Raya went a doubled his money plus he gets a £200,000 bonus if he plays in every league game this season, Before Austria he was told he was the number one keeper and we rejected a 3million bid and told him he was going nowhere, In Austria he made it apparent he wanted to leave in which case we accepted the bid of 3.5million rising to 4.5million with add ons. im not an ITK and never claimed to be for the 15years I’ve been posting on here but this is from a good source, can’t say who.

I am baffled that people don't think Carson is a better keeper than Raya at this current time.

Goalkeeper in this week barring any last min complications, some will be happy, some won’t. Nature of the position, it’s hard to please everyone. i think it’s an upgrade on raya personally, can see the logic

Not sure I want too see that at Ewood this season if I’m honest..

Its ridiculous....probably the same people who criticised when we got Friedel after his Liverpool days and Robinson after Spurs. People need to realise we are a bottom half Championship side. Getting Joe Hart in would be a great piece of business.

Christ, I’m far from Hart’s biggest fan but some of the criticism of him on here is ridiculous.

Scott Carson has been a consistent top half Championship player for 3 seasons now. He's experienced, played for England, played abroad, been there done that. I'll be happy with him between the sticks. I'd have been happier with him and Raya competing but that's not going to happen. 33 isn't old for a goalkeeper, some may say these are his best years, and I couldn't see a keeper of his calibre coming whilst Raya was here or Raya staying whilst a keeper of Carson's calibre came in. This is if it is him.

John Ruddy. (Not my opinion).

While I appreciate the recruitment in the other areas... We ended the season with an absolute desperate need for a brand new defence. Now, 2 weeks before match day...we have recruited absolutely no one in defence; we have actually lost defenders;.....and we have lost our main goalkeeper, with no replacement yet. What in the hell is the plan.

He does know that he'll be dropped in a dead rubber on the final day of the season?

When we sold Raya there was a big backlash on here, Everyone has spent two weeks concentrating on the negatives in his game just to try justify the sale, they believe it themselves now, Raya is a massive upgrade on Carson and he isn’t getting the credit for his performances on here anymore.

Because it's still an upgrade.

Some will like him, some will not. Its not Adrian then but likely Hart or Carson. Im a little upset

Scott Dann, no thanks. Doesn’t give a stuff about the club.

As a left back I would take Bell all day long. In an ideal world I would look to bring a new one in, Olsson ideally, however I think centre half and keeper are priorities right now.

How do you know we won’t spend money because we’ve bought Gallagher, you said we wouldn’t spend a few mil on anyone this window, but we did, you said there was no money before we bought Bereton, there was, like your recent post says, , let’s see what happens when the window shuts, then we can make our minds up.

Would be the best of the names mentioned for me.

Dann failed to live up to expectations during his first season for Rovers. I remember him being iffy in possession, and getting caught out of position a lot. How much of that was down to Kean's abject management is worthy of discussion. He did knuckle down in the Championship and got his move back to the Prem where he was a regular and at times was talked about for an England call up. He is a good header of a ball and is better than average on attacking set pieces. An old head centre half is usually good for a Championship team. I'd take Joe Hart too.

Yes, I have hopes that he will add a bit of bite to us, always a player I disliked when playing against us so taking that as a good sign.

I was in favour of giving Rodwell every chance when he signed for us last season and defended him against the Sunderland jibes. He had his chance, did ok on occasion and got offered new terms and has stayed away without, as I understand it, keeping the Club informed on his intentions. Move on I say and Rodwell, if bothered, can try his luck elsewhere.

Might be in a minority but I don't want Dann back at all. Anybody think unrealistic big names are being chucked in again now so they can say they tried but couldn't pull them off so we go with what we have ?

Carson would be ok I think. Skrtel though sounds like a football manager signing.

Possibly, I just know we have threw out names into the hat, we would probably be least favourites in that trio but you never know. Lenihan and skrtel partnership would be good, you wouldn’t fancy that if you were a striker

A few general points: Can people leave moderating to the moderators, please? If something is inappropriate, we will take the relevant action. Telling people what to think and when to think it takes threads off topic. A lot of twitter rumours will be absolute nonsense at this time of year. Re that, have a look at the amount of followers the accounts have, how many tweets they’ve posted and how long the account has been open. If the answer to those three is a low number or not very long, then the account will most likely be bogus. I’m finding it hard to believe that people were taken in by a tweet referring to Rangers as ‘Sevco’ to be honest. Some people are too harsh and others not harsh enough. Some are patient, some are impatient. Some over react, some under react. People are different, it is what it is. Discrediting people’s valid concerns by saying they are over reacting or a happy clapper is always going to irritate people.

Course we do! Only country ever to win a football, rugby union and cricket World Cup. We are an elite nation in loads of women’s sports. We are only usually only behind giants like USA and China in the Olympic medal table. We have loads of top golfers, cyclists, swimmers, rowers and on it goes. More F1 world champions than any other nation. We are a fantastic sporting nation and the envy of many a similar sized nation, I would wager.

