Nicely swerved, I know Mowbray (wrongly) didn't seem to rate Raya and fell out with him and scapegoated him and the owners didn't make him sell the player but you suggested we would only make a sale of one of our main assets for BIG money and only after a suitable replacement had been sourced which was the polar opposite of what happened with Raya meaning we allegedly missed out on our original goalkeeping targets and ended up with the calamitous Walton on loan for the season. Whatever your views on Raya, only a man with a white stick would claim Walton was better than him and surely you can't deny that our first choice keeper is an absolutely key component of the team.

We've had a decent start, probably a lot better than everyone expected, and I don't think a single person has complained either about that or the position we currently occupy in the table. And yet when we had the chance to further consolidate upon that good start at home on Saturday we failed to perform and saw Gallagher reintroduced onto the wing which is eerily reminiscent of previous failings so it's probably a bit early to start getting too cocky about our prospects. I'd rather see the decent run of form and some Derby like performances stretch over a reasonable period before I'm convinced we've genuinely turned a corner.

If we get a decent LB, and there are no major sales, hindsight might prove differently, but I'd say on the face it would have been a better window than any since we've been promoted. Especially given the general climate. If we don't get a LB then I'd say it was slightly disappointing as we only had three priority positions to fill (keeper CB and LB) and I'd rather that had have been done than acquire a second choice keeper who won't really affect our season either way. Now then, who's decent, domestic, and available at LB? I wouldn't be looking at Cunningham personally.

I'm only jesting with you, I'm fully behind you on the issue but I fear you'll be waiting a while.

1st paragraph, what you mean like Raya? 2nd paragraph, game of opinions, Armstrong isn't anywhere near as good as Watkins imo but even if we did manage to sell him for 28m why would you be happy with only spending slightly over half that on reinforcements? Dack is the one who if fully fit I'd be looking for a Watkins size fee for. That is I would have been if had we not cocked up his contract situation and had it not been likely that we will either be forced to sell him for a cut price next summer, or watch him walking for free the one after that.

Surely you're not going against Government advice! ? Follow the guidelines! ?

His point was, would you rather lose Dack, Nyambe and JRC for nothing or risk suffering a nine point penalty next season? Not much in that is there, in fact I'd rather get them signed up and preferably available to play but failing that sell them for appropriate fees which would remove the threat of FFP anyway.

Yet here he is seemingly on considerably less. Strange one that! If we hadn't (probably) wasted 12m on BB and Gallagher, no matter how hard the Club PR man Paul Mani tries to defend it, if we'd got in first at a much earlier stage with concrete bids for those players who knows what would have been the outcome. Even if we hadn't managed to land either or both of those two the point remains that there must have been a lot better for 12m out there than what we ended up with.

Bloody hell. If that's right could have got Reed and Tosin for 2m LESS than BB and Gallagher! ?

I'd have thought the actual medical would have to have been done before the deadline though and the deal be merely subject to the results coming through but hey ho, like I say, happy to be wrong.

Sorry to labour the point but the explanation of the extension above accorded with my understanding in that it only gave the Clubs an extra couple of hours to dot the administrative i's and cross the t's. Not to perform a medical the day after the window closed! We'll see I guess.

If Swag was landlord he'd have put the price up to £16.60 and told the locals that if the pub folded it would be their fault for not coming in.

I honestly don't recall a medical ever being done the following day, I thought that part of the deal had to be done and dusted before the deadline but happy to be wrong on that.

Thanks, it's roughly as I remembered, out of that lot I'd only be really worried about losing Dack Nyambe and JRC. Maybe Chapman as well if he comes to. Sod's law dictates they're probably the only ones we will lose.

Why does Sharpe say it has to be done by 11 then? ?

I thought that exemption only applied when everything had been sorted in principle apart from one or two technicalities. I didn't think it allowed you for example to carry out a medical the next day. What if he fails it? We'll see I suppose.

How about the fact that the window closes in 15 mins?

I doubt we'll have to worry too much about contract extensions. Unless we go up I'd be amazed if Nyambe is here next season and if Dack comes back OK from injury, fairly surprised if he's still here as well. Who's the other major one out of contract, JRC?

My point still stands, if the window has just closed, said player knows he has to get his head down and knuckle down until the next window. Under the old system any reported interest from elsewhere was far more unsettling for a player.

True, but if you want a couple of players like that you need a bit more quality and slightly less quantity within the squad. It doesn't exactly help when you're paying Mulgrew £1m p.a to do nothing.

Cracking post. Nailed it. (Or is it the manager that isn't that interested in seizing it? I notice the other day there was a headline to the effect that TM didn't want to ask the owners for more money for a LB in the current climate)

I still hold out some hope for BB myself but blimey. Sadly TM obviously thought the same as you judging by the way he used to mess Reed about and stick him out wide.

I disagree, in the "good old days" you were looking over your shoulder all the time if you had a decent player, as a bigger Club could poach him at any point. At least you only have to worry at specified points now and if you get through them you know you have the player for a guaranteed period.

He makes it sound as though him being fit for part of his contract is actually something people should be grateful for!

So by the looks of it, for about £3m more than the 12 arguably wasted on Gallagher and BB, you could have brought in Reed and Tosin permanently.