It's always a gamble bringing in new players and bringing in players from Scotland is a bit more of a gamble. In spite of what their fans say it'll be a big step up for him. For every success story ( Mulgrew , Hendrey ) there is a failure ( Goodwille, Davidson etc ). If he does come in I can see Whittingham going, if only on loan.

The new Whittingham ? We don't play a system that suits that style of player at the moment.

In todays crazy prices i wouldn't take anything less than £ 10 million.

Somebody higher up the food chain than Rovers will be in for Kone.

What sort of striker is he ? Is he an Armstrong style goal poacher or is he the sort of player that can play up front on his own and lead the line ?

Strange signing for me. Especially as we have young lads coming through our junior teams.

We actually have three left backs, Williams, Bell and Hart on loan at Rochdale who appears to have vanished from the face of the earth.

You'd have to ask an Oldham fan about the rest of the season. All I know is he looked a different class to our midfield at Boundary Park. That's the whole 90 minutes in the flesh, not the " highlights " on TV. As for Chaddy saying Byrne isn't good enough - maybe, but he was too good for us that day.

Byrne ran the show when we lost at Oldham.

He'll be on mega bucks.

I can't see us having £5 million to spend in total never mind on one player.

It'll need more than a repeat of last years dosh to make an impact next season.

Accepted. It's been a long winter.

You've never worked in a school then ?

400 to 4000 is a 1000% increase ? Not when I went to school.

He's got a winners mentality.

Having seen this league I think almost any decent manager could get Sunderland promoted with the financial advantages they have.

I agree Stuart, good up and coming manager. If they want experience Mick McCarthy would do a " Mowbray " for them.

The Smallwood of the first half of the season, definitely. The Smallwood post January ? I'm not so sure.

I wasn't expecting much backing in the last close season but I was wrong. We did get a bit of money to spend. The problem is a £750,000 player can make a big difference in this league, in the Championship it's £7.5 million players that make a big difference. I'm not sure Venkies want to get back in that game, we'll know before too long. I'm not going into it again but Mowbray has signed his share of flops as well as the success stories. Will they think the money he has been given has been spent wisely in terms of player re-sale value ? Take Dack out of the equation and how many of his signing have increased in value ?

You'd have thought that the " owners " would have turned up for the Oxford game and combined that with discussions regarding next season. If they've not been enthused by our promotion enough to come over when will they get enthused ?

Don't want Mahoney back. He's done nothing since he left. The new Tracey.

Coleman was a good player before his accident. I don't rate him as a manager.

Unfortunately that's what happens at this level. The secret is to keep replacing them with players as good. Not easy I know but that's what the Dingles did. They lost one by one Rodriguez, Austin, Ings, Gray but each time one left they got another one in.

It's not just about what the Chokers or the manager and the club want. We all know if the player decides he wants to leave he'll usually get his way.