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Beg to differ. Dolan was slow enough for Championship opposition to cover up if he got past the first man - which he frequently did - but almost never beat the covering player. And yes Barcelona were garbage at St James' Park, Liverpool didn't need a 96th minute dingle lucky moment to beat Atletico and Arsenal weren't given a 70 minute chasing at the San Mames while BBD's alma mater weren't the best side at the Tottenham Stadium for 80 minutes. The Mallorca outfit Dolan's heroics helped to beat looked well capable of dispatching any club in the Championship this season while I am sure you would feel rock solid on a bet that no Liga side would reach the last 4 of any European competition come April 2026...

canned sound? But good luck to Bucko- he will bee far happier (and gazillions wealthier) there than not making the matchday 20 at Ewood.

It certainly looked that way. I can’t say as I blame him.

Let's hope so, I haven't seen a game since Norwich at home, with the international break.

Suppose, as there is no U18 game in that midweek, they could pad the numbers out with those & have both sides be a mix of U21s and U18s, or the other option is using the U18s in the game v Blackpool, They surely can't expect U21s to play 2 games in 24 hours

Perhaps so but there have already been occasions this season (Tuesday at Rochdale for example) when some of them could have been given some game time but weren't. Aside from Carter I can't remember any first team squad player being involved. In PL 2 you can use six over age players including a goalkeeper.

Its end of summer though. Grass is growing, water table isn't that high unlike winter. I'd be surprised if it flooded unless its absolute monsoon.

Bullseye.

We tried and tried with Buckley. He had chance after chance and got worse. Doesn't matter what he does elsewhere and I wish him well. But he was never going to do anything with us.

Seen some clips, waking pace and no fans, right up Bucko’s street.

Why do so many middling Spanish sides win European trophies if it can’t compete with the mighty Championship?

Out of his depth, ridiculous statement as his first season showed. The only folk out of their depth were the no marks in club ties JDT had to deal with on a daily basis.

Maybe they will take the opportunity to play a few fringe players (Forshaw/Gueye/Montgomery/Tyjon/De Neve etc)

Season two JDT was malicious compliance. If you want to play the kids, increase their value and pad their 'transfer stats' like playing out the back. Here it is, to the nth degree. If you don't like it, let me go, as I asked for in Summer when you pulled the rug.

I said at the time, in season 2 I think he had completely lost interest and was forcing their hand to either fire him or agree to release him. Not particularly professional but he was dealing with Arseholes so probably didn't feel like being Mr. Honourable.

He isn't at one of the Saudi monarchy owned clubs (the ones with "infinite money"), so not sure, although I would have thought he has got a sizable bump in salary, and yes, tax free https://www.spl.com.sa/en/news/759272/ben-harburg-pioneering-owner-plotting-new-era-at-al-kholood

The under 21 and under 18 resources will be really stretched next week as we have Middlesbrough in PL 2 on Monday night and Blackpool at 1 pm the following day in the Central League Cup. In my view it's quite strange scheduling having two games so close to each other.

Anyone know what his salary is? probably 100k tax free.

I am sure it is at least partly because of the lack of quality in the league, but I am pleased for him that its going well

He wasn't singled out or doubled up on at Rovers - any good Championship FB had him in their back pocket. For his sake I'm glad he's started well, but it does make me question the quality of that league.

As already pointed out to make the most of his style he needed an entire back line of quality and a really good box to box midfielder to put next to Sonny. With reasonable backing he would probably have built that, O'Brian was to be another cog in that wheel.

We finished 7th in his only full season - nobody has done better in 13 years - and were 7th in mid-December of his second before a nightmare, er, 10 games just before he left. Scoring 52 and conceding 54 across a 46-game season also doesn't scream 'just trying to outscore the opposition regardless of their quality'. To be honest a lot of games that season involved very few clear chances for either team. We only had one period of doing that IMO, towards the start of his second season (before he left we were just a bad team full stop as he'd given up and we had Garrett, Moran, Telalovic etc starting).

Dolan speed of feet and natural balance were different level at Rovers and in the Championship. They got him into positions which also required vision and decision making he hadn't developed which made him such a frustrating player. At Espanyol every player will be next level.skillful beyond anything he was alongside at Rovers so: - he will be getting better quality service - he won't need vision and decision making as much because colleagues will be better positioned around him to receive passes from him - when he screws up or gets dispossessed better players will be better positioned to rescue him - he won't be singled out or doubled up on by the opposition because in a league with Yamal, nobody is worrying about Dolan embarrassing them.

If not, I'd be happy to take them off you - me and my little lad were planning on going, but not sorted tickets yet - cheers!