If TM really wants Kipre them it’s time to call India .. sure I heard him saying I had to calm them down and if the time ever came to go that bit further to land a player they would back him ... Ring Ring ...

Again it comes down to a complete lack of interest from India. No way would people like Waggott get away with the ground being in the state it is at any other club. You look at Andy Holt at Accy he has spent countless hours of his own free time up at the Crown Ground, resurfacing car parks, cleaning the place up, making small incremental improvements but putting time and effort in and the place is now clean and a tidy little ground. Either Waggott can't get the funds approved to spend tidying the place up (from the owners who care and who never refuse a cheque) or he simply isn't bothered and neither are his employers because they sit on the other side of the world and have no pride or respect for this club. I'm afraid harking back to the 80s and how the ground used to be just isn't right. It isn't the 80s anymore. We have a modern top class stadium and it is being run into the ground by incompetence and negligence. A decade has gone and other than the essential pitch maintenance nothing ever gets done to the ground. Waggott comes to fan consultation meetings and starts talking about rebuilding the Riverside - a project that would cost millions and take years to get off the ground and yet under his watch the place is overrun with weeds, rubbish and grime all avoidable with regular maintenance. He probably thinks he is clever by saving a few quid on the annual upkeep bills and isn't bothered that our historic home is rapidly becoming a sh!thole with his name responsible for it. He won't get credit in India for making the ground look nice if it costs them more money. We're run by a bunch of corner cutters. Try to scrimp and save a few grand a year by letting the shop front of the club fall into decay and filth and yet happily write off £15 million losses and extra unnecessary wages for Smallwood and Hart to not play. Someone in the office is on £300,000 per year. I'd be asking why that person couldn't be paid £250,000 per year with the difference going into stadium improvements every summer.

If the money is tight and the choice is between a defender and Downing, I don't think there is a choice to be made

Happy 50th birthday Tugay, Rovers legend. Thanks for the memories. ??

On another note, happy birthday to Tugay, 50 years young today and could still have that ball on a piece of string. Thanks for the memories!

Tugay is a fucking legend!

Greg Cunningham will likely return.

Please tell me my humour wasn't wasted!

Strange how we see things. I thought he got steadily worse post Christmas. Rather his wage went elsewhere.

Duff before Tugay for me. Duff was genuine world class around the time of the 2002 World Cup.

That Basel goal is still my favourite goal that I've seen live. The chest, the touch, the casual stroll forwards before just floating it into the top corner. *chef's kiss* It makes me sad to think that I'll likely never see a player of that calibre again at the club.

Thought of a solution. Every time an Elliott Bennett fuck up leads to a goal or penalty he has to do a few hours hard labour maintaining the ground. A couple of months into the season the ground will be so clean you’ll be able to eat your dinner off the floor. Eventually he’ll owe that many hours of cleaning he won’t have time to play. Win win.

I'm more interested in Mowbrays actions. Defenders are coming

Well its obviously subjective and not really 'proveable' as such but I would pick Shearer, Duff and Friedel because I honestly think that when at Rovers they were the best in their position in the world at that time. Tugay was world-class, undoubtedly and I loved the little fella, but next level from Duff? No, I don't think so.

With Kipre you would think there is as much upside to that deal as an attacking player. Decent chance of making a significant improvement on an initial investment of £1.5m.

Yeah, he's such a prick to come out with crap like that on twitter. As if that community haven't got enough of a mountain to climb!

I suspect that we will sign someone not mentioned again. Rich Sharpe is very much behind in terms of never breaking stories and Nixons wild swings at Hofmann/McLaughlin/Iversen/Muric etc all turned out to be rubbish. Kaminski has just come out of nowhere. Not only would Kipres price have to drop dramatically but it would also require no one else to show interest even at a reduced price. Im not sure either havw even the slimmest chance of happening even if we do indeed have a strong interest. Cant see the Schmidt deal at all either. Recently given a long term deal by Werder Bremen and midway through a 2 year loan. Hopefully we are well on with our business because we could do with getting players bedded in. We had to start last season with Mulgrew, Bell and Bennett in defence because we couldnt get our business done soon enough. We cant afford to wait until close to the deadline to get the rest of the deals done.

The comments below that tweet are like something from a parallel universe. Even without the power of hindsight.

Disappointments are coming!

Forget Downing for now and just concentrate this window soley on the back line and trying to keep hold of our good players. The back line being prioritised with all available funds is long long overdue.

I'm surprised you'd class Dunn as being up there. Shearer, Duff and Friedel would be my top three.

Elliott Bennett?

Wonder if Stevie G. has found his way back into the ground yet after THAT step over against Liverpool ???

Good move for Duffy up there i think he'll do well in the pub league. Still an absolute shithouse though and i hope he flops and they chase him out of Glasgow with sharpened sticks !

