Angry_Pirate

Why is there a spider crawling in the top left corner next to the lettering of Mulgrew? Having a huge #10 on the front of the shirt might not go down too well with the league... I'm sure it's been approved though. Could prove to be a masterstroke when the opposition don't know what our L1 and loan players look like and are defending corners ? ? from me. Even the lettering is wrong. Fingers crossed the away kit saves it.

Visual representation of the culmination of every TM interview since we beat Doncaster on April 24th.

So contract wise, going off comments here, we have the following players entering the last year of their deals: Mulgrew, Whittingham, Caddis, Evans, Conway and Graham. Were Galdwin, Hart and Leutwiler only 2 years when signed? That's 9, anyone else?

Like it or not, Nyambe is OUR best "natural" right back since Salgado... 6 and a half seasons. Seriously look at some of the tripe full backs we've had since... Orr, Kane, Henley, Caddis. We've had to play midelfielders there most of that time in Marshall, Bennett, Lowe. I would say only Alex Baptiste was impressive during his loan. I'm more than happy with Nyambe playing at RB next season and beyond hopefully as i see him developing much more. Cant wait for the day when the same people on here are slagging off his loyalty when he's linked to a currently higher ranked team when all a lot of "fans" do is criticise him since his debut at 17. The lad isn't even 21 years old. Can we support and encourage the likes of Raya and Nyambe instead of criticism please. We need wingers and strikers.

That's one from "List A" we can cross off!! ?

Some right names there. Don't forget Grzegorz Sandomierski and Cameron Stewart from that first season down.? Stoke paid a fair whack for Mame Diouf too didn't they. Is he still there? For what it's worth I quite liked Kazim Richards and felt it was a mistake not signing him up.

I don't think Smallwood is good enough for the Championship as a starter. Outside of a bottom 6 team. First 4 months = ?... Then he got one booking away from the 2 game suspension and went seriously off the boil for me, he wasn't sprinting back either which was more concerning, he never rediscovered his form even after the deadline passed. 4-2-3-1, I'd start with Bennett and Davenport personally, Bennett is physically quicker, stronger, more of a goal threat (?) and I'd also say more committed than Smallwood. Davenport seems to have the quality to start, all things being said. Smallwood's chant actually became satire, how often he actually gave the ball away. He deserves his place in the squad and on the bench as a bit part player... but he's not going to take us beyond survival level. But I certainly would keep him around. All IMO.

I agree there is no rush on PL loans, let those teams do their business and then the better quality players will be available on deadline day and beyond throughout August. Example springs to mind is we loan Jack Byrne too early as Man City knew he's miles away and then a matter of weeks later Huddersfield loan Aaron Mooy. Bide our time on PL loans.

Good memory, I didn't think too hard about our loans back when we were a Premier League team. To this day I have no clue how Danny Simpson became a title winning RB. What about Championship loans? Todd Kane, Doniel Henry, Jack Bryne. Certainly no Eyal Berkovic. We did do well enough in League 1, so perhaps I should have a little extra faith in TM.

I just can't find myself getting too excited about young PL loans for a season. Just racking my brain and how many players have we ever signed on loan (and NOT signed permanently) that have gone on to promising careers? (Cariney, King, Rudy obvs don't count as they were made permanent, and players like Marcus Babbel etc were already established - even Santa Cruz and Bentley were garbage when they came back!) I came up with Michael Keane... Any others?

20% of £20m (£4m) from the second sale of Josh King could make all the difference to our team. Cairney is also no lock to stay at Fulham with NUFC and WHU linked for around the same £20m fee which we must have a % of (I think he will/should stay). We probably even have a World Cup related bonus for Phil Jones. Maybe TM is saving up the £88m needed for Cristiano Ronaldo?

Speaking of Plymouth, a player who always seemed to get the rave reviews (and also made L1 team of the season) was that lad Graham Carey. I confess to never seeing him play live, so expect to be shot down pretty fast here ?. ... quick check, he turns 30 at the end of this season so not as young as I presumed, and seems to have committed himself to another year at Argyle. Soz. Don't panic, I won't be suggesting their 26 year old commanding Cameroonian centre back next! Lazar Markovic (surely not?), Chapman and Armstrong as options on the wings would certainly fix our lack of pace! Pull that off and then the Bauer and Gestede-esque signings and we can "praise the sun"!

That video was more inspirational than watching Braveheart, 300 and Gladiator combined ? He was listed in the top 35 "rest of the world" players on Fifa 18 apparently with and 87/100 rating, perhaps (Ince??) should have played him besides at Blyth Spartans away?? Carlos V is up there with Luca Toni in Brfcs legendary status.

Wasn't it quoted somewhere that Davenport and Rankin-Costello are still best mates from school? They also play slightly different midfield positions?

Reading the last hour of this message board was quite amusing... 40 mins ago compared to the 4 year deal being announced. Great signing for all involved. Makes sense for City, get a 'decent' fee (no clue) with probably a 25-35% sell on and most likely a buy back. 4 year deal, it's nice to be trending upwards and securing assets. It allows Tomlinson or Travis a loan back to a top tier league 1 team. Now how about Lenihan and some wingers...

Clue about a potential incoming "transfer"?

That's also (unfortunately) my gut feeling. We have some "decent" fixtures in August too.

Feel obliged to agree with some points here. Just look at our last 10 home games: We were garbage for the first 45 minutes against Bradford (0-0), Southend (0-0), Bury (0-0), Peterborough (0-1), Blackpool (1-0), Northampton (0-1) and Oldham (0-2), and second half vs Wigan (0-2). That's 8 games out of 10. That does not say we didn't deserve to the 18 points from those matches, however you cant really argue with how bad we were for more than 40-50% of each of those games. However, comparing us to Wigan is unfair on Blackburn Rovers as all due respect to Wigan, most teams/fans in League 1 didn't care at all that they were playing Wigan, they cared a lot when the played us. Example: I have a lot of Oldham friends and they are disgusted with how they were able to perform so well for 1.5 games against us, then not turn up for the other 44 games (especially Wigan away). Doncaster acted like they had won the league when the beat us opening day. You only have to watch the World Cup and matches like Brazil Vs Costa Rica and Spain Vs Iran to realise 9 men behind the ball, with time wasting tactics, is hard to beat.

Great start!!!

Agree. Plus, everytime Bauer makes a mistake or misses a sitter we can all shout "Dammit!" in the style of 24. Devils advocate - Problem with Lenihans contract - meaning we need to offload him for £1-2m this summer and Bauer is his like for like starting replacement? #1 priority for me remains Lenihans contract resolution.

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.