They always seem to only have a limited amount and as a result miss out on potential income

He is a youngish guy at the beginning of his career correct, which surely gives him less room for demanding x amount of money when offered a Championship role, which may or may not pay more and more importantly will allow him a platform to make a name for himself more than going to another minor footballing country to manage. I am not saying that we will or won't spend however much, just that I don't think that Tomasson is an appointment that it anyway proves that we must have money to spend, as if he is a huge name that we have amazed people in appointing. Even if we assume that there was interest, we don't know if we actually bid for Anel and if so, for how much. The Davies rumours are for a loan deal.

Im sure we will sign players obviously but im not convinced that Tomasson being appointed is proof that we must have a decent budget. Had we appointed a proven manager like Farke at the start of the summer then maybe that point would stand but Tomasson was appointed after a long process in which numerous candidates got bigger and better jobs elsewhere. I know he apparently turned them down due to salary demands but the fact that he even spoke to Hibs suggests that he isnt this massive coup as a manager. He was unemployed and did well at a Malmo side that seemingly was expected to win the league but in a small league so it is more of a potentially tactical appointment for both parties.

I'm not convinced that we wanted Khadra back, our name was always lumped in with a number of others presumably because he was here last season.

How about just a clutch of loans again, with the rhetoric that it was only FFP that stopped us from splashing the cash or that the rumour of a bid for the Bosnian proves that the money was there and it is only Waggott that stopped a spending spree... (somewhat tongue in cheek)

Hedges did well when he broke in at the end of the season. Hopefully he will have a good season, pre-season games full of kids and trialists mean zilch, all a fitness exercise.

Unfortunately Burnley are reportedly closing in on Callum O'Hare. They also want Ian Maatsen who was also at Coventry.

Obviously I am not "frightened" of the strength of a Rovers second string in a fitness exercise, more the bigger picture. The worry is how thin our squad looks with 2 and a half weeks to go. I am not convinced that any of those much needed players will be here before QPR.

The only person laughing his cock off I suspect is Balaji Rao and any associates who still manage to see most of the justified blame deflected away from them. Mowbray needed to go but he left us in a better place than he inherited us and he announced his decision to go well in advance of the season ending.

Unsure if there is truth in it but maybe they have moved away from Calamity Muric.

A frightening prospect that the above is what lies behind our first 11 as things stand, and that first 11 presumably has players like James Brown, a never fit Daniel Ayala and Sam Gallagher in it!

There is one common denominator over 12 years...

If that is the case then you may have had a lucky escape. Is there anyone on the agenda up front?

I never said he hasn't spoke well, my point was that there isn't anything tangible to judge him on, no games played, no signings made. But even if we took an approach of trust blindly until he proves otherwise, no manager is perfect, hence my Pep comment, therefore you can surely question rumoured signings without losing total faith in the manager. You don't need to remove critical faculty, if you aren't sure about a certain aspect of a rumoured signing, then that's fine.

Its not about how much faith or confidence we have in Tomasson. As far as I am concerned, he hasn't earnt trust or caused distrust, its a clean slate. But if we were City fans with Pep as manager, we could still constructively critique potential signings and sales, if they question the Kalvin Phillips signing, the massively overpriced Grealish signing or the Raheem Sterling sale, it doesnt mean a lack of overall trust because obviously Guardiola overall has earnt trust. I just find it strange that you are so active in a discussion about the prospect of signings when your attitude seems to be to totally remove the potential to question linked individuals. Your default attitude is if Tomasson does it, it must be right. That isnt the case. If you have doubts, if you wouldnt like something about a signing, it isnt committing treason to say. Exactly. And now we need a centre back to potentially (form allowing) come and play in the heart of defence next to Wharton who is 1st choice. Surely it makes sense to have someone who prefers to play on the right hand side. I think you think that yourself as you basically said so earlier.

