JHRover

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.

Maybe they're saving up to sign Jordan Rhodes?

Always had a grudging respect for Uruguay having achieved so much on such a small population, but like most other South American sides they turn nasty when losing. I thought France were garbage in the group stage against Australia and Denmark but with the personnel they have managed to win their group without impressing and are always going to be capable of getting to the final and winning it. I'd much prefer to see one of the others win it than the French though.

Gallagher isn't going to get a look in at Southampton I wouldn't have thought and I thought I'd heard he was approaching the final year of his contract. If so I'd expect he'd be available for purchase. Young, a presence up front, knows the club, knows the Championship, scored a few in a poor struggling side last time round. Could do a lot worse. Speculate to accumulate. At his age barring an injury disaster the likelihood is he will increase in value which should tick the Venky criteria.

No news on the away shirt though?

There would be every point in signing Morrison as he is technically better than those already here. The question is whether or not he is fit enough to play, whether his wage demands would be appropriate and whether he fits in with the preferred model of signing younger players to grow in value. We signed Whittingham last summer and Morrison would be along similar lines to that really in terms of a deal for a couple of years so it's not beyond the realms of possibility but I can't see it happening. Not because he isn't good enough, he almost certainly is good enough to play for us in the Championship, but whether we're prepared to pay the rate and risk it considering he was injured all last season.

Be better if we signed a decent striker rather than loaned one. I'd be quite happy if we kicked off the season with no loans on the books. Not against a couple of them as late options but there needs to be contracted permanent options up front to go with DG rather than game time for someone for 6 months before having to replace him again.

Suspect that Morrison and Brunt are only being 'linked' because they are both known to Mowbray having signed them 10 years ago at WBA. Doubt there's any more to it than that.

Think with laughable outcomes like with Bournemouth today and the QPR saga it is becoming clear that FFP rules doesn't prevent anything from happening if the determination to do it is there.

Makes sense with Mowbray with Morrison being a Middlesbrough lad and Mowbray took him to WBA. Think he'd be a good signing in the Championship but not sure if he's fit, seemed to miss last season with inury.

https://www.efl.com/news/2018/july/efl-statement-afc-bournemouth/?utm_source=Direct Another pay-off on the quiet of just £4.7 million. Not bad in exchange for 4 seasons in the Premier League bringing in hundreds of millions. Not bad business for the EFL either who have now raked in nearly £10 million from Leicester and Bournemouth whilst boxing off a potential headache and embarrassment. Wolves will no doubt be next in a couple of years.