He'll ease his self-restraint once his kids have finished uni!

Exactly. Either you try to the control of events or they take control of you. You have to exploit every chance in football in case it never comes again.

and definitely not negative!

and where's the £ssss

Arrogant? Bit OTT. People can only go on what they read and hear. i guess the answer is---"don't necessarily believe everything you read." That was my reaction when Tony said he was going to improve the defence. So I guess I'm not arrogant!

Depends. If absence of rumour is because , like a duck, its all going on under the surface, well and good. However, if its because bugger all's happening then its not good.

But but on that basis......

I thought we had to wait and see and judge him when the window has closed?

No, the window hasn't closed. However its not compulsory to leave signings to the last minute, just de rigeur for us.! Isn't it better for new players to train with and get to know their team-mates weeks before the season starts? The manager needs to assess them in training as well, perhaps this is why new signings seem to have to wait so long for selection.

Future manager?

Ha! Unanimity. Congrats Damian!

Reed a big loss. Great for us once TM realised he could play. As for "moaners" the manager made clear statements even before last season about how poor we were at defending and how new faces were needed. Defenders were the priority. Nothing so far to even indicate that he will fulfil the assurances he made. Therefore people are disappointed and saying so. I realise the Window isn't closed but he didn't fix this problem a year ago and we look like having to score 3 again to win a game on too many occasions.And we'll concede late ones as well, the whole League knows to step up the pressure late on whatever the score.

Well you're not wrong but the older you get the more significant a year becomes, especially for a striker. But you knew that eh?

Can't help yourself.

Your opening sentence!!! I didn't have anything else to disagree with! But you've packed a lot of caveats in there.

Eh? Like not improving the defence one year ago?

Its supposed to be about how the team will go next season, not the MB.

Raya has been handled badly along. He was never ready to be No 1 keeper when he was. He should have been eased into the job as understudy to a real No1 with years of experience. I fear that, if transferred, he will come good somewhere else. We will get a low fee, Brentford will get a big one.

The problem with Andrews was that he was never any good. He did his best but a crap manager signed someone who 2 leagues above his ability level. He got abused because, by and large, he offered nothing on the pitch.

We can't play him in case he gets damaged!

Also looks like we can't get a goalkeeper till we sell Raya? I thought the ideal was to bring in an experienced keeper who Raya could learn from and take over at some point.

You're not setting the bar very high there!

We'll be scrambling around at 4-30pm on the last day of the Transfer Window as per usual. We'll be scrapping for what other clubs didn't want.

Perhaps Venkys have seen he's done with £7M and won't risk anymore?