We may have different views and standards on how much experience we need, how much reliance we can place on our untested youngsters, how high this current crop of players managed by Mowbray can realistically finish and how many recruits we need. But im sure we will both agree that the club needs to pull its finger out and get players in as soon as possible.

Would agree with all of your points, my team was what I expect to see, but in regards to quality, depth and the contractual situation, bang on the money. A further worry is the age/experience being skewed even further towards youth on the back of the release of the experience that we had, and the inevitable loaning of kids. Overseen by Mowbray too! Worrying.

Says who?

As we head into pre-season with no new recruits or indeed seemingly any sign of any, it is striking how paper thin and inexperienced our squad looks. Assuming that Rankin Costello and the post Copa America Brereton are in the opening day squad and we get no injuries (with a few rather prone to them) over pre-season, and that Armstrong (and indeed everyone) stays or is directly replaced, all massive assumptions, I have our squad down as something like this: Kaminski, Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala, PIckering, Johnson, Travis, Rothwell, Gallagher, Armstrong, Brereton Subs: Pears, Carter, Dolan, Chapman, Davenport, Buckley A big issue is the lack of experience and the seemingly lack of character. You strip away all of that experience that we have lost, correctly in terms of not warranting new deals, but then you factor in that we are likely to be reliant on the loan market, borrowing kids on top of an already very young squad doesn't bode well. Contracts are also another mismanaged area, Lenihan, Armstrong, Nyambe, Rothwell and Brereton amongst others all going into their final year. Chuck in a rubbish manager and you struggle to see much to get excited about. Take Armstrong's goals out and its a squeeze to stay up surely.

I will address the main points regarding the current make up of our squad in the transfer thread, tomorrow's game is neither here nor there, a fitness exercise against a non league side with no importance on it, so in regards to tomorrow, no worries there. If you disagree and are happy to put your eggs all in the basket of the majority if not all of a clutch of youngsters all breaking through and excelling simultaneously, fair play, I think that is so risky. I am sure that you watch the under 23's every week to be able to be so patronising, either way thats beside the point that I was making, that the squad as it stands going into pre season is devoid of much quality, any depth and crucially much if any experience.

That and 28 goals.

Rankin Costello isn't back in full training and @JoeH said that Gallagher and Dolan have knocks, so take them 3 out. Elsewhere, Cirino, Pike, Garrant (who?) and McBride have never kicked a senior ball. The likes of Chapman, Pickering, Davenport, Buckley etc have yet to fully prove themselves at this level so I stand by my initial statement. So much for making an early start in the transfer market as reported in April! Our squad is a shell devoid of any real quality and experience when you put it down like that.

Exactly. We cannot praise owners whose disinterest not only stunts us on the field but also increases our losses, simply because they then raise funds via share issues to cover those losses, something they have no choice with!

I presume it will be 2 teams full of kids with basically no senior experience left.

I find this constant disingenuous nonsense that the LT and indeed our fans come out with ad nauseum to be infuriating, looking at the phrase in bold. It is made out as if Venkys voluntarily chuck in 20m a year through a genuine passion for the club to do well. When in fact what it means is that they need to raise the finance usually via share issues to cover their own inefficiencies. Whether that be poor supporter engagement, disinterest from the owners leaving incompetent managers in charge, poor pricing policies, inefficient expenditure on transfers and wages, contracts dished out without being earnt, an incompetent CEO on a grossly inflated salary, it may be nigh on impossible to be a competitive and profitable Championship club, but the losses are down to Venkys, and them issuing shares to offset them is not out of love.

He must still be getting paid by Venkys.

There seems to be this regular thing whereby people throw their toys out of the pram when they are questioned over incredibly vague rumours, it seems to be the in thing to be an ITK these days which I do not get. The Wyke "rumour" was chucked in like a stink bomb with absolutely no context whatsoever, either initially or upon further questioning. At which stage, what use really was it? And indeed it turned out to be nonsense, he went to League 1 Wigan within days, and we still arent sure that we can even sign players. Everyone will be receptive to genuine rumours but a bit of clarity is all it takes. If it is from social media, provide a link or a screenshot so we can decide whether its from a sad spotty teenager wanting likes or a credible journalist, or somewhere in between. If it is genuinely from a source that cannot be identified, at least give some indication on where.

