I am as critical as most about the running of the club. But the conspiracy theory that you are proposing makes no sense. Why would they agree a fee and fly a player over only to essentially fabricate an injury? And for no one on the player or selling clubs side to seemingly contest it? I believe the reports that an issue was brought up with the medical. No reason to doubt it. Dont have a clue what that could have been exactly from a medical standpoint, but I dont think its as straightforward as well hes played 3 weeks later, it must be fake. Maybe hes playing with some sort of painkilling treatment, maybe the issue is a high risk of recurring injury. And where did you get 6 weeks from?

Where have you seen that he was supposed to be out for 6 weeks? I am not going jump into conspiracy theories and suggest that there is no injury. If there was a medical question mark, a medical is more like a risk assessment as players sometimes sign for clubs with an injury. Not saying there is not some gamesmanship but it would make no sense to even bother flying him over for a medical if it was all some sort of masterplan to make it appear like we had more money than we do. Maybe the issue was that any injury concerns could come back in the future. My question marks around this deal still surrounding why it may be rumbling on, if it is, and whether trying to spend a decent chunk of our limited budget on what would be 3rd and 4th choice central midfielders was a wise plan.

He did last season and we struggled for goals. Think it was something like 1 in 18.

If only.

Bit of a strange twist. Yverdon Sport are playing right now, guess who is starting in midfield...

It isnt using critical thinking to just assume that every thing that happens is exactly as planned. You have fabricated that argument that I dont want the young players to come through. I will reiterate that I would have both Tyjon and Montgomery as part of the first team squad. (Although I would want their contracts to be sorted before the window closes) I also havent said that I want a new keeper. If both got injured then I think we could sign a senior goalkeeper anyway, might be wrong but think you can get an emergency one on a short term loan. But unlikely to be needed. The stuff about Boggan is really stretching it. If he had even the slightest intention of using him then he would have been involved in the first team picture in pre season. I stand by what I said, that we wanted 6 or 7 BEFORE Weimann and Batth left, and when Gestede spoke, he also said we need a right winger to replace ACD "as we only have Dolan." If we only sign 2 or 3 more, I dont think the squad will be as big as they had planned Its not an immense criticism to suggest that a club might not fill every intended vacancy in the squad that it had planned. Last summer, we were desperately scrambling around for another winger on deadline day and one fell through so we didnt get everything we wanted then either.

@London blue has summed it up well. You just add names and then say we have x number of players and dont judge on quality. You have always done it. In the past adding the likes of Markanday, Telalovic, Garrett and always a few random young players to bloat it out. If you genuinely believed in your list then surely we only need a right winger, why do we even need 3? You also say that every single manager is honest and straight talking. You can't fathom that any manager might not get what he wants. Its not even specific to Rovers, im sure very few managers end transfer windows 100% totally satisfied. Im employing some critical thinking. They said 6 or 7 before Weimann and Batth left. In fact, Gestede said right wing because "ACD is leaving and we only have Dolan in that position" so you can add him too. Also, the requirement for a centre back also is an additional one because Carter has got injured again. So in my opinion, if we only get 2 or 3 more, we have not signed enough players to build up the squad as big as what was initially planned. You cant fathom that. No way could that happen in your head, it must be going exactly as planned. My comments about not signing a striker were in reference to comments about Ismael deciding that Ohashi and Gueye will suffice up front. Gestede said that we did want some more competition there so IF we dont sign a striker, then it doesnt suggest alignment or something has changed. Maybe a striker is within the 2 or 3.

To be fair, they have justification. They are in a great place to push on armed with dodgy money and they repeatedly keep failing to get deals done. Obviously, their main issue should be with the disgusting things that their owners like to do.

Charlton are spending a few million on Kelman who was top scorer in League 1 last season. It does add some perspective when all 3 promoted sides are in different leagues to us financially. Our expectations are so low that a few signings for low fees having seen so much come in and we dont expect it, it leads to some of our fans gloating about it. Still think Charlton will be near the bottom and their signings are very limited to domestic players but in Kelman and Apter they seem to be targetting top league 1 players who are young to mainly invest it. The other 2 should be well away from the bottom and Birmingham will be looking towards the play offs.

Seems to have been the top scorer in the Conference League last season. Surely no way we could afford him and seems a very weak link.

Another 3 would "feel right" to you because thats how many we seemingly plan to get. I never said that the budget definitely wont stretch. What I am saying is that is isnt an unlimited pot of money, maybe the striker plan has been shelved because there isnt enough resources to fill all positions adequately so we are having to prioritise. He doesnt "clearly" feel its enough. We dont know what he feels truly. There could be a number of reasons why we may not get a striker. Or indeed, maybe a striker will be within the 3 we plan to get. You keep throwing in names like Leonard who is not with the first team and is never fit and a young 3rd choice goalkeeper to increase the numbers. I personally think we need more than 3, I think 4 or 5. I fear that we may again have issues with squad depth as the season goes on. I also think that based on what was said before the window, that we arent going to get everything that we planned to. That could be for a number of reasons, I am merely speculating, it doesnt automatically mean that the manager will be 100% totally satisfied by what happens in this window. I suspect very few managers are when the window closes as they would have liked one or two more but resources etc wont allow or deals dont happen for whatever reason.

I think he definitely will become surplus to requirements. Theyve signed 2 midfielders, are intent on Xhaka and already have Neil, Rigg, Le Fee, even Alan Browne. But he will have had a pay increase upon promotion and also seems to have a lot of interest.

