Well you said they were off the top of your head, and clearly thought they'd prove your point. Only Sharp helped your point, the other 3 undermined it. You gave his current age, as if to show he was still doing well at that age, so of course I used his most recent season. In fact presumably when the season started he was 34 not 35. He scored 9 the season before, same as Gally this season. The season before that, starting at age 32 I expect, he did score 13 (4 of them penalties), and the season before at about Gayle's age, he scored 11. Assuming this tracked to Gayle (big assumption, Fletcher wasn't ever especially reliant on pace either was he?) would I want to pay hefty wage and fee contributions for someone to score 2-4 more goals than Gally if he gets to take penalties? Who will have zero resale value and be next to useless after two seasons? That wouldn't be the worst signing but I expect it would be far from the best we could make. I'd rather assume Gally might score 2-4 more goals if he played as an actual striker (cue RF99 disagreeing lol).

Maybe. But my main memory of him is of having fantastic pace, and that being his key attribute, and like I say unless someone can correct me, he has probably lost some of that. Has only played 3 seasons in the Championship in his career btw, and the last time was over 3 seasons ago. If he still has the knack and has found ways around losing his pace, or is nearly as quick as he used to be, fair play. In that case I'd take him on loan with highly subsidised wages if that was an option. Otherwise, no thanks.

I'll give you Sharp, scored 14. Been consistent in this league for many years now. Playing regularly, for the same team, and I don't think was ever particularly reliant on his pace? The others all got outscored by Sam Gallagher. Significantly. Kazim Richards - 3 goals Fletcher - 3 goals Cameron Jerome - 3 goals. Sam Gallagher scored 9, the same as all three of them combined. I never said all older players are past it, but this small case study here suggests most of them are. And those are examples you hand picked.

Possibly. But the man with the Boro bias has left the building. Agents always have power in football, I just hope they don't hold as much as they did in the Kentaro/SEM days, though I've seen supposed ITKs say that sort of dodginess is still in play. We know Suhail has an important role here, he's a bit of a shadowy figure though. Hopefully just because he's a private person rather than because he's doing shady things. Come to think on it, it would be quite good to get Suhail into an interview, though I'm sure it'll never happen.

Relatively young? An essentially 32 year old? Are you dyslexic and thought I said he turns 23 soon? Had a knee injury season before last. Could have lost his pace might be why he didn't play much. A pace-reliant striker who at nearly 32 has lost his pace and would want a king's ransom in wages isn't high on my list. Not sure if you were being sarcastic though.

I'm sure you dont agree with writing off the season as transitional, and I'd rather not either, I want us to challenge. But realistically, that's most likely what will happen. We are as reliant on loanees as we are, which I'm sure is more than most of the rest of the league, because we have failed to bring in enough assets. Part of that is too much money has been spent in veterans who have largely contributed the square route of fuck all, and certainly haven't gotten us promoted. The closest we came was last season, where our only guy over 30 (I think) played a bit part. If we keep using a good chunk of the budget on older players and loanees we will never be able to escape the cycle of being reliant on loanees. If anything this has gotten worse. 3 new assets at season's end would just leave us where we were at the start of last season, as it would only really replace the 3 we just lost. I'll be disappointed if we only buy 3 players who are able to take us into the 2023/24 season. And if you're expecting a serious challenge this season, you'll most likely be disappointed too. The reason we appointed Tomasson was to progress, yes, but no timeframe has been given and with the job on his hands its unrealistic to demand we do as well as last season. We wouldn't have under TM either.

Taking Mercer's word is a dicey game. If I did that, I'd be thousands of pounds out of pocket from betting on Rovers to win! 'I see no reason' for all the other stuff he has 'shared' on here that proved unverifiable or outright bollocks, or for why he predicts us to win every week whilst saying how shit we are. But it still goes on, and will go on again this season.

