The irony of it all that arguably our two best signings last summer were Batth (33 when he joined) and Weimann (32 when he joined), both on free transfers, yet out of them we got a rock and organiser in defence and 9 goals in 30 odd appearances from Weimann including vitally important strikes e.g. away at Burnley and home v Norwich (the club are quite happy to regularly post the video of his rocket at Turf Moor). This arbitrary and ridiculous approach of not signing over 30's or only giving them 1 year deals. Just madness in this league. No amount of stats and fancy talk from Gestede and other clipboard / laptop carriers will deliver better value for money than those two delivered last season.

I suspect that Wrexham have this one season to get to the Premiership before FFP/PSR regulations bite & forcibly curb their spending next year. I believe this will be the case regardless of how many millions they spend (or don't spend) this season, so they may as well go for it

Saw some highlights of their midweek cup match against Sheffield Utd. The pressing out of possession from Gray and Furuhashi was intense to say the least. Can easily see us concede within the first five minutes if we're not prepared for it and try to play it out from the back.

Its called investing heavily with an aim for PROMOTION..our pillocks dont know the meaning of it.

Yes,the greatest supporter this Club has ever known will always be never far from our thoughts but by christ to see these present day Shysters revel in his glory while at the same time dismantling everything he fought and strived for makes me want to retch. Their Brass Neck is bloody astounding.

I’d rather have a good manager than someone that “tells us how it is” just my opinion 👍🏻

I can't at this point sorry, though hopefully will be able to at some point in the future

Can you elaborate on what's going on with the lawsuit?

It wont be It was only on last saturday due to the TV deal saying Sky could broadcast all first and last game of the season. apart from those, Saturday 3pms (when there is a full schedule) are a no go Edit - if this is useful to anyone, this is Sky Sports list of Rovers fixtures, which they keep updated (after they inevitably switch games around for TV), and they add what channel it is on (assuming it is on TV) There is also an "all football (live on Sky)" version

Is the game on the red button?

I can understand the standpoint of contracts for players over 30 however there needs to be some consideration to games played at the level of(or comparable). We have an average age of 26.5, which is right in the middle of the champ average squad age. 25 years olds who've played a lot of games are great, however I'd prefer a 32 year old with 400 games over a 21 year old with 20 when considering the nature of the championship. I'm sure Gestede, etc will point to data, ceilings, etc but the one thing with football data is good analysts also use context and most importantly their eyes. I listened to an excellent podcast last week with the Head of Recruitment at Coventry, Dean Austin. He was highlighting the importance of context and using what you see in front of you with data playing a supporting role. He gave an anecdote of a player from overseas Coventry were all in on, so much so he went over to do a physical scouting exercise. The data on the player was all there, ticked every box. Going over was seen as merely due diligence and confirmation on what was going to be a big outlay. He watched 2 games and 2 training sessions and went from being all in to all out. Because no matter what the data was telling him, his eyes saw something different. And herein lies the problem with Gestede, Suhail et al they seem to be working purely on data and looking for a certain profile of player (i.e. age, height, running stats, recoveries, etc) and not taking into account contextual factors.

Tried posting something and it came up 'hidden'. Never seen that before!

I suspect when he says 'double' it's just the spin Gestede or whoever has put out there although it means little with the way Rovers now go about things. Could mean twenty grand a week, could mean they are offering 3 years whilst Rovers are offering year extensions or it could mean overall contract including signing fee, wages and bonuses. Whatever it is we know he'll be better off at a key stage in his career although as usual it's taken on a world of its own in social media land. 'Travis is our highest paid player and Derby are doubling it, could be 40k a week, he's a greedy bastard doesn't love the club feck him' Idiots pure and simple idiots.

Your right they are morons if they don’t see the bigger picture that our own limited wage budget is the reason he wants out not disputing that at all I’m saying as a fan with intense speculation surrounding the player when asked I’m glad Iv been told by the manager exactly what’s going on - some won’t like it that’s fair me personally i do obviously the elephant in the room is why aren’t we getting these players to sign and that answer should come from Rudy whenever he comes out of hiding after the window. I’m not downplaying the bigger picture I’m agreeing but it doesn’t mean he’s wrong to tell us that a player has asked to speak to another club. If there was no such thing as social media like back in the day he could get away with it but not now.

That makes legitimately no sense. So questions that get asked a lot have to be answered? and you better believe every moronic man online is now going around saying we offered travis good money but he wants more greedy etc

Because he is asked about in every interview due to speculation that’s why - and me personally as a fan would prefer honesty and to know what is going on now we have a clear picture Travis has asked for permission to speak to Derby - now we know exactly where we stand instead of speculating about things as for making the club look better it doesn’t it makes us look worse the club captain wants out along with all other senior players they can dress it up saying ‘we tried’ but that’s not going to work it’s a terrible look for the club

The problem these days is everything has to be played out on social media etc. it will only get worse with AI. Travis obviously hasn’t handed in a transfer request but if other clubs are wanting him and its public knowledge then I can’t see why VI shouldn’t have his two pennoth too. He is obviously rattled that he is losing experience from the team and it could get worse. i’d be very surprised if the club haven’t anticipated this situation happening but it seems they aren’t handling it very well as far as publicity is concerned.

Why should he tell us when employees are unhappy and want anyway? Obviously to make the club look better!

It will almost certainly be the same terms as what he was already on, for a period of time that does not take him past his 31st birthday, so either until 2027 ot 2028, perhaps with a 1 year option It has become glaringly obvious that: - there is a wage cap for new signings. One which is much lower than most other current Championship teams. Sheffield Wednesday are probably the exception, but their wage cap is imposed upon them, not decided by them - they will sign off on the current terms of players who are already here (if they are on more than the wage cap), although they will not increase those terms - contracts for players under 30 shall not extend for more than a year after the players 31st birthday - contracts for players over 30 shall not be for more than 1 year All of which seems to be set in stone. Rules which are unbending, inflexible, & that they are unwilling to change or evolve, which shall just lead to Rovers circling the drain until they disappear down it

Why should he give us figures im pretty sure (don’t quote me on this) there’s law/rules against providing exact information publicly without consent when it comes to salaries/income

Might be worth doing if he serves his ban at Derby 😉 Not serious btw

Can’t have it both ways though. When VI talks vaguely about offering him a good deal and Derby offering more. Give us the figures VI. What did we offer him?

There is zero point starting Travis now his head will be up his arse and the chances of him getting sent off or picking up a daft injury will increase ten fold. No point having pops at Ismael either over what he says as i think it's clear putting things across isn't always his strong point and he's slap bang in the middle of it all anyway. Lets leave the scrutiny on him to his tactics, team selection and subs, all of which need to be spot on tomorrow.

That’s your take and you’re entitled to it. Mine is I’m glad to see a manager tell us what’s happening and exactly how it is

There's being transparent then there's being respectful. We all knew the crack with Trav, it was reported days before. If the Manager had any kind of respect for our club captain then he would have delivered his interview differently. A better answer - "This situation with Travis is difficult, there's is interest elsewhere and this is football" not "Travis wants to leave for Derby county" It's a total lack of respect.