So we are going to be starting the weekend with Williams, Magloire or Wharton at the back with Lenihan. As it looks like we are doing everything possible to sell Williams than it will probably be one of the young lads at the back. I’m sure they will have a good game and Tony will come out and say we don’t need reinforcements as they have impressed him during preseason so he’s going to give them the opportunity.

Ok. So if we aren’t going to sign anyone we will be relying on Carter, Magloire and Wharton to fill the gap of Tosin and Williams. Now if the manager has seen enough of them in training to believe that they are the answer it’s on his head. I would also say that at 20, 21, and 22 they are all old enough to make an impact at this level. Ben White was 21 when he went out on loan to Leeds and now been subject to a £25m offer. I’m not worried about their age if they are deemed good enough. Tosin was 21 when he joined us so he’s bang in the middle of the three players that we have available. If there isn’t any money there then let’s just come out an say that we are going to bring our own youth players through instead of improving City’s players for them. Give them the chance to shine and let’s see how we go.

Would Etheridge at Cardiff be a shout to give competition in the GK department? He’s been told he can leave Cardiff and only has 10 months left on his contract. Depends if he would expect to be number one or would come in to fight Kaminski for that spot.

He says ‘i don’t think‘ so it is clearly opinion based on the fact that he often preferred an alternative player in that position

I suppose he’s got to keep busy as Queen aren’t touring at the moment. (although I’ve just remembered that he’s Adam Lambert so the joke falls down there lol)

Hoping Dolan gets a start. Keen to have a look at him.

I like the badge on the back and always like a collared shirt. This is looking positive and it’s the right shade of blue as well. I’ll be getting one.

The gaping holes in defence and goal make it even more astounding that anyone authorised TM spending £12m on two average front men. Especially when they don’t seem to fit the system that he wants to play. Madness!

I’m pretty sure most West Brom players don’t live in West Bromwich in the same way that most of our players don’t live in Blackburn.

I think the situation has changed rather than Sharpe backtracking. I read it as yesterday we were in a good position but since then WBA have moved quickly and been able to offer prem football and a higher wage. Move on to the next target.

Surely the time has come to give Wharton the opportunity. You only have to look at what Ben White managed in his first season in the championship after loans in the leagues below. There’s no way Brighton would have been knocking back bids of £25m for him before he’d done a season with Leeds. What’s not to say that Wharton could form a partnership with Lenihan. I feel his loan last season was at a league lower than is should have been but that was our mistake. He’d already won promotion from league 2 so should have been rewarded with a league 1 loan to test him at a better level. However he got promoted again from league 2 so couldn’t really do much more. It’s time to either start him or risk losing him like we did with Jack O’Connell.

Ignore me, never seen him. I’m getting him mixed up with Davenport.

Butterworth has looked good when I have seen him. Hopefully now he will have a full pre season he will push on. Didn’t he Captain the City youth teams at all ages?

Fisher not doing himself any favours at all today. Looks a long way away from being able to play at league level.

Shite pen to be fair. Easy height for the keeper if he picks the right way.

1-0 down

Is that a new kit?

Barnsley and Wigan when we were pushing the top 6 were decent games. Still managed to bottle it though.

Westwood’s wages could be the stumbling block. Been mentioned on here that he’s on decent money. Mate is a Wednesday ST holder and his comment was ‘great keeper but we need his wages off the wage bill’

Barry Ferguson for me. We don’t do well with £7m purchases do we. It’s definitely the jinx fee for us.

I do wonder if O’Neill will want to bring Evans in though Chaddy. If he does then it could be a sensible deal for both parties. I would imagine Evans is one of our higher earners and if there is interest in Whiteman he will be facing more competition for a starting place. Only issue is that Stoke seem to have quite a lot of midfielders on their books already.

Don’t we need two keepers if Leitweiller has been replaced? Just wondering if he will be bought in to fill that spot whilst we look for a ‘proper’ number one. Here’s hoping anyway.

This makes for interesting reading. Just after he left Rovers I took a call from an ex colleague who was a Director at a local authority. He knows my football allegiance and asked if I knew anything about a guy called Paul Senior who had applied for a job but appeared to have just left rovers. It was a bit of a strange conversation and I brushed it off as a case of someone with the same name but it clearly was the same guy. I don’t think the Council in question employed him at the time.

Southampton seem to be overrun with keepers. I wonder if Forster will go out on loan again?

I would imagine Sheffield United fans may not share your views after their experience of a young loan keeper. They’ve had two pretty useful seasons out of him.