Tomlinson going out on loan to Accy.

Coyle took us down. Mowbray did well in the Championship with squad he inherited. Context dear boy.

Seems like we all have a different definition of writing off. Nothing wrong with making observations about people's careers, it's only the same as getting excited about a striker that's scored loads of goals, to be fair.....

Proud Englishman and Brit. But England over Rovers? No, nay, never!

Just had a quick scan through and I found 15 Championship clubs that have brought in more than 2 players so far this window. Also we are a newly promoted team so we are going to need to add a few more as we will be playing a much higher standard of opposition this season. I still think that we need 2 wingers, centre forward, a centre half and a right back & we only have 26 days now to achieve this in.

Are people being serious? If someone had said to me on the way to Doncaster, ‘promotion for Rovers or England win the World Cup’, I’d have assumed the questioner was talking the proverbial! Enjoyed the run of Kane et al, but Blackburn Rovers is everything to me. Like most folk I don’t give England a second thought outside of a few weeks every second summer.

Is the poster who said he didn't want to sign 31 year olds now saying 'and?' to a poster pointing out that Downing is 5 years younger than the 31 year old we are currently linked with? Radio Rental.

For me it would be... 1- New striker 2- Danny Graham 3- Mo Eisa? 4- Samuel Nuttall would go out on loan. Because it is often a good idea not to restrict yourself to one formation throughout the season, with no ability to change things up should the original formation not work?

Makes me laugh seeing people criticise people for being arrogant as a reason not to hire someone. It's a results business and they get results. You're talking about a potential player or a manager, not a future son-in-law!

I'd prefer Maddison to Kent.

I personally feel that the squad is much better. No journeyman at all. Only people who have proved that they play for the shirt. Above all, Coyle was the defining factor of our relegation. Thank God he'll be someone else's problem.

Don't understand this "the squad is so much better than when we went down" argument. The rump of this squad took us Down. The argument seems to me to be based solely on the assumption that the likes of Raya Smallwood and Dack will be so much better than Steele Lowe and what we had before etc we'll be ok. That may well turn out to be true but it's placing a massive burden on Dack in particular. Up front Conway and Graham are both 2 years older than the last time they took us down and I'd say Samuel and Nuttall are even weaker options than Gallagher and Emnes who both looked decent at various points.

Dack will Also sign a new deal soon! 4 year contract. Also a couple of good signings ?

Where is the evidence we've agreed a deal for anyone? Neal's assessment seems about right at this point, allegedly we've had offers in weeks ago for various players so seemingly either those offers must not be acceptable to the selling Clubs or the personal terms on offer must not be enticing the players in question or both. Looks like TM needs to fly back to India sharpish to renegotiate the budget. We ain't in League 1 this season and it would be nice if it stayed that way.

Downing is over 5 years younger ...

I keep seeing this 'we are a League One squad' being banded about. We were way too good for League One; that's why we amassed nearly 100 points. Chapman (who I want) barely started and then didn't feature for months. Antonsson was generally poor but had a purple patch of goalscoring before long-term injury and losing his place. Armstrong (who took over from Antonsson) made a heck of a difference before his form tailed off at the end of the season (I would like to add him though). There's plenty of time to get the Chapman and Armstrong deals signed and I have absolutely no doubt that we will add quality via loans. Regardless, the squad, the attitude and everything Blackburn Rovers is in much better shape than when we were relegated. I see any additions as pushing us towards the play offs, rather than just keeping us out of the relegation places.

I may someone who is pragmatic and patient but I find people want a quick fix of signing a player for the simple tick box exercise of signing a player. We have made 2 signings so far more than most in the championship so far. We have names linked but we knew nothing about rothwell or davenport signing. We could a few hours or days away from a signing no one really knows. We patience is key season and it already seems some patience has already run out before the first kick of the ball. Since when has all journalist articles become the gospel the amount of fake news stories out there created by agents is insane. Fundementally none of us know who we will end up with but we have made a start and have also have he loan market open until end of august. Realistically or squad will probably very different than what it is today right now! So breath and chill you may be pleasantly surprised but at least wait until September before panicking!

