You're right, he is an average championship player. Unfortunately he'll be replaced by someone far below average if he's even replaced at all.

According to the Scottish Sun, the offers have been booted out as being " nowhere near" the Club's valuation. Whoever would have thunk it?

If we were in administration then things would be running infinitely better than this. They might even get the shirt design right.

Agreed. Been coming for a while. Rovers unprepared for a new season....who'd have thought? Fck off, Venky's..

The emphasis on keeping possession that's drummed into players these days has all but killed the 'winger' and i don't think it did him any favours. Not that he wouldn't have over egged it anyway but the various head coaches he's worked under never seemed phased or tried to coach that out of him. The narrative though that he was just another average workhorse easily replaceable in our chronic situation has taken on a life of its own and is quite frankly nonsense.

I think as time passes and we see what's going on and hear more and more little bits it's obvious why Eustace wanted out - to basically anywhere and even why these lot were happy to push him towards the door. In private the idiots upstairs will have been jumping through hoops they got compensation for him. He obviously didn't believe in guaranteeing pathways to kids he didn't feel were ready and knew the key to success in this league is looking after you core and tying down assets whilst bringing in fresh blood in key areas. He's a horses for courses guy and they whilst not always the most entertaining or interesting are usually the most successful when working with limited resources. I mean the pettiness of not letting Dack train with them to keep fit when Eustace said it was ok, how pathetic is that.

What on earth are you on about?

This is surely at odds with the requirement to field x,000 minutes of Academy graduates, right? Transfermarkt tells me he's a RB. We've just bought a RB and have a promising Academy graduate RB who's 20 (i.e. sink or swim time) in Duru. Are we really trying to buy another RB?

As opposed to the 'hard working, but delaying / putting the wrong weight / picking the wrong pass, turning back into trouble with a pointless pirouette and being run down by every fullback' types? The legend of Dolan has grown exponentially since he decided he wasn't staying. He's an average Championship player, with his workrate carrying a significant portion of that value.

People can't seem to get to grips it isn't as straightforwards as just saying ta ta walking away and signing for the first club to slap a better paid contract in front of him. You can sense the desire to see him going to Wigan for 5k a week just so it's 'i told you so' 🤣

I've stopped worrying about it. Eustace walking out to leave a relegation threatened Derby was the final straw for me. We're not a serious football club.

Pears wouldn't get a game in my weekday 7 a side kick-a-bout. He's awful.

But if he now gets a £15k a week contract, which isnt unrealistic for someone who has been a Championship regular for years, then its 2 years £2k a week and then say 4 years at £15k. It isnt "dumb" to reject a contract at lower than his worth just because its more than the tiny contract he was already on. I am not even saying that its definitely the right decision. But declining our offer doesnt make him this greedy, badly advised money grabber that many fans seem keen to prematurely label him as. The club will be happy with that reputation though. If he gets a Championship move or a move abroad on a competitive wage, then I would say his decision has been justified.

Our marketing people get (rightly so) pelters sometimes but on this occasion I can see the logic. They go on sale on Saturday morning and there will be many, particularly kids who want to wear the replica shirt we are playing in (my granddaughter is one of them). If this helps to shift a few more shirts on Saturday then I say well done.

Is this not having a proper badge lark going to become a thing on the grounds of convenience and screwing even more profit out of a shirt.

You wouldn't. If it was our decision to debut our new away kit against Everton I wouldn't particularly agree with it but that would be ok. We shouldn't be operating in a way solely to suit Everton though. If they have an issue with their kits, tough titty, that's their problem not ours.

Ah, well that probably explains him taking his time then. After the end of the month it becomes a bit more pressing for him. So from our point of view our failure to offer him a reasonable deal means we lose a good player, possibly for nothing if he moves abroad, AND we have to pay him for an extra month for nothing? Genius!

I bet we won't be saying that by Christmas.

To the final part, yes, but he is still only getting his low salary that he signed up for years ago. As for the part about not accepting the contract two years ago, it is difficult to justify. Let's use your figures and say that it was a 4,000 a week raise, that's a difference of over 100,000 pounds over the 2 1/2ish years since that offer was rumoured to be on the table. There's also a solid chance that he is currently on less than 2,000 a week and that his new offer was more than 6,000. Now, in the world of football, it's easy to turn your nose up at 'just' 100,000 more. But based on what Dolan is earning at the moment, that's a huge difference in income. We also assume that his current salary is irrelevant for any future contract negotiations, but there's a chance that he's now receiving offers where the interested club says, 'we know you are only on 2,000 a week now, so 10,000 a week is a huge raise and a fair offer'. He was dumb not to take a higher offer before, and he has put himself in a weaker position as a result.

yes If I remember correctly, the main purpose of this rule/law is to protect injured players during the off season, but the wording/ambiguous nature of it means that players can and do use it to mean they can shop around for a better deal for longer without being without pay

I see we're having an ugly away kit contest with the Toffees.

Even if the player has been offered a new contract on no worse terms ?

Only if we have offered him a new deal on at least the same terms as he's on now. If we didn't offer him a deal, then I think we would be entitled to nothing.

Not good enough for some of the Rovers 'jury' they more prefer head down quicker direct running types who take on the man every time. Knock it past him then run it into touch or cross into the empty seats.