I think we'd struggle with 4-4-2 as we don't have the wide players to provide defensive cover for the flanks, and Nyambe and Bell would need protection. Theoretically you could put Bennett on the right wing and he would cover defensively, but he wouldn't provide enough assists to make it worthwhile.

My guess is that we'll start off trying to play wing backs, it won't work because we don't really have the personnel for it, and we'll hastily revert to the sludgy 4-2-3-1 we used most of last season.

In fairness there was no reason to suggest Bauer wouldn't be starting. Who's he fighting with, Mulgrew and Williams? If Mowbray doesn't think he's necessarily better than those two then we shouldn't have been chasing him in the first place. We need people to come into the starting XI, not squad members to provide competition. It surely goes without saying that if Bauer failed to be up to the required standard he could find his position under threat.

B is definitely the most likely scenario imo!

Honestly I won't be too disappointed if he ends up at Wigan, especially if the fee is £5m!

And yet she is with Bubba Ray, so... I watched a random episode of Nitro from 1997 at the weekend. It still holds up today. Main event was Luger Vs Hogan for the title, which Luger won (think Hogan had held onto the belt for nearly a year by that point): That crowd reaction at 02:57! You don't get many reactions like that in modern day wrestling. Also Tony Schiavone is at his best here. He gets shit on a lot these days but when Schiavone was on his game and invested in what he was watching he was one of the best imo. I can't imagine Michael Cole or Tom Phillips being able to produce that kind of performance in a big match. Obviously Hogan won the title back 6 days later at the PPV which kind of sours this win a bit, but still, very cool at the time. I remember being shocked.

Nothing wrong with bringing in experience (although we arguably already have plenty of that with Graham, Evans, Bennett, Mulgrew, Williams) but I am against bringing in players on their last legs looking for one last payday. I'd certainly put Adam and Downing in that category. Not sure yet about Johnson. Pontus Jansson for £5.5m at 28 years old would be a great example of an experienced player at this level who hates to lose and still has years left in him. Adam and Downing not so much.

It's even more hilarious watching this considering recently Bubba Ray Dudley of all people had a fan brought backstage and had a go at him because he was heckling a group of heels (that just happened to include his girlfriend). ROH is in bad enough condition as it is without driving away fans who are just being fans.

Decent defenders would help too.

To be honest I wouldn't be averse to keeping Williams as a 3rd/4th choice CB. He looked OK there at the tail end of last season - just don't play him at left back. Unfortunately that leaves Bell as our only left back and he can't defend, so, arguably we need two left backs as I wouldn't even want Bell as back up for that position. Goes without saying we will be lucky to get one LB, let alone two, so sadly I think we'll be seeing Bell/Williams as our LB options again next season which will be where any smart team will focus their efforts.

No. Full back positions not addressed and I wouldn't want Dann back anyway. We'd probably be slightly stronger as a team but I think our defence would continue to be a massive achilles heel, especially if Lenihan gets injured again. Also the average age of the team will have gone up considerably with Johnson, Adam, Downing, Dann and Ruddy all being well over 30 and Butterfield soon to be out of his 20's as well. Not exactly building for the future.

Sounds like him and Dack would get on well.

If so then don't sell, simple. It's not like he's going to be worth less in a year's time.

The problem is he would need to be in somebody else's plans.

I can't see Evans leaving. He only signed a new contract last season and I doubt he took a wage cut. Remembering the era he was bought in, he's probably on around £15k p/w. The teams in this division able to pay his wage along with some kind of transfer fee are probably going to be looking at better players than an injury-prone crab who rarely if ever contributes to goals, assists or anything else particularly useful. I would love to see Evans go but I just don't see it happening unfortunately.

Unfortunately his valuation is roughly £5.5m higher than we're willing to pay for a defender.

He might get a slot on the right wing.

It's strange that Brentford could have ascertained this considering Raya literally never played like this for us as it has never been our style of play. All evidence points to the opposite being true. You do wonder if they've just linked "spanish keeper" and "play out from the back" and gone from there. They might be in for a bit of a shock when they see his distribution up close.

The Dack one baffles me a bit. Had been League 1 player of the season, clearly has natural talent, scores goals and creates assists. Bizarre that nobody else came in for him before us. I do seem to recall Gillingham turned down a bid the season before we came in for him which was something like £2m? But even so you'd have thought a Championship club would have taken a chance on him. Their loss was our gain though. Rothwell, whilst talented, sat out most of last season due to the manager's paralysing cautiousness, so we'll see if Mowbray can get the best out of him. I'm still sceptical at the moment. I can see it being another Nyambe situation where the smallest mistake sends Rothwell to the bench whilst the old faithful trudge around the pitch. I very much hope I'm wrong on that one though. Mowbray needs to show that he learned from last season and is willing to take more risks with team selection and overall style of play.

Under 30, never played for Boro or Coventry, played a lot last season, not British, defensive player that costs more than a few quid and a packet of hobnobs... basically fits none of our scouting criteria.

Also once played for Coventry so he's certainly qualified as far as Mowbray is concerned.

Remember when Leeds let Villa score a goal in their match towards the end of last season? Jansson was the only player who said "fuck this" and actively tried to stop Villa scoring whilst the rest of his team mates looked on in bemusement.

It was a common concensus at the end of last season that defence was where we needed to strengthen. At the moment with Raya's departure we're technically weaker, so, for me none of our transfer business means much unless we bring in a decent keeper to replace Raya, a good quality CB to partner Lenihan and a left back - our only options on that side are Bell and Williams, neither of whom are particularly good. I'd even go as far as to say right back needs attention as well. I'd be OK with Nyambe playing there but Mowbray doesn't seem to rate him very highly and has dropped him for minor mistakes, so are we really happy with Bennett starting there as first choice? I'm not! So, seeing links to Charlie Adam and Sam Gallagher mean absolutely nothing to me unless we sort the defence out. Signing attacking players will be pointless if we start with Bennett - Mulgrew - Lenihan - Bell as our back four. If we start with three at the back then I guess you can add Williams to that too, but even then I wouldn't be confident in our ability to keep a clean sheet. The best teams build from the back, and it seems like this is a lesson Venky's STILL haven't learned after 9 years of abject failure. Instead all of our budget seems to be earmarked for attacking players. We had a top class strike force in Rhodes/Gestede a few years ago, with the likes of Conway, Cairney and Marshall supplying them. We still achieved sod all in the end because we had a manager who wasn't up to the task and a defence that leaked goals. We conceded 62 in 13/14, more than any of the teams above us. We conceded 59 in 14/15, more than any team above us except Brentford, who also conceded 59. Those who don't learn from history...

Tbf they should all have looked class against Barrow!

I've said it before, but it makes absolutely no sense to attack one of your own players in public. There is literally nothing to gain from it. If you want the player to improve then you can talk to them in private. If you want them to move on then all attacking them in public does is make that player look worse and therefore lower his value and desirability. It is a stupid and pointless endeavour. I really wouldn't have expected it from Mowbray of all people. I can remember with the Raya one especially he sounded really angry, and we were also on a really bad run at the time, so maybe he was feeling the pressure a bit and lost his head. It's the only explanation I can come up with.