I would hope that Raya and Nyambe would be starters when the proper action gets underway, otherwise I'd say that bench looks extremely thin indeed and highlights the need for quality reinforcements.

I think We're two proven strikers short as well. If anything happened to Dack, or he doesn't quite fire at this higher level we could be absolutely knackered. Ideally you'd want Graham providing competition and back up for the new arrivals but as it stands it looks as though we'll be lucky to get one in of the required standard. Right back is actually one of the few areas I'm not concerned about. I would expect Nyambe to be one of our better performers this season and we have plenty of cover in that position if he picks up an injury.

Such is his steely determination to praise everyrhing that does or doesn't happen at Ewood atm I think Chaddy would say it was a good move if we were linked with a triple swoop for Danny Murphy, Leon Best and Chris Brown and we turned down Messi on loan with Barca paying 95% of his wages on the basis he's too old at 31.

Is there a joke going right over my head there or has Nixon started talking in a language intelligible only to aliens?

That would be the best news of the summer by far.

Don't understand this "the squad is so much better than when we went down" argument. The rump of this squad took us Down. The argument seems to me to be based solely on the assumption that the likes of Raya Smallwood and Dack will be so much better than Steele Lowe and what we had before etc we'll be ok. That may well turn out to be true but it's placing a massive burden on Dack in particular. Up front Conway and Graham are both 2 years older than the last time they took us down and I'd say Samuel and Nuttall are even weaker options than Gallagher and Emnes who both looked decent at various points.

Where is the evidence we've agreed a deal for anyone? Neal's assessment seems about right at this point, allegedly we've had offers in weeks ago for various players so seemingly either those offers must not be acceptable to the selling Clubs or the personal terms on offer must not be enticing the players in question or both. Looks like TM needs to fly back to India sharpish to renegotiate the budget. We ain't in League 1 this season and it would be nice if it stayed that way.

You did when you claimed the signing of Rothwell proved we had money. This transfer window is going from bad to worse. No sign whatsoever of the players we actually need in priority positions and now for some God unknown reason We're apparently chasing a 4th choice centre back when Wharton should be getting his chance and Williams can fill in in that position anyway.

Hmm..... At the end of the day as soon as we came up against a decent side we lost. Still Don't rate Southgate as a manager and his decision not to take a playmaker in midfield ultimately cost us. However what he did do brilliantly was take some bold decisions to ditch international wasters like Rooney and Hart and put together a young team who actually want to play for the shirt as opposed to a lot of over-rated names who see turning out for international duty as a hindrance. Positive tournament overall. Might do really well going forward under a decent manager.

Agreed. Also not sure where the automatic assumption the market "will settle down" comes from. There is no reason why prices should suddenly collapse for players in demand. Obviously for players for whom there is little demand and the selling Club want shut of the situation is completely different. For players inbetween like Bauer who the selling Club would like to keep but they are coming into the last 12 months of their contract, the parent Club might still prefer to get 12 months out of them than let them go for a derisory sum.

I think you are actually being extremely understated by saying you are "underwhelmed" by the window to date. We are in urgent need of one maybe two quality strikers who can find the net at this level and the same as regards one maybe two pacey players in the wide positions. There's no sign of these priority positions being addressed so far and the only 2 additions are 2 lads who I'm sure will be viewed as providing competition for places initially. Note the key phrase here is 'to date". It could all change in 2 or 3 days. But by God it needs to!

Those type of players cost a lot more than £2.5m I'd have thought?

Depends how much we want Bauer. If we really want him and think he is a player with huge potential then surely £2m, or at least something sensible approaching that doesn't represent too much of a gamble. The problem with messing about sweating on a derisory offer which is never likely to be accepted is a) we won't get the player and b) the alternative is arguably spending money on a player we Don't really want. Possibly right at the last minute in a panic buy sort of situation as well depending on how long we leave it.

Not saying we Can't discuss rumours, it was just you confidently asserted that the players you listed were our main targets and I Can't see any real evidence We're in for any of them apart from Bauer. As far as he's concerned; we can wait all we like but if we aren't offering something sensible in the same sort of ballpark as Charlton are talking we won't get the player. Not during this window anyway.

Errr......3 times, the first time in 1958 at age 17 and was kicked out of a 4th World Cup in 1966. Plus scored 1000 goals at domestic level which seems to get sniffed at these days because it was only the Brazilian League but you can only beat what's in front of you, there was no Champions League in those days, and no-one seems to particularly mind the fact that Messi and Ronaldo scored most of their goals against far weaker sides. By far the greatest player of all time for me.

Know someone who flew out this morning who is an England member and who has paid £215 and £270 for the semi final and final respectively. If he needs an extra ticket for his wife for the final and they decide they want to pay that much he anticipates it will be about £400.

Agreed. Hence my comparison which people laughed at a few weeks ago of offering 1m for Messi. If Charlton want £2m for the player you'd imagine our opening gambit would have to be in the order of £1m with a view to hopefully landing him for maybe something like £1.25m plus some add ons. Otherwise We're just wasting ours and Charlton's time instead of pursuing targets we might have a chance of landing.

Apart from wishful thinking, is there any evidence whatsoever that We're in for any of the above? (Apart from Bauer, who we 've no chance of landing unless we get part way realistic with our offer)

Completely agree. Seems to be a case now of "might" and "hoping" we get some of the players we need. Still all smacks of not enough money being made available to bring in the targets he wants to me. Two other points stood out for me reading that, extremely depressing reading if you're one of our younger players finally hoping to make a breakthrough here and disappointing to see Conway cited as a reason why we might have a decent season.

No. That should be taken as read. Their basic wage should reflect the fact they are Premiership players and they should be remunerated accordingly. If however they fail to achieve that and get relegated then the contracts should allow for a pay cut. Paying bonuses for merely doing the absolute bare minimum which is acceptable doesn't appear to have been a sensible policy for Bolton as they seem to be in all kinds of trouble.

Can't be anything in it. Chaddy doesn't approve! ☺️

Ludicrous. It's an open invitation for the players to knock off for the season early if they were to reach relative safety by say the end of January. Plus, not being relegated should go without saying and there's no massive financial benefit to the the Club in scraping survival. It's a bit like Having a normal job and being told "Don't make a massive cock up which will bankrupt us and you'll get a huge bonus". (Which might).

Well, as you apparently have an important European qualifier on Thursday, yes!

Do you want numerous changes for Wednesday then? If not you're just being argumentative for the sake of it.

As a general aside how bad must the Scottish League be when our squad can turn over one of their best sides so easily at home in our very first warm up game?