I'm down with that. Been thinking myself it might be the way we go. January is a tricky time to find the right player in that sort of position, for the right price, who can slip straight into the action as you need to in January. A reasonably experienced frontman on loan could be the best way.

Regardless how you spin it, that's exactly what they did. Leveraged against future sales or not, the money is being spent on a potential profit from Brereton. They've spent about 130 million on this club and don't seem likely to get it back.

Established ones, maybe not (depending on position and age). But you can 100% get ones that are good enough for a lot less. Good managers pull that off.

He's just been replaced by one of them is all, bigdogg. Don't be so easily duped!

That's a lot of money for someone who doesn't seem to be a Mowbray type of player.

Aye but Michael Jackson ain't a man. He's one of the alien lizard people David Icke talked about. Same goes for Elvis. It's all a plot orchestrated by Oxfam.

That doesn't make him bigger than the club either. It just means he was a key player.

EA, there's probably no point discussing it further, as I think where the two camps diverge is that you think Bennett is poor there and we think he is adequate as temporary cover (and from reports from Norwich, so is Reed). No headway will be made on either side of the debate so we might as well agree to disagree. I would say IF we can find a good, underrated RB in about the 500k range (I say underrated cos they'd likely need to be for that money) maybe with potential or able to function at centre half (as a reasonably 'round' peg), low wages, and potentially happy to sit on the bench for 90% of the season, I'd be more than happy to go for them. We seem to have the budget now to spend about that without compromising our main targets.

As someone above me just said, we had zero left back cover. Also, most people slam Bell anyway and say we need a new, better left back. When you're picking up players in that price range, that's often what they will say, because of the quality you tend to get for that price. A full back on Nyambe's level, such that it won't make any difference when/if he is out, is expensive. I can just see us in a neverending cycle of buying 500k fullbacks and people endlessly insisting we need another cos X isn't as good as Nyambe.

The club being bigger than a player doesn't mean the player won't leave. It means the club will still be here long after the player is done playing, and we are.

My apologies, seems I missed the Bauer one. You hadn't suggested Burke yet, that was a later post I hadn't read yet. Burke is likely to cost a hell of a lot. More than the others you said we couldn't afford I think. He cost WBA 15 million, and is only 21. Bauer is someone we will be looking at...though he still has the knee injury from a couple of months ago. I heard he wasn't playing all that well before it (head turned maybe). Charlton wanted 2 mill in the summer and are in the top 6 at the mo. Reckon they will ask for a million still in Jan, but may settle at somewhere around the 750k mark. They did pay 1.5 million for him themselves and have shown they'll be stubborn over his value.

True. Same for Rodwell. On the other hand, sometimes he says he is ready to unleash a player (Rothwell) then does no such thing for several weeks. I've no problem with this. Sometimes you have to be willing to change your opinion, or adapt.

Chaddy, it isn't sounding like you want us to sign anyone? Everyone is apparently out of our price range (like 7 million pound strikers are) or not good enough because they play in Scotland (like Mulgrew and Tugay).

Important to look for a centre half, injuries showed just how vulnerable we are there. Lenihan and Mulgrew could do with real competition to avoid complacency. I actually don't follow the same logic with right back though. Nyambe looks highly motivated, and I don't see why Bennett is getting so much flak for his time filling in there. He and Reed are adequate short term cover (Travis too - even if we loan him out we could recall) and they themselves have enough competition in their natural positions that we can afford to relocate them temporarily...I just can't see us signing a right back who can truly compete with the excellent Nyambe but may well sit on the bench all season if Nyambe doesn't get any more injuries. Unless we get lucky with the scouting, that would probably be a bigger financial burden than it would be worth. Mulgrew and Lenihan however, are injury prone. We also need a striker, that should be obvious. Maybe not if Brereton gets used there, but we will see. That should become clearer by late December. We might still need a Graham-type to compete with and back Graham up anyway, as Big Ben seems a different sort of striker. However, for me one of the biggest priorities should be (secretively) scouting a replacement for Dack. I'm hopeful we can keep him until the summer, but the truth is it's possible we will lose him in Jan. If we do, it will then become our most urgent recruitment priority by far. We would get a lot of money to do so but I wouldn't want to choose the replacement at short notice. It won't be anybody as good, but it'd still be vital we get as good as we can. A nice extra would be a Chapman type (maybe not Chapman anymore unless he's super cheap in wages and fee, as his injuries have gotten ridiculous). However, with the way Mowbray plays, and our 'wide' options, I don't think it's going to be any kind of priority.

