Despite the best efforts of the disgraceful British Press and berks like Boris Johnson to demonise them i would like to congratulate Russia on a superb World Cup. отлично сработано!

An enjoyable World Cup, similar to Italia 1990 Well done to Russia. 1970 still the best for the quality of the football, even though it was agony for England.

Ronaldo and Messi, nice strawman Chris. You may watch plenty of football Chris but you only seem to repeat the same names Chris once Nixon links them to us. I expect you to list Gallagher in every post now alongside Clark Kent; then Nixon will link someone else and you’ll mention him every day as well. I’d rather we went for a Marriott type over Gallagher, more up front cost but a potential investment and would be our player. Gallagher isn’t bad bad by any means but it would be disappointing if he emerged as our main striker target at this point and would imply other things haven’t come off. If we have this new method in place I’m surprised we haven’t yet been linked with more unknown quantities from abroad rather than a striker we all could have mentioned.

........but he still looked a good player, and the potential to get better, was obvious, if we'd had a manager able to exploit it and a more ambitious club. Still didn't make any sense when fans were glad to see him leave. He was always destined for the top.

I think the only people that should have got new deals on the back of promotion were Raya, Lenihan and Dack. No -one else is good enough to be particularly worried about for me, if they think the grass is automatically greener elsewhere then good luck to them.

I think it's smart only giving him a 12 month extension. Smallwood was excellent last season certainly In the first half of the season before his form tailed off. You have to remember when with Rotherham in the championship they didn't think him good enough and he was loaned to league one. There are question marks over wether he is championship standard so I'm happy the club have only given him a 12 month extension

I doubt that we will every see a World Cup of the standard of 1970 ever again. That was a special tournament so many great sides and in my opinion the best England team to play in a World Cup.

Hopefully he stays well well clear of Rovers..never have I seen a guy with such height never win an ariel duel

I’ve seen tweets from at least half a dozen fans that I know for a fact go to every single game. I’ve had the quotes confirmed by my supporters club that were at the services, I know them personally and they are the absolute best of our fan base who spend a fortune and a hell of a lot of time supporting the club every single weekend, so they were rightly upset by a disgraceful outburst, considering they were just chatting politely to the rest of the squad. So please withdraw your posts BDS.

And so many good players to come in Lemar, Dembele, Fekir, Mendy, Kimpembe & Tolisso hardly played any minutes between them. Then you have the likes of Coman & Rabiot who didn't even make the squad.

I have to say I find this a really odd post

Not sure why people keep going on about Mbappe emerging as a new superstar in this tournament he has already moved for £166 Million as well as scoring in the Champions League round of 16, quarter finals and semi finals.

Gallagher on loan isnt that bad - think there is a slight overreaction if it is indeed true. People saying about his heading ability but we dont generally play it in the air. As long as its not our main 'striker' signing then I have no problem with it as he can also play as one of the three behind. Still would prefer it was a perm move though.

Never a penalty in a month of Sunday's. The ref got it right the first time round watching it in real time at normal speed.. VAR at its worst. It will be a travesty if Croatia are robbed because of that.

Both have champion experience? Kent was poor for both teams he played for but because he has experience let's get him in .. Gallagher has has two relegation scraps and has barley set the world alite where ever he has been. We should be aiming a little higher then Gallagher that's for sure

Just seen this on Twitter.

Still struggle to see past the mistake against Preston. No thanks

Whilst Kane may have only had 1 shot in the knockout phase as the tints fade from the glasses the service to him was very very poor.

He scored a few goals for us but sadly it was proven time and time again that he was weak in the tackle and was easily out muscled. The game at Oldham where he played up front really showed the weaknesses in his game and sadly he was physically not up to League One.

Exactly so. No-one underestimates the job TM has to do except probably Venkys.

I accept we don't know the budget, that it how it should be, but the signs are there that things are not going to plan. Mowbray wanted the majority of his signings in place ealry doors but only two have arrived. There is no need to panic yet and if we spend and bring in players in the coming weeks then I'll happily admit that I was wrong.

Excellent post. That's my reading of the situation also. I was told from a good source that TM knew who he wanted for tbis season and had presented his wish list to the Board almost before automatic promotion had been mathematically confirmed. The lack of incoming activity and TM's recent comments about being "hopeful" make me think that We're making League 1 size offers for Championship players and having no joy whatsoever. Obviously I can't prove this, just as those who claim we have adequate money to spend can't prove they're right either until said money is spent. Still two or three weeks to go and the proof of the pudding will be in the eating eventually.

Its an international tournament, that they won their group in, and efficiently won every knockout game in 90 minutes. You need a bit of fortune, but their team is brilliantly balanced, defensively solid in the main, quality in midfield, and has 2 star players working around a target man. Im not sure what else you can ask for. Probably because he downed tools, which is unforgivable. Im guessing from the "fans" aspect of your post that you are on a wind up, as you dont lose your right to become a fan by not rating someone.

No I'm not upset with what Modric said, I just have no respect for WHEN he said it. Do you struggle reading? Lol

So you're not upset with whatever Modric said? Lol. If all he said was that England were guilty underestimating Croatia he was probably spot on. When we beat Sweden the general mood within the Country was that we were as good as in the final and it was "coming home". There was also a feeling we'd be a lot fresher than them after they'd played two lots of extra and in fact the exact opposite happened. We were the ones who looked knackered.

