And we'd two oven ready turkeys plus Holtby that should have been able to step in and make up for us losing Dack- but they didn't.

I've just been reading an article regarding Fulham and Scott Parker. Joe Bryan is praising Parker for eradicating the " Losing Culture " at the club and bringing in " great expectations ". In my opinion the "Losing Culture" crept into Ewood Park after the removal of Big Sam and the appointment of Kean. None of our subsequent managers have succeeded in doing what Parker has done at Fulham and bringing in a winning culture. Nobody at the club has " great expectations " anymore. You could say the " Losing Culture " came in through the door with the Chicken Chokers and it has never left.

The guy has mentioned those examples of clubs buying expensive strikers who haven't set the world on fire, that's fair comment. However we appear to be the only club that have managed to make the same mistake twice !

I don't think I'm the only one on here. Are you his agent ?

The guys you mentioned have hundreds of International caps between them. Gallagher is just a journeyman at best. It's a pointless comparison. You could have said the same about Best, he'd played for several top clubs and he'd been paid probably more than Gallagher to do it. He was still garbage.

They're also real footballers.

I've seen Shearer do exactly what Morsy did. He just helped him on his way. Did we get a free kick ?

They are discussing Brentford in my paper today and I saw this quote " they possess the second best defence in the division, three masterful great Danes in midfield and arguably the league's finest goalkeeper in David Raya ". So we manage to go from selling arguably the best goalie in the league to loaning arguably the worst in the league.

A 22 year old didn't used to be a kid but it can be today.

You can have any odds you like - that team won't start our first game next season. You'd be doing well if you get 7 of them right.

Who down there actually cares ?

Mm, If I was sat on the other side of that desk I'd be thinking " This guy doesn't seem to be that keen to sign me, do I really want to play for him ? " In my walk of life if I went for an interview for a fitters job and the manager said " I'd like to give you a start son but I need to sign a turner and a milling machine operator first ". I'd be looking for another job somewhere else.

The guy is terminally indecisive. You only have to look at the fact that he still hasn't settled on a way of playing and his best eleven after 3 full seasons to realise that. Dean Saunders told a story about Brian Clough. Saunders had been to Cloughie's house to discuss a move. He told Cloughie he'd need to talk it over with his wife. He set off for home in his car, when he got there he found Cloughie sat on his couch smooth talking Saunders wife about the move !

I can't see us being able to retain 4 or 5 centre halves all of whom are considered to be nailed on first team players. If we get 3 we'll be doing well. We'll always need a couple of fringe players that can fill in there from time to time. Until I see evidence to the contrary I can't see why Wharton shouldn't be given a chance to be one of those players.

Me too. Let's see what players we have to work with first.

Yes, both are real shocks.

Don't you mean Mark Venus ? I thought he was the chief negotiator.

That depends on how much I'd had to drink.

Who was managing your lot - Tony Mowbray ?

It used to all depend on who was put forward by individual schools PE teachers. To be honest I don't think a lot of kids fancied playing centre half at school. All that heading ? The lad who actually played in town team I referred to really fancied himself as a midfield player and later on played there but funnily enough he was nothing like as good as the player he was at centre half.

Not that season and not at centre half ! Being fair to the coach he was new to the area and he didn't know any of us properly. He had our star centre forward ( who signed for Hull on leaving school ) playing in centre midfield until somebody had word with him. Having said that he was a natural and he played centre midfield like he'd played there all his life. Then he discovered beer, fags and women and that was that !

Yes I agree. I played in every position on the pitch at some point. Even one game in goal - and one game as the ref. The less said about my refereeing the better. Playing briefly as a centre forward taught what service suited strikers best and how hard it was to play with your back to goal. I remember going for a town team trial once and we all lined up out in the pitch. Me and another lad both lined up in the left back spot, but there was a gap in the right centre half position. The coach organising the trial said to me - You, move across to the right, you're playing centre half today ". When I said I'd never really played there much he replied " Get over, a good player can play anywhere ".

Without being too much of a contrarian I would argue that having a few games at left back would give a would be attacking player some knowledge of the pluses and minuses of what playing at full back entails. If the lad has football intelligence a short spell there won't have been wasted and he may use what he has learnt to his advantage.

I can see that you are quite new to this game.

Some players never wise up ie Jones at Man Utd, he's still making the same mistakes as he was at 17. Then you get the likes of Wayne Rooney who knew all you need to know at 17.