DE.

I'd agree as far as trying to sell Evans is concerned. Very unlikely any other club will match the wage we're giving him, and at least we can count on a few good performances around the time NI are due to play.

The problem is that Williams and Evans have shown in the past they can't really cut it at Championship level. I'd say both have been at the correct level this season and even then there have been a lot of questionable performances. I'd keep Williams as backup, but I'd get Evans out the door at the first opportunity. Let's be honest, the only players still at the club from the Bowyer era are the ones nobody else wanted. We sold everybody remotely decent (note I'm talking about Bowyer's signings & mainstays, Cairney, Rhodes, King, Gestede, Hanley, Duffy... hell, even Jason Lowe found a Championship team willing to take a punt). I'd also have Samuel out ASAP as he's shown nothing to suggest he will even be worthwhile as backup in the Championship. We might have to make do with loaning him out though as I'm not sure there will be many interested parties as far as a permanent transfer goes.

The majority of Mowbray's permanent signings haven't been great imo, although our best overall signing and the reason we got promoted was a permanent in Dack, so... OK. His loan signings have generally been decent, which is good as I get the feeling he'll be relying on a few more loans next season.

A very interesting last day of the Championship ahead. Just a point between Cardiff & Fulham in 2nd & 3rd respectively. Cardiff have Reading at home and Fulham have Birmingham away. You'd expect them both to pick up wins from those fixtures but BIG club and Reading are both fighting to stay in the division so it won't be easy. Meanwhile Preston could pip Derby to 6th if they beat Burton at home and Derby lose to Barnsley at home. Again, two teams fighting to stay in the division so no easy points there. The relegation battle is between Reading, Birmingham, Barnsley, Burton and Bolton. Last fixtures are: Cardiff Vs Reading Massive Club Vs Fulham Derby Vs Barnsley Preston Vs Burton Bolton Vs Forest Bolton are the only club playing a team with nothing to play for in Forest. They and Burton must win if they want a chance of surviving. Taking GD into account Huge Club and Reading only really need draws. A win will guarantee Barnsley safety, anything less and it depends on what Burton & Bolton do. A fascinating last day of the season!

I'd be wary of looking at too many League 1 players for next season. I think it was Den who used to say something like "buy Championship players, get Championship football", and if we buy too many L1 players we'll end up back there for the 19/20 season. There are definitely some gems in the lower leagues, but if they're older than 24/25 there's going to be a reason they're playing there. I suppose a lot depends on our budget, but I'll be uneasy if too many L1 players are on our radar.

Looking worrying for Bolton at the moment. Fair play to Nigel Clough for getting Burton back in the mix, they looked dead and buried a few weeks ago. Puts Sunderland's capitulation to shame.

Agreed, they should stay away indefinitely. There's no benefit to them turning up, only potential negatives. Let Waggott and Mowbray be the public face of the club over here. That'll do me.

Indeed. Sunderland made their bed and now they have to lie in it as far as Rodwell is concerned. I think they offered a settlement on his contract but he turned it down. My guess is that it was way below the full length value of the remaining deal. Even Venky's were able to come to an agreement with most of our wasters on terminating their stupidly long, well paid contracts.

Think he just got linked with the Ipswich job.

I'd trust Mowbray's judgement on it. As long as we don't bring Lowe back I'm good.

Mahoney showed flashes of potential, and I think Mowbray would have brought him on in the same way he has Nyambe and Raya. I don't think Mahoney would have been worse than Samuel on the wing, for example. Or Antonsson for that matter. I'm not going to fault the lad for having the ambition to go to a Premier League club with a young, positive manager that plays decent football. It obviously doesn't seem to have worked out for him yet, but it's early days. If Mahoney was available on loan next season I wouldn't be averse to having him here if Mowbray felt he would add something to the team.

I'm with you on Williams. I don't think he's first team calibre at Championship level, but I wouldn't be opposed to keeping him as a versatile CB/LB back up. No idea about Bell as we've seen so little of him so far.

