Admiral Nelsen

The highlighted bit is crucial for me. I agree that we'll be okay this year, and so if it turns out to be the case that we're able to spend a few more quid next summer as a result of tightening our belt this one, then fine. If that isn't the strategy though, and we've just found ourselves in this position, then serious questions need to be asked about our squad management. Suppose we'll only know one way or another further down the track.

I think 20 is very optimistic to be honest with you, but I agree that having him as a striker is one of the main silver linings of a broadly terrible window. He already has two, and if he stays there all season I'd definitely back him to reach double figures, but I'd be ecstatic if he manages over 15.

I wonder if there's a slither of a chance of turning this into a permanent deal next summer? Probably not, but would explain our apparent determination to get him in, giving him the number 7 shirt etc.

Without claiming to be an expert in football finance, I'd read that as us (along with La Liga in a slightly different way) as having lived most beyond our means over the last few years, therefore being most exposed to a 'shock' event like a pandemic. Clubs in the top flight still have their main income stream from TV, whereas many clubs further down the food chain are already used to the pressures of needing to balance the books.

I think there are games you can point to where Nyambe should have played and didn't over the last few years, but I agree that it's been well overdone in the face of the evidence. He is a 23 year old who has played almost 130 games over the last four years, and that's with considerable time out injured and hamstrings which at times have needed managing. That is not a sign of a player being left out too much in my view.

I can only imagine this way we can get something in the way of a fee (or sell on) that wouldn't have been there last year had he gone to Shrewsbury. I certainly hope so, otherwise it makes absolutely zero sense.

Not overly concerned about missing out on Lowe, personally. I think he'd improve us, but not massively and it's very unlikely that we'd be able to recoup the £1.5 million further down the line. If our strategy now is going to be buy young players and improve them, you can't be spending most of the budget on a good-but-not-great 27 year old.

Astonishingly orthodox if it turns out to be like that!

I always felt Cairney was at his best when he really wanted to hurt teams - looking to take more risks in creating chances or scoring himself and less concerned about giving possession away. It could be 2+2=5, but he was excellent whenever he played at Elland Road after being let go by Leeds as a youngster.

Completely see where you're coming from on Cairney (and you're right that it was more about not fitting him into the right system, rather a dig at the player). £3million was a total disgrace though, even at the time. If it was double that then you could talk about it being one that we got wrong in retrospect, rather than obviously having our pants pulled down. I take a different view on Raya and King though. I was sorry to see Raya go, but if we ended up getting £5million plus a sell on for him, then that's in the range of being a half-decent deal in my view. He is worth more than that now of course, so that could be an argument that we got it wrong, but I'm not convinced that his stock would've risen as much had he stayed here (or went to another club). On King, I think we dropped a massive clanger in not playing him at least somewhere, even if Bowyer didn't want to make the call in dropping Rhodes or Rudy. In fact, I think the only time in the last 10 years when we genuinely looked like promotion candidates was when Marshall was injured, and we had King and Conway on the wings. Remember some aways that season where King was absolutely unplayable - seem to remember being 4-0 up at St Andrews at half time and every goal was a result of King roasting their full back. Take that spell alongside his cup exploits, I think we have to look at that one and ask why we couldn't get more out of him.

Or feasibly the only concrete offer - it could be the case that those other clubs are looking but don't have him on the top of their lists.

Cairney too (I actually think the 5 million we ended up getting for Raya was broadly fine) but other than that I agree - I'd be truly shocked if there turns out to be anything in that.

I think the game where we were obviously second best was the match at Ewood, where we escaped with a 0-0. I remember the away game being a tight match which we arguably shaded (whilst getting a big slice of luck with Branthwaite, obviously!).

As with the Millwall game, whilst we struggled for long periods we didn't give away too much in the way of chances. Makes the goal that we did give away all the more frustrating, but we definitely can't complain with the result. Good point under the circumstances, but we need to improve dramatically with the ball. Bit of a baptism of fire for young Clarkson, which hopefully he'll learn from. Nice to see Buckley do well when he came on.

Would be a very interesting one that. Not one I'd be completely delighted with given the way that he hasn't kicked on, but undoubted potential. I'm not anti-loan on principle, but I'd much sooner bring in Roberts than another winger on loan. Seems as though the clubs rumoured are us, Swansea, Stoke and Bournemouth. I suppose Bournemouth could blow us out of the water wages-wise (but would he play?). The others appear to be cutting their cloth not too dissimilarly to us this summer, so I wouldn't rule us out.

I think that explains why their academy has over time tended to be good too. Like Southampton they're pretty much the only gig in town for a really sizable chunk of the country.

That's a fair point, but as with Carter, Wharton is a player that one way or another, needs to be playing somewhere. Perhaps a better approach would be to wait until January, keep Carter as a part of the side then loan Wharton to a L1 team in January to get his form and fitness up to speed?

Probably fanciful to think this way, but it'd be great to see Anderson overtake Warne in test wickets by the time he retires. 79 more to go to catch him, which is obviously still a lot, but he still looks so fit. Another couple of years and he could do it.

I think he needs to play. I wouldn't at all be against that being at Rovers, but the worst thing for him would be to find himself fourth choice in a couple of months and he barely gets on the pitch.

I think this is right, sadly. His biggest weaknesses for me are his first touch, which doesn't look like it's going to get much better, and a lack of aggression for such a physically imposing player. To be honest, for all the talk of 'Gally's not a winger', I think he could still contribute plenty more as a wide forward if these two aspects of his game were better. Plenty of teams do well with wide-attackers who rarely cross the ball. Having said all that, whilst I can't ever see him bagging a hatful (or being that adept at bringing others into play like Graham was), I still think we'd see a real improvement with him in the middle. I'd be confident of him getting into double figures in the league, which I can't say at the moment.

I'm not one of those who thinks that Chapman is the best thing since sliced bread, but I really don't get what we're trying to achieve with him to be honest. I'm willing to accept that he hasn't played as much as he would've liked due to his attitude (or at least that we can't know that one way or the other) but if that's the case it seems mad to renew his deal for 12 months whilst simultaneously 1) not playing him and 2) not being able to get any cash for our asset due to his deal running out at the end of the season. I only hope that the rumours are just that, and Chapman gets enough time on the pitch to justify a new, proper contract.

A quick google seems as though Liverpool want to sell him for £5million, so probably not unless that's wrong. I'd like to think that we would only look to get another winger in (irrespective of whether we keep Chapman or not) if it's because we're going to use Gally in the middle.

Anderson with three in the first hour, including Kohli. Shudder to think where England would be without him and Root at present.

The management deserve heaps of criticism for not being more adaptable last year, but the football since our return wasn't even the worst in the last 10 years, never mind 50.

"Not-everyone's-cup-of-tea" etc, but I've always quite liked Neil Warnock. Would've suited us down to the ground in the summer that we went for Coyle. Especially love the roasting he gave his Huddersfield team in one of those fly on the wall documentaries that used to be popular. "You're in f**king Latvia!". Lovely stuff. Anyway, very pleased that we've got Ayala fit for our visit this season. Backing us for our first clean sheet in what seems like years. 0-2 Rovers.