I'd much prefer Fraser Forster to Joe Hart. Hart strikes me as someone who has lost the plot and spending the last 12 months with that lot wont have helped. Nor should we be doing any direct business with them. They will probably be delighted if we take him off their hands. Avoid please.

Monk has left under a cloud and strange circumstances from all 4 of his jobs when at the time results weren't particularly bad. Maybe he's the modern Billy Davies who despite good results at all his clubs seems to never last anywhere and falls out with people.

Brentford aren't daft. Far from it. They're one of the best clubs around in terms of recruitment and player progression. Theyre in a different League to us on that front.On that basis I'm sure Raya will be worth a lot more to them than they pay us. Folk trying to inflate the price to 5 million are off their rockers. Take a quick look through Brentford's incoming transfer spending over the years and ask yourselves if they are really going to start throwing around 3 to 5 million on an unproven goalkeeper from Rovers who has a lot to prove. Nope, not having it myself. It'll be 2 million or so at the most. They'll see an opportunity to develop him and sell on for a profit. I suspect this is the evidence of Mowbray having to raise funds and he's decided letting Raya go is ok in the scheme of things. On his head be it but the proof will be in who comes in.

Oldest trick in the Venky book to bring a couple of 'big name' free agents and then out the back door goes a player for a couple of million to cover the outlay. It has been said that the budget for fees AND wages is the same as last year, with authority to move money between the two. With Downing and Johnson in safe to say their wage packets will be a bit bigger than the Rothwells of last summer, so presumably the funds will be coming at the expense of transfer fees.

Presumably to raise the funds needed to bring in Johnson and Downing. Expect to see a freebie or loan keeper come in and then the cash we get for Raya will cover our summer spending.

Mowbray was very clear in the days following the closure of the January window that Assombalonga's wages were the obstacle. Unless he's suddenly decided to significantly drop his wages why would we be back in for him?

Seems strange to me. Surely if there were doubts about him or his character that would be looked at well before terms were offered and agreed? If Mowbray doesn't fancy/rate Smallwood/Evans then they need consigning to the history books NOW, rather than 'by Christmas'.

Everton released theirs today. Very similar 'reveal' to ours with mens players and ladies stood wearing it in the stand. Their shirt has gone down the route of the GK shirt and Hull shirt with a pattern over the upper half of the body. That's the sort of thing i was expecting from ours with the blue at least having a design or pattern in it. Still don't get the point of the miniscule amount of red on the shirt. No problem with having red on the home shirt but at least make it recognisable - red sponsor, red collar etc. rather than just a tiny trim around a small part of the sleeve.

We might be holding out for that but we won't get it. 3 million maximum but probably less than that. Brentford don't pay 4 million for a Championship goalkeeper.

Just waiting for the Telegraph 'It is understood that Derby midfielder Bradley Johnson is not one of the names on Mowbray's list despite national media reporting a move to Rovers was on the cards. Mowbray is an admirer but there havent been any talks and his wages could be an issue' Might have to wait for Rich Sharpe to get back from his holidays.

I assume we will be getting the same as the dingles. Only taking more. Will be annoying if they had a bigger allocation.

Talking about, thinking about, hoping to. Ifs buts and maybes. That's life under Venkys. They are apparently billionaires who will do whatever is needed to deliver success. They want to sign Beckham and Ronaldinho. They want to appoint Rafa Benitez. We get Steve Kean and Mauro Formica. They want to spend to get us promoted but unfortunately those nasty FFp rules stop them and they have to sell everyone of any value, rip up the squad, only allow loans and frees and take us to League One. They now want to spend but have managed to stumble across the only manager in world football who will try to persuade them to spend less. Outcome? I know what I expect. A succession of excuses, theories, tales of hard luck, missed targets. End result is the same. Every time. Common theme through all this? Bull**** from the owners over 9 years.

Exactly. Those who cling to the 'slow build' concept are those who will turn around when Dack is sold and say more time is needed to replace him and rebuild. On and on that cycle goes until we've lost another 50 million quid to tread water in the Championship, at best. Norwich needed 2 seasons under Farke. Sheffield United did it in their 2nd season after promotion from League One. Wolves did it in year 2 after their takeover. Cardiff in Warnock's first full season. Burnley in Dyches first full season. Brighton and Middlesbrough in Hughton and Karankas 2nd seasons having gone close before. The idea of a 4-5 year build or whatever we are now talking about is wrong. We're in year 2 in the Championship so should expect 'the plan' to be coming to fruition. That isn't to say promotion is expected or demanded but that the slow build concept should now be reaching conclusion. There isn't the time in football these days to build over 4 years, not when operating like we do

They've been here for 9 years and have apparently spent almost 150 million since being here. If they still need help they must be slow learners. Many owners with no previous involvement in football learn how it works in much less time for a lot less money. Fact is at no club should the manager be guiding the owners. The manager is a short term employee who delivers results. I think you'll find I wouldn't trust these owners as far as I could throw them and think they are con men. I do trust Mowbray but he has numerous faults. I'm just pointing out the potentially ludicrous situation being suggested where the owners can and want to spend yet their employees are supposedly stopping that.

