He clearly has minimal input into transfers. He seems forever in the dark and last window he repeatedly said he had authorised players that never turned up, and he didnt get what he wants.

"Popping up" where exactly?

I am quite surprised that you are potentially for this deal, considering your opinion on Danny Graham at a time when he was still effective enough to win player of the season here. Jutkeweicz is better in the air than Gallagher, but the latter is quick and powerful, the former is totally immobile now. Gallagher has got 8, 9 and 8 in recent seasons, compared to 8, 2 and 5. Birmingham fans will be nostalgic about a player that a number of years ago was a good player for them. He is not that player now.

Jutkeweicz is also out for 3 weeks with a calf injury.

Not sure weve had 2 good loans this season. Moran has been underwhelming overall, many more anonymous games compared to his effective ones, and regularly played out of position. Perhaps evidence that we sign (well, borrow) who we can rather than what we need. Hill often also played out of position and only stayed for half a season. He impressed at times but ultimately was part of a defence that has been the worst in the league and we needed experience and got a young lad. Weve got 2 more now, neither of whom are likely to be regulars. Ayari seems to be a natural number 10 who contrary to what has been said and assuming an experienced midfielder doesnt come in, is taking our captains position potentially leaving us weaker.

He has 2 this season, 5 last season, 2 the season before. Hes also totally immobile. He isnt better than Gallagher.

It really isnt. Gallagher is a far better striker and that is saying something, especially for the sake of maybe 500k-1m in the owners back pocket never to be seen.

He would be a shocking signing, especially as a replacement for our only competent striker. Hopefully its untrue because it would be the desperate signing of a donkey who couldnt hit a cows arse with a banjo. Im sure it would prompt one or two to say, you wanted experience what more do you want. Not him.

The issue on experience is down to the owners who wont authorise deals for older players as shown with the Batth deal. Waggott is just a fairly powerless clown but the issues are above his head and he seems as clueless as anyone else regarding what the owners ie the real problem are likely to do next.

I suspect there is no truth as per usual if he things weve got millions ready to buy him. Millwall being linked always seemed lazy.

Its an easy and lazy way to point fingers. Hes been playing crap, probably a mixture of poor form, lack of confidence, playing in a struggling team, ring rust and crucially his weaknesses being exposed due to tactics that are exposing all of our defenders.

Im guessing he would be a loan and it makes far more sense for them even for much higher wages seeing as they might never get as good a chance at promotion.

But if no one comes in weve lost our only effective striker and weve weakened ourselves even further. Even if he is bang average. Problem is, the people in footballing roles dont get autonomy under these owners and dont get to reinvest funds that come in.

No I wouldnt. My preferred option would be to sell him and reinvest the amount on an upgrade. As we know that wont happen, the next best scenario is for Ipswich to not meet his price tag because he is considerably better than the alternatives merely as a bang average Championship striker as opposed to either no replacement or another young lad borrowed from a Premier League club.

It is really hard to judge Broughton especially this season with not only the budget cuts but the policy on not signing anyone out of nappies. I certainly don't think that recruitment has improved upon before he was here, I am not convinced by him and getting the job was a big jump for him.

Based on the fact that the owners won't permit older signings as shown by them allowing Hill after stopping Batth, that isn't his doing.

The state of that first goal.

They also have Adebayejo, Bodvarsson and Jerome though so not convinced he will be a regular.

I really hope Sigurdsson has not picked up another injury. If he has, that leaves us with no real wingers of note, so I would personally consider going 3 at the back with wing backs.

The point about the goalkeeper is a fair one. I do think the style is the main reason though. Both Carter and Hyam have had very poor seasons and the goals conceded column highlights this. But all of our defenders are regularly left exposed one on one with the way we play. When we signed Hill, one of the justifying factors by Broughton was his recovery pace because defenders would be left one on one in this setup, I might be paraphrasing but it was something like that, and he again struggled in such situations. My worry is that nothing will change on that front, so defenders who have previously shown that they can do a good job at this level will continue to struggle. Carter isn't the most graceful of players, lumbersome is more describing of how he moves, he is usually fine with the ball at his feet and not like Scott Wharton who has lost it numerous times including in the lead up for the corner that led to West Brom's third. He is quite lanky and gangly, maybe it is just a harsh word to use. He looks more "lumbersome" as a right back where he is not nearly as comfortable.

Him and Markanday score for fun in behind closed doors friendlies. In real games, they fall short.

I am not convinced that Hyam has chucked it in. On his day in a solid team, he is a good defender who reads the game well and is decent on the ball. He isn't the quickest and even last season he was occasionally exposed whenever left one on one, but he was more well protected. He also isn't the most commanding in the air and he has never from memory scored a header for us. He is experienced but doesn't strike me as a leader. In the current setup, we leave our centre backs one on one regularly exposed one on one. Unless we change tactics, it likely will keep happening that Hyam (and any defenders) will be left in similar situations. I don't think he was fit enough to come back in regularly but such are our lack of numbers, Tomasson felt obliged to and worryingly likely will with Rankin Costello and Gallagher, with risk of another injury and some teething issues as they work their way back. Ennis going out on loan is a sad indictment on a very poor signing. Not convinced he will play much at Bolton.

Leonard is still an unknown, he is miles away at the moment from the standard and the jury is out with a player so raw as to whether he will go on and improve massively or struggle to ever establish himself. With Gallagher, a lot is being made of his ability to head the ball away defensively but he isn't our best striker just for that. You compare him to Leonard, he is much quicker, stronger, more powerful, better in the air and overall even when he doesn't score, and accepting that even then his all round game can frustrate, defenders would have much more of a hard time facing him than Leonard. Goals wise, he will also get more, Leonard does have better movement but is even more wasteful in front of goal.

I think if any full back is to play wide to justify dropping Moran, it will be Brittain and it again wont work. Out wide is another position we badly need to strengthen and even then, are desperately waiting for Ryan Hedges to return as if he is anything other than decent at this level.

Would you genuinely play Ennis, Telalovic or Leonard over him? Especially considering that the owners you keenly defend will as you touch on likely pocket the money and not reinvest any. We wont be banking it, the owners will. He is a bang average Championship striker, he will get you 8-10 goals a season, hes quite quick, powerful, strong, decent in the air in both boxes. A fairly well rounded player who will never threaten the top scorers chart. Offering far more than the other 3 strikers we have and probably about standard for a lower mid table side, every team below us would have him in the side. It shows the state that the owners have put us in that he has become so important, but there you go. None of the people that have justified a potential sale have gone on to say that any of the other 3 strikers are any better, because they clearly arent of the required standard, and many of those who have are deluding themselves into thinking that we would reinvest and get an upgrade. A normal club with interested owners, a totally different dilemma and one that would surely lead to a sale.