He's the more natural back up for Dack yes as he's a pure 10. But we've just signed Downing who can play that role. We've also got Butterworth who needs a chance. Then you've got the wide players like Rothwell and Chapman who could do a job there. And we've got 5 strikers (Graham, Armstrong, Brereton, Nuttall, Samuel) to go into 1 position. so if Dack was out you could go 2 up top.

Surprised that we'd go in for Payne when we didn't last summer. Noticed he was in and out of a team that got relegated from League 1 last year. Actually think he's a decent player and would be useful if we are looking to play a more technical game. I wanted him back last summer. But then again we've a lot of players in that area and have a lot of holes elsewhere. I'd pass on this one.

depends what you mean by Dark Blue. If its Navy Blue i'm going to be very annoyed again.

Please tell me we're going back to proper blue?

I hope so. A return to the correct colours by the looks of things

Mowbray has toyed with a back 3 a few times now, If we wanted to get a bit more life out of Mulgrew and Williams then it could work. But it just moves the issues to the wing backs. Nyambe is a good full back but not attacking enough to be an effective wing back (he's technically the worst crosser of a ball i've ever seen at Ewood), Bennett isn't quick enough to be the only wide player/isn't good enough 1v1. Bell would suit the system though.

I agree, but think nobody on here has mentioned left back. Bell has improved as the season has gone on but he doesn't fully convince. We also have no real backup as i'd rather play a training cone at left back than Williams.

True, but i'd rather be starting the season with Lenihan and a new 1st choice centre back than starting the season with Lenihan and Williams/Mulgrew and having someone slightly better than Downing come in for 15 games a season when Lenihan is injured.

Sounds like Mowbray wanted him as backup to Lenihan as right CB. Which is worrying, we desperately need a partner for him. We should be looking to improve the starting 11 especially the back 4, not improve the 4th choice cb option. I've warmed to the downing signing a bit but i'm pretty confident he wont be at centre mid for us. I see him starting out wide or as the back up to Dack as a 10. I'm hoping a few of the younger lads really stake a claim on the pre-season tour especially Buckley, Rankin-Costollo or Lyons. Could save us some money as we seem to be in the market for another centre mid, and hopefully we can use that saved money to get defensive reinforcements. But thats more likely to be a dream than a reality.

With Nyambe likely to be late back due to playing in the African cup of nations unfortunately Bennett is nailed on to start the first game of the season at right back

If Mulgrew starts the first game of the season then I think something is badly wrong, with Mowbray picking favourites and with transfer priorities. albeit anecdotal and without saying whom but I spoke to someone who speaks to some of the players and they seem to think that Mulgrew is making a lot of errors and shouldn't be starting.

Swap Chapman or Armstrong for Brereton and I'm with you. Armstrong deserving of a place on the bench at the very least or had you forgotten him?

Winks might not be top drawer (he was one of the better players in a champs league final so he must be alright) but if we want to play out from the back then he's by far the best midfielder at picking the ball up from the centre backs, and thats what we failed to do on Thursday. The cb's got the ball down and looked up but the midfield didn't provide them with enough options. Though we looked a lot better when Henderson came on for Delph too, Delph is a handy player to have around but can't play cm against top level opponents. Dier is a very limited player, Rice looks like he has some potential, Loftus-Cheek needs to stay fit and start regularly but is talented, Going even further forward then Foden as one of the 3 is the hope, just got to hope he starts more games for city next year.

I doubt its just Mowbray that is keen to implement this, it'll be Waggott too that approves this strategy. I'm pleased that somebody is actually considering a medium term plan for the club, although like you say it's always a risk for Mowbray.

My interpretation of that and other interviews with Mowbray is that his aim is to set up this European scouting network so that at the end of next season if we cash in on Dack, then we are in a position to reinvest that money. Doesn't look like we will see the benefit of the new scouting model until January at the earliest.

Thats an interesting shout, might be on a heavy wage for us even if its slightly modest for him.

Suppose he would keep us ticking over nicely but isn't the most mobile anymore. My concern is that we play with the two centre mids sat deep in midfield and the team as a whole sit deep.

Whelan in centre mid as Reed's reeds replacement makes me worry about the type of football we are going to playing next season. He'd have fitted well instead of Smallwood or Evans in the first half of last season but I thought we were trying to push up the pitch more and I hoped we would be looking for someone a bit more mobile albeit not as dynamic as Travis. Still would like to see us spend our budget on the defence, I think if we start next season with Mulgrew starting at CB then we can wave goodbye to any dreams of a playoff push.

Problem is, there is no majority for anything

Has to be the correct shade of Blue. Don't care about anything else.

I’d be happy with Sam Gallagher especially with the high pressing game we were trying to implement at the end of the season. Not at £5million though. Couple of million perhaps max. It’s not a good sign that we are spending that much of the budget on a position where in theory (Graham and Brereton) we are covered. Suggests that we are either not spending the budget on the defence or Dack is be sold (selling our best player never works for us)

Most times i've seen Rotherham this season he's played as a holding midfielder (and played well) and we don't play with a midfield anchor. I assume if we were interested it'd be as a CB. Is he any good at Centre Back?

No left back on that list which is a shame.

If Sharpe thinks we are still after a keeper. Maybe the plan is to have Leutwiler as third choice and allow Fisher to out on loan again, with Albinson released as he's not going to make the grade. Then the new keeper and Raya will compete for the number 1 shirt.

On Gladwin, letting him continue his rehab at brockhall is a nice gesture, giving him a new contract to do that seems a bit silly considering he’ll never play for us.