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Hey Herbie, thanks for you help with the shirt, much appreciated.

To be honest, theres an argument that TGH is needed more in midfield even now. He is a natural central midfielder and Tavares has looked poor so a strong argument to have him starting there.

Fully empathise with that. 91 year old parent in care and I'm certain she would have preferred to be similar to your mum (if you see what I mean). Lovely write up -all the best to you.

What was the injury?

The Rovers account tweeted about a couple of hours ago about a last training session before setting off for Watford. So it looks like train this afternoon then off down South on the bus in peak Friday traffic.

It's telling that if I hadn't first seen these now, in the context of that post, I would never have realised that was meant to be for our 150th birthday. If I scroll or walk past that anywhere else I'd think it was some Pep&Co job. Except for the detail of the two roses in each top corner nothing at all about that is Rovers - it being blue and white is hardly a meaningful, bespoke acknowledgement. The logo looks like the kind of shite you knock together in five minutes on a wedding invite card.

I am so sorry to hear this SC. You give a lovely write up and there is something so wonderful about them meeting at a school dance and never looking back.

I don't think Atcheson meaningfully belongs in the conversation yet. If we are having to rely on him to start, our depth is too shallow. Further, the availability of TGH there isn't just down to his own injury status, as he is also a CM and may be needed there if there is an injury crisis in midfield.

Or right back.

Do we still have to travel to long distance games on the SWAG Bus or are we now allowed to either fly or use the train like any other professional club

Sorry for your loss. Hold on to your memories RIP

Can only see a loss in this one. Which is how I felt before the Hull game too so maybe Rover will surprise me again. I'll go 2-1 Watford, Gudjohnsen to come off the bench and get a late debut goal.

We just have to hope that if he is as good as they think he is, that they get him fit and activate his buy clause before someone reduces the budget changes the project again

Several weeks...Will be Xmas before we see him. Im sure he has ability but what an embarrassing signing.

Not seeing this guy till next year then

If any of these recent signings are any good, it will be more good luck , than management ! Already , the sick bay is becoming busy !

Saving then thousands per week though having a player in the squad who isn't being paid until he players. I'm sure they'd love a few more like that if they could find them.

The thing is, there was a big gap between him failing a medical and then us revisiting the deal, and also a further gap between him signing and us knowing what was going on. If they were so intent on signing him, could this recuperation not have started far sooner? Ismael said he might be back after the next international break but maybe even the one after that. Basically he cant put a timescale on it. Ill be amazed if we see him before Christmas. An utterly pointless signing and within a squad lacking quality in depth. Although according to one or two, its a very clever bit of business.

Baradji out "medium term" according to VI. Laughable transfer. Call it sensible to loan him instead of buying all you want but I'll be surprised if he plays 10 games this season. Some replacement for Trav.

Mowbrays very system of developing players involves playing them out of position and moving them around trying to make systems fit them and vice versa. After watching his methods for 5 years it was very obvious. AA, Dack, Buckley, Giles, Gallagher to name just a few, sometimes it worked sometimes not and was often detrimental to the team itself. He even said he wasn't that bothered about results or league position as long as he felt individuals were developing and presumably increasing in value by gaining appearances and proving flexibility. He did bring in some big fees and should have had a few more big sales if it wasn't for various factors. End of the day that was his remit from the owners, not promotion but i guess at Sunderland and Brum that was on the agenda unlike the mid table target here.

It was all compounded by the lateness of the decision which left us with no chance of bringing in a replacement. Craziness and completely unjustifiable.

If it 'works' and by that i mean we avoid anything catastrophic for a couple of seasons - unlike the last 2 times they conducted massive player and personnel overhauls to bring money in and get costs down - then Gestede and Ismael will be deemed very good at their jobs. In Pune at least and whatever place the middleman COO calls home. So much so that they'll probably go and do it all again.

I think it is clear that the sole objective and barometer of success for the summer transfer window was to successfully offload certain players - those with cash value, expiring contracts and larger wages. The timing, impact, effect of those departures totally immaterial and of no concern to the owners or their henchmen. We are now a club that measures success based on how much (if anything) it can bring in from selling important players and whether it can cut costs further. That's it. Quite clear from the interviews with Gestede and Ismael that there is no footballing objective here - no pressure on either to deliver certain results, league position, points, improvement. If we limp our way to 21st they will be more than happy ahead of another summer and year in the job.

A contract for a player like that coming in on a pay as you play set up can never be straightforwards. Be very interesting to see a breakdown of the particular deal 🤔

And they are busy trying to sell it as a reasonable decision! Also, we have history of selling two centre halves and relegation..... Gestede is a gobshyte...I just can't listen to him without needing to find a hole to be sick in...