Dreams of 1995

Marcus Maddison looks a real player. It's an exciting thought having him play for us even if there hasn't been any real substantial link. If we end up with Kent I'd be bitterly disappointed.

Shock that Charlton have passed on Elliott Ward. What a bad player he was. Can imagine him ending up in league 2, which is where he should have been 3 years ago.

Would be nice but a pipe dream. He was on loan at Celtic weren't he? Can't see him coming down to a lower league Champ club after a successful enough spell there.

Exactly. Even Man City have made signings you'd expect to be in the first team this season and they romped the best league in the world last season. This idea that we have a good enough squad because we came 2nd in League 1 is wrong. This season is an entirely new season altogether and we should always look at improving our first team

I think everyone is frustrated at the state of the market at the moment. That doesn't mean to say good players aren't available at a reasonable price. Owners up and down the country continue to put millions in in order to balance the books and provide funds for signings in the effort of reaching the big money PL. If Mowbray wants to spend 2 million quid the owners should put their money in and try and get this club back to the PL as they claim they want every year. Fishing in the sub- 1million pound pool is always going to be a frustrating time in a world where 10 million is considered a bit of a cheap deal these days. I am in no way advocating a Nottingham Forest style spending spree but if Mowbray can't even table an offer of 2 million quid then, in all honesty, what are we to expect? I sincerely hope it's a case of "keeping the powder dry" and eventually we will land a definitive key player or else it's obvious the funds clearly have never been there.

At the end of the day the argument is simple: if Kent arrives instead of Maddison then it is obvious we missed out on plan a and went to the plan b. Although, seemingly, Kent isn't even plan b now but is plan c based on Sharpe's tweet. Ryan Kent may have/may do turn out to be a good player but there is absolutely no logic in the world whatsoever that dictates he would be a better acquisition than a player that has proven over the space of 3 years he can set up and score goals. I don't care who watches LFCTV or watches U23 matches the records speak for themselves. This has to be the end of it. If we end up with Kent then ok, we've got a decent player and I hope he does well but he's by no means our first choice. That in itself speaks volumes.

Getting young player of the year at a club like Barnsley 2 years ago doesn't compare to the impact Maddison has had over the past 3 seasons for Peterborough. It's a nonsense argument.

Isn't one of Villa's problems that Tony Xia was unable to release cash from China due to some legal implication? No doubting that they are under the cosh as far as FFP goes but you'd expect a club the size of Villa to correct themselves. Although I'm sure everyone said that about Leeds years ago!

Anyone who says they'd prefer Kent on loan than Maddison permanently has severely clouded judgement. Kent wouldn't be the worst signing in the world but I'd much prefer to have our own player. Renting is never as good as owning in any market. That said though, Watford were a club that mastered the loan market in their time in the Championship. They got promoted with the likes of Matej Vydra on loan and subsequently had clauses to buy them upon promotion. I'm certain they had 6 players on loan and 4/5 of them signed permanently once they won promotion. The loan market, if used correctly, is a great tool for a club with limited resources.

Of course it has and I think the fact he's come out and said what he wants suggests to me they are ready to sell. If they held the position "you are going nowhere" then Bowyer wouldn't have used the words he has and valued him. The lad is for sale but it is up to us to meet a respectable deal. Bauer is worth double what we have offered, even if he has only got 1 year left. Go back with a sensible offer and you'd expect them to sell.

300k doesn't even get you on the negotiating table. It isn't what he is worth at all.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16344901.charlton-boss-discusses-rovers-pursuit-of-patrick-bauer/ You got the helter skelter bit right...

Delph can be creative also. The boy can pick passes out. He's certainly got more in his locker than our other holding midfielder Dier. That said you don't change a winning formula so barring any niggles or fatigue I'd expect much of the same.

