Who would buy Mulgrew? Ultimately the mistake was to give him a new deal.

For me its a myth that Mowbray has peddled that the performance level was good even throughout our horrendous run. I havent seen the whole Forest game but the performances against Boro, Rotherham, Stoke, Preston, Bristol City and Reading were all insipid and of course add into that the humilliating collapse at Brentford. My main question mark hangs around this theory that Mowbray knows what is needed in the summer, and that he will be ruthless with the senior players. Im not sure where such an assumption comes from. The Derby game felt like a new dawn, no Mulgrew, Smallwood or Evans, Rothwell taking his chance with him and Dack both unplayable, backed up by the energy and tenacity of Reed and Travis ensuring that Derby were pinned in for much of the game. Mowbray however repeatedly mentions the importance he places in his senior players running the dressing room but that can be dangerous if and when them (or some of them at least) senior players get to a stage where they are no longer up to it on the pitch. Its very difficult and for me fanciful to expect the likes of Mulgrew, Bennett, Conway (admittedly impressive v Derby but well past his best), Smallwood and Evans to all have stepped aside and not all in strong contention for a start on the opening day next season.

Quite right. All of his primary attributes are best suited to being a centre back. Hes never good enough on the ball to play in midfield either.

Its not about suiting my argument, I dont think that we should have signed Celina either as he is not in a position we needed. Im saying your estimate is a total guess, but as has been mentioned since they are on a very strict budget. No I tried to make clear that the last 2 paragraphs werent aimed at you.

For me, it depends on what the primary objective is of experimenting in the first place. The main aim has to be trying to find solutions from within our current squad that could potentially improve us moving into next season. Rewarding academy players is a noble objective but a secondary one. The changes I suggested are what I perceive to be the most likely in terms of improving our 11 with players we already have. The likes of Chapman, Davenport and Nyambe are I would suggest far closer to being ready to come into our team on a regular basis, and putting them in I wouldnt expect to particularly disrupt or hinder our chances of getting results. Rodwell is obviously an experienced first teamer, but we havent really seen his undoubted quality in his natural position. We may well have an added bit of quality to bring in under our nose that we have misused so far to cover shortfalls elsewhere. I would like to see Butterworth in particular, but the problem is I want to see Rothwell, Dack and Chapman given time together specifically with an eye on next season. Butterworth and Buckley are players I would suggest that are more likely to come off the bench, and it is more useful to have them on there than players like Evans and Smallwood. But they wouldnt be token gestures as a reward, otherwise youd chuck a few in together. Results are still important.

Straight off question. Do you think that the finance used on the Ben Brereton could have been used better in retrospect? Yes or no.

It made no sense to prioritise a number 10 considering our best player plays there, but your figures are totally pie in the sky estimates. Swansea have been heavily cost cutting, selling all their assets and leaving Graham Potter with a very modest budget, so I have big doubts that your estimates are correct. No one is saying that player recruitment is easy, but to suggest that we couldnt have done better with 7m and a competitive wage than signing a striker who has not scored, who has not offered the tiniest bit of competition to our excellent but veteran striker, who has not offered any glimpses of any attributes or talent that can be nurtured and who has looked quite frankly embarrassingly out of his depth every time he has stepped onto the pitch is absolute bullshit, (Im not saying you are suggesting that btw, just a general point) He is a young lad I get that, but hes not a Championship novice, and many seem insistent on removing any room for him to be criticised.

But surely winning whilst (incrementally) experimenting would be better than losing whilst experimenting? I'd like to see Nyambe over Bennett, Chapman along with Dack and Rothwell, and Rodwell (CM) and Davenport both given chances alongside Travis.

Agreed, in that if bringing in new players leads to poor results, thats not an ideal sign! For me, the 4 players I want to see in are Chapman, Rodwell as a central midfielder, Nyambe and Davenport, in that I suspect they are 4 players not currently playing that I think could have the best chance of playing the biggest parts in next season. The key is that there is no need to have the likes of Evans and Smallwood in the 18, as the likes of Butterworth would be better served in there.

