I don't see why people are getting so worked up about Gallagher, there haven't been any concrete links. As much as id love to see us sign Maddison I've pretty much given up on us signing him, think he will go somewhere else and we will live to regret it.

We still need a natural wideman and a target man back up to graham on top of the Armstrong deal. The business has become impressive over the last week or so, palmer and now Armstrong. Hopefully similar quality signings to come.

I reckon a fee of 1.5 million would be about right, anything more would be too much for Arma. Think the signing makes sense tho my only concern is he isn't a proper winger and isn't the kind of striker who fits our system. Happy tho if this deal goes through his goals last season were vital.

I doubt we will get 5 but reckon the targets would be GK a CB a winger, a striker and one who can play both like Armstrong. Reckon a GK will be lowest priority.

Davenport is injured and palmer has been deemed not fit enough to start and play for 90 mins by TM. At least we will have him as a option from the bench. Hopefully he'll be starting by next weekend. Id go for: Raya Nyambe - Lenihan - Mulgrew - Bell Smallwood - Travis Samuel - Dack - Bennet/Conway Graham subs: Leuwiter, downing, Williams, Evans, Bennett/Conway, Rothwell, Palmer. Our lack of forward options is worrying atm, about 2 short. But overall the squad is looking decent. Hoping for a win but a point would be a solid start, however that rarely happens for us on the opening day of the season. Edwards will be the player to watch out for them I reckon, would of liked to have him here.

I reckon a trio of, clough - dack - palmer behind graham would certainly give us a lot of creativity. The only issue is that it would make us abit narrow, which in some aspects wouldn't be to much of a bad thing due to the fact most teams who will play us this season will be looking to attack rather than to sit in and defend, so being narrow would make us hard to play through, along with us potentially having some intricuate attractive play at the top end of the pitch. However if we were to play with a narrow 3 behind the striker then you have to have fullbacks who bomb forward constantly to provide width, which we haven't really seen from our fullbacks, in particular Williams, so not sure it would work. So having said that I do think we need to bring in a natural wideman who will give us width and pace because in tight games that's what can make the difference in opening a team up.

So if we assume what sharpe says is true, then we do actually have some decent money to bring in a couple of players before the window shuts. Personally Ill belive it when I see it. However if that is the case and we do bring in 2 quality player, preferably in the attacking area, on pernamanet deals then the window would of been a success. I think for a successful championship model you need to bring 3-4 high quality players each summer which have the scope to get better and can straight away push to be in the staring 11 along with a couple of squad players to supplement the squad. I wouldn't class Rothwell or Davenport as high quality yet tho the latter certainly has the potential to be, but palmer on the other hand definitely is imo. So if we can get 2 more high quality players to add to him and another squad player then the summer would of been a success. However I think it all depends on who these 7 firgure fee signings will be and if they will even actually happen.

Has sharpe actually said this?

Rich Sharpe‏ @richsharpe89 54m54 minutes ago - the player I was told about now won't be happening. If there's to be a loan with City then seems it would have to be Nmecha

Really shocked he hasn't been picked up, think he's a steel. West Brom were on verge of signing him a couple of weeks ago.

The deal for the City player isn't happening anymore, it wasn't Nmecha so wonder who it was.

I've mentioned Hugill a couple of times and agree he would be an ambitious target but would be an excellent addition, cant see it tho, same for Roberts who is a class above the championship.

So according to the Lancashire telegraph we are after 4 players, 2 attackers, a CB and a back up goalkeeper, with it being suggested there could be a couple of 7 figure fees. I imagine the 2 attackers will be a striker and a winger. Hope it pans out how TM thinks it will but i'm not to sure, tho I wouldn't be bothered if we didn't get a Goalkeeper. Fingers crossed.

We should get a transfer update from TM press interview in a couple of mins, hopefully news of a striker+plus a wideman but doubt he will give much away

We should get a transfer update from TM press interview in a couple of mins, hopefully news of a striker+plus a wideman but doubt he will give much away

Number 10 may be his best position, but I have seen him play a couple of times out wide and he has impressed, most definitely better than we already have in that position and has much needed pace. Agree that we need a natural wideman tho.

So if Nutall is close to a loan move we must be close to bringing a striker in, anyone got any potential names? The only one I can think of us being linked to is Nmecha but he is seemingly going to Swansea.

