It's the recruitment causing the gloom. If somebody guaranteed us having someone like Westwood in the nets, Cunningham at LB and a strong cb on the books before the opening fixture, we'd all be looking forward with a bit more optimism. It's the fact that we all know we won't.

That's a difficult start. 2 relegated teams, a promoted one and 3 teams expected to be challenging the play offs. Type of fixtures where you need to be hitting the ground with your strongest team...??‍♂️

Problem is. I can't see who'd buy our 'assets'. Someone might take a punt on Armstrong for decent money. Travis could get a decent offer. Dack is a no go till at least January. Can't see anyone else being worth more than £2mil at best. Probably Lennihan or Nyambe...although he's only got 12 months left. Shambles.

Come on. He's three years into a job and he hasn't even established a spine to the team. Perhaps the only 2 are Lennihan and Travis who were both here when he arrived. In isolation he has had a couple of good loans in and a couple of good buys. No team progresses without a settled, solid spine of team. TM has just scatter-gunned players he's bought into the team. In many ways it mirrors Venkys approach.

Let's be honest we are never going to be offered 750k plus for Wharton. He'd be 250k at best.

If the plug has been pulled, surely TM walks away? He is/was either incredibly naive thinking Venkys would back a long term build or he was given assurances by the owners. Either way, his plan/promises appear to have gone out the window. Surely, a principled man won't stand for that.

For all TM's 'steadying of the ship', he's the one that's going to sink it. The season after promotion was the one where he should have gone for it. Owners were 'enthusiastic', clean slate on the FFP cycle. Club/fans on a high after promotion...and he 'reined the owners in' - in favour of a slow build and loyalty to his squad.

The covid thing is an added issue that the club needs to navigate. On top of the usual dragging of feet from Pune. We don't appear to have the smartest management structure in place in the first place for the simpler of times. I'm guessing things will move - one way or the other when/if funds arrive from India. As right now, we probably don't have a penny to spend. What is strange for me, is the lack of noise from the club. Nothing from Waggott or TM. Usually, on his return from a break, you can't shut Mowbray up. This time it appears that our resident LT reporter has been finding it hard to speak to TM or SW.

..and good characters will be easier to manage...

Thank fuck.

Our lack of effective transfer dealing prior to kick off has hamstrung us for years under venkys. We never get off to a good start.

Let's hope we get a run of sponsor-less shirts to buy again - like we did a few years back!

I would have thought the 2 most prevalent openers on this site over the course of a year are: 1: FFS... 2. Bennett... They're usually not mutually exclusive.

Must admit if Davenport can stay fit through pre-season, he could definitely progress this year.

Yes he did...yet we still signed him?‍♂️

Could live with that tbh. Hypothetically, a swap deal between the 2 would strengthen the defence whilst removing an injury prone player - possibly also opening the door for Ben Whiteman in CM - as no fee used on a cb. That I'd take in a heart beat. Although it's way to imaginative/clever for our club.

I just can't see the Lindsay link unless it's a loan. We aren't paying £2 mil and he's likely to be on more at Stoke than our defenders.

He's our European scout

Is he free?

Most likely scenario. The silence from Ewood is deafening. Certainly no signs of having any deals lined up. Squad back in Monday with no new additions. 'Looking' at the younger players isn't going to tell Mowbray anything he didn't already know 6 weeks ago. That said, not sure we, would get any kind of serious money this summer for our players. None bar Armstrong likely to attract any PREM interest. Champ sides aren't going to spend big fees.

And Bennett for Nayambe

Ah. My bad. *Doffs cap to Chaddy.

Yes he did. He put him forward as a loan signing.

You've named two players that for one reason or another we won't sign. Chaddy, I'm with you. A ball playing CB is absolutely critical to playing the style TM wants. If it were you and me, we'd spend the money there. For some reason (look at the last 9 -10 yrs), we've spent an absolute pittance on defence. I just can't see that changing if, as is rumoured, we won't shell out £800k on a good keeper, we aren't paying £2million on a CB.