Ideally you would have someone who prefers being on the left and someone who prefers someone on the right but I think it is beyond just probability/law of averages that managers so seldom have 2 left footers together. Left footers are often particularly one sided compared to right footers. Not exactly the same but I think back to when we sold Warnock and brought in 4 defenders but were unable to sign a direct replacement. Jacobsen was poor but we also signed Salgado (who was excellent for a season) and Chimbonda (who had excellent credentials and did score that goal v Burnley but overall was not a man youd want in the trenches with you) leaving us with 3 natural right backs and no left backs. We also signed Givet who again was a very good signing but a natural centre back who looked a little awkward as a full back but with Nelsen and Samba he struggled to get in there. Especially when Chimbonda was asked to play as a left back, we were so imbalanced because the whole defence was right footed. Either Davies or Wharton would be not quite in their natural position and it would be a potential problem.

Is your attitude until further notice, if Tomasson does it, I will suspend all critical faculty and assume he must be right? We dont need competition, we need at least one top quality centre back to be able to start as only Wharton is proven to any degree AND reliable with 2 top end Championship level centre backs including our captain departing. Left footers tend to often be quite one sided and both Wharton and Davies would usually play on the left so if he did join it would IMO be a concern when they would be the 2 most reliable centre backs. Saying so doesnt mean a lack of backing for the manager. Ultimately we have no idea if the rumour is true.

Wharton. 2 left footed centre backs are a very rare combination so I would feel a bit uneasy about it personally. I do rate Davies as a Championship centre back but the fact that our reliable CB that remains is also left footed is a big concern should any interest be genuine and materialise. I am not convinced that we will go for him though anyway, especially as a potential loan with a fee if there is any truth in that. The idea that Venkys temporarily refrained from investing because they didn't trust the manager yet kept him anyway is as far-fetched as it is illogical.

There is a reason why very few teams have central defensive partnerships of 2 left footers, it just tends to seem particularly imbalanced. If they are happy with it? I don't think the issue is the potential willingness of them to do it. Why would you willingly accept players that you personally concede aren't "ideal" for the role we need them to play? Why make do? Surely we should sign someone perfectly suited to what we want. Not settle with "not ideal but fine." I don't see it happening, as we have said he is left footed, he seemingly would warrant a loan fee, his wages will be big, others teams are linked, I would be surprised. He is a good player at this level but we need a right sided centre back either way so it would have to be as well as IMO.

I don't think its the same one, I read the other day that he had been left out and I think there was a H.Davies on the squad list, presumably a kid. Not that I suspect any deal is close by any means.

Come on now, yes they initially planned a £2m full pitch renovation and decided against it, but we have weaved goalmouths now, stop being unrealistic!

Ben Davies is a very good player at this level. I can't see it happening however, firstly because of his wage demands and also I am not sure how it would work with 2 left footed centre backs. Quality wise, he likely is as good as we could get. Would say a lot about our supposed intentions with expectations of £3m being spent on one centre back to loaning one in however. I am not sure why it has become gospel that we paid loads for Poveda, ultimately none of us truly know but last summer was one where we had to wait and wait because we needed Prem teams to subsidise loans. I do love how you describe someone who was performing consistently well enough at Championship level to earn a move to Liverpool, albeit in mitigating circumstances as "uninventive" yet go on to laud signings like Shane Long, Jeff Hendrick and Jay Fulton. You also say that Shane Long guarantees 15+ goals, I can only presume that was tongue in cheek seeing as he has managed that once in his career, 11 seasons ago!

I never said that it doesnt affect transfers. I just dont think Venkys would spend any more money if it didnt exist. It really isnt. They could sell the player before his contract expires.

Ah yes, a very substantial budget that the evil Mowbray and Waggott chose not to utilise that conveniently puts 100% of the blame on to them.

Absolutely incredible that I bet we could go through the summer without spending a penny (not saying we will) and people would still not blame the actual people who are to blame. The outgoing head of recruitment? Absolute nonsense.