There’s another 10 minutes of my life I’ve wasted on the Chaddy show! Was hoping for some interesting transfer chat but not going to happen with the Chadster in the room. I’ll go back in a corner for a few months again.

After reading that guff how can he not offer Smallwood a new contract. When Mowbray says good in the dressing room I can only think he means Brockhall because both Smallwood and Hart haven't been in the match day squad for the months. Poor from Mowbray in my view.

In a parallel dimension in 1992:- "Sorry Alan. I know you're a good player and all, but the boys are really fond of David and, as we just got promoted, we want to keep the team morale intact"

Good post. I think folk just desperately want the lad to be a £7 million striker, I know I do, because that would be a huge benefit to BRFC.

The discussion wasn't really about Bauer's ability per se it was the comparison between Bauer and McLaughlin in that they both appeared to be long term targets and at the end of the day we didn't land either of them. McLaughlin always seemed a strange one to me. If he was first choice at Sunderland, why would he want to come here to be a number two, and if we wanted him as our next number one then it strikes me that we weren't setting our bar particularly high. For all that it did appear that he was a long term target and it does seem to me that since being promoted we've found it virtually impossible to get our preferred targets in or over the line. Maybe this is down to Waggott and Mowbray having an unrealistic view of players' worth in the current market, or Venus being not up to the job, or Mowbray being reluctant to bring players in because he feels loyal to the existing staff or being unable to communicate with and get the green light off the owners quickly enough or even a combination of all of the above. I do however think it's giving us far too much credit to say that we're deliberately waiting to see which division we're in before signing anyone. I suspect it's merely a continuation of what we've seen over the last few windows of us being unable to get our ducks in a row.

Proved me wrong how? I don’t flip flop and judge players on one performance be it good or bad. You obviously do as you wanted Samuel gone before lockdown as he was ‘nowhere near good enough’, and now he MUST be signed up for a new contract after a 25 minute cameo. He resembled a footballer on Saturday, so a marked improvement. He’s a long way to go to be the real deal. Perfectly fair comments.

Save a few quid ! End of the day he will have a nice nest built whilst Rovers struggle ... These people are in it for themselves and Venkys are to blame for giving them a free pass to do what they like ... 1.3 in agent fee for a lot of dross.. and now these extensions .. All these quids add up Mr Know it all ...

I could think of a few questions that could be asked, however we don’t have ‘journalists’, I.e reporters with a nose for a story covering Rovers. It’s all about maintaining access through promoting a cosy relationship between the club and local media. The likes of Bayes and Sharpe just tee up some soft questions that will create a few decent quotes for next day’s paper/radio report.

Example #34577 of how the football bubble exists in a total different world than most industries...

The club will always lack proactivity and common sense under Venkys, theres no getting away from that. They can hide behind the excuse that they are waiting to see what division they are in to avoid being proactive bringing in transfers but thats always been the case under them. And this supposed reason is shown up when they have activated a clause to extend Bell's contract when he is as far from a Premier League player as they come. If they were really putting everything on hold in case we made an unlikely promotion, which is flawed because even if you did that having a couple of Championship standard players pre-agreed is hardly the end of the world and the promotion chances are against us mathematically, you would be consistent with that and tell Bell to wait. If he goes elsewhere, you could say the same for the players we are holding off. The Smallwood and Hart situation is again a joke and spitting in the face of the fans who it has previously begged to refrain from asking for £60 back to save the club.

Exactly. Someone said on the match day thread he is starting to look 'value' at £7 million. To look even close to being worth that amount he needs to perform like he did last week (which was very good) more often than not. To be 'value' then he needs to be performing and scoring. At the moment you can't even say he needs to show more consistency, because hasn't shown enough good form to even suggest he is inconsistent. However, as JoeH points out, you have to also judge each performance on its own merits and he was very good on Saturday. Hopefully he takes that on to the next game.

Brereton is a weird one, as on the whole he has been below the required standard (let’s say, to be diplomatic), whenever he does anything above that, it seems to be amplified 10x. Don’t get me wrong, I think he played much better on Saturday, but, it’s a platform for him to build on. That’s the standard, match it on a regular basis and start adding goals. (I don’t necessarily blame him for the slip either, a few players seemed to come a cropper with our pitch on Saturday).

