Johnnyrotten

I think Inwood going is probably covered already - Toal the back up to Forino and Davies, and then Famewo if needed (with Conway at LB). In a crisis, we've got Temple. It still feels like CB is relatively covered compared to the attacking department!

It says he's signed for "an undisclosed fee". No excuse for us not putting in a huge bid for Kenny tomorrow 😄 God knows why it would be undisclosed, probably another description would be "a fee, but who cares".

I went on Friday v Trent and was prepared to enjoy it, embracing getting the new shirts they were giving out (only XL and one kids size left though!). Nice couple of pints in the evening sun. Then "we" got a boundary and this wierd piped noise/chant came blaring out of the speakers. "MSG, MSG, MSG". OK, a bit of a one off to get the crowd going. No, it was forced on us every single boundary, or wicket in the Trent innings. And really manic bloke and woman trying to whip the crowd into a frenzy during any stoppages, but hardly succeeding. The "atmosphere" was literally the loud speakers and these 2 shouting at the crowd to MAKE SOME NOISE (why?), not unlike the too-loud music at the Reebok pre-KO - but every time something happened or there was a break. I'll watch some on TV (well beaten yesterday again) but that's it for me going to the home games, the noise was just a pain in the arse and unnecessary. It added nothing to the occasion, and I don't mind the appropriate music at T20, "another one bites the dust" etc which adds a bit of humour without being in your face. I tried, its not for me and I don't want to subject the grandkids to it either, I'll take them to other sport.

Whether he's got a squad number or not makes little difference. Kenny won't be playing for Celtic this season any more than our no.17 Randall will be playing for us. IMO.

Similar "apathy" in our Prem days - 2010 - Bolton 2 Osasuna 0 (Elmander and CYL) attendance 4,847! Hard to recall a friendly at the Reebok against opposition that aren't either local or biggish ever attracting 5k or more.

Your memory of that game is obviously better than mine, all I can remember is ACD scoring, ACD not quite scoring, and the atmosphere 😄. OK yes Bradford did attack quite a bit 2nd half, but I can't recall any near goals, just a load of crosses and corners.

That's a brilliant stat 😄 Probably too young for us then, too old for us now.

I'd love it if there was a 4th category of good players for the level we're playing at that we might even make a loss on! Eg I would rather pay a fee for a Cameron Branagan, Keillor Dunn or Josh Windass than gamble on an unproven young player, every now and again.

They are my main hope to struggle, of the non-promoted teams, along with Blackburn and PNE. Whenever I saw them last season, they looked very L1, which gives me hope 😄 Charlie Kelman their main striker and he only scored 7. Sonny Carey their top scorer on 8 (ex Blackpool) and he played all 46 games so basically 1 in 6. Signed Karlan Grant from WBA, 14 goals in his last 100 games. Not saying we are any better currently but Charlton are a target to aim for.

In an ideal world we would have brought in 11 quality championship player but we know that's not happening, and in terms of priorities, GK is way down the list. Anyone watching say the last 3 games of last season and the friendlies Bonham has played in wouldn't even make a comment on the GK situation, when we need to strengthen/fill other areas first.

He might be a great player, obviously I don't know. But that's brought to mind the pre-Wembley chat when Stockport fans were rejoicing that our captain got injured at Bradford and wouldn't be playing at Wembley. Most Bolton fans probably aren't too sure who our captain is and wouldn't bat an eyelid if we sold him, assuming there was a replacement.

He's 30, played 17 games for PNE last season, and was playing for Doncaster till he was 25. I think PNE will survive without him.

Cogley has never been lauded for his physical prowess to my knowledge. Tutu very different, he could beat a man, he's a winger (for some unknown reason converted to full back) and to say he has no ability is wide of the mark, he is fast and can beat a man, that run at Wembley just doesn't happen if your name is Cogley or Christie. Both are "average footballers". L1 players. The discussion is whether we now have a squad of "above average/championship footballers". As we aren't allowed to comment on friendlies, its impossible to say yet, we need to be patient.

