Don't think the Cairney comparison is accurate at all. He was sold for cheap primarily as we was going into a transfer embargo, that was the summer that a few went and the likes of Guthrie, Akpan, Koita and Delfouenso all came in. As far as we know, at the moment we are not under such restrictions. Also, Cairney had won player of the season here, he was undoubtedly at that time a strong aspect of our side, with potential, rather than a weakness with potential. Rocky patch in my opinion doesn't accurately summarise his performances over the entire season either for me. I also never have felt he is unbeatable. He definitely has a quality reflex save in him (which keeper doesnt) but his overall game is very questionable, and crucially for a goalkeeper, he makes far, far too many mistakes to be relied upon. Of course he may improve, and ideally we could have him and a quality experienced keeper at the same time, but I wouldnt be gutted to see him leave I dont think.

You are reading far too much into it I suspect. The lack of importance/effort placed by Mowbray on a potential League 1 title, I share your frustration in. But playing Reed wide was something he did because as he said, Evans and Smallwood "played the position better." Something I disagreed with at the time, but I put it down to over-cautiousness and over-loyalty to those 2 in question rather than trying to lower expectations, that seems incredibly far-fetched. The shackles did come off once relegation was mathematically impossible, notably the defensive winger nonsense was knocked on the head, why would Mowbray even give the supporters a glimpse of a potentially both more exciting and more effective side when nothings to play for, only furthering the evidence of those who felt that he had made incorrect decisions earlier in the season, if he was primarily managing expectations? By doing that at the end of the season, hes left himself wide open to judgement. If at the start of next season he returns back to old ways, defensive wingers, Smallwood and Evans etc, then we really can worry.

All 5 players have been released for financial reasons, with Swansea having spent all of their time since relegation trying to cut the wage bill down wherever possible. Nothing laughable about it. Archer has been mentioned more than once and I find it very strange, a goalkeeper released by Millwall. All the talk about Rayas age is very well but for me hes made far too many mistakes this season. There has been a lot of talk about Raya going into next season as number 1 but with a more "experienced" keeper pushing him. You'd presume someone like Fielding would fit the bill for that role but for me it would be a complete hash of our goalkeeping situation to go in with 3 keepers, none of whom are particularly good (in Raya's case, potentially for now, we dont know) and in essence, would be a case of quantity over quality, you dont need 3 senior goalkeepers. If sacrificing Raya enabled us to get a better upgrade then I wouldnt be against the idea. The Leutweiler deal however will never make sense.

Wayne Routledge is 34 and has lost much of the pace he had earlier in his career. Olsson has been injured for a while with an achilles injury.

The player we should be looking at here is Aribo.

They shouldnt have been offered new deals was my point. Its not conjecture, hes been offered a new deal. Im not even considering rumours about his personality, pissed up rants etc. Hes not started a league game in 2 years of paid employment, when he did play in the cups his attitude was terrible, so ultimately we owe him nothing. But as a decent club, by all means let him use our facilities to get back to fitness. A paid contract out of pity makes a mockery out of our constant and understandable desire to bring costs down and work to a budget. Downing, like Leutweiler, Gladwin and Conway is not good enough, the reason people havent criticised the decision to not offer him a new deal is because he shouldnt be offered one either.

Technicalities, Gladwin and Conway have been offered new deals then which they shouldnt. When Gladwin did play he didnt look like he could be arsed. Allowing him to use the facilities to recuperate is a kind gesture, paying him to do so is absurd and a waste of money. Samuel it was a response to a quoted paragraph, I wasnt inferring that we should or can release him. The best season hes had is the last one in terms of reputation. Hes not good enough and should be offered around for free if anyone wants him. If the reasoning behind Luetweiler (a player not good enough) is in case during the whole summer we cant sign a keeper then its absurd. It also highlights the flaw of discovering a budget only after the retained list needs submitting.

The key issue is that Mowbray and Waggott have both discussed many times about not having unlimited fund and having to cut our cloth accordingly and look for value, that every penny counts. I cant believe that people are defending the Gladwin deal. This is a player who has been drawing a wage for 2 years in which time hes never started a League game. He has been paid for the last 18 months in which hes been injured. It would be a noble and understandable gesture to allow him to use the facilities The goalkeeper weve retained is blatantly not up to standard though. Mowbray said the other week hes bringing one in so your hypothesis that essentially we are sticking with the 2 we have is either wrong or something has changed since he said it. If he is still bringing one in then theres absolutely no need for a senior third choice keeper. Again, money down the drain. You say Samuel could add something, he was sub standard in League 1 (not scoring post November) and again has since had a major injury. We are supposedly after a new striker (again Mowbray has said as such) and thats on top of our player of the season and a striker he blew 7m on, and another who sees himself as a striker who cost 2m himself. How many strikers do we need? Hes also given Conway a new deal, does he fit into this new style (high energy, technical, full of young players) Mowbray seems eager to move towards? No. Its clear that we need a few players coming in to boost the starting 11. Who is going out to make way on the wage budget?

The retained list of a manager who has predictably failed on his promise to be ruthless to allow us to push forwards already. A manager who was talking about having to find value in the market last week, yet is throwing money down the drain with many of these extensions, when we need both the room in the squad and room to manoeuvre on the wage budget. Firstly, agree with the Downing decision. We need better. Leutweiler is never, ever good enough. If hes one of our main 2 keepers, we have major problems. If he isnt, why on earth do we need a third choice senior goalkeeper who will seldom even make the bench? One who isnt good enough to deputise should we get 2 injuries anyway. Gladwin is an absolute joke, the absolute opposite of ruthlessness. This is a player who was out of his depth in League 1, prior to a series of serious injuries, in which time he has been paid by the club. To let him use the facilities would be a noble, human decision. To give him a wage is absolutely ridiculous. Conway is someone who was out of his depth at this level 2 or 3 years ago. Not good enough anymore, nor does he fit into this apparent new system Mowbray seems to want to move toward, high energy, progressive football. Rodwell I am the least annoyed about, but still I am unconvinced that he should have been given a new deal. Has quality as a midfielder, but Mowbray will see him as an option at centre back.

