals through the middle (we hope).

AAK/Dreams of 1995. Excellent posts, both of you. I've no issues with the signings made so far. In fact I'm really pleased, as long as we bring in a good keeper and centre half. It's quite clear that we were lacking a bit of nous last season. Even just focussing on the times Graham was rested/injured/was subbed last season, we struggled to make an impact up front. It didn't work out for Brereton unfortunately, but I can't see Gallagher having the same issues in regards to influencing the game. We've seen first hand what he's about. His signing in isolation instantly makes us a tougher proposition next season.

Apologies if you're ITK, but this post reads like pure guess work. Have you actually heard this from someone reliable?

As in that's who you've heard is in talks? I'd be happy with that.

It's £3 per ticket for category A & B games (so effectively all of them). They've promised further discounts for the two category A+ games, but haven't disclosed that information yet. So I'll be able to get a ticket for £22 or £25, depending on who we play. Unless the discount is massive for the category A+ games, I won't be going to those because £40 is ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure he made a thinly veiled dig at Mulgrew in regards to injuries around the time we were really struggling. I think it was around the time they seemed to be having a club v country debate.