End of the day we are a professional club who exist to put a first team on a pitch to win football matches. If the situation around eligibility is true, surely giving a contract to an employee that legally/per regulations is not allowed to perform his duties for the duration of said contract is a rather odd turn of events?

That's what I originally thought too, and ordinarily I would have said fair enough, but when the club releases a statement a week or so prior guilt tripping fans into not asking for a refund because it would "threaten the existence" of the club, I can see why some are annoyed at the thought of paying Smallwood & Hart an extra months wages to do nothing, can you?

Sigh, that penalty! One thing these vids are doing is highlighting how much better a striker Simon Garner was than any of our current forwards.

Stone Roses - Sally Cinnamon

i don`t see any other clubs in the whole of england or anywhere behaving as we have,is there some malevalent spirit influencing madcap decisions,bloody hell,hart could`nt even hack it at rochdale and smallwood has`nt played for a season because he`s not good enough,i think im`e going to dust of my boots and start playing again,with a bit of luck one of mowbrays scouts might be driving by and give me a years contract,makes you wonder what will happen next in the stupid decision stakes

Fair to say Mowbray could at the very least have phrased this better, given that fans are being asked not to request refunds on their tickets. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18541762.mowbray-not-willing-cast-players-aside-save-quid/

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)

The 1986-90 version of Garner would have held his own in the old first division. This might sound odd given he's our record goalscorer but I always felt as though his finishing wasn't quite top notch. It always amazed me that he rarely took penalties as well. He was okay when he didn't have time to think about it though and in his later years he was good at bringing others into play and a good crosser of the ball. I assume the main reason he didn't play at the top level was because of his reputation for off the field enjoyment, e.g. booze and fags. He scored often enough in cup games against first division teams to not be afraid of their defences anyway.

That didn't even cross my mind before asking that question to be fair. A very weird choice, given his position in the squad. I was trying to come up with some justification for it but there's no point trying to defend the indefensible.

We were without Bell and Williams on Saturday and JRC played left back. Hart wasn't even on the bench. My belief is that it's Uncle Tony looking after one of his players again. Notionally that's fine but we are on the bones of our arse according to the recent communication.

It's ironic that we eventually managed to sign Gallagher. He's one I would have been quite pleased to miss out on.

Is Hayden Carter ahead of Tyler Magloire, Scott Wharton and Matty Platt? All are over 20 years of age.

David Morales - Needin U

Exactly what iv'e been getting at and whilst i'm not saying he doesn't want a good budget i think it'd suit him and his crew if we could just carry on as we are with the minimum of fuss or change.

This imo sums up in a nutshell why we will never ever do a thing under Mowbray even if he weret to stay until he pops his clogs. It's obvious from that article if the budget for next season is the same Mowbray's ideal scenario would be to give everyone contract extensions and keep the squad the same. Everyone else would be thinking "Thank god for that" set a match to the squad and rebuild around Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis, Armstrong and Dack.

Iv'e said this a dozen times but Tony Mowbray has one of the best jobs in football and he knows it. If you know how to play these owners you're secure never mind all this basket case behind the scenes rollox. They want the least fuss possible and this regime provides it in spades just wait till the sales start they'll be building a statue of him at Pune towers ?

He sounds like a very amiable grassroots coach. Personally I find the idea that we will keep paying players to not play rather than “save a few quid” quite crass. Yet fans will have to grovel for their £60 back. So out of touch with the fans base. In fact, I’d go as far as to say there will be people at the club who are glad that fans aren’t at games.

You could argue that a player who has played 0 minutes in the season hasnt got much of a case anyway but even so as @arbitro says he would still be entitled to the bonus regardless. Sam Hart isnt even eligible to play for us. Beggars belief when the club treat the supporters with disdain.

I have never heard of a playoff bonus though there will certainly be a promotion bonus but as Smallwood was contracted for the promotion season he would be entitled to it irrespective of his contract ending on June 30th. And Rovers should have budgeted for potential expenditure. Some promotion bonuses though are based on appearances of which Smallwood has none.

Smallwood & Hart extensions are very suspicious deals .... Venkys asleep again . Wonder what there Man on the ground do all day ... Tony & His sidekick doing what they like .. New Faces but same old story

Apologies.

