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The club engineered the Hyam, Brittain and Travis situations in the same way they have engineered the Tronstad one - they made no serious efforts to keep any of them. Firstly they stubbornly refused to even discuss new terms when the players were excelling last season, even when Eustace threatened and eventually did walk out over it, and then when they did get around to 'discussing' new terms (which is a stretch, I suspect there was very little negotiation or discussion) it is clear they were offering appalling terms to such players to the extent I've seen moves to Wrexham and Derby described as 'life changing'. Anyone associated with Blackburn Rovers accepting this should be ashamed of themselves. So they certainly aren't going to get a shred of credit or acceptance on my part that having deliberately allowed the contract situation to develop that they then hurriedly cash in close to deadline day to eke out a few million rather than nothing. Again, if they had dealt with the contracts appropriately and interest had materialised we could have commanded a far better fee or simply rejected it with no serious consequence.

Three reasonable results so far.

Wharton and Carter….. it’ll need a miracle to get anything with those 2 at the back.

We've made that amount (£7m) in this summer's transfer dealings.

We gain. Brittain, Hyam and Travis were going to walk for free in the summer.

It's genuinely hilarious at this point.

Carter is a better CB than Hyam - his problem is staying fit. I've seen enough out of Alebiosu to say he's at least equal to Brittain. I obviously disliked Dolan so I have to think Morishita is better.

Tavares in midfield giving them license to do whatever they like through the middle of the pitch.

Maybe he'll grow one like that Colombian goalie and do the scorpion kick when he next plays in FA Cup 3rd round

North End with what will surely be a late winner. If they hang on they will have beaten Leicester, Ipswich and Boro at Deepdale already this season. Heckingbottom turning things round?

Pears still in a cap (45 seconds in)

I don’t see a goalscorer there.

Starting Carter feels very risky given he broke down after 40 minutes in the first pre-season friendly vs Accrington, was subsequently ruled out for over a month and hasn't played any minutes in the league yet. Another note is that our cover in central midfield on the bench looks like a joke; a kid who's not ready for Championship football and a last-minute loan from a league rival who has played one minute this season.

Thankfully its now 2-2.

I am willing to accept that some of the new players will come good, and in a couple of cases, given time, they may even end up being better than who they replaced. but there has certainly been another reduction in what wages we are paying

If Carter lasts more than a half I'll be impressed. The boy is held together by tape and string. Pleased to see Mori starts. Always felt it would be too soon for Gudjohnsen given the lack of training he's had with the team so no surprise him on the bench. Generally that side is probably as good as we can muster up at the moment. Tavares in the middle is a worry though, seems far too casual, but I suppose he'll only be able to really change that with game time and experience at this level.

You can see the downgrade across the squad there: Hyam > Carter Batth > Wharton Brittain > Alebiosu Travis > Tavares Dolan = Morishita (unknown at this point) Hedges now a starting player.

There is inflation to think about. But I get your point.

Lancs robbed of any chance by crazy scheduling and a terrible decision by Sue Redfearn to give Livingstone out

Honestly that's not a bad bench, Montgomery aside. Carter and Wharton hasn't been a good starting CB pair in the past though, hopefully they are both a bit more experienced and wiser now.

Lancs lose by 23 runs, including an absolutely diabolical umpiring decision to give Livingstone out. If only we had the 6 starters that are missing. I genuinely hope it rains for the next two days and the competition is a wash out. It's what the ECB deserves.

Pears spotted, someone check out his haircut