Players performance in training is irrelevant if those players cannot perform on a matchday, see both Brereton and Gladwin for that. The main worry is his loyalty to some senior players; giving them power to govern the dressing room can make it difficult to then move them on if their performances warrant it. You look at numerous members of that, Bennett is shoehorned in irrespective of performances week on week, Mulgrew has clearly had his day and our performances and results with him are far inferior to those without him, Conway has put in 2 good performances this season but his legs have gone and Smallwood has been left behind by a number of superior options in central midfield. Do I have faith that he will be ruthless, that he does "knows what is needed in the summer" and that none of these players who have been good to us in the past but are not going to push us forward will be in the starting 11 on the first day of next season? No and thats my worry. For me, looking at our current team I think I would only be comfortable if 5 of the current side started the first game on next season, Dack, Graham, Rothwell, Travis and Lenihan. There are potential other starters in the squad that for whatever reason are not involved at the moment. Rodwell has the ability to start in central midfield, and has quality perhaps above the rest of the squad. Why yesterday did Evans start ahead of him in midfield? I think Armstrong has been in the main disappointing this season, would like to see Chapman start the last 4 games. And Nyambe is a much better right back than Bennett, goes back to my point about shoehorning him in. I would like to see us be more ambitious in our loans next season, get a couple of top loanees and it can really prop you up. Would love Reece James here. The Brereton deal, or more so the cost of it, and no matter how much people try and belittle the cost, it was a massive fee and presumably at least competitive wages, has besmirched Mowbrays reputation in two ways. This is a player who has looked as far out of his depth when he has played as anyone I can remember in recent memory. If we had spent 3m in the summer, expectations would possibly be much more in line with stability being a very good first season. Ultimately, if your budget goes up to above 10m, expectations do accelerate as a result quite rightfully, and when you look at how we have got nothing from the majority of that budget, it naturally begs questions about what could have happened had we spent the money wisely. Also, would you trust him to spend loads of money considering how badly hes blown the last budget. One thing that I do agree with is that its important to give credit where its due. We got promoted and Mowbray was obviously a big part of that and deserves credit. I was angry at him for what I perceived to be forfeiting the title for no good reason, and I do think that promotion was an expectation, but he deserved credit for it nonetheless.

But surely its more logical to improve the weakest parts of the team first rather than where our best player this season plays, without discounting that we do need competition for him and the player he spent 7m on looks more of a joke with each passing game.

Nothing to do with belief from the manager, both are huge liabilities and quite simply we need better. We cant afford to carry players who make so many individual errors. I totally agree that we need adequate backup for Graham but it seems a bit backwards to worry more about a 2nd choice striker rather than a 1st choice left back or goalkeeper.

A few things in the last 2 games have impressed me from Mowbray aside from the results. I havent seen the game today but Rothwell scoring 2 superb goals in 2 games has hopefully meant that the penny has dropped in terms of starting him. I was happy that Mulgrew didnt come back in today, that Reed and Travis played in central midfield on Tuesday, and today I am pleased that playing 2 wide men with the thought process of how they can hurt the opponent rather than this "defensive wingers" crap. Ultimately, we need a new left back, centre back and goalkeeper as a matter of urgency, I expect that we will bring in a centre back but I am unconvinced that we are going to replace Bell or Raya, both of whom are regular and consistent liabilities. I am also unconvinced that he is going to have the ruthlessness to stop needing to stick Bennett into every game in whatever position is missing, or that the likes of Mulgrew and Smallwood will be edged out.

I would rather have Graham in the team and a competent goalkeeper and left back rather than spend big on a new striker to compete with Graham whilst Bell and Raya continue to cost us goals. Goalkeeper, left back and centre back are the 3 biggest priorities.

Logically speaking, we shouldnt need a striker at all. We have our player of the season and a 7m striker Mowbray has told us to judge next season whilst suggesting he intends to play him much more. So really, there surely is no need to bring in a striker at all. As it is, I feel like Mowbrays words will prove hollow in terms of Brereton and he WILL sign a striker, which to be honest I would also do because quite simply, I've seen nothing to suggest that Brereton is the man any time soon. But yeah, I personally worry that left back is going to be neglected and continue to be a major point of conceding goals for us next season.

So to clarify, you think Graham in the starting 11 is a weaker point than Bell, Raya, Nyambe or Bennett?

But we could have spent that 7m differently in the summer, never mind January. Think Mowbrays words will prove to be hollow ones when he no doubt signs a striker in the summer who will jump ahead of the goalless Brereton in the queue in a season we are allowed to judge him in.

He definitely does not have a poor touch, in fact ive seen him numerous times pluck a ball out of the air and stop it dead. Also, Alex Neil said after he came here that he had done so choosing us over Preston so thats not true either. I dont think hes offered enough and I think hed be better placed on the right rather than the left as he can use his pace to go on the outside. His decision making is a major downfall. God knows what Mowbray sees to seperate him and Rothwell defensively either.

Dont believe that McGeogh has been a regular there. Aswell as Aribo and Hanley if possible I would like to see us look at Reece James currently on loan at Wigan from Chelsea if it was realistic especially after how loaning Palmer went. Top player. And maybe Bidwell whose contract is expiring at left back.

The same Hanley that won player of the season the last time he was here? And was second in a similar award at Norwich last season behind James Maddison? Would be a massive upgrade. Joe Aribo would be a superb signing but I doubt it would be realistic with much bigger teams sniffing around.

Isnt that like saying theres no point suggesting team selections or transfers as weve no control over that either?

The primary difference is that Rothwell is a player competing for a wide birth where our wide men have been collectively ineffective in the main. Rochina was competing with players in central areas who in particular following the signing of Gestede were consistently contributing goals. Theres no way you could justify playing Rochina over a 20 goal striker, in Rhodes and then both Rhodes and Gestede, something that also did for Josh King, now the best out of the 4 but ultimately that was the (perhaps only) part of our team that functioned well.

Wasnt good enough in League 1.

Dont think this bodes well for yesterday being the start of a new and exciting dawn...

If Dack goes this summer, the adjective would not be "interesting" more "terrifying." All conjecture I realise on your part.