This is painfully slow... Here's hoping for SOME news tomorrow, how about a Lenihan (4 year) and Graham (1 or 2 year) contract signing to start us off. Curious that Mulgrew only has 1 year left and nothing at all being spoken about it. He needs a Danny Graham type contract of 2 years ago (2 years + 1).

Downing was definitely an upgrade on Ward, so he 100% served his purpose in that regard. His distribution was usually abysmal to be honest, when he was in the team, opposition would so often harass all our other players until the ball got to Downing, from there would they back off and restrict the sideways option, safe in the knowledge the next person to touch the ball would be their own GK... usually. Defensively, he was fine but i think he is a better "backs to the wall" defender than a "Promotion chasing possession" defender. Saying all that I see him as a 4th choice option on a par with Williams in 5th. Meaning i would like an upgraded CB3 this summer... after two wingers, a cm and a striker. EDIT: IMO, Downing was signed permanently in January as a "We will lose Mulgrew and Lenihan if we fail to get promoted, so we will need CB's next year IF we're in League 1" signing.

I recall having a convo with my sister In the past year or so about players who "most fans" considered 'poor' at their time with us in the Prem, but would have been first name on the teamsheet over the past 3 years. Mokoena was the one we settled on ? Heck, Even Keith "McPointy" Andrews was mentioned...

I would definitely take Nsiala as a 3rd choice CB 2nd choice RB. Sadler and Beckles look dodgy as, yet he was rock solid anyway. Plus he is 6ft 3" and 26 years old with 1 year to go on his contract, perhaps a bid in the £400-800k range would get him??? Is he younger and better than Ward? Yes. Is he younger and better than Caddis? Yes. Is he younger and better than Downing? Yes. (IMO) Does he have a cool sounding name? Yes.

Getting Lenihan a new contract has to be a huge priority this summer. He has potential as a future captain (behind Mulgrew and Bennettl) and needs a 4year deal signed asap with only 12 months to go. Mulgrew (I think) only has 1 year left now and really needs that extended to 2 or 3. Whilst I agree that Dack and Smallwood deserve improved terms to match Championship wages, to lose one or both of Mulgrew and Lenihan on free transfers next summer would be catastrophic. We need to get as many of our squad under 30 on 3+ year contracts as possible as we cant be losing players again like Hoilett, Duffy, Marshall, King, Lowe (lol) and Mahoney on % of value.

Is it just me that when managers talk about "if the right players come along", pictures the 'Generation Game' and a conveyor belt full of mainly crap players going past the manager as he is waiting for something worthwhile: Jason Lowe - Cuddly Toy - Elliot Ward - Hammock - Stephen Warnock - Microwave Oven - Hakeem Adelakun, STOP.

Lowe and Bolton makes a lot of sense. I hope he can stay injury free and prove a lot of people (slightly) wrong and go on to be a "decent" Championship CM. What I would rather happen is TM not to publicise how big out budget is. That way we can play the poor card and be believed. If other clubs know you have £5m +, they add 15% tax onto their players. Should see business done fairly quickly with the window closing after the first game of the season.

Not sure, but he is likely to leave, be it on loan or for less than his market value, a loan would be fantastic if Norwich want him out but to raise his profile again first to get a bigger price in 12 months? (Don't know his contract obvs). If Fulham can be loaning the likes of Mitrovic to this league, surely we can't be in the Rekeem Harper market again. The way i sounds to me from TM comments, is we buy quality with the promise of being a stepping stone if they out play our position, Olivera more then ticks that box. Dack might be the same in 12 months. Example: Despite how sick I felt after we sold Bellamy for £6m to Liverpool after 1 season, we have to remember we only were able to sign him because the small release clause. Not a bad strategy in the Championship if you can do it financia - oh.

Looks like both of Abel Hernandez and Nelson Olivera are available for "nothing" this summer, both strikers. Top end championship strikers brought into premiership teams on big money in the past. Wonder if they made any of Tony's lists... That's the direction I went on FM after promotion anyway. ? Quality wingers (in a 4-2-3-1) is still #1 priority IMO.

