You see the problem there?

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't say Yuki broke down. He was near enough assaulted in most games. I thought he seemed really durable and wouldn't be surprised if he played through a few knocks last season.

Miller has to play, if there's one team I'd love to beat off a long throw...

In terms of quality, last season we had Dolan and Weimann chipping in, now we have neither. The 2 strikers scored c 15 goals between them last season and I dont see them scoring more than 20 this season. Clearly not enough, we need a lot more. In terms of numbers would you be happy with 2 CB's plus an untried 17 yr old and a 21 year old who hasnt really cut it to date as cover? I suspect not - yet for some strange reason a lot of fans and seemingly the Club deem that to be adequate for the striking positions. So to answer your original question, because it's so desperately needed, the Club probably won't do it -no.

Axel on the bench would be my guess. Be surprised if Miller is starting any time soon though,.

Alexander Henriksson • 16/04/2002 •Another signing that is marked by myself as a dream signing, although I think he is still worth mentioning. Henriksson plays his club football for Swedish top flight side GAIS. During the 2024 Season, Henriksson played 26 games which 19 of them he started. Predominately deployed as the attacking player in the midfield three in GAIS`s 4-3-3 formation. •A parallel can be drawn to Fredrikstad`s current creative output in Morten Bjørlo. The two players, while different share some of the creative and on the ball qualities. •The Ability to win the ball in the final 3rd of the pitch, and driving forward with the ball is something that is prominent in both players, and even more so in Axel Henriksson. A technically prominent midfielder combined with his athleticism and his towering 190cm, makes of a rare mould of a footballer. • Although Axel Henriksson is an attacking midfielder, some of his defensive numbers are also through the roof compared to comparable players - Aerial duels won: 42 (92nd percentile) - Duels won: 117 (77th percentile) - Possesion won in the final 3rd: (89th percentile) • The 22-year-old also had an impressive season attacking wise, as he managed 8 goals and 3 assists from 19 starts in the Allsvenskan for a GAIS team that finished 6th. His numbers in the attacking numbers are as his defensive ones, impressive. - Goals: 8 (100th percentile) - Shots on target: 20 (100th percentile) - Touches in opposition box: 98 (95th percentile) • One of Henriksson`s abilities that impressed me the most is his positioning. In the instanced i have watched him, he always seems to be in the right spot, which speaks of a high footballing IQ. As previously mentioned, I find Henriksson to be a unique mould of footballer, and a mould of attacking midfielder you don't see very often. •This is made clear by the interest in him. At the time of writing, Polish club Rakov Czestochowa holds a strong interest in the player who`s contract runs out at the end of 2026, and as we fast approach the transfer window, I am sure there will be a lot of intrest in the player. As previously stated, i view Axel Henriksson as a dream signing, and aknowledge that should he leave GAIS in janaury he will most likely move to a bigger team. •With a market value of 1,5 million euros, I do not think a deal can be reached for under 2 million Euros which would Smash Fredrikstad's transfer record.

Thankfully there's no thug of a Leeds RB to crock him this year. Disgusting 'tackle'.

Anyone know what sort of player the sweedish lad is? Attacking, defensive? There must be a CM due out the door now. Hopefully its Buckley and not trav!

Brilliantly put, that's the most concise summary of our plight I've ever heard. Well done. BTW we DID make the play offs several times in the 80's despite no cash. Funnily enough I ran into a random guy the other week who knew me from my Rovers related activities years ago and he apparently was a near neighbour of Jim Branagan and knew him very well. He confirmed what many of us have always suspected over the years using the naked eye test. Jim apparently said the players were very conscious that if they did go up most of them knew they'd be replaced and they were settled in the area and their kids at the schools etc........

Miller certainly starting with the Brittain departure. Henriksson might have arrived too late for Ismael to coach into him the Rovers needs. Besides which we don't really know where in midfield he will slot. I would argue Hedges is more a wide midfielder than winger so he could take that slot rather than be a challenger to Trav, Tronstad, Cantwell and Forshaw. No bad thing that WBA are probably seeing the player list at 2pm on Saturday as much a mystery as it is to us.

It could also mean he comes in hitting the ground running. Much like Yuki last season. Let's hope so and that he doesn't break down around Christmas.

The annoying thing is that not all loans need to be players to grow - or to put it in real terms, not ready! Fed up loaning the likes of Cozier-Duberry, Billy Koumetio, Clinton Mola and George Hirst who (may become good, but) were woefully under prepared for Championship football, when other teams seem to loan more "proven" and championship battle tested youngsters. Derby signing Owen Beck this year is a much better loan than us signing him 12 months ago. Louie Barry another example to Sheffield United. When was the last time Rovers loaned a player (who was successful) that was already proven at Championship level. I use this example often but why is it Rovers loan Jack Byrne, whereas Huddersfield loan Aaron Mooy? Both CM from Man City reserves, yet we get the absolute dud vs the star. Rovers don't get relegated if you swap that one loan.

