I'm fine with Gallagher if the reported £5m in fee is inclusive of add-ons (don't think we should be paying any more than £3m base) and it has no impact on signing goalkeeping and defensive reinforcements. Although granted the second part may be true simply because Venky's aren't willing to put any significant money into those positions anyway. One has to assume Gallagher will come in as one of our higher earners. One has to assume he'll be a starter but at the same time you also have to assume Graham will be first choice unless injured or rested, which probably makes Gallagher's position right wing. Gallagher - Dack - Rothwell across the middle potentially? Although with that said I'd be surprised if Downing came here to be a bench player, and you've also got Armstrong who Mowbray seems to like a lot.

In fairness before we launch into the usual hyperbole there's only been one person talking about Dack handing in a transfer request and I've maybe seen 2 or 3 posters max seriously talking about relegation at this point. I don't see meltdowns, only concern that attention isn't seemingly being focused on the areas we need to focus on the most (GK & defence). We have to hope the club is just keeping its cards close to its chest and we already have deals in the works for these positions. Mowbray's comments on the defence are alarming but it wouldn't be the first time a manager says one thing whilst doing another. I don't see the window as a disaster yet, just underwhelming which is fairly standard in the past 9 seasons or so. If we sign a solid keeper, a good centre back and a useful full back (on either side) then I think that would be a decent window. GK/CB only would be adequete but I think our full backs would become a massive achilles heel for us over the season. No CB would be poor, no new GK would undoubtedly be a disaster but there's no way we're going into the season with Leutwiler and Fisher as no1/no2. That would be incompetence beyond any previous levels imo.

Not to be disrespectful to Wharton or Magloire but if we're seriously expecting either or both of them to step up in place of buying defenders then we are in big trouble. Wharton was playing for Lincoln and Bury last season whilst Magloire doesn't even appear to have been out on loan anywhere despite being 20, which seems weird to me as he's never been near the first team squad until recently? We're falling into the same trap we've seen multiple times over the years under Venky's. Rush kids into the first team without adequate preparation, let the fans witness them making all the mistakes they should have made out on loan elsewhere, leading to an erosion of confidence and the player never fulfilling their potential. At 20 and 21 Magloire and Wharton aren't exactly kids anymore, but one has been playing at League 2 level and the other at u23 level with, as far as I can see, no real experience of proper first team football save for a couple of cameos last season for us. Extremely risky to expect either player to be a significant part of our defence next season imo.

I just can't see Mowbray playing without two midfielders in the centre. Two DM's has been a constant throughout his tenure, along with strikers on the wings. I'd be surprised to see either change at this point.

It all makes sense now.

£1.75m up to potentially £3m with add ons wasn't it? Pretty reasonable.

I posted a list a few pages back, every 20+ goal scorer last season cost significantly less than £5m, except Rodriguez who was bought for £12m when WBA were in the Premier League. It was all simply good scouting from the lower and european leagues, with a home grown prospect or two thrown in. Granted many of these were bought a few seasons back, but it just shows the value of looking ahead (and I don't mean by spending £7m on a youngster). If Gallagher scored 8-10 goals then I'd consider that reasonable considering he'd probably be spending most of his game time on the right wing. But it would only be reasonable if he was on loan or bought for significantly less than £5m.

The issue isn't necessarily Gallagher's quality (I think he'd be a competent Championship striker), more the reportedly large fee (compared to pretty much every 20+ goal scorer last season) and the fact we have other positions that desperately need strengthening. Plus Mowbray would probably play him on the wing.

Think Brentford are still well within net profit on transfers even if they spent £5m on Gallagher. Let them have him. We have enough strikers already. Unfortunately none of them are a Graham type, but it would be pretty irresponsible to spend £5m on another one when we critically need a goalkeeper and a centre back.

I like your optimism.

Unfortunately he was given a 3 year deal so he won't be out of contract until 2021. I can only imagine how much he will have deteriorated by then.

Sorry, not meant as a dig at you, just pointing out that opinion was far from universally negative when Evans signed his contract. Even I said "fine" even though I should have been enraged. Must have been having a good day.

Smallwood's suspension at the turn of the year was the only reason Travis got a look in for the second half of the season. People forget that TM was publicly talking about Travis going out on loan in January, but admitted that Travis' performances made it impossible for him to do so without looking stupid.

TOTAL COMMITMENT.... for 6 months, then we won't want him anymore.

