I have seen Kilkenny a few times when at Bournemouth and he was a tidy little player in front of the defence. We do need a midfielder desperately and I don't have a problem using the loan market in January because the focus has to be on the next few months. That being said, it would be a rather underwhelming signing if true, a young lad who has barely kicked a ball all season. I would want a real signing of quality with a bit more experience, Pearson/O'Brien/Barlaser or similar. I expect sadly a lack of needed help as we saw last January in a good position. I wonder if one of the current crop will be loaned out?

Pears is a bit crap but Fisher is not really an improvement, he is shit. Lost his spot to a keeper in Benda who himself isn't great.

I don't think that you can recall a loanee outside of the transfer window.

We shouldn't loan out Markanday, he should be pushing for a start here.

No real conversation about the woeful service and queues on the concourse but at least Savio got to ask about player postcards again.

Im sure that Rich Sharpe (no one knows for sure, not taking it as gospel) had Szmodics as £1.7m, Hyam as £1.5m and Brittain at £900k so I am also interested.

He hasnt spoke as if he is desperate for promotion this season, any different to predecessors, but they all tow the party line I guess.

I suspect that the reaction on here will be plenty of criticism if anyone comes and shows as little as Hirst. And rightly so.

Szmodics cost £1.7m according to Rich Sharpe, but even then, different situations. Szmodics didn't have 6 months on his deal and he was an important player for his team, not one that had been in such poor form for such a long period that he couldn't make a 20 man squad at the weekend. Is he creative in the final third? No goal and no assist in 2 years. Thankfully, another rumour that can be put in the pile of "absolute bollocks." We need a central striker mainly in attacking positions.

Cantwell is not what we need. Would want to play from the left and isnt particularly fast. Plus hes not done anything for a while to justify his early promise. 2m is a lot of money to spend on him too.

I suppose we don't know if Rothwell had a one off season, I would suspect that it is development into a more consistent and intelligent player with age but being out of the team at Bournemouth means that it is difficult to know. Rothwell is only half a year older than Szmodics so that first season came when the former was not at his peak like Szmodics should be. I don't think the recruitment has been any better than it was under Mowbray's time, one of six signings can be categorised as outstanding, the other 2 IMO range from good starter to average squad filler that you mention but they don't plug gaps effectively if they spend half of the time injured, Szmodics had numerous injuries prior to joining too. Then you have 2 total failures and a third loanee who has consistently played and I would categorize as ok. I don't think that Broughton has done much to impress really, an average window in slightly difficult circumstances. Judgement will come starting now really. I said recently that I don't necessarily even think that many players have shown massive individual improvement under Tomasson, but I am naturally more impressed by him because acknowledging the numerous horror shows and the inability to come back in games or attack with much effectiveness, we have been built on a base of clean sheets and with a level of organisation that has us in a very healthy position in third.

You could say the same amount Leicester and Hirst.

I think there is definitely a distinction between Rothwell for the first 3 years who was at best a luxury player, to the one that for half a season was really good in a much more disciplined role, even thriving in a 2. In the second half of the season when our idiotic owners decided to force him to stay even ahead of the managers wishes, his performances went downhill as fast as his value and raised questions about him as a person. He definitely would get into our midfield though at the moment and is much better than Szmodics.

Wasn't his best form when we played a back 3 with wing backs and had Rothwell and Travis as a 2 with Brereton and Khadra either side of Buckley as a false 9? I thought that he developed a lot more maturity and discipline from that position last season.

He was very good until January last season and a key part of our success. He definitely would get into our central midfield now which IMO is by far our weakest area. He has been injured for the majority of this season.

Blackpool have signed Tom Trybull, very poor player based on his time here.

True, I just assumed that it was compared to the Rothwell of last season that just left. Either way, Rothwell certainly wasn't consistent but he was one of the better players of his type in the league last season, the same can't be said about Szmodics who is on his third attempt at proving his ability at Championship level.

Rothwell plays deeper than Szmodics so unfair to compare based on goals.

The most obvious misconception is how you saw the state of the team going into the season. Prior to the first game, only Brittain signed in time to play. Within our first 11 going into that game, Kaminski, Ayala, Wharton, Pickering, Travis, Buckley, Hedges, Brereton and Gallagher all started, as did Vale but only because Tomasson specifically picked him over Dolan, Dack and Markanday. You look at the signings, 2 have been woeful and at least one has/will be sent back as soon as was possible, 2 have been really injury prone (Brittain a good player when fit, Szmodics a squad filler) and that leaves only 2 regulars, one of whom has been no better than ok.

Edun isnt good enough and has looked out of his depth basically in every appearance. Glad hes going. We do need to be bringing in 2 or 3 to improve the starting 11.

Its all totally speculative but imagine replacing Jude Bellingham with Tyler Morton 😂

Fair attitude. We are third so why try and improve, we are already good enough.

The transfer window was far from outstanding, but 2 out of 10? Also on Morton who IMO has been average, the only proof of quality is not playing in the Premier League.

I dont like the idea of stopping the clock, the approach in the World Cup of excessive injury time was IMO a better one.