The thing with these suggestions of letting both Graham and Samuel go is that I don't see how we get two new forwards who are any improvement on paper, on top of the entire defence plus gks we need, with the paltry budget we will probably have. Maybe we can afford to let one go without replacing but not both. With Dack back I'll be fine to proceed with our attacking options as long as we fix the defence big time, so I'd rather all the money went there. It's a more cost effective area to improve, because it's cheaper and weaker. I'd like to improve the strikers, dont get me wrong, and if we had a good budget, enough to fix everything under this lot, I'd agree with you. As it is I'd probably give Samuel a one year deal on lower wages. He isn't starting to lose it physically, could still have potential to improve a bit (maybe), and is far cheaper. He has attributes that can make him useful as a sub to unsettle a defence late, and at a bit less than we are probably paying him, I'd take that.

?

Palace interested in Gally? I'd be surprised but fingers crossed.

Davenport only needed to go for either corner and instead went down the middle (probably unintentionally). Think it was a bit of a bottle job, having been out for so long, waiting for his chance, then having the opportunity to beat possibly the best side in the league with one touch... Gally actually played well, one of his best showings. He and Rothwell looked motivated and tidy, stark contrast to how they've been lately.

That was actually a good setup from Gally too. Jesus, how we haven't taken an undeserved lead. Rothwell playing like the player we have always wanted him to be today. His footwork was exceptional to set Holtby up there and he created the attack with a barnstorming run. Where has this version of Rothwell been?

Rothwell looking sharp, and like he gets it. Think he really needed that goal.

None of the front three are playing well. Odd when they all notched Tuesday. If Gallagher or Brereton missed those two chances DG had (albeit one offside) we would pillory them. Not that I'm implying they're any good.

Some Premier League players.

My stream went wobbly for whatever happened between him missing the moment to send a diagonal ball over and free Arma for a clear run, and his weak effort, but my thought at the time was he should have sent Arma through. I even said, play Arma in or nothing happens here.

?? Hopefully a career in football management does not beckon for Dacky.

I'd say we should have a goal too, between that DG miss and the cross slid invitingly across early on. So, 3-1, still worse than we are doing. That's some attacking lineup WBA have though, Grosicki, Perreira (sp?), Charlie Austin...

How did Graham miss that? Thank god they keep kicking it straight at Walton.

I was gonna ask if anyone else saw that. The actor is a Rovers fan if you didn't know btw Where was the marking?

Yeh had lots of the screen freezing briefly. Refreshed the screen and been ok so far since.

No changes? Am I still asleep, is this a dream?

And Samba. And Hanley, Duffy. I think even O'Connell was rumoured to be about 500k and he had only played one League Cup game. Very odd that we never really put anything back in when we've recouped so much from defenders and also shown they can be profitable.

Would take too much of our likely budget. We need an entire defence first.

But how nice is he?

Uh oh...

Do you really think he won't start Bennett?

And certainly no strong personalities as gaffer, like Souness or Hughes.

Can you imagine selling our best player for the same as we paid for Brereton? The profit on him being even less than that fee? And then giving a chunk of it to Newcastle as I'm sure they have a sell on? No fucking thanks. Would be spitting feathers.

However, they all had Premier League experience. Hanley and Duffy only signed for Championship sides, who got promoted. Nyambe's CV makes him more of a risk for them, especially whilst his final product still lacks.

Middlesbrough-born too...TM will like.

I don't think the fact he still doesn't know his budget bodes well for that budget being half-decent. I know Venkys always do this lethargic budget reveal crap every year, but don't we usually know it by roughly this point? Surely it has been impressed upon them how much work we have to do in a very short space of time this year, and it hasn't helped. Just a feeling that, combined with corona hitting their core businesses, they'll not give us much of a pot this summer. I'm not saying I think we're going to have to sell to survive, but sell to recruit in all the areas we need, and throw out pointless extensions to dross like TM will insist. A 1-year FFP delay would mean it will be two more full seasons before the penalties kick in, but it's not a 'free' year as such. It will still be welcome if it comes, and if Venkys are feeling generous enough they'd probably match last season's budget then, yeh. I'm not saying it's justifiable, I'll actually be furious if we sell any of Armstrong, Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis or Dack for anything below what I think they're worth to us, corona or no, and without an adequate replacement. I just think it's likely to happen that one of the crown jewels goes this season, and I was asking Chaddy which one he'd pick, especially given he seems to feel certain it'll happen. I don't personally feel the sale of any of them is likely, in the real world, to benefit us on the pitch overall. Yeh we always hear the Venkys want to invest thing but apart from three marquee signings (Rhodes, Gallagher and Brereton) it seldom materialises. Have we ever paid more than 1.5 million (Arma, though that could rise to near 3) for anyone else since we came down? I can't remember. I've always seen Venkys as in a face-saving exercise with the vague hope we might get up to the PL and hit the jackpot for them, keeping the club afloat as they know how they've wronged us, and with only vague actual interest. I've never seen them as 'desperate and determined to invest in the club and get it promoted' no matter what their sycophants tell us.