Not with 10 men we wont. Well 9 if you include Sigurdsson. Is it yourself that keeps telling Elliott Jackson that you expect Szmodics to be gone by tomorrow?

Even "starting to get deals over the line," they have either signed or not and at the moment with our penultimate pre season double header tomorrow/Saturday, we have 0. We should be well beyond talking to loads of players a week. Bodies in. Better than Humphreys.

The thing with the Humphrys link is again, its registered interest, not even a confirmation of a contract offer. I dont think we should be going for him but if we want him, surely we are beyond the stage of pissing around. Cant be a hard one to get done as other interest wont be at this level and pre season will be over soon.

Better to have too much quality to be trimmed rather than not enough. He ha signed a number of players already. Hopefully they underachieve but hard not to see them as a big favourite without blue and white tinted glasses.

A freebie makes more sense, seems like we are still probably unable to pay a fee so hopefully if he signs it turns out to be a brilliant bit of out of the box thinking.

Talk of how we wants to play seems very flawed based on pre season games where he needs to balance teams to give players minutes and none are his players. How can anyone possibly have concluded that he wants quick wide men and plenty of crosses at this stage based on his time here seems baseless. And our midfielders just happen to all be cloggers now Wharton has gone. He seems like a very pragmatic manager focused on clean sheets and isnt bothered about entertainment but again thats based on players that arent his. (Plus his Birmingham side)

Fair to say that Birmingham fans werent impressed. Nor Sheff United fans.

Burke is shite.

Are the minutes likely in the next couple of days or are they likely to be longer?

I didnt even realise they had gone up quite so much or that there was a phase 3. Disgusting.

Absolutely, there are examples of players dropping or thriving at new clubs. But we shouldnt be suffocated from discussing what we think of players we know before potentially joining. Humphrys has had an underwhelming career and to me screams of a bit of desperation due to the budget. Wigan fans seem to think his agent will have pulled a blinder to get a Championship move and that he is talented but inconsistent with a terrible attitude. Maybe moving up a level will suit him. Or maybe that bad attitude coupled with the higher standard and more potential of not starting will mean he is even less effective.

This rubbish about writing off players is really tiresome. Let people freely discuss players we MIGHT be signing without strangling conversation. Equally, people get excited over players that they do get excited by us signing yet the opposite argument, he might turn out to be shit in a Rovers shirt, never gets half as much air time. Take Danny Murphy, we signed a Premier League captain as a Championship club and he was woeful. Of course a player can either thrive or struggle at a particular club having done the opposite prior to joining, it can happen. But to be underwhelmed by a potential signing isnt writing him off, and is a bit hypocritical of @chaddyrovers having made it clear he doesnt want Danny Batth. Obviously we will judge any player on how he does here, but it doesnt mean that we shouldnt give our opinions prior. Ive seen loads of people on social media (not on here) berating those "moaning that we arent signing players then moaning that we might be." Its an absolutely crazy argument saturated in low standards heightened by still waiting for anyone to come through the door. Wanting signings AND those signings to be of a certain quality is not unrealistic nor is it moaning for the sake of moaning.

They have lost Barkley and Lokonga who were certainly key. Im not Parker's biggest fan but does he not know the Championship?

You are unable to see past bias which is why I suspect you cant see Burnley being a favourite nor Rovers being at risk of relegation.

Humphrys would be the desperate signing of a cash strapped club trying to cobble a team together. We need goals and pace along the front line, he is a league 1 plodder who provides neither. Hopefully we get Ohashi done imminetly, interesting that he is only costing 150k and hopefully he proves a bargain. Also makes redundant @chaddyrovers your comments about the potential budget when we assumed he was costing 1m. He needs to be the first of many. This account posts very similarly if it isnt him to Mercer with regular doomsday predictions. Szmodics will go but will it be completed tomorrow? Not convinced.

Nixon will be shamelessly taking this potential story as his own despite the fact that a Japanese media outlet revealed the news.

I cant believe that anyone thinks he knows what he is talking about. Always has been an attention seeking chancer yet such is some peoples desperation for any gossip, they ask him for updates.

