Take this next sentence with a pinch. Whelan did start in the first leg, was woeful, was 100% at fault for the WBA goal, was hauled off after 65 minutes... oh and he never played for Villa again. The first names being confirmed linked with, seem to be the closest to signing first, first is occassionally the priority. If we want 1LW and 1CM on our transfer budget, spunking it on 35 year old pair Downing and Whelan and their potential wages before mid June is just abysmal in my eyes. Especially when you look at the free agents out there born after 1990. Can see the headline now... "Rovers announce the signings of Stewart Downing and Glen Whelan on 14* month contracts. The remaining 10 months of the pairs 2 year deals will be paid off on September 1st 2020." Might get myself down to Eid in the Park on Sunday and try and talk Tony some sense ?

GLEN WHELAN!! ? Called it 10 days ago. Couldn't be less surprised, or more underwhelmed. I had backed off the Mowbray out campaign a bit in the last 2 months, but (if) his transfer window is being driven by targets like Stewart Downing and Glen Whelan as priority first signings, then he needs to go. I'd rather have kept Conway and keep Smallwood... and I hate Smallwood (as a footballer)

I remember that Norwich game with Bradley Johnson and saying the same thing - he was the outstanding player in the championship. Age, wage, type of player may be a problem - him and Travis is solid but too negative. I see that Charlton have offered terms to Aribo and Bauer. Rovers must find out what terms they are offered from Charlton and then "Gazump" both offers by a few £k. ... of course, we would then be "Gazumped" by other teams. ?? I don't expect either of them to be at either Rovers or Chalton come August. Still, lets be proactive for once.

Personally I wouldn't mind if the first 2 players in the door were free transfers followed by two genuinely exciting Premier League Loans. Plenty of "Free" agents that could walk into our 18, if not 11. Martin Olsson, Patrick Bauer, Joe Aribo, Todd Cantwell, Nick Powell, Moses Odubajo, Leroy Fer, Yohann Barbet. Even names like George Honeyman and Graham Carey from league one could come in and add depth we've lost or could lose from Reed, Conway, Rodwell and hopefully Smallwood, Gladwin etc.

Would be upset and underwhelmed with Keogh, he's a mistake waiting to happen for me. Don't see him as a realistic target either. Not many players on those two teams I wouldn't want for the right price but hes one of them, Glen Whelan would be another I'd be worried would be a TM player. Upgrade on Smallwood, but such a dull, uninspiring player. Watching McGinn this season really makes you wonder what if. Shows the benefits of being proactive in June and not waiting till August when everyone is watching.

Mings, Abraham, El Ghazi, Tuanzabe, Mount, Wilson and Tomori. 32% of the starting players on the pitch in the Championship Playoff Final are on loan. Phenomenal stat. We simply must do better in the loan market this summer. Harrison Reed was possibly one of our best (championship) loans to date but we need to get more ambitious in this area and not splooge our signings on the Rakeem Harper's, Martin Samuelson's and Jack Byrne's of this world. I'm not suggesting we built a squad with 5 or 6 loans in it, but 2 or 3 quality loans make the difference. If our team had even 2 of those 7 names listed above we would be a playoff chasing team too. Imagine our defense with a Mings in it, or a Tammy Abraham up top.

Selling Smallwood as our first bit of business will have me happy for a start. The TM of July 2018 to January 2019 had has team built around that pedestrian, and no matter what else, at least it shows that he has some concept of players who are below our current standing and hopeful trajectory. Its not like we offered new contracts to Conway, Leuwiler and Galdwin, are seeming talking about selling Raya to a league rival for way under potential value and touting Lenihan and Dack for big money moves is it. ? Remember that spring where we had already announced the bosman signings of Judge, Taylor and Eastwood. Plenty of soon to be free agents out there. If the club want fans to buy season tickets - surely they should be trying to get some excitement going as early as possible. Saying that, maybe selling Smallwood is the best it'll get. ?

Im sick of the fact Raya has an erratic kick being a justification. Jason Steele got an assist once you know. The number 1 attribute you fundamentally want from your GK is shot stopping. Who cares if Raya gives the Riverside catching practice a few times a game. Look at the Brentford 1-0 win at home. Few goalkeepers in the world would have kept a clean sheet that day. We are not in the Paul Robinson, Tim Flowers, Brad Friedel market anymore. Robbo was probably our last proper goalkeeper and was decent and had a phenomenal kick - Robbo was also the England #1 for half a decade before we signed him thanks to a dodgy backpass got him crucified. Raya is an instinctive and impressive shot stopper, improve his back 4, start playing a positive style of football without 8 defensive players and for the love of God improve his GK coach and leave him be for 12 months. Raya is close to, if not in my "top 5 last players to sell" list. (Lenihan, Dack and Travis being the top 3.)

