Social media posts that Morishita is here for what it's worth.

Does any know if Morishita is in England? Doing a medical? On the balance of previous signings and our tiny budget this one really excites me...I'm just waiting for another club to come swooping in...

I give it 2 years maximum and then there will be a new manager and new 'Head of Football' only it will be lots of talk about how we need to use the academy more and not rely on loads of foreign signings, that there's too much money going into the academy to not use more players from it. We've seen all this before - lurching from one 'project' to the next every couple of years. Realistically now we're onto our third radically different approach in the space of 3 years. We had the Broughton / JDT approach which was heavily focused on bringing through academy lads and worked as well as anyone could expect with the number that graduated through to the first team. Then with Eustace there was a total shift in the opposite direction to relying on proven experienced players and hardly any academy focus Now with Ismael he talked a good game about the academy when he joined but based on recruitment to date and likely departures it is clear that there's little appetite for bringing through more youngsters or relying on those already senior who have come through the academy. Just making it up as they go along . Either that or a decision has been made already to downgrade the academy and save a couple of million a year there so offloading all academy graduates and adopting a foreign model is the precursor to justifying that.

Sergeant arguably the best striker in the division as has been pointed out. The rest of Norwich not clicking . yet. Let's keep it that way. If they do play as they are capable of this will be as challenging as our first two games. So I expect us to be competitive but the result a three way evens bet between the three possible outcomes.

They seem to be intent on clearing out everyone signed or promoted from the academy under Waggots tenure as CEO. Maybe coincidence but maybe not, new chapter being the recent buzzword.

Come on, I know it fits the 15- year narrative, but players told they have no future and to find a new club is a story as old as time and not unique to us. It could actually be argued both have been given every opportunity to make it here. Unfortunately, for different reasons, it hasn't worked out.

A bloke who has shelled out tens of thousands on mortgage and credit card repayments over the last 15 years can still be tight. He's simply repaying what he owes / living costs which is what the '£200 million' to Venkys is - the tab - going back a decade and a half - for running costs and negligent mismanagement.

I dont think anyone has said that Dolan is likely to do well in Spain. Or certainly didnt when he joined. But he certainly has already proven wrong anybnaysayers who had him down for a Nyambe esque League 1 spell and felt like he had allowed his and his agents egos to get in the way of the correct career move. Its a fantastic move for him.

If Buckleys agent gets him a big wage contract in Saudi and gets Rovers a million quid i hope they buy him a Bentley ! Because he's pulled off the deal of the year there.

And Lowe 🤔

I can’t see anything we’ve done wrong in terms of Buckley, he’s had plenty of chances but never consistently showed enough, in his short spell at Wednesday he didn’t do much either. Best for all that he moves on

I don’t think many expected a move to a club like Espanyol if I am being honest. He is one of the most frustrating players during his time at Rovers, for me anyway. His first touch and his end product lacked far too often. Maybe some high end coaching in Spain will improve on that; here, whilst modest improvements from his start, it was incremental gains. This whole situation about right vs wrong is why this sport is as followed as it is. We all have different opinions and the game is played in a different way all over the world. Theres an appetite to be seen as right. In the spirit of pub chat, which this is, over the course of your days following football you will probably be right as many times as you are wrong. And so gloating when you do hit something correctly is probably ill advised. I will nail my colours to the mast - I don’t think Dolan will cut the mustard. The Espanyol move shocked me. It will render me utterly incapable of describing my surprise if he turns out to cut the mustard at the top level. Feel free to call me a perpetual naysayer. I wouldn’t say I am. But on this occasion, I just don’t find Dolan to be a very good player

Also, I'll be amazed if Pickering is still here. Seems very much one of the old guard and doesn't fit the athletic profile Ismael seemingly wants.

Legia fans not happy about losing RM and feel €2m is a steal :

He could play a bit Ronnie but he was tiny and if i recall correct a centre mid ? I remember an older guy we knew at the time who was a staunch PNE fan said they called him the weeble, easy to knock over but bounced straight back every time.

I think there's a lot more to this than we know. I get the feeling there are a lot of players who don't want to play for Ismael or who have come back to pre season and he feels aren't up to the demands of how he wants to play. Therefore instead of pussy footing around have just decided to clean house and get in players that can. I'm not against this approach either tbh, if they've appointed him then they need to back him and if there are players who aren't 100% in line with the manager then they need moving on. Time will tell, I think a bedding in phase and a lack of cohesion will cost us points initially but I'm hoping we do the opposite to what we usually do... Start well, disaster post Christmas. Slow start, bed in the players, try not to get into too much trouble and have a strong finish to the season.

Yeah I love that. I thought during the game there looked a real togetherness gelling in the group already too. Testament to the squad and the coaches to have that with such a high turnover of players this window already. Looks like Whitehead is really in there with the players which I like to see, it's always good when the players interact back with the coaches. (obviously a 3-0 scoreline helps massively here!)

I haven’t seen him myself but heard excellent reports on Matthew Litherland. Do you have any opinion?

Exactly, Leonard still a good talent and I know Bucko has struggled in recent years but I don’t like this from the club and it perfectly sums this 15 years under this regime.

There is certainly a player there. Saw quite a few games when he was in the youth team with Wharton etc. Good fotball intelligence, decent on the ball and good finisher. Clocked him then as someone who would probably be effective when he's older and bulked up. Might end up like Danny Graham, who dropped down a league to Carlisle, bulked up and made his way back up again. Whether Rovers is going to wait for that, remains to be seen, but I'm certain he is going to have a career in pro-football and might become Championship material in a couple of years.

Proved right about what? That he could get an upward move than Rovers if he left on a free? That was obvious. I don’t think anyone was saying he would be a top Prem or La Liga player. He’s done better than the vast majority expected (with regards to his move) so people are curious to see how he gets on.

Not sure there is a conclusion on his back injuries - two stress fractures (?), what's causing them? Understand because of this, the lad is naturally a wee apprehensive to push himself to the max. It's a difficult one and for me the only answer is to let the lad go out on loan to a League 1 or 2 club to play week in and week out and for him to give it his all and try to overcome any psychological barriers that may be there - it could then be make or break for his career.

I’d say the po faced, ‘we are different’ mentality of LFC fans, plus just as many glory hunters (though they always seem to avoid the ‘they all come from London’ tag) has them just as high on my list as Man Utd.

Lol...I do that all the time....Post then find someone else already made the same point...