Something has deffo happened. We brought in north of £40m and reinvested, at best, 10% of that. This time we've brought in far less but spent more? If we assume: Brittain - £3m Trav - £3m (money not even here yet) JRC - £1m Bucko - £1m That's £8m brought in and we've probably spent 80% of that money?

I expect these to improve as the season goes on (as Manning's Bristol City seemed to do last year) so this is probably a good time to play them. It seems like they're (another!) team that plays out from the back with defenders who aren't up to it, so hopefully we can take advantage of that.

One things for sure - he'll have the game of his life when he returns to Ewood. He'll have the home end pulling their hair out and his replacement sent off by 60 minutes.

Agree that they're well suited. I expect him to be a big hit there to be honest, but I'd also have expected him to be a big hit at Coventry. Or at Millwall if they managed to sign him last year. Or others if they had the money to spend. I think because he's a bit of a wind-up merchant and can be a pantomime villain, we can be in danger of overdoing what he brings/doesn't bring as an 'enforcer', and missing how good (at this level) his all-round game is. We saw it when he first came into the side and could immediately do what Evans and Smallwood could do as well as plenty more besides on the ball. We've had countless central midfielders in the last decade or so since we've been relegated, and Trav is one of at most two or three that don't have glaring weaknesses in his game.

If there's anything to this rumour, then well done to the folk who attended the fans forum. Ultimately, I think we need Venkys to leave to make the necessary strides forward as a team and club. However, any pressure that releases the purse strings can only be a positive. Regardless of my personal opinions on anyone involved in running the place.

Honestly lost complete respect for Valerian. Can't believe he'd throw him under the bus publicly. Be a bit more professional. Pathetic.

Agree 100%. No good having Ferrari feet, but a Skoda brain. Unfortunately, the way modern football is going, it appears that the requirement is for players to be 'athletes first, footballers second'.

Far to much positivity for this version of venkys rovers this week with a good win and talk of a couple of exciting signings through the door. Rovers 0 Norwich 2, back down to earth with a thud,

Feel really sorry for Travis. The Club are actively trying to offload him because he's one of the higher earners yet just to rub salt in the wound the manager has taken the very unusual step of coming out in Public and stating "he's let everyone down" for some unspecified reason. I think from Travis's point of view, maintaining a dignified silence is probably the best thing to do. Just get out of the place without resorting to stooping to the Club's levels.

Imagine Travis failing his medical at Derby.

As did Callum Brittain

I have to disagree on this if your a player who has played at a club pretty much their whole career and has captained them and you feel there is wrong doing from the club regarding events and possibly damaging your rep/image at the club then why not say something? If that’s me and I ‘haven’t’ refused to play and the club has ‘suspended’ me for pretty much nothing then I would be looking to set the story straight. Plenty of players in the past have called out their club/manager regarding their situations I don’t see why this should be any different I do agree there’s two sides to every story but if the other side is never told then it’s hard to come to any confident conclusion

I interviewed him for the 4000 Holes podcast ahead of the Watford fan takeover game (remember when we used to do stuff like that?). Anyhow, I found him to be extremely likeable. Grounded, intelligent, articulate & perhaps dare I say it...introverted for a modern day footballer. A lot has happened since then & if he's only been offered an extension on existing terms after playing every single minute last season I'd be fairly hacked off with my employers too...

He's had a few injuries but by no means injury prone. Knee surgery, hamstring injury last season (no wonder though...).

He's definitely answered honestly. We've also definitely not offered him a suitable contract extension. We're both in the wrong and both in the right.

Is anyone able to confirm? Has the recent pressure from the fans forum meant that Pasha and Co have changed strategies? What are you hearing @glen9mullan?

In devil's advocate mode: You can't (and don't want) authorities intervening because Clubs are being run badly per se. Clubs have be left to live and die (figuratively speaking) by their own mistakes or good management. It's only when their viability starts to come into question that the Authorities should intervene. Manchester United were atrocious last season and finished way below where they should for a Club of that size. Does that mean the Authorities should have intervened?

I get the impression he's an introvert - which is why he's not a good captain

Goddard was on the bench on Saturday, I wonder if he will be ahead of Michelski, seems to be a few years ahead of him in his development. Either way though, if Pears does go we absolutely need another keeper who has at least played some senior football.

I'm definitely at the point of double checking the spelling of names before posting - hopefully they become second nature before Christmas. With regards to the outgoing players - Travis is a loss, but Buckley and JRC (he never recovered that form he had during JDTs first season) aren't and quite frankly I'm glad we've been ruthless and moved both on.

Could you imagine him trying to play against Tugay? 🤣

I was thinking that Batth still had something in his locker, but he has been horrible for Derby since moving there. Brittain has also been bang average for Boro. It will be very exciting to see how Trav does in Derby. He did play very well under JE in Rovers and as I have said earlier in the summer. He had his best football days under Eustace and they seem to be a very good fit with each other. I guess this also affects the desire to leave Rovers for Derby.

He's the type of player that keeps you in a game, but he doesn't win games for you. He's also a paper tiger - tries to play the hard man, but we all know he's soft. He's not an enforcer.

I can understand why Dolan ran his contract down and moved to Barcelona. He has played quite well for Espanyol and looks like he is in the first XI going forward. Watched him last match and have to agree I did miss him in Rovers color. At the same time he did all his twists and turns and put himself into situations where he was losing the ball way to much.

Game of opinions, but I think this is selling him well short. If you were a team managed by a Russell Martin type (or even a JDT type, even though they're very different) then I can see how Travis isn't the sort you want. He's technically decent - much better than people give him credit for - but asking him to play one/two touch football isn't playing to his strengths. But if you want a classic box-to-box type, how many are better than Travis? I'd say he'd be a key player for at least half of the teams in this league (much in the same way he is for us).