Just watched through Fyter Fest - overall really enjoyable. Didn't watch the Buy In, just went straight to the main show. Daniels Vs Cima - decent enough opening match. Sakazaki Vs Riho Vs Rose - another good women's match, the women's division is shaping up to be really solid in AEW. Page Vs Jungle Boy Vs Havok Vs MJF - another solid match. MJF is a really good heel - not playing for cheers, just a straight up heel. Cody Rhodes Vs Darby Allin - I had no idea who Allin was before this match, but I really enjoyed this one... until the match ended. The post-match chairshot to the head was total bullshit. I don't believe for a second that the chair was gimmicked. They did this on purpose to create buzz and put eyes on the product. I guess it worked in the sense that everybody was talking about it afterwards, but this left a really sour taste in my mouth. I won't support a company that does shit like this, and it had better be a one off. Omega & The Jacksons Vs Fenix/Pentagon/Kid - a great match, as expected. Everybody got time to shine and the finish made sense. Moxley Vs Janela - OK, first thing's first, the whole idea of "unsanctioned" matches is really dumb to me. So it's "unsanctioned", but you're showing it on your PPV, letting the wrestlers use your referees and having your announcers call the match. Exactly what part of that is "unsanctioned" ? That nonsense aside, this was just a brutal, ECW style death match. Both of these guys took some severe punishment. Moxley's back was a mess after being slammed into the barbed wire chair/tables and Janela walking on the thumb tacks in bare feet made me cringe. Insane stuff. The Omega attack at the end set up the match between him and Moxley at All Out nicely. So overall it was a solid event and a good watch, but I really do take issue with that chairshot to the head. Really disgusting stuff and if they continue on that path I'm definitely "all out". Other than that the match quality across the show was very good and the crowd was totally into it. Production looks good, commentary was spot on (good call on removing Marvez) and there wasn't any part of the show that dragged. A good effort tainted by the unnecessary chairshot.

People talk about Samuel like he's some kind of youngster - he's 25! He's scored 20 goals in his entire career and next season he's going to bag 10-12? Come on now. There's optimism and then there's madness. If Samuel plays a significant part next season then we will have failed in our recruitment.

I agree there is no point in panicking now, but I can't blame people for being pessimistic either. Based on past history (including our two most recent transfer windows) it's logical to assume we are going to be underwhelmed by the time the window shuts. If not then it'll be a pleasant surprise.

Maybe so, but you can't expect people to be placated by the old "judge at the end of the window" mantra. Fool me once shame on you, fool me sixteen or so times shame on me.

Not a dig at you Kamy but we've heard this almost every window for the past eight years and almost every single one has ended in disappointment. In fact the only time I can remember this line not being repeated over the course of the window was summer 2017 and that's because we did a lot of good business before or at the start of July. What a concept.

I've been testing my new laptop with the Oculus Rift and watched the new FFVII remake trailer in the virtual cinema. It was even more amazing. Can't wait for this.

Our scouting seems to be the equivilent of going into your transfer history on football manager and cycling back through seasons to see if any previous loans or sold players are now available.

Agreed, I don't think Mulgrew is the type of partner Lenihan needs at the back. In fact I'd go as far as to say Mulgrew has never been a particularly good CB for us. Even in L1 he was exposed fairly often, but it didn't matter so much as teams either didn't have the quality to take their chances or conceded more than they scored. Mulgrew's popularity largely stems from his direct set piece prowess. When a player scores often it generally endears them to the fanbase, masking the things they don't do so well. He's also got a decent pass on him and is quite composed. He would have made an excellent DM for us in his younger years, but unfortunately CB seems to be the only spot for him now and he's simply never been that good of a defender for us. He'll still go down as an important player for us over the past few years and rightly so, but I really wish he was moving on as I think his race here has been run.

Absolutely no need to do chairshots to the head in this day and age, gimmicked or not. I can remember TNA doing it a few years ago and getting major flak for it - I hope AEW are held to the same standard.

His demeanour when we concede goals is the opposite of what a captain should be, and 0 assists last season suggests his set piece deliveries aren't great. Direct and on target, sure, he scored 10 - but we barely won any games he scored in so not really worth much in the grand scheme of things. I'd certainly have Mulgrew out the door before Raya if I had the choice.

If we make those signings then signing Gallagher won't be an issue (although like Downing I still question the necessity), but until we do I'll be nervous.

True, although I think we'll potentially be looking at a more competitive Championship this time around. Last season two of the relegation spots were practically filled in December, and there were some incredibly poor teams down there in Rotherham, Millwall, Reading, etc. It's possible it will be similar this season with a few teams already in dissarray - Hull and Birmingham for example - but the other positive we had last season was momentum from our League 1 campaign, which carried us to some excellent early season results. This season could be very different looking at our first few fixtures. Do I think the current team and manager have the stomach for a fight if we do find ourselves scrapping at the bottom early doors? Not sure about that. I don't think we have any real leaders which is a major concern for me. A no-nonsense defender who can crack some skulls together when things aren't going well is what we desperately need. Either that or a proper DM to replace Evans/Smallwood.

Still strange to me that our first major signing, with a fee included, is going to be for a striker when we already have Graham, Brereton, Armstrong, Samuel and Nuttall who can play in that position. Granted of that lot I'd only trust Graham to be any good regularly, and Tony probably sees all except Graham as wingers anyway, but still. I'd be much happier if we were talking about getting a goalkeeper or defender. Instead our first two signings are going to be attacking players, even though our problem last season was not scoring goals, but rather leaking them at the other end.

