Admiral Nelsen

That's where I am. Reading between the lines he'd like to be here and we'd like to have him, but the boy will be 24 in a couple of months. If we had a bottomless pit of money he could well develop to be worth more than that in a couple of years, but the odds don't seem great to me.

Totally natural that Travis will be on the radar of plenty of top-flight teams. Part and parcel with having such a top young talent. Anything less than an 8 figure bid shouldn't be even considered

Like Gally. All things being equal I'd be happy signing him. I can't see £5milion being good business though, amazed that Wigan are going that high.

Totally agree. I'm in a different place about TM, but I think those of us in the /sun shines out of his arse' brigade recognise that bringing in a good centre back (and now a good keeper) is absolutely massive. I'm comfortable with Ben and Gally, if that's who it turns out to be, fighting out to be second/third choice. Plenty of three game weeks in this division, and whilst Graham is having an indian summer, wouldn't bank on him staying fit throughout. They'll both get gametime imo.

Scott Dann too, recently

I hadn't realised that Ruddy was in the form that he was for Wolves in their promotion year - it seemed to me as if he was going through a Robinson-esque premature decline in fitness and form. The he got into the team of the year as recently as the season before last makes him an absolute no brainer if he's within our budget.

I've said this a few times over recent weeks, so I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I really think this is a massively important point which can't be overstated. I don't like using the language of assets/liabilities - we're a football club who exists to win games, not post profits. But there's no getting away from the fact that if you were to look at that team in financial terms, we were littered with toxic assets that were unsellable due to age/form/size of contract, or loans. We managed to get a fee for Steele somehow, other than that there was only really Lenihan who could have realistically fetched a fee into the millions, even then perhaps £2million. Fast-forward to where we are now; a squad that definitely needs improving significantly, but one where we can actually operate as a trading club, where we own our best players and where they're of a good age. Obviously we want to keep the good ones, but at least it gives us options and a platform which was a million miles away from where we were.

Good thing about Downing is that he fits just as nicely across all of those three positions behind the striker. In most games, I'd be looking to get Armstrong in there, but as a part of the squad I agree that he looks like a good option.

That's the think which stands out to me too. Control of the ball is very good, just abysmal when it comes to crossing!

Very possibly. Such a high pressure position though, I think there's something in that you very rarely see a keeper come through the ranks and stay at one club. We've seen the mistakes of a young player, with a clean slate I can see him really kicking on there. I think, for his faults, Raya has been the best that we've had (admittedly, compared to some absolute dross) since we got relegated so I'm sorry to see him go. That said, there's no getting away from the fact that he was a contributing factor in our goals-against last season, so maybe we just don't have the luxury of giving him the time he needs to progress.

Happy with Johnson, really very disappointed with Raya but I can see why it might work for all parties. If Raya irons out the issues with his game, he will be worth plenty more than £3million one day. If he can't, then we've probably done well to get that amount for him. Seems a decent sort too, wish him all the best.

Taking the requisite amount of salt - the Butterworth link is very interesting too. Very talented in his spell at Hudds, seems to have dropped off when he should've been coming into his prime. Wouldn't be against it, but a strange one. Johnson is a grade A sh*thouse on the pitch. Which is ideal. I'd be absolutely in favour of this on a free, Johnson and Travis would be a pair with serious bite and still try to get the ball forward quickly.

Very smart kit. Which is is obviously awful news. Everyone knows that Rovers having a good kit is the sign of us having a dire season. Announce relegation.

Love Johnson. Done a fabulous job and couldn't be more deserving of his promotion. Only thing I worry about is that if he's involved in the first team set up, he's in the firing line when it comes to managerial upheaval, but then again if you take that attitude then you'd never give him the chance to progress and he'll be off to a club which does. Huge asset to Blackburn Rovers.

One way in which we're better off is that we actually own our best players! If we had stayed up in our relegation season, it would've been off the back of loans and players with no saleable value. Our squad isn't there yet, but it was an absolute empty vessel when he took charge. As you say, game of opinions, but the measures of success that we use need to be selective in the extreme if we're saying that we haven't progressed under Mowbray.

