Anything shy of £5m for a striker is good business. It shows how good of a deal we have got for Gallagher and Armstrong. Granted the Brereton deal may be steep for last seasons returns but he's still a teenger and has scored/played more games than Zohore in England. All in all we have 3 good strikers all bought for reasonable sums of money in comparison to the silly deals some clubs are making.

In line with this we should also consider who our "senior" players were last year, for the sake of clarity I will use 26 and above as senior: Strikers: Danny Graham (33), apps 46, great season Midfield: Ellliot Bennett (30), apps 42, utility player, had a good enough season in my eyes Richie Smallwood (28), apps 33, dropped at the end of the season deservedly and not a starter anymore Ben Gladwin (27), apps 0, seniority by age only Cory Evans (29), apps 36, nowhere near consistent enough, not exactly a "leader" Conway (34), apps 26, mainly a sub, good player in his day but not with us anymore Defenders: Rodwell (28), apps 22, not a centre half, doesn't seem to want a new contract Mulgrew (33), apps 31, a great set piece taker but dropped at the end of the season Downing (27), apps 4, released Goalkeeper: The Canadian (30), apps 5, not good enough An interesting stat if you take out Downing, Gladwin, Conway and Rodwell our average age becomes: 23.885 Again for the sake of clarity squad list and ages taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_Blackburn_Rovers_F.C._season A further argument could be that you remove Smallwood and The Canadian from the list as they are no longer considered first team players (I'd argue neither is Mulgrew but as we haven't had an incoming centre half I won't remove him yet) that would make our average age: 23.459 We obviously have a crying need for QUALITY experience as the older players we have now are being dropped through either an emergence in a younger, better player (Smallwood/Travis) or through not performing to an acceptable standard often enough (Mulgrew, Evans). Also, a little tidbit for the "Dads Army" myth that is currently being thrown about the board, if you added Johnson, Downing & Gallagher into the squad (along with Smallwood and the Canadian) our average age is still only: 24.483, which is still younger than the season before and you'd argue Johnson is a starter and Downing is a bit of a like for like of Conway. We are arguably in a much better situation now in terms of squad age/experience balance than at the end of last season. If you throw in the experience of Carson or similiar and a centre half of similar ilk you suddenly have a squad laden with both quality experience (as opposed to P. Downing or Rodwell, who are either not really experienced in this level of football or just not great role models) and a definite chance for youth to break through and establish themselves.

I'm sure he called them out in his interview where he stated he had no defence and that defenders are coming. He obviously didn't rate Raya, has made moves to replace him. From what little rumour we have it seems a centre half is incoming also. I'd say he's making moves to address those problems.

Rather his best performance in my eyes came against Bolton, where he played in midfield! He isn't a centre back. We have a midfield and whilst I'd love for him to partner Johnson in the middle I don't think he has it in him. It was an experiment, it failed, I think it's time he moved on. He hasn't done himself any favours with the fan base with this contract situation.

Tbf tomphil it is only a poster on here who has said that, not the club. We don't hear a whiff from the club these days!

Not Dann and Skrtel. One or the other in my eyes. You have Mulgrew as your 2nd choice back up. Lenihan partnered by either Dann/Skrtel, with Mulgrew, Magloire, Wharton as back up. That said I could miss both Dann and Skrtel in truth, but out the two Skrtel is the better player

Scott Carson has been a consistent top half Championship player for 3 seasons now. He's experienced, played for England, played abroad, been there done that. I'll be happy with him between the sticks. I'd have been happier with him and Raya competing but that's not going to happen. 33 isn't old for a goalkeeper, some may say these are his best years, and I couldn't see a keeper of his calibre coming whilst Raya was here or Raya staying whilst a keeper of Carson's calibre came in. This is if it is him.

