That was the exception rather than the rule. Like I said, if a few come through at once, brilliant, but dont plan depending on that to happen.

Totally agree with your team, barring reinforcements. Gallagher is never a winger. I dont agree that JRC in comparison to Bellingham or Travis, it would be unlikely that he could come in and have that sort of impact, the former is clearly a special talent and Travis has really done well to have the trajectory in the space of a year. Its down to the individual, each case will be different.

I dont doubt that we need to give them chances from time to time, as I said I would play Rankin Costello for example every day over sticking Gallagher out wide. But it is not prudent to expect a whole batch of young players to all come through and become first teamers together, there are plenty of "promising" youth groups in the past that havent really amounted to much so its a case of wait and see. You have to give them encouragement and chances but if the plan is that this time in a year the side will be full of young players and we carry on with our top 6 push as normal then that would be a very naive prediction. The main 2 that get mentions are Rankin Costello and Buckley it seems, and the former has only made one sub League appearance (and made a promising start) and the latter looks absolutely miles off being able to play a part at this level and needs to go down the leagues. If any youth players come through it is a massive bonus and money saved, but history suggests that most of your list wont make it here.

Holtby and Armstrong have shown signs of real promise playing one off the other as our front 2 in the last 2 games, with the former getting 2 goals and the latter getting 1 goal and 2 assists. No need to move them both into different positions and change the formation.

You mention the top notch youngsters but we dont know how many if any will break through and be regular players for where we want to go. Buckley has had the most chances and hasnt shown anything to suggest that he will be able to seriously contribute any time in the near future. Rankin Costello did well in his first cameo and should be around the first team going forward but again it could go either way. Butterworth seems to be forever injured. The youngsters should be used to supplement the squad and of course need opportunities which they should get (for example JRC and Chapman should be above Gallagher in terms of playing wide) but we cant realistically expect a clutch of them to suddenly come through and be good enough to get us into the top 6. Bell is nowhere near good enough, and has proved over an extensive period. The squad requires plenty signings in a few key areas before it has a genuine chance of finishing in the top 6.

Not really, being linked with someone means very little. Most transfer rumours are a load of bollocks. Indeed the articles regarding Curtis etc have been followed by a narrative of not being affordable with the managee saying we are nowhere near affording these players!

It isnt a guess, Mowbray has said numerous times that we dont have much money to play with, that we are miles away from peoples asking prices, and Waggott said we are on the FFP limit. I hope you are right and I can expect a series of players bought to fix problem positions but I suspect that it will be one loan max, if that.

You dont have to come in and staunchly defend the club on any point everyone makes. Theres no reason to wait until after the QPR game. If theres a deal that we want all agreed there is no reason to drag it out. Id be surprised if we signed anyone, maybe a solitary loan, no money sadly, already been wasted. Is it really going to be a platform to come back to Championship football playing non league football and battering teams 7 nil?

That supposed imminent signing seems to be a load of hot air at the moment. Getting de ja vu from last January.

Why would you break up the Holtby and Armstrong partnership, with the former getting 2 goals from close range from the second striker position? Baring in mind he has been fairly ineffective out wide out of position.

We know he will play him wide but do you think he should? In your opinion, yes or no? He can watch all the video analysis he wants, he is not a winger! He is a pretty poor striker, but hes a fish up a tree out wide. Everyone can see that, it never works, and its frustrating to see every game, hence why the crowd have started to be vocal with their dissent. Curtis has essentially 18 months with the contract option. We wont get him because we cant afford him, no other reason. Bell and Nyambe have 0 assists between them this season. Do you not agree that under Mowbray the way that we have used our wide men, especially this wide forward rubbish has almost exclusively been dysfunctional throughout his time, save for a clutch of games that Antonsson had and one that Armstrong had from that position in League 1, the goals and assists coming from our wide men have been minimal. Jozefzoon is woeful, Eliasson is quality.

Surely you wouldnt consider Gallagher there though? And if you are serious about top 6, is having Rothwell, JRC and Chapman not a gigantic risk?

Who is the opinion of? Without that detail, it seems a bit of a pointless addition to a conversation only to then mock people for having an opinion based on seeing them personally. If only professional opinions are worthwhile then you wont find them on here.

Agreed. Plus the big earners they lost were non contributors. It wasnt some ingrained and unique culture, any club would release high earners who arent playing anyway. You inherit that duo especially Ayew and you are at a huge advantage at this level. If only our goalkeeping coach had a similar effect!

Gallagher cannot play out wide competently. End of. If he will play there then its the wrong decision and I suspect the song "why the fucks he on the wing" will be repeated! Downing is needed in central midfield and can dictate games from there. Rothwell has contributed nothing this season. Rankin Costello and Chapman are to be encouraged but we cant rely on them every game and theres a chance either or both might not be up to it at this stage. Armstrong and Holtby seem to be the 2 to go with centrally, but they wont get the same amount Dack and Grahams goalscoring tally, who also had Armstrong chipping in occasionally. So we need to make the surplus from wide positions. We are sorely lacking there. I am unconvinced that we will make any signings, maybe one loan maximum. You have repeatedly said that you think we will sign 3 players this window. Where would they be if so.

