Does this mean we can actually start the links thread?

Ive started feeling a creeping dread we are about to go the way of Wigan and Bolton very quickly. So not enthused at all.

I would take Armstrong over him any day. Armstrong scores goals out of virtually nothing - probs half his goals last season were like that. Dack is more about the interplay and partnerships. If we're on the back foot the is less likely to produce something. That said our big hope this season is that we can keep both and get a good partnership out of them. I could see it working with Armstrong up top and Dack in the hole. Does beg the question though of what to do with Gallagher and Brereton. The obvious answer is to desperately try and sell at least one of them. I think Butterworth and Vale will offer us more.

Funny as it's sadly so close to the bone. Best side we can probably put out is as follows : -------------------------Fisher Nyambe----Lenihan-----Williams-----Bell -----------------Travis----------Evans --------Holtby-------Dack-------Rothwell ----------------------Armstrong Subs : GK???, Carter, Bennett, Johnson, Buckley, Rankin-Costello, Gallagher Got a decent - if very narrow - front line but defence and keeper is absolutely shocking.

The three players we absolutely have to keep are Armstrong, Lenihan and Dack in that order. If one has to go I would go for Dack as we have Holtby, Rothwell and Buckley who can all play that role. If Armstrong goes we have no decent strikers. If Lenihan goes we have no decent defenders. Perilous situation.

Just looking at this rationally what will actually have changed by October? Unless the population is significantly vaccinated by then (highly doubtful) nothing, and with the colder months coming and people spending more time indoors there will almost certainly be an increase of infections. October is likely to be more risky than now which makes this statement bizarre. I think it's all wishful thinking. For fans to be able to get back into the stadiums we either need 1) An effective vaccine or treatment that removes/minimises the risks 2) Accept the risks of increased transmission and deaths that come with it (which to me seems incredibly unlikely to happen)

That's probably our best lineup at the moment but suffers from extreme narrowness. Also I'd have Evans over Johnson though when fit (a rare occurrence). A "best we can do" side missing three players, which has three number 10s in it, and excludes two strikers who cost us a combined £12m tells you everything you need to know.

Yes, plus he's a guy who thrives on crosses. We are hardly going to be providing that with Brereton and Gallagher running up and down the wings.....

I don't know - it will be a major reason to hugely reduce the budget I think. It'll spook the finance guys massively and they will recommend minimising all spending.

I guess they are trying to keep people employed. Plenty of companies are doing it and I fully support it.

I reckon our chances (and anyone relying on ticket receipts) of spending any money this season has just taken a huge blow. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53556072 We may well be weeing with the willy we have.

Even if he's brilliant I would really think carefully about spending 2m on a central midfielder when we have so many of them and it's the area where we already have the best quality.

Yeah I'd be thinking 442 and try and get Armstrong and Gallagher to form a partnership to get the best out of both of them. But then you're left with what to do with Dack, Holtby, Rothwell and Buckley. The squads balace is a joke. Too many central players who are compromised by having to play some of them wide.

I don't really agree with this. We conceded a lot of goals this year - and while definitely the majority of the blame sits with a poor keeper and fullbacks Tosin was okay but not first rate defensively, he got beat in the air a few times and pulled out of position from time to time. If he stayed I would be fine with it, but there are improvements we could make there as we need to bring someone else into the team.

I know Tosin's a pretty rare centreback at Championship level but I wouldn't say its critical to get someone with his technical skills. A blood and thunder defender who gets his head on everything, has pace and is positionally good would would arguably be an improvement over him. That shouldnt be too hard to find (I hope). Id take that over a passer whose positionally weak or poor in the air any day.

Cool - where did you get the stats from? Comparing positions to the Championship mean seems a really good way to do analysis.

Wow that's a comprehensive analysis! Thanks for putting together. Where do you get the stats from? Very insightful. If we don't sign anyone I would agree your proposal makes sense. Only quibble I would have is I don't think Holtby can really play in a central two. I'm sure Evans would be the preferred partner for Travis, then failing that Johnson or Davenport. All that said if we don't sign anyone we are going to really struggle. In the setup you propose we still need to sign a keeper, and I would not be at all comfortable with four of the players mentioned being regular starters in the positions mentioned - Downing (age and engine), Williams (positioning, heading, pace), Brereton (everything), Nyambe (positioning, heading). And beyond that a couple of injuries and we would be in all sorts of trouble. We need to sign some players, principally quality GK, CB, LB and a scoring striker. And we need to try and be a bit more straightforward tactically in my opinion.

Yes, a real shame he wasted that talent. Could have been a top Championship or even a decent Premiership player. A lot of paralells with Bentley.

Good player for us. Had a few memorable moments but top for me is scoring this frankly unbelievable team goal against Derby. Really need a striker to come in of a similar quality and experience now Edit - only just realised that hes had by far his longest spell with any club with Rovers.

Bloody hell, we just shouldn't be looking at centre mids at all. It's so depressing we are.

Yeah but hardly in the same league as Tugay, Le Tissier, Okocha et al.

I'm not a big one for decrying injustices, but that Tugay was not included in the BBCs "best Premier League players to never play for the big six" (Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Spurs, Man Utd) is up there with best of them. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52440999 Bizarrely David Batty was in there. And ludicrously Shearer wasn't - and he was on the panel! I suppose they thought it would be uncomfortable to have a Shearer love in with him in the room. I wouldn't have swapped Tugay for any of those in there. Though choosing between him and Le Tissier would have been a tough one. Also while being bitchy how can Spurs be in the "big six" when they've not actually won the Prem or FA cup in the whole Premier League era?

Travis improve anyone he plays with. Evans is totally different prospect with him, as Downing, Johnson or whoever. I would say the one area of the pitch we need to sign absolutely nobody is central mid (we currently have 8-10* of them even with Smallwood gone)- whether that be attacking cm or defensive cm or box to box cm or whatever. If we do I will go mental. We do however need to sign players in every single other position. Sadly I am fully expecting Tony to sign 3 centre mids. *8= Travis, Evans, Johnson, Rothwell, Davenport, Dack, Holtby, Buckley. Downing and Bennett who are used there also takes you to 10.

If we really are only shopping for frees we are in serious trouble. I cant see us even barely adequately plugging all our gaps for less than £5m and be able to hold our position mid table, let alone kick on. And If we are spending £0 then we will be likely to be sucked into a Bolton style relegation vortex if (as you would expect) most of the frees turn out to be poor. Armstrong, Dack, Lenihan, Travis will be queuing to leave. So in summary hope this is wide of the mark.

Fantastic listen. Made me go back and catch up on the last few. All really great Also - thought the coffee mug advert for the Terrace Store is absolutely hilarious! Well done to whoever scripted that and did the imitation.