Ageing and old school, yes. But out of touch, no. The club he walked into had no scouting network or proper infrastructure. He is the one who backed the funding of the cat A academy which managers often fight because it comes out of his budget. He instigated this and the European focus. But the work he’s done in cultivating Jonty and then integrating him into the first team is fantastic. Jonty brings a direct link to the young lads but more importantly, a focus on tech analysis and psychology which the club has never had. Regardless of whether TM stays as our manager or not, the positive effects of his tenure will be there to see.

Ah come on. Lenihan and Mulgrew are defenders. Both play in defence for their national teams. Downing was covering for Bell after Hart got injured vs Bury. The only odd one is Bennett who for me is a midfielder. The real point here is that Bennett and Mulgrew in defence are not good enough to take us to a top 6 finish. Bell improved towards the end of last season but question marks still hang over him. For what it’s worth I quite liked the look of Hart in preseason. Looks more aggressive and imposing than Bell.

Is that the deal offered? Or just your thoughts on this...

Nuttall isn’t worth persevering with. He was a pretty poor striker who has been coached well by Jonty and the first team to be a quality League 1 striker. His stock is up at the mo and with Graham, Gally, B.B. and Arma in those positions, the time has come to cash in imo.

Yup, be brilliant wouldn’t it. But look around you, nearly everyone is in the same boat. Waiting for the last week to do their business. Historically this has dragged on much longer (Aug 31st) so all fans should count their blessings as the jousting will soon be over. Clubs leave it to the end to see which one finally succumbs to pressure and takes a discount. Then it creates a domino effect. ‘We can now have this player for y so we might as well let our player go for x.’ They have cut the Summer transfer by three weeks to combat this problem and it’s frustrating for the fans. But ultimately it saves clubs millions to wait. The trick is to do the deal whilst they’re desperate but not too late when they cannot replace them and the fee goes up!

Maybe, but in that case then 90% of clubs have failed. Most of them are heading into the final week without the players they want. Missing out on targets is completely normal. The key is, at 5pm on August 8th, have we got the defence sorted? If we have then I genuinely believe that we have the options inmidfield and the forward line to achieve our stated goal. If not, then we have failed and the manager needs to face the music because that defence is not good enough. But no amount of worrying right now changes that.

It’s just common sense lads. The window closes on August 8th. To judge it before then is just odd. If we don’t get the defenders in then we’ve failed. End of.

Yes

Not only did he not deny it. It would appear that he’s confirmed Bormuth as one of the targets!

This guy!! ??? Nice one Marty! ?

Nothing has changed about my opinions. I posted something this morning which pretty much spelt out how I see us challenging for the top six. If we had a first XI which pushed Bennett, Mulgrew, Evans etc onto the bench then bearing in mind they featured heavily last season, it would mean we were progressing as a team. The young lads sit in behind the 18 and are in the squad / team if there’s any loss of form or injury. Like I said, it’s not difficult. I don’t know why you struggle so much tbh. Apart from that, I plated Johnson up for you all 24hrs before anyone else, told you that Buckley was going to be the star before they came back for preseason and have 100% maintained that I will not judge the manager on transfers until the transfer window is shut. What do you bring to the table pal? A load of whinging dressed up as ‘balanced’ debate as far as I can see.

Ffs...what spin? My opinion is that Evans is good enough to back up Travis and Johnson. Just like Darren Fletcher backed up a Scholes and Keane and Billy McKinley backed up Tugay and Flitcroft. Essentially, the back up is a lesser player, hence why they ‘back up’. But in terms of the squad, when Evans arrived he was backed up by the likes of Lowe, Akpan and Guthrie. So the fact that we’re now even discussing Evans as back up or for sale proves that we have progressed. imo Smallwood is not good enough but to simply say that they’re essentially both the same is to ignore Evans career in the championship and international caps vs Richie’s jobbing around League 1 career. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?

You’re overthinking this. It doesn’t matter what we’re paying him unless you’re paying the wages. The fact of the matter is that since he signed that contract we have now replaced him with Travis and Johnson. So from a fans point of view, why would we get rid of an international player who can back out team up? More importantly, teams who play for those top 6 positions need to have players of Evans calibre in their bench.

Ahhh so he was fit but DIDNT play? Ergo...??

I take your point on Bennett but with Ada and Nyambe chasing that position down he won’t hang on forever. Why will Mulgrew be a permenant fixture? He was dropped for Williams for the last two months of last season....so logic would say he’s only starting because Williams is injured. Rothwell has been our best player since March and I fully expect him to start.

I do. I think he’s a decent player and more than adequate back up to Johnson and Travis.

I don’t know mate. My feeling / hope is that at some point this season (by October) we will have settled down with the new players, including the expected two new defenders and we’ll have a bench of Leutwiler, Bennett, Mulgrew, Evans, Downing, Brereton and Graham with the likes of Buckley, Butterworth, JRC and Grayson / Magloire backing them up and a team of Walton Nyambe | Lenihan | German/Croat | Bell Travis | Johnson Armstrong | Dack | Rothwell Gallagher

But you you don’t know what they earn, who has or hasn’t enquired for them or if the club even wants rid of them? I would personally like to see Smallwood go but I’d want to keep Bennett and Evans as back up to the first team.

I wouldn’t bet on it!

Fair.

Ah, so 10 mins. Still think he prob had this one and waited until it sneaked out before going ahead. He usually says he needs to check it out first. Still can’t see many of you being happy if we do sign Ada and this guy. I’d put decent money on some grumbling if we signed Messi! “He’ll never do it on a cold Tuesday in Wigan!!” ???

Nope, tbf Sharpe tweeted around 2pm. Lyle Thomas (Of Sky) at 3pm and Sky got onto it around 4pm.

True, but he won’t have a job for long if he burns his bridges with the club. It looks like he broke the German defender story anyway.

Classic nothing. You’re making claims like you actually know what’s happening...you don’t.

Ahh I’m glad you cleared that up.