That and Brethererereton were annoying me. And the fact mentions of the game seem to come in 20 second bursts every 7 minutes

Be warned, it’s not great!

Jesus Christ... I can see him scoring two worldies, everyone getting a bit excited, him getting a contract, then becoming the next Danny Murphy.

Bit like the “pretty small fee” you claimed was a done deal for a free agent who is now at Millwall?

Definitely better than any of our current lot, Lenihan included.

If Gallagher comes in at £5 million, that will mean we have 12 million quid tied up in two back ups to our first choice striker (I can’t see Graham starting as anything but). As things stand we have an entire defence which cost in the region of £200k. Happy with our confirmed/speculated signings or not, there is no denying our approach is odd.

I expect Mowbray would welcome a massive transfer kitty... IF he had free reign to bring in whoever he wanted. Him coming out and telling us he had to talk down the owners I’d guess is a half truth... I imagine it far more likely that they were trying to foist players into him that he didn’t necessarily want that had been recommended by some trusted agent or another. I think he relented with Brereton in the end because it was him or nothing by that point. I can see them sanctioning/insisting on 10 mil for Assombalonga... can’t see them sanctioning half that for Cooper. I know which I’d prefer and I expect Mowbray would agree.

For every one slating Mowbray, there was one baselessly claiming he would have been a fantastic bit of business due to their Tony tinted glasses.

You know as soon as that happens we will make a signing... can’t decide whether you should do it or not.

Haven’t watched yet, but had a read of the reports and I’m not sure I’ll bother. It seems 50% indie show, 25% PPV standard show and 25% back yard show.

They also made guarantees and promises of improving the defence and making signings which would go straight in to improve it. They have quickly backtracked on this since they were summoned to Venky HQ.

Total opposite? He can’t have been that arsed about playing, or he’d have likely tried to get a loan move at some point over the last 18 months when he hasn’t even made the bench.

Yes, it certainly looks like he’s going. I am resigned to that, but not happy about it. I’d be amazed if a better replacement comes in. We lucked in with Raya coming through the academy... previously we replaced Paul Robinson with Jason Steele. Even if Forster wasn’t shit, he also on about 50k a week. Mowbrays U-turn on his plans to sort the defence out is massively disappointing. I blame myself for being taken in by him and Waggott using words like guarantee and promise... but it looks as though my suspicions were right all along and Venky’s won’t invest in the defence. Hope I’m proved wrong, but it’s not looking likely. I’m pretty sure that all the talks in India really amounted to were Mowbray and Waggott being reminded of the mantra they have to trot out to supporters at any given opportunity: “The owners are passionate. The owners are knowledgeable. The owners are supportive. The owners are humble” All of which is bollocks

I have my doubts around his talents, as do 3 Southampton managers judging by the fact he’s been third choice under them. I’d have Raya over him all day long. Aside from the fact he is 8 years younger, he’s been very good for us on the whole over his 100 or so appearances. With a decent defence in front of him and a quality coach he’d be even better.

I was really hoping Raya started the season as number one. I’d bet good money any replacement will be a downgrade. He is a good keeper who if allowed to play to his strengths will go on to much bigger things.

A player who has made one appearance since 2017. They lost 3-0 in that game as well by the way. Here’s the highlights of that game... looks fucking brilliant!

No... nailed on left back!

Hardly surprising Mowbray isn’t a fan of Raya... the guy can only play in one position. Just waiting for him to come out and tell us we already have a ready made replacement within the ranks... one which solves one of his biggest dilemmas

Well, this could be the change WWE desperately needs. However, there’s a very good chance Vince will veto anything remotely radical they try to do. With their past track records I’d expect Raw to become the home of the young workhorses and Smackdown to be the more character driven show. ECW can’t be replicated in the modern WWE environment, but Heymans success on Smackdown in the 2000s was built around Benoit, Guerrero, Angle... replace those names with Cesaro, Balor and Bryan and we could see similar. Bischoff I expect will be building a show far less around the in ring product... I imagine guys like Miz and Elias will find a home there... along with the elder statesmen while NXT callups will be Hayman bound.

The high hopes I had of Mowbray’s talk at the consultation meeting about defensive signings coming are rapidly evaporating... but I can’t believe Mowbray is getting as much stick as he is. Here is our back four on the first game of the season for the last few years... the first is before they came... Salgado Samba Nelsen Givet Salgado Hanley Nzonzi Olsson Orr Dann Givet Lowe Kane Dann Hanley Spurr Baptiste Hanley Kilgallon Olson Henley Hanley Duffy Olsson Lowe Duffy Ward Henley Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams At the moment it looks like this time round it’ll be Bennett Lenihan Williams Bell Some of the illustrious subs include Greer, Ribeiro and Anderson... The point being, failure to address glaring defensive issues in the summer window isn’t a Mowbray problem. If you can’t see a pattern, you are likely shutting your eyes, jamming your fingers in your ears and shouting to block what is being screamed out at you. The problem is 5,000 miles away. I have no doubts at all Mowbray is absolutely desperate to properly rebuild the defence. If new permanent signings, for fees, who are actual proper defenders don’t happen, as well as being apoplectic with rage, I’ll also believe beyond any reasonable doubt that he isn’t in control of transfers and Venky’s are not sanctioning the signing of defenders. For fucks sake, he’s already talking about converting Downing to full back (like Shebby did with Pedersen and Steven Gerrard!)... I hope I’m wrong. Time will tell. Until then I’m not going to get on Mowbray’s case. If my fears are realised it’ll be his integrity I’ll question rather than his judgement.

I’ll be heading to Preston for this on Friday. WWE have allowed their wrestlers to appear, so I expect a number of NXT UK faces to be there... fair play to them for that.

Thank god for that!

Just noticed this scarf Downing is holding up. Not seen this design before... I hope this isn’t a new design to match the kit, meaning that we are going from a ridiculously light sky blue to a ridiculously dark navy. Cos that’s just as shit, and just as wrong.

This silly new fashionable idea of “playing it out from the back” is ridiculous. We (and many other teams) try it and all that ends up happening is we knock it around the back four for a dozen pointless passes, invite pressure, knock it back to Raya, who boots it out for a throw-in in their half. We need defenders who can defend first and foremost.

I’d get in touch and see if there are any ground tours happening while you are over which you may be able to join on with. When I used to do them there were usually one or two public ones a week.