Race? More like a gentle jog I would have thought.

Really poor signing this. I know it is only one signing, but Downing was average at 24, and at 34 I see this as us just being one last pay day before retirement. Might seem like an over-reaction, but after Etuhu, Murphy and Whittingham it is sad to see another. He might not be on the wage he was at Boro, but he won't be cheap, and any salary on him is too much in my opinion. I would rather any of Chapman, Armstrong, or Rothwell get a bit more game time than give any to Downing as he is only going to decline further. Also concerned because I fear Mowbray will give him quite a few chances, even if it is immediately apparent he isn't up to it. On the plus side at least the Venkys have got a former england international midfielder after we narrowly missed out on Beckham in the early days of their ownership.

Driving through Preston this morning and I spotted our season tickets advertised in a bus shelter. Thought i’d Teleported to 1995 and it felt great! Hopefully the club is finally waking up to the fact that an ever increasing percentage of the fanbase is outside the town of Blackburn.

For those saying Hanley is a 'hoof' player, I don't remember that at all! I remember a defender who (within his ability) would maraud forward from defence quite regularly, but knew when to get rid or play wide to Conway. He's not a 'baller' by any means but better than hit n hope imo. By far the best option for a brute CB that's realistic imo.

As expected the bar is being gradually lowered on expectations for the summer window. No longer talk of ready made better players with the focus now on frees, loans and padding out the squad. Worth remembering that we are already 3 down on last season with Conway, Reed and Downing out the door so this talk of 'up to five' new ones actually consists of only another couple of extra bodies on what we had last year. If one of those is Stuart Downing it isn't a good start. Completely as expected though. This is why I wasnt taken in by the bold talk early on.

Have we not managed to offload Smallwood yet? That would make me feel as good as a signing. And rodwell , time to give up on that. Free some wages

Shows how little people understand our club. They all say we'd get money to improve our squad and improve our spending power. We'd get some of any transfer fee minus whatever Venkys decide to bank, and whatever they were prepared to give Mowbray without the sale of Dack would go back into their coffers too. Any small amount left over would be what the manager had to spend. Selling Dack would give us no extra transfer kitty at all. That's not to say it won't or shouldn't happen, just that for us there is no sugar coating the bitter pill of selling one of our better players

Good to see us building for the future. After all the garbage Mowbray spouted about slowly building and bringing in talent from Europe, this really is a signing devoid of imagination, common sense and excitement. Evidently too old for Middlesbrough, but not for us. A 35 year old winger. Dear oh dear.

Tongue in cheek, surely? I'd rather have Mowbray in No 10

Said right from the off this was a done deal... ? Cast iron typical Mowbray old boys signing they'd rather push the boat out for a guy like that than invest what'll amount to similar money on a younger centre half modest gamble who'll cover his costs. All depends on what context this actually ends up in, if there's a few good signings then it'll pale into insignificance if not it's a terrible sign from club and manager i'm afraid. Whatever you think of it it's hard to get away from expecting it to be another waste of a million or two quid that should be invested better elsewhere and may well end in yet another pay off. I don't see just why some would expect this to pan out any different than Murphy, Whittingham, Wes Brown, Greer, all old all getting a gig here they'd get nowhere else and all paid off or swallowed up wages and contributed nothing. Nice one Tony, better pull your finger out your arse now lad.

Defence worries me more than most areas. In midfield Davenport will be like a new signing - and TBH so will Rothwell given how little game time he had over the whole season. You can add to that the emergence of Travis as a genuine regular first team player. On the wings Chapman will again be like a new signing - as he spent most of the time since his signing building up his fitness. Defensively we need a commanding centre half and more competition in the full back positions - especially left back. Raya needs some genuine competition. Up front we have Samuel coming back - again like a new signing (though possibly not a signing many would make ? ) - and we saw better things from Brereton when he was actually played in the centre. But given Graham's age we do need another player to bolster TM's options. Other than central defence - I am fairly relaxed about the current lack of signings.

While I agree his defensive performances slipped, I think it is harsh to say those corners were flukey. He has a great set-piece delivery.

