They look like they met on the car park for the first time at 3pm today. Nailed on for relegation.

Lowe is a fabulous signing for them.

He looks rough for 38 too.

Tronstad played nearly 3,000 minutes of Championship football last season. We were lucky he was mostly injury free. Travis loves an injury / a loss of form and Buckley is a bust at this point. Any 3rd CM we loaned in would see A LOT of minutes - 'backup' or not.

There's no point wasting a loan spot on a lad that's 4th choice. Loans have to improve your starting XI (or your bench). We have a very good Academy to rely on for depth.

Both? It's an absolute meat grinder of a season with long periods of 2 games a week. He'll play a lot as our 3rd CM.

Even if that 21 year old has largely been crap and is living off the fact he's a Man City Academy graduate and had a professional footballer for a dad?

Modern day players are literally worth more than their weight in gold - so I guess the question is, how much is a John Bull worth?

Sadly it says PAOK are interested too, so we'll have to haggle.

We could do with him carrying on his form from last season, as he did against Derby on Friday night. I think it'd quickly allay fears that he's a one season wonder and someone would pay whatever our asking price is for him. We'll also obviously benefit in the short term too.

I think they're just trying to get his wages off the books tbh.

Isn't football funny? I thought the complete opposite when I watched Leonard - the movement and ability to read the game was there (as was the first touch), but he wasn't a clinical finisher. I also don't think he's big / strong / fast enough to lead the line in a front 3. You're also being generous to Vale, he's a L2 striker at best.

Apparently a good portion of Ipswich's season ticket holders come from Colchester. Anyway, are we signing a new GK or are we resigned to being relegated this season?

Like Garrett he badly needs a run of first team football or his development will stagnate. I wonder if we're getting loan fees for the likes of Garrett / Leonard or if they're just picking up their wages. Either way it creates some wiggle room in the budget, hopefully.

Men's football at 17 means he's on the fast track. If he bosses it in the National League North after 6 months we can easily bring him back in January and send him to a higher level.

Can't imagine he gets to too many games.

This is the time of year the Playoff places are decided - which PL wonderkids can you secure for a year? Diallo carried Sunderland a couple of years ago.

Which is about 3 days in a car in the land of no motorways.

We'd be cutting it fine if we let him go out on loan - that'd leave us with 4 CBs, one of whom is probably lined up to play RB if we have any injuries there.

He was excellent yesterday. It's when he has to play on the half turn that he struggles - if you ask him to play the direction he's facing he's very effective.

Nobody is desperate to go to Ipswich.

Glad to see he's definitively got the 'hasn't won at Ewood' monkey off his back. I think he's a solid manager at this level - give him the tools and he'll do ok for us.

The top tiers in the Darwen and Blackburn Ends were closed, so 18k sounds about right.

Dwarves is a bit harsh. Two of them are at least 5'10" and Szmodics is probably 5'8". JRC and Hedges are hardly prolific headers of the ball either.

I can't believe that for a second.