So France have now won two World Cups, and been in the final 3 times. They have also won the Euros twice. England have won the WC once, and never made it to another final. For most of my life, France was always regarded as a bit of a joke as football nation, yet their record proves they are so much better than us Germany and Italy have also won the WC and Euros multiple times. We're supposed to be big football country but it just highlights how pathetic England are - and that includes in this tournament.

I'd put this tied for 3rd as the best World Cup that I have seen, with my first being in 1962. 1970 is the best for me the standard was incredible there were probably 6 teams in that tournament that would have won this World Cup. 1974 would be my second favourite just for that Dutch team, they were a joy to watch just a shame they didn't win it. And I'd put 1986 on a par with this there wasn't an outstanding team but very exciting games and Argentina won it thanks to an outstanding player in Maradona & in this World Cup there hasn't been an outstanding team but some very exciting games with a very well organised French team winning it.

Oh you’re part of the negative England supporters association then.

This ref is utterly useless. Just given a throw after a Croatian player didn’t retreat 10 yards from a free kick and put the ball out of play!

Well let's get it tied up before the end of this week because after they've seen too much of Ward in training they'll be doing everything they can to keep hold of Bauer

Former Rover on the pitch in the World Cup final......................a player some "fans" on here were glad to say goodbye to.

I know plenty that heard it directly as they travel with the supporters club I go with regularly. He said it, it wasn’t tongue and cheek and those at the services heard it loud and clear. Many of those at Port Vale spend a fortune, every weekend, ten months a year supporting those lads and that outburst was bang out of order and massively out of step with the atmosphere that Mowbray has helped create between players and fans. So I imagine Mogga is as annoyed as anyone.

Wtf happend there haha omg

Fair play to Ward getting that move. I didn't think he would get a league 1 club, let alone a top one

Not many it seems, but the jury have decided he is guilty.

"Premier League Strike Ace" is a slight exaggeration.

Can I have one?

So. it wasn't a dumb mistake ? I must have got that one wrong then.

I think it's the same club. He would have been straight on twitter to announce otherwise. Us or WBA would be my guess but as I exclusively revealed on here it's likely to be us if we are trying to get them to agree to a 100 year repayment plan.

Crouch has scored more headed goals than anyone in Premier League history, just a stat I heard the other day. If Gallagher was as good as him in the air I’d be delighted. Defenders head up and away, strikers down and aimed, does negate some height advantage sometimes.

Yep. Exactly where I want my best goal threat to be. In the centre circle collecting the ball. Armchair experts with their pithy ‘running the channels’ and ‘all round game’ are all well and good, but goals win football matches. I prefer midfielders to do the leg work.

Average pace for a striker, he wasn't rapid by any means.

Looks like Leeds didn't rate him either and that's the level we're playing at now. The lad had no pace and no strength, he didn't really have a trick in him. He ran around a lot but to no great effect, I don't think I ever saw him win the ball in a one on one challenge with a defender. He was a decent finisher but didn't contribute much to team play. I'm relieved he's not coming back.

Personally I don’t want Gallagher back. He was part of our relegation squad and only just survived last year with Birmingham. A reminder of the worst of times when we need to be looking forward. At the end of the day though it will come down to the quality we can afford for the budget available.

Just been reading the yesterday's posting on here so sorry to bring old debates back. There were time last season when Nyambe was targeted by the opposition last season but there were also times when Williams was as well. This was because their positional sense is questionable at best. Nyambe did improve as the season progressed as his confidence improved and to call him poor is a little harsh. If we play 3 at the back I suspect this is not going to improve the situation. To move onto the 4th choice centre half, personally I wouldn't be looking at a 31 year old just relegated with Burton. I don't know the player but if we need a 4th choice Wheaton, Platt or Williams are surely fine to cover for the odd game. Signing someone who is happy to be fourth choice is wrong on all levels. If we are signing a new centre half he has to be challenging for either of the two starting positions and then Downing becomes fourth choice. It is the only way the squad improves. Previous managers have signed squad fillers and is why we went backwards. Finally Sam Gallagher is an improvement on Samuel and Nuttall but should under no circumstances be considered as a main striker. He has proved that he can play the wide forward role that Samuel and Antonnson was asked to play last season but was found wanting when he played down the middle.

I wouldn't want to re sign antonnsson. I agree I think he is a better forward than Samuel and nuttall. He did ok and played his part last season and I wish him all the luck in the world at his new club but we need something different up top. Pace, strength, height, a trick or two, a natural finisher. What ever tm decides we need for the system he is playing antonnson is not the answer. Regarding Gallagher if he was a permanent signing then I would be happier. If we sign another striker then I would be delighted to have him as an option because we are so light up top if Graham got injured. I thought he did really well here last time in a poor side. He played in a poor side last season and I never saw him play so can't comment on that but with two years experience in the league behind him and dack supplying him I think he would be an adequate signing

I think if we were to sign re-sign Gallagher my reaction would be "meh". I would have hoped we would have been targeting a far higher calibre of player. Signs of desperation kicking in?

I know I will get flack for saying this. But I liked Marcus. Sure he had some hit and miss games. But he stuck in some important goals. He didn't have pre-season with the club as other forwards did. In fact who knows how he'd have cracked on with a full pre-season. Did I mention his goals to games ratio is far better than Samuel and Nuttall. His goals in November were important pushing forward into our automatic promotion push and let's not forget he got the (PFA) Player of the Month award, going on to win the PFA Player of the Month award. Just a shame he picked up that injury.

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.