Pretty sure that it has been said elsewhere that we are targeting 4 additions, 2 permanent and 2 loans from Premier League clubs. Armstrong and Kent fall into that category as their parent clubs are in the Premier League. If that happens then we've added 6 players of which 2 will be loans, 1 of which hasn't played in the Championship before and 1 had a short spell at Burton last season. Not much there by way of successful Championship experience. Risky. Having got rid of 5 from last season if we only add 4 permanent players and a couple of loans most of which are limited experience whilst keeping the likes of Hart, Gladwin and Caddis then I'd have hoped for more from the summer. Bogle done nothing at Wigan and Cardiff in the Championship.

The problem is that all the noise coming from Rovers and those at the Telegraph suggests 5-6 players is actually more like 4 of which 2 will be Premier League youngsters on loan. We all know that such loans only usually become available at the 11th hour once the Premier League boys have their business wrapped up. It means we have to wait and see what happens and we aren't in control. Even then I can't remember many doing that well in the Championship other than those from the top clubs. That leaves 2 permanent signings. I believe more is needed considering the influence and goals of those who have departed. Holding back for the loans will save a few bob though.

Uwe Rosler just been appointed at Malmo.

I did wonder whether we were back operating on an 'out before in' policy. Someone has to make way before more incomings are authorised. Wouldn't be surprised to see Tomlinson/Wharton head out on loan and then one or two come in the other way shortly afterwards. We've heard repeated references in the Telegraph (club mouthpiece) about apparently having 25 contracted players which I believe is a conscious attempt to try and convince everyone that our squad is ready or that it is necessary to get rid of people before bringing more in. Couple of problems there though. That figure of 25 players includes numerous u23s such as Wharton, Travis and Tomlinson who are untested at 1st team level and who spend most of their time in the u23s. On top of that the manager didn't use any of them during our League One season, preferring instead to go with experience. I understand that stance but would also be very surprised if he was going to throw them in now we are a League higher. Referring to 25 players is well and good if they are all 1st team players but 3-5 of them are not and then we've got the likes of Hart, Caddis and Gladwin who I consider to be surplus to requirements (they were last season so if not this season it is worrying). So we don't have a squad of 25. We have 25 contracted players but that includes some not good enough and some not tried and tested enough. We also have an obligation to play u23 fixtures. We don't have enough players, certainly not enough who are good enough, but I get the impression that this 25 figure is the threshold for the finance men and they won't want permanent contracts being issued beyond that point.

£30 + away tickets all around should cover a chunk of it. We're nice so we don't do that.

If we're 1-0 down with 15 minutes to go chucking an extra striker on who offers something different could be a good idea. Lost count of the number of times we've been hanging on to a slender lead and the opposition have thrown a big lad on up front and he's immediately caused problems and grabbed an equaliser or winner. Danny Graham does a good job but he's not getting any younger and is often dead on his feet after 70 minutes. Samuel and Nuttall not at all sure on. Perhaps we've room for one on the bench but not starting games and not as our only alternative to Graham. Nothing worse for the opposition than to see multiple threats getting off the bench ready to come on and try and get us back into the game. Very difficult to predict and defend against when you've multiple threats all with different attributes.

Trouble is we aren't at a 4th striker stage. We're in need of a 1st or at least 2nd striker. Samuel and Nuttall can be 3rd of 4th choice.

Some of the most unpleasant and annoying people imaginable have been successful managers. In the Championship people like Warnock and Davies are controversial characters who fall out with people left right and centre yet they have phenomenal results and track records and are great at winding up the opposition and rallying supporters behind them. The sort of people you loathe when in the opposition dugout but who would be loved if they were in our dugout fighting for the club. Honesty and integrity is all well and good. Particularly in our case where we have been exposed to countless individuals who couldn't be trusted. But it actually has very little relevance to managerial ability or results. Sometimes having a nasty character as manager is a good thing. Don't think Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho have reputations for being nice honest men either. Ruthless, cunning and calculating yet very successful.

The difference however being that most other Championship clubs were in the Championship last season and finished comfortably in the division, perhaps believing that they underachieved. Most other clubs haven't lost important players either so its as they were. We're going up a level so naturally there is a greater need in theory at least for us to strengthen. Add to that we've lost 2-3 important players in Armstrong, Antonsson and Payne who were in and around the first team providing goals and creativity and there's a fair argument that we're now weaker than we were at the end of last season. So I accept that we're not alone in being slow in the market but I'd also say there's a greater and more urgent need for us to be active than most others.

