Even if he is, my point is that footballing ability alone isn't enough to merit respect in modern day football as other managers with glittering playing CV's have proven. I am not saying that he won't command respect to clarify, just not to automatically assume that he will.

It's absolutely bizarre and seems to become more and more prevalent as time goes on sadly.

I did notice that Edun had 7 on his training kit so I suspect that is a genuine change. I have noticed in the past that youngsters without numbers temporarily take the ones that are vacated during pre-season so not convinced they will stay that way,

Seems like both links today are rubbish. Khadra I am split on, a decent player and perhaps slightly ahead of Dolan, and it would give us 2 right footers on the left and vice versa. But it seems like Nixon has just plonked our name as a former club on the end of a "link" where he has spread his bets again in a desperate attempt to get a pack on the back. Ben Davies is a left footed centre back so I can't see that, not withstanding his massive wages, as good a defender as he is at this level. Also @chaddyrovers just because Tomasson was a big name player doesn't mean that players will automatically listen to him. He is probably a little before the memory spans of the majority of the squad for a start.

I didn't watch yesterdays game so I of course take your word that the pair impressed. But you are making gigantic conclusions based on a 60 minute friendly at the very start of pre-season against a changed Stanley side. You cannot possibly state with such assertiveness that they are "good enough players" at Championship level at this stage. If they prove not to be quite ready then you are in a position whereby you could need to keep playing them if either/both of the main 2 (Buckley himself hasn't proved himself deeper in first team football) even if they are struggling. Even if you had one or both of them around the squad, we would still need a couple ahead of them, they will get game time if they are good enough or failing that, send either/both out loan like with Carter and Wharton, get a better temporary replacement and if they do well, get them back in a year and then put them in with something to back it up. You mention promotion implying that it isn't a realistic target or something to be strived for. Let's not put all of our eggs in the one basket of expecting kids with no senior experience to both instantly settle and thrive.

Had the manager been allowed to sell and reinvest, had chose to and we fell out of promotion contention as we did then Mowbray definitely would have been blamed for it, and that blame would have been totally justified.

Bennett? And before him Mulgrew.

There is one common denominator over the last 12 years that has constantly caused delays and you still seemingly haven't twigged. Ince seemingly hoarding rubbish.

Hull have signed Seri, a brilliant signing.

Dack is injured again.

We have had delays throughout the last 12 years with things needing to be signed off in India.

Waggott is definitely not up to task but I love how he is being deemed to be the bottleneck. Over 12 years there has been one bottleneck and there will continue to be until they stop owning us.

Those who are saying that are doing so to feed the narrative that Rovers fans are a specifically impatient and demanding fanbase.

Why do those keen to make out Rovers fans to be an impatient angry mob repeatedly say that surely we would be better getting the right players? It implies that getting some players in to acclimatise in pre-season and signing the quality targets that you want are mutually exclusive objectives and that some have been suggested that we sign inferior players out of impatience.

Fair enough, so £6m if he stays and a further £4-5m of any Brereton proceeds? Do you think we will spend what you think we need as outlined above? I would be pleasantly surprised by that spend. I dont see a window where Brereton says but I would be amazed if we spent £10m even though that would still be a considerable profit overall. I personally have no reason to believe the rumour but even if it is true, as others have said it may have been the lure of first team football rather than the doomsday scenario that drove you to drink that you was implying.

Assuming he does go, what would you consider a reasonable spend to back up your optimism over the owners? Would it require spending beyond any Brereton fee?

He was trying to provoke by implying that we are losing out on players to Derby.

I dont agree with writing off the season essentially as a transitional one. The reason we surely appointed Tomasson was to progress and the nature of the Championship means that with a constant churn of players and teams often being reliant on loanees that it isnt really geared to writing seasons off as the start of a long process. We saw last season that sometimes things can align and therefore you should always be aiming to finish as high as possible. The process of trying to buy assets cheap and then potentially sell them on if we dont go up should be continious which is another area where our owners let us down. But my suggestion is very much to sign a few potential assets include one in midfield to go with 2 we already have as well as a more experienced head to try and finish as high as possible. If we dont go up, we would still have 3 assets in there and I dont see why someone of Hourihane's age couldnt do a second year

I think a potential asset would be good but not every player needs to be with a view to sell on. An experienced freebie as well as an asset with the likes of Travis and Buckley already here would make the most sense to me personally.

Quite clearly, that term is relative. There is only one person on the wind up if one of their go to arguments is comparisons against myself, I am sure that semi pro players would run rings around me and I wasn't suggesting to play me instead. My definition of competent would be to play in a team that is in our case aiming for the top 6 of the Championship. Competent of playing at the level we are at. I did indeed attend Birmingham away contrary to your assumptions and narrative and I thought that Brown was well off the pace to be honest, and really struggled. If that makes me overtly negative in your eyes then so be it but it is my opinion. I wouldn't be confident with him playing a semi regular or regular role in our Championship season next season, my preference would be a loan spell in League 1 or 2 to allow him to get used to regular professional football of a decent standard. Rankin Costello I also don't think is Championship standard, never mind top half, whether he may have been prior to such injury disruptions or indeed whether he can turn things around (either by staying or by a loan himself) we will see. And Pike I have never seen as he has never played at a reasonable standard but the fact that he went into non league last season doesn't suggest that he is ready immediately.

You haven't read my post, and have continued to assume that I suggested Hourihane INSTEAD of a player of the sort of age range that you suggested. A player in his early to mid 20s to grow and a more experienced option to give us a bit more know how and proven quality. Ticking 2 different boxes with 2 such signings, with potentially one fee required, to boost an area which is particularly depleted after 3 first team exits. A couple more weeks before a first signing would be no good, that would make it very difficult to get involved before our first game. I would be very disappointed if that was the case and if there was any truth in the LT article, it would suggest that a number of deals have hit snags. IF we haven't signed a player by that last friendly at Lincoln, would you be at all conerned/frustrated out of interest? And before you suggest it, I am not advocating signing inferior players. Why am I skeptical? Because we have lost a number of key players including our captain, our player of the season, our only competent right back, a key midfielder who has since gone to the Premier League and also a winger who played regularly, all with no money coming in. We will also likely sell our only goalscorer from last season. To replace or even better that calibre of players with a few million under a strict wage ceiling and in a market with additional work permit restrictions will be incredibly difficult.

I'm sure that Colak has been deep in talks with Rangers for a permanent deal for a while so not convinced he was ever likely to be coming here, certainly on loan.

Forest are signing Richards from Bayern Munich for the left wing back role so unless Toffolo is going as back-up, maybe that won't happen now.

Why? Probably because I am interested in whether the game will be streamed, hence why I asked.

Just because Zeefuik reportedly had an optional fee of around that amount that wasn't even exercised doesn't mean that is the benchmark fee to compare others to. Totally take your point on the penny pinching though, that is the way Venkys tend to operate a lot of the time. Backwards logic.