I wasn't replying to you, it was a general comment

Why move Downing from his centre midfielder role where he is the best at the club in control our play and tempo? Also you are playing Rothwell as false 9 then?

Nyambe has to come in at right back, easiest decision to make. Armstrong should come in to, for Gallagher who was very quiet again last week. Give Brereton another go. The conundrum is left back. Bennett CANNOT play there, he has looked like a fish up a tree everytime he has played there. I suspect he will but I dearly hope not. It is not ideal but I would put Downing at left back. He has been excellent when he has played there and gives us additional control from deep positions. He also gives us more width on his left foot. You could then potentially play Johnson in there but my choice would be to push Holtby back along with Travis and Evans, giving Holtby license to dictate and get forward. I would then put Rothwell where Holtby played, giving him freedom to run at Wigan from more central positions. So 3 changes, Bennett, JRC and Gallagher out, Nyambe, Rothwell and Armstrong in.

Surely its a false rumour because we are waiting until the end of the season? Also, it brings the extension to Bell's contract into further disrepute. Surely this guy is better than Bell if he is genuinely being considered, so surely let Bell go, sign this fella on a pre contract, and if we do somehow get promoted, we can get someone better and have Fox competing with him.

I would have Johnson in for his combativeness and experience in a scrap. With 5 subs we can easily get Holtby and Downing on later in the game. Is JRC definitely out??

They'd be grateful for the double your money 3 years contracts he might bestow on them though ?

That may be. But, if we are encouraging fans not to seek refunds, then we are paying squad fillers who probably won’t get on the pitch, whose contracts we won’t extend after the end of the season and who will most likely get no game time this season. Bizarre logic from the club.

If there's not improvement with the left backs, I'd be happy sticking Downing there, putting Holtby back in the midfield and starting Arma with Brereton and Gally up front. Suppose Bennett to left back is the least disruptive option with Nyambe being fit.

Sam Hart was out on loan though and has been since he came. He can't have spent much time with the squad at all. I can understand Smallwood as I'd assume he's a pretty influential figure in the squad. Plus if the dreaded coronavirus does put a few of our players out Smallwood can easily step in and play.

I think I read somewhere that he just wanted to keep the group together. I don’t think he kept them around to play. I know some of you will hate that and I understand why. However, I think it shows the class of the man to want to keep the squad together until the end of the season. I could imagine if some players had left before the conclusion of the season, it could adversely affect squad morale. Better to keep the group together and then say farewell properly. That’s my understanding of the situation.

The Beatles - Love Me Do

Is it 100% confirmed Sam Hart cannot play for the Club under any circumstances? Given the current situation it is possible we may lose Bell / Williams overnight due to forced quarantine and Hart would need to step in. It may shed some light on why he was given another month. For all of those who are linking our transfer conundrum to Tony Mowbray - you're way off the mark. This is a problem which stems from the top. Ever since Venky's came we have had a reputation of being slow when it comes to transfers, which means sometimes agents, players & clubs go elsewhere. Nothing will change whilst the attitude of our owners remains the same.

By the mid to late 80s he was a quality footballer. Always wondered how he would have fared in the top flight...

You have to play the percentages. Its not as straight forward as this but we are right in the middle of a 7 horse race for 1 position. We then would have a 1 in 4 chance of promotion from the play offs. 1/7 x 1/4 is a 1 in 28 chance. Therefore you have to be prudent and realistic and plan for Championship football, especially in these financial times. If you sign a couple of cheaper players ie frees that would be good enough at this level in your opinion, you do so. If the unlikely scenario comes and you gain unlikely promotion, they can become useful and cheap squad players assuming they were good enough to begin with. This wait and see attitude is an excuse for poor planning and a load of bullshit. You show your hypocrisy by endorsing the decision to give Bell another year. I dont think hes even good enough at Championship level but even his biggest fan wouldnt fancy his chances in the Premier League yet hes already had his deal extended. Why didnt you criticise the decision to give him a new contract before finding out what division we are in?

Elvis Costello - My Funny Valentine

We manoeuvred ourselves into this position many times under Bowyer and bottled it every single time... let’s hope this team is different.

Can go public now, Mrs E is pregnant was my inspiration for this thread, but ofc we couldn't tell anyone til the first scan.