Just looked on his wiki, the boy is the same height as Samba, so could well have been what we needed! The Bell you describe is exactly what I saw at the start of the season. Personally, I thought that he was getting tighter to his man and was travelling with the ball well in the final few months (agree that his crossing still isn't good enough). In any case, if Bidwell was a clear upgrade then we should have been all over that on a free.

Hasn't Pinnock been at Barnsley for a year or 2? Don't know anything about his quality to be fair. Bidwell's another one I only really know by name if I'm being honest. I think Bell improving was one of the missed stories of the final few months of last season, so I don't think left back is as much of a problem as I would've done last January. That said he's still not great, wouldn't be against brining in a replacement if one was available.

Bit concerning to hear some of the change of emphasis on defenders, but to be fair it's not numbers we need in my view, it's the right partner for Lenihan which is the real emergency. One centre half of the right quality could make all the difference. Also, reading between the lines, TM saying that he liked the balance of the side at the end of last year can probably be read as Rothwell & Travis are starters. Probably should go without saying, but nice to see some evidence that Mowbray is thinking the same.

I think there's a player in there who can contribute at Championship level. The trouble for him is that last season is when he was going to get the most opportunity to do so. His injury robbed him of the chance to kick on, but I don't think we have the luxury to wait around if we want to progress next season for me. For me, both him and Nutall would be going out on loan, with Graham, Brereton, Gally (or another new signing) and if necessary Armstrong/Butterworth as our options up front.

Basically exactly where I'm at! I'm not as optimistic that Samuel is going to make an impact. I feel for him, and I don't think he's without strengths, but I think the squad is at a place now where I don't see him getting enough game time to improve or really stake a claim in my view. Totally agree with Chapman and Davenport though. I think it's going to be a really wide open division next year. Inevitably there'll be a surprise team or two that break from the pack like Norwich & Leeds last year, but you can go through the whole league and there's nobody really to fear as far as I can see.

Expectations should always to be seeing progress in my view, and a strong play off push is the minimum of what would be classed as a good season. As things stand, the squad doesn't look capable of that, but we knew that last season. The squad in 4 or 5 weeks time will be when I decide to be optimistic or not. That said, I think even if we were to go into next season exactly with the squad that we have, I don't think we'd have any worries at all about flirting with relegation. Bad spells or not, we were streets ahead of half a dozen teams at the bottom last year. It looks like the teams that struggled last year are unlikely to be making significant improvements (if not going backwards) the promoted teams don't look that threatening and there are plenty of teams that look like they could under-perform versus last year with either smaller budgets or odd looking managerial changes. Staying up isn't remotely a benchmark for success, but I'd be amazed if it's something we're ever genuinely concerned about.

Wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of where we're at & Mowbray's record. Only place I'd differ is that I don't think Mulgrew's body can take playing in midfield anymore, not even as a holding player. I agree that it would be a shame if we can't make the most of out Mulgrew though. How we do that is tricky, one of three at the back, maybe as left-back without expecting him to get forward? Everything seems a little bit shoehorned, sadly.

Quick scout on the 'Boro messageboard suggests that they'd be sorry to see him go, fell foul of not being a Pulis player apparently. They're also of the opinion that they can get their £5million quid back and could be going to Sheff United (along with half of the football league, apparently) or Celtic. Don't know how much we can read into any of that, other than 1) Boro fans rate him 2) We're unlikely to get him on the cheap, if at all

I don't have any real problem with him doing what he's doing, provided he's getting himself sorted fitness-wise away from the club. Otherwise it shows a shocking lack of desire for someone is his position.

I'd class Payne as the same category of plenty of other players that we've been linked with (and signed, in Downing's case) - fine, but only if there's more to get excited about in our other summer business. Clearly the boy has the technical ability at this level. Physically, he's not up to it, but if we're genuinely playing a much more technical game this season then he could have something to offer.