Just have to hope that you are right in saying that it isnt gospel based on the levels of neglect that would show towards the defence.

Dont think theres any chance of getting near the play offs with those full backs. Bell is crap, Nyambe I quite like but hes prone to big dips in form and we need someone else there too. Also, I've never seen Rothwell play as a right winger and I'd be very dissapointed to see Downing start the season over Armstrong and Chapman. Johnson is a good addition, we need a couple of full backs as well as, as you say, a keeper and CB. Striker would be a lower priority than all of that. Sadly, I suspect that Bennett is going to continue to be first name on the team sheet.

Wheres that from? Didn't Mowbray say nothing is imminent?

Johnson would be a decent addition, adding some experience in the middle, but Butterfield certainly wouldnt be an improvement, crap player who ended the season on Bradfords bench.

Mowbrays quotes have a sad predictability to them. I'm not swallowing him bemoaning having to work on a budget, so does everyone and other teams around us with presumably similar budgets (to be honest ours is supposed to be similar to the healthy budget we had last year so maybe lesser budgets) such as Preston, Brentford, Swansea, QPR and Stoke have all improved their defences for cheap/free by signing players who would have also improved us. I am still far from convinced that making him wait until well after the season finishes (baring in mind we were 100% sure of our division for this season well in advance) before he has the foggiest regarding his budget isnt a massive hindrance.

Johnson would be a pretty good signing and would give us some leadership but hes not the best passer in the world so not sure he fits in with this supposed passing football Mowbray wants to move towards.

This wave of people constantly trying to take the moral high ground is getting really boring.

Absolutely. It undoubtedly is a hindrance, and a needless one. The likes of Bauer, Barbet, Lindsay, Bidwell and Pinnock would have all improved our defence but have all gone to rivals, so other teams are now getting busy. It just screams of a lack of proactivity and initiative throughout. We had the same soundbites for months last month, the waiting game. Totally agree on the damp squib that has been our new european network. All seemingly hot air. Davenport will be a bonus but we need more than that to replace Reed. Samuels the confusing one, hes absolute shite yet people have mentioned him coming back as if its a good thing.

Yeah, was apparently the better half of the impressive partnership with Lindsay that has seen him get a move to Stoke with Barnsley having the best defensive record in League 1 last year. QPR had to move two or three on, Bidwell included, with Les Ferdinand admitting that they need to cut back, but hes a consistent Championship left back. Id have to strongly disagree on Bell. Seeing him live in all home games and some away, I didnt notice the improvement, hes still a major weakness for me. Allows crosses to come in with regularity, and gets a nose bleed well before using his pace to get into a crossing position. Even with him, we only have one left back with Williams a centre back and Hart nowhere near up to the standard.

And Bidwell has joined Swansea, would have been a very good and free addition to a problematic position, as it is I suspect we will go into the season with the hopeless Amarii Bell a nailed on starter.

Ethan Pinnock, a very good centre back is going to Barnsley. Another potentially good signing going elsewhere. And all these "negative/moaning" accusations are what stops conversation, not anything else.

I still struggle to accept that the gap between mathematically confirming safety and Mowbray flying to India with no idea as to his budget isnt a hindrance in terms of being proactive earlier in the market.

Michael Morrison might be worth a look on a free. Captain of Birmingham, good defender who also gets goals.

I would be quite open minded to the signing of Charlie Adam, perhaps before we signed Stewart Downing. He obviously has a very good passing range, can dictate the play and would be a good player for Travis and Davenport to play with and learn from. He has never been fast. I was quite surprised to see that Stoke fans had anything good to say about him, they seem to think hes best sitting with someone athletic next to him( (Travis), obviously his passing ability is good (fits Mowbrays new style) and that he has some bottle and some character which we also lack, indeed it seems that often spills over to ill-discipline. http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/286111/charlie-adam It would be unimaginative and further proof that Mowbrays comments about this expanded scouting network were mainly hot air, and like I said I am much more against the idea now Downing is sadly here, but I think we could do worse on a limited budget, and it would allow funds to be saved for defence if there are any.

Dack would get into the majority of teams in the league, hes our bit of quality and regular scorer that should keep us well away of danger, even though he cant push us towards the play offs on his own. Travis only broke into the first team half way through, his initial incredible performances certainly dipped but he was consistently better than Smallwood had been prior, and he definitely improves us on what we started last season with. I also think that Davenport would be an upgrade on Smallwood but thats much more of a stab in the dark. Likewise Rothwell, he only established himself near the end and of course I am assuming he will continue to play him on the back of that. I agree 100% that we badly need defensive reinforcements, certainly far more than we need Sam Gallagher back. But we aren't saying do we think our defence is going to be the same as last year, its do we think we are going down. Last seasons team finished 15th.