This is all hypothetical of course but... We could be bringing in a defender, but he'd be on loan. £5m in todays market is decent for Sam Gallagher. The opportunity came and we took it. You could argue that DGs options are limited and bringing in a replacement now is sensible business to allow him to settle in whilst DG still leads the line. Gallagher and Brereton are two good English players with resale value if they reach their potential. On the contrary, a centre half may simply not be available for a reasonable price. We all criticise Mowbray for rushing through the Brereton deal and the last thing we want is an over priced, not quite good enough centre half costing us £5m+ I get the criticism that will be levelled if we don't sign anyone in any form. However I don't understand the chirps of mismanagement of a budget when we really have no clue about what has gone on behind the scenes, the true scope of the budget or what players/agents were ready to talk to us and accommodate a sensible transfer. Rather, you could argue that a loan signing is shrewd budget management, obtaining a player way above what we could afford for a season whilst we search long term. Everything seems to be "one way" on here when it comes to judgement of Mowbray, maybe a different perspective should be used at times.

Just to debunk this whole loan vs permanent signing fiasco. When Bournemouth got promoted from the Championship their first choice goalkeeper was Artur Boruc, on loan from Southampton. When Watford got promoted they had at least 5 players on loan, all of them first team regulars. Aston Villa were a defensive shambles before they recruited Hause and Mings, both on loan, in which Mings formed a defensive partnership with Taunzebe, obviously on loan, which lead to a 13(?) game winning spell and ultimately promotion. When Brighton got promoted their top goalscorer was Glenn Murray - a loanee. Then we can go into teams like Derby, in which Mount, Wilson, Fimori all came in on loan to guide them to a play off final. Although the "lampard effect" meant they could get them players. The truth about it is that whether the incoming goalkeeper or defender is a loanee or permanent signing is irrelevant. As long as they play for Rovers, come in the first team and improve it it doesn't matter. Certainly loaning a player isn't evidence "the budget has been mismanaged" at all. If the right players become available via loan I'd much rather have them than buy a player that isn't as good simply because they're our players.

How do you know that? It may just be a case of not having the right player on the market and the loan option being more appealing until a better transfer comes along. Quite mad how you can make such an assertion with very little to back it up. The truth is it would be a sign we haven't achieved what we set out to do if we end the window with no defenders incoming. Whether they are loans or permanent transfers it is irrelevant as long as they improve the team. That's what I will judge Mowbray on. I couldn't possibly begin to judge his handle of the budget because I simply don't know what has gone on behind the scenes.

I suspect that lesson will be learnt when he's retired and has no legacy except that of a wasted talent and pisstaker. Right now he probably still thinks he's the dogs bollocks in his Balenciaga shoes and Louie Vuitton swim shorts.

We all knew this about Harry Chapman and it's the reason he has come on such a cheap. The boys legs are so full of scar tissue that little niggles and tears will continue to happen. He's electric on his day and genuinely gets you out of your seat. For the nominal fee it cost us, and no doubt the small wages he takes, it was worth a shot. If he's injured again then it is a crying shame as real talent is being wasted.

And your point is??????? But in all reality, yeah, you are probably right. Mowbray must have been looking at Johnson's performance as manager last year and considered his job. "How do I get rid of the big looming threat of DJ?" he pondered, over his lemon drizzle cake. Whilst Mark Venus wanted him whacked Mowbray's best plan was to keep his enemies closer than his friends - put him in charge of player development, that'll teach him for trying to take my job. Nothing to do with him bringing the players through the youth system in an incredible few years, knowing them inside out, and them now knocking on the door of the first team or anything. Of course not....................................................fuck.

We missed out on Maher roughly a month ago. Him and Baeur are the players we have missed out on. If we really went after Baeur that hard anyway. Signed 3. Missed out on 2. I'll live.

Yeah, the squad balance right now is way off. You can definitely sense that players are outgoing, hopefully one of either Evans or Smallwood in the middle, if not both. God forbid it's Travis. I don't understand the issue with signing defenders. Surely Mowbray realises it, he has spoke about defenders coming, is it a case of us losing our targets or is there no longer a genuine appetite amongst the club staff for new players in that area? Do they see Wharton/Magloire stepping up? We can't judge until the end of the window, but as it currently stands our squad is top heavy.

Well done pal, the home screen, banner and badge are brilliant. Modernised the forum - it looks very professional.