Due to my ignorance I hadn’t realised the Swedish league had already started. Let’s hope he doesn’t do a ‘Yuki’ and burn out or get injured near Christmas time.

The Axe is back ! 💙🤍

If he is agreeing to go to Derby a year before his contract ends then he would be braindead. I can understand an older player following a manager or someone going there on a short term contract but like no guarantee Eustace will be even there next season. If Eustace gets offered a better opportunity than Derby he will be off...if he does poorly then he would be in the threat of the sack.

He hasn't been a regular this season, that doesn't sound too promising. But injury concerns, his contract nearing its end, and increased competition in the GAIS midfield were all factors.

It's such a tough one. Ours is a bit of an outlier case compared with most of the other shite owners. Wrexham, Portsmouth, Coventry, Morecambe, Luton Bolton, Bury, Reading, SheffWeds and probably 15 others I've forgotten to mention all had owners that were so catastrophic that they put the club either at serious risk of going out of business or out of business altogether, usually within a few years. Our decline has been so managed and drawn out over 12-13 years that it has slipped under the radar and so doesn't quite compare to the other examples. Our owners have always just managed to do the bare minimum to escape legal and media scrutiny. Kept us on life support as cheaply as possible. As long as we're fielding a team of paid players and ticking all the EFL's boxes, no one can technically say they're doing anything wrong. This is why no one outside of East Lancashire really cares. To outsiders, it looks like we're complaining at a lack of on-field success, which most clubs go through. As opposed to circling the plug hole very, very slowly, which is actually what it feels like we're doing. Fifteen years is a long time for a club of our stature to go without even a sniff of success, I don't mean winning the top division or trophies, but for the majority of our history we have been in the top flight and we should be at least aiming to return there every season. I don't remember anyone in the last decade at the club saying that promotion has been a goal. I'm pretty sure the goal of most other championship sides is to win promotion, but we never hear it at Ewood and we don't behave like it. Every season we behave like a club that has just been promoted from League One. That to me has always been unacceptable. The lack of ambition is galling. (I don't class our promotion from league one as success either, it was only the third time we'd ever been that low iirc). The 80s was before my time, but I'm aware that before Jack Walker we were skint and had low attendances, but were somehow still getting into the playoffs and trying to be ambitious. Under this lot the best we've mustered in 15 years is to have 'missed out on goal difference' which sounds better than it actually was, we flattered to deceive.

Welcome to the jungle, Axel!

It seems to be only you that thinks the call for the 3 stooges to stay away was a bad thing, it was calm and measured and imo reflected far better on the fan base than actively disrupting games etc. It brought more media attention on us than we've had in years and I haven't come across anyone who thought it made us look like "dicks". With the exception of Jim White who I suspect has some sort of connection to Anderson etc, everyone in the media seemed to receive the call very sympathetically as well. The only thing I agree with you on is that I think a large part of Coalition activity from now on should be targeted towards attracting the attention of potential new owners. I thought it was very noticeable during the car crash interviews that unlike in previous previous years the concept of the owners selling was most definitely not expressly ruled out. Don't think a local link is essential, just started watching the documentary about Birmingham. Compulsive viewing, Wagner and Brady want success so badly for Birmingham it hurts - I'd kill to have owners like that here. As an example, after they were relegated Wagner said they set about transforming the ground to make many parts of it "unrecognisable" as they wanted it to be a place worthy of attracting extra investment and sponsorship and a suitable environment for the fans to live out their dreams etc. Compare that with our mob allowing Ewood to fall into disrepair etc.

Many of us on here wouldn’t, but there is still a sizeable fanbase that would pour through the gates if they just sorted themselves out… but they won’t, so they won’t.

Love it! Thanks for the translation @UncleBill😁

de Neve is the type of player you can start away from home when looking to catch teams on the break (not letting them get too comfy and sit high). Also when protecting a lead towards the end of matches or if we face an opposition RW with pace and he needs to help our slower players in Ribeiro and Pickering.

Be about time we had a centre midfielder who could win a header at least. Travis has been our tallest for sometime and he’s 6 foot dead on.

That chest down and volley at the end of the reel was something to behold. If we can get him into scoring positions, this might be a very influential player for the upcoming season. And maybe the bare bones backroom boys down at Ewood / Brockhall are doing something interesting after all..despite the resounding silence coming from the Punatics... it's the hope that kills 🙂