According to wiki Gallgher's strike rate is roughly 1 in 6, which isn't great. Assombalonga and Austin obviously find the net much more often, but would likely also cost a lot more money in the short and long-term. Ultimately you tend to get what you pay for, with the odd exception here and there.

I watched their match against Ipswich and yeah, based on that I'd be very surprised if they even get a playoff place, let alone promoted.

He'd have to compensate for that with very quick thinking and excellent positioning. I think he has it in his locker, but it's a question of whether he has the mentality to consistently do it week-in week-out.

Agreed. I think people trot out the 'he's not physical enough' line because at first glance Dack isn't the tallest or most intimidating looking bloke, but he's got a very stocky frame and knows exactly how to use it to shield the ball and hold off opponents. You don't have consistently good seasons in League 1 if you have no physical presence.

I think our 'biggest' deadline day under Venky's was the summer we got Yak and Dann in on the last day. By the next summer our deadline day signings were Nuno Henrique and Diogo Rosado... I'm not sure we had many deadline day signings after that. Mulgrew and Emnes in summer 16/17? They were both signed on 31 August but can't remember if the window extended into September. I think Jordi Gomez was a winter deadline day signing as well.

As far as I'm aware Madon and a Boro ITK who broke the news on Obi Mikel are the main sources for the Assombalonga speculation. Nothing on any official channels as of yet.

If we aren't prepared to break our wage structure every so often for a top player then it's unlikely we'll ever get anywhere. What are we supposed to do, gradually increase every player's wages to absurd amounts before signing somebody on a big wage? If Venky's and Mowbray are serious about promotion then at times the wage structure should be broken to attract a top talent. Obviously big expectations and responsibilities will be placed on that player, but that's why they'd be earning big money. There aren't that many players we have in our team who I'd say could complain if Assombalonga came in on big wages. Most of them are on a very fair wage for their overall talents and/or age. The only player I could think may be justified in asking for parity would be Dack. Possibly Graham and Mulgrew as well but at their ages they won't be here for too much longer anyway. The rest are on wages befitting their talent/ability imo, and if a player like Assombalonga came in and propelled the team to greater heights then chances are anybody playing regularly would benefit from higher wages in future as the team would collectively look better. All this talk about disrupting the harmony of the dressing room comes off to me as people being happy with mediocrity and stumbling around the Championship in mid-table forevermore. There's nothing wrong with ambition and that usually brings change as well. That all said, do I expect Assombalonga to show up? No, not really. Not doubting Madon's information but until it's signed and sealed I won't be holding my breath. That said I never expected us to drop £8m on Rhodes back in 2012, or £7m on Brereton this summer, so it's not like anybody can really predict what our owners will do next.

Tbf other than one person on here pretty much all of us do appreciate how good he is and has been for us.

Yeah I really struggle to get used to this system. Part of the reason I loved Persona 5 was that the combat was turn based. I started playing Final Fantasy Type 0 a while back, the story is supposed to be pretty good but again... real time combat system. It just doesn't work for me. Not how it's done in FF games, anyway.

Smallwood should have been dropped from the first eleven long before he was. I have no problem with him on the bench as backup to harry the opposition for the last twenty minutes, but he's just not a starter in a decent Championship team. His effort can never be faulted, but sometimes you have to look beyond that. Travis has not only the work rate but far superior technical ability and an attacking quality which Smallwood lacks. Injuries and suspensions will I'm sure play their parts going forward as far as CB is concerned, so I expect Mulgrew will feature again sooner rather than later. If we can get by without him long term then great, as his age and wage mean he won't realistically be here for that much longer. A class player though, so just a case of enjoying those moments of class for as long as he's still here.

Derby, they beat us just before their bad patch of form started, and even then they were lucky. If not for our lack of concentration they'd be looking at 5 losses out of 6!

Rotherham 1-0 Leeds, 4 losses out of 5 now if they don't turn that one around!

Usually when we have these kinds of spells against teams we fail to capitalise, so it's nice to see that change. This recent string of wins combined with Bennett's return and Travis' emergence has really lifted us back off the floor.

