Literally no upside to signing a player forever injured, clearly with motivational issues, and with very little ability. Hope its not true. Presume that its just an assumption that we are signing him as cb cover as that would make no sense, to sign a midfielder to specifically play at centre back.

Really poor first half after 2 good early efforts. Second half full of passion, at times in the absence of quality. A lot of hesistancy around the box at times leading to attacks breaking down but no shortage of effort and character. Big questions of Raya again, for both goals. Lenihan all over the shop, Mulgrew much better until a slip late on nearly cost us. 2 superb penalties. Full backs ok, Nyambe cant cross a ball but solid defensively. Wish Bell would be braver going forwards too but no problems at full back. Bennett poor first half, full of spirit in the second albeit he still needs to be far better in the final third. Grahams hold up as always very good. Evans was brilliant, asked for the ball regularly, Smallwood has to be dropped however. Never showed for the ball, head went down, absolutely abject on the ball. Rothwell was very good, seemed to be everywhere, full of energy and not short of ability. Like the look of him. Him and Evans can share the man of the match. It wasnt Armstrongs day in the time he was on but we need his pace back desperately. Nuttall far better than usual when he came on, Conway less so, so predictable and ponderous. Need quite a few players in and Dack, Palmer and Armstrong back to help what is a spirited group but with a few weaknesses.

Rodwell and Anichebe would be appalling signings. Not sure if they are has beens, more never have or will be. Harrison Reed would be a good signing, tidy midfielder, ideally not just a loan.

Think that same interview give or take a few words and phrases has been released on a weekly basis for the last 2 months. Getting boring now.

But if we have a substantial amount of money, we shouldnt be looking for a back up loanee.

Certainly hope theres nothing in the Jerome rumours, and dont think there is hence us being one of a few teams linked. Would be on not insignificant wages, and the opposite of Brereton in terms of age and profile. Reliant on pace which will be on the wane at his age.

Samuel doesnt look like he can play a part. No league goals for nearly a year. We do need reinforcements albeit I understand your skepticism of us being held to ransom by Forest.

World class?

Think you can almost certainly file that along with the series of other people who get some sort of strange kick out of pretending to know information to get attention, the likes of which seem to sadly become more and more prevalent with each transfer window.

My main point, as I conveyed to @Bigdoggsteel is that you can debate the potential of a specific player signing, for example Brereton in this case, both positive and negative, in terms of the quality of player, the goal record of the player, how he is viewed at his current club in terms of both game time, and fan opinion, the role/best position of the player, and whether he would be a wise use based on the suggested fee for the players. You can do all of this, without losing faith in Mowbray, or without needing to have the scouting knowledge of a professional with a host of alternative names and how much they would cost. That is the whole point of a transfer thread on a messageboard. If you choose to only focus on how brilliant everything is, then thats fine, but whether you like it or not, people will offer thoughts both positive (in Breretons case, his potential, his pace, his directness) and negative (his high price tag, his goal record, whether he can realistically come in and be our number 9 straight away) and you cant just throw your toys out of the pram everytime someone says something that doesnt fit your narrative that he is a perfect signing. If you are choosing to miss that point then thats up to you.

You might find it boring but I and others find it to be constructive debtate. Please can you quote the conspiracy theories? I would like to see them. Beg to differ, https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/august/the-experiment-worked/ “I’ve played Adam off the left wing before. I play with two and a half attackers, really. Adam is one, Danny [Graham] is one, and Bradley [Dack] is the half," Tony revealed to iFollow Rovers. "I’d then have a [Elliott] Bennett or a [Craig] Conway on the other side, running up and down." To clarify, I agree that we need plenty of options in these positions. But it would be Dack and 2 from Armstrong, Freeman, Brereton, Palmer, Graham, Samuel and Rothwell, something I'd prefer him to be more flexible with when we play weaker opponents, eg on Wednesday. I might be totally wrong and apologies if so, but it sounds like most on here, you havent seen too much of Freeman and Brereton yourself. Brereton, from the very little ive seen, was very direct but quite weak. Obviously things like goal records are black and white, and his is poor at the moment. You can't expect people to turn a blind eye to potential weaknesses of a player that is going to cost us such a substantial amount. Freeman, again I saw a couple of times only, but he is not the quickest, very good from dead balls, not a natural winger who will get chalk on his boots, the type I personally feel we lack as an option in the squad. I would be happy if I woke up tomorrow and we signed both, but lets not shut down debate as to whether they are exactly what we need, or whether they are the best way to utilise a very large potential kitty, albeit from the limited information we have, from the few games weve seen them play, and from what their supporters have said about them both.