France expertly dealt with the Belgians who are better than Croatia so I expect them to win reasonably comfortably on Sunday. The way they ran the clock down in the last 30 minutes against Belgium was very impressive though not really nice to watch. We could have done with some of what they have vs Colombia and Croatia in the last 20 minutes. Interesting that Croatia have reached the World Cup Final having only won 3 of their 6 games in 90 minutes and none in the knock out stages. 2x penalty shootout wins and last night looked like going that way too until a fortunate turn of events. Likewise England were a whisker from the final yet only won 3 out of 6 in 90 minutes, 2 of which were against dreadful sides in Tunisia and Panama. All about the fine margins. I don't buy into the stuff about it being a different mentality or a new era. We've done better than expected because we finally won a penalty shootout then had a good draw in Sweden in the QF.

Game at Port Vale brought forward to a 12:30 kick off due to England playing in the afternoon. Bad do for those who have bought advance train tickets.

Eisa is 24 and only had 1 season of league football at Cheltenham. Think £1 million for him is asking a lot though his scoring record is impressive.

I know better than to start judging players on the basis of 45 minutes against Hibs in a pre-season game. Its pointless and has very little bearing on whether a player will perform over 46 games in the Championship. Hopefully he will but if everyone who looked decent in pre-season games went on to be a good player we'd have signed Dean Furman after his goal at Accy Stanley. Massive question marks on Chapman in terms of fitness. Even when fit Mowbray didn't trust him to start in League One so why would he suddenly want to start him in the Championship? You sum up why I am concerned - the market ends in less than 4 weeks - that's why we cannot be infinitely patient and there comes a stage where we have to act. it won't be any good if the window slams shut and we haven't done the necessary business because 'its a crazy market'. That won't score us goals or win us games. Yes I'm underwhelmed. I might turn out to be wrong and we might turn out to have done some really good business but by mid-July I would have expected more than we've got. Each week that goes by is a week less to integrate new signings and get them up to speed on tactics, fitness and settle into the squad.

If the manager wants significant cash out of the owners it is usually granted when the owners are convinced that there is a good chance of a return on that investment down the line. Money paid out on Dack, Samuel, Bell, Davenport and Rothwell since Mowbray was at the helm. All at the young end of the scale with scope to improve and increase in value. The potential profit on Dack alone would cover all of that and then some. People talk about what a shambles the club has been but from a purely financial point of view the business done in terms of spending on players and sales of players has been nothing short of phenomenal over the last 3-4 years. The last significant cash buys that turned out badly were way back with Etuhu, Best, Campbell etc. We haven't actually spent money on anyone who hasn't subsequently increased in value with the possible exception of Samuel who at present is unlikely to be worth more than we paid for him. Maybe too early on Davenport, Rothwell and Bell but a competent start to life in the Championship would likely see values increase. There have been plenty of duds but they have usually been free transfers or loans. Good business indeed if you're looking to turn a healthy profit on player trading and use that to subsidise the club.

I actually think that's ok compared to some. Different at least and probably worth buying for a supporter. Wigan never seem to be able to decide whether they should wear stripes or not.

Amazing how we've ended up in a state where signing a decent player from Peterborough is considered to be beyond reach. If you take that Peterborough chairman's comments at face value then there's only a handful of clubs that could fill the criteria unless he's going abroad. If his release clause is only a million or so then I'd be astonished if there weren't a dozen or more Championship clubs activating it and I'd be extremely impressed if we'd managed to do so under a veil of secrecy ahead of rivals. I have to say that I'm underwhelmed to say the least with our business so far. That's no particular criticism of those who have come in who I know very little about and who might turn out ok for us. However I don't believe we are stronger than we were at the end of last season, I think we are weaker. Maybe we'll see more activity in the coming weeks but at the time of writing I'm not exactly comfortable with what has happened so far. A signing like Maddison would allay those concerns by addressing a problem area with a sought after player.

Think its fair to say that none of the players have exactly kicked on and excelled. However when you look at the horror show that has unfolded here since their departures we've hardly coped well have we? All 3 are pretty much where they were when they were at Rovers. Mid-table or top half of the Championship. It remains to be seen whether we are ready to reach such lofty heights again but at present i think we're short and lets be honest all 3 of them would likely walk into our starting 11. People can get distracted by our success of last season but the reality is we're still some way behind even the play-off chasing Championship clubs having been in that pack only 3 years ago before the slash and burn stripping down process began and the last 2 seasons have been wasted coming to terms with the consequences of that policy and subsequently trying to rebuild from it. Not really fair to point the finger at those players about the grass being greener etc. when we've undoubtedly suffered more than they have during that time.