Michael Jackson lives there too. Moonwalking was a hidden message.

Allegedly, Elvis is still alive and living on the moon.

Some might consider that a conflict of interest. Especially since they choose to show more games of the team sponsored by Sky Bet than almost anyone else...

We finished above you every Premier League season, often by quite a lot, until the 97/98 season when you pipped us by one place. We got relegated the next season, and subsequently missed the last season of the 90s. Since he said late 90's, yeh he probably lost the bet.

Only passing on what I heard. Didn't say I expected him to be a superstar in his 50's.

I don't recall hearing what the fee was. A google search just says undisclosed, and that he was sold in January...also, looks like he played 5 games for their U-23s last season, scoring none. This season, 4 games (but one only for 4 minutes) and 2 goals. From the pattern of his appearances, looks like he's either had injury niggles, or it's just tough to get into that Leicester U-23 team.

Maybe! If I'm remembering rightly, there are other ex-pros in the group they play with, so the standard won't be so bad, and this convo was a couple of years ago. Col has battled some demons in recent times, maybe he was having a rougher time of it back then than he is now.

Was in the LT a few days ago I believe. I have a mate who has played with him in Lytham a few times...says he is a very sad shadow of his former self and one of the worst players in their group. As a CB myself, I used to idolise Big Col. Hard to remember him as fondly after he did the dodgy on his kindly neighbours. Legend on the pitch though. I do still remember when I was mascot against Leeds, and he came and shook my hand in the dressing room...stark bollock naked! And all those Colin show us yer arse moments. I wonder now if he was secretly a nudist.

Of course they'd still be signing him for their under-23s or the bench at best. My point was, the better he does, the more money they will throw at him to make that happen, and young lads are easily influenced by a fat paycheck. I agree managers are too cautious, and I feel TM is arguably more cautious than most. Promoting him to the first team already would be hasty though. The best balance lies in-between - seeing if he can replicate over 10 or so U-23 games, and if he can, starting to introduce him from the bench. If he's still doing the business, start the lad. But you do have to go through stages. Hopefully we don't go through them too slowly. Jack Doyle seems a good example of too slowly. Was highly rated and has ended up being 22 in February and on loan at Maidstone. He'll never make it with us now. Operating too many levels below us for his age (and injured now too).

Not necessarily. If he did well it would only raise his profile, potentially demonstrating he can already cut it in the Championship at 17, so maybe he will be cutting it quickly in the Prem. This would encourage the big clubs to throw more money at him. Young lads are easily swayed. Anyway it's just one quote from an unnamed 'insider' about how good he is. Seems like he has made an excellent start, but Joe Nuttall was smashing in goals for fun at a higher level than Vilius (U-23s) and got the nod for a lower level (League One rather than Championship as it would be now) only to show that whilst goals were in his locker, not much else is yet and he still needs a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, all sounds very promising if we can tie him down and he can recreate that form at U-23 next, but it's a little early to be so sure he is a revelation or potentially displace players like Palmer or Rothwell from the subs bench (depending what week it is).

Do you? He's only 17 and has only just come over from Lithuania. Ripping it up at U-18s in a handful of games doesn't mean he's the next Messi. They're not looking to buy him for their first team, they're looking to take him for his potential obviously. This is what the big clubs do, they try to hoover up all the best young talent whilst they're still cheap. I find it strange you want him to go straight to the first team after 4 (I believe) appearances for the U-18s. Surely the U-23s is the next logical step, even if only for a few games if he continues in the same vein at a higher level. We have a whole bunch of talented, more experienced players struggling to get in the side in the first team. I do agree he would be best staying here though, the top 6 is a graveyard for young talent.