I did wonder whether we were back operating on an 'out before in' policy. Someone has to make way before more incomings are authorised. Wouldn't be surprised to see Tomlinson/Wharton head out on loan and then one or two come in the other way shortly afterwards. We've heard repeated references in the Telegraph (club mouthpiece) about apparently having 25 contracted players which I believe is a conscious attempt to try and convince everyone that our squad is ready or that it is necessary to get rid of people before bringing more in. Couple of problems there though. That figure of 25 players includes numerous u23s such as Wharton, Travis and Tomlinson who are untested at 1st team level and who spend most of their time in the u23s. On top of that the manager didn't use any of them during our League One season, preferring instead to go with experience. I understand that stance but would also be very surprised if he was going to throw them in now we are a League higher. Referring to 25 players is well and good if they are all 1st team players but 3-5 of them are not and then we've got the likes of Hart, Caddis and Gladwin who I consider to be surplus to requirements (they were last season so if not this season it is worrying). So we don't have a squad of 25. We have 25 contracted players but that includes some not good enough and some not tried and tested enough. We also have an obligation to play u23 fixtures. We don't have enough players, certainly not enough who are good enough, but I get the impression that this 25 figure is the threshold for the finance men and they won't want permanent contracts being issued beyond that point.

You did when you claimed the signing of Rothwell proved we had money. This transfer window is going from bad to worse. No sign whatsoever of the players we actually need in priority positions and now for some God unknown reason We're apparently chasing a 4th choice centre back when Wharton should be getting his chance and Williams can fill in in that position anyway.

Doesn't fit your remit anyway Chaddy. He's 31 so too old according to you

I'd rather give Scott Wharton a chance. On the surface seems like a signing someone for the sake of filling a squad place.

£30 + away tickets all around should cover a chunk of it. We're nice so we don't do that.

Yeah, it's like all those footballers we called tossers until they pulled on a Rovers shirt, The Bellamy's, Dickov's, Savage's of this world. They were all great then ! Don't your personal prejudices cloud your judgement when you're looking at football players and managers.

That would be a good move for him at this point

When we were linked with Valeri Domovchiyski years ago, I edited his wikipedia page before the media reported the story, to suggest he had run the 100m in under 10 seconds. This was then reported by numerous news outlets as being true. Was that a fact as it was more than 3 news sources reporting it?

There's nothing wrong with criticising a manager, club or country, I'm not sure why folk are so sensitive to criticism of a manager where it is justified. Pre-tournament, we wouldn't have argued with the semi finals, but the way it transpired, it's only natural to wonder what might have been if we'd done things differently. I.E.- from the second half onwards, if we could all see we were getting battered, surely Southgate could, so why didn't he make a change to counter it? The criticism of having no Plan B is totally justified IMO.

Lee Bowyer confirmed we bid for Bauer so that one isn't a rumour

He finished above us and above Mowbray with that squad "that isnt great." He is a bit of a prick but hes a good manager with a track record.

It still galls. We will never ever get another chance like it. All we had to do was be cuter and see the game out by bolstering the midfield and we would have won 1-0. Then anything could have happened in the final. Chance of our lifetimes gone.

Thats Chaddy for you...one week he doesnt want 31-year olds, the next (cos we linked to one) we are judging the player.

I am slightly nervous with the current squad. No replacement of Armstrong or antonsson (don't rate him but got 8 goals fair play) we need some goalscorers in our team. I don't care if they are proven or not. Need hunger need fight need passion.

Is there a joke going right over my head there or has Nixon started talking in a language intelligible only to aliens?

Anyone else worried we are blowing our money on new contracts for existing players? Didn't see Smallwood or Williams as a priorty. Still no news on Dack.

I'l be honest I don't blame the club for not spending 2 million on a league 1 centre back with only 12 months left on his contract. I don't expect millions to be spent but I do think we will bring in a couple over the million mark. 500k for Davenport isn't cheap to be fair he looks a good un and hopefully will be a bargain. But as it stands he has played a max of 20 senior games so spending 500k on him isn't penny's.

That cant be the barometer for everything. He turned into a good squad player. Just as Whittingham was seen as too good for us and look how that turned out. Judge everything on its own merits. A promoted squad tends to need to improve just to survive and then consolidate and prosper in the division above. First we need to at least match the quality of the squad we had last year. Davenport gives us more depth in central midfield so thats good. Youd probably say Rothwell is a replacement for Payne, on paper thats Oxfords star man for half of last season for someone who was in and out but at least hes ours to develop. So we still need to replace Armstrong, Chapman and Antonsson with at least equal quality. We lack excitement, flair and pace and its up to Mowbray to get that.