Yep, same bluster as last summer, even down to the '4 or 5' players mantra and 'same budget'. The problem is it turned out to be a load of b0llocks last season as Mowbray's targets went elsewhere. The same is already happening this season. Sharpe is already getting the club's excuses in early:- "Reaction from supporters to missing out on Patrick Bauer would likely have had as much to do with still not having signed a player than missing out on the German central defender, even though he had been a long-term target for the club" https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17719042.rovers-not-alone-in-transfer-wait-but-something-must-give/ Sharpe speaks for us all Mowbray already backtracking from 'experienced players to go straight in the team' to:- “Some of those might be free transfers, some might be loans, and some players that we might look to buy, polish them up, and then sell on. We might also have players in the building who can make an impact for us" Incredible ambition: we MIGHT get players who can make an impact.? Mowbray - not arsed about promotion just as long as players get a bit better and we get the odd good signing in. If everyone's happy to plod along and go nowhere fast then Mowbray is the man to do it.

Personally there is no way I want to know Rovers' budget and the less I know about our targets until they sign their contract with Rovers the better too. The same goes for all of you if you are really honest with yourselves.

The Salford/Sky arrangement is already becoming painful to endure and the season is still six weeks away. Already we've got Salford v Stevenage on Sky and I'd bet my life savings their game v Leeds will be too. Evidence of course that selection for live broadcast isn't necessarily motivated by who has the biggest fanbases but by who can pull the right favours at Sky hq. It's hard not to suspect a fix there with that draw. When Sky run the whole thing including draw it can be done. Why can't the draw be held by the Football League and be operated by Football League executives rather than the Sky clique? I can (hopefully) see one or two League clubs begin to question this 'arrangement' before too long. Neville earning a fortune as Sky's poster pundit, part owner of a member club, receiving a completely disproportionate amount of coverage and publicity, receiving sponsorship income from Sky Bet and god knows how much from these games they are going to be put on tv. It's completely wrong and shouldn't be allowed. Neville should have to cease his employment with Sky if he's carrying on with this Salford stunt and Sky should cease their sponsorship of Salford too.

And Venkys wouldn’t be here!

Its Friday so I'm going to be positive about something I'm probably very underwhelmed about. Downing has played in CM a fair bit this past season or so and is a technical player who is good on set pieces and gives us a left footer beyond Mulgrew. With the emergence of Travis as our unquestioned CM#1 who has an engine, pace, bite and commitment, I much prefer the idea of a Downing-Travis pairing than any with Smallwood and to a lesser extend Evans in it. Downing could be a technical upgrade on Evans and can come and play as we develop Davenport for a year with a view for a Davenport-Travis pairing. Of course, I'd have rather pushed for a Joe Aribo or actually committed half the transfer budget on a proper CM as I'm more convinced Downing will be the next Danny Murphy or Peter Whittingham. Surely we deserve some luck with the golden oldies signing. If not, it's only a 1 year deal ?

Like all politicians - but particularly the future PM - don't listen to what they say, watch what they do. Mowbray tells the fans what they want to hear - then does the opposite. I thought Downing was average when he was in his pomp, at 34-35 I just don't see the point of signing him

Get behind the lads FFS.

I don't think Mowbray promises anyone a starting place. Wasn't that why people were saying we didn't sign Bauer? But now he does offer a starting place to Downing? I can't keep up with what Mowbray is apparently doing at all at all

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/june/rovers-seal-downing-deal/ Stewart Downing will be with Rovers for the 2019-20 Championship campaign, will you? Sign up now for a Season Ticket here. No.

I'm open minded towards Downing. It's not particularly an area that needed strengthening, so an experienced head to replace Conway is fine by me as long as his wage is reasonable. I think it's promising that he played as many games as he did for a play off contender. For what it's worth I'd also take James Morrison on a free. Gives Mowbray a couple more players he can trust and pads out our squad with some more quality and experience. It should also, in theory, free up funds to spend on our defence. Our window is going to be judged on our defensive signings. Money needs to be spent there.

Given how ineffective Conway was last did he really even need replacing?

