The previous ownership turned down a £10m bid for Powell. Reports where Powell was happy to stay, but with no new contract guarantees, he should have been moved out. Even if it meant us taking a lower share of the fee, and using some to encourage Powell to leave.

With regards to Grigg £4m is a huge fee. IMO his true value is closer to the £1.2m mark, maybe £2m if the buyer is in a panic. We’ve done very well to get that fee. When everyone’s fit I don’t think he’d be in the top three choices. On social media you tend to hear the loudest voices. Speaking to fans on match day there’s a very clear split amongst those who think Grigg’s the best thing since sliced bread, and those who think he’s not Championship quality. That’s takes both away from what he’s achieved in the past. But we need to look forward, improve, and avoid mistakes of the past.

As with the signing of McManaman, the previous ownership have put sentimentality, over what’s best for the club. Many fans have done the same too. On balance I believe we’ve had an excellent window. All of the incomings have improved us and strengthened key areas. Both from a pure footballing perspective and with much needed experience.

The current owners of IEC only purchased it around 12 months before they started discussions to buy Latics. The individuals, or at least the ones we know of, are part of a larger investment company called ‘Head & Shoulders’. They go back 15-20 years.

Your absolutely right lad but it is totally stupid. Many points are available in Jan so why wait till the end and risk losing so many points. If your in a relegation scrap or pushing for promotion why not buy early to give you the boost needed. I will never understand why everything is left to the last day.[/quote]Given the result against Villa I think many would have expected a much better performance at Sheff Wed. Giving us some breathing space to bring the right players in. After last week’s awful performance we’re back to the panic buy mentality.

I’m still of the opinion we’ve had a first eleven and bench to compete strongly even after injuries hit. I don’t think Cook has got the best out of the squad.

The aim is survival.

Our form over the last few months suggests we won’t achieve that.

So, to stay up, we need to do better. I’m sure Cook knows that too. But let’s not suggest we’re doing enough right now to meet our goals. We’re keeping our heads above water solely because of our outstanding form at the start of the season.

Morsy picked up a hamstring injury in training. Could be out for the week or months. Gibson picked up a muscle injury in the warm-up.

Unlucky is a break or knee injury. These muscle injuries are entirely preventable. The odd tweak will always get past the medical staff but we are losing key players for multiple weeks at a time. Worse still Massey is rushed back into action and breaks down again.

Why would we give him a chance if he has a bad attitude? Same with Callum. Must be some reason about 7 clubs have fecked him off.[/quote]Does Walker fall into that category as well? Both January signings were here for little over 6 months before being shipped out. If it wasn’t for our injury crises, the need for homegrown players, and fan outcry. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see McManaman moved on after 6 months.

Kipre and James aside, I’m struggling to think of any Cook signings that have made a position their own. Even Evans, who I rate highly, has looked a shadow of the player that started last season. It’s a higher level, but was a highly creative player, both through the middle and with his cross field passes. Not to mention his shooting.

When injuries do strike, it’s players Cook’s familiar with that get the nod, like Roberts and Naismith. I don’t think any of our youngsters have even made the bench in a league game these past 18 months.

Our next five league games are Villa, Sheff Wed, Forest, QPR and Rotherham. As they say, no easy matches. But we need to be looking at 8pts to push out of this poor spell of form. Much less and we’ll head into February in the bottom three.

In recent years we’ve brought through quite a few players who made it as a Pro at lower league level and in Scottish football. Lang’s the latest and we’ll have to see if he can step-up to the Championship. He seems to have done OK at Oldham. But the big hopes, the ones who are international regulars at their age group, are all 18 or under. Of course we still need to see them given an opportunity.

He’s been screwed around in different positions, different formations, all of which has coincided with our drop in form. If only we’d stuck with our tried and tested formation and put Windass in the No.10 position when Powell was injured. Maybe by now he’d have formed a decent relationship with Grigg. As it is both are in and out of the team and we’re playing long ball to Garner!

Then again you can say the same about plenty areas of the team. Not least how the Kipre/Dunkley partnership was broken up. Or shoehorning Burn into a full-back slot when last years player of the season was sat on the bench.

50/50 is about right.

We have to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope the board back him. After the next five league games, culminating in Rotherham away, we’ll know for certain.

Your problem is you have such desperately low expectations for this club we could sink into the bottom three and you’d say, “Well, what more can we expect”.

This club has facilities the envy of many. Stadium facilities which haven’t been maximised since the purse strings started to be tightened. At least 10k empty seats in the home end, no attempts to bring in schools, youth groups, as in the old days of the JJ’s Club. Each season we’ve seen season tickets (relatively) drop off, the number of youngsters drop away, corporate boxes and sponsorship slashed. The club is slowly dying before our eyes because the previous ownership had been looking to sell ever since we failed to make it back to the PL before the parachute money ran out.

Away from the spotlight we have great training facilities and excellent youth teams throughout the age groups. If we don’t invest to at least Cat 2 status, something likely reliant on remaining in the Championship, many of our brightest prospects could to be lost for a pittance. Given the crazy transfer prices who knows how much some of those players could be worth if they continue to shine at U18 & U21 level.

No one is asking to gamble away our future chasing a PL dream. We need sensible investment to establish ourselves at this level. Because quite frankly, the footballing and commercial realities, demand it. If we think Cook can do it, back him.