At League 2 level though?

Strange post. We signed Brereton outright.

Not worth arguing with you on this as you're being deliberately provocative. 1) Doesn't make sense 2) Pay him what he wants then 3) Evans, Bennett, Mulgrew, Downing, Graham plus running a squad in the past with 14 or 15 midfielders in it. 4) Your last point doesn't make any sense whatsoever either. Who's going to pay a fee for them once they're out of contract? And replacing them with similar quality would cost far more than coming to an agreement with them.

That's the crux of it, 27 and has never made a go of it at a decent level in England. I know we were linked with him in the past (as we were with another uninspiring target Hedges) but I've not seen anything recent suggesting we're in for him apart from Paul Mani thinking it might be him? (Unless I'm wrong?) I would definitely hope we have better irons in the fire than that. And most certainly if we're prepared to spend £5m.

No, Spurs obviously haven't demonstrated their willingness to give this lad enough of a chance at first team level. Just as we've mishandled Nyambe over the years by shunting him in and out of the team and all indeed all three of the out of contract players by not prioritising deals for them but handing out deal after deal for players that didn't warrant it and running an extremely bloated squad. Mismanagement of all 4 players in their different ways by the respective Clubs. Let's hope we benefit from Markandy because we'll suffer badly if we don't go up and the other three leave for nothing.

Correct. 4 wrongs don't make a right.

Presumably we knew what the fee for him was before going in for him (if indeed we are) but is there anything to suggest he's worth anywhere remotely near that sort of money? What's the standard like in Ligue 2? Genuine question as I've no idea but the standard in Ligue 1 is nowhere near that of the Premier League. We've also been badly burned before by spending £7m on the top scorer from Serie B in Italy........ 🙄

Delighted with the Markandy deal. Hopefully it will be a little bit like signing Harvey Elliott without having to pay a fortune by way of loan fee for him then wave him a sad farewell after a successful season.

Can you explain why you automatically assume everyone we're linked with would be a good signing? On Healey he's 27 and as far as I can see he's scored one career goal at Championship level or higher. I don't think he 's the type of quality we ought to be targeting if we're serious about challenging for promotion.

If Butterworth had had the amount of game time as Gallagher has had I reckon he would have contributed far more overall. Gallagher is just a bad 'un. End of story. No redeeming qualities whatsoever unfortunately.

I think we need Markanday, a striker and someone who could grab the game by the scruff of the neck in midfield and/or provide a killer pass. The one place I don't think we need further cover is at CB, we already have 4 vying for 3 spots and could go 4 at the back in an emergency. A decent back up keeper wouldn't be the worst idea either.

That would be incredibly underwhelming.

Thought Gallagher was absolutely shocking when he came on, couldn't hold the ball up, made the wrong decision with his passes, didn't put their defenders under any pressure, and managed to get himself booked with a clumsy challenge. He wasn't on his own in being below par today though.

Great result, terrible performance, rode our luck, will have to play better but will definitely take that today. The red card for Nyambe was the most ludicrous thing I've ever seen. Didn't do anything at all wrong for either of the two yellows imo then one of the Cardiff players deliberately stamps on Wharton's achilles and only gets the same punishment, a yellow. The game's gone.

The timing is also crucial. Even if we were offered a ludicrous fee, do we have an equivalent replacement we know who would join us and is there time to get it done? No point agreeing to a sale at 11.59 on January 31st.

Bollocks to that we have to aim to win every game and try and crack the top two. I think it's unlikely we'll get automatic but you never know and if we fall just short then the play offs will have to do.

I'm as anti Waggott/Mowbray/Venus as Dav is against the owners. But you're correct, contrary to all known logic things have somehow gone contrary to all expectations this season and for as long as the promotion chance lasts we should, get behind the team on the pitch and temporarily cease hostilities against the team off it.

C'mon Chaddy, £150m is more than we'd make from a season in the Premier League and that's a long way from being guaranteed! Let's be a little bit realistic. All that said personally I'd turn down flat anything we're LIKELY to be offered this window. If however Newcastle or someone else unexpectedly came in with £40m plus though you'd probably have to think about it depending on how long we had to bring someone else in.

Yes, we need to put the champagne on ice on this one for a bit longer, there are still details that need ironing out apparently.

Well, yes, but only if they're worth their place in the side on merit if needed as well! We already have one "experienced" player in the squad I think is a waste of a wage in Johnson and that's been the root of our problem over the last ten years, overpaying a load of over-rated and over the hill journeymen and dollopers!

Always makes me nervous when deals are allegedly agreed, publicised, but not due to be completed until "next week". Potentially I think this sounds like a cracking signing though if it goes through and, for a change, one of our own not a loan.

The latter thing isn't happening as if we did invest £10m in the squad this month and didn't go up, there is always the safety net of selling BBD in summer. Plus, any money spent wisely isn't just money down the tube, it should stand us in good stead for years to come and maybe even realise a profit in due course. I'd have thought the only issue would be whether the right sort of players were available in January when notoriously any sensible Club is loathe to let anyone half decent go.

They really aren't!

Nonsense Gav, this is Mowbray covering his backside - Mowbray and Waggott have landed us in the situation with the out of contract players in the first place, they should have had their contracts sorted with a minimum of two years left on their old deals, are you telling me they wouldn't have signed reasonable offers at the time? There's been no such prevarication with Gallagher and I wouldn't even have offered him anything! Anyhow, the RB seems decent back up and I did say the Spurs lad would be a permanent deal if it happens. Good signings and I reckon there is money available, Mowbray just (rightly) isn't admitting to it. We need quite a bit more though.

In my opinion (and it's only my opinion) it's a mixture of the two. Originally Mowbray had (rightly) lost the owners confidence after the dreadful form of last season and expenditure in summer was kept to a minimum as this was originally seen as a season of survival. Since then however events have been completely superceded by our unexpectedly good form. You will recall that at one point Waggott was going round telling all and sundry that anyone who had not signed a new contract would be sold in January. For the likely sums involved and given where we are in the table however that would plainly be crazy and it does appear that some sort of discussions have been held whereby Mowbray and Waggott have been told no-one is leaving. To the extent they'll push the boat out beyond that we'll have to wait and see. Personally I'd be a lot less worried about the owners being willing to take a reasonable punt on promotion than I would be about the ability and competence of those on the ground at Ewood to get any deals done and over the line.