Mr Tickle in the sticks would be incredible!

Have you considered this could be a double bluff monsieur? Perhaps myself and mon ami Sébastien Pérez are enjoying the forum?

I know son. I know.

I don't really give a shit about your opinions. You're entitled to them. But if you're trying to tell me your name is Tommy Rovers....come on mate. I wasn't born yesterday!

A quick YouTube of Todd Cantwell and you can see shorts of him saying he has thought about quitting football altogether. Calling Chris Sutton an attention seeker and saying he felt unappreciated (I think that was the right word) at Norwich. He's a talented player. Actually more robust than I gave him credit for. It's a name and a bit of a coup on paper. But I have got an alarm sounding deep inside my addled brain.

Along with the opportunity???

Don't need to imagine. I remember all too well. Numerous times.

Heading a ball like Gestede did was purely down to desire to win the header. Same as tackling was to Stuart Pearce, Ron Harris, Roy Keane or Norman Hunter. Yes there are degrees of competency. But that's the first base. You don't have that desire the rest is irrelevant. Gallagher is a big lad, a proper athlete and there's a good reason he gets linked to Boro and the likes. The raw materials are there. In my opinion, he's too nice.

Yup. I agree. But there's nothing stopping Gallagher learning that. It's not heaven sent. He has the stature. Just not the motivation.

I'd still have Smallwood here now if I could. Brought in on a pittance and 100% commited. Obviously I'd prefer to have someone with the attributes who could play enough to affect the first team. But I always rated what he bought to the table in terms of leadership and showing what a bit of heart can do.

When Gallagher wakes up and realises he's actually bigger and stronger than most centre halves, he can be another Rudy Gestede. Not confident he can kick on from there, but he has enough to be a big deal in the championship.

Brown might be limited. But I would say he has drive and that counts for a lot. Especially defending. Would love to see him come good.

Agree. Needs a taste of things away from easy street. Looks way too comfortable for my liking. JRC I mean.

Can't pretend to have seen enough of Nyambe to say this for sure. But always struck me as having the attributes to be a better center back or midfield destroyer than modern day fullback. Of all the lads who have walked this summer, he's probably the one I was least disappointed with. And also the one I most expected us to hold on to. Don't hold any grudges. Just sort of meh.

Starting to feel sorry for this fella. He must be getting as bored saying the same old stuff as I am hearing it. I can't see how this pre season has been at all productive for him or for us. Human beings behind the player. Good competitive friendly with plenty of tackles. Great to see the youngsters get a chance to catch the eye. For Christ sake! The club need to give the man some hope to cling to! Stop talking about the 'project' because that will only work if we have a capable side we are able to put out on a Saturday. I'm all for youngsters. 100% onboard with that. But youngsters need to have the right environment to thrive. Not having to play out of position in a side struggling to cope without a core leadership group. Not to mention this key pre season for Dack. At least he has amassed several min...oh wait scrap that. FFS Rovers! Give the man a chance!

Didn't see a whole lotta love from Dack either. But whatever. Enjoying the buzz of expectancy. The bloke speaks well. And I enjoyed a good YouTube video of him talking to Graham Hunter (I'm sure someone has already posted it). Good luck to him. I'm not sure I buy the talk of rejecting clubs playing in Europe. But what the hell. Let's enjoy this as long as can.

Usual rubbish playing out as expected. Some prick had the foresight to decide Mowbray wasn't what was needed and swerved every opportunity to engage in contract discussions. Ok, so that had the desired effect. Off he trots and we preserve the coffers and avoid a pay off and a play off. But it seems the forward planning stopped there. Beggars belief. Surely to God these clowns can't be this daft? Did nobody take 5 minutes to consider the next man they wanted in? And yet it's no surprise whatsoever. Not a single name linked fills me with much hope.

I think this is the first time we have ever agreed Jim!

I'm not looking for a kind response. Couldn't give a toss either way to be honest. I just struggle to understand how anyone can hold Mowbray to account with what he has been working with. Not saying the tailspin in form was acceptable but personally I think there are logical reasons for it to some degree. The way I see it the club is at fault for most of our issues rather than TM. And now he's off we're left in their hands once again. In my opinion that's the elephant in the room. This is the litmus test. Have the club and the owners learned any lessons? I have my doubts. So maybe all TM ever did was paper over the cracks. But ignorance is bliss and I'm not looking forward to the next chapter because I suspect it'll be a shit show.

I feel like I'm in the minority thinking we'd have been much better just offering Mowbray a deal. Whether most agree or disagree that he's done a decent job, the general consensus outside the club is he has performed miracles and has some value. Yet we are letting him walk away and every name I have seen linked (possibly barring Farke) is hardly mouth watering. If there is a plan in place then I'd be amazed. Mowbray's warning today in the LT speaks volumes to me. Basically the club are about to get royally fucked and it's future back in the hands of the madhouse. Looks like I'm back to the sleepless nights we suffered years ago. Steady progress was fine for me.

I'm truly petrified. Just when I had gotten used to Rovers being something like a steady (if unspectacular) club, we are faced with the grim realisation that the Pune Army are going to have to make another managerial appointment. Nothing is off the table now. No matter how ridiculous. The think tank will be throwing out all kinds of wacky ideas. My money's on a little Scottish prick called Steve Kane rocking up in a suspicious afro wig, fake moustache and glasses. Mowbray may not be to everyone's liking but the odds are we're likely to get a whole lot worse.

David Thompson for me. Terrific little player.

Not knocking Gallagher. Just prefer Reed as an investment. Seeing as there is an argument we needed neither I'd sooner have spent it on Reed. Graham has another season in him so a replacement wasn't imperative. But whatever. I think we all know where the investment was needed. Seems to me our summer window got royally buggered by the final few minutes of the league one playoff final and never recovered. But saying that, the players we are looking for are not ten a penny. Every club seems to be looking for centre halves. A dominant centre back costs a lot of money nowadays.

I'd rather have spent £5m on Reed than Gallagher.

But the counter argument to that is, if we could defend we wouldn't need our centre half to chip in with 10 goals. We couldn't defend in league one and we certainly couldn't defend in the championship last year. I like Mulgrew but I don't see him defend his box well enough. I don't see him stride out with the ball. Most importantly I don't see him really break sweat. That header last weekend is unforgivable for a centre half. No pressure. Just read the flight of the ball. But let's not be too harsh. 3 years ago his actual position wasn't even defined.