Dack is the main one I'd have to disagree on. He may have patches of bad form and criticism at times last season but he is a proven, regular goalscorer, amidst all that he got 15 league goals and 7 assists, he has 36 goals in 80 games in a Rovers shirt, the longest run of games without a goal last season was 6. Graham again is a proven goalscorer. Theres nothing to suggest a sudden decline that a lot of older players tend to hit (see Mulgrew) with him claiming to be as fit as hes ever been is around the corner. Mulgrew I agree is finished but he was last season, as per the noticeable drop in points collected and increase in goals conceded when he played, which he did fairly regularly. So Mulgrew was a massive hindrance statistically in a 15th place finish. You mention the goalkeeper, Raya made a series of errors leading to goals, and we will surely replace him, so obviously the quality of replacement is key. Reed is a big loss, I will give you that although the wide role didnt suit him. Travis and Rothwell had a run of game (the former for basically half a season) showing a lot of quality. Presumably they will be in the team going forward so you'd hope they can continue that over a full season. The likes of Davenport and Chapman will be available from the get go, neither could contribute anything last season. I do think we need major defensive reinforcements to push on but I dont think we will be in a dogfight if we dont sell any key players.

Many managers seem to have a blind spot towards a certain player, Southgates is Fabian Delph. I would disagree that Mowbrays is the Smallwood and Evans partnership. That was very much broken up in 2019, Travis made a regular place his own and Smallwood became something of a squad player. To be fair to Mowbray, no matter how Travis got his chance, and I agree that Travis almost made himself undroppable, but Mowbray resisted the temptation to get them 2 back together as soon as Smallwood was back. Bennett is Mowbray's Lowe/Andrews/Delph, shoehorned into whatever position he can get him in.

One thing that people imply with Gallagher is how he was hamstrung under Coyle, I'm not sure I fully agree with that theory as whilst obviously Coyle is a terrible manager, it was more often than not defensively where he was found wanting. Indeed, he often played in a 4-4-2 with Graham in the first half of that season, and if not with Emnes. You could argue that Mowbray's style was even less suited to him, with one striker and Gallagher often wide, a position he cannot perform in effectively, and I'm sure he scored most of his goals under Coyle. That season he spent here was by far his best to date, and it wasnt that good. In the last 2 years he has spent key years of his development, firstly in a very underwhelming, barren year at Birmingham, followed by a year of him back at Southampton not playing at all, with a serious injury added into the package. You look at his style of play and I don't think it at all fits into the style Mowbray has mentioned. He was rather ungainly and at times clumsy, you cant imagine the likes of Dack and Rothwell playing one twos off him. You also then ask further questions of the Brereton deal. In essence, we'd have spent over 10m on 2 strikers neither of which youd expect to start to the season. Thats in no way a luxury we can afford with the deficiencies we have further back. We play one striker with Dack just off them, we would have beside Graham, we would have Gallagher and Brereton both needing game time, Samuel who for some reason Mowbray rates, Nuttall and Armstrong competing for one place. And obviously, theres the matter of splurging presumably a huge chunk of our budget on a striker when our defence is so bad. He's definitely a better player than Brereton, Samuel or Nuttall at this moment in time, and hes far from the worst striker I've ever seen. But for me, I dont particularly rate him, and spending so much off our budget on him would be a terrible decision in my opinion.

The manager and players keep talking about top 6 so that has to be the objective. Ultimately, as others have said it depends solely on our transfer business. If we dont significantly improve our defence, then I suspect similar to last year, miles away from the play off target. We've got too much quality to be dragged into a dog fight I suspect though.

I'd rather it was a loan if he did come, which I'm not keen on altogether to be honest. All resources need to go on fixing the defence in my opinion. If he splurges our budget on Gallagher it makes a further mockery of our 7m striker Mowbray said we can judge this season!

If theres any truth in this, very underwhelmed. If we are buying him outright then its a waste of resources needed for our defence, Dont really understand why Mowbray is so desperate for a striker from his perspective. He's got our player of the year, I personally think we are short beyond that but from his point of view, we have a 7m striker he said to judge this season, we have Samuel who again he rates highly, and then Armstrong and Nuttall beyond that.

His comments about not seeing the importance of overhauling the defence as important as he once did is both incredibly frustrating and sadly unsurprising in equal measures. Mowbray has neglected his defence in previous jobs which has eventually cost him his job, and has neglected it here throughout his stay which I suspect will conclude in the same way. Theres no chance of progression towards where he says we are aiming for if he genuinely has been fooled by a few games where we faced teams playing for nothing. The defence needs major surgery, we had the 5th worst defence in the league and if Mowbray doesnt see it that way, then we need someone who does.

They were not playing him because they failed to ensure a clause was put in to protect themselves financially. They then tried to scapegoat him to get him out the club and forfeit a contract he would have been an idiot to rip up. Nothing to do with blue and white blinkers.

He looked like an untested 20 year old centre back who had never played senior football before, as youd expect. He was ok against Wigan but they were awful, and he looked the most fragile of the patched together back 3 we had that night, but against Sheffield Wednesday he was bullied essentially. In regards to the other players youve mentioned, ive seen none of them play, and indeed in senior football after a quick look at their careers I suspect you cant have done either! And I disagree, I thinks its universal and common consensus that we need a centre back with experience to come in. Its no inferiority complex towards our own youngsters, a totally untested kid from elsewhere would not be welcomed as the answer to our defensive issues.

I just think the youngster you mentioned specifically is nowhere near ready. We absolutely need a new centre back as you say, my worry is that Williams or Mulgrew will start the season which is why Mowbrays quotes about Bauer worried me. As you touch on, Williams is a crap left back, he should only be a back up CB.