The first question is ARE they refusing to back us financially? We won't know that definitively until the end of the window, even if we see signs along the way. But UEFA don't decide our fair play rules, the EFL do. And although they weren't as limiting in the past as we made out, with loopholes we never exploited, they certainly are now. There may still be loopholes, but the people at Ewood aren't smart enough to figure them out if there are. So there are hard limits on what we can do now. If Venkys won't back us up to those limits, I'll criticise them (again).

So THAT'S who our mascot is!

I can only see us finishing midtable this season. I doubt (once signings are in) we will be poor enough for relegation or good enough for the playoffs, largely due to the transitional nature of the squad and staff. Therefore I'd rather focus on assets than experienced freebies in their 30s who would probably need replacing next season or the one after at best. If though by experienced you mean in the 26-28 bracket, I could be down with that.

I know, typical, I think I first asked well over a year ago, then as soon as it gets done it needs undoing!

Well it's not Tony Mowbray, so, no I don't think it depends on who's pulling the strings.

People keep mentioning Dwight Gayle from time to time. But he is 31, 32 in October, and wasn't his game largely based on pace? Has he still got that at his age? Has played 51 games in the last 3 seasons combined, with only 9 last season, and has 1 goal total in the last two seasons (albeit in the Prem). Wages at Newcastle will dwarf what we pay too. Unlikely and probably undesirable too, unless someone who saw some of his 9 games last season can correct me. He was terrific at this level a few seasons ago but age comes to us all.

Colak is 28, 29 soon, and frankly his CV is uninspiring for a forward. Mostly played in poor leagues and only had a good goalscoring record in a few seasons (in the German 4th tier, top Croatian league twice, and last season with Malmo) and an ok season in the Polish top tier (10 goals in 30). Just before Malmo, with PAOK in Greece, he was a 1 in 7 guy at his best. His best spell in the Bundesliga was 4 goals in 22 games. I'm not mad about missing this one, on paper anyway.

I think it's pretty obvious the Boro love-in was all Mowbray. I don't have any fears on that front anymore. Unless the player in question is actually any good, I don't see why GB or JDT would be interested. They've enough of a challenge on their hands as it is.

If this thread is to be believed, half of last year's Malmo team is leaving. Yeh I know, Colak was just on loan there.

Like I said, their cast offs.

Noticeable? Yes. Odd? No, not at all. I'm sure they're focusing on getting on with the job, and I'm glad of it. They're new to the club and there's a lot to do. If anyone should be giving updates, it's Waggott, who now probably has less work to do with GB here. And frankly I'm not really interested in what he has to say anyway.

If that's true, fair enough we can handle his wage. Whatever we gave them last time though, they'll want a bigger loan fee after how well he did. And/or a more glamorous move with a new test. But as you say, they're more likely to just want to keep him around.

Even if they do, they'll be looking for a better loan this time. He has done all he can with us. Would likely end up with a cash-flush promotion chaser who can afford a full wage contribution and large loan fee, or in a top tier league abroad.

You'd be better disregarding JPVH than Ayala. The latter is far more likely to make some appearances for us this season than the former.

Pretty sure the profits should be used to reduce the losses. Which would make it 53.5 mill for Boro and 37 mill for Bristol C.

It would be hugely frustrating to lose both Nyambe and Lenihan to Boro. Thanks to Mowbray we've had to endure their cast offs, players past their sell-by-date and Ayala who is only fit about 30% of the season. Meanwhile they snag two of our first team for free, who we developed for many years.

Absolutely we have. But now we have done it, and need to wee with the willy we've got. With that willy, I don't think it's reasonable to expect us to have pissed transfers in a way other clubs without those issues have. The club totally deserves criticism for the bungled managerial process but the new guys themselves deserve a clean slate and a fair chance to get players in. If we still have nothing in a couple of weeks it will be a major concern. We certainly can't afford to do 6 deadline day signings or some shit like that.

Do those clubs have new managers, a new DoF and their head of recruitment just left?