It's a bit harsh to say that when we are comfortably midtable.

I have officially moved to the Mowbray-out camp. The tinkering with the side in the past two games and the baffling approach to tactics in must-win situations has just been too much for me. We need someone new in this summer. It wont happen, but we need it.

I think Hart would be great. He's definitely a good enough keeper to be an improvement and he will bring in a wealth of experience and the chance to have a genuine leader at the back - something that we haven't had since Robinson (at best). It all depends on his attitude, but if he sees this as an opportunity to come back and prove himself then it is just the type of thing we should be going after.

We had 3 very good chances to score before they took the lead - to not take 1 of 3 very good chances is just inexcusable. I'm as despondent tonight as I have been in a while. We all sort of knew it was coming, but to completely blow any chance of promotion against two bottom-half teams, albeit it two bottom-half teams in relative form, is just not good enough. We lack quality out wide and we lack leadership all over the pitch. We've several players away from being good enough for promotion, but it isn't an impossible task in a single-window if we approach it wisely and don't make the mistake of signing a player like Gallagher who addresses none of our problems and doesn't really fit into our approach. Season over. Play the youngsters from here on out and see if they can step up. If one or two of them can really impress over the next few games it could drastically change how we approach this summer.

3 out of 6 isn't great? Please name a manager with over a 50% strike rate on signings. And I'm not implying that two thirds can be duds, just simply not signings that you would classify as good. Johnson hasn't been a dud, but I wouldn't call him a good signing yet. Big difference between a good signing and a failure. To use your squad analysis approach. If we assume that our squad of 23 players can be supplemented by about 6 homegrown players, say 2 of which are good enough to start (basically the position that we are in now), it then requires that we have 17 other players, 9 of whom are good enough to start. Now, you can't do a perfect analysis of squad building as you're not starting from scratch at any point, but I would be perfectly happy with any manager who signed 3 players, one of who was considered a good starter, one a good squad player, and the other a player who will not make it. That's not fantastic, but as a general rule of thumb, I'm fine with that. The challenge then becomes applying another 1/3 rule to those starters and squad players. I'd want to see a further 1/3 of the players that are good enough to start developing into 'star' players and a further 1/3 of those squad players developing into players who genuinely challenge for places in the first team. We're not able to go out and sign £50m finished products, but if I wouldn't be overly critical of any manager who hit that sort of ratio over a longterm basis. You might have the odd window where everything is great or where everything is awful, but you have to view things over an extended period of time.

It's a lot easier to do good transfer business when you are at a huge club spending huge money. There are generally not as many unknowns when signing a player for 20m+ as there are when signing a player for 10m or less. As for Klopp's record, it's pretty good, but there are still some duds in there. How many would pay £50m for Keita now? Even £35m for Oxlade-Chamberlain is questionable. £30m for Benteke? He's done well and he's had some key moves work out really well, but, for the most part, they haven't been cheap. Again, it's all balanced out by the fact that he could sell Salah, Robertson, Mane, etc. for far more than he paid for them - even given some of their relatively high transfer fees, but you'd have to expect that there will be a lot of failures in there. The reality is that 1 star player is worth failing on 2/3 other transfers. Mowbray has hit on just enough of his transfers to call his approach a success. Dack is an overwhelming success. Armstrong a very good signing. Downing very good (although there won't be a profit there). There are then a number of players who may develop into being seen as good signings (the likes of Holtby, Rothwell, and Samuel, for example). And even Tosin justifies our approach in the loan market.

I'd resign Armstrong in a heartbeat on the basis that his current contribution on the pitch is at a level far above the average £3 million player and knowing that I could certainly sell him for a profit. I wouldn't sign Brereton for the fee that we paid for him, but I wouldn't be opposed to gambling on him as I think there is a degree of potential there. I was against signing Gallagher as I just think that we didn't need that type of player and that his style is actually not that easy to fit into modern football. My point isn't that I would do everything that Mowbray does, it is more that if 1/3 signings are good to very good we will have to view that as a success. That's football. Even the best manager or director of football would take a 33% strike rate on their signings - especially when you aren't at a top club and any signing comes with additional risk.

You're right, but as a club that has always relied on turning a profit on our transfer dealings, we can't ignore the fact that one motivation for buying players is to hope that we sell them on for a higher sum. This will undoubtedly be part of the logic behind the policy of signing young English players. A few will fail and not contribute on the pitch or to the bottom line, but if one or two turn into something quite good we will see improved performances on the pitch and the possibility of selling them for enough to repeat the process again. As for Armstrong's value, we will have to see how transfer fees adapt to the pandemic, but it would be a safe bet to assume that this will not be enough to stop the trend of transfer fees steadily rising. The dot-com bubble bursting didn't stop that trend. The 2008 financial crisis didn't stop that trend. I very much doubt that this pandemic and possible recession will do so either. In that case, it is hard to imagine a world in which Armstrong would be sold for anything less than £8-10 million and I am sure that most supporters would be disappointed if he were sold for anything shy of 10 million.