I dont usually like the mentality of signing 1 player to play 2 positions. It doesnt solve the issue of not having enough players, that player cant play 2 positions at the same time. But considering we are signing at most 3 players. I wonder if someone like Triantis at Sunderland who we were linked with would be ideal. Not necessarily endorsing him as I havent seen very much of him, but someone similar. Hibs fans absolutely love him. Hes a midfielder who really impressed but I think he signed for Sunderland as a centre back, although I may be wrong. At centre back, Hyam is rightfully an automatic pick, obviously we have 2 on the left, so someone like Triantis could provide a 5th option if needed whilst also predominantly pushing/eventually replacing Travis or Tronstad. Might be out of range financially but more an example of that type of player to ensure that we can bring in at least 2 attackers. Rather than chasing someone with an injury.

He got 7 assists last season which was the highest in the squad. And that was in a poor personal season where he never really got over not having a full pre season, and in a squad that had no pace running in behind. He has always played either as a number 10 or from the left in his career.

Its a long season though, it feels different in pre season when basically everyone is fit. You need more bodies (and quality) to get through the whole slog of a season. And it doesnt have to "block pathways." A great example is Travis. We had a number of senior midfielders and he was on the fringes initially. He got his chance, took it and stayed in the team, never mind the squad.

Could we see the picture please. The players are coming home today so wouldnt make much sense. Boro might come into some money soon though with Hackney and Van Den Berg strongly linked away.

But equally, you dont want to be too reliant on them to the point where a couple of injuries in certain positions and they are all needed together. We dont know how ready they are in terms of a footballing perspective of being able to play Championship football but moreso how they could cope physically if needed to play consecutive games. Also, if we bank on more than a couple coming through at once, its unrealistic. They wont all be ready at the same time.

My point was that you are just making things up that Tyjon can do based on no evidence just as a slight on Cantwell. He is a creative player, he can make things happen in the final third and he can assist. He had a disappointing season and never seemed to catch up fitness wise but he still got 7 assists. He had shown in the past that he can contribute with goals at previous clubs without ever being prolific. Hes a good techncial player and clearly better than he showed last season.

There is a chance that its not just a case of the manager saying he is happy with those 2. There is also a chance that the budget wont stretch that far and other positions have taken priority. We definitely did want one: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/25055914.gestede-reveals-five-blackburn-summer-transfer-priorities/ "We want some power up front to challenge the two strikers we have, we will do some business." I dont see what you have seen from Gueye to suggest that he could score that number of goals, maybe Ohashi. The problem is though as we found last season, when Ohashi isnt playing we cant continue to play the same way as a team when Gueye plays as he is totally different.

Im guessing by "can kick a stationary ball" you are having a go at Cantwell's set pieces, which isnt a strong suit of his. But what makes you think Tyjon can take one? Tyjon has had some bright cameos in pre season and has some promise, but its important not to base too much on performances in pre season. But if you are to, Cantwell has been our best player.

You would think that the first 11 will play 90 minutes against NEC, or very close to. Tends to be the way in the final pre season game. I mentioned in the Elche chat but one thing that I have found a bit strange is that unlike usually when minutes are spread out with sometimes 2 games being played on successive days to keep everyone in line. Pre season has been very much weighted towards basically 11 players. Surely they will have another game BCD to allow the likes of Kargbo, Gueye, Pickering, McLoughlin, Alebiousu, Tavares, Montgomery, Tyjon etc to try and get morr minutes in?

Asking for it if we dont have a sufficiently sized squad across 46 games plus cups. Gestede said we wanted a right winger with ACD going back and some power up front to compete with Ohashi and Gueye. That was when he expected Weimann to stay and also hadnt ruled out Dolan staying. So if we ended the window with only De Neve and a new right winger, theres no way they can claim that its been a successful window.

5 is about right for what we need. And would take us to 9 which considering that Ismael said 6 or 7 BEFORE Weimann, Batth and even Dolan left, the former 2 unexpectedly. Can take Leonard off the list. No good naming people who not only arent of sufficient quality but clearly cant stay fit. If we only signed one attacker, ie a right winger. For a manager who demands high physical output, likes making mass subs so 7 or 8 attacking players may be used per game. Having only 8 including Tyjon is not sufficient and once 2 or 3 get injured will mean he cannot fully do what he wants to do.

You can get into dangerous territory by pumping too many untested kids in at once. But the 2 stand outs (typically both having a year left on their deal) in Tyjon and Montgomery both played last season and seemingly were already considered as first teamers coming into this season so nothing they have done in pre season should have altered the numbers we need. Of the others, they seem to be the typical cases (not just here) of academy players filling up the numbers to make up 2 teams whilst players are not ready for 90 minutes. Especially the centre backs against Everton with McLoughlin only having signed that day and Carter getting injured again. Mullarkey-Matthews again seems to be making up the numbers, he doesnt look anywhere near ready for the first team nor should he be expected to.

Theres a core of players who are top half Championship players. As long as we keep the majority, theres no way the first 11 is anywhere near a standard where youd worry about relegation. There was really even that when we nearly went down, the issue was that even for our standards, a team who regularly nosedive post christmas, our squad was particularly thin to the point where League 2 standard players were regularly on the bench. And we still stayed up. So the keys are to keep or replace our key players, to ensure we have enough depth especially considering the potential high energy tactics, and to get some more goals into the squad. Due to some of the teams at the bottom, you have to be really bad to go down. I dont think we will be in major danger, but its really hard to judge exactly how far up we can finish. The frustrating thing is, with a bit of money and ambition, including tying down our main assets and then a bit of investment. We wouldnt be far away at all. But it never materialises.