Whilst I don't blame Mulgrew for feeling frustrated, this is ultimately just evidence of Mowbray doing his job. The weird thing is why he came back from Wigan last year when he could have carried on playing at this level.

I would have taken Elliot in front of some of the other names mentioned as our first choice at the start of the summer, so whilst I'd question the attitude of someone who gets to his stage of his career with so few appearances, as a back up that's a great option.

No info at all, but the same fake account on twitter who said that we bid for Dillon Phillips has come out with that one I think, nothing to worry about I suspect.

Not relevant to our situation, but Paul Merson went to the Championship when he was offered a new contract at Arsenal. Admittedly, that was because Boro were paying him more than Dennis Bergkamp was getting at Highbury, which I don't think is the case with us and Kipre! On Kipre, if his fee is 900k, then surely any prem club that wants him just goes ahead and gets him. I think one way or another, he'll be holding up a Rovers shirt or a WBA shirt by Saturday evening, all depending on whether they actually fancy him or not.

Yes, must admit it jars seeing full backs playing on the wrong side. Having said that, I seem to remember one game where it worked out quite well for Chimbonda!

Agree with the sentiment, but I think it's an enormous risk to not get at least one more centre back in for me. I'm more than happy to get Wharton in and let him compete for a place, but we have to plan for the possbility that neither him nor Carter are up to it for this season, and that just leaves Lenihan & Williams who are both injury prone.

Those who are watching, any other stand outs apart from Brereton?

BB with his second!

1 - 0 Rovers, Brereton header!

To be fair to him, I don't think that was a Venkys reference - I think he's done that plenty of times before.

Purely speculatively, if we were getting several hundred thousand for him then I think that we could probably put that to better use - not least because he picks up injuries a bit too often for me. Otherwise, perfectly decent back up option.

Swansea are supposedly after Ayala. Supposedly they aren't awash with money & even with the lad from Wolves, they need to replace some of their attacking loans from last year. If they're after Williams they've either got a few more quid than they're letting on, or they've abandoned getting Ayala in my view.

This is exactly where I'm at with him. If we could go back, there's no way I'd have spent that sort of fee on him, even if the money couldn't have been spent elsewhere. Even so, if a 21 year old Brereton came out of the academy and gave the performances that he did post lockdown, we would all be saying that he looks a clumsy player, but one with plenty to offer. Graham & Samuel clocked up about 40-50 appearances between them last year and have been let go without a replacement, so whether he merits it or not, BB is going to be getting a decent run of games if he stays fit. Quite simply, he has to take this year to step up, we can't wait forever.

Whilst I think we'll miss Downing more than some are saying, you're undoubtedly right. Fortunately it looks as though this is how Mowbray sees it too.

Fair enough, wouldn't disagree that he has made his fair share of mistakes at both left back & centre half. In retrospect, it's easy to see why his best form came in a back three at Bristol City. Ultimately though, he'll need replacing and that won't be all that straightforward at present. You could still argue that he is our best left back (admittedly not saying very much) and even allowing for a new centre back, Williams is second choice. He's one of a group of players that we have who you definitely wouldn't want to see making 20-30 appearances a season, but is a good player to have to fill in when necessary. I still think that if we've got a semi-decent offer for him, or if he actively wants to go, there's no point in keeping him, but I wouldn't be rushing him out the door either.

Seem to remember that there were some rumblings about Williams going to the MLS a while back, maybe they've resurfaced? Agree with those who're saying he's perfectly serviceable backup, but if he wants to go then there's nothing gained in standing in his way.

Not quite! Him & Gally are stretching it slightly with being in their mid-30s, but how many teams can say that they have produced a full starting XI of players who were/are good level Championship players at the very least over a 10-12 year period? Suppose Mahoney might be an exception to that, but I forgot Pilkington so we could just play him there instead.

Using academy graduates who are still playing, we could put together a team looking like: Raya Nyambe Jones Hanley O'Connell Hoilett Travis Gallagher Mahoney Judge Derbyshire Had to go a little further back for a couple of them, but they're all still playing and there are players like Lenihan who can't get in the team. Not including any of the current crop breaking through either. The academy is doing fine.

This lad, I believe https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/callum-wright/profil/spieler/502830

That would be amazing, although assuming there would be no outgoings that would be £3-4 million, maybe even more just in transfer fees. I know we're only speculating on budgets etc. at the moment, but that sounds probably a bit beyond what we can expect.

That he does. Funnily enough that was something which a few Forest fans brought up as a negative when we signed him. I'm a bit more open minded about that sort of behaviour when he gets as many dodgy looking penalties as he does goals!

If that's right then fair enough. Wouldn't want to suggest that he was particularly good and the penalty was obviously poor. I was just a bit surprised that he was being picked out as hopeless when for me there were others who were noticeably worse.

That's pretty much where I am, as much as we don't have anyone with Graham's know how and ability to bring other players into play, fact is we our goal tally was pretty good last year which was in the main with Graham not getting on the pitch. If there's room for a sensible loan then fine, but I'd be happy spending all of whatever money we have on goalkeepers and defenders.

Picked up a slight knock in training apparently, doesn't sound serious.

I think it's just the difficulty in reconciling his apparent fee of 1.5 million quid with the noises we're getting about how much we have to spend. I don't think there's any 'he won't come to little Blackburn Rovers' about it.