I would suggest that Graham is better technically than Brereton. Ultimately, it came down to the players behind him and of course the manager as to why we chose to predominantly hoof the ball up to him. Graham played an important role in the Derby, Forest and QPR wins.

Ive not doubted that, nor have I suggested that we right him off. But ultimately, the primary objective is to get results and as it stands, Danny Graham up front is more likely to achieve that. Not having him as first choice striker does not mean writing him off.

What can you possibly have seen in Brereton to be willing to go into a new season without any new strikers, and also with him above our player of the season in the pecking order?

No chance. Was not good enough at League 1 level, before a serious injury.

Why is that the benchmark?

Whilst I dont think that Mikel is realistic, it seems totally unfair to generalise that he wouldnt give a shit, presumably based on the likes of Murphy and Etuhu. Mikel impressed at Boro, including at Ewood where he was as good as any midfielder I've seen all season, and if he wanted do very little to earn a good wage then surely hed have stayed in China; the wage youve suggested is surely a guess. Hes younger than our player of the season last season.

It would decrease the quality of the football massively if the likes of Liverpool, Spurs, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid etc were replaced by champions from more obscure leagues,

The thing is, with Mulgrew and Conway, you have 2 senior players, one of whom whose contract was going to expire this summer and one whose still does, both of whom are clearly well past their best, and both of whom are prime candidates to jettison if the manager has developed the ruthless streak that we have all speculated about in the past following comments he made about giving players we had in League 1 a chance. Its easy to say "they can come on for 10 minutes here and there" but ultimately they will be evidence that the strong, aggressive push towards a top 6 place is perhaps not as likely to materialise as we hope.

He said last week that he was going to India to find out if hes buying multi million players or if hes in the free agent market. I think that was just an example of how a club can take advantage if they get in there early.

Its not rocket science to suggest that the manager not having the foggiest as to the budget he is working on until a couple of weeks after the season has finished, a season in which we could have in theory prepared for with weeks of the season left due to our league position. You say its an assumption to suggest that we are looking at frees, even the manager doesnt know!

Id be amazed if we came out publically and declared that Smallwood and Mulgrew are transfer listed.

The craziest thing would be changing formation to one that excludes your best player.

Hopefully "do a job" wont be part of Mowbrays vocabulary!

Robson-Kanu is shite.

Looking at what I think we need, with a couple of suggestions (maybe some of them are pretty limited and hopefully Mowbray can find some better alternatives whether domestic or on the continent, to which I dont really know any suggestions) GK: Definitely need a new number 1 with Raya as back up (initially). Carson and Darlow have been suggested and arent bad shouts. Leutweiler well out of his depth. Full back: Really short, Bennett and Williams well out of their depth here, need one of each as first choices as Nyambe has had a iffy season and has a way to go, and Bell isnt up to it but will be needed as back up. Ivo Pinto has been released at Norwich, dunno if hes worth a look for RB? Reece James albeit he may be an unrealistic loan. Centre back: Lenihan I think is not without his faults but he is a good player and can be in our starting 11 next season. Williams is ok to have as a third/fourth choice back up, we need a good quality partner for Lenihan and maybe another back up, Mulgrew is past it and needs moving on. Potential suggestions are Jake Cooper, Grant Hanley and Yoann Barbet. Central Midfield: Travis has been a revelation but needs a good quality midfielder alongside him with Reeds loan set to expire and Rodwell heading for the exit. Smallwood needs getting rid of too, and if Evans stays he should be a (probably overpaid) squad player. Davenport looks like he can play a part too. Potential targets could be Joe Aribo, a very good midfielder who can get goals too whose Charlton deal is soon to expire, Will Vaulks who shone in a relegated Rotherham side and has recently got into the Wales side, or even look at bringing Reed back. Attacking midfielder: This is where we have some real assets, Dack, Rothwell, Chapman and Armstrong (only on the right) are full of flair and potential, Butterworth looked really good in his cameo v Bolton, but we perhaps need one more natural winger, especially with Rothwell the natural alternative should Dack be unavailable, and Armstrong with visions of being a number 9. Bennett and Conway arent good enough now and dont fit into this younger, entertaining, high energy, technical team we hopefully are moving towards. Not really sure who we could bring in, maybe an area to look across the continent like Norwich did with Buendia and Hernandez, Maddison and Lowe continue to get goals and assist in League 1 but can they step up to push for the Championship top 6, not sure, same with someone like Ben Marshall who could be available. Striker: Graham is an obvious but needs some help, Nuttall and Samuel arent good enough, Armstrong hasnt convinced there and Brereton scored his first goal and got dropped for the last 2 games! So to conclude, Leutweiler, Mulgrew, Smallwood, Conway, Bennett, Rodwell, Samuel, Gladwin, Nuttall all for the chopping board, plenty of experience to be replaced too, a goalkeeper, at least one centre back, a full back for each side, a central midfielder, winger and a striker. We probably wont get all that but as close as possible please.

Im not saying it would be anything other than a brainless signing, luckily one Mowbray has rubbished, but itd make you leave an already bought season ticket to collect dust as a direct result?