So basically, you don't want anyone called Scott.

The u-23s have now had their friendly with Southport called off due to pitch resurfacing issues. Not saying there is some odd conspiracy (Southport have also cancelled their Blackpool fixture for starters) but this is weird. I can't remember this ever happening to us before? Now it's happened to our first and second team, at two different clubs. Maybe the same pitch consultant referred to in today's LT article about it advised both clubs?

Obviously. But I was asking you about actual defenders, not a goalie. Yes they're a unit blah blah but so is the whole team. When I asked if you agree our defence needs more than one reinforcement, I'm talking about defenders. I think we need two.

True, but with the idea of utilising Graham's excellent hold up play and Arma's pace behind the lines. There were times we used it effectively, and times where it was poor and mind numbingly predictable.

Not if he concedes a bunch more from shots. Wouldn't mind him though.

He absolutely wasn't the best of a bad bunch with Yakubu. He was awful for us in the Prem. I remember him, Lowe and Hanley being the 3 players I felt were most responsible for our relegation (on the pitch anyway, obviously off-field causes were worse). He didn't get to stay in the Prem, he had one and a half seasons with us in the Championship. Like Hanley, he steadily got better in the Championship and started looking good. Once he did, he was off. He earned himself a move back to the Prem rather than getting to stay because he was good in it. Done very well since by all accounts.

I thought that. Probably the last thing he wants when he's tired.

Be fair. It's the Mowbray is thick/useless/deluded/flipflopping/perfect/infallible/saviour topic. Some on the board sit in the middle, looking for balance, picking fault where we see it and giving credit where we see it. To us, both camps frequently look ridiculous (constant negativity or constant positivity) but also make some good points. But that's life, people like to characterise things in extreme terms or morph everything they see to fit their preconceptions (even the balanced ones from time to time). Not trying to say I'm perfect btw, I do try to stay balanced (I imagine most like to think they do). But I know I've, at varying times over the years, been branded or taken for an apologist for the club/manager or a doom-monger depending on which views on a particular subject I expressed at the time. I think the place becomes so polarised that people end up fitting others into either camp based on them saying a particular negative or positive thing. Don't get me wrong, some people have consistently shown they belong in a given camp (not naming names).

Hmm, so the talk of shunting him onto the wing got me wondering, did Brum shunt him there? According to the stats I found, they did on 4 occasions. So if you write those off (yes goals can be scored from the wing but it's a lot harder) he scored 7 goals in 30 appearances as a striker for them. That's just under 1 in 4. Not great, about what you expect from an averageish or slightly poor striker perhaps. However, in his season with us he notched 12 goals in 46, which is just over 1 in 4. Point being, not actually too dissimilar so he may not have fallen off as badly as suggested. Changes in system or just a bit of bad luck can sometimes account for that level of discrepancy. One thing with those stats though, transfermarket says he only played one game at left wing for us that season? I thought it was more though. Maybe he moved around during games? Also 4 assists for us and none for Brum in either role. Still, it has made me feel slightly more upbeat that he might not have regressed as much as we think in the goalscoring stakes. Maybe the right team, environment and system for him can bring more out of him, as I do expect a bit more than 1 in 4 really. He does also have a bit of a nuisance factor.

Yeh I've argued the same thing. My only reservation about the Gally signing is whether it swallows too much of the budget to get the best we can in the areas in dire need. If there is loads left in the kitty then fair play. Cheap recruits though will imply they used the bulk of the budget on a less urgent area before seeing if it'd be needed elsewhere, hamstringing our options. That would be bad planning (though obviously cheap recruits can still work out great, and can also be the best available...yes it will only imply the planning was bad - unless they're clearly subpar - as we'll never know the target priority). Decent money recruits will mean they knew what they were doing with the budget all along. Will just have to see how it all shakes out.

Just the usual for the most part, and we already knew he wants more faces...at least he is saying 'a few' though, which has to mean at least three. Personally I hope even if it's 4 that they are all goalies and defenders. We are amply stocked everywhere else.

I already explained why I would be unhappy in detail, so why are you asking me why I would be unhappy? Treat my question there as rhetorical, you're obviously happy for us to go through the whole 'our defence needs rebuilding' saga again next year, I'm not, so there's no point us discussing that further. Would you at least agree our defence needs more than one player as reinforcement?

I think you're completely misunderstanding me. I was also talking about how, if all we get is a loan, it won't be an overreaction to be unhappy with that.

It won't be an overreaction to be unhappy and concerned with not signing any defenders permanently. It will just be a reaction. It's the weakest part of our team by a country mile and we really don't want to be back to square one on it again next year because we only loaned someone, and with Mulgrew even older and slower. If we end up only loaning it's because we misallocated our budget. I don't know how you could think otherwise. Loan to buy, on a good centre half, will be grudgingly acceptable to me. Could still end up in that same position I described though. We need at least two defenders anyway.

