May I ask what and how you get this "access" and why for example you refer to Johnson as Jonty, out of curiosity. Has anyone implied that the manager is purposely sabotaging his own promotion push? People are questioning decisions hes making which may, unintentionally, reduce our chances of success. You mention Mulgrew and Bennett, they are his captain and vice-captain, who hes in the last year given new deals. Neither can in my (and seemingly many others) opinion have any claim to being the best in any position, to warrant automatic selection. But it wouldn't be the first example Whats this conspiracy about people purposely demanding too much in terms of recruiting defenders in order to use it as a stick to beat the manager with down the line? Absolute nonsense. Our defence was the 5th worst in the league last year, and I think the worst in the Football League away from home. It was embarrassingly bad,not just in need of a solitary recruit. Crucially, the manager himself said only two months ago that "defenders(plural) are coming" in a public rant at how his current defenders cannot do his job, something that only echoed his weekly interviews for months prior. So how is it unrealistic to expect that our weakest area shouldn't be massively prioritised,especially when hes just proven with a 5m striker purchase that the money is there. Patronising undertone aside, we do know how the development of Bell is going for example, we see it week in week out. And no one has ever doubted the potential of the academy and its success.

Adam with another 2 goals, Nuttall also getting a goal. Bit of a worry that Davenport is involved with the under 23s whilst Smallwood is presumably with the seniors, and also that Davenport went off early. I think its a bit pie in the sky to expect that Evans and Smallwood will be left behind by Mowbray.

How is it unrealistic to expect that? The defence was horrendous last season, it doesnt just need a solitary addition. I personally felt that left back was one of the main 2 or 3 priorities to fix over the summer, I certainly dont see the potential in Bell, a full back who doesnt stop crosses coming in. Bennett will start on the other side too. Mowbray said "defenders are coming" so its not unrealistic to expect more than one.

Obviously yeah, but I think theres a common assumption that experience brings command of a penalty area which isnt always true, and Carson for all his experience isnt great in that area. Like I said, wouldnt be top of my list by any means. Ruddy would be there or thereabouts.

Any need for this? Out of the keepers mentioned, he would be down the list for me. https://www.optasportspro.com/static/10-create-season-review.html He was statistically the worst keeper in the league when he played last year. His weaknesses also seem to be not only distribution but an unwillingness to come off his line. So his flaws arent too dissimilar to Rayas.

If we are close to signing a goalkeeper, my guess would be Scott Carson. Hes out with Derby but didnt play either half of their friendly with a "slight knock." If it is him consider me underwhelmed.

I would love to believe that but I have not seen anything to suggest that Bennett will be anythung but the first name on the team sheet, and subsequently our poorest player.

I don't think he was particularly good personally anyway.

He didnt play in the friendly last week, Mowbray said he, Bell and Williams were injured. Shouldnt have been resigned.

Theres no way we could go with such a wreckless formation. If you go 3 at the back you need to have wing backs to ensure it is a back 5 when defending. Any team against that would have free reign down the flanks.

But it is all related. If we also considerably strengthen the defence then of course it is a positive. And of course the window is still open to do so. But its a massive concern that we have spent such a large proportion of our transfer budgets during Mowbrays tenure (and before to be honest) on forwards and such a minimal amount on our defence, which is quite frankly not fit for purpose. I am happy to put the Armstrong purchase to one side, it was much cheaper than the other 2 and he IMO is best suited out wide right, therefore I can understand his signing in addition to another striker. But we blew 7m on Brereton, and from Mowbrays interviews he is on track and surely the focus should be on giving him more game time central this season. You could say its good that almost we have 2 potential replacements when Graham goes, my 2 counter arguments would be that essentially they have to job share and as a result their game time is limited further (neither can play wide effecticely) and also whether we can afford the luxury of 2 potential heirs to Grahams throne when our defence is horrendous. I also am not convinced by the individuals. I know your opinion on Brereton is essentially that you are refusing to judge based on limited starts. Thats fair enough, of course that raises further questions as to whether we can afford to spend 7m on a player so far away from the first team, whether hes been used right, why hes so far away when he started so many games for Forest, all the usual questions. From what we have seen, im very underwhelmed to say the least. Gallagher again I didnt particularly rate in his first spell, and hes done nothing since to build on that. Can I see any realistic scope for profit on either player, considering how big the cost was? Not sure I can. Can I on Dack, Rothwell and even Armstrong who all were signed for much cheaper? Absolutely.

You've essentially ignored most of my points and not offered anything constructive in return, instead choosing to be patronising and sarcastic.

You have absolutely no justification whatsoever in making such an outlandish statement based on anything we have seen from Ben Brereton so far. Also, it implies that any Rovers fan will be anything but benefited by Brereton suddenly scoring and showing something he hasnt thus far. How pleased everyone was when he scored v Bolton showed that contrary to myths being put out, no one wants him to fail.

