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That's poor even by your standards chaddy. We've replaced our Captain and the heartbeat of the team with someone who we dont seem to have any idea when he'll be fit. We could be down before he's fit for action or at least before he's properly match fit. If we'd signed a suitable replacement for Travis and then this guy had come in in addition as a relatively low cost gamble that would have been fine.

The original transfer budget was £5m as per the Rovers fans forum minutes. Yet we reinvested around 4-5m on top of them from players sales. I said last week Rev this very point.

That's not really a fair comparison as the two were starting from two completely different levels. VI inherited a squad that finished 7th then instead of building on that, him and the regime CHOSE to completely dismantle the squad. Eustace inherited a squad that narrowly avoided relegation but Id still expect Derby to finish comfortably above us. Along with about 21 other teams. I predicted us to finish 22nd at the start of the season and I've not seen much to change my mind yet.

Yes hes only happy with these circumstances until he gets a better offer which is if he surprisingly manages to succeed with the awful level of risk hes been given. Even if we luck out with the signings he will still want to move somewhere there is investment. With the way we treat the managers its either tails we lose (they do badly and we're stuck with them) tails you win (they do well but with an enhanced reputation they jump ship at first opportunity). Weve had two of the latter with JDT and Eustace. With Ismael it could go either way. But what it absolutely cant lead to is him and the players doing well and us keeping them. Sad face.

According to reports we got £3.5m for Travis and Brittain and £2.7m for Hyam. Then roughly £1m each for JRC Buckley and Leonard. Don't try to make out as though we actually spent any money this summer.

I was meaning who finishes higher in the league this season.

They've just sorted 10 contracts out, it isn't a case of can't. If players aren't signing then sell them, that much has definitely been learned . Whatever is going on, it most definitely isn't a continuation of the last few years, as you keep eluding to.

What, do you think there's actually the faintest chance he'll finish 6th or above?. If you do you make chaddy look like a pessimist!. He's no excuse not to mind - he's got all these more mobile athletic types he wanted.

Ismael will go through the motions then at some point in the next 6 to 18 months he'll get fixed up with a club in Saudi or somewhere that will pay him a nice salary and Rovers some compen. Or he'll end up coaching in India. We have an agents network sprouting out from this club again imo so keep a close eye on this.

I am against that, but I am more against being totally unable to agree new deals with ANYONE. We have lost our best players and over half a team because of it. The odd one, fine, you sell and replace. Impossible to adequately replace that many. Im not sure its that smart unless he comes back very soon and is good because theres a big hole where Travis was.

Yes, but still they havent managed to start sorting players contracts out. You seem to be of the opinion that they have learnt their lessons. Until they start sorting contracts out then ill assume that they havent learnt anything. And it will undermine anything we are supposed to be building.

When the Chorley boys do our away trips we always stay in hotels in the town or city we are visiting. About 10 of us stay there, we drink there and we eat there. The 10 of us add a decent wack to the local economy; multiply that many times over with other visiting fans and you are potentially talking £1M+ every season or two. BwD Council is missing a trick.

But he also said later in the summer that they had overhaul the squad more than he wanted but the contract situation meant we sold certain players and bought in signings. Yes none stayed but Travis, Brittain and Hyam we received around £8m for them which some of that money was reinvested in the squad from the original £5m budget. if we couldn't agree new contracts then do we let them leave for free which I thought you were against that. Their demands are much higher than we can afford Wrexham were targeted a another centre back and looking to pay £2.5m for that player. Rovers decided to take that money which I wouldn't unless you had a proper centre back replacement lined up to come in 2 loans to buy. Baradji loan to buy is a smart move by Rovers, if he plays and perform well enough we sign him.

The thing with an academy is, at best we can hope for one player a year coming through into the first team, but that one player still needed 16 teammates around him who aren’t going to make it. The task with them is to get them to their potential and move them on. It’s not the Adam Wharton’s or Hayden Carter’s going to Chorley, it’s the other 16. Great contributions to this thread btw.

He also said we're paying for past managerial mistakes, we can't afford for players who aren't signing to walk away for nothing.

Be interesting to see if he can prove himself better than Eustace this season.

No expert but I think Wharton is still recovering from playing 42 games across the Championship & Premier League in the season we sold him. Then going to the Euros for a month with England. Also, when fit, Palace play him every single game with little rest as he’s so important to them. Hopefully this latest injury is just a blip & conveniently timed around the international break so he doesn’t miss too many more PL games - otherwise his future move, England career & our sell on money is at risk!

Are you suggesting this club is a right carry on?

He also clearly said any outgoings would be replaced, and then we sold Hyam at the last minute.

Theres also no way that Ismael can claim to be happy about the summer window. He said he only wanted 6 or 7 and to build on what we had. We signed 10 and still are short such are the players that left. He wanted to keep Travis, Brittain, Hyam, Dolan, Batth and Weimann. None stayed. He wanted to keep Hyam and wasnt concerned about him going 2 days before the deadline. He went and with no replacement. He wanted 0 loans, we got 2.

To read what other clubs fans post on their forums after they've been up here more than tells the story. Ewood itself and the Fernhurst actually rate highly but the rest of it tends to be a painful read if people have tried to make a day/night of it. A common thing to hear is being advised to stay in or near Preston or Manchester then just travel in for the game then fire off back around one of those places for the night. Blackburn loses millions a year now from having virtually zero night time economy which is shocking for a place of its size and the capital of East Lancs.

But we tried to sign him, he failed a medical, then 6 weeks later or whatever it was, he came in again, presumably had more checks, and still a couple of weeks later we were none the wiser regarding when he might be able to play. The TGH loan seemed to be a desperate attempt to bring in another body on deadline day, contrary to Ismael having said 2 days prior that he didnt expect any loans. Maybe it with Hyam going and just feeling the need to get someone in, maybe Baradji had since been seen to and the news wasnt good. Either way, its a bit of a mess. Tavares wasnt signed as a direct replacement for Travis and has not settled in well early on. Baradji maybe was but any sense in such a deal will lie in when he is actually fit, we need him now, we cant afford to wait ages and even when he recovers he will then need to get up to speed. And TGH seemed like a late desperate attempt to add an extra body.

Well nobody knows if he is gonna be any good...

Not as bad as John Radford mind!

Hi pal, hope you are well. Let me look into this for you, do you know the exact size you want? I'll get one sent over for you if the club shop have them in stock 👍