What's sadly laughable is that the released players from Swansea who are deemed not good enough for them, would actually look like a decent summer recruitment for us. Olsson, Fer, Narsaigh, Routledge and Bony. All 5 would probably improve our 18. Crazy league we play in.

Selling Raya would be up there with the most stupid decisions this club has made in 10 years! Quote me on this!

He was far from a MOTD player. MGP had the Premier League record for most distance covered in a game for a long long time. His impact, on the surface, seemed to dip when Warnock arrived at LB. However Warnock was in all honestly a liability at full back (watch the DVD Season reviews), yet was able to get away with a lot of it due to the amazing defensive work that both MGP and ironically Mokoena did in covering him. That Welsh bully from Cardiff was (apparently) disgusting and relentless towards MGP the season he was resurrecting his career at Ewood. Didn't help he was also made "fan" scapegoat #1 for about 3 years. MGP was a loyal, outstanding footballer for our football club, and this quote tells you all you need to know... Morten Gamst Pedersen (May, 2011),: "The eleven who are so lucky that they get the honor to represent the proud blue and white shirt with the beautiful red rose will fight as if it was about life. For that is what it is all about, the life of the club in our hearts! Blackburn Rovers are not lucky because they have good players on the team, good players are lucky because they play for Blackburn Rovers. COYB!" Rant over...

Leeds had a points per game average of 2.0 after 27 games, good enough for 1st then and over the whole season. They then averaged 1.53 for the remaining 19. Dropping them to 3rd officially and 8th= over the whole season. Conclusion? Hide in thicker bushes.

Some interesting names listed on the Sky Sports article about free transfers. Some at a glance: Tommy Elphick, Moses Odubajo, Jamie Paterson, Todd Cantwell, Jake Bidwell, Martin Olsson, Leroy Fer, Nick Powell. Frank Fielding, Paul Coutts, Kieron Westwood and Yohann Barbet. Some will obviously be impossible for a multitude of genuine reasons - wages, prem interest, other team overpayments, crazy agents, position of need etc - but some good-very good options on the 'free' market.

Raya: Yes if we had a outstanding, finished article, commanding keeper (Manuel Neuer, Brad Friedel) in net, it would improve the goals conceded... can't argue. However I despair how little some people appreciate that for at least half of the season (not all in the same side together) our team looked like Raya Bennett - Lenihan - Mulgrew - Williams Smallwood - Evans I see 5 much much bigger issues than Raya in those 7 names. Some have been resolved (Travis - Smallwood) but plenty still remain. We dont have Berg, Short, Byornebye, Flitcroft, Duff, Dunn, Jansen, Hignett like we did in 2000, so signing a worldie GK in the championship will not get us promoted like it did under Souness... drastically improving the defense and midfield, even with Raya as first choice goalkeeper, just might. Replacing Raya is not the #1 priority.

A 4th choice CB that can also be 3rd choice LB, already under a reasonable contract and gets on well with the squad. I don't disagree with his left back ability being poor, extremely poor, hence why he would be back up. But you ain't getting 3 XI quality players for each position.

Raya #1. How many games over the past two years has Lenihan missed. We are defensively a different team when he plays as "he loves to head the ball". Raya had to come for everything as otherwise it was a gimme goal as he knew Mulgrew etc wouldn't win the first ball enough. How many games have we played with Bennett, Bell and Williams at full backs allowing 3 yards for wingers to cross. How many games have we had Smallwood and Evans play as a pair jogging around the pitch and continuously gifting possession and space to opposition attackers. Build a team up with a proper CB partner for Lenihan, and keep attacking to defend. Allow Raya to be the sweeper keeper he is and not the 8 men in our own box, keeper.

Called a 2-2 draw after 3 minutes. (I apologise for not calling a 3-2 win!) + Davenport looked like a useful player, a younger version of Evans. I wouldn't want them playing together as they seemed to want to do the same job. Not going crazy but he is ahead of Buckley and another who is definitely better than Smallwood. - Luetwiler is ? + Williams has shown after a year of doubt that he can be the #3 or #4 and a back up LB. Thanks to Conway, ironic that for probably our best crosser of the past 6 years, his last touch for BRFC was a Bennett-esqe cross to the stands ?. 200 and out. We have some serious pieces of a decent top 10 and beyond championship team. Over to you now, Mr Manager. Playoffs should be fun.

