He said last week that he was going to India to find out if hes buying multi million players or if hes in the free agent market. I think that was just an example of how a club can take advantage if they get in there early.

Its not rocket science to suggest that the manager not having the foggiest as to the budget he is working on until a couple of weeks after the season has finished, a season in which we could have in theory prepared for with weeks of the season left due to our league position. You say its an assumption to suggest that we are looking at frees, even the manager doesnt know!

Id be amazed if we came out publically and declared that Smallwood and Mulgrew are transfer listed.

The craziest thing would be changing formation to one that excludes your best player.

Hopefully "do a job" wont be part of Mowbrays vocabulary!

Robson-Kanu is shite.

Looking at what I think we need, with a couple of suggestions (maybe some of them are pretty limited and hopefully Mowbray can find some better alternatives whether domestic or on the continent, to which I dont really know any suggestions) GK: Definitely need a new number 1 with Raya as back up (initially). Carson and Darlow have been suggested and arent bad shouts. Leutweiler well out of his depth. Full back: Really short, Bennett and Williams well out of their depth here, need one of each as first choices as Nyambe has had a iffy season and has a way to go, and Bell isnt up to it but will be needed as back up. Ivo Pinto has been released at Norwich, dunno if hes worth a look for RB? Reece James albeit he may be an unrealistic loan. Centre back: Lenihan I think is not without his faults but he is a good player and can be in our starting 11 next season. Williams is ok to have as a third/fourth choice back up, we need a good quality partner for Lenihan and maybe another back up, Mulgrew is past it and needs moving on. Potential suggestions are Jake Cooper, Grant Hanley and Yoann Barbet. Central Midfield: Travis has been a revelation but needs a good quality midfielder alongside him with Reeds loan set to expire and Rodwell heading for the exit. Smallwood needs getting rid of too, and if Evans stays he should be a (probably overpaid) squad player. Davenport looks like he can play a part too. Potential targets could be Joe Aribo, a very good midfielder who can get goals too whose Charlton deal is soon to expire, Will Vaulks who shone in a relegated Rotherham side and has recently got into the Wales side, or even look at bringing Reed back. Attacking midfielder: This is where we have some real assets, Dack, Rothwell, Chapman and Armstrong (only on the right) are full of flair and potential, Butterworth looked really good in his cameo v Bolton, but we perhaps need one more natural winger, especially with Rothwell the natural alternative should Dack be unavailable, and Armstrong with visions of being a number 9. Bennett and Conway arent good enough now and dont fit into this younger, entertaining, high energy, technical team we hopefully are moving towards. Not really sure who we could bring in, maybe an area to look across the continent like Norwich did with Buendia and Hernandez, Maddison and Lowe continue to get goals and assist in League 1 but can they step up to push for the Championship top 6, not sure, same with someone like Ben Marshall who could be available. Striker: Graham is an obvious but needs some help, Nuttall and Samuel arent good enough, Armstrong hasnt convinced there and Brereton scored his first goal and got dropped for the last 2 games! So to conclude, Leutweiler, Mulgrew, Smallwood, Conway, Bennett, Rodwell, Samuel, Gladwin, Nuttall all for the chopping board, plenty of experience to be replaced too, a goalkeeper, at least one centre back, a full back for each side, a central midfielder, winger and a striker. We probably wont get all that but as close as possible please.

Im not saying it would be anything other than a brainless signing, luckily one Mowbray has rubbished, but itd make you leave an already bought season ticket to collect dust as a direct result?

I dont think theres much in it in terms of flair and natural ability, they are both entertainers, but I agree with points made by @blueboy3333 and @BankEnd Rover and ultimately the difference is in the end product. Both are key but Dacks our best player Weve looked so much better with 2 wingers picked mainly for what they can do going forward.

What about our top scorer who also has 7 assists this season? Surely hes the most important player! As good as Rothwell is. The two work very well together,

Terrible first half, very good start to the second half which fizzled out, annoying not to get the win on the final day but in many ways a mixed performance that summed up the season. Dack and Rothwell were our bright sparks, the second goal was a superb bit of play by Graham to dummy it, Armstrong was a bit more frustrating as he often is. Chapman looked a bit rusty but he is a livewire and showed what he is about when he burst to the byline near the end. Conway looked about 45 when he came on, weve got all these bright young talents going forward, Dack, Rothwell, Armstrong and Chapman, Conway doesnt fit in at all, hes so slow and today should be his last appearance. Leutweiler for me could have done better with their second and got away with one when the ref gave a really cheap foul when he dropped it. He needs releasing too. Travis was run ragged at right back and in general was below his usual standards. Davenport looked well out of his depth when he came on, but improved after half time and is certainly not afraid of a tackle.

Cardiff I would make strong favourites for promotion. They are a team full of players proven to be very good Championship players even if they struggle at Prem level, and they have the best manager. Etheridge in goal, the likes of Bamba, Manga, Peltier, Bennett, Morrison and Cunningham defensively, players like Gunnarsson and Ralls in midfield and attacking players like Reid, Murphy, Mendez-Laing and Hoilett going forward. Whereas Fulham I certainly cant see walking the league under an inexperienced manager with presumably their 2 prized assets Mitrovic and Sessegnon subject to poaching by vultures.

Really?

