If Morishita does come then they've done quite

Morishita I know nothing about but seems a cut above some of the punts we have taken this summer.

You can only be sure it's done when the club employee logs on to twitter to say "🇯🇵 🇵🇱👀"

The Morishita deal seems to good to be true… Waiting for Jackson to confirm/squash it but as it is bank holiday I don’t feel we will have an update until tomorrow.

Wharton had an unimpressive game against Forest but he was still rated 5th best on the park. Not often noted but his passing accuracy and tackling stats are almost super human every match.

Dolan has fantastic feet when on the ball and can bamboozle most defenders. Being a deceptively slow runner will always limit him. Problem at Rovers was his lack of a football brain in reading the game or seizing those split second opportunities his skilful manipulation of the ball regularly present which I think is why the Dolan detractors find so frustrating and decry him as a footballer. It could be good coaching and a different style of league could sort out the head stuff for Dolan. We were worthy winners against Elche in their backyard a month ago and Espanyol are very much the same level of outfit. I think Dolan has a decent chance of winning and holding a starting place in Barcelona.

Social media posts that Morishita is here for what it's worth.

Does any know if Morishita is in England? Doing a medical? On the balance of previous signings and our tiny budget this one really excites me...I'm just waiting for another club to come swooping in...

I give it 2 years maximum and then there will be a new manager and new 'Head of Football' only it will be lots of talk about how we need to use the academy more and not rely on loads of foreign signings, that there's too much money going into the academy to not use more players from it. We've seen all this before - lurching from one 'project' to the next every couple of years. Realistically now we're onto our third radically different approach in the space of 3 years. We had the Broughton / JDT approach which was heavily focused on bringing through academy lads and worked as well as anyone could expect with the number that graduated through to the first team. Then with Eustace there was a total shift in the opposite direction to relying on proven experienced players and hardly any academy focus Now with Ismael he talked a good game about the academy when he joined but based on recruitment to date and likely departures it is clear that there's little appetite for bringing through more youngsters or relying on those already senior who have come through the academy. Just making it up as they go along . Either that or a decision has been made already to downgrade the academy and save a couple of million a year there so offloading all academy graduates and adopting a foreign model is the precursor to justifying that.

Sergeant arguably the best striker in the division as has been pointed out. The rest of Norwich not clicking . yet. Let's keep it that way. If they do play as they are capable of this will be as challenging as our first two games. So I expect us to be competitive but the result a three way evens bet between the three possible outcomes.

They seem to be intent on clearing out everyone signed or promoted from the academy under Waggots tenure as CEO. Maybe coincidence but maybe not, new chapter being the recent buzzword.

Come on, I know it fits the 15- year narrative, but players told they have no future and to find a new club is a story as old as time and not unique to us. It could actually be argued both have been given every opportunity to make it here. Unfortunately, for different reasons, it hasn't worked out.

A bloke who has shelled out tens of thousands on mortgage and credit card repayments over the last 15 years can still be tight. He's simply repaying what he owes / living costs which is what the '£200 million' to Venkys is - the tab - going back a decade and a half - for running costs and negligent mismanagement.

I dont think anyone has said that Dolan is likely to do well in Spain. Or certainly didnt when he joined. But he certainly has already proven wrong anybnaysayers who had him down for a Nyambe esque League 1 spell and felt like he had allowed his and his agents egos to get in the way of the correct career move. Its a fantastic move for him.

If Buckleys agent gets him a big wage contract in Saudi and gets Rovers a million quid i hope they buy him a Bentley ! Because he's pulled off the deal of the year there.

And Lowe 🤔

I can’t see anything we’ve done wrong in terms of Buckley, he’s had plenty of chances but never consistently showed enough, in his short spell at Wednesday he didn’t do much either. Best for all that he moves on

I don’t think many expected a move to a club like Espanyol if I am being honest. He is one of the most frustrating players during his time at Rovers, for me anyway. His first touch and his end product lacked far too often. Maybe some high end coaching in Spain will improve on that; here, whilst modest improvements from his start, it was incremental gains. This whole situation about right vs wrong is why this sport is as followed as it is. We all have different opinions and the game is played in a different way all over the world. Theres an appetite to be seen as right. In the spirit of pub chat, which this is, over the course of your days following football you will probably be right as many times as you are wrong. And so gloating when you do hit something correctly is probably ill advised. I will nail my colours to the mast - I don’t think Dolan will cut the mustard. The Espanyol move shocked me. It will render me utterly incapable of describing my surprise if he turns out to cut the mustard at the top level. Feel free to call me a perpetual naysayer. I wouldn’t say I am. But on this occasion, I just don’t find Dolan to be a very good player

Also, I'll be amazed if Pickering is still here. Seems very much one of the old guard and doesn't fit the athletic profile Ismael seemingly wants.

Legia fans not happy about losing RM and feel €2m is a steal :

He could play a bit Ronnie but he was tiny and if i recall correct a centre mid ? I remember an older guy we knew at the time who was a staunch PNE fan said they called him the weeble, easy to knock over but bounced straight back every time.

I think there's a lot more to this than we know. I get the feeling there are a lot of players who don't want to play for Ismael or who have come back to pre season and he feels aren't up to the demands of how he wants to play. Therefore instead of pussy footing around have just decided to clean house and get in players that can. I'm not against this approach either tbh, if they've appointed him then they need to back him and if there are players who aren't 100% in line with the manager then they need moving on. Time will tell, I think a bedding in phase and a lack of cohesion will cost us points initially but I'm hoping we do the opposite to what we usually do... Start well, disaster post Christmas. Slow start, bed in the players, try not to get into too much trouble and have a strong finish to the season.

Yeah I love that. I thought during the game there looked a real togetherness gelling in the group already too. Testament to the squad and the coaches to have that with such a high turnover of players this window already. Looks like Whitehead is really in there with the players which I like to see, it's always good when the players interact back with the coaches. (obviously a 3-0 scoreline helps massively here!)

I haven’t seen him myself but heard excellent reports on Matthew Litherland. Do you have any opinion?