Does that fit in with the fluid front 4? Scores goals is a bit of a stretch. He is a donkey so hopefully if he is coming we can get him signed up for a trip to Blackpool tomorrow.

We can barely patch a team together for tomorrow. I am making the big assumption that Brereton stays: Kaminski Carter Hyam Ayala Pickering Travis A Wharton Markanday Dack Hedges Brereton Subs: Pears, Phillips, Edun, Buckley, Morton, Dolan, Vale

Not withstanding the fact that Dykes is shit. Would a focal point fit the "way JDT wants to play" considering how many other players you have shot down for that reason?

You can use the business speak as much as you like but I know who I would fancy to have a better chance of survival or if they do go down, promotion.

To @SAFCfaninpeace I think Rovers fans have had their impression of him soured by the fact that our owners are disinterested and he ended up staying on longer than he should, ending in a season where we had a quite remarkable first half and a catastrophic second half and it got a bit unpleasant at the end. I would say that he is a good appointment for you as a promoted club with probably more expectation (like us when we came up after only 1 season down) than the majority of promoted sides, he came in here with an uphill battle to stay up and a weak squad and didn't manage it. We then got promoted and finished 15th, 11th, 15th and 8th with probably a bottom half wage budget. His transfer record is not perfect but pretty good nonetheless and he can develop players so if your owners don't interfere and allow full autonomy and the ability to partially reinvest, he can make profit on assets. We sold Armstrong for a big profit, Brereton should be sold for a big profit, Rothwell would have been had our owners not intervened and Dack would have was it not for terrible luck on injuries. We have a few other very good signings in his tenure especially his use of the loan market and he gave the chance to numerous youngsters, some of whom (Wharton, Travis, Buckley, Nyambe and Lenihan) played important roles for him. Tactically he went quite pragmatic at the start which worked, tried to make us into a passing side which didn't, then went to 5 at the back which was a masterstroke for a while but eventually became something that he stubbornly stuck too when it isn't working. He is prone to overthinking things tactically and has tactical ideas that might seem clever in his head but not as good in practice, and his sub usage was mixed. His seasons follow a very typical pattern with a dip in the early months of the year and although he is a safe pair of hands that shouldn't have you worrying too much about going down, he will likely only take you so far. Steady but not spectacular.

I think Rovers fans have had their impression of him soured by the fact that our owners are disinterested and he ended up staying on longer than he should, ending in a season where we had a quite remarkable first half and a catastrophic second half and it got a bit unpleasant at the end. I would say that he is a good appointment for you as a promoted club with probably more expectation (like us when we came up after only 1 season down) than the majority of promoted sides, he came in here with an uphill battle to stay up and a weak squad and didn't manage it. We then got promoted and finished 15th, 11th, 15th and 8th with probably a bottom half wage budget. His transfer record is not perfect but pretty good nonetheless and he can develop players so if your owners don't interfere and allow full autonomy and the ability to partially reinvest, he can make profit on assets. We sold Armstrong for a big profit, Brereton should be sold for a big profit, Rothwell would have been had our owners not intervened and Dack would have was it not for terrible luck on injuries. We have a few other very good signings in his tenure especially his use of the loan market and he gave the chance to numerous youngsters, some of whom (Wharton, Travis, Buckley, Nyambe and Lenihan) played important roles for him. Tactically he went quite pragmatic at the start which worked, tried to make us into a passing side which didn't, then went to 5 at the back which was a masterstroke for a while but eventually became something that he stubbornly stuck too when it isn't working. He is prone to overthinking things tactically and has tactical ideas that might seem clever in his head but not as good in practice, and his sub usage was mixed. His seasons follow a very typical pattern with a dip in the early months of the year and although he is a safe pair of hands that shouldn't have you worrying too much about going down,

Of course some players defy historical form and suddenly spark into life at a certain club, you could say that about anyone. But equally, using that as logic to back up the suggestion of a signing is setting yourself up for a fall. It is preferable to sign someone with a decent track record rather than using isolated examples of when players have come here having rarely scored in the past and done well.

Is he? The team spirit always seemed good in his tenure and I thought that he developed especially the younger players very well, Brereton, Buckley, Travis are 3 good examples. Always had his people skills as pretty good, he developed players well, but tactics were not his main strength.

Nigh on impossible to use stats to compare wing backs, Cucurella has always impressed me whereas Chilwell is hit and miss. How could Manning expect a Premier League job? Has to be Dyche, no nonsense about philosophies, style or structures, he's the obvious candidate.

Lambert has done well to be comparative in style to Allardyce! How many did we get?