Wowza, that must have been Arya Stark wearing Tony Mowbrays face... The question is, where did this penny start, that it's taken 10 months to drop? RE: the defenders. I know there is a stat out there about Mulgrew and his contribution to the poor defense but I'd love to see one regarding goals conceded when Bennett is at RB compared to Nyambe. We'll have Lenihan (?), Nyambe, Bell, Mulgrew and Williams around the squad next year... meaning we need a minimum of 3 more. If they come in as starting LB, CB and even RB to join Lenihan then so be it. Might be an exciting summer after all.

I love this time of year, when every shite player we have can somehow miraculously be sold off in June and we can build a team around Lenihan, Travis and Dack. Long may it continue.... Fact is, we really must move quickly with a decent signing or two early this summer if we are to show we mean for a serious playoff push... I dont think we can keep some of our players out of the transfer gossip as the 16th best Championship team gearing up for another season with a so so squad. Start with announcing a few end of contracts like Bauer etc (as soon as Charlton are done) and then make the splash in CM. If we build it... they will come (or be happy to stay!)

After years and years of watching what seems like dozens of other Championship clubs play the FFP rules like a puppeteer and still have no promotions or sanctions to show for it, rumours we are to make a decent splash in transfers this summer. Reading between the lines and looking ahead to next years FFP after the spending last summer and the L1 wages we kept on in 2017/18: "If you're driving at 33mph in a 30 and on the boarderline of getting a fine... you might as well be driving at 44mph and earn your punishment."

If this was Football Manager you would definitely be looking into contracts for those 4 in a heartbeat. Bauer, Olsson and Maddison would be an instant upgrade on that position and Nick Powell would be a smart business decision and excellent depth player. Raya Nyambe - Lenihan - Bauer - Olsson Travis - New CM Maddison - Dack - Rothwell Graham Subs/Squad: GK, Bell, Mulgrew, Williams, Bennett, Evans, Davenport, Armstrong, Chapman, Powell, Brereton and youth players. That's a Championship strong 21-25 built for "free" and allows real money to be spent on the quality cm partner for Travis, backup/challenging GK and then maybe any other positions of need/desire such as a real Graham replacement. Ps. For what it's worth I have heard from excellent sources that we have already offered Smallwood out to clubs, mainly L1, for a couple hundred thousand.

Me and my mate were having a laugh calling him Luca Modric, he did stand out for them... probably the hair. Not much to moan about... again (wow). Manager is picking a team that agrees with the fans, gave the kids a go and Brereton finally got his goal, plus it's another win without Smallwood anywhere near the team. I thought Butterworth showed more than Buckley - then again, one got to play a free #10 role, and the other got to play next to Elliott "I'll probably pass it to a Bolton player" Bennett. Lenihan captain next season. 4 points to end the season and top 10 finish! ?

Despite not rating him (at all) I think there would have been a market for Smallwood. The problem is his new contract - still under £10kpw (I'd hope) - will probably mean we cannot ask for a fee and expect a L1 club to be able to pay his reduced wages. Last summers new deals puts us in a similar, albeit much lower financial, problem that we faced years ago when we had Murphy, Orr, Best and Etuhu on damning wages meaning we were stuck with them unless we give them a golden handshake and let them go for nothing. Dont forget we had to it with Caddis and Wittingham only this season. Though we dont have any actual "deadwood" players who are frozen out (Gladwin?), we do have players that are not good enough, yet on the contract of their careers, who we are unlikely to shift that and will hold us back for the duration of their contracts.

If I was making a list by position of what needs replaced/upgraded by importance I'm not certain GK (Raya) would be in my top 5 honestly. CB, CM, LB, Striker and RW all need looked at as a priority, some positions more than 1 player. CM would be filled by Reed, and Graham has another year but needs some actually competition. I don't ever see Chapman getting a go at RW and Williams have proven he is #3 or #4 CB but not a LB. Raya could be worth MILLIONS in a few years, back him. Let's get his face and the back four fixed and give him the benefit of another year. Same with Nyambe. If you said we would have 4 new starters next season I'd hope for CB, LB, RW and CM (Reed?) way before I looked at replacing Raya.

If we can't give Brereton a start up top and go full attacking vs what will (99%) be an already relegated Bolton a week on Monday, I will be worried. Nyambe and Bell at fb, Reed and Travis in midfield, Rothwell, Dack, Brereton and Armstrong / Chapman / Graham. Brereton REALLY needs a goal before the end of the season just to put a slight positive spin on... anything. Can we send Evans, Smallwood, Mulgrew, Bennett, Conway etc off on their summer hols now and give the unknown (potentially better) future a chance when were finally playing on the front foot around the Dack-Rothwell-Travis-Lenihan-Reed nucleus. C'mon Tony. Think.