In order to maintain 4 esc slots after this season, English qualifying players would need to play in at least 35% of minutes in the Championship for Rovers this season. This equates to a little under 16000 minutes Any less, and the number of allocated esc slots will drop. This may be an issue, as I only see Travis & Cantwell as "guaranteed" English qualifying starters, & if either of those leave, they are likely to be replaced by an non qualifying player. This may be an extra reason why Gestede was so interested in increasing the minutes for U21 players (who are in the main English qualifying), as not doing so will derail any future transfer plans and leave them having to shop in more expensive markets https://analyticsfc.co.uk/blog/2023/06/21/introducing-esc-the-new-gbe-guidance-opens-up-recruitment-post-brexit/ 2024/25 onwards Criteria However, from this season onwards clubs will be able to plan for the number of ESC slots that they have, with the possibility that they could only have one if the number of minutes for EQP is lower than 20%. Number of available ESC places Weighted EQP minutes % Premier League Championship League One League Two >= 35% 4 4 2 2 >= 30% 3 3 1 1 >= 25% 2 2 – – >= 20% 1 1 – –

The judge is currently Bazballing it. Already on case 11.

He could be a very decent championship player based on what I’ve seen of him, albeit in the dog and duck league*. He’s steady, hard working, good in the air and reasonably robust, with a long throw. *Disclaimer - Ryan Hedges didn’t look shit in the same league.

Repeat of yesterday. We will end up 6 runs short is my bet

I wouldn't rule out Travis starting at right back if For Shaw is fit and Miller is not recovered in time. I expect our performance will be more Elche than NEC. Then it depends if WBA finishing is more NEC than Elche.

Consecutive. item 5 just called…

Hedges now replaces Dolan for the misery guts who get high on moaning. Or perhaps not as I am seriously worried by McLouhlin and the other summer signings based on their (non) performance pre-season. Hedges has been a serviceable Championship player for us but sadly has proved Welsh management right correct in not selecting him for a seriously underwhelming Welsh squad of players and opted for L1 and L2 plodders instead. If he is a regular starter this season then we really have had a dud of a summer window.

Maybe these minutes from previous meetings now need to be revisited. If false minutes have been standard practice, an explanation needs to be made. Why has this been allowed to happen?

Is it consecutive today or are we starting at 1, and hoping number 32 is called out in the random number generator

Looks terrifically scientific until I noticed Sheffield Wednesday in 14th... Rovers 10th with a marginally better probability of going up than going down.

Case number 1 just started to be heard. Twenty minutes have been wasted with various people butting in to comment on their cases irrespective of what number they’ve been listed at.

The pursuit of Hedges was always very weird, we were after him for months on end. He did ok in Scotland, just ok though, not enough for us to be desperate to sign him! I can't actually believe he's only been here 3 years either, feels like an eternity, probably 1 of few contract extentions nobody was arsed about us triggering, but we did. I do find it very odd though how many people are saying with absolute certainty that Miller is a downgrade on Brittain without even seeing him play.

Technically Muscat is English born to Maltese parents. You can have him 😉

The root cause of the delays are due to O2G writing false minutes (standard practice) and then being pulled ujp on them, by fans with far more concern for the wellbeing of the club. O2G out.

As a Scot I feel I’m better equipped than most to comment on miller and yea it’s a decent enough signing, big strong lad that will show plenty of blood and guts. He isn’t Callum brittain in that he won’t give us goals and assists but he will make us stronger defensively. I get the trepidation with coming from Scotland but I was against the hedges signing but I’m ok with this one. More Lucas Neil than Brett Emerton but I think we needed toughening up a bit

It’s obvious that the new attendees this time, are not prepared to accept, the club friendly version and fair play to them.

A taller Lucas Neil Is about as good a comparison for Lewis Miller as you’re gonna find, EXTREMELY good in the air. 4 year deal and a good age, international. Like this signing a lot. Still No sign of a Right Winger…

Eyal Berkovic did quite well for us. We could also run through a long list of players who have left the SPL who we'd be delighted to sign. I know the question is direct SPL to Championship, but there's lots of talent in Scotland.

McGinn! Another player we were "linked with". At least our pretensions were higher then!

Absolutely. It makes no sense beside financial to have an 18 year old as number 2. He either becomes exposed or falls betwen the cracks.

Assuming this Swedish player does sign, that will presumably be 5 players aged 23-24 signed on longer term deals. That in isolation is obviously a positive, question now is are they any good. Added to that, an experienced Championship defender for 2 or 3 years. We have had ripped apart the defensive strength of our team though, to lose Brittain, Beck and Batth is a massive blow (also lost 2 extra bodies who were just cover) and its very, very difficult to see us equalling that quality. The signings we have made do seem to have more filled holes in the squad/replaced outgoings/added depth (which was needed) rather than improved the first 11. As I said, that did need doing. The key 2 objectives though still havent been solved even slightly. Been shot down for banging on about it before but the contract situation still lingers as a gigantic elephant in the room. We have to pay the going rate to get our core of key players sorted, it cant just be put off. If a decent proportion of these younger players come good on top of a core of proven players signed down for the forseeable, then theres reason for optimism. If they leave, then its easy to see an inexperienced group tumble down the league as it did under Tomasson when he was left out to dry. The futures of Tronstad, Travis and Hyam still remain as the key part of the rest of this window, especially as Brittain ws part of that and has left. Our attack wasnt good enough last season and now its much weaker. We have to soon make inroads on fixing that ASAP.

If Michalski is backup, does it not stop his progress. Usually the younger squads play the same day so is there not a risk he barely plays any football and just benefits from 1st team training barring a Toth injury, suspension or collapse of form?

McGinn did ok when he signed for Villa (and not us unfortunately). There’s been quite a few decent players from the Scottish leagues so I’m happy to see what he’s like. Happy we actually bought someone in tbf.

No but you said that you would be comfortable with Michalski as backup.

Hyam was excellent last season. His card for whatever reason seems to have been marked by some, even when he did play well he got no credit based on this theory thats grown legs that Batth did the work of 2. I was merely guessing who his 5 was. Although we havent seen enough either way to be totally sure.