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to suggest that £8m would be the majority of our budget.

We dont. We play 3, as mentioned by Mowbray earlier in the week. Agree with fighting for a place. Obviously not signing anyone is a big issue. But basically you are saying, be happy we are signing players, regardless of position, rather than allowing them to question whether they will be able to give us what we are missing.

Fans arent professional scouts though, thats the thing. People are well entitled, as @K-Hod pointed out earlier, to point out potential concerns about spending what would be an equal record fee for a player, without having a series of alternatives under their arm. Brereton is seemingly an exciting talent, pacy, highly rated, but there are also potential concerns, poor goal record, potential inability to play as a lone striker at the moment, nowhere near the Forest side, so his current ability is being questioned rather than his potential ability, not to mention that we are reported to have been messed about regarding the fee. If he was to sign, he would have to realistically have an impact from the get go due to the fee. Freeman is a very talented player with a very impressive assist tally, but his natural position where he is played for QPR is as a 10, he isn't particularly quick so he would, like Palmer, need to fit in somewhere else, most likely wide. Baeur, thats a deal that, finance permitting, not many have said anything bad about. You can query players and ask questions about them who are potentially being linked with signing for big, big fees, without having to have an in depth understanding of exactly who will be available for similar fees.

So Nixon has a reason for why all 3 of them may not happen, to cover his back

That is the key I think. Certainly not getting excited until if and when these deals happen.

That would be a dream window, I can't see us signing all of them, and seemingly from his interview yesterday, neither can Mowbray. That would certainly have players like Samuel and Nuttall not even near the squad and surely being sold and loaned out respectively.

I'd be surprised, and weren't Boro interested in him too? That said, if we had Dack, Freeman, Graham, Armstrong, Palmer and an 8m striker in Brereton, surely wed have to be targeting the play offs.

Where did you see it mentioned? He is a number 10 predominantly.

Same team as this. A game we should be immensely disappointed not to win, no need for Bennett, Evans AND Smallwood. The latter should move to the bench.

Surely its getting to the point where we either sit down with Forest officials and come to a compromise now, or move on from the deal. Don't want to be getting to the stage, as per the normal window, where we dont get anything over the line. Agree with @RovingRover on that. Cant have Forest taking the piss when we are already seemingly prepared to pay a substantial amount for currently their 4th choice striker, based solely on potential.

Dont understand your defence of McLaren. Proven poor manager. The recruitment doesnt absolve him of blame after his side conceded 7. Smithies was frozen out towards the end of last season I believe. Theyve not lost anyone of note and last season they comfortably survived under a poor manager in Holloway. There is some crap in this league, they probably arent one of the worst 3 teams, not under a competent manager, they have a talented attacking midfielder called Eze, Cousins and Luongo are decent at this level, Osayi-Samuel is someone you repeatedly suggested that we should sign, and they have some defenders like Bidwell and Lynch that accompanied with a new signing he brought in shouldnt be letting in 7.

You seem to have initially totally missed the point, then stumbled across what people are saying without realising. People arent saying we shouldnt spend 8m, a point @chaddyrovers also seems to have missed in his steadfast defence of a player based mainly on a youtube video... The point people are saying, and its one you seemingly share, is should we blow it all on a promising but ultimately incredibly raw player when we need a few players of quality? Debatable. Its the way we are spending it that people are debating and questioning, not the amount. I dont see how the media knowledge of the Brereton bid specifically could have affected the deal, as I dont see any other teams becoming knowledgeable and bidding themselves, the usual worry.

Rubbish manager showing how bad he is.

hes on his back, thus not putting pressure on his injury. Lets hope its not serious and its just a knock but dont be so pedantic and smug too soon.