There seems to be a rumour that Samuel is quick. Have we signed a new player? The lad is faster than most of our squad but I would imagine Bell and Nyambe are comfortably quicker. An express train he is not.

Nail on head. Last season we played well in patches. Normally a couple of 20 minute spells or one half. It was usually enough at that level but won't be this year.

Either of those line ups is relegation fodder. We need something. Preferably pace out wide and up top to hit teams on the counter. Just too many pedestrian players in there. Sounds like we are keeping our powder dry until clubs are prepared to accept less than market value for their players...

No sign of that amount being invested in new personnel to date.

Couple of big Lads required. Team small as it is.

Is he quick?

Makes sense. He would be expensive by our standards. Shame though - as Newcastle seem to want to let him go. One of those who only needs one good season at champ level for his value to double/treble. I fear a lot of decent players will be out of our reach. I expect most signings will come from league 1. There's some decent ones there tbh but even some of those won't be cheap - like that Charlton CB.

You would expect that if we were serious about buying Armstrong permanently, then that deal could have been done. More time passes, less likely that becomes.

Pretty certain Shrews had a flyer - winning their first 7 games. Set them up well for the season. Hit the ground running is where we want to be - not scrabbling round like previous seasons.

You missed out calamity Steele

6 good quality signings then great. Not convinced Mowbray has worked out who he actually wants to sign though. I imagine, as we are no longer the big fish in a little pond, he is finding it a lot harder to attract better players -without paying more than he wants to.

Here in lies the rub. The squad that finished the season (including Payne, a fit Chapman and Armstrong) is stronger than the one that came down but those loanees are no longer here and there are no guarantees they will be back. Lets be honest, I've seen some optimistic fees banded about for Armstrong but realistically, if he was our player, would you let him go for less than £3 million plus add ons? Chapman, World Cup honours for England under 20s. Can't imagine a tribunal fee would be low. We got £400k for Mahoney and he hasn't the pedigree of Chapman. Jack Payne is another who would likely command a 7 figure fee. On top of that, we definitely need another 3 first team players. Everyone knows we need to add height and pace. As others have said, Graham is a decent proposition for 1 year. Conway isn't unless it is very low wages. Our Talisman is Dack. The first contract renewal announced should have been his. Keep the positive momentum going. Last year was a pivotal one, could we stop the rot? We did and gained some momentum and belief back. This season is massive. We could end up with a competitive side that may bloody a few noses and have us sniffing around the playoffs - like the Rovers of old or, conversely, we could see Dack refuse to sign, Lennihan run his contract down and the players we were all enthused about signing, drift off to teams ready to spend the money. Followed by a relegation battle. Hoping for the former - as I've renewed! I'd love to trust Mowbray to deliver on his pre season musings, but the cynic in me isn't convinced he will get the finances. Final point. From a marketing perspective, you would want to announce the 'big' signings/news after the early bird offer has closed. That way any exciting signings will negate the negativity of the price hike!

I know we don't venkys bash any more. Lots of talk about a decent budget, doing business early etc. However, maybe the funds aren't in place yet?... Wouldn't be the first time. I still don't trust Venkys to follow through on anything positive!

Bolton seem to think they're getting the little Turk Otzumer. Decent player to have on the bench that lad.

A motivated Graham is probably worth a 2 year deal. His game doesn't rely on pace. However, given the likelihood of him being one of our top earners, perhaps it will be a financial choice between Graham or Armstrong permanently (who I assume will be on decent money at Newcastle)?

We can't rely on Mulgrew staying injury free...and there's every chance Lennihan has had his head turned after internationals.

2 strikers 2 wingers 1 cm And I would also agree with another commanding CB. So 6 big dog!

We need 2 strikers. Graham gets any kind of injury or drops off the pace (as has been known) then we don't want to be left with Samuel and Nuttall as main strikers

'upto 5 new players permanently'. They will all need to be good enough to go straight into the first team.

On the other hand, it could also indicate a healthy budget to play with... Or that we've had a good offer for Raya?

The Wagggot Q&A suggests we are looking at out of contract players -certainly initially. Fits. Venkys seem happy to absorb wages but not fees. 7 figures for Antonsson? Good grief. Avoid.

Glory hunter ???

Our product devalued itself through fan disengagement and relegations. Prices should be aimed at attracting new fans/old fans back. No way should our prices be above Fulham.

Have to say I'm disappointed with that. At the very least it should have been a price freeze. Fantastic opportunity to entice fans back with a bargain deal on the back of a positive season and they've blown it IMO. Can't see them shifting any more than this season at those prices. Yes, we've had a great season but the club have a lot of wrongs to right.

Does anybody that's previously done the Donnington Download weekender know if you can get day tickets? Really want to catch GnR again on the Sat. Can't make the Friday and work Monday so weekend ticket a bit of a waste. Cheers.