No. If we don't fix the defence it will be on his head. I keep seeing quite a lot of people talking about whether we will sign a goalkeeper and centre half. IMO it's super obvious we will. I'd be beyond shocked if we didn't. Simply signing a defender and a keeper isn't what concerns me. It's imperative we sign a better keeper than Raya, and a bare minimum of one centre half better than anyone we've got there now (possibly except Lenihan). Between them, they'll also need to be able to marshal our defence better. It's also important that we own both of these players. If we sign players that don't fit these criteria, the window has been a fail for me. Tbh I think we need two defenders of the stated quality. Don't mind if we loan one as long as we own one too. Don't mind if the second is a CB or fullback. Don't mind one goalie on loan as long as we own the other (otherwise we will have to do this all again next year). I really hope I don't see us sign some keeper who doesn't improve on Raya and one CB kid on loan from the Prem and see people herald it as a big 'we told you so'. If that is the outcome we get, it will mean the budget has been mismanaged, and no amount of spin will convince most of us otherwise.

There's a huge difference between 'it's getting out of hand' and 'bigdog doesn't like it'. He HAS backtracked on some things. Most notably, how badly we need defenders, and the expected efficacy of the European scouting network. I'm not accusing him of lying. Backtracking isn't even inherently negative in my eyes, depends what it is. The European scouting network? A shame, a little worrying in terms of potentially delaying our progress and whether it is good enough to deliver in future, but ultimately just a case of overestimating how quickly/well it could be implemented. Not the end of the world for now. The remarks on defenders, switching from 'I don't have a defence and defenders are coming' to 'not a bigger priority than other areas'? Deeply, deeply worrying. If it isn't just barter talk, it could seriously hamper our prospects this year. Look, all people backtrack from time to time. Not doing can simply be a sign of being stubborn and refusing to accept reality. Much like pretending TM hasn't done some.

Behind closed doors win vs Rochdale Apparently the u-23s also played, beating Leeds (u-23s I expect). Adam scored one and assisted one for them.

Hmm ok maybe I'm misremembering and it was the scouting network in general he was talking about last summer.

Absolutely. I believe he first started talking about it around a year ago, and I feel I remember it strongly implying that development of it wasn't only just beginning. He also said it would be ready to yield results this summer and we would look to do extensive business in Europe this year. He then backtracked and suggested it might not actually be quite as ready as that after all. This said, the LT was saying (yesterday or Saturday?) that we may still make a recruitment from Europe this summer. Think I'm remembering that right. It's astounding our European network was dismantled so extensively that we're taking this long to be up and running again. I understand it being stopped after relegation to League One, but it must have happened sooner as I'm sure it wouldn't be so hard to reinstate after just a year without.

Was talking about winning it, not qualifying. That's what I'd consider 'compete for trophies' to mean. Their competing for the Europa is on a level with Walsall 'competing' for the League Cup. Anyway, OP has clarified this wasn't said.

He really thinks Utrecht are going to compete for the Europa League? Hah, good luck to him on that. Think he's gonna wind up wishing he took the money and moved to a higher profile league if that was his main motivation.

Conway on trial at Bolton supposedly. https://www.google.com/amp/s/the72.co.uk/138672/former-blackburn-rovers-midfielder-and-former-preston-north-end-midfielder-both-on-trial-at-bolton-wanderers/amp/

Funny, I actually think it will be in between! Don't see him going superstar but don't see him being awful either, as we've already seen he is alright and has attributes.

Insulting the person behind a view doesn't demerit the view or 'win' the discussion. Please be more polite and less condescending to your fellow posters. It will improve the board atmosphere.

That's going to be difficult now I think. This season at least. He has Graham and now Gallagher directly ahead of him for what as far as we know is just one spot. That's where he needs to be playing to develop properly, and he needs it regularly really. There is also Nuttall and (lol) Samuel, as well as potentially Armstrong to contend with. Though I'd imagine Brereton will be third in the pecking order for the role due to his fee. Then again I didn't think I'd see TM wedging Palmer and Dack in there ahead of him last season at times. His other 'role', the wide forward, has competition in the form of Armstrong, Downing, Rothwell and Chapman. Probably Gallagher too, who is likely to get the nod ahead of BB there for any game where DG doesn't start. It's hard to see how BB gets the regular game time he badly needs to develop, especially up front. I see him being a bench player again with little cameos, until he can do something special with one or two of them. I wonder if any of the promoted teams would fancy loaning him, and if so whether they'd regularly start him?