Can we please stop with the "insistent negativity" crap, it adds absolutely nothing. The primary criticism is that weve spent 15m on 3 attackers, something youve claimed is "not a massive amount of money" when the same manager has spent a mere couple of hundred grand TO DATE(not just this window to clarify) on a quite frankly embarrassing defence. I also may be wrong but I cant think of many young British strikers bought for similar amounts and sold on for a profit. Can you think of any examples? For me, the chance of profiting on English players as a low risk strategy becomes high risk when you are paying so much money in the first place. The premise of signing 3 attackers covered by the future sale of our main asset may be somewhat idealistic in theory, but I dont think its the best way at all of reinvesting future predicted sales money. Ultimately, I don't think we can justify two such highly priced players who at the moment would have to play in an unfamiliar wide role or be on the bench in our best 11, when our defence is so bad. One sure, two is reckless.

To be fair, hes been linked with practically half of the league, so presumably theres nothing in it, and the universal response has been a demand for someone with much more know how in there. One thing I am sure of is that the answer to our defensive woes is certainly not already at the club. Its not fixable by a keeper or a new defensive midfielder protecting the defence, its not fixable by moving someones position, Williams/Nyambe re-born as a central defefender to solve our woes, and in this case it also isnt fixable by promoting youth players. Magloire may well be a good player for us in the future but he showed v Sheffield Wednesday that hes nowhere near ready, needs a spell in the lower leagues to learn how to head a ball. Wharton had seemingly underwhelming spells at Bury and Lincoln, Platt coulnt get in Stanleys squad and Grayson isnt ready either. The names mentioned, Hanley, Ajayi, Cooper, Dann, they are the sort of centre back we need.

Saw this from the Mirror. Linked with half the league. An untestes novice isnt what we need.

Exactly, if it was just the hardcore, the advertising costs would not need to be above zero.

This sort of crap seems to be rife at the moment. I am against the signing too, for reasons I have explained, but you can be critical of a signing or of a player whilst still supporting him on a match day and wanting him to do well, which benefits absolutely no one.

Im not sure I swallow this line about him being hindered by a shambles of a season. I think I would only really buy into it if it was a blip/poorer season within his career, rather than by quite a distance his best to date. He always played with a partner, whether it was Graham, Emnes or Joao, and he had (a couple of years and at the start of the season especially, an in form) Conway and Marshall playing quite a few crosses, and our side in general was obviously primarily dysfunctional defensively rather than offensively, hence the pile up of 3-2 defeats. His goal return of around 1 in 4 was fairly respectable if very unspectacular. He was actually far better under Coyle than under Mowbray, where he often played wide towards the end when the goals dried up, something I fear may be replicated if he is played there again. He definitely has something to his game, hes easily our second best striker, he is fairly quick and although he cant win a flick on to save his life, he has a really good header on him if hes attacking the goal and gets a yard on his man. He was forever offside, often lacked intelligence (somewhat understandable at the age he came in at, but nothing to suggest hes developed since) hes obviously nowhere near prolific at this level and he cant hold the ball up at all. I'm also unsure that he fits into this supposed technical side Mowbray wants to play, he is quite ungainly and clumsy and technical ability doesnt rank as one of his best attributes. All this being said, my main gripes with the deal are the cost baring in mind our frailites elsewhere, rather than with the actual player. But he wouldnt get into my team v Charlton.

The squad is both bloated and incredibly light in certain areas at the same time. You'd presume that Evans is one of our top earners, add to that I haven't seen any suggestion that he is anything but a major part of Mowbrays plans and I can't see him going anywhere.

But its not people like you that the club are/should be targeting. Its people who are less dedicated/obliged/diehard in their attendance and it is people who seemingly are less financially stable. I get a season ticket every year because I make it a financial priority of mine, so seemingly do 6 or 7 thousand, beyond that the rest may not see Rovers as their number 1 priority. I don't understand how people have such difficulty getting their head around that fact.

Very true, our chance to offload some of the players on higher wages went with needlessly and prematurely extending their contracts as a "reward," see Mulgrew, Smallwood and Williams.

It would indeed, signing a player in a position we are well stocked in.

Very underwhelmed, didnt particularly rate him when he was here last time and that season was by far the best hes had in his career, was dreadful at Birmingham and has spent the last year either injured or in the wilderness. Think its incredible that we have spent 12m on 2 strikers not as good as the 33 year old we already had, and have spent a couple of hundred grand in the same time period on failing to fix our horrendous defence. Unless Gallagher is joined by a good goalkeeper and the few defenders Mowbray promised to come in, then hes a wreckless and quite frankly idiotic spend of a substantial amount of money. If they do come in then I would consider Gallagher to be much closer to pushing Graham than Brereton has. Hoping for the latter scenario.

Whilst that is true, its even more counter-productive to put players into a team based solely on price tag rather than on merit. Dack is our best player and he plays best right up off a solitary striker, move him back and you hinder his ability to anticipate and finish chances in the 18 yard box. I'd have that team with Armstrong on the right, he looks so much better there than on the left. Sadly, with Chapman again injured, I feel like hes gonna start off the pace and struggle to ever break through.