RevidgeBlue

Only a bit of fun as they were all fantastic players but I'd have put Parkes and Duff in before Friedel. Obviously them Hendry and Tugay should be amongst the next ones in along with Sir Roger Jones and Noel Brotherston. Cole for scoring the winner in a League Cup final? Howard Kendall? Plenty of players from the sixties worthy of inclusion as well. Nice idea.

We're not really knocking on the door of the promotion slots though are we? We've never been in the top 6 at any point and whilst that's not altogether surprising for this season I'm not sure I see us ever really challenging under TM iat any point n the future. You say there's evidence of a plan, I don't see it, the only concern seems to be trying not to upset the players already on the books, there doesn't seem to be any real desire to improve the team whatsoever.

Not sure why you have to brand anyone who has a different opinion to yourself as "ignorant" nor do you have a crystal ball as to what might happen in the future so both of us are second guessing how things will pan out. If TM doesn't change his ways then one of us may well be proven correct with hindsight. What have Wigan got to do with anything? Completely irrelevant. I'm talking about the effect promotion had on US. I haven't checked the points to games ratio since Preston away but I wouldn't imagine it makes particularly encouraging reading for next season.

You have an astonishingly rose tinted perspective on things. imo Graham is all but finished and even if he wasn't it isn't exactly desirable for your game plan to consist of lumping a long ball up to a (near) 34 year old. Bennett has never been any good for us during his time at the Club in any position other than a briefly very effective spell in League 1 in central midfield. Funnily enough the central midfield position seems to be the only position TM won't play him in and as a result we have to watch him labouring woefully in every other area of the pitch. But still he's great, because he gives the crowd a massive fist bump after the match if we win so let's forget his deficiencies on the pitch eh? Evans had a great game against Hull but you can count the number of good games he's had on one hand since his bad injury when Bowyer was here. Terrible player. Lowe Mark 2 Conway, completely past it, as Tom said last night one good game in the last two and a half seasons. Should never have been handed a new deal. My overall view is that the momentum derived from winning promotion last season which rolled overvinto a solid start this campaign will see us safe but if the manager doesn't cut out the old pals act and get a lot more ruthless then there's only one way we're going over the next one - two seaons and it certainly isn't up

So, if you are right, when do we start trying to add those 4-5 players? Surely it's unrealistic to think we can do it all in one window in one fell swoop? Should be an ongoing process which seemingly hasn't yet started, furthermore the manager doesn't appear to view embarking on the task as a matter of any particular urgency

Cracking post. Not sure we're a bigger Club than Norwich but we have richer owners. Other than that you've mirrored many of my thoughts exactly. (Theme from The Italian Job comes on) "We are the self preservation society."

Yes, I did wonder if our recent good run of form would miraculously come to an end now the window is shut and players' jobs are safe for a while longer. The only surprise is that people arr surprised. It's been happening since day one of the season to a greater or lesser extent. I've never felt less affinity towards a squad, they have so little heart. Yet the manager shrugs his shoulders and says "It's where we're at." Only interest for me now in the rest of the season is in seeing if Nuttall Brereton and Chapman can make an impact and help us kick on next season.

Ta.

Conway for Dack is an absolute joke. Was Dack injured? Also looks like trying to shoehorn Bennett into the side has cost us yet again.

Mulgrew is injured isn't he? Nyambe has done nothing whatsoever wrong and isn't even in the squad. Bennett had a mare against Newcastle and retained his place in the eleven on the other side of the pitch. Nuttall comes into the side side and is dropped irrespective of performance. All players are equal but some are more equal than others, obviously. Still, on a decent run, so not unreasonable to keep the same side even though Nyambe is clearly our best RB imo.

Think you're getting your terminology somewhat mixed up there, a sense of entitlement means taking success for granted and expecting it as of right. I haven't seen a single person express the view that we SHOULD be romping away with the division. Nevertheless, now that an opportunity had unexpectedly presented itself I can't see anything wrong at all with most supporters wanting to boost the squad to try and capitalise on that opportunity. In fact on the contrary I find it extremely odd that some fans seem pleased we haven't been able to bring anyone else in.

We do apparently. Same thing appeared to happen in summer. We put bids in at the start of summer for players which produced no joy then it looked as though we went back to the owners at the last minute for more money and then started throwing telephone numbers about about at Freeman from QPR and Brereton in the last couple of days of the window. It 's the easiest excuse in the world to say players are too expensive. It is not difficult to ascertain a player's demands and at the end of the day it all boils down to how serious the manager is about improving the team, if you want quality you have to pay for it. Deep down I don't think the manager wants to risk putting the noses out of joint of the players already here. Even the one addition we've brought in and the one we were most strongly linked with (Gallagher) are players he's worked with before and presumably likes. That's a pretty small talent pool to draw from. So two windows and 12 months gone by August and has the squad really improved any? Possibly Armstrong and possibly Chapman (if we play him this time roind that is) Travis was seemingly about to be sent out on loan but has also fallen rather fortuitously into the manager's lap due to circumstance. At that rate that's a hell of a long, long term plan. It'll be a long time before it comes to fruition if ever. Hope Im around to see it.

No indication he wants to stay though. I'd rather be reading a story that he'd signed a new deal than one saying we were aiming to open talks over a new deal. If I were him I'd be waiting to see how I stood once Mulgrew was completely fit again. If he was still then getting picked over CM it might make a big difference to his decision.

Or (devil's advocate mode) does he deliberately downplay expectations and set modest targets and talk about long term plans etc to keep himself in a job as long as possible until such point as we realise some considerable way down the line we're not actually making any progress? I'm not sure how you can plan to improve gradually bit by bit. It assumes that no-one else will be improving at all which obviously won't be the case. At best, what other Clubs do is totally out of your control and overall you might be moving backwards.

Arguably we already have. (Brereton)

Thought the scouting department was supposed to running on "full steam" already?

For someone who's 6 feet 4 inches, he isn't particularly good in the air, isn't particularly physical, isn't particularly good at holding the ball up, isnt a particularly clinical finisher and isn't particularly quick. Apart from that he's ok as George Best said about Beckham!

I was with you for a moment there until you said Joe Hart. I keep telling you, it's not April 1st yet!

Hopefully not!

Yes but situations change as the season goes on. As there is an outside chance of sneaking into the play offs, ideally we should be doing everything we can to maximise the opportunity. The fact we might not have thought we'd be in this position at the start of the season is irrelevant.

Sorry PB selling a decent striker for 7m plus add ons to a team from a lower division then replacing him with a 38 year old is absolutely desperate no matter how you try to dress it up. Long may it last!

Holy Cow Batman!

Not Rovers related but Peter Crouch having a medical at Burnley ahead of permanent deal. Vokes going to Stoke on a permanent deal. Pretty desperate piece of business for the Dingles. How old is Crouch?

I'm thinking there is and has been money available all along but TM doesn't want to upset "the lads".

Yep, at his best Gestede would be far better but not sure if he's anywhere near his best these days and would probably never be out of the treatment room. Wouldn't be overly enamoured with either. We could do with a real Steve Archibald moment to get everyone excited.