Therein lies the heart of the problem. Mowbray demonstrated last season he doesn-t have the ability, nouse or ambition to take us forward and is starting to wreak damage it may take years to recover from if we are relegated again. We may never recover if the owners eventually get frustrated wirh the lack of progress/regression and take their bat and ball home. with them.

How much did they get for selling That lad to Spurs?

Hopefully nothing in it. That would put the tin hat on it if that happens.

I'm not the one responsible for scouting the markets. As I've said all along QUALITY CB CM main striker needed. Hanley would have been good, I'd have hoped for better than a 32 year old on his way down coming in in midfield, and Assombalonga or Austin would be more like the sort of quality we required up front.

New keeper Bennett Mulgrew Lenihan Williams Downing Evans Johnson Smallwood Dack Graham Not exactly brimming with youthful promise and enthusiasm is it?

Has he played for Boro / us /or us AND Boro before? (Like Chapman)? ?

Eleven goals is as good as it's ever got for him and that was under a manager (Coyle) who prioritised attack over defence. If we want to ever have aspirations of finishing higher than 15th to 21st we need far better for me.

It's not a major thing either way but I don't think it's that difficult to comprehend either. If you know someone personally and address them as "pal" then that would usually indicate that you're being friendly. If you don't know someone from adam and are disagreeing with them (as I think was happening in this instance) and address them as "pal" then that usually indicates you're being patronising or condescending. Sybil Fawlty subject "The bleeding obvious" over and out! ?

No. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating though.

Agreed Jim. Dreadful window for me so far. Raya out - madness. Downing age 35 in - more madness Johnson - jury firmly out. 32 and going into the engine room of midfield. Highly unlikely he'll be as good as Reed. Gallagher - has already proved both here and at Birmingham he isn't good enough at this level. So why are we even looking at him? Long old season coming up.

Who isn't prolific, not a particularly sharp finisher, not particularly quick, not particularly good at holding the ball up, notrparticularly good in the air. Apart from that.......

Agreed Jim. Paying money to replace Raya seems ludicrous to me, he's the least of our problems. It's like saying Dack's not good enough and we need to replace him with better. To the extent the defence is poor imo it's because Mulgrew suddenly hit a brick wall and Bennett and Williams are absolute liabilities when playing at RB and LB respectively. When you've got the likes of Evans in midfield the defence doesn't get any protection off midfield either. Scapegoating Raya and bringing in Newcastle's reserve keeper won't alter that but bring some decent defenders in and there's every chance that either Raya or this other bloke would look very good indeed. P.S. Agree entirely with you on the condescending and patronising use of the word "pal".

Do you actually think selling Raya and bringing in a "free" is a wise move? Are there any decent keepers available on a free? Genuine question as I don't know but I can't see why there would be.

Agree with the last paragraph. Hanley and Assombalonga would have been ideal. Replacing the keeper shouldn't be necessary as Raya is or was already one of our better players imo.

Come on Pete. Out of those only Dack and Lenihan could be considered regular starters. Maybe Travis as well but now Johnson has come in who knows?

Well said Phillip. Completely agree.

No......oooooooo So looks like we're selling Raya to fund a move for the fairly useless Gallagher. Can this window get any worse? Come on Wigan, pull your finger out.

Ok. Leutwiler 30 Mulgrew 33 Bennett 31 in December Johnson 32 Downing 35 in July Graham 34 in August Evans and Smallwood 30 next year. That's eight. That accurate enough for you and how many do you want?

Dunno but he's probably about the right age for Mowbray and the Ewood last payday retirement home.

As things stand Hanley isn't coming. We can discount that one I think.

If it's that easy to sell your best players and replace them with better for less, why don't we just get rid of everyone? I'm a bit uneasy about our current business. We've signed two players with a combined age of 67 on frees and appear to be on the verge of selling the up and coming Raya for £3m. To say we've a lot to do is an understatement. And I bet we end up with a right old dolloper to replace Raya. If it's Joe Hart I won't be buying a season ticket. I've already missed the claim your own seat deadline so disappointed was I with the acquisition of Downing.

Really like this shirt, whilst no footie shirt is actually worth £50 I may invest for once as a show of support for a strip featuring a reasonable shade of blue. Last season's paler than Man City blue strip was horrendous and I wouldn't have accepted one as a gift. Not much more to be said really.

Would be great news if it happens. How long do their latest contracts run for though?. What a criminal waste of money that was, especially in Evans' case.

My post was intended as a joke (sort of) wirh a serious point in there about Mowbray not addressing the real priority areas and only bringing in squad fillers as opposed to players for the first X1. Completely agree about Reed. As I've said all along, QUALITY CB CM (to replace Reed) and main striker needed. Also need a new contract for Travis imo. If we brought in a Reed replacement but lost him because he's still on a relatively nominal amount it would be one step forward and two back.

Come on Tony, get your act into gear. Never mind the signings we desperately need fo the first X1. You've filled the Conway role in the squad by replacing a superfluous 34 year old squad player with a (near) 35 year old. Now you need to fill Kasey Palmer's place in the squad by signing a quality loanee from a top Premiership Club and then never give him a proper chance! ?