Having made £22m and then with a further £4-5m to come from Raya, in theory the Szmodics shouldn't be necessary in determining what happens in this window. We should already have money to spend. Obviously not £26m or anything close, but we should have at least some money to spend. So any Szmodics sale shouldn't be required to raise even more, so then in that instance, it should be a case of weighing up what is best, a decent budget and Szmodics or an even bigger budget but without our only goalscorer and knowing how difficult he becomes to replace. So I would choose the former. Obviously it won't turn out like that, and I suspect we will be begging, stealing and borrowing even with a Szmodics sale.

Benfica got into the quarter finals last season and the season before I think.

Is Sky £30 a month all in including the Sports package?

Hes slow, injury prone and has been nowhere near their team for a while.

A draw won't do us "very nicely" a win would. A draw would not be a disaster but we have to be targetting the 3 points.

Very entertaining. Id have the first leg of Real Madrid v City as probably the most entertaining game of the season.

CI never thought that I would see empathy towards Legia Warsaw and Young Boys. I get the argument about making the strong stronger, but I think the quality of the Champions League is stronger with a few teams from the top countries. The entertainment value has been brilliant from it in recent years, and I think that it would take away from that if it was only one of the Prem/La Liga/Serie A/Bundesliga etc in every season.

Even without Prime and BT, just the sky sports packages are extortionately priced. How anyone can claim they are value for money is crazy. Flawed logic just saying well actually I want to watch the sport, that doesnt justify the prices. And clearly many wont or cant pay those prices hence why so many are forced to stream.

I do think that if they made it Champions only, it would massively dilute the quality of the Champions League. The knockout stages tend to provide brilliant entertainment and that might not be the case if you made it one team per country.

We have to go into the game with the objective not to avoid defeat but to win and seal our survival. Its a game we have to be favourites to win against second bottom at home. Sheffield Wednesday have definitely improved under Rohl but their team on paper is nothing to fear. Team selection wise, there should normally be the temptation to move away from the back 5. The only issue is beside the 3 attackers we played last week, I dont think we have anyone else in attack who is good enough, so that might force our hand to go with the same team again.

How anyone can justify the extortionate Sky prices is beyond me. That is a big factor in streaming being so common now, Sky have made it unaffordable to watch sport for many people. Those prices will likely only go up, inconvenience to matchday going fans will go up with even more games moved, attendances will go down, ticket prices will go up, wages will go up, who is winning here? Non parachute payment Championship clubs make considerable losses. Not saying that is just down to Sky, but still. Off on a tangent slightly. But there are no Premier League sides in the semi finals of either major European competition. Im not saying it is or isnt, but will it dampen the "best league in the world" narrative that Sky love to promote?

Sky prices are extortionate and you rarely watch a Championship game nowadays on TV without the song "Sky TV is fucking shit" such is their disregard towards fans. Leeds have been on basically every game, I bet they havent had many 3pm kick offs this season.

I think its just Elliott Jackson getting every last drop from his previous interview.

Of course age comes into it. If Kane was 5 years younger he would be worth more too. No one will bid close to £20m for Szmodics. We cant afford him to go full stop as it wont be reinvested.

I get to an extent why people might adopt the attitude on Sigurdsson that he might be better in his second season having adapted and having been unlucky with injuries etc. But you've been "really impressed" with him? What about him? Slow, soft, cant beat a man, ducks out of challenges and after an initial flurry stopped being a goal threat. I think Pickering is our most underrated player, nothing special but more dependable than Brittain. Chrisene has provided reasonable cover but no way is he better. We do need cover for both but I suspect lack of money will be excused with rubbish about not blocking pathways and versatility to cover not signing a couple of players. We cant just release Vale and Telalovic, hopefully someone will come in for both for a nominal fee.

Im not sure that Brittain is the prototype for the sort of full back we need. Pickering is more reliable than Brittain IMO, but we only have one senior full back on each side contracted into next season so we need one of each. JRC is much better than Brittain at full back but I am not against having him as a midfielder more often, the issue is he cant be one of 2 full backs AND a midfielder so we need to choose where we intend to use him, midfield seems a good shout. Shame he isn't more robust and we don't have more than 1. Cant argue with your analysis of what we need. Id say 1 or 2 strikers dependant on Gallagher, 2 pacy wingers, another attacking midfielder, (if Szmodics stays, if not 2) 2 full backs and a new keeper are needed, we are miles short. A centre back and another midfielder lesser priorities. Obviously we wont get near that and itll all be with buttons.

You speak as if asking for a home win is me being needlessly pedantic. Any win will do. We are playing 2nd bottom at home, the important thing is to win a very winnable game and seal survival. But its Eustace's 7th go at winning at Ewood, forget the must not lose stuff, lets actually win a game at home.

Duff, Jones, Santa Cruz and Bentley raised nearly £70m (a long time ago) from a cost of probably £4-5m. With these players especially Bellamy, it was likely the only way they would sign up. If Venkys were regularly bringing in massive fees and continuing to sign top players as we continue to punch above our weight, I doubt there would be much uproar.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/24255816.blackburn-rovers-stance-ruddy-revealed-amid-transfer-link/ More Nixon crap debunked. People pay for his transfer nonsense...

Absolutely, but even from that perspective. Win and we are 100% safe. Home to 2nd bottom, should be a game we target all 3 points and then get it over and done with. I know he has won away, but he has yet to win at home, including some games we should be targetting wins in, lets get that monkey off his back on Sunday, seal survival and go from there.

Hypothetical scenarios aside, he was the one that brought him through, played him regularly and got the best form of his career out of him. The loans were because he didnt feel like he was physically ready. When he broke through he was nowhere near as well built as he was now so them loans did him the world of good. We can say what if this or that had happened, but it didnt.

I do get why its a must not lose, but bigger picture, say we draw, probably seals safety, but that would still leave Eustace yet to win at home having played Sheff Wednesday, Plymouth and Millwall. It would be pretty depressing and wouldn't bode well for next season. Talk of filling the side with as many big players as possible to stop them. We are playing at home to second bottom, a draw and we are still catchable, a win and we are safe. Anything but a win is a huge let down IMO. A draw helps us limp over the line but lets just impose ourselves on them, win a game that we should expect to win and start to plan for next season.

If its deemed that Broughton isn't the man to spend the money, that can't be an excuse, "he'd only waste it anyway," if any functional club thought that then theyd replace him. I don't think his record is great but he like anyone would likely have more success with some funds. When he has spent money, Szmodics is a massive success, Hyam and Brittain have been up and down and Wahlstedt a huge failure. Its the frees and loans where he has totally failed to find value barring Tronstad. Venkys I am sure wont be reinvesting any of the substantial sums coming in.

We cant (well shouldnt, but often do) just assume that players who have not played first team football of note will break through. Barnes has been injured for 2 years, Finneran and Tyjon are 16, Michalski 17 and Duru has never played senior football. If any break through next season, consider it a bonus.

Entertaining your guesses on the sell on. Is he really going for £90m anytime soon?