As far is pure talent is concerned I agree re: Duffy, but he became a toxic presence by the end and for that reason I'd say no thanks. Those own goals alone should make him persona-non-grata at Ewood forevermore. Marshall I probably wouldn't say no to, but I'd want somebody else around to challenge him as I wouldn't fully trust him.

For the record, this was our squad for the first game of the 2016-17 season: Steele Lowe Duffy Ward Henley Feeney Lenihan Akpan Bennett Marshall Graham Subs: Raya Greer Byrne Stokes Hendrie Guthrie Conway Excluding players who are still at the club, is there literally a single player on that list that anybody on here (excluding Jim picking Lowe) would want to bring back? You could make an argument for Duffy but after his "accidental" own goals against Cardiff I never want to see him in our shirt again. Marshall maybe the only other, but he has issues with mentality which make him a risky regular first team choice. Essentially I think we're already in a much better place now than we were at the beginning of the 16/17 season, despite being a division lower. We need improvements, but give me this team any day of the week over what we had in 16/17.

Getting him for £750k was pretty ridiculous as well, considering Gills were apparently turning down bids of £2m for him previously. Strange that they allowed his contract to run down to the last year if the intention was ultimately to sell him anyway.

Speaking of Incey, he might as well throw his hat into the ring at this point. Everyone else seems to be.

From the article...

They've been linked with some horrendous candidates Lampard, Slippy G, Campbell, Arry "the bankruptor" Redknapp... apparently they were priced out of talking to Luton's boss, which tells you how much Evans is planning to invest going forward.

The thread title for this on the Ipswich forum simply reads "Sol Campbell - WTF?"

Hopefully not. We didn't need him in League 1 and we certainly don't need him in the Championship. I'd say L1 is about his level so once Blackpool's new owners come in maybe Uncle Gary will have some spare cash to give Lowey a new home.

Contract is expiring isn't it? TM clearly doesn't fancy him so I expect we'll be parting ways.

Would get rid of a fair few in the summer. Not many of the 'core' group but certainly some on the fringes. Samuel, Whittingham, Caddis, Gladwin (I just read we paid £1.5m for him, surely not true?!), Evans and Conway I'd happily move on if possible to get in a little extra money and free up a bit more on the wage budget. Think it'll be difficult to shift any of them that aren't out of contract though. In terms of loans I'd only bring back Armstrong. Possibly Chapman too if wages were sensible. Both would be decent options from the bench. Payne and Antonsson need at least another season in L1 to develop imo, and we won't be there. Ideally I'd prefer Nyambe, Williams and Downing to be back up only. We also have to be mindful of Mulgrew's age & traditional injury proneness. So defence should really be quite a high priority this summer. Truth be told we need reinforcements across the park though. Central midfield has been a problem for years and it remains to be seen how Smallwood makes the step up, particularly taking into account his poor form for much of the second half of this season. We don't have any proper wide men and shunting strikers out onto the wings has seen understandably mixed results, often causing disjointed performances. We are also going to need a couple of decent options in attack to support Graham and Dack. Better hope Venky's are feeling generous

Great to read, but unfortunately we all know the buck stops with our owners in Pune who have shown themselves incapable of making good long-term decisions for Blackburn Rovers. We can only hope that they've finally found people in the likes of Waggott and Mowbray who are capable of doing the work for them.

Indeed. The only thing I will say is that the gulf between the Championship and L1 is MUCH larger than the gap between the Championship and the Premier League. There's a very noticeable drop in quality and money in this league definitely talks. IF Short or a new owner is willing to invest a few million into the squad and jettison the poisonous members of the current dressing room then Sunderland should bounce straight back. It's a big if at the moment though.

Still can't believe they paid us money for Steele. Absolute robbery but thanks anyway. There must be some serious toxic elements at Sunderland for them to not only double drop but be the first Championship team relegated. Not sure they'll breeze through L1 like us and Wigan have either.