After an injury hit season Sam Barnes has been released by Barrow. Hopefully he can get fixed up somewhere and stay injury free to fulfil the potential he showed at Rovers.

Am I right in thinking that there are (or were) in essence 2 different cases? One (the original) which the Indian Government has brought against the Venkys And another where Venkys are/were appealing to send money overseas (the one which Waggott seems to think is no longer an issue?) If so, I presume tomorrows case is regarding the original case?

Venky’s are paying for his holiday as we speak

Dumfries and Thuram were the standouts for Inter, though their grizzled core in defence and midfield were a joy to watch, too. They'll put up a very good fight to either PSG or Arsenal. Let's hope it's the latter.

You been at a pro club since the age of about 8. You’ve had pro coaching for about 20 years. And you still have a “ weaker foot “ ? What do they do at training ? Practise falling over ?

@Norbert Rassragr, you may be right. According to the commentator I had on on yesterday's CL game, Yamal has played over 100 games for Barcelona and almost 20 for Spain (including a full Euros). He turns 18 in July. Rooney was cooked in his early 30's but he had the body of a grown man at 16. I think Owen was slightly different. He tore his hamstring early on and it screwed his body up. He never fully recovered. Back to Yamal, he is some talent. I'm sure most on here didn't watch but he was unplayable at times against Inter. Both games were brilliant too. Denzel Dumfries is some player as well.

My suspicion is that being dropped in League One for seemingly no reason did a number on his confidence. It sounded a bit like he got dropped in League Two for seemingly little reason too, which won't have helped. When you've seen yourself be a Championship squad player recently and are still young, it won't be easy to keep your head up. Of course, being able to is part of what seperates the successes from the nearlies. However you slice it, a couple of disastrously selected loans for him.

For a club with funds, that may not be a bad idea. And it is a very similar system that Ismael tried to implement when at Watford. Although he preferred his "wingers" on their "wrong foot" However for a club with absent owners who have turned the taps off, it is simply not going to happen. Also doesn't leave much room for the apparent 7 or 8 academy players to make up the rest of the squad (as per Gestede) Personally I do not think Rovers will sign another left back this summer, and I do not think that the overlapping full back role particularly suits either Ribeiro or Pickering. But I could see him try try transition to a midfield 3, rather than the double pivot with 2 sitting players. Probably because we lose one or both of Travis & Tronstad during the summer

If Ismaël wants to play a more expansive/attacking football next season, then he probably needs to break up the double defensive pivot in Tronstad and Travis. Works really good in a mid- to low block system and in trying to keep a clean sheet but the downside is that it doesn't offer enough men going forward centrally during transitions or counter attacks. Looking at the squad briefly suggests that there's an imbalance with a lack of good, left-footed players across the pitch. Wharton, Pickering/Ribeiro and Hedges are all decent as backups but they're either struggling with injuries or doesn't possess the athletic profile (lack of pace/mobility) that the head coach wants. We can't have slow players at the back if we want to start pressing higher up the pitch. You might ask: why trying to balance the number of left- and right footed players? The answer is that it enables players to attack space on both sides of the pitch more effectively. I've seen many times this season where our attack breaks down in final third because a player gets "trapped" on the wing with his weaker foot and is forced to stop his run and turn to play a pass backwards instead (e.g. Dolan or Kargbo running all the way to the byline on the left hand side). On that basis, I would probably switch formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 and go for the following transfer strategy: Sell (4): Pears, Hyam, JRC, Buckley Buy/loan (6/4): - Experienced goalkeeper as backup to Toth (permanent) and as replacement for Pears - Athletic left-footed center back (permanent) that goes into starting XI and as replacement for Hyam - Athletic left back (loan) that preferably goes into starting XI (like Beck did) - Athletic right back (permanent) as backup to Brittain and as replacement for JRC - Defensive midfielder as backup to Tronstad (loan) - Two left-footed central midfielders (one on loan, one permanent). Permanent signing should be good enough for starting XI and act as replacement for Buckley - Left-footed pacey winger (permanent) that goes into starting XI - Right-footed pacey winger to compete with Kargbo (loan) and as replacement for Dolan - Physical & mobile striker with good aerial presence to compete with Gueye (permanent) Of course everything comes down to money available for the summer so I wouldn't bet on this being probable/realistic given what has happened in previous transfer windows.

The Ruel Fox effort? I always think the Peter Beardsley save in the first half is the most underrated. Doesn't even make some of the highlights!

Bloody hell Norbert, say what you think 🤣 It also one of the best derby games in the world for atmosphere I'd say, never heard anything come close myself, but Boca v River plate is on my bucket list!

That Judge is booking his holiday for the rest of the week as we type..........

2nd half, foot of the post,very low down to his right. I had given it up.

Which one? 🤣

What's the betting that the Judge decides to have an early lunch after case 2 and never returns 😉

My 11th birthday and still one of my favourite days as a Rover.

Hahaha I meant knack but I'm leaving the typo 🤣🤣

You did well! I was a wreck from start to finish. Such a shame we faltered towards the end and had to depend on Manu not winning. Best memory of that game for me was Flower's save.

Brace yourselves everyone - the listing order is out for tomorrow ( @Herbie6590 the thread title needs amending re date) and the Venkys’ case is being heard… Third!!!! we just need the judge to turn up now lol (seems Venky’s have lodged a new appeal which has pushed them up the list)

To be fair they broke Rooney and Owen at that age too.

It was amazing, although I do recall being ridiculously nervous for the final few minutes.

What a night that was. Ewood shook with joy. Walking (or trying to) up Livesey Branch Rd. Everybody singing and dancing around us. Tumult of noise. Just wonderful.

😂😂 What an absolute joke their court system is.

Top notch clobber (and accessories) too.

I posted this in the Nostalgia Thread back in March. Many thanks to @Tyrone Shoelaces for the line up as I couldn't find it anywhere: I must admit, I always thought my first game was in 1983 - I knew it was the 82/83 season, however it turns out it was actually 16/10/82. A 3-0 win against Chelsea, Garner with a brace & Kevin Stonehouse. I can't find the Rovers lineup for that day but the main things I remember was being in the old Riverside stand with my Dad with the smell of pipe tobacco wafting up every few minutes and a bit of a scrap going on in the BBE, presumably with some Chelsea fans who'd got in there. I managed to find a few details from a Chelsea site, which shows a young David Speedie in the Chelsea team that day! Attendance? a whopping 6,062! All that really mattered to me that day was that I knew I wanted to back again. I was hooked. Line up as provided by Tyrone: Gennoe Branagan, Barton, Fazackerly, Rathbone, Miller, Randall, Lowey, Brotherston Stonehouse, Garner Sub Hamilton for Barton.