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.

Magloire? He cant head a ball, he is nowhere near ready. Williams ended the season playing well although we certainly need one or two to dislodge him going forward. Armstrong ended the season well playing on his better side, wide right, and Davenport would be in there for Downing who isnt a central midfielder, not in a 2 like that.

Hes purely a number 10, when he played elsewhere he was totally ineffective. And hes obviously nowhere near as good as Dack. We'd still need a central midfielder, Payne has just come off a poor season and isnt of the quality we need. Knowing "the lads" isnt a reason to sign him, we dont need him nor is he good enough. Suspect its rubbish anyway with all the teams linked.

And that the centre back in question was told he wouldnt even get in the team straight away, despite the fact that our defence is absolutely awful.

I think the amount of flak Rodwell has received is a little harsh. From everything he has said in public, it didnt seem like Mowbray saw Rodwell as a particularly big part of his plans, or was particularly bothered whether he stays or goes. Rodwell had no reason to come back in to do fitness testing, hes not contracted with us anymore, people seem to have reacted as if hes gone AWOL. In terms of his season last season, he was not fit for purpose for the role he was intended to play, in defence. He is not a defender, and was always an incredible bizarre alternative once the Bauer negotiations hit a dead end last summer. Due to the contracts were dished out to the likes of Smallwood, Bennett and Evans, Rodwell becomes someone much easier to discard and I can't say that I'd be desperate to keep him.

Fair point, of all the playerd linked I want Hanley or Cooper ideally. My point was about signing a ready made first teamer.

Promotion, second best defensive record (by 1 goal), played 38 games. Whereas our defence was awful. My point is not that Bauer would or wouldnt have been a good signing, its irrelevant to his ability. Its that we need to be signing a player to go straight into the team. Mowbray needs to be, not even ruthless because that implies its a tough decision to rip up such a crap defence.

I agree with what you are saying, we need starters, not just padding out of the squad. As you say, Lenihan needs a new partner right away, not one to come in and sit and wait. The defence from last year isnt good enough to push on. Specifically on Bauer, I dont really understand why he wouldnt have gotten into the starting 11 straight away, in that hes had a very successful season and our defence only proved itself to be incompetent last season. If it was between Lenihan, Bauer, Williams and Mulgrew surely the former 2 would be first choice, of course initially, everything depends on performance. We have 3 senior centre backs, sadly Mulgrew in particular would be difficult to shift off the wage bill, so youd suspect that theres room in the squad for one more, it has to be one that has the ability and capability to go straight into the team, initially.

That goes without saying that selection depends on performance. But ultimately, last season basically all of our defenders proved that they arent capable of playing regular football if we have aspirations of pushing on. Our defensive record was shite. New defenders need to be of sufficient quality to improve the first team. Should this cause a rise in our existing players performance then brilliant but I would be bitterly dissapointed if the defence we put out v Charlton contains only players that were here last season. They arent good enough.

Mowbray said he didnt think he was going to "force his way straight into the starting 11" which suggests that he would choose Williams or Mulgrew over him initially. The worry is that a player who obviously fit the criteria of Mowbrays need for defensive reinforcements was someone who the manager didnt see as instantly able to get his way into what was a horrendous defence last season. Either questions should be asked as to why hes chasing a player of that standard, or more likely that Mowbray is continuing to lack ruthlessness to drop quite a few players who have proven themselves unable to have the quality to push us on. This summer, we need players to improve the first team, not pad the squad out. Obviously he would be expected to work hard, he would at Preston or anywhere for that matter. You seem keen to make out as if Preston have promised him x, y and z but he made it clear in his interview (and Mowbray himself touched upon it) that he would have to battle to get into the team at Preston.