And Buckley has only really played as an attacking midfielder. The jury is out on whether he would do well further back or indeed if it will even be tried, certain parts of his game will be suited, others less so. Hopefully Johnson and Davenport leaving will give us room to manoeuvre and bring some players in.

We do still have Travis but definitely particularly threadbare there. Edun is a natural midfielder but isnt very good.

I think its just assumed that the names already mentioned are the ones that will be interviewed and those names come predominantly from what people want. Ainsworth for example has a play off final tomorrow, no way has he got an interview lined up.

If we credit the owners merely for not incurring 21 point deductions or simply because we remain in business, then our expectations of them must be lower than a snakes belly.

Perhaps but I would be amazed personally. The level to which clubs would be interested would surely not be in a position to offer fees and if they did, they would be nominal.

Correct decision to let both Davenport and Chapman go, neither are up to standard and it would have been illogical to keep them thinking that after a combined 8 years full of injuries and occasional cameos that either would suddenly come good. Bizarre to keep Butterworth and Magloire under contract, neither will ever be good enough so it would have made sense to cut them loose and let them find their way in the lower leagues.

I suppose it is to be expected in a league whereby the quality seems to be regressing but the players likely to be available out of contract don't scream excitement or improvement really. John Swift is the stand out but no doubt would be well beyond our wage budget. Tommy Smith has always seemed a good attacking right back at this level, Kristian Pedersen has always seemed a fairly good left back but unsure if he is any better than Pickering, Bela is a quick winger who always looks a threat, and players like Ralls at Cardiff and Laurent, Rinohmoto and Yiadom at Reading are all solid Championship players who have been offered new deals but are seemingly testing the market. Even if a new manager is appointed prior to many of these being snapped up elsewhere, whoever comes in (in tandem with the director of football) will likely have to be a bit more creative, or more realistically, be again very reliant on loanees assuming that Venkys keep the taps off.

But even with the raw teenagers, its not a foregone conclusion that they are out of their depth. Its certainly not an ideal market because its so difficult to know what you are getting but equally its not one that has only given us failures. Branthwaite was out of his depth but we signed Harwood Bellis at the same time who actually had practically no first team experience (Branthwaite played a few games at Carlisle) who did well when he came. Clarkson had played a couple of cup/Champions league games and was out of his depth but Khadra had only played 10 minutes of senior football before he came and again was a raw teenager. Even Elliott had barely played any senior football. Of course we dont want out of their depth raw loanees but ultinately we dont want to sign anyone out of their depth and like any type of signings, those in the category that you describe have come with mixed success.

Good on Vieira for kicking the dickhead to the ground.

Pitch invasions seem to be common place at the moment and many seem to be turning very sour. Its hardly the great escape, Lampard took over in 16th and they are 16th now. I wonder if the owners will shake Lampards hand and go for an upgrade in the summer or just stick with him.

I think the success rate seems to be in line with recruitment in general at the very least. As long as they are an improvement at all then they are successful signings. There is a bit of a myth that they always block the route of our own players but they can allow our own youngsters to play regularly rather than occasionally and improve as a result, as Wharton did and as Carter is doing. Its not as if they necessarily get preferential treatment either which is key. We have had lots of successful loanees and also ones like Palmer and Clarkson who werent and subsequently didnt play and got sent back.

I dont necessarily conform to the idea that PL loanees are unfairly preferred to our own kids in that on average they tend to be better, hence why they are at bigger clubs. Obviously its not a flawless market and there are exceptions such as Clarkson and Brainthwaite. You look at loanees this season, Garner and Davis at Forest, Colwill at Huddersfield, Van Hecke and Khadra here, Van Der Berg, Archer and Iversen at Preston, Phillips at Bournemouth etc, there are so many that are so much better than what any of those clubs already have. It allows our own young players when they arent ready to themselves go out on loan too. Carter has looked very shaky at this level but hopefully a second loan spell will do similar to him to what happened to Wharton. Conversely, some youngsters struggle on loan, Vale hasnt done well and players like McBride who have been called to play for our first team have perhaps shown that they are well off. Under 23s football is not a good way of determining readiness. Phillips may be a very good young talent but we can not sign one less centre back expecting him to be ready to play now. He may seem like a beast against kids but its a whole new ball game.