Won't get too carried away yet, but scoring two in the first half at home? That's unusual!

That just means my money will start to disappear on things I don't enjoy instead I'll give this junk collecting a little more time before resorting to extreme measures! Initial thoughts on FFXV from the first twenty minutes or so including tutorial... - it's very Final Fantasy, which is both good and bad. - not my preferred choice of combat system, but I guess I'll get used to it. Still prefer turn based. - it's cool that the game allows you to select Japanese VA and English subs. I still have vivid memories of when you were forced to have English VA or nothing. - graphics are extremely impressive, especially in the cutscenes. - loading times are longer than I expected.

When it comes to judging a player's character, I trust Mowbray to know when something is amiss. Admittedly I think he's probably signed too many "nice lads" and not enough proper winners with a bit of a nasty streak in them, but by the same token under Mowbray's management we've had no players like Murphy, Etuhu, DJ Campbell, Leon Best, Bradley Orr, Shane Duffy (good player for us but a collossal bell), or countless others of the past seven years who have disgraced the shirt. It's obvious that Rodwell has the natural talent - it's his personality and character that Mowbray will be observing, and it sounds like he's still waiting to be convinced that a long-term investment is worthwhile.

I downloaded it on my PS3 when it was on sale for something like £3 a few months ago. Unfortunately it's one of a worryingly large number of games I haven't gotten around to playing yet. I've got so many now. VR games, steam games, PS4 games, PS3 games, 360 games, not to mention a shedload of retro games that I really want to get through. Yet despite this I KEEP BUYING MORE.

Something doesn't quite sound right there. Tony certainly doesn't sound as keen to sign Rodwell up as our fans seem to be. I have to say I'd be wary as well. Rodwell has done alright recently, yes, but he wouldn't be the first player in our colours to play well for a contract and then sit back to coast for the next few years until the expiry date creeps up again. We've got a certain player in the team right now who's an expert at it.

I'm not expecting much, but sometimes that's the best way to approach something. When I was a kid I wanted "WCW Vs the World" for Christmas, but instead got FF7. Being an uninformed idiot I was pretty confused and disappointed. Turns out FF7 was one of the best games of all time, whilst WCW Vs the World... wasn't. Granted, I'm not expecting FFXV to come close to FF7, but I may enjoy it. For £7 it's worth a shot. Game Collection are also doing Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom for £9.95, which is supposed to be very good. Might pick that up too. Why not. It's payday on Monday so it's all good.

Game Collection are doing Final Fantasy XV for £6.95, so figured I might as well pick it up at that price. Not sure I'll play it but I have all the others (excluding 11 & 14, but imv MMO's don't even count as official FF titles) so thought I might as well grab this one too. Maybe it'll surprise me.

By we I assume you mean Venky's? Balaji looking at Mowbray when he suggests loaning out the new £7m signing like If Mulgrew & Rodwell pick up injuries and Lenihan a suspension we could legitimately see a back line of Bennett - Nyambe - Williams - Bell. Even typing it out gives me chills.

Unfortunately that probably tells you all you need to know about our ambition for this season. If Mowbray considers Nyambe, Bell and Williams good enough cover at centre back for the rest of the season then he's either praying for a miracle in Mulgrew & Rodwell both staying fit or isn't targeting anything close to a top six finish.

No offence intended towards Downing, but the fact people are worried about him leaving shows how utterly bereft we are of real quality at the back.

Agreed, but this is GB we're talking about! Given the choice between a steady 6-7/10 every week player or an inconsistent player who could be a 4 or 5/10 but had the ability to be 9-10/10 when he's in the mood, GB would always go for the steady eddie. In fairness most managers would, and our current manager definitely would as well!

Can you remember many games where King impressed playing wide? I only ever remember him running into useless space and frustrating everybody by losing the ball. He rarely used his pace effectively on the wing, although whether that is down to King or down to the fact he wasn't coached very well on wing play whilst he was here is another matter. His best performances by far were those cup games where he played through the middle and absolutely ripped Swansea and Stoke's defences apart with his pace.