Give me one Evans over 5 Lowe's any day of the week. He did. A pal of mine who supports Oldham said that he had games where he disappeared but more often than not you could count on him for a good performance. Like any young player you fade in and out, have bad spells. Not a bad player but obviously thought he was a bit better than he was at the time. It's funny how you turn a complete round turn on anything that doesn't go for your agenda. He hasn't just had "1 good game against us" and hasn't done badly under every manager since. I seem to remember you banging the drum of never judging a player before you've seen them - you openly admit it's not fair to judge him under Coyle so where has this damming opinion of him come from? How many times have you seen him in his 30+ apps for Oldham? 1 - against us? A good performance...

Jason Lowe definitely played right back for a lot of our relegation campaign, at least under Coyle. It was Mowbray who started using Nyambe there. The Oldham manager criticised him once if I remember and it was around the time his loan came to an end and they wanted to sign him. They did sign him. It wouldn't be unheard of for a manager to downplay a players qualities he wants to buy. If he was as critical of him as you make out he wouldn't have signed him on a 2 and a half year deal. As Tyrone made out too, if you was present at Oldham's ground that season, you'd have seen how he ran rings around our midfield then. He has the potential to be a decent Championship player and certainly possesses more midfield qualities than Akpan and Lowe combined. Anyway this is an irrelevant argument as he isn't our player or a transfer target How rich. You've spent the last 45 pages jumping down the neck of people who have vented their concerns (ergo opinions) and telling them how wrong they are.

Well, he has signed for Wigan and loaned to Oldham who subsequently bought him. Hardly flopping from club to club. Despite a bad start at Oldham he grew and got a couple of goals from midfield for them. Can imagine he'll end up getting a move somewhere else soon enough. He could pass, tackle and control the ball far better than Akpan. Lowe was right back during that campaign.

Jack Byrne was a better player than the midfielders we coped with that season. That is a fact.

Weirdo. I'd love for the Foden rumour to be true. You can see talk of Leeds being linked on the internet but no talk of Rovers except for BDS' mate. I wouldn't mind signing him just to beat Leeds to him. He's definitely a marquee signing. My only worry about it would be we have other areas we have to strengthen before and should spend money on that but it would be an incredibly hard offer to turn down to sign Foden regardless of the mentioned. And before BDS and Paul Mani's Crusaders come knocking I'm not complaining I just want a striker or two

There's a couple of plates spinning... We are currently still looking at our first choices.. No panic yet, we have our current CEO on a new long-term contract.. Our scouting network has improved, by the way We hope to get our new board in before our trip to Pune in September.. The market is crazy, executives currently want paying in line with other clubs in this league.. No panic.

If a player has a release fee and the club aren't willing to let them go for under that fee then how long can it possibly take? Armstrong is £3m. Maddison is £2.5m. Both managers and chairmen from each club have stated this several times. To me it doesn't seem plausible that we have been haggling for those deals for so long. That either suggests that we don't have the funds to buy them or they simply aren't targets. Either way, if Newcastle truly are holding out for £3m I certainly wouldn't be paying it. Armstrong is a good player, Maddison is better....and cheaper.

Yeah. It's a shame about Hoban as he looked like a really able defender. Decent with the ball, good in the tackle and in the air. Sadly there are some athlete's bodies that have been injured that much they become like an old elastic band - one small stretch and they snap. He's one of them. It's interesting to see who he lines up as centre half cover though. Mulgrew, Lenihan, Downing & Nyambe isn't enough if he continues with the 3 at the back he's been playing pre season. I think some people are severely underestimating how short we are in some positions. Injuries to Mulgrew & Lenihan like they've had in their past and suddenly our defence is non-existent. Likewise, injury to Conway, like in his past, and we will literally not have a single wide player with 1st team experience at the club. I predicted that we'd need 7 incomings as a minimum at the end of last season. I still stand by that. I think even the 5 banded about is still shy of what we need to put forward a properly competitive team. That said, survival is the aim of the game this season so we do only need to be better than 3 other teams.

That's a new one

I don't think it would be like that at all. I'd assume all those that had the thoughts, or heard the 'rumours', are more relieved than anything else.

Great moment. Wanted this from the moment Lenihan has signed his.

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.