Bell's been doing really well recently. That'd be spending money that doesn't really need to be spent and diverting money away from far more pressing needs ie a top striker and centre back (or tying down Rodwell) for me.

Really? I'd see it as the opposite of a statement of intent and a sign we weren't going anywhere for the forseeable future. Unless he was coming in as the long term Graham replacement alongside a number one star striker. 18 career goals in 109 appearances. Meh.

No. It's not happening is it? Still was nice to dream what our team might have looked like for 24 hrs!

Isn't it far more risky NOT to try anything? Clubs are allowed to lose £39m over a 3 year period under FFP and we currently lose about £15m p.a. anyway so if we just tick over and do nothing we'll fall foul of the rules in 2 years anyway! I don't see a stellar signing of BA or someone similar as a particular risk as long as we could sell them again for no less than what we paid for them if required. What we can't afford to do is lash out big money on another Brereton who doesn't even feature. As far as wages are concerned I'd say there's no way our top earners are only on 15k p.w., I'd say £25k at least so if BA came in on say £40 k p.w and we lost a couple of fringe players off the wage bill it would be like another "normal" signing with someone else needing to make way if the wage budget won't stand it and it's a case of one in one out. The problems are: potentially upsetting the wage structure and the fact that people I think should have been offloaded to make way for better players have all been handed new contracts. Nevertheless if we are creative enough and make the right choice of player then potentially it's the difference between sleepwalking into FFP or giving ourself a genuine shot at promotion.

Sharpe doesn't know very much does he? Hate it when reporters put the word "understood" before everything they write. Means they can write any old rubbish and even if it it turns out to be absolute nonsense they can still claim it's what they've been told.

Quality!

Whoosh!!!!

Absolutely over the moon with Chappers coming back as long as he hasn't been brought in simply to sit on the bench or go out on loan. Once match fit, could you imagine Chapman and BA in tthe starting line up? We'd look a completely different proposition and the play offs wpuld become a realistic possibility as opposed to a bit of a pipe dream.

I even got the post wrong when I typed it. See the edited version. Probably end up signing no - one! ?

Might have got our wires crossed there. I was talking about Graham v Gallagher not Gallagher v BA. I don't really want us to bring Gallagher in permanently. If we're spending a lot on a striker I'd hope we'd bring someone a lot better in. Might be ok on loan until the end of the season for the sake of bringing an extra body in but with no real expectation of challenging for the play offs.

Not much in it ability wise. Gallagher's far younger so overall is the better option of the two but neither would be the players to fire us to promotion imo.

You can't question what either Rhodes or Gestede did for the Club while they were here imo. What they have done since leaving isn't our problem. If you could GUARANTEE anyone coming in could perform like they did for us you'd snap the selling Club's hands off be it BA or anyone else.

This. We'll be going nowhere if we sign Gallagher imo. And he won't be particularly cheap either.

Oh do give over. BA is many times the player Graham is. I think if we were rumoured to be after Messi people would be saying "he'll have to bide his time on the bench until Graham retires!" It's 27th of January and we haven't signed anyone yet so I won't believe anything until it happens but if BA does come it would tend to corroborate what I was told about a sizeable war chest always having been available this window. Would inagine BA is first choice and Gallagher sloppy seconds if we fail to get him. Really hope we don't end up committing a sizeable amount to landing Gallagher.

Looks like Im in a minority of one on this but he really isn't. He's had it imo. Couple of decent flick ons and everyone appears to think he's had a worldie because we won 3-0. If the result hadn't gone our way I suspect everyone would have a far less rose tinted viee of his extremely limited contribution.

Dack was ok today but I bet if you asked the opposition where they'd prefer him to play it would be picking the ball up off the toes of our defenders. Completely nullifies him imo. No harm doing it occasionally but he's doing it far too much at the moment for me.

Well well well, wasn't expecting that, we've been crying out for a performance like that in the first half at home all season and the way we pressed high, passed the ball through midfield and took the game away from the opposition inside the first 20 mins was imo the best we've played under TM since he came to the Club. Second half we understandably eased off a bit and reverted back to our normal style of play hoofing long balls and losing possession. But then the third goal on 70 mins settled any potential nerves, the introduction of Nuttall provided a bit of fresh impetus up front and after that we were comfortable again. Travis and Rodwell were absolutely awesome. Travis is so good It beggars belief that he hasn't been playing before now and Im not entirely convinced that like Palmer he wasn't playing at Sheff Utd. to put him in the shop window to send him out on loan before Smallwood's suspension forced TM's hand. However he's taken his chance brilliantly and we're all the better for it. He's so influential you can actually get away with playing either Evans or Smallwood alongside him, although to be fair Evans had his best game for a long time today. Rodwell looks so composed he seems to bring an air of calm to the back line and am I right in thinking we haven't conceded a goal since he's been brought in? Let's hope it's not too late to convince him he has a long term future here. Bennett had a much improved game at RB. The only slight negatives were Graham who once again was poor and never in the game and Dack's recent tendancy to drop way too deep when we really need him in danger areas where he can do some damage. Overall though, much better in terms of performance especially if we can play like we did in the first half more often.

For me too much quantity and not enough quality at CB. We have three converted midfielders and a guy who's been playing at LB (badly) for the majority of his time here vying for the positions. Our only actual specialist centre backs are out on loan. Really good defenders can sniff out danger in advance. People merely filling in and doing a job can't. Up until the last couple of games when Rodwell came in and did surprisingly well I think I'm right in saying the Mulgrew/Lenihan partnership was shipping goals at roughly the same rate as the season we were relegated. There's plenty of room for improvement there if the manager saw it as a priority which seemingly he doesn't.

Seconded. That would be absolute madness.

Better give the bench a new lick of paint! This week would be better.

I thought Downing was a lot better than many on here gave him credit for, but I can understand the lad wanting to leave to get more game time. What I can't understand given our current situation is Wharton being loaned out again. He's 22 in October, by now we should know whether he's good enough, n which case he should be starting games for us, or whether we need to move on. Wonder if he'll turn out to be the next O'Connell, not deemed worthy to see the light of day here but a very decent player elsewhere?

Agreed. Saturday's game will be an interesting test of bottle as much as anything else. Have we got the stomach for a potential play off challenge? Under Bowyer whenever we looked as though we might do something we seemed to manage to blow it and earlier this season when we got to within a point or two of the play offs we chucked in the horror shows against Preston and Wigan. Has anything changed? We'll soon find out.

Spot on. To me it doesn't seem as though the owners have snapped the purse strings shut , they spent plenty (eventually) in the summer and I was told money had been made available this window but TM was reluctant to spend it. imo it all boils down to TM not wanting to upset the players who are already here and the apparent assumption that anyone coming in won't be dislodging the regulars and will only be here as back up. There's also an article in the LT today with Evans who's basically saying how great it is that the senior players get a large amount of input in regular meetings and get a say in how we play etc. This all smacks a bit of the inmates running the asylum to me. Might not happen this season but I can't see it ending up in anything other than tears eventually.

On the evidence of the last 2 games should be Rodwell. Wonder if we'll play 5 at the back like against Newcastle to shoehorn all 3 centre backs into the side though.

He's off then.