Depends how you want to set up your "all time Rovers" lineup. If you just want the best players in there, I think Bellamy is very close if not in it. A fantastic player who had everything. If you're trying to set up what you think would be the best "team" then Chris Sutton probably goes in alongside Shearer, although Newell worked superbly with him too, and I think Santa Cruz and Shearer would have worked great together as well.

If you like lager I found the “ Erdinger Alkoholfrei “ the best for me.

Hi @DeeCee. I've been following this thread and wondered how you're getting on. I'm in the same club as you unfortunately, and will be having liver surgery in August to hopefully remove my cancerous lesions. I can see you're still active on the forum which is great news. I do hope your treatment is continuing to go well and life is as good as it can be...

I think Weigman will pick the team on merit. She looks to be a hard case to me.

I don't think we'll see a play off push this season, but if Brittain, Travis & Tronstad are here past September 1st then I'm pretty comfortable that we won't be dragged into any danger either. I think as thing stand we'll finish somewhere between 12th & 18th.

I’m not sure many would have Bellamy in their ‘all time best rovers’ lineup no Chris Sutton? seriously what are we doing here

MGP was another. He had a really good leap and got his head to lots of balls but where it went after that was down to luck.

He was too slow for full back and not good enough in the air to be a centre half. There’s a reason why he ended up playing in the third tier with Rovers. Regarding game time as a yardstick of worth. Craig Bellamy played 27 games for Rovers and won us nothing. Yet lots of people, me included, would have him in their all time best Rovers team playing alongside Alan Shearer.

My main memory of Derek Williams was putting a header wide from a yard out away at Bristol Rovers back in 2018. A really poor to average player. Shows you the quality we had in the side in the 16-17 season when he won player of the year!

What i thought was weird about Derek was for a big lad he was really poor in the air... Could get his head on things but had very little control over where it went. Made him impotent in the opposition box and very dangerous to us defending high balls centrally. Think he played full back to keep him away from our goal as opposed to any talent as a left back.

Not sure why this discussion of Beck has turned into a roast of Williams. He was a more than solid servant to the club, always tried and covered multiple positions at LB and his better LCB roles. Beck I am not too bothered, he was talented but injury prone and honestly there was no chance he was coming back to us so why care? Ribeiro and Pickering is a solid LB duo to have, and if we want wing-backs, then Hedges and De Neve can both do that as well.

Agree with the Alcohol free beers. I play football on a Thursday and a group of us tend to go to the pub after. I have to drive there so was always on soft drinks but last couple of times opted for an alcohol free beer to see what they are like. I was pleasantly surprised.

I think PNE are in danger of relegation this season.

But the discussion wasn’t about future it was about past and present rovers careers not what they could become. That’s the point Iv been trying to make all along but your right let’s move on

Like asking... "Would you rather be kicked in the nuts or punched in the nuts?". I blame Venkys.

Only time will tell, maybe Bell had one 'peak' season when they got promoted and is now back where he belongs whereas if Beck can maintain his potential he'll perform higher for longer. You need to park this one up i reckon.

Trying to change the subject, I really liked the comment attributed to VI that he didnt like bringing in loans from PL Clubs. I suspect he may be sorely disappointed when his only option is to pad out the squad with a few random loanees right at the end of the window though.

Just over 2 and a half weeks now to the here on in, such as Travis, Tronstadt, Brittain (although he has kind of gone already in my mind), or Pickering. Pre-season start of the new season, away at West Brom. All very quiet on the transfer front, albeit with the players in Spain for a pre-season kickabout and some sun. What is worrying me most as it stands is the prospect of losing any of our key players fromis important in terms of drilling a playing style and gaining team cohesion, and should we lose anyone key at this point, there will be inevitable impacts on whatever has been achieved during the pre-season run up. That is even before we factor in the challenge of integrating any incoming player(s) into the team. It isn't beyond the wit of our opposition in the league to be delaying their moves in order to derail any momentum we have built up, not withstanding of course that bringing our players into their own set ups would cause similar challenges to those we would face, but hey - maybe they have greater strength in depth and can take the hit, whereas we are paper thin in terms of talent and capacity to accommodate disruption. But don't listen to me - I'm just a crusty old codger, and I worry about all kinds of stuff that younger folk don't even consider real (yet!). I'd rather we got our shopping done, declared ourselves 'complete' and set out our stall accordingly, so that worried old gits like me can look forward to the new campaign, instead of being scared of the shadows that most certainly (to me) appear to stalk our club. COYB! Get ready.

The same as the 10 page discussing we used to have about pears who is worse least it’s a new name and for the record I don’t think Williams is better I think he’s had a better rovers career which is the point being made

Jesus christ. It's a damning indication of how boring this transfer window is when there's in depth discussion on the ability of Derrick fucking Williams... One of the most beige, nothing, average championship footballers we've had 😂

Seen a couple of " AI predicts the Championship" things yesterday. One bizarrely had us finishing 4th ( must have been programmed by chaddy) whereas one done by the Lancashire Evening Post had us finishing 17th and PNE 23rd. 17th coincides with where the bookies expect us to finish. Somewhat of a discrepancy there!

So if a promotion and prem season is a factor then can we say bell has been better than beck then?

It doesn't matter if Tyjon plays 4 games or 40 games, he won't be signing a new contract here, because nobody does. As proven for the past 19/20 months.

Yes I thought he looked better at CB as well.

Thanks. I have redundancy money and inheritance money still so I'm not that panicked yet but I'm just looking for something part Time to pay the bills. Worked 12 hours a day for 26 years. I'm going to take it easy from now on. Glad you found a job so quickly