Just imagine if the Arabs had turned up at Man City and Mark Hughes had turned around and told them not to spend because he preferred a slow build and didn't want to risk anything. Same with Ranieri at Chelsea. Owners decide what happens and what the budget is. Manager delivers it. It isn't the managers job to tell them to put the brakes on or spend less.

It doesn't matter, or at least shouldn't, what Tony wants. The owners decide on the target and the funding and employ a manager to deliver on it. If Mowbray is uncomfortable or unhappy with that or FFP concerns then get a manager who isn't.

If that's correct then it appears there is an unprecedented situation where the owners of the club want to spend and make good signings and the manager is reluctant. I don't believe that is the case as it would make Mowbray a managerial freak, and it would mean Venkys want to spend which I don't believe. But if it is true then the owners need to make a decision. No way would any normal club or owners tolerate that.

But they can. Man City wear Sky Blue but there's many different ways of delivering that. I don't think anyone wants or expects a change from blue and white halves but this Umbro stuff is extremely repetitive and very overpriced. Lets be honest. They knew full well that after last season's 'controversial' effort any return to normality would be well received so they've effectively regurgitated a kit from 3 years ago.

I wasn't overly keen on last years but at least I could see some sort of logic in the decision - trying something different to try and generate some extra interest. The only plus point I can see is we're going back to darker blue, which the majority will be happy with, but other than that there's nothing to it. Certainly nothing to suggest any difference to Umbro kits of previous years. No wonder Umbro just churn out the same old stuff every couple of years if some are so happy to pay for it.

Not checked if mentioned but Jack Payne has joined Lincoln. Some signing for them.

When charging 50 quid a time I'd expect a bit more imagination than effectively just repeating the same design as 3 years ago. End the day sales will determine success but for me it doesn't look like any thought has gone into it but it will be well received because they've reverted back to darker blue. Not really any point in the red trim on the sleeves given it doesn't appear anywhere else.

Very average and boring kit. Virtually identical to recent Umbro efforts of 2011 and 2016. Slight alteration with no red on the collar and that's about it. I had hoped with the Hull and West Ham efforts that we'd see some form of different design or pattern but no. Nothing wrong with it but nothing to set it aside from recent home shirts. Same old. The Bet 10 sponsor still looks rubbish.

The problem that doesn't seem to have been factored into all the talk about improving recruitment and in particular this European scouting stuff is that everyone else does it. The way some people talk you'd think we're breaking new ground here by investing in recruitment and sending scouts to the continent. Every other club in the top two divisions and probably plenty below send people on scouting trips all over the world and invest heavily in it and have been doing for years. So whilst better value for money can arguably be found in Europe, the reality is everyone is on the lookout and competing for the gems. You have to be armed with big money/helpful agents (Wolves, Forest) or be really good at it (Huddersfield, Norwich). We're neither. The fact it's taken 2 years of Mowbray's management to get to a stage where we're getting excited because someone, maybe Mowbray, went to watch a game in Holland a couple of months ago shows how far behind we are. The club has been neglected for years in an attempt to save a few quid but the short-termism of that approach means we're now having to re-invest over a sustained period to even contemplate catching up to other Championship sides who all have this sort of thing in place and have done for years. It was never needed/used from Bowyer onwards. Firstly because Bowyer's focus, rightly or wrongly, was on those players he had come across previously or were recommended by his dad/friends, and ever since then there has been no serious intention to utilise the European market for the benefit of the club. What needs to happen, of course, is that we should have had a competent and empowered Director of Football who would oversee such a scouting operation and be tasked with ensuring we were delivering on that over a sustained period of time regardless of the man in the dugout on matchday. It seems Mowbray has taken that responsibility on himself but of course he should be focusing on coaching and matchday not overall recruitment. Recruitment is a never ending process that should exist partly in tandem with the manager but also be independent and continue when the manager leaves or gets sacked, which like it or not could happen at a moment's notice. All in all we're about 5-10 years behind the times when it comes to the operation of things. We can get away with it so long as Mowbray continues to deliver good enough results to keep us going. After that i dread to imagine.

No mention of replacement u23 managers. With Dunn and now Johnson gone we will surely need to recruit an external coach to drive the u23s on in the tough competitions next season.

Looks very similar there to the relegation shirts of 2011-12 and 2016-17. Hopefully there's more to it than just a repeat of those.