Totally with you JH. Not that long he talked of ''maybe matching the sum we paid for Brereton''. and having similar budget to last year whether that includes amounts left over from January or not, who knows?? Frankly, i'm bored of the bullsh1t that comes out of this Club which is only going to change by actions rather than words. We spend £3m on our academy, we pile money and resource into our scouting dept and so far we have got as far as mentions for Downing (old pals act?) and Hanley -not exactly ripping up the scouting manual or finding Europe's hidden gems there are we?? But effectively the window hasn't opened yet and whilst not holding my breath, I suppose we shouldn't judge until it closes again and we know what we 've ended up with even though the soundbites right now are far from encouraging. It looks like we aren't in a minority of disenchanted fans judging by ST sales ……..and on that particular subject, Waggott shows little sign of understanding fan sentiment with some of the crap he comes out with. He's only got 2 years to look back on whereas we are all dulled and infected by a decade of misery in the main. None of us can begin to comprehend how absent owners simply throw £20m a year at a basket case just to keep it ticking over with seemingly no ambition for anything beyond that. Not exactly a story that's easy for fans to buy into and rush to part with their hard earned. I find myself getting more and more wound up by the contradictions and back tracking that have gone on notably in last couple of months .It would be far better if they said nothing at all and on that score Rich Sharpe /LT don't help by keeping running the same stuff under slightly different headings each night. It took them about 3 weeks to finally get us all past Conway moving on there was that much being written. No news is really that !! Wake me up when there's something to tell , Rovers!

I may be old school but I like my summer signings to be done early, it makes it look like it’s organised and some thought has went into it backing into last season rather than the mad panic and taking what’s available option of waiting until deadline day. Doing it early also gets the new players time to gel with current squad and make us ready for the start of the season, which we haven’t looked like being for ages now

Chapman can be looked at as Conways replacement, no? Downing barely played last season, but we do need a centre half, so that's 1 signing. Hopefully Davenport can go someway to replacing Reed. So, that leaves us with 4 more signings to make. Plenty of room to improve there. Sigh It seems whoever we sign now will be met with negativity. No matter who or what positions we sign, some will find a problem. Like bringing the Smallwood "issue" into things. He barely featured second half of the season, but the way some are talking you would swear he is 1st choice or something. Double sigh

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17720505.rovers-want-up-to-five-signings-and-to-keep-star-men/ Tony changing position again he has previously said he wanted players to improve the starting 11, then he talked of exploring overseas markets, he's also spoke about matching the Brereton fee and now we are on to loans and frees who might make an impact. It's clear he doesn't really know what he wants which is why we have such a scatter gun approach in the market and why as we saw with last summers signings most end up playing out of position. Also if he thinks we only need 5 players then he is deluding himself. We need 4 defenders and a new goalkeeper for starters and that is before we even get on to the midfield and attackers.

Yeah but if we don’t sign him now people will kick off at us being “beaten to the chase” so we have to!

It seems club policy recently to maintain low levels of excitement about anything Rovers.

Bloody hell didn’t realise I had a reputation for being a sad bastard!

Jim, this isn't 2006. We're shit and have been for about 8 years. A very average, past his best, ex-England international would probably be our best player these days.

I wasn't over the moon on Downing but I've come to look at it like this... Who would you rather have out there... A fella whos played for massive clubs, England, moved for big money and played regular for a team who finished above us? Or Conway or Smallwood?

Stewart you're right.

Not happy with this signing. Was hoping to see a bit of a new dawn moving away from Bennett and Conway trudging up and down creating and scoring very little, with the likes of Rothwell, Armstrong and Chapman chomping at the bit, and Conway leaving. Downing has lost his pace, will be 35 before the season starts and his influence on games has massively waned as you would expect with age, contributing precious little last season. A poor and unimaginative signing IMO.

Disgusted with this signing, we manage to finally get one completely past it winger off the books only to promptly replace him with another! Not renewed my season ticket yet and although I probably still will, if this is the level of dross we'll be bringing in, it's a major disincentive.

The signing of a manager devoid of ideas.

Conway replaced by Downing. A sizeable step up in quality at any age in their respective careers.

Undecided but can see the logic. Happy to give him a chance. Hope it’s the first of many.

I said exact same thing about Murphy when people questioned the money spent on him at his age. "C'mon, he's just played a full season for Fulham, and won player of the year. He's not suddenly gonna turn crap overnight." ☺ I'm therefore not going to comment on Downing. ?

