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! ?

and last summer?

Even if it's not what they would have done by choice you might argue their hand is being forced by FFP. To me the choice seems to be to do nothing for 2 seasons and allow our annual operating losses to tip us over into embargo at the end of that period. Or we could invest judiciously in some quality players which would give us an outside chance of reaching the promised land but if we didn't make it we might be able to sell at a profit which would prevent an embargo from coming into effect. Seems a no brainer to me, but then again It's not my money nor have I lost c£150m already!

Amen to that.

Weren't we linked with Johnson years ago when he was in his prime? Have to admit I don't know too much about him these days but having signed 35 year old Downing the prospect of, signing another player whose best days are probably behind him would make me nervous. Why can't we sign any players in their prime in the 25-29 year old age bracket? There must be plenty about within our means if we were to cast the net wide enough.

Depends entirely on signings yet to come which may or may not be made. New CB /CM/ main striker and no sale of Dack/Raya/Lenihan and TM uses the youngsters then top 10 might be a possibility. If we went with the current squad and TM persists with the likes of Williams/Mulgrew/Bennett/Evans/Smallwood/Graham etc I'd expect us to be relegated or to be involved in a relegation dogfight and narrowly escape at best.

If this is indeed what is currently happening, then much as people hate to admit it then surely Venky's are 100 % correct. If things progress in the same vein as last summer's window and We ger to the last day or two of the window without having signed anyone of any significance, selling Clubs will recognise your desperation and make you pay through the nose for players who are left who won't necessarily be the ones you really needed or wanted in the first place.