Speculated where? If it was so low I suspect he would have gone for the sake of a couple of million.

Still business to be done, but how do people feel the Championship may pan out this season? Sadly hard to look past Burnley as favourites, players will go but they have so many quality options across the squad including a mixture of proven Championship quality and some players signed with Premier League wealth. Not convinced by Parker but sadly they avoided the likes of Lampard who would have been a real leveller. Leeds are so dependant on being able to keep key players and how much of the financial burden has been let go by selling Gray, they have made 3 good signings though. Luton also come down with a squad packed full of Championship quality, Sheff United are a harder one to predict. Wilder is an arrogant knobhead and has struggled for a number of years, plus they start on -2 points I think. But the signings they have made look very strong at Championship level. From those that just missed out last season. Coventry's influx of signings last season will have settled and with Robins in charge and look good, Boro will be a threat but Hull look so much weaker and might finish further down. Equally sad to say that we likely will be right in and amongst the relegation scrap, and if and when Szmodics goes, it might not be much of a scrap. Oxford and Portsmouth also look very weak, and Plymouth with Rooney in charge will also be down there. Derby I think have made some good signings and might well be ok, and both Sheffield Wednesday (armed with a new team) and QPR have talented managers who will be confident in avoiding a repeat of last season.

Not that I necessarily think we should sign him as he was quite an underwhelming loan signing but Ayari is currently with the touring Brighton squad and has scored in the second half. Moran played in the stronger first half team.

We dont have the fee. We didnt in the first place, hence why we pissed around with a loan. Lets not be naive here. Managers dont get what they want at this club, nowhere near. Still no players through the door as of yer. He may well have asked for experience and the names on any list put to him are particularly old because within our tiny budget the ones we can get are the out of contract ones let go elsewhere. Or he may specifically want these very old players. My point is, that doesnt mean he is automatically right and I have to agree with that choice. I dont think the target should be to sign the keeper "for a season or 2." Its not like we have a talented young keeper who is not quite ready to be number 1. We need a new number 1 for the forseeable, I dont want someone playing the last year or 2 of his career. Begovic has been released by QPR in favour of a more permanent number 1 as a progressive move, so you would essentially be happy with their old rubbish.

He has already played quite a lot of games this season. If he plays our full season without a break he could end up playing 80 games.

Maybe he does, although he hasnt got anything he wants so far and even if he does specifically want a 32/33 year old plus CB and a 36/37 year old plus GK, it doesnt make it correct. Im not keen on the age bracket of some of the players we have been linked with. Cooper, Batth, McFadzean, all too old IMO and showing signs that their legs are going/gone, would mean having to play really deep and/or with a more defensive formation to cover. Goalkeepers like Begovic, Krul and Ruddy, again all too old and showing too many signs of decline for me. We do need experience but that doesnt have to come in the form of players quite as old as we are being linked with. We dont have sufficient funds so it may well be that we are targeting this age group because they are out of contract having been deemed to be too old by other more ambitious clubs, ie no fee. Players younger will more likely be contracted to other clubs. Still, you don't want Batth, thats on the record and if he signs, you have already said that you dont want him. And I agree.

Fair enough. If he does sign, you have given a clear opinion so fair play for that. No I don't want him either. Mentioned earlier, but I thought it was a different proposition last summer after a great season at Sunderland. But since, he has spent a season gathering dust unable to get game time even when Norwich's centre backs were injured. With a young lad (Warner) and a midfielder (McLean) chosen ahead of him. Legs must have gone. Would in my opinion be desperate all round. Clearly not our first target, but presumably would be more willing to take a shorter and cheaper contract. Would be uninspiring in our new scouting network resorting to players we have previously targeted. And from his point of view, he has already been messed about by us. Very few players still playing aren't younger than McFadzean to be fair. The fact that he couldnt get a game at Norwich despite serious injury issues suggests his legs have gone.

Bowyer also thought that Jason Lowe was a Championship captain. Would you want Danny Batth?