Over 400 PL appearances. Wow. Let's hope he's more Hughes/Tugay at this age rather than Murphy/Whittingham. GO ON STEWY LAD

This is a guy who played 38 times in the Championship last season in a team in the mix throughout. 40 appearances season before, must offer something surely to us. Can see him in the 3 behind the striker with Dack and Rothwell.

I think a quality CB and a FB are absolutely essential. Without them we will struggle again. A GK and a striker are pretty necessary too. Central midfield of Evans, Davenport, Travis and Buckley may be sufficient, but it probably needs one more quality addition. AA, Rothwell, Downing and Chapman will probably battle it out for the wide berths. Attacking midfield is probably the only area we are well stocked in, especially when you add in Dack and Butterworth. I suppose it all depends what formation he goes with. @Madon needs to get his binoculars out when they return to training next week.

We don't need a replacement for Conway, we need better than those we already have. Tony told us this summer was about getting players in who can go straight in the 1st team - 3 or 4 was the number he quoted a few weeks ago. If Downing can get in the 1st team then fair enough, if he can't it's a poor signing because it doesn't improve the 1st XI.

Still learning his trade until he reaches the mature age of 25 probably

Just a quick question for anyone who had convinced themselves the trip to India has curtailed ambitions; Did you expect them to come back talking about big budgets? Even if they had one?

I’ve avoided looking at Rovers news for the last few weeks due to the sad inevitability of nothing happening. And nothing has happened. The conversation and articles are practically identical to what they were at the start of summer which is a little drab and boring, but in fairness we’re better off keeping our cards close to our chest, not sure we have a decent hand at all though. Personally, I’m a bit annoyed at the club as they fed us promise through a big money signing last summer, followed by lots of talk about kicking on, talk of heavily scouting Europe etc. Sadly, the Indian holiday party came back with little enthusiasm and without the relatively healthy pot of cash that was regularly insinuated, and the same people that fed that hope seem to be trying to dampen it as of now. I might be jumping the gun with that, but in all probability, that’s where we’re at. If we’re continuing along a sensible, build bit by bit approach, that’s absolutely fine, just please don’t make out as if we’re doing more as it only causes disappointment. As a saving grace, it seems like the majority of teams in our league are in a similar position, shown by the lack of activity so far. If we bring in 2 or 3 frees/loans that add genuine competition with the experienced mentality/qualities currently lacking, followed by a couple of cash signings on a defender and striker, we have every chance of doing better than we did last season, providing we aren’t forced in to a sale with Lenihan or Dack. On top of that, one or two of the signings who played no role last season (Davenport, Chapman) or very little of a role last season (Brereton, Rothwell) have every chance of making an impact on the first 11. Based on past activity, and like most others, I’m concerned about us not addressing the defence in the way we need to. Everybody on here knows we need a good, commanding centre back before anything else, if not we won’t improve make no mistake. If we cop out and go cheap it’ll be a long season. Also don’t think we’re strong enough at full back (think Nyambe has big potential, not keen on Bell but not writing him off) and it looks like we’re probably not going to add in that position. That’s a major gamble and we might have to hope and pray that they improve over pre-season and any centre back coming in has a major organisational presence to help them along throughout the season. There’s a number of weeks left so let’s wait and see what happens. Movement across the league will start soon, hopefully we pull something off as it does. Nothing is guaranteed, by the end of the window we might be happy, might be sad, only thing certain is us sad bar stewards will be sat refreshing tinterweb on the regular! Fingers crossed.

@Torgeir https://roverschat.com/charlie-mulgrew-rovers-record-shows-theyre-better-off-without-the-captain/

Where has this Jake Cooper talk come from? Not seen anything about him being linked, apart from someone mentioning him on here as someone 'we should' be targeting. Don't make him the next Marcus Maddison please. You're only going to get everyone riled up when we inevitably don't sign him.

The plus are substitute appearances. Wdn is when they are substituted. ns is nominated substitute. + mins and - mins are time on as sub and time lost from full 90 mins by being taken off

Dont pay - any dog in pain or knowing the clock is running out will avoid its owners, their pack mentality means they move away from the group so not to be a hindrance. Sounds like yours went quickly and without too much stress. Dont wait too long before getting another. RIP!