Seems to be getting to the season of random transfer rumours thrown in without context that in the main turn out to be nonsense. Still unclear as to whether we can sign players.

159 pages and still we are in the dark about whether we can even sign players at all! It was back in April that chaddy shared a report that Mowbray was supposedly working on transfers. Gone well.

Where are these "sneaky rumours" from? Such a mindset implies that there is only one way to get out of the Championship. A sensible, well run club (assuming that Armstrong has been allowed to get into a situation like most of the squad with a year left on his deal in the first place) may well sell and reinvest. But with Mowbray in charge, and with the current squad minus Armstrong, could we not very well go down? And indeed Armstrongs goals may be valuable in getting us a stay in this league for an extra year closer to when Mowbray finally goes? If we do sell, the money will vanish anyway. Im not saying that we shouldnt sell but its not clear cut.

@RoversClitheroe was the unspecified rumour regarding Wyke meant to be that he is coming to the North West rather than specifically Rovers? https://the72.co.uk/241503/wigan-athletic-hoping-to-beat-celtic-to-sign-sunderland-striker-charlie-wyke/

I'm sure that our more naive/provocative/idiotic fans will try and spin as suggested but I don't understand how it is in Mowbray's best interests to be without such a prolific goalscorer. If Armstrong wasn't here scoring a crazy amount of goals last season, we would not have had an underwhelming, boring season of miserable regression, we would have been in a dog fight at the bottom. Take him out this season and again the outlook is bleak. Of course, the fact that Mowbray seemingly isn't judged on results means that Armstrong's future is neither here nor there in regards to Mowbray.

Not a cat in hells chance in my opinion that Mowbray walks out after 2 home games because he cant stand a bit of booing.

Some booing and organic disgruntlement from a small crowd at the first 2 games would not make a difference based on anything we have seen to date. Venkys wont know nor care.

Did he say exactly that? He might be out of his depth and he might talk a lot of shit but theres no way that he "doesnt believe in formations." What is the situation with the Wyke rumour?

That implies that: 1. Mowbray's future is connected to results. 2. That playing direct football would automatically result in better results. Not sure that either is true and indeed Wyke in the team replacing Armstrong with the same manager would I suspect have us bang in danger at the bottom. An untested kid on loan. Would be difficult to be excited over.

You can't lose so many players and not replace at least most of them with players who have at least played senior football. Lots of assumptions too as pointed out elsewhere, Ayala is suddenly going to avoid injury and a clutch of graduates are all going to settle straight into the first team squad and be up to it. Even players like Davenport and Buckley have yet to fully establish themselves. Should the out of contract players have been retained? No. Will it be too difficult/expensive to replace them? No. But can we get away with just not replacing most of them at all or even bothering to try to? Definitely not. There is a galling lack of experience in our squad too, besides Johnson who is not really up to it anymore and Ayala who can't string two games together. We need some experience but even when it is clarified as to when and under what restrictions we can sign players under, the noises from our incompetent manager last season suggested that it would be mainly loans. More untested kids to add to the inexperience.

Was the 'Brereton breaks down heartbroken' story from St Andrews ever confirmed or questioned or is it a myth? And if it did happen, what in particular caused it? What specifically that day upset him so much? The criticism WAS/IS aimed at Mowbray, always has been and rightly so, no idea why you are keen to imply otherwise, especially in regards to the fee and how else it could have been spent. If a player isnt ready, or isnt up to it, but is trying, are they now exempt from criticism on a message board by the way? I would argue that Brereton based on his first 2 years of performance, in which lets not beat around the bush, he looked well, well out of his depth, got more appearances in the squad than perhaps warranted because of his price tag, so you could easily argue that it went in his favour. This continued rubbish about how nasty our fan base is keeps cropping up, totally bizarre. Brereton has not been unfairly treated, in fact, there is a particular and noticeable desire to see him specifically do well.

We currently belong with the quarter of teams in the league who have yet to make a move in the transfer market. There is crisis club Derby, there are Fulham and Sheffield United who both have changed managers, are presumably waiting on sales and both have squads packed full of top end Championship players, as well as Reading and Forest. Then there is ourselves, no change of manager and no questions about which league we are in. And simply no excuse for the wall of silence and the inactivity.

The club will know if it can sign players or not, and if not, why. Im specifically interested in Rovers. Can we sign anyone?