I havent seen his talent and skills on show for the first team if im honest. Nothing about him has made me think "we need to give him more chances immediately." Which centre backs are close to breaking through?

I disagree, I would look at our squad and for me, 2 wingers and a left back are the 3 imminent and pressing priorities, if we are assuming that Armstrong is now solely a striker and Downing is a central player. If we look at depth in areas we are lacking in all areas really, but if we are focusing on improving the first 11 they are the 3 for me. Dont overly rate Walton, but equally I dont think hes the primary weak point in the team. Lenihan and Adarabioyo are 2 of our better players, as is Nyambe. Left back we are totally lacking, Bell seems to have fooled some into thinking that he is competent, he isnt. Downing and Travis with Johnson as an alternative, we will miss Evans but not top priority. Armstrong and Holtby are 2 good players, that being said, will they match the Dack and Graham goal tallies? Dont think they will. Also still have Graham and Gallagher as alternatives there. Plus we are also missing Armstrongs relatively modest goal contributions from out wide. Gallagher cant play wide, Rothwell offers nothing in terms of end product, I'd like to see JRC get some game time but we cant bank on him at this stage, Chapman again a risk, the reason that the likes of Maddison and Curtis seem so attractive is that they get plenty of goals and can play in wide roles. We could do with players pretty much all over. Goalkeeper we have one who is not great and one who is embarrassingly poor, right back we have no back up at all, centre back we dont want to rely on Williams at any point, central midfield we have the void of Evans to fill, and up front no one screams of being prolific. But its all about prioritising.

Buckley I am basing on his appearances at senior level where it matters where he is well off but also very young. My opinion of him, his value, his ability and his potential wont inflate over supposed whispers about what management think or dont think. Needs to play at a lower level.

There is always a risk but I am sure he will come back. I have seen nothing from Buckley (from limited appearances) to suggest hes going to take things by storm any time soon and I think your price tags are far fetched. Its probably unlikely that all 3 will break through, simple probability dictates that, Butterworth has his own big injury concerns as well. We can only hope though. Buckley needs loaning out.

Exactly, a 16 goal, 40m strikeforce is hardly the privelidge of a team cutting back. Chuck in a couple of high calibre loans and presumably decent loan fees to nab them plus Celina for another 4m and they have some firepower there. They made their cut backs culling out of contract high earners that werent playing anyway so were no worse off for losing Bony, Fer etc. They sold McBurnie and James (who is massively overrated at this moment) which was a blow but they were adequately replaced by high earning returning loans, Ayew is the best of the bunch. Certainly no reason to feel hard done by, or as a team in the top 6 to see just missing out on the play offs as success. Yeah West Brom and Leeds are in poor form at the moment. Suppose from their perspective every team hits a bad run and at this time both are not in immediate danger of surrendering their top 2 places.

Youd choose to sell a player who has consistently scored goal after goal since he joined and is our best player over a kid who may have potential like quite a few others in our ranks but all we know from his first team appearances is that he is miles away at this moment so it is very difficult to quantify that potential. No chance that anyone signs Buckley for 5-10m but I would happily take my chances that it would bite us in the arse later on and take the money.

Whatever a teams expectations are, and I didnt realise that Andre Ayew, 20m and 80k a week talisman classes as own talent, if a team finishes just outside the play offs then its going to leave their fans dissapointed, even if they didnt expect to get in the play offs, if they just missed out they would be full of regret and frustration.

The best way to re balance their finances would be to get promoted. If they just missed out on the play offs, like any team that just misses out on tangible reward and achievement, they would be gutted. Top 10 in a league in which the top 6 teams are rewarded either with promotion or a further chance of promotion is a strange target, essentially 7th to 10th are teams that have come close but not close enough. Tomights game was lacking in quality and entertainment.

How would a team currently in the top 6 finishing just out of the top 6 be a successful season? Surely it would be agonizing? Bizarre mentality. Been some absolutely soul destroyingly boring games on TV from the Championship in recent weeks.

Still fancy the top 2 to stay there, both teams in really poor form but still with a gap ahead of the rest. Fulham have an incredibly expensively assembled squad, on paper I would say better than Leeds and possibly West Brom too but their manager carries the question marks for me, much prefer a Bielsa or Bilic. Brentford are a good team but not sure they have enough firepower, after the main 3 of Benrahma, Watkins and Mbuemo they have no one else really. Swansea are a dark horse too, no one seems to talk about them but considering they have I would suggest the highest paid and one of the best players in the league in Ayew, another big money striker in Baston who has eased off but is good to have and have been able to attract and afford the extremely highly sought after loan signings of Gallagher and Brewster, they have to be taken seriously. The league is there for anyone this year, the standard is as poor as I can remember and I have seen so many drab games lacking quality. Our season is going to be tinged with regret regarding our big money recruitment and our injury woes because I am not sure especially with FFP about to crunch that we are going to have a chance like this again for a while.