I agree about recent history, hes been given at least 2 years worth of contracts too many, but you are incredibly harsh prior to that. For the first few seasons following his arrival, he was statistically one of the most effective wingers in the league, assist after assist after assist.

I find this attitude totally bizarre, its one prevalent with Waggott in particular. Supporting a football club isnt a responsibility, but if it could be considered one, it would be to all those who already go, they are the hard core. I go and would have almost certainly found the funds if it had have gone up a hundred quid or two, id have been very annoyed but its a priority to me so I would have gone and paid. The ones who arent going are by their very notion, floating fans, people who arent as arsed about attending every game. Shifting blame onto them or passively aggressively blaming them for lack of income will not work. You have to make it appeal for them to come back. Waggott seems to be insistent throughout his reign on suggesting that the products there, the fans have to come back of their own volition. Hes the one with the keys to controlling that, more than anyone. Little things like closing certain stands, surcharges, when season tickets are released, moving kick off times etc are all secondary to the main thing which is price. Whilst those not attending at the moment may be not doing not necessarily due to price, but putting the price up would have done nothing to get them back. Thankfully, he has at least kept the prices the same, whilst im not convinced that the season tickets are cheap enough to appeal to many to those out of the habit, I think a rise would have almost eliminated any chance of that happening so fair play to Waggott for at least freezing prices.

I understand that Norwich are the flavour of the month but its impossible to replicate exactly what another team has done, first with the foreign signings he references and now selling your main player. Realistically selling your best player to buy half a team very rarely works out as well in practice as it does in theory. Ultimately, any sale may come with no choice.

What Mowbray has said has to be taken with a pinch of salt as all managers tend to speak well at these things, talk is cheap, but i agree it is going to be interesting. The footballs been turgid in the main to watch this season really, there have been shoots of promise lately and lets see if he can carry it on through. Its going to be incredibly difficult to move senior players like Mulgrew, Smallwood and Bennett on because they are all on flush new deals, thats Mowbrays doing. But the bottom line is irrelevant as to whether anyone "deserves" more supporters, ultimately if Waggott puts the prices up again it will do nothing to tempt anyone back, and it will be him that has let Mowbray and the team down, no one else. Waggotts attitude is to put the onus on the supporters who are essentially floating fans, almost as if hes removed of any responsibility and control in terms of getting fans back to support the team.

The problem is the contracts. Thats what people are mainly worried about, the needless dishing out of extended deals for the likes of Mulgrew, Smallwood, Evans and Bennett make it nigh on impossible to shift them one would suspect.

It is somewhat encouraging but wouldnt you agree its also incredibly damning of the situation we are in now on the back of Mowbrays blind loyalty. The 2 main players that we are seemingly looking to move on from are Evans and Smallwood, id put Bennett in the same category too, all of which could have been moved on for free in the summer had Mowbray not "rewarded" them with new deals. Evans I think may be ok as a squad player, no more, the other 2 not even that. As has been pointed out, he had Reed this season and publically stated that his progressive style was what prevented him from being picked in central midfield, over less effective and less progressive alternatives. Mowbray saw that side of Reed as a negative in that position. 2 id like to see us move for are Will Vaulks and Joe Aribo. Disagree with that mentality, doing the dirty work is not enough. For example, you would argue that Travis, Smallwood and Bennett are all equally combative, hard working grafters. Travis is far better in general, especially on the ball however, and with plenty of room to grow. Ultimately, you would never pick Smallwood for example over Travis "to do the dirty work" because that alone is not enough, as Travis has proved.

Raya Nyambe Lenihan Williams Bell Travis Davenport Chapman Dack Rothwell Brereton Subs: Leutweiler, Armstrong, Graham, Butterworth, Rodwell, Mulgrew, Conway

I dont think that was the main reason at all, Mowbray repeatedly stated that Chapman needed to learn about the defensive side of the game. Added to his 2 and a half attacker theory and I think thats why Ultimately he seems to have strayed away from having a defensive winger as a necessity and I think its reaped rewards, I dont think its led to us being defensively worse but we have looked better going forward. As much as I appreciate that wingers need to do the dirty work, I dont think you can pick wide men based solely on their hard work.

Of course but it didnt come across as just you giving your opinion, my mistake. To be honest, I am very unsure that they can come in and play key roles in a serious play off push, its very much unknown. From previous usage of him and quotes about him, Mowbray has no trust in Chapman and sees him solely as a sub and would prefer a Bennett or a Conway trudging up and down.

No but to feature heavily for a team gunning for promotion is a big ask.

People who have criticised him will be as happy as anyone else should Brereton come good. From where is the belief that Chapman and Davenport are potential first teamers next year?

It is certainly understandable that people are frustrated at Dacks dip in performance level these last few months, albeit it coincided with the whole team really. But there seems to have been a somewhat collective writing off of our best player with many concluding that he should be sold. I suspect that it will only be once he leaves that we appreciate how important he is. When hes on form, with his flair, his tricks and his nutmegs he is a joy to watch, but ultimately its his goal contributions that make him so valuable. In a team that for most of the season has been set up very much to the detriment of flair players really, very direct, "defensive wingers" etc he has got 14 league goals and 7 league assists. Rothwell looks a real talent and one who ultimately should have been used far more this season, especially with the 2 and a half forward crap. But ultimately he has 8 league goals in his whole career, and yes he tends to play wide but it would be incredibly presumptious to assume that he could replicate those numbers if he moved inside.