No chance of him starting at RB imo. Mowbray has Bennett and Nyambe who can play there, so no reason to rush Ada into that position. CB is the only position I could see him potentially starting in, but that would entirely depend on whether Mowbray is still unsure about Mulgrew. My guess is that Lenihan/Mulgrew still start at CB.

Also, again, it's about setting a precedent. If Bolton go unpunished for failing to fulfil one of their fixtures then the EFL are opening the door for others clubs to do the same and expect no repurcussions.

The PFA are basically Bolton's owners at this point. I feel like they're setting a dangerous precedent by repeatedly paying for Bolton's mistakes. If other clubs start to go to the wall in the same way in the next few years, what justification is there now for the PFA not to step in and do the same?

Problem is I'm not sure it's so much desire with Mulgrew as ability. He's never been a convincing CB and with age catching up it will only make things more difficult. I'd prefer him to be brought on as DM in games we're trying to run down in a Tugay-esque role at this point, as he has some excellent passing ability, but it doesn't look like that is on the cards.

Simmer down a little lads. Haven't needed to do much moderation on this thread lately and it would be nice to keep it that way. I wouldn't expect the City lad to start against Charlton considering we've only just brought him in, but this is why I really wanted defensive reinforcements in ASAP. Attackers/midfielders could wait a little longer, as we already have options there, but defence was a major priority and it's a shame any we now bring in aren't going to be integrated until we've played at least two or three matches, if not more. Still, it is what it is and hopefully it won't have too much of an impact on us.

We'll have to wait a few seasons to know for sure, as the past few seasons were very much in line with the average stats for scored/conceded. As it stands last season was an anomoly.

Very briefly checked back over previous seasons and last season was definitely an unusual one in terms of goals conceded at the top end of the table. The majority of seasons the teams at the top end did not usually concede much above 50. Norwich going up as Champions with 57 conceded is the most in Championship history (going back to when D1 was renamed to the Championship), so highly unusual. WBA conceded 55 when they went up as champions but that was way back in the 07-08 season (and guess who was managing them then?). Believe it or not Burnley conceded just 35 goals when they went up in 15/16, whilst Boro in second conceded just 31!

To be honest both Norwich and Villa conceded what I would consider above average in terms of goals last season whilst getting promoted. Norwich conceded 57 and Villa 61, whereas Stoke way down in 16th only conceded 52. Obviously scoring 93 (Norwich) and 81 (Villa) helped them overcome their defensive issues, but in comparison Wolves only conceded 39 goals when they came top in 17-18, whilst Cardiff and Fulham conceded 39 and 46 respectively. Teams in general seemed to concede a hell of a lot more goals last season. No team in the top 8 conceded above 48 goals in the 17-18 season, whilst only Sheff Utd and Middlesbrough from the top 8 managed to concede less than 50 last season.

FB is definitely our weak point, and I think that's what teams will try to exploit. It wouldn't surprise me to see Downing playing often at LB, but that doesn't really fill me with confidence either. Our full backs are going to need cover from the players ahead of them, and I'm not convinced we have the personnel for that as Rothwell, Armstrong and Gallagher are not defensively-minded players. Travis and Johnson can do their best to help out in that regard but then our CB's will be left exposed, so, it's risky.

Based on our collapses last season whenever we got within sniffing distance of the playoffs I'm not especially confident. I think with another decent CB addition we have the ability to challenge top six, but the mentality of both the manager and the team needs to change significantly. More courage and belief required. We need to play teams like we believe we're a top six team, rather than going into every match like we're the underdog.

Brereton's strong pre-season just re-affirms my thoughts that we really didn't need Gallagher. We're in a situation where you could argue none of our strikers (Graham, Brereton, Gallagher) deserve to be third choice and would be an absolute waste of resources that far down the pecking order. I really wish that £5m + wages had gone towards the defence and we'd brought in a Rothwell/Davenport type either from our u23's or elsewhere to challenge across the midfield/striking position.

If Gallagher is starting on the bench I will be pretty flabbergasted that we spent £5m on another player to sit and watch. We can argue Brereton is young, needs time to develop, flex, whatever else. Gallagher is a 23 year old we bought from a Premier League club who has plenty of experience in this league. I can't imagine many other clubs in our position spending £5m on a player and then putting him on the bench and then using him as a rotation option.

I would be surprised be Bennett and Gallagher are on the bench. I expect Bennett to start ahead of Nyambe and one of Armstrong or Rothwell to make way for Gallagher, but otherwise that seems like the most likely line up.

Yep, a good defender who wanted out of Ipswich after the way the fans treated Mick - and he wasn't the only one.

It's basically just a retelling of a small part of the FFVII story. Mostly faithful to the original with a couple of minor changes which imo are an improvement. No idea if Last Order is canon, but it was released as part of the japanese Advent Children DVD set so I guess so?

In fairness you have to think about the quality of facilities, etc, when loaning out a player as well. Not going to be much good loaning them out to a team in dissaray, losing often, with a training ground that may or may not be open, a disenfranchised squad and of course Jason Lowe. I imagine there are a lot of teams waiting for the takeover to happen and ready to make deals if/when Bolton look like they are back on a sound footing.

Strange as he was originally due to sign for Millwall back in June, but it was called off - "medical complications": https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48761770 Millwall got a new doctor or something else going on? I suppose Ipswich may have agreed to lower the price as from what I hear they want their new keeper as no1 and Bialkowski will be on a crazy wage for a League 1 second choice keeper.

Trust me, it was more of a lament than a brag.

Considering my location I have probably seen and heard more about him than anybody on here tbf.

Ipswich fans aren't bothered about losing him, which should tell you enough. He might have been a good keeper in the past (although still made plenty of mistakes) but he isn't now. If he was that good he'd have much more interest. Ipswich aren't asking much for him - they've already brought in a keeper to replace him. They just want him gone. For me he wouldn't be a capable no2 as I wouldn't be confident with him between the sticks. But you are right in that I doubt he'd want to come here as a backup keeper, and he wouldn't be asking for the type of wage a backup keeper would be making anyway. Probably why it's definitely a no go.

Not for us, Bialkowski is a very poor keeper - hence Milwall being the only team interested.

We've been hearing that for the last week tbf.

Because he's not very good, is injury prone and his wages could be put to better use elsewhere. Simple as that, no overthinking involved. You obviously rate him a lot higher than I do, so our perspectives will differ, but for me we would lose absolutely nothing if Evans was moved on.

Yeah that was pretty disappointing in retrospect. We didn't even play well in that match, from recollection Ipswich at least matched us. The next week we drew 0-0 at home to Millwall which was another poor result, before we beat Hull & Brentford 1-0 in the coming weeks, with a draw against Reading sandwiched in between. So in truth we actually didn't exactly start the season on fire, but we were gaining points, even if a lot of the matches were draws. Our first loss was against Bristol City on Sep 2nd when they thumped us 4-1. Last season's draw against Ipswich on the opening day is perhaps a reminder that you can never take a win for granted. We didn't know it at the time but they were the worst team in the division by some distance - even worse than Bolton, who at times couldn't even pay their squad.

The problem with Evans as back up, as others have mentioned, is that he isn't being paid a back up player's wage. Why hand him a new contract last season on what was probably the same level of wage just to sit on the bench? I doubt he would be happy with that and other players being paid less but starting ahead of him would be perfectly entitled to ask the manager to raise their salaries accordingly. It's best for all parties if Evans moves on imo, but I get the feeling Mowbray does not see him as a backup option and we'll be seeing more of Evans than people are assuming.