I don't disagree with much of what you say, I've said before I think Dack's inconsistency is more down to Tony's tactics and team selection than the player himself. If we improve on both next season there's no reason Dack can't be effective throughout, but even with periods of inconsistency this season he hit very respectable figures in goals and assists. We really would be half the team without him. Once players get to Graham's age the decline can come fast. Look at Mulgrew, there weren't really any warning signs there, he just seemed to suddenly become much worse over the space of a few weeks. Entirely possible DG will have another solid season in 19/20 and I hope he does, but we really need to be looking beyond him if we want to push forward. We can definitely do better than Raya, but to be blunt we have been shit at bringing in goalkeepers since Robbo left. I'm pretty worried about this position if Raya goes. IMO Travis had a mixed season, some good and some bad, although he wasn't helped by being partnered by either Evans or Smallwood most of the time. I think he would have looked much more impressive if he'd been beside Reed more often, but I guess we'll never know. As of yet no signs of reinforcements in this area so unfortunately it looks like it'll be Evans beside him again. Sigh. Rothwell had some excellent games towards the end of the season, but I'm not convinced that Tony will keep starting him. He only did so at the end of the season because he had nothing to lose. I can see the manager reverting to type, being overcautious and leaving Rothwell out again - at which point you wouldn't begrudge him looking for a move elsewhere. I hope he is a regular next season though as he has shown he can be the difference in the same way Dack often is. Not pinning any hopes on Davenport or Chapman. The former because he'll have to "earn his spot" and will be lucky to make the bench imo, and the latter because his injury record suggests he won't be able to contribute regularly. Also question marks over whether Mowbray will start him - he wasn't willing to do so in L1 so will he do so in the Championship? Defensive reinforces are an absolute must if we are realistically going to progress rather than regress. If we start in August with Nyambe/Bennett - Lenihan - Mulgrew/Williams - Bell then I foresee another season of goals being conceded on a regular basis.

I am assuming Downing is being brought in for a more central role. It seriously wouldn't surprise me if Gallagher came in to play on the wing with Brereton as his backup, despite neither actually being wide players.

Gallagher might end up on the wing as well tbf.

I'm not so sure to be honest. We went through long periods of relegation form last year and one of our best players in Reed is yet to be replaced, whilst we may soon be selling our No1 keeper. Graham is another year older, Mulgrew looks finished, Lenihan is injury prone and Dack's form is inconsistent. We will need the likes of Travis, Brereton, Nyambe, Bell, Chapman and Rothwell to step up which is far from guaranteed. We can't even be sure how many games Chapman can realistically manage before breaking down. Granted this is a bit of a pessimistic perspective but I don't think we're anywhere close to being too good to go down.

We have a tough start to the season and we saw last season that we struggle to get out of ruts, so I fear if we start badly we could be looking at a very difficult season. If we get through that first month with a decent points haul then I think lower mid-table is most likely - assuming we have no significant squad improvements. Obviously if we make some great signings then that may change things.

So basically if you have black hair and a beard you stay, everyone else out.

If that's their plan they may want to have a rethink as we don't exactly have form for allowing young loan players to flourish. Hendrie, Byrne and Samuelsen barely got a look in during our relegation season. Harper and Payne didn't do a whole lot during our L1 campaign and Palmer was wasted last season and left after six months to go elsewhere.

What a dark day this was.

Stone Cold actually did an excellent job during his heel turn, but the fans at the time simply didn't want it. Buyrates and ratings tanked straight after WM17 and never really recovered. Biker Taker character was good, but he was booked far too strong, to the point where people got sick of him. He should have come back as Biker Taker for his match against Cena at WM, it would have been much better than the tired deadman gimmick. Invasion failed because there were no legitimate WCW stars in it, save for Booker T and DDP. both of whom were buried the moment they got to WWE. Booker recovered, DDP did not. Interesting fact: Vince was planning to transform WWF Raw to WCW Raw. with Smackdown being the WWF show. However he cancelled all of these plans after Booker T Vs Buff Bagwell on Raw totally flopped. Heyman being in charge of Raw should be awesome. Not sure about Bischoff. I think he's got some serious flaws as a creative mind, but I guess we'll see. My main concern is reading that they both report to Vince, who has the final say. If so then it's possible very little will change at all. You can tell Vince is getting desperate, and so he should be. Attendence for Raw this week barely above 3000 people, Smackdown less than that. Absolutely horrific numbers, and ratings are still at record low levels. Once the NFL returns in September we could see by far the worst Raw and Smackdown ratings in history. Add the new and exciting AEW into the mix in October and it's shaping up to be a very interesting few months.

To be fair almost every player is multi-position to Tony. If you're a striker or centre midfielder you better start getting used to playing on the wing, because that's likely where you're ending up.

Agreed, I've had enough of us signing crocks to last a lifetime. Recently we've been doing better in that regard so let's not go back to that!

I have no idea how it'll work out for Lampard at Chelsea. I thought he did alright at Derby considering it was his first ever managerial post, and he hadn't really been involved in coaching or anything like that beforehand. If he surrounds himself with knowledgable people it might work out. It'll be interesting regardless. I'd rather see Lampard given a shot than one of the usual suspects from the good old boys managerial merry-go-round.