Apologies if it seemed I was being arsey. Yes Tormund the legend Giantsbane!

"Ay ay, ay ay, Barton is better than Yashin Douglas is better than Eusebio and Burnley are in for a thrashing" If he was better than Yashin he can't have been that bad

Hart would be an excellent signing for a midtable championship team, which we are.

I really hope it’s Hart

Since it will divide opinions I guess it is either Carson or Hart. Seems everyone is happy with Ruddy, so not gonna be him.

Hed be a ruddy good signing thats for sure.

The worst post to ever be upvoted on here (and that’s saying something). Are you forgetting what the most important attribute is for a keeper to have?

If we end up with Ruddy then that would be fantastic. By far the best keeper we've been linked with, experienced at this level and still operating at a good level.

As in that's who you've heard is in talks? I'd be happy with that.

No doubts he's been good for Palace in the Prem but so is Duffy for Brighton I think similar to strikers and their service at centre half a lot depends on what's around you and who manages you and the style of play the team has, he obviously suited Palaces for a while. He was at Rovers as a stepping stone just to get fit and get a move and his form reflected that he was dire at first then perked up when fully fit and being scouted by other clubs. I was never keen on the body language of him at Rovers so i'd be passing on having him back for his wages I think there's others out there less tainted.

He absolutely wasn't the best of a bad bunch with Yakubu. He was awful for us in the Prem. I remember him, Lowe and Hanley being the 3 players I felt were most responsible for our relegation (on the pitch anyway, obviously off-field causes were worse). He didn't get to stay in the Prem, he had one and a half seasons with us in the Championship. Like Hanley, he steadily got better in the Championship and started looking good. Once he did, he was off. He earned himself a move back to the Prem rather than getting to stay because he was good in it. Done very well since by all accounts.

He was dropped as soon as we secured survival, which spoke volumes. Mowbray scapegoated him to try and hide the fact that he’s incapable of organising a defence. The worst thing about the scapegoating was that he was too cowardly to call out our more established players (Mulgrew), even though they were undoubtedly more to blame than Raya.

Keepers are always subject to opinion. Is Carson going to get into the top corners like Raya? No. But the manager has decided he wants a steady, experienced keeper to Marshall his defence and dominate situations. Is Raya going to deliver that over the likes of Carson, Forster, Ruddy, Hart or Adrian? No.

Screams Joe Hart to me.

Surely, we're not crazy enough to convert a 35 year old into a wing back? Most demanding position on the pitch!

Just to debunk this whole loan vs permanent signing fiasco. When Bournemouth got promoted from the Championship their first choice goalkeeper was Artur Boruc, on loan from Southampton. When Watford got promoted they had at least 5 players on loan, all of them first team regulars. Aston Villa were a defensive shambles before they recruited Hause and Mings, both on loan, in which Mings formed a defensive partnership with Taunzebe, obviously on loan, which lead to a 13(?) game winning spell and ultimately promotion. When Brighton got promoted their top goalscorer was Glenn Murray - a loanee. Then we can go into teams like Derby, in which Mount, Wilson, Fimori all came in on loan to guide them to a play off final. Although the "lampard effect" meant they could get them players. The truth about it is that whether the incoming goalkeeper or defender is a loanee or permanent signing is irrelevant. As long as they play for Rovers, come in the first team and improve it it doesn't matter. Certainly loaning a player isn't evidence "the budget has been mismanaged" at all. If the right players become available via loan I'd much rather have them than buy a player that isn't as good simply because they're our players.

"Only ever brings in players from his previous clubs." Dack, Rothwell, Gallagher, Johnson.

Asking £8m for him - ouch! Makes Gally look a bargain.

Ha, we really do. You notice it at set-pieces particularly. The crazy thing is we played so many long balls.

Thought this myself. I think there is a design here rather than simply signing older players. I think its with a view to give the younger crop an obvious hole to fill in a couple of seasons.

Allardyce had Salgado getting up to speed for ages when he first came to be fair and he did really struggle at times with the pace of but the man came from Real Madrid and oozed quality so not really a good comparison.

I'm not suggesting some elaborate conspiracy or grand evil scheme here. It's fairly straight forward and from a purely business/financial point of view it even makes some sense. The club has its budget. Extra funds for new signings have to be considered and then sanctioned by India. It is clear that there is more in the pot for offensive players. The fact we've found millions - much more than others would pay - from somewhere to sign Armstrong, Brereton and Gallagher shows that they are prepared to speculate on those sort of players. If only one of them turns out a success story he will probably cover the cost of all 3. We need defenders and the manager admitted that back in May. So to spend 5 million on Gallagher and then say it's tough to land our defensive targets doesn't stack up.

Bid in for Dann I’ve heard, not sure how true it is. Just been told

Ampadu available on loan from Chelsea. I would be all over this. The Lad is class.

I thought that. Probably the last thing he wants when he's tired.