Mate, you’re preaching to the converted here. But on the final day, with nowhere near the amount of defensive reinforcements through the door and the local newspaper, club CEO and manager desperately trying to dampen down expectations, you have to begin to worry. I am the eternal optimist but in reality Mulgrew is DONE. Proven at the end of last season and evidenced on Saturday. Whilst Bennett is never a RB and his performance on Saturday was one of the worst I’ve ever seen from a professional footballer. If those two aren’t replaced then we will do well to achieve 15th position this season. The manager knows it too. In unfathomable why it hasn’t been addressed. Hope they do something today..

Where’s this upto? @Madon ?

Depending on how the sales and purchases were made (instalments) we could easily have spent nothing extra so far.

It’s absolutely scandalous if we limp out of a promising window at a critical time having spent zero (net) and with no significant defensive reinforcements. I have made my point to the people I know. I genuinely believe that having lifted the fans and owners expectations, the management have their necks firmly on the block.They know that a bad first 10 games will see them out of a job. I feel sad for them. Hope Jonty doesn’t get dragged in to the pending carnage!

After preseason, Magloire is now behind Grayson in the pecking order.

In fairness to TM he’s replaced and frozen Smallwood out, the guy wasn’t picked for any of the last seven games last season and wasn’t in the matchday squad on Saturday. If he decides he doesn’t want to leave then that’s his prerogative. The blame only lies at the managers feet when he’s failed to replace players who are obviously not good enough to start. Like Mulgrew and Bennett. That could be remedied by the introduction of Nyambe and Tosin on Sat plus another defender signing. Imo it doesn’t matter if Tosin hasn’t had a full preseason, he can’t be any worse than Mulgrew. I actually feel sorry for him. Painful to watch how much he’s deteriorated.

Hmm...like I say, I think there’s a player in there. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they did replace him.

I understand to a certain extent. But they’ve probably played 100 games together. A couple more in preseason wouldn’t have changed much imo. Those two are done imo.

Minutes don’t matter. Bennett is a terrible RB and Mulgrew looks like his back legs are gone.

No way is justified to expect top 6 as a minimum. The top 6 is the aim. For me as long as we’re there or thereabouts then we are on track. But that defence from yesterday will never deliver that in a million years.

In all honesty, it is an absolute scandal if he doesn’t. Nyambe should be banging his door down this week.

Just watched the highlights back again. That fuckin defence is rancid. Including Lenihan! ?

No nearly means he’s nearly good enough and I think I could give him a bit longer.

I think Williams is a decent CB but Mulgrew is finished for me. Lenihan, Tosin, New, Williams and one of Grayson or Magloire would do me.

I think he lacks conviction. He nearly does all of those things well but mostly falls short. Bennett and Mulgrew are TRULY awful. Nyambe needs to ask for a move if he’s considered a lesser RB than Bennett.

Tbh if those performances by Mulgrew and Bennett don’t make him go out and sign a RB and CB then nothing will. They were horrible. I felt sorry for them. Mulgrew life oks like he needs putting out of his misery.

See now I still think there’s a player in Amari’i Bell

Nothing has changed. We need a CB and a RB before the window closes or Mowbray has signed his own death warrant.

My take - In the development of Travis and intro of Johnson we are now stronger in the middle. This will be proven by the omission of Evans who played most games last season. Raya has been replaced by Walton and at this point we cannot judge whether that is an improvement or not. The introduction of Gally, Johnson, Downing, Tosin and Walton can be judged on quality, impact and value over the season but there is no doubt that we have added championship experience to a team which had the second lowest average age and limited game management qualities before. The glaring problem to me is that we still need a defender or two before the window closes in just less than a week.

What is this drivel about picking his ‘own man’? It was Mowbray who gave Joe the chance, signed him in the summer of 2017 AND gave him an improved contract ffs! ???. I wish you could ask Joe what he thinks about Mowbray and Rovers. How TM saw his potential at a really bad time for Joe personally and how Jonty and the club used their resources to develop and build him up. Earning him a new contract and some financial security for him and his mum. Joe would tell you that he owes everything he’s getting to those people. Samuel was injured all last season!? So how on earth did he keep Nuttall out? Brereton struggled for form too so the only competition for Joe was DG. The fact of the matter is that he just isn’t good enough. If he were then there would be Championship clubs banging our door down at 6 figure fee for a goal scorer. There’s no hard feelings. It’s truly a win, win situation. Man management - The ability to motivate and inspire a group to meet a collective goal. Everyone does it differently but if he had poor man management skills then there would be unhappiness around the squad. Poor morale. Stories of arguments leaking out. All of the evidence points to the opposite. Tell me the last time you heard anything adverse about Mowbray. In the last 12 months we’ve signed Arma and Gally from PL teams who’ve taken wage drops to play for him. Dack and Rothwell have been on record as referring to him as a father figure. There’s so many more.

Oooosh! Really?

Max Clark would be exactly the type of LB signing we need. I wonder if they’re after another CB as well as Ada? If so then there’s potential for three more signings this week if you add a keeper.

Ageing and old school, yes. But out of touch, no. The club he walked into had no scouting network or proper infrastructure. He is the one who backed the funding of the cat A academy which managers often fight because it comes out of his budget. He instigated this and the European focus. But the work he’s done in cultivating Jonty and then integrating him into the first team is fantastic. Jonty brings a direct link to the young lads but more importantly, a focus on tech analysis and psychology which the club has never had. Regardless of whether TM stays as our manager or not, the positive effects of his tenure will be there to see.

Ah come on. Lenihan and Mulgrew are defenders. Both play in defence for their national teams. Downing was covering for Bell after Hart got injured vs Bury. The only odd one is Bennett who for me is a midfielder. The real point here is that Bennett and Mulgrew in defence are not good enough to take us to a top 6 finish. Bell improved towards the end of last season but question marks still hang over him. For what it’s worth I quite liked the look of Hart in preseason. Looks more aggressive and imposing than Bell.

Is that the deal offered? Or just your thoughts on this...