Too much can happen between now and January for us to even remotely concern ourselves with potential incomings or outgoings in that window at this stage. That's why our business has to be done in the next few days because 4 months until the next window is a massive gap with a huge amount of football to play. Sadly for one reason or another there seems to be a group of people who enjoy or benefit from continually linking our players with transfers away the moment they or we do reasonably well.

Really pleased with the game plan and effort today. Thought we set up very well and managed the game very well. Something of a 'Burnley-esqe' performance with them having the majority of possession and chances but us keeping them out and taking our chance when it came. Need more options and depth, not good enough having Hart, Caddis and Nuttall all in the squad.

Would Grayson be an option for Scunthorpe I wonder? They were linked with him before giving Daws the job.

I'm not sure this really takes us any further than we already were. If the idea is he's cover for CB and CM then ok but can't see him being up to speed for some time yet unless he's really taken care of himself since leaving Sunderland. I'm not opposed to the deal on the basis it is a low risk see how it pans out sort of deal and could work out well but I certainly won't be very happy if this is one of the so-called exciting quality signings we were being told to expect. Once again easy to get the cheap short term low risk deals done but not so easy to actually get money spent on quality ready to go players. Much more to do yet.

Well we'll see how it goes, could work out, could just as easily fail. Certainly not a signing that is going to get people excited or be a game changer. Need much more than this I'm afraid even if he does get himself fully fit. Still no sign of the money or exciting long term signings we were promised.

Wouldn't ever tolerate taking a loan from them. Hemed a different matter though.

The Norwich paper said he couldn't make CM his own ahead of someone else there so in the second half of last season he ended up playing RB.

Has anyone signed yet? I thought we said a couple would be announced today? Time running out again on another self-imposed window. Sounds like this Reed rumour is going to be a loan with no option or obligation to buy according to Myers. Not really a surprise as a buy would require a cash commitment and it seems we're struggling to do those even with this alleged backing from the owners.

Realistically apart from Brentford and QPR the same applies to everyone else at this level who all have plenty of empty seats every week. Our ground, like most others, was built with Premier League football in mind, and so unless we are in the Premier League it will have a lot of empty seats. I was actually surprised by the attendance last night. Given there were '200' Reading fans (appeared to be less than that) I thought the home ends looked reasonably well populated for a Wednesday night game against Reading. The BBE and Riverside looked as busy as they usually do on Saturdays.

Yes but the other way of looking at it is we've conceded 4 poor goals against poor sides in Ipswich and Reading and were very lucky not to concede vs Millwall. Maybe I'm being over critical. I enjoy the way we play going forward and I think we'll cause everyone problems with our attacking play but do think that defensively we are to be got at. Long balls and set pieces in particular seem to be an issue. To concede 2 at home last night v Reading was poor. We showed good character to fight back and get a point but really it was a position we shouldn't have got ourselves into and it prevented a win. Similar I suppose to Oldham at home last year where we gave away poor goals and then despite fighting back couldn't get the 3 points. In terms of not taking chances it wouldn't matter if we only needed 1 to win games and we could defend resolutely the rest of the time, but when you need 3 to win as per Ipswich and Reading you're having to create an awful lot to get the required goals.

From what I gather Bolton have lived a charmed life so far this season. Fair dos they've had some good results but by most accounts they were very fortunate to win vs West Brom, Reading and Birmingham. Last night their goal was from a blatant handball. Nonetheless they've got themselves sorted out at the back it seems so no matter how good or bad you are if you don't concede many you'll do ok. That's my concern with us that we never appear to be far from conceding even when on top in games. Last night plenty of occasions where we were well on top and ended up in danger from nothing more than a long ball forward or smash up from the opposition. We seem to panic too much for my liking and struggle to absorb pressure.

Once again Mowbray putting his neck on the line. Expects 2 signings before the weekend (seemingly not attackers) and hopefully 'much bigger deals' than free agents coming in the next 9 days. If we end up with a few loans/free agents its clear why people will be disappointed when the manager is mentioning 'much bigger deals' on the way. Reading between the lines I'd expect Rodwell and a couple of loans, possibly Reed and a CB, from Premier League clubs. We're probably so confident of announcing them because getting loans over the line is much easier than committing to cash purchases which will go down to the wire.

Looking at the few games last night it had a bit of an effect. Rotherham v Hull only 8,900 on officially whereas I'm sure it would be a couple of thousand more for a 'derby game'. 24,000 on Derby which is a good 3-4000 less than what they usually announce. 11000 on QPR - again even though they're struggling they usually get more than that on at home. Wouldn't surprise me if we're at less than 10,000 tonight. Reading don't travel in numbers at the best of times so probably 200 of them coming.