The better player to drop must be Dele Ali. Aside from his goal Saturday he's not had the greatest performance. Probably not 100% judging by the fact he spends a lot of time holding his thigh. The doubt in my mind about the Croatia game is that their world class players are all in the area of the pitch we are arguably at our weakest - the middle. Henderson has to have help otherwise the trio mentioned will run all over him. Someone like Delph would be ideal but has he had enough football and will it come to the detriment of our attacking team? On the other hand though, Croatia's worst area of the pitch is their defence. You'd take playing against Dejan Lovren in the semi-final every single time. The game will definitely be a battle in midfield. I can't see the game being won if we don't get Rakitic/Modric under control early on.

Morrison is twice the player Whittingham is.

But signing 3 out of the 5/6 players we want all in one position when we only have 1 winger and 1 proven goalscorer on the books would be silly BDS, despite them being "good players". Koeman signed lots of good players for Everton last season but they all played in the same position - he was fired.

You can't deny that signing players on x amount of wages disrupts players though. Usually it's a sign of intent on whether or not he's a starter. As an example, had we signed a centre midfielder on 35k a week this transfer window you'd expect Smallwood to question whether he'll be the first choice midfielder in the coming season. If he isn't then he's been dropped to the bench and probably unhappy, whereas if he's retained as first choice he'll now want some parity with his counter part. This then leads to player x on 35k a week as a rotation option. Meanwhile Samuel is looking at it and thinking about his own role in the team - afterall he's rotation too so why is player x on 35k a week and he's on 10k. Pay rises all round or players want to leave. Every club in the world has a pay structure. Scratch that, every company. Yes Ronaldo may be on 300k a week but the rest of the clubs footballers will be on 100k+ a week also. You make huge exceptions like that when you reach that level (Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo) but the average footballer for the average club will always want paying what his counterparts do. In a hugely materialistic industry if your back up counterpart comes in in a more expensive car you'd probably start to wonder which side your bread is buttered.

Don't quite know what to make of this rumour. 1m seems a lot for a 25 year old after one good season in league two.

The one good thing that has come of this window is we currently have 2 ins and 2 outs. Both outgoing players are 30+ and both incoming are 25 and under. A promising sign for the future of this club. Without a doubt though we need to bring in a goalscorer. If Graham gets injured, and he's hardly prolific at this level, then we are left with players that don't inspire much confidence. A couple of goalscorers, one permanently and maybe a young lad on loan, will set the squad up nicely. A left back/centre back is also another priority for me. I don't think we've been strong enough there for some time now.

SIGN DACK.

Don't believe this one. Markovic has potential to play in the Premier League still. Would be a coup but 99.99% sure he wouldn't come here.

Davenport impressed when at burton in the later stages of last season. I wonder when our young lads will get a go though, Tomlinson and Travis must be rolling their eyes. Can he do anything they can't as defensive mid? He is a free kick specialist but we arguably have one of them already. I'm always willing to give young lads a chance though but you have to imagine Mowbray doesn't have much confidence in travis or Tomlinson. Shame really.

Do you speak like Yoda in person too?

I think this is some exaggeration here Stuart. By Mowbray saying he wants business done early then by my reckoning he has another approx. 3 weeks to do this. I'd say any signings before the 2nd week of July would constitute as "early". The first pre season game is 7th July I believe whilst the Championship season starts around this time in August. It would be incredibly early to have wrapped up a couple of big signings already.

Where have these defensive capabilities of Conway's come from? In his better years I never had him down as a winger who particularly relished in the defensive side of his game. He has a high work rate but he's hardly a player renowned for his tenacity in the tackle. It's almost as if a benefit of him being here has snowballed into this idea that Conway is suddenly a player we can rely on against the big teams to defend from the front. I don't think that's the case at all. Bennett alluded to his influence in the dressing room. I'd argue that's a bigger trait than any of his supposed defensive qualities. In regards to Gladwin - he doesn't have a position davulsukur. He's just a poor player with a bad attitude. Definitely a "wrong one".