I was going to post exactly the same thing. We would not have gone down but for them and nothing is too harsh a fate for them.

So why £7M then. Couldn't we have got him for less? Or better still, not bothered and got 2 specialist defenders?

That's a joke---isn't it?

is it? This discussion started with me pointing out Norwich got one for nothing. Charlton got one better than any of our's, again for nothing. Sorry, its not common sense, its bullshit. Clubs have been recently promoted with out spending £12M on the entire team. Preston finished above us (again) last year and never spent anything like that, nor did they pay high wages. Burnley were the 5th highest profit-earners in the Premier League last season, they were promoted on a shoe-string. Sorry, but our's is a scatter-gun approach, I don't believe there is the level of planning and competence needed for promotion and I don't expect it.

Is it? Really? When will top quality upfront be introduced then?

McGinn? Looking terrific in the Premiership. Great buy.

That's really what I was trying to say---badly perhaps for which I apologise.

I never said the those clubs spent nothing, merely that they spent less than we did and got better value for what they spent than we did. As for our loans you're taking liberties with my comments about Raya. I had no problem with borrowing Walton but I had expected he would be in the squad alongside Raya not instead of him. And there I'm finishing, I know from past experience I can never dim the enthusiasm or energy of the Glass Half-Full Brigade!

Bit disturbing this! I assume your daughter knows she has a 50% interest in their child. So I hope she is insisting that the lad never sets foot in t'Turd and that he never wears that bilious, toxic shirt? It'll end in tears!

We're going up then! No point in my post. All sorted.

A lot ,which is why I didn't mention them.You can buy your way out but my point is you don't have to. 2 out of three promoted clubs spent less than us----fact. And where did I say it was easy? it takes good structures, right personnel and some luck. Burnley did it without spending £12M on the entire team.

My point all along. Ours doesn't measure up. It should not be necessary to spend £12M on 2 Championship strikers let alone one ordinary, one bloody awful! Other clubs have gone up without spending anything like that---Norwich and Sheffield UTD most recently. No need for this waste and if the right structures and personal were in place, we might even be able to afford some defenders of our own!

And, in TM's case, Dack is very much an exception to the rule isn't he? The more exceptions to the rule a manager can chalk up the better the manager is. Additionally of course Norwich got promoted!

Thats two in a million then!

I haven't changed anything, I've always lauded Dack as an outstanding buy. However, its not as impressive as Pukki for nothing is it?Player of the Month in the Premiership! I could have extended the criticism to defenders for that matter. The point is again, when we signed Brereton some on here claimed that £7M was not excessive anymore for an unproven Championship striker---I'm saying it is and Pukki proves it. How many Pukkis are out there"? We wouldn't know would we? Has our scouting system gone beyond Middlesborough to Finland yet? As for Johnson and Downing, good short-term signings, obviously. In the end, its all about whether TM is the manager to take us up, I don't think he is. you presumably do---we'll see won't we?

I'm not talking about youth level though, I'm talking about 1st team now. As you knew.

Well nobody in their right mind could argue about that. But---Strikers! People defended the Brereton signing on the grounds that that's what you have to pay these days for a championship striker. Norwich and Charlton have shown you don't.

True though.

Well---true---obviously. But when we're bigging up TM for his great signings he's never got remotely close to one like Pukki or Lyle Taylor,who makes Charlton tick for that matter---also on a free. They are around, you don't have to pay £7M or £5M. our scouting system isn't up to it apparently. However I digress....

My expectations have gone through the roof! I did tip 12th, but I now think 10th!

How many pay rises is that? Not that I'm complaining mind. It just that "Dack in new deal talks" seems to crop up every few weeks!

I'd swap £5M Gallagher for free transfer Pukki!!

They'll win the odd game or two when they are not expected to though. Which team usually obliges in these circumstances?.....

Agree with your post but on the corners, I understood that was a deliberate decision made at the time to benefit the turf?

Wow! That's a good scalp!