It's just my pessimistic prediction based on what I perceive as Mowbray's preferences. I hope I'm wrong. I don't think people should read too much into the last month and a half of the season. That was not 'normal' Tony Mowbray, it was desperate Tony Mowbray trying to arrest a terminal slide, followed by a more relaxed TM who knew we were basically safe and was therefore willing to experiment. Look at Aug-Mar to see our manager's normal state of mind. Now granted Travis was pretty much a regular after Christmas in place of Smallwood, but Evans played a lot too. Reed didn't take his position - only once, really, against Derby in April. After that it was Evans/Travis. Who's to say Johnson won't come in to replace Travis? Keep in mind Evans started 33 matches last season, and Travis only started 19. Obviously Mowbray could start Evans/Travis, but I doubt we've brought Johnson in to sit on the bench. As fans I think 99% of us would see more positives in Travis than Evans, but from Mowbray's perspective I would guess he'd see more positives in Evans than Travis. People should not be surprised or horrified if Evans is starting alongside Johnson against Charlton. Anyone who would be genuinely stunned by this hasn't been paying attention to our manager.

I hope you are right re: Travis and Rothwell. I think Travis has a better chance of starting, but who drops out for him? Evans, I assume? So we're going to have a highly paid international midfielder on the bench? If that's the case we might as well try to sell him. We don't need a player drawing upwards of £12k p/w, at a conservative guess, warming the bench for most of the season. Our midfield influx would make a lot more sense if Evans and Smallwood were sold, although I have no idea who would be buying. Rothwell should start, but I have my doubts. We will see. As far as Mulgrew is concerned, we already know Bauer was basically told he's need to earn a place ahead of the old faithful, which suggests barring a very high profile CB signing Mowbray is thinking of starting with Lenihan/Mulgrew at CB, which would be a disaster. Mulgrew is done. He should have been asked to move on. Tony hasn't got that ruthlessness in him though. What concerns me is that if we do start the season with the same defence as last season, which is looking scarily likely at the moment, Mowbray will surely feel they need protection from the midfielders considering how many we conceded last season. He can't be stupid enough to think a new goalkeeper will cure all of our defensive woes. That's what makes me think steady-eddy, super crab Evans will likely be given the nod ahead of the less predictable but much more impactful Travis. I really hope I'm wrong though.

Again, it's Mowbray. I don't trust him to start the likes of Nyambe, Travis and Rothwell. I hope and pray that he does, but I have a feeling it'll take a bad run of form for the "trusted" players to lose their place. The only place I can see Rothwell in the team, assuming Downing is a starter, would be on RM. Could be Bennett on that flank though with Nyambe at RB. For the record my PREFERRED team would be: NEW Nyambe Lenihan NEW NEW Travis Johnson Rothwell Dack Armstrong Graham Looks way too risky for Mowbray though so I'm not confident. Note this is based on TM's usual formation and not necessarily what I'd go with tactically.

For what it's worth I think we'll line up: NEW Bennett Lenihan Mulgrew Bell Evans Johnson Armstrong Dack Downing Graham Possible that Nyambe will play at RB and Travis in CM, but I don't trust Tony in this regard. Evans is on plenty of money, has a new contract and has "discipline" so I don't think it's guaranteed that he'll be on the bench, and you have to assume Johnson will be starting. RM could be Travis, Brereton, Gallagher (if we sign him) or Armstrong (albeit on the wrong side of the pitch) potentially. Graham almost certainly will be our starting striker.

We've got a MC who can play goalkeeper... good old Richie. Just stock the whole team with central midfielders. Smallwood Bennett Rodwell Mulgrew Downing Johnson Evans Adam Travis Dack Davenport

I don't know about Amoruso a cult favourite for sure but I don't remember him being a great defender. Tugay on the other hand, absolutely.

The problem is with Tony's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation from last season the DR/DL do need to contribute higher up the pitch. Tony wants the AML/AMR to play an inside forwards rather than wingers, hence putting strikers like Brereton and Armstrong in those positions, which means they tend to come in quite narrow, just behind Graham on either side. This means our wide defenders need to come forward to support the attack and put in crosses/through balls. We've seen Bell high up the pitch running towards the box numerous times, whilst Nyambe tends to stay wider and either pass inside or attempt a cross. Unless Mowbray totally changes our style our full backs are going to need to contribute more than they are at the moment, and that will be the case even more if we go with a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 wing back style formation, which seems to be what Mowbray has attempted in the past with limited success.

Samba was similar, hence the telescopic leg! Difference is that Samba had Nelsen backing him up.

You're absolutely right that stats don't paint the full picture. I think the stats for our full backs as well as our midfielders are as much down to our tactics and style of play as it is the quality of the players. With that said Nyambe does get forward in open play so he needs to start getting a few assists at least. Fair point on Bennett, according to whoscored one of his assists came from DR and the other two from AML. The goal came from DML. His stats are poor as well but not necessarily fair to compare Vs. Nyambe due to his versatility. Also hard to expect consistency from Bennett when he's shuffled around the pitch so often.

Seems to be a common theme that when our defenders score we lose.

Was one of them in a cup match? I was only looking at league statistics (also possible the website just wasn't up to date). But yes our centre midfielders are also embarrassing when it comes to assists and goals. Evans with a zero on both. Even Smallwood got one assist. Johnson really can't do much worse.