We could have coped without Graham a heck of a lot easier than we would cope without Lenihan.

I hadn’t thought of it like that. You could actually be onto something...

Thought you were going to say claret.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at that. For the record, I’d agree there’s a good chance we’ll get over £15 for Brereton.

His legs have to go eventually.

So why are we paying £12m for two? That’s a couple of serious fees when we come to sell. ?

Loaning Brereton out until January would be a good move for club and player. Will we do it though? We’ve still not seen any major departures this window (Raya notwithstanding, who apparently wanted out). It’s hard to believe that there aren’t teams out there who want Dack, possibly even Danny Graham for an ambitious League One side. If we lose one of those it might paint a different picture and put more onus on Brereton being part of our first team plans.

Sounds like Billy Beane / Moneyball territory. Didn’t a club try this and it didn’t work? Bit of a tangent from your point but an interesting read... https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/moneyball-soccer-liverpool-premier-league-billy-beane/

Your point was pertinent but you too have become a target for the neuralized fans who get their memory wiped after each window. The only “stick” to beat him with is that he keeps going back on his own words. He says something in the press that gets universal praise from fans and then does the exact opposite. Then folk wonder why there is a reaction. Example from 1st Feb 2019 - is he just saying what the fans want to hear after an awful January window...? Says: https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/february/mowbray-to-target-the-foreign-market/ "I feel as though we know just about everything about all the players in our leagues and I feel like we're ready to move on to the next level of recruitment and instead of fishing in a small pond, we need to start fishing in a bigger lake. "So it's been a bit of a frustrating window, but I'm not annoyed because I like this team. And yet my job is to try and improve this team every window. So we need to start fishing in a European market." Does: Downing Johnson Gallagher Butterfield White Adam

? We’ve recouped more than we’ve spent? Seems even more ridiculous for us to be £180m in debt then while we bounced through the leagues.

How much have we spent on defenders and goalkeepers in that time? Wasting £7m on a sub and then replacing him 12 months later for £5m isn’t something to congratulate them for.

I'd have thought he’d be the last person you would want to influence young players. He seems to be a loner. Even on the pitch last season it was like he wasn’t one of them. For all his faults, one thing Mowbray is good at is developing team spirit. If he couldn’t get through nobody can.

Thought you meant all told under this lot sorry.

I take it you don’t count Phil Jones as a defender because our net spend is surely less than zero...

Completely agree. He absolutely forced his way in. Yet Mowbray still continues to increase the competition for Travis.

And Caddis. ??????? You are right though, an lot of Englishmen.

You’ve always struck me as a mild drinker, Paul.

He’ll be a sad loss. ?

Ironic that Brereton and Gallagher cost more than Sutton and Shearer yet the best you could describe them as is a budget version. From S-A-S to B-A-G.

Is that your Skype?

Interesting points. It seems a little like Mowbray is building for 2020/21 but forgetting a little about 2019/20. We have no divine right to think that we can be promoted by planning slowly and methodically any more than we have to believe that we can get away with not planning for this season and not flirt with relegation. And right now we have a relegation-battle standard back 5. IMHO: Black = gone; Red = planning without; blue = current first team; white = understudy; orange = challenging for squad place (yes, Williams is listed twice). I just can’t see how we can fit Adam and Butterfield into that already congested midfield - even if Smallwood and Evans left - unless Mowbray has already written off Butterworth and Buckley.

Don’t remember that. You thinking of the fella on the left?

Ironic that he scores goals when played as a striker but will have to give way to Graham, and now battle with Gallagher for understudy.

Negative: Even ignoring the holes in our squad, I think this is a poor value and unnecessary signing. £5m could have been better spent - as could £7m last season. (Although posting it as “undisclosed” will no doubt make this another regular yet dull flex-type debate). Second, how does he fit into our first team? 60th minute replacement for Graham? Or genuine challenger to displace him? Or yet another converted wide man? This also makes the signing of Brereton make even less sense - or is an admission of error on Mowbray’s part. Is he going to be loaned out? If not, the only other way this one makes any sense is if Dack is on his way or Graham is finished. Having an embarrassment of riches in the final third is no good if the defensive third is just an embarrassment. Mowbray cannot bemoan the cost/wages of defenders and/or goalkeepers when he spends half of the budget on a player we just don’t need. Positive: We could have bought a worse unnecessarily player.

In my view, Tony can’t manage a large squad because of his nice guy approach. He tried to keep everyone happy last season and we’d have players in and out and couldn’t get any consistency. (Except of course for that dreadful run after the window closed).