It will have opened some eyes in Brighton too. They thought they had a superstar on their hands - he was billed as "mini-Saka" (which is amusing considering how small Saka is) and one they'd stolen from Arsenal. I'd be surprised if he plays most of his career above L1. He's a boy amongst men.

So we don't know that JDT signed off on Telalovic over La Liga man. And we certainly don't know (the main point) that JDT was happy with either.

He's a local lad no? So hopefully sees the sense in staying while he develops like Wharton did. Look at Finneran and Phillips who chased the big move too soon and haven't got very far.

Found another pic. Before my time (I was only 2 at the time!), who's the Rovers player in this shot?

Higgins, yes apparently he was wanted by Arsenal https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/34302744/arsenal-transfer-strikerharvey-higgins-blackburn/ https://dailycannon.com/2025/04/arsenal-harvey-higgins-blackburn-rovers/ https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/who-is-harvey-higgins-the-blackburn-rovers-starlet-eyed-by-arsenal/

Actually didn't realise he played his last ever game at Ewood. Had a quick mooch around & found this: https://www.facebook.com/groups/844940199360108/posts/2023494194838030/?_rdr

Was this the lad who was wanted by Arsenal? Seems like a bit of a coup keeping hold of him?

So you believe we should play youth players regardless of whether they're ready, to meet that target? If you don't, the target is meaningless, as it's just something we're hoping for. If you do, then we risk losing points to meet the target by playing young players ahead of better players. The strong core you mention only means lots of strong players ahead of them. If there's no injury crisis there may be no reason to play them beyond the arbitrary target. 3000 minutes btw is the equivalent of 33.33 full matches. So it's more or less like having one of the starting 11 be a youth player for 33 games of the season, and them not coming off. I know it wouldn't work like that, but the point is it's not the kind of minutes total that is likely to be reached with sub appearances even from a few young players. I'm in favour of bringing through players from our excellent academy btw, when they're ready. But unless we find we have a generational talent again like Wharton, the path looks like this to me: The best youth players are put into a development pool of sorts. They get substitute appearances when there is a need, or when the game is in the bag. They get starts and substantial minutes in cup games, especially against lower league opposition and especially at home. If in any of these appearances they display ability or form on par with the senior players, they get more substantial chances to play as they prove themselves. Results always come first. Reaching a minutes quota for the sake of it doesn't come into consideration. How the youngsters (and senior players) perform in training in the eyes of the manager does though. That's how I feel it should go.

The academy’s aim should be to produce first team players. This doesn’t (or shouldn’t ) equate to the first team having a target to use academy players.

Was at that one . Didn't we give him a guard of honour?

The late great Bobby Moore’s last game apparently.

Someone needs to ask Yasir what makes him qualified to tell Rovers' fans how they should feel about the club (as a publicly outed Arsenal fan) .

It's now Tuesday 17th of June.

I think to specifically lay out objectives of certain minutes played is the issue though. If it was a case of try and bring graduates through where possible, but its flexible, then theres less risk that we start bringing through kids that arent ready purely to hit the objective. We will have years where there are talented players ready to feature like Wharton and Phillips, but also dry spells. The issue is the likes of Vale, Garrett and even the amount of game time Leonard got were as a result of the inadequacies of the squad and budget, not because they justified those minutes. For example, we wouldnt have needed an objective in place to blood Wharton and Phillips as they were justifiably part of the team/squad.

I take it the FF that was scheduled for Monday has been re-arranged?

I get the Selles one less than the Cleverley one. With Watford, they arent in danger of relegation barring something catastrophic but par for them isnt necessarily top 6. Their aim though like many (including us, and we keep fucking this up by forcing talented managers out) should be to get into the top 6 because below the usual 2 or 3 parachute teams that steamroll the division, there is always an opportunity. To get there, your best bet is a really good manager/head coach who gets a team playing beyond the sum of its parts, so its worth gambling if you dont feel the current manager can do that. No idea who their new appointment is or if he fits the bill, but its a fair assumption that Cleverley wasnt capable of overachieving. Their record in the second half of the season was the worst in the division. With Hull, even factoring in debate as to whether they should or shouldnt have sacked Rosenior, perhaps not, but still the main reason for their decline was the massive decline in playing squad. They sold key players including Philogene and Greaves and lost a number of expensive loans last summer including Carvalho and Zaraoury. He managed to keep them up which was the aim (although only by the skin of their teeth). That being said, I cant fathom why anyone who isnt a fan of either would get angry (and potentially wish them to be relegated) as a result. Why would we have such a vested interest. Even before considering the hypocrisy after wanting a managerial change here after a month.

‘We tried to get some cash deals over the line… but they were on the 15th June’.

Yeah, he's had two loan spells there. One in 22-23 and obviously this season too.

Is he? That post was from 2022?

Last game of season 1977. We won 1-0 at Ewood. Fulham, I think.🤔

The poorest bit of recruitment for me last summer was Amario Cozier-Duberry. That "prem" winger loan was absolutely crucial, suspect the club thought they'd brought in a tricky Saka type player that could make the difference. I thought they might have. Turns out he wasn't up to the mens game at all and it resulted in us relying on Dolan again in nearly every game. If they'd got this loan position right, with an Omari Hutchinson or Rak-Sakyi type we'd probably have made the playoffs...... but those loans cost money. It really does feel as though £500,000 - £1,500,000 cut here and there from season to season has damaged some of the best chances we'll ever get of getting back to the Premier League. As others have suggested when you look at the margins and how we've been closer more often at crucial points in a season than many other teams - without ever quite taking it seriously enough, going up really doesn't appear to be the goal.

I watched Duru in that game at Rochdale. From what I saw he’s nowhere near ready for a first team spot. The game just passed him by.

Like Finneron last year, if Eze isn't announced now with the rest of them then I think its pretty safe to say he won't be staying.

Harvey Higgins signed up, no news about Eze

Yes... I think there is an bias against youth from managers who prefer to work with experienced players. But usually young players do better than expected in my time watching rovers. Sure they might not be brilliant, but compared to other not brilliant older players the gap is not maybe as big as anticipated. Creating an expectation to play youth is a good thing imo. Adds risks, but then again we have seen some really poor performances from players who are 28+ so I wouldn't sweat it too much. I'd say the balance in the ideal XI you would want is - 3 experienced pros (29 to 33 y.o.) - 5 mid career established pros (23 to 29 yo) - 3 promising young players from the academy (18 to 23 y.o.) An issue is often those young player spots are taken up by loans which is great when you get next level quality like Harvey Elliot or Van Hecke. But when it's mediocre performers like ACD etc we're giving away valuable experience to other clubs. All of this is a bit pointless if we can't get those young players to sign long contracts though and let them walk away for free.