RevidgeBlue

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.

If there's one thing more boring than reading posts from people discussing BB in the wrong thread it's reading posts from people complaining that people are talking about BB in the wrong thread! Feel the chat about BB is relevant myself as it obviously impacts on our ability to operate or otherwise this window. Today will be as much about who we don't sign as who we do sign for me. If we can't sign a decent striker like BA or CA I think it will still be a small victory if we dont end up committing another 7m in transfer fees and a minimum of 6m over 5 years on Gallagher who imo will never be more than a perennial sub 10 goal a year journeyman doing the rounds between different Clubs. If we're going to spend a lot of money to bring someone in, let's make it someone really good who will make a real difference. Not just someone we happen to know already and like.

My striker preferences would be 1) BA permanent. Failing that a loan. 2) CA Loan 3) SG as a stop gap Loan (He ain't good enough to push us on in the long run imo) 4) SG permanent 5) Nobody. Suspect it will be either 4 or 5 by the end of tomorrow leaving me feeling completely underwhelmed given the other names we were linked with.

Sod it. Let's have both.

I meant really that landing BA permanently would be more of a massive statement of intent. CA on a short term deal until the end of the season less so. We don't go up, he goes back and we're back to square one. Nevertheless I'm quite excited by this and I agree it seems far more feasible, won't break the bank etc. It does say other Clubs are in for him on other sites though.

Thanks for the link. I'd be quite up for that. Not as good as landing BA but better than Gallagher.

I have no idea whatsoever the point you are trying to make. The only figure I've seen quoted in relation to the deal is £7m therefore it is reasonable to assume we will end up having to pay a fairly large sum eventually regardless of whether none, some or all of any performance related clauses are triggered.

No - one on here knows whether his fee is rising to a total of £7m including performance based add ons, or £7m plus add ons. So let's not pretend we do. The fee isn't even the issue for me. The issue is it's a largish fee, whatever the exact figure may be, yet he hasn't been given a proper chance.

All this talk about BB's fee being more reasonable because it is spread out in installments is a complete red herring. Everyone's fees are structured like that, it's not as if we would have to pay up front for anyone else yet somehow managed to get BB on the never never. It has to be paid eventually. Don't think he's as bad as people make out though. He's never been given a chance.

Roy, Roy, is that you, I thought you went to Forest! ?

Because I go to the games. Why would I have any interest in ifollow? How did you not know 4000 holes came from the famous Beatles song? ? We'll have to agree to disagree on Gallagher. If he was that good, Birmingham would have signed him permanently or at least extended his loan.

It's fairly worrying he needs another new contract at all. As our best player he should have at the very least been put on parity with our other top earners when he got his new deal last summer.