While I agree it is easy to over estimate our players after last season and I myself am culprit of it, I wouldn't say we have a bottom 6 squad. One of the main reasons we went down was due to Coyle, who was awful. Under Mowbray we looked liked a mid table teamin the championship which the results showed, potentially higher than that if we hadn't conceded 2 late goals in the Preston and Norwich games. I also think a lot of that relegated team have come along way in the last year or so, Nymabe, Raya, Lenihan the main ones. I also think Mulgrew has thrived on being captain and has stepped up his game. Along with that the majority of the squad has now experienced both relegation and promotion and that experience will come in handy this season. By no means do I reckon we will be looking at a promotion push, although Millwall proved last season it can happen, but I don't think we will struggle as much as people think. Also regarding the comment on Bennett I would prefer him over Evans but until we get a couple more attacking options in we could use him from the bench as he gives us attacking versatility as he can play on the wing, which gives our bench more balance as the alterative would be to have Travis, Evans and davenport all on the bench, all who play the same position. If we get a wide man and striker in before Saturday I'd have him in over Evans.

As the season approaches I actually think our squad is looking promising. This would be my starting 11 going into the Ipswich game. Raya Nyambe - Lenihan - Mulgrew - Williams Smallwood - Evans Samuel - Dack - Palmer Graham The defence know each other inside out and as a unit look pretty solid. Evans and Smallwood give us hard work and energy in the middle with Samuel and Palmer offering pace out wide with the latter alongside Dack giving us the needed flair. In Graham we have someone who can hold the ball up, link the play and finish chances which come his way.Players such a Travis, Davenport and Conway can all provide energy from the bench, while Rothwell has that bit about him and can carry the ball forward as an attacking midfieldier, Bell and Bennett give us pace and versatility to switch systems and Downing is solid enough back up to the centrebacks if needed. There is one real issue tho with our squad. We lack attacking quality from the bench, in the form of a striker and a wide man. Graham offers a lot but his game dwindles out normally around the 60 minute mark and that's when we need a quality powerful striker to come on to give us abit more energy at the top of the pitch, preferably someone who is abit more dynamic than Graham and who could become our first choice striker over the season. Secondly we need a natural wideman with pace, because although I think Samuel has something about him he's not a natural wideman who can whip a ball in, in short a game changer from the bench who can push the starting 11 is needed, Chapman would of been ideal. I feel a winger and a striker are essential and could potentially be the difference with flirting with relegation and pushing towards a play off push.

Not fussed over Nmecha, if we sign people on loan it needs to be players who are proven to have an impact in the championship, such as palmer.

May only be one but it's a heck of a signing. Palmer is just the kind of signing we need, he can play across that attacking 3 behind the striker all to great effect and has plenty of pace. Really impressed. Even more so with it being a season long loan rather than the 6months previously suggested. Imo he is a promotion callibre signing. We need a couple more like it.

Anyone got a name other than palmer?

One will deffo be palmer, reckon the other could be Armstrong, pretty sure he was left behind from newcastles pre season tour, and the term agentbenno has been used by bennet when talking about resigning chapman and Armstrong on his social media, so his involvement would make sense.

It's a shame to see us miss out on a couple of really good deals which other clubs seem to be snapping up. Harrison would of been really smart business but that ship has now sailed. Think same goes for chapman who seems to have played his way into Boro first team. Maddison and hugill are both available, the latter on loan, both players who could transform the look of our squad but doesn't seem to be any interest from us and can see us regretting not picking them up if other clubs swoop in. However Impressed by the palmer deal, if it goes through, he's a top end championship player with pace and quality and also strength on the ball, will be excited to see how he gets on for us, tho I am hoping it's either a longer loan or with a view to a permanent deal. If we can get him in on loan and then a striker and another wide man who have quality then I reckon we will be in good shape. The palmer deal came out of nowhere and that is a real coup for us imo. So there's defo reasons to be hopeful that we can pull a couple out of the bag. One thing for certain is that money needs to be spent on permanent. I personally would be disappointed if we didn't do a deal which eclipsed dacks fee. Interesting week ahead.

surely it would make sense to loan a defender and then get Bauer at the right price in January when he has 6months left or on a pre contract? We need permanent attacking signings or we will end up needing to rebuild our attack again like we have need to this season (and so far failed to do).