You would have him as a regular in a Championship side now?

I dont see how anyone can say that specific coachs should stay yet others should go. What I do know is the new manager should be able to have the option to choose who to keep and who to get rid of.

Hes never faced senior strikers though, you cant possibly know at this stage whether he is physical enough to deal with proper men nor if he is clever enough, yet anyway.

Typically cryptic and non-committal.

As with basically every position, we could do with another wide player to be fair. Hedges hopefully will play a much more important role and we also have Markanday both who seem to prefer playing from the right, on the left once Brereton leaves we only have Dolan who isn't good enough to be a regular so we need someone for that left hand side, assuming we play with wide players.

Seems like a regurgitation of what was in the LT yesterday, but it wouldn't bode well to force any new manager to retain most of the staff already here.

It is a tough position to break through in that if you are a young attacking player, they can be dipped in through cameos at the end of games whereas as a centre back you are going to play the whole game. We have been linked again with Harness at Portsmouth, no doubt rubbish seeing as we don't have a manager or director of football but I thought I would put it in here: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/portsmouth-transfer-gossip-blues-in-battle-with-derby-sunderland-and-hibs-for-hull-winger-as-blackburn-lead-marcus-harness-race-and-league-two-trio-show-kieron-freeman-interest-3698973 Edit: Just to prove its a load of nonsense, I think it came from this account. Imagine having enough spare time to create an account trying to generate attention by making up fake transfer news:

He is 16/17, he might be physically imposing for his age but again, that's the limitations of judging a kid playing with and against kids, its all relative and its a world away from the demands of second tier professional League football. I am sure that he is indeed highly rated (although you cannot possibly say THE best in the country in his position at that age even if you have consulted some fellow analysts/scouts) but maybe he would be better suited getting regular football out on loan next season. You once suggested that there was no difference between Butterworth (I think, apologies if it was Rankin Costello) and Hudson-Odoi, and that there was no difference between Lewis Thompson and Brandon Williams but that it was a case of people having a perception that kids at bigger clubs are bound to be better as a result, which clearly is untrue. But you say that we would be delighted to bring in a Man United player on loan of a similar ilk, how many centre backs at Phillips' age have we brought in on loan, thats nonsense. You look at the centre backs that we have loaned in, a 21 year old with 40 appearances in the Dutch league and a 21 year old with 30 appearances in the Championship, no untested 16/17 year old centre backs.

Big statement to make. Firstly, "widely regarded" by who? Where has this come from? Also, he is playing with and against kids, its not directly comparable to senior football. Maybe he should go out and play a full season in League 2, I wouldn't feel comfortable putting someone so young in at this moment, as much as I am sure that he has talent, especially at centre back.

He definitely isn't perfect but he is a solid Championship defender and we would only get worse on a free/loan.

If Lenihan stays and the new manager plans to play a back 4 then you may be right, but we can't classify 2 total rookies as viable options at the moment. Maybe Barnes needs loaning out.

Rich Sharpe is clearly not the most proactive of journalists but for him to categorically state that there have been no interviews is seemingly more credible than yourself saying that Carvalhal and a mystery second manager have been at Brockhall in cars with black tinted windows, with a series of other posters then copying and saying that they have also heard the same! You did say earlier this season that Mowbray had an over 90% chance of becoming West Brom manager and within hours, Bruce had been officially announced! What sort of mystery source revealed this info? Can't argue with the notion that not everyone in the club is on the same page, that is evident from history under Venkys and seemingly is not set to improve under such inept owners. Should but hasn't been across the last 12 years unfortunately. Those "deadbeat coaching staff" can't be in the main pinned on Mowbray either, the likes of Lowe, Benson etc I think all were here prior to Mowbray with only Venus brought in by him.

I'm not so sure, against Villa I can see City scoring early and winning comfortably as they often do.