The players wanted to leave only when the club and owners made their intentions clear. There wasn't a murmur of any of them being unhappy until the departure of Bowyer which was when the money tap was turned down and the sales began. After that as time has shown the club wanted to rake in whatever they could get and those players knew they were merely numbers on a balance sheet that the owners wanted to cash in on. The sales of Cairney and Gestede kicked it all off.

Rovers wanted rid of Rhodes, Hanley and Marshall because they knew they were sitting on £20 million of transfer fees.

West Brom are shelling out 4 million on Kyle Bartley from Swansea. If they are in for Maddison I doubt they'd be haggling over installments.

Rhodes to Norwich on loan confirmed. Joins up with Hanley and Marshall.

I see the business being done at Stoke, Middlesbrough, Forest, Bristol City and Norwich and see large amounts of money being spent and quality signings made. I accept however that most of those clubs either have parachute money or have sold a few for a lot of money so have more to spend. Elsewhere Brentford have made a few decent looking signings without spending big money. Reading signed a couple of seasoned performers. Admittedly a few others haven't got going yet like the Sheffield clubs, Leeds, QPR. It's not really a question of being 'jealous' of other clubs but it does irritate me to see the loan market being discussed already. I think it is the cheap, easy and low risk approach and I don't think you can build a successful club or squad when reliant on it. We need our own quality personnel throughout with a couple of loans chucked in at the end as options to turn to if needed.

It isn't so much the timing of it than the numbers. I accept that the window is difficult and that most clubs haven't got going properly yet but let us remind ourselves once again that Tony Mowbray very clearly said in his interviews back in May and June that he wanted his business done or nearly all done in time for pre-season. Unless he was misunderstood then he has not achieved what he said he wanted to achieve. Excuses like it being a World Cup year or other clubs not doing much business have nothing to do with our manager saying that was what he wanted and now seemingly adopting the complete opposite view in saying as long as we've got them here in 4 weeks time then its ok. Of greater concern to me is that the Telegraph are once again pushing this loan market obsession which keeps getting put out as though the solution is to pick up who we can on loan. We haven't got enough as it is and waiting for loans is a high risk strategy which I suspect is favoured by those running the club as it saves on contract, fees and wages. I don't necessarily accept that we've 'done well' to sign 2 players, one of which was out of contract. Plenty of clubs have done a lot more business than that so far.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16343908.mowbray-has-to-bide-time-with-transfers/ These sort of comments disturb me. We appear to have gone full circle from the optimistic comments of May and June where Mowbray was talking of adding 5 or 6 quality players and getting them in for the start of pre-season to being sat here with pre-season well underway with only 2 additions and the manager having to explain that more time is required as we wait for the loan market to open up. Hopefully my concerns will be misplaced but my interpretation is we've gone from wanting 5-6 signings done for the start of July to now being in mid-July with only 2 done and the manager saying it is going to potentially take another 4 weeks until we know whether we can borrow some players from clubs higher up (a recipe that rarely ends in success unless you're in the market for the 'big' ones from Chelsea etc). Having only added 2 players so far, neither of which have any significant experience, to see the manager talking about waiting for the loan market to open up is worrying. 'Hopefully' adding one or two players that are our own along with some Premier League loans when those clubs get round to it isn't good enough in my view. I think we HAVE to add at least 3 more permanent players good enough to go straight into the first team. This means at least one winger and a couple of forwards to share the goalscoring burden and give us options. IF we get those minimum of 3 hopefully 4 or more then assuming nobody important leaves we ought to have enough, but at present we don't. Mowbray has earned trust and confidence but if we're already looking at loans at the back end of the window having signed 2 players and let 5 go then it doesn't fill me with confidence.

Maddison ticks all the boxes for us, and I think would be a quality signing that would generate some excitement. He's in a position we need to strengthen in, fits the Mowbray mould of being relatively young, proven at a lower level, Mowbray will know him from last season and when at Coventry. Still don't have much confidence it will be us. The Posh chairman's comments seem to leave 4 potential clubs but I'd still think WBA and possibly Stoke would be in ahead of us. Maybe not Stoke who seem to be shopping in mega money signings but WBA would make sense given they're losing a few. If he has a release clause at £1 million or so I would expect numerous clubs to be in for him and it to then come down to who he fancies playing for/who is going to pay him most.