RevidgeBlue

The Saudis are a lot better side than many who have "graced" the World Cup in the past such as Haiti and Zaire. There are bound to be one or two weaker sides. You Can't just hold a tournament based solely on the FIFA rankings.

I'm not someone who needs to see signings before I'll commit to a ST and I rushed in to renew on the first morning buoyed with enthusiasm by the promotion. That initial feel good factor is starting to wear off slightly though. I'm not so much concerned by the fact that there have been no incomings as it's still relatively early days. I would however have expected Dack and Lenihan to have been tied up on lucrative new deals as soon as the season ended. However as Jim correctly observed yesterday all we have is two new deals for the old codgers Conway and Graham.

Whilst I agree that the overall concept of FFP is fatally flawed and that it is not inconceivable that our owners might try to hide behind it you do seem to be rather obsessed with the subject. I haven't studied the subject in detail like you seem to have done but the basic point that occurs to me is that the rule is you Can't exceed losses of a certain amount over a three year period therefore whilst it looks inevitable that Villa will fall foul of the rule eventually, They've only been in the Championship for two years so far so any sanctions aren't applicable yet. Similarly for Forest, if They've recently come out of embargo, presumably the 3 year cycle starts from scratch so you Can't complain about them spending £13m on a player per se. If owners want to take a punt on reaching the riches of the Premier League and run the risk of sanctions if it fails that's up to them and not the League's fault. I think it's wrong though to suggest that sanctions aren't applied. They have been and massive fines were slapped upon QPR which are currently subject to legal challenge as far as I'm aware. Once again if a Court eventually rules against the League (as I hope they do) that's not their fault, they have tried to enforce their rules.

Have to disagree. Conway was dreadful for the vast majority of last season in terms of his overall play not just his non contribution in terms of assists and goals.

"An hour of Craig Conway running up and down working hard .......will at times be a better option than those flying wingers." It really won't Tony - scratching around a bit with those comments I fear.

Lenihan was clearly looking to move prior to him picking up his long term foot injury. If There's any hint of interest from another Club he perceives to be a better long term bet, he simply may not want to sign another deal here. It might not be due to any lack of effort on the Club's part.

Absolutely spot on re: Conway. Unless the funding for this season is virtually unlimited by Championship standards I find it a very strange move. I do worry that TM is going to be too loyal and put too much faith in this squad judging by his recent comments in the LT. We have to remember that the rump of the squad got us relegated from the Championship and if TM thinks the squad as it currently stands will have us competitive at the right end of the table I fear he'll be sadly disappointed. We need at least half a dozen quality additions who can make a difference at Championship level imo, not just squad fillers who will be back up to the existing staff. I'd be looking for a big nasty centre half experienced at Championship level, ditto for midfield, a ball playing midfielder two wingers with pace, and two strikers who can find the net at this level. That, or something close to that will be plenty expensive enough without throwing money away on Conway because he's been a decent servant in the past.

Agree on Lenihan but Dack will presumably be on a very modest deal at the moment so that would be my top priority ahead of bringing anyone else In.

Graham may or may not perform next season but the only bit of contract news I really want to hear at this stage is that Dack has signed an improved deal.

I agree about Shelvey, I think we're badly lacking someone who can pick a pass in midfield. I'd have taken him or gambled on Wilshere's fitness as opposed to taking so many full backs or Delph.

As daft as it sounds for someone who has just scored twenty odd goals I think Sterling is a poor finisher and I don't expect him to impress taken out of an exceptional City side that scored over a hundred goals and which created almost unlimited chances for him. I think Sterling is vastly over-rated as a player but of course he could prove me completely wrong. I'd take Rashford alongside Kane ahead of Sterling, but arguably I think I'd rather even more be going with Vardy and Kane up top for the first two group games gainst weaker opposition and not overload the pitch with defenders masquerading under the fancy name of iadvanced wing backs.

That's an exceptionally negative line up for me. Essentially you've got 5 defenders, 3 midfielders, Sterling who half the time couldn't hit a the proverbial cow's backside with a banjo and Kane. If that's the line up then for me Southgate is guilty of overthinking it way too much. I would also have Rashford in ahead of Sterling who I expect to be a massive flop yet again. Guess the proof of the pudding will be in the eating as always.

Conway was better than Feeney a few years ago but they're both pretty useless now which is all that matters. We shouldn't be handing out contracts on sentiment.

Well overdue. Many congratulations.

We need to be making sure Dack and Lenihan get what they want and not bothering too much about Graham adopting a take it or leave it stance imo. it's ludicrous to be offering Conway any form. of deal at all for me, he should have been shown the door along with Feeney.

He's 33 in August. Why should he get the same now as he did 2 years ago when he was only 31? As one or two others have said we shouldn't budge and if anyone else is daft enough to be offering a longer deal and he can do better elsewhere he should go for it as he is very much in the Autumn of his career.

Wouldn't bother if I was Rovers, it must be highly debatable whether he'll cut it in the Championship next season in terms of fitness, attitude and ability. We'd probably be better starting from scratch with a couple of younger hungrier players.

Strewth.......I think people need some football to talk about badly. Roll on the World Cup!

There was nothing to suggest during King's time here he'd be significantly better up front. When he played wide for us he couldn't hit the proverbial cow's backside with a banjo.The FA Cup games were right towards the end of his time here and he'd obviously made up his mind to move by then. Maybe Howe shouldn't have moved him from up top but many players would get their heads down and do a job wherever they were asked to play. King obviously isn't one of those type of players

There's a lot of sentimental revisionist rubbish being spoken about King now he unexpectedly had one outstanding season in the Premier League. He didn't get in our side up front because we had two guys in there who scored 41 goals in a Season. When he had the chance to impress from a wider position he invariably stank the place out and only decided to put a bit of a shift in when he was looking to put himself in the shop window during the FA Cup games. Seems history is now repeating itself at Bournemouth, he's been asked to play in a slightly different position, his form has tailed off and the dummy has come out of the pram.

Not sure I'd agree on the merits of Fielding v Raya but my point would be more along the lines that hypothetically we could also blow the rest of our budget boosting the squad depth by bringing in players as back up almost as good as our other best players such as Dack, Mulgrew and Lenihan but I' sure no-one would want us to do that. I'd far sooner see us replace the likes of Williams, Evans, Conway and Samuel with quality rather than worry about bringing in competition for Raya which to me seems pretty unnecessary.

Raya is very good keeper imo and not far short of developing into an outstanding one. Fielding would undoubtedly be an upgrade on Leutwiler and if he is happy to come just to sit on the bench fair enough but I doubt that and overall it seems a very strange move to me, I'd have thought we had other areas that were a far greater priority.

That's all he did! Doesn't offer anything much these days imo and in fact hasn't done for a couple of seasons at least. The money would be far better spent elsewhere for me.

I've been watching Rovers 47 years, I Don't get a free season ticket. We're a football Club not a charity!

It seems to be the general consensus within football that he is an excellent coach but a poor man manager.