This comes back to the 'conspiracy theory' that has been going round for a while now that the derby games and big followings are deliberately reserved for the weekends whilst the nightmare long distance games are moved to midweek. Makes sense for the money men who want the hoardes turning up at the weekend and are quite happy with a couple of hundred turning up mid-week. Therefore if the plan works as designed clubs shouldn't miss out on those sort because in theory the likes of Stanley v Bradford or Morecambe v Carlisle would qualify as weekend games Rovers are down for Swansea away midweek which is as a bad a trip as they come but there will probably be 500 or so go down, possibly a few more if we're doing ok. On a Saturday that might be 1,000 at a push so they'll have it sussed out. Preston at Norwich tonight which is another one that makes no sense yet I saw the big city club PNE had sold almost 300 tickets as of yesterday. How many on Saturday at Norwich? Maybe another 3-400 but not much more. I was disappointed with the red button service last night. I couldn't be bothered with the pro-Leeds propaganda so watched Rotherham v Hull, it was quite surreal as it appeared to be running through the internet with a patchy picture and only one camera angle.

Sums up how ridiculous it is though. QPR are supposedly under a transfer embargo as of January, so they've a narrow window to make signings to help them try and stay up, and can now go out and bring in decent signings like Wells and Hemed who will be on very good money.

I don't think ive gone as far as to suggest it is coming from the Rao's necessity to be 'liked'. I agree they couldn't care less about any of it. I'm not going as far as to suggest this is some elaborate ploy from them to win fans over. I also believe there is some money available (though not at the levels reported). But it doesn't do anyone any harm to tell people we've got a good budget thanks to the owners generosity even if it doesn't get us anywhere. We've heard all that talk since the day they arrived - supposedly billionaires who will pay whatever the club needs - 100 companies - never refuse to write a cheque - shame about FFP as without it they'd have spent more - then once FFP is lifted there's money there to spend yet we've not spent it etc. Its a running theme. But once again - none of it actually matters if we cannot get deals over the line Whether we've £1 million or £10 million is irrelevant if we cannot get the number and calibre of players in that are needed, that the manager expects or wants. I don't see Mowbray's words as a con job. I've taken his words at face value - which is the exact reason I am concerned as to why we're so far short of what he said. I've no doubt he's ambitious and trying to put an exciting team together. I've no doubt he's working very hard behind the scenes. There are other components to a transfer than what Mowbray wants - the owners, their advisor, Cheston, Waggott - all sorts of reasons that don't involve Mowbray leading us a merry dance. They might well have a big chunk of cash available to buy players but if we're unable or unwilling to pay the rate on wages or other fees then again, it won't get us what we need.

I'm not blurring any lines. It doesn't matter whether the manager has said he wants or likes or expects. Fact is he set the bar at 4 or 5 additions and so far we've had 0. That tells me that things haven't gone to plan. Mowbray didn't need to say 4 - 5 yet did say that which suggests at the very least that is what he wanted or expected to happen. Take your pick which, doesn't matter. What matters is we're short on where we wanted/needed to be. Yes I did expect us to keep our best players. The only 1 I worried about was Lenihan but then again he was injured most of last season so clubs will wait and see. Likewise they will wait and see on Dack to see how he copes in the Championship against the decent sides. The noise the club has made has been of a big budget, exciting signings and at least 4 more following the Armstrong capture. If they didn't expect to deliver that or weren't intending on achieving that then they shouldn't have said it. The options are that they said it to flog tickets or that they expected it to happen but for some reason it hasn't. As the deadline approaches selling clubs will be hesitant to let players go as they won't have time to replace them. Agents will go in high on demands knowing we've not much time to negotiate them down. That's why I'm concerned about talk of moving onto different targets after all this time. Clubs and agents can name a price and tell us to take it or leave it. We can do the same to them. But it could just as easily see prices go up then come down, depends whether we're more desperate than they are. In terms of your final paragraph - it is very easy to put an impression out there is money to spend, and to tell people that money is going to be spent or can be spent, only to turn around after and say 'we tried but couldn't'. The beneficiaries of this are Venkys, who win credibility in the eyes of supporters for 'trying' to invest and improve the club. You're probably reading me correctly. I'm suggesting that there's a massive difference between talking of spending money and actually doing it. I can talk about buying a Ferrari, go to a showroom, make an offer, then go home and tell all my friends that I'm interested in buying one and I've made an offer. But until that offer gets accepted and then I overcome the hurdle of finding £200k down the back of the sofa its nothing more than talk. Less talk, more walk. I'll credit the owners when the bodies are here and given their track record I'll believe multi-million bids when I see the outcome of those.