It always fascinates me when people assume that a comment in a thread is entirely, and solely, directed at them. My posts so far have been a general reaction to the overall theme within this conversation.

Are any of those who signed up to ifollow for the season pass at the beginning of the year managing to get it to work now? I can't log in. Can't change my password. Can't do anything. Are we expected to register again?

But the fact that we may lose money on Brereton or Gallagher doesn't mean that our recruitment policy is awful. They aren't all going to be great signings and they aren't all going to turn into a star player or a huge profit - even when signing expensive (relatively speaking) players. That's all. Look back through this thread and you won't find a lot of people truly weighing up our recruitment policy, they simply should 'BRERETON AWFUL. GALLAGHER AWFUL. MOWBRAY OUT'. And, yes, if we sign 3 players and a few years later we've made a profit on those three dealings I think we can say 'ah well' to the fact that we lost money on one of them.

People are very selective when being critical of our recruitment policy. The £12 million for 2 forwards line gets trotted out pretty regularly, but this fails to include Armstrong as part of that analysis. I get the Brereton gamble, I didn't really get the Gallagher deal, and the Armstrong deal looks like a bargain - so overall I wouldn't say we've done terribly. The reality is that we've spent £15 million on 3 forwards and there is a good chance that we would get almost all of that back selling Armstrong alone (and maybe even more for just him if a couple of clubs got interested at the right time). That's not an awful recruitment policy. Equally, Armstrong is a good example of why we need to show Brereton a bit of patience. Armstrong was a headless chicken for much of his early spell here (and elsewhere for that matter). Brereton needs more time to develop. More time in the side. And an opportunity to get some confidence. He may end up being a failure here. He may end up being a failure wherever he goes next. But we should at least get off his back enough to give him the chance to succeed. This time without a crowd could be just what he needs, but it does often feel as if many are hoping for him to fail so that they can say that they were right. I just don't get that.

Michael Jordan level is a bit extreme, but he is a huge figure in the sport and in world sport. I'm not someone who gets particularly impacted by celebrity deaths, it is always sad, but then it is not as if they are my friends or family. That being said, as someone who grew up in America, Kobe Bryant was the first young athlete I really related to. Up until that moment, everyone had always seen so much older, but I was 9 when he came into the league straight out of high school and so it was the first time that I felt as if an athlete was young/similar to my own age. That has made his death rather odd to think about.

Our last stint in the Championship should have told us that you don't get that many chances to go up. There are a lot of seasons where you aren't in and around the playoffs. Look at Derby. They've gone from being arguably the second-best side in the league to a team that needs a small miracle to even make the playoffs. There's no guarantee that we will be a win or two off the playoffs next January. Other sides might get better. All 3 promoted sides might perform well. We might have more injuries. We are there now and there is every chance that the right player or two could significantly increase our chances. Anyone arguing that we should keep our powder dry might well find that they have saved our resources for a rainy day.

I thought he was totally decent. Too many people have their minds made up about him and it would take a run of 20 incredible performances to change that. I thought it was a good return from injury and, hopefully, he can keep improving. Not sure why so many want to see him fail. Will be end up justifying the fee? Don't know. Could we have done something better with the money? Probably. But does he look like he could be a useful player to have a round? Quite possibly.

No, because I don't spend all day staring at boobs.

Maybe he will take Evans off of our hands'

Some things (most things) are bigger than football. I am happy to have Southgate in charge. I think he has totally changed that attitude of the England team and players and I am proud to have someone like him in charge when dealing with such an important moment in English/European/World football. If nothing else we can guarantee that he will always conduct himself with a degree of class and intelligence. That is a wonderful example to set.

I would play Downing as a left wingback.

Might see us make the full switch to three at the back (which I would be in favour of).

Or we thought it was worth taking a punt on a player who has struggled with injuries, but are being cautious with his development?

I don't understand this debate. Chapman's career has been derailed (saying derailed to a player who never established himself is already kind) by injuries. He has joined us permanently with the first focus being on making sure that he is fully fit and able to have a sustained period of availability. Good for him that he's managed to string a good month together, but there's no point giving him gametime only for him to break down in his second game. After proving that he can play for a sustained period of time, he then has to prove that he is good enough to be ahead of certain players. I am sure that he gets this. I am sure that the squad gets this.

I always thought he was decent at spurs and that level is more than good enough for us. Has said all the right things. Seems to have matured and turned into a true pro. Hopefully he could be a good influence on our squad. I sometimes fear that we have a bit of a wide boy culture, so adding a serious pro with a good pedigree could be just what we need.

4ish in my time - Sergio Peter, Pelzer, Babbel, and Jermaine Jones (may have played for the USA, but he was really German).

Right to the top? Of what? The Championship? No way he is a top-class keeper in the making. Could he do a job for a premier league side? Probably, at some point. But we will never hear anyone saying that Raya is one of the best keepers in the Premier League.