I wouldn't be ecstatic to see the back of them but I'd say Travis and Johnson are a better partnership, and if Davenport and Buckley are due a step up this year it's not the end of the world. Maybe a replacement squad player would have to be brought in for if the young lads don't cut the grade

Jack Rodwell can take the road for me. I don't know how he operates but I wouldn't be in the business of sunning myself on holiday whilst clubs waited for my answer. He's clearly hanging on for something better but it won't be forthcoming. We gave the lad a chance after his character got well and truly torn apart at Sunderland and he repays us by behaving in the way he has. Besides, part of me feels like if he signs Mowbray will think we have depth in defence, and Rodwell is a pretty average defender. He's far better in midfield and as back up to Johnson and Travis would be a decent player. I can't shake off the way he's acted though and think we can get players who actually want to be here, want to be part of the squad and better the club for just as cheap as we can get him

The only thing I'd say about Hart is that when a poor defence is in front of him he has never really done well. See West Ham and Burnley for that. He isn't one to really take a big grip of the players, talk them through the game. By all accounts Heaton saved Burnley's season last year and had Hart continued they'd have been in real trouble. Great shot stopper though. If we bring in the calibre of Joe Hart then I would suggest we'd be a more attractive proposition to defenders, especially young up and coming players. For the sake of my sanity I hope we sign a centre back. How many more windows do we need to go through before fixing our back 4? This is a story way older than Mowbray, it's been seen the takeover.

I’d say if we replace Raya with better and buy a centre half, yes. We are getting better and it’s evident we have plans in place to bring in a number of players permanently. It’s not been a bad window so far

We should start a scoreboard for the "always right" lads. That way they can just mark their own manhood boosting tallys and save us the fucking eye watering pain of reading their bullshit.

What more do you want man? Blue and white halves has been our kit since time immemorial. They can't really get much creative juices flowing. Quite frankly it's only the modern day world why a new kit is brought about every season anyway. It is also the modern world why we end up with the weird blue we had last year because everybody expects something "NEW", or old as that tried to play itself out as. We've had the same design for over a century and, with any luck, will continue to have the same design for another century. Bring on next years kit of (THE RIGHT SHADE OF) Blue and White halves. Great.

Nope, you aren't applying context. We were on a downward decline by 2015 and by the time Mowbray came in we were up against it with both the team available to us and points requirement to stay up. So whilst we are back to that point is it not more of a positive that Mowbray is restoring us. Year upon year he has finished higher. Last season we didn't even flirt with relegation in our first year back, whereas Wigan and Rotherham were down there throughout the year. Our squad is also better than when he came in. We have a good, young squad with plenty of resale value if they hit the peaks they are tipped to do. On our books we have regular england youth internationals and some great experience. We have seen a few of the U23s coming through and the increased role of Damien Johnson in the first team squad is only going to improve on that. Mowbray has done great work behind the scenes fixing the mess he inherited after the damage "quick fix solutions" have done over the years. Finally we have a bit of stability manager wise, who has genuine care for the club beyond a stepping stone to the next, and you are chastising him because we didn't reach play offs last season, or because we don't pass the ball like Barca? In fact, Mowbray has spoken about wanting to play more possession football and for all I can see he's trying to improve that side of our squad. Your last sentence backs up my point entirely about your irrational hated of Mowbray. It's your own choice to buy or not to buy but quite frankly if you are choosing to stay away based on the reasons given then I'd suggest it goes above a dislike of Mowbray, and more a convenient excuse. There's no way on Earth anybody can justify boycotting the club based on TM if they were going in the years of Venkys (Lambert, Coyle, etc). Ludicrous.

That is the only part of that post that makes a bit of sense. Maybe a manager of the ilk of Warnock would have got us up with £10m. However, we don't have him, we have Mowbray and for the large part we are in a hugely better situation than we were in when he came. If you can't see that then that's your rotten luck. The rest of your post is way off the mark but that's probably because you have an irrational dislike of all things Mowbray.

Martin O'Neill has followed Roy Keane out the door at Notts Forrest. Oh dear.