Not sure whether it is correct that I am constantly trying to find some sort of cock up or conspiracy or that our activity to date suggests that there is. I'm only going off what the manager has said compared to what has happened and now what appears to be a slow shift in his comments in the press. If Mowbray had come out in July and said he didn't think we needed to add to the squad and that he felt one or two additions would do then I'd accept that. On his head be it. But he hasn't said that, so it is only natural the people wonder what is going on when we're significantly short of where we said we would be. Not sure what 'not bowing to agents' means. The way I see it the closer we get to deadline day without necessary reinforcements the MORE likely it is we will bow to others demands and cough up a bit more, otherwise we're taking a huge risk. Just about every other club in this league has spent more or added more players than we have this summer - have they all been taken advantage of by agents? Yes we've been fleeced in the past but surely with this new competent structure in place such a thing couldn't ever happen again? Also in the past the club was being run by agent(s) which was the reason we were taken advantage of. We had a Director of Football. That lasted for 1 transfer window where we signed 1 player on loan so I don't think it actually matters. Another example of what I'm getting at is this talk about Xmas and 'hoping' we don't have to go through until then without these reinforcements. Just another example of delaying and pushing it back - a month or so ago the very suggestion of making do with what we have until January would have been met with uproar with the manager saying he expected 4-5 quality additions in the building, yet now as we enter the final few days of the loan window with no additions the thought of making do and waiting until January is gradually being put out there as a possibility and entering peoples minds as a possibility. It should never have reached that stage. No doubt when January does come round we'll get the same talk - its a bad time to do business, not many other clubs do business, agents are making too much money, clubs are asking for too much money, better off saving the money and waiting until the summer when the better deals are available - all might be true but that doesn't help put together a squad with sufficient depth and quality. The 'choosing not to spend' line comes from the club - last January and since then Waggott boasted of the resources made available by the owners and either Mowbray or Waggott said that they chose not to spend all the cash available. So I don't think it is unreasonable to expect something similar to occur this summer - tell everyone that we had cash to spend and tried to get deals done but just couldn't manage it. Already I've seen bucket loads of messages and tweets from people saying how Venkys now 'get it' and are spending heavily in backing the manager and yet at the moment the only basis for that is rumour and talk, not bodies in the building.

People can say what they like about McClaren but his record as a manager is far better than Coyles. Whilst he wouldn't have been top of my list his record in the Championship at Derby is pretty reasonable. He failed miserably with England and Newcastle. Also of importance was his 'head coach' suitability and willingness to work under a D of F. A lot of their odd decisions seem to have come under Les Ferdinand yet their fans won't really get on his back. For all their problems and poor decisions I expect QPR will ditch him quite quickly and appoint someone else, rather than allow him to remain in place until February as we did with Coyle.

Tend to agree. Too much of a risk for me in terms of his fitness but also his lack of experience in the Championship. I wouldn't mind if he was being brought in to work his way into contention over time and develop at the club but more urgently we need people who are able to go straight into the team if called upon. I'd also be quite alarmed if after all this summer and all the talk about budgets, new recruitment, waiting for our targets etc. that we ended up doing the Chapman one. Mowbray has suggested we're looking at a higher calibre more experienced group of people so if after all this time we bring back on loan a lad who was here last season who Mowbray didn't fancy to start back then it won't tally.

If you believe the stories that we're going around bidding £4 million for Freeman and £5 million+ for Brereton then it seems cash for transfer fees isn't the issue. Makes me question what the wage situation is like at the club as its clear we're in some difficulties in getting Championship experienced players into the building despite being supposedly armed with millions thanks to our kind owners. Just hope we don't reach a stage where Graham or Lenihan or Mulgrew or Dack enter a sustained absence and we say we could have added more people in the summer and had the money to do it but didnt.

How many other Championship managers have put their neck on the line like Mowbray has this summer? Time and time again he has said he wants 4 or 5 more players, we didn't get any of those in time for the permanent deadline, now we can get 4 maximum yet haven't added any more in the 10 days or so since then. We've even boasted at times of the budget provided by the owners, Waggott expecting a surge in ticket sales on the back of new signings, Mowbray saying Chapman wasn't the level we were looking for etc. Whilst there may well have been a strategy to begin with its clear things haven't gone to plan and may well change again in the coming week or so. What comes next is anyone's guess but if we're sat here with no additions or only one then the window hasn't gone well. Talk about the owners making money available but we couldn't spend it simply won't wash.

QPR getting beat again. Good time to play them before they make a change.

Have we signed anyone yet? Until then its all ifs, buts and maybes. Not interested in excuses about leaks, tough negotiations etc. Lots of work to do just to hit the manager's target of new signings. 4 needed. 10 days to go.

First 7 games of last season Leeds won 5 and drew 2 and the media were beside themselves with excitement that it was Leeds' year and they were going up. Then they fell away and ended up finishing in the bottom half. Not saying they will do again this season but it really is tiring listening to all the pro-Leeds hype on tv, you'd have thought after last year they would have learned their lessons and would keep quiet for the time being until the season was slightly more advanced. Leeds are the Liverpool of the Championship. Media love them and are desperate for them to be successful after such a barren spell. Liverpool they would love to win the League after 30 years(THIRTY YEARS) without winning it whilst Leeds the massive club that hasn't even appeared in the top division for 15 YEARS and they're desperate for that to end.