Fair point. I think back to 16/17 and think that squad was poor and wasn't good enough, think that's why a few of us are thinking negatively, but I suppose after Mowbray took over, the last 14 games, if we'd have had that form all season, we would have finished 9th, so that bad season, was very much down to a poor manager in Coyle. Also I think some of us, myself included had the little bit of excitement (blind probably, but nevertheless) that with momentum and some good additions, we could maybe have a real good season, but the lack of signings I think has put a dampner on that.

The level of passive aggressiveness from you these days chadster! ?

I agree with the Rose sub for Young. I did comment that the only sub I didn't agree with was the Vardy one. This is a young team and we will learn from this and only get better. we have a very bright future and some of the players coming through and a couple of players who Southgate didn't pick this time we will have a good chance of winning the Euro's. didn't agree that Croatia was the first decent team we come up against as we played 3 teams before who have been more than decent

Makes it worse when you know the next World Cup is going to be in a pure non-football land in Western Winter (good luck with those outdoor fan-zones when it's 2c and pissing it down) and as you said, the one after that . . . ridiculously over killed - and in 3 different countries. The World Cup as we know it is over. And whatever anyone says - we will never get a better chance of getting to a final ever. Stats say, next semi-final for England should be about 2046 - by that time there might even be golf handicap type matches including in play game boosts, power-ups and plays and refereeing decision public votes etc. It will be interesting to see if people start changing their minds about how it ended for England after the euphoria has died down a bit. I'm certainly more Graeme Souness than Ian Wright about the whole thing. BeIn Sports in general was far more grounded and sobering than BBC or ITV. The pundits there were pointing out England's weaknesses rather than getting on the whole 'it's coming home' bandwagon. I had people offering me World Cup Final tickets several days before the semi and I was like, "Steady on this game is 50/50, I'm not making any plans until Wednesday night at full-time". As for the youth (i.e. under 17 winners etc. that people are blabbing about). Well firstly most youth players fade away into relative obscurity, they just don't reach anywhere near their early potential. Secondly, as some have already mentioned in previous posts - the Premiership will end up ruining those players that do manage to push on a bit further - as we've said before - due to the foreign invasion - they will be less opportunities for game time as they will be 2nd in line to all the foreign players. Then there's the foreign owners and managers that couldn't give 2 hoots about the England team and constantly push the club over country line which some of our supposed Golden Generation admitted was a problem for several reasons. Then you add in the materialism of modern life (which seems more apparent these days than ever); i.e. - the money grabbers and their agents (that of course don't care if their baby is sitting on the bench at a club paying more money rather than actually playing every week at a less rich club). It's a recipe for more of the same mediocrity we've seen during the last 20 years.

I feel the same, bit too much of a everyone gets a prize about it ,we are all winners etc Not good enough to get to the final, go home and try harder next time What next with the World cup expansion? 23 rd place play off?

Fair enough, but folk are out there acting like this is some strange phenomenon. There's a reason one of the most famous quotes in football is "game of 2 halves". Cos it happens all the time week after week in all the various domestic leagues we all watch. Remember Rovers v Wigan last season? 2-0 at half time. And I reckon that cost us the title. And IMO, if that game had gone 30 mins extra time they would have probably won it. Not saying it's right and we should sit back and accept it. Of course it needs analysed to try and prevent in future. But this - "Oh my God, I can't believe England didn't make it to the final after that dominant 1st half" - is pretty niave.

It's an underwhelming link. He has played the vast majority of his career at League One level. Hope it is untrue.

Some on here writing players off without seeing them play, as usual. Did they not learn their lesson after Downing and others?

So is Ronaldo but I don't let that get in the way of my judgement of him as a great footballer. Maybe Cook has something to be arrogant about. I watched them beat City in the FACup last season, Rovers couldn't have done that.

It will be a 2nd Eleven game. Probably a good thing for those players who take it serious and want to impress. They are wearing the shirt so must try 100%. I noticed that Lineneker and Neville were a bit dismissive of it. I will watch and hope we win

You do know you can't use 'Nixon reported it' as your justification that Nixon reporting it was accurate, right?

I'd Rather Dance With You - Kings Of Convenience

I'd say Sunday will be a formality for the French. Can see 2 or 3 nil. I hope I'm wrong and Croatia can raise it one final time.

"Football's coming home"....