I'm the same age as Nedum and remember coming up against him fairly regularly in different things whilst he was at Hulme Grammar. I remember once during English Schools Athletics when we were both running forth (Anchorman) in the 4 x 100m relay final and I recall having about a 5-10m head start on him and thinking i had it in the bag... Nedum passed me at about the 80m mark and he was like a steam train gliding past, fasted person i'd ever seen. Whats interesting is over his career you would never credit as being so fast. Interesting how things translate over to professional football. We have some mutual friends so I will get them to have a word (for the record he never played in defense at school boy level either).

I almost fully agree with that squad in principle, think the GK, Defense and Strikers are all bang on. I would definitely look to offload both of Whittingham and Gladwin in exchange for a proper cm to be our main player in there, allowing Evans, Smallwood and Bennett to compliment (if only there was a Jermaine Jones type player out there). Beyond that, i think we still need a proper winger in that squad and there may be better options over Oztumer. Add a couple of last minute loans too (forward, winger and cm) and we're in a good starting position.

True, but he has had 3 years on "premier league" wages of averaging around £35k per week (taking into account the probable 25% relegation wage drop for half that period). That's a solid £6m he wouldn't have dreamed of earning without BRFC in those 18 months. On the flip side he has gone from playing every week injury free and scoring 1 in 2 (33 in 66) here to almost 1 in 7 (13 in 85) at Villa and Boro. Maybe he will be more open to a pay cut to return here? I won't get my hopes up.

Fully agree, there weren't too many outstanding prospects in L1, but he definitely impressed me at Ewood in December. The way i see it about 1/4 of our 'squad' needs upgrading/released. Caddis, Ward, Whittingham, Gladwin and Feeney being the standout 5 for me. Two being out of contract. Based on the last 46(92?) games, players like Adelakun are 100% an upgrade on the Feeneys, Whittinghams and Gladwins of our squad so we should - and probably will - look for these options early (similar to when Bowyer went out early and pre-contracted Eastwood, Judge and Chris Taylor - just with hopefully much better results). Rothwell, Camps, Niasala, Maddison, Nolan are all young (26 and under), fairly cheap/free, low wages, 100% attainable targets coming off outstanding seasons that would improve our squad (No, i don't think we should get all of them). After that i think we would only need a quality starting Winger or two plus some proper competition for DG and we would be set for battling it out for 9th come may 2019. Also, all this talk of Tammy Abraham is fantastic if not rather amusing. 1% chance . Someone like i dunno, Rudy Gestede, who has played 35 games in 2 years for Middlesborough and scored 13 goals in 4 seasons might be more interesting - not sure on his injury history now or how much £ he would cost in loan, transfer fee or wages? Rudy with Armstrong, Dack and (Chapman?) feeding off him would be something!

As of now we're starting next season with this team (the ones in bold being those i think are a guarantee for opening day unless some John Terry/Ronaldinho type signing falls our way - it wont) Raya Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams/Bell Smallwood Bennett/Evans NEW Dack Armstrong Graham One of Bell and Williams will start, and depending on our signings will depend if Bennett plays CM or W, but i think he starts. Graham will get his contract and also start though i expect there will be some better competition brought in as Samuel showed he isn't a striker (though "useful" as a RW). Armstrong i see us chasing and him starting LW if signed. I think we need to focus on the wide midfield positions first - then look for an upgrade on the likes of Feeney, Hart, Whittingham, Gladwin, Caddis and Ward who are all surplus to requirements and will likely be offered out if not out of contract anyway. Ignoring loan departures if we can get those 6 out, and 6-8 in (W x 2, CM, CF, CAM and CB) ill be happy as the U23's deserve some consideration before we look to loan any players under the age of 21 (Harper!). I honestly would be amazed if 8 of the team that started the final day (Dack making it 9) don't start the first game next season (Injuries depending).

I think there is a consensus here that we get rid of the 5 players who contributed nothing this season: Caddis, Ward, Feeney, Gladwin, Whittingham. Beyond that, Antonson probably shouldn't return and I agree that Conway has been great, but he just screams SPL player to me now. That's 7 out, plus 3 more loans in Payne, Chapman and Armstrong who are not ours (I would try to keep all 3). That' potentially 10, plus I think we can demote Nutall back to U23's or loan out. If we get a cash offer of 50% value for Samuel he should be allowed to leave too. Where I would debate my opinion on the respective abilities and qualities of the likes of Williams, Bell, Raya, Nyambe, Evans and Smallwood. I feel all deserve their chance in the Championship, especially if we get most of the other names mentioned previously off the books.