Fair enough. Guilty of going to a game and commenting on it, happy to wait for the real stuff to start. But being at the game folk comment on it, it would be more crazy for everyone to sit there in total silence and ignore everything because its just a friendly. The managers on the touchline seemed to be paying attention to what the players were doing or not doing.

And at our level ACD another example. But what point are you making about our players?

You've lost me there. Tutu had ability in spades as well as athletic attributes but nowhere was I putting one above the other. Its strange that Cogley is L2 but has spent the last few seasons in the top 6 or so of L1, he has many critics but not many saying he shouldn't be in L1. Every player that's played for us in the last 3 or 4 years might be dreadful in the championship, so what? Its more about whether we've signed better players than those we've lost.

It was just an early impression of his ability, within the confines of friendlies - pace, trickery, strength, crossing etc - he looks a bit one paced to me, but a decent enough full back. Not a Tutu, Cogley or Conway type that's doing quite a bit of both. Of course that means he's less likely to be caught out of position and he clearly enjoys defending/getting stuck in which can't always be said about the others. I would be surprised if our opponents don't have more dynamic full backs at this level.

Good player but he only scored 11 of their 89 goals last season. Squad wise they are still miles stronger than us (given that we're arguably weaker) but I do think their managerial situation will see them struggle, it just depends how long it takes them to get a proper manager in, not too long I suspect.

I agree. Just a comment about his style of play, along with Stephenson. They are defenders, not overlapping full backs. We are more solid, we have less going forward, is the theme.

Stephenson can put a foot in but its stretching it to say he's an improvement on Cogley or Tutu. He might well be, but no evidence so far. No quality going forward yet, less pace than those 2 and not stronger or taller. He clearly has a good attitude and tenacity, but its all very L1. Last week I was encouraged that we played higher standard opposition and didn't look out of place. Less encouraging today, very few flowing moves and Sheehan well off the pace unusually. The wide areas are a real problem going forward, Gale was awful and nothing down the right. Forino and Davies played well, Famewo solid but nothing going forward, which is a theme.

So 3 of our first 4 home games are biggies, we'd best get a striker in 😄 On the expectations/realism discussion, I'm only looking at the first few games of the season, its not about will we stay up by next May, but can we get some points in August and September and get our season up and running even if that means being 2nd or 3rd bottom.

Stoke remains a bit of a turning point for me in always desperately wanting to get to an FA Cup semi. Getting to such an occasion had no negative previously. Then I realised getting to Wembley can be a negative as well as positive, it did the club a lot of damage in the short term. Post-Stoke if I'd been offered a guarantee of no semi for 5 years I'd have taken it. Of course I'd take another semi final now, but its lost its innocence, I don't want us like lambs to the slaughter playing City or Arsenal, or even Bournemouth or Brentford. There was a feeling post-Oxford of not wanting to get to another play off final for a bit, it was perfect that we gave it 2 years then produced one of our most memorable games in our history, to put Oxford to bed.

I suppose it works the other way too, we know their weaknesses as well as strengths. The same applies to GJ, Tutu, Dempsey and Cissoko (on loan), we decided to replace them with players we don't know (eg Famewo, the two Scots, Dong). We can't say after the friendlies that any of them look like an upgrade so far, that's not judging them, but its not like any of us are saying "wow, big improvement there" unlike a year ago when we could see straight away Burstow was better than Vic, Simons looked miles better than Morley/Lolos and our new wingers miles better than Schon etc. As you say we know Kenny's level, we could hope for better given the opposition but we could also end up with worse.

Yes, red button, no impact on KO times, it was the same last season.

Small mercies. There's a Championship game at 12pm most Sundays, we've avoided that graveyard slot (Stockport away last year was a 1st day of the season low). And there are a few Monday nights too, Friday night is annoying but better than Monday and we're spared those. Another fun Sky slot is 8pm Saturday. Wrexham (obviously) have got all of the above by 5th September and another Friday game 11th Sep.