We like many clubs in this league have relied more than we would like on the loan market due to financial issues. Obviously ideally we will sign more permanent signings, but my point was that if the budget has run out and with the squad so thin, I would rather add a couple of loanees than go in so short. 1 more is my interpretation only, based on the fact that Tomasson said up to 3, to which the LT said would be 2 centre backs and an attacker on loan, and Hyam has since joined but the Van Den Berg deal collapsed. Also, hadn't Rhodes scored 40 goals the season before joining? Under no circumstances can we go into this season with only the bang average Gallagher as a central striker. Are you happy with Vale who looks a million miles away as our second choice? Gallagher isn't good enough to be first choice but even if he was, we have no serious alternative, so that position has to be number 1 priority. 100%. Szmodics doesn't seem very fast, Dolan isn't the quickest, Gallagher is fairly quick but not lightning and it takes him a while to get going, Hedges and Markanday aren't that quick either. Mowbray mentioned last season that we had no runners in behind once Brereton got injured and it is something that we need to address.

I still can't believe that anyone thinks that FFP is the reason why Venkys don't spend more. It was said in the fans forum minutes that the owners initially agreed to a full pitch renovation before ending up refusing to fund the £2m. On the latest links, Barkley is the funniest rumour I have seen for some times. Dykes is an absolute dolloper and we should stay well clear, awful goal record and injury prone, QPR fans would drive him here.

Only 4 signings and less than 72 hours to go where we will likely sign 1 more. We are so short on numbers, with only 1 loan spot used it makes little sense not to at least get a couple more in additon to 1 or if Brereton goes 2 permanent signings.

Cucurella was overpriced but at least he is one of the best in the league and an upgrade on what they have.

None are like Travis who brings some crucial bite, leadership and comparative experience amidst the other unproven options. Buckley may well transform into a good central midfielder once he gets used to playing deeper but has struggled so far, Morton looks technically good but lightweight and the other 2 have 45 minutes of league experience between them, as talented as Wharton looks. We need more there even assuming that Travis stays in midfield.

Problem is, we dont have anything like Travis in central midfield. An example of versatility being unable to cover up a lack of depth in 2 positions.

Every fanbase has what you perceive to be happy clappers. Also, Tomasson has repeatedly mentioned journeys or similar, its typical managerial spiel.

Ivan Toney again would come with a huge premium because he is English. Hes a decent Premier League striker but certainly not one for a Champions League side.

https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/potter-van-hecke-blackburn-sunderland-7522296

Gordon is not better than any of those players listed. Plus Gallagher is far better.

That is the exact problem with people saying that players can play in numerous positions as a means of reducing the numbers we need. They can't play in 2 positions at once.

Premier League sides can have 20 man squads, not 18. The numbers that they have brought in seem excessive but too much is made of it. Lowe, Spence, Davis, Garner and Zinkernagel were on loan last season so thats half their promoted line up gone before you start, then throw in the likes of Samba, Horvarth, Grabban, Figuereido, Lolley, Bong and Mighten who have all left for various reasons and Richards who picked up a bad injury almost instantly and those drastic squad changes become more of necessity than anything else. There are also players like Taylor and Cafu who are clearly surplus to requirements. Either way, Bowler won't be coming here.

No one has ever suggested that they won't give a player a chance or judge them if and when they play for us. For some reason, so many people cannot understand or won't understand that you can do that whilst having an opinion on that player signing in the first place.

It's not about writing a player off. It's about having an opinion on a players credentials. Rumours of him signing at this stage are tenuous at best, so raising any doubts over the link don't have to be some venomous criticism of the club. Would you have suggested Hirst had this link not emerged? I very much doubt that. Even if it was £10m or let his deal run down, as long as you can reinvest £5-6m on a replacement then you take it.

Hyam £1.5m according to the LT, Brittain £900k, Szmodics £2.5m. I suppose neither of us will know for sure. The situation is still now whereby we can make a substantial £15m sale on Brereton this summer, the alternative is to let £15m value expire. Would we sign Brereton on loan for a season for £15m? No. The sensible thing to do would is to sell him if he won't renew and spend a good chunk of that on a short and long term replacement. I would not be angry if we ended the summer with a net spend of nil, I just want us to operate like a normal football club. When Rhodes was sold, the instant reaction was to patch the team up with loans, none of that was reinvested. When Cairney and Gestede were sold, it was freebies. When Armstrong went, none of it was reinvested. When Rothwell could have been sold with reinvestment, the deal was blocked by the owners. Riis is more of an example, but you are dismissing him to suggest a player who scored less in the league below. Hirst would be underwhelming, particularly on loan. How much have you seen of Birmancevic to suggest him so strongly?