With Kaminski landing things are looking up. If we could get Cunningham and Kipre plus an experienced CB and a promising GK that would be a very good window compared to what I expected a week ago.

It's 2 years with the option of a third in the club's favour

Ajayi stood out in that Rotherham side. Would have been a great purchase for sensible money. Just like Kipre would be this year. I just don't get the penny pinching with defenders.

hoping chapman gets a chance this season,potentially he and nyambe could be great down the right,gallagher needs to play centrally with armstrong behind him or off him,having a big man up front gives you another option,what mowbray has up his tactical sleeve though is anybodies guess

Waiting on totally wickeds cheque clearing

I'm surprised Dack is still 6 weeks away. I thought he would be fit for the start of the season ? I get not rushing players, but it would be great to have him in asap Kipre and Cunningham next please. Both on perms would be just swell!

Come on surely Tugay is number two after Shearer. Thought Duff was great, but Tugay was next level.

Morgan Gibbs-White is an unreal signing for Swansea. Will be one of the best midfielders in the league I reckon.

Not sure where the "Announce player" thing came from but its tiresome. Rovers aren't the only fans that do it, all football clubs have fans that do. Not sure why people do it but then again, I think I'm past trying to figure out why most people do what they do on social media.

That's £1.50 a camera angle. Bollox to that.

Absolute fact. I even think messaging players on Instagram or Twitter is too much!

Well, is today the day that a pace bowler reaches 600 test wickets for the first time? C’mon Jimmy!!

If somebody knew then it'd be careless to post it on here!

Honestly @chaddyrovers as a big fan of football as I know you are, you are missing out on some top quality players and some fascinating games. Tonight probably wasnt the best example (finals are often like that) but even then it was very watchable. And Neymar was crying at the end. No sweeter sight.

" I got close and harried him "- shorthand for " I got close and kicked him ". I use to say " Right, I've seen how quick you are, now let's see how brave you are ".

It's a funny thing with young players. I remember reading the programme once when Marlon Broomes was supposed to be the next big thing in the youth team. Even the likes of Alan Shearer was praising him to the skies. I was expecting the next Bobby Moore going off what I read. When I actually saw him play in our first team what I saw was a very average centre back with no real outstanding assets. He wasn't particularly quick, calm under pressure, bone crunching in the tackle, a commanding header of the ball, good distribution off either foot , read the game well etc He was just deeply average as his subsequent career proved. Regarding Buckley I'm with Paul Mani, I think there's a player there. I like how he's calm and un-ruffled in possession. Also you don't have to be a giant to win the ball, it's all about speed of foot, judgement and technique. He's about as big as Nobby Stiles was and he wasn't lacking in the ball winning part of the game. A old pal of mine used to play for Stockport Boys and played directly against Nobby several times. He described getting a hard tackle off Nobby was like getting an electric shock up your leg.

Having watched Buckley dominating U-23 football against your Liverpool, Arsenal etc, I'm very confident that he has the talent and ability to become a great player for us. Several of the senior players have publicly said they are big fans of him (including Dack). I will agree he might need to fill up a bulk up a bit, but I think the biggest transition from U-23 football has been the tempo. You have less time on the ball which resulted in him playing himself into positions where he was outmuscled. There was improvement post-covid, and I think he is a type of player which just need time and experience to adapt. His best position will probably as an offensive midfielder or a deep 10. I don't get negativity on here. He is been at the club since 8, and probably the biggest offensive talent in a few years. Give him a chance without expecting him to be a world beater in his first season. Modric is fine example on how a slight player can grow with experience.

Both got less than Phil Neville.

Hmm you’ve banged on about sorting goalie and defence out, but now saying it’s not down to personnel but bad coaching, let’s see who he brings in and go from there. Never thought you saying Smallwood/ Samuel going is a gamble, we need to offload the dead wood to bring in more players, bit of wheeling and dealing, thought Mowbray explained the plan pretty good Having a limited budget. Are you still adamant we won’t pay a transfer fee for a keeper and c/b?

I can definitely see where you're coming from in terms of his quotes, but given that the club site (when the retained list was released) and several LET articles & tweets refer to him being offered a deal, I think it's safe to assume he has been. It may well be the case that given the current circumstances (COVID & the budget limitations we appear to have) we've offered him a deal on terms lower than he was anticipating, so he's keeping his options open. I'm taking Mowbray's comments that Downing may still sign that deal - but they aren't necessarily expecting him to - and if they get to a stage where they've done their business in defence, they could look to offer him improved terms should he still be available and we have the budget to do so.

I once heard a story concerning Reid that the players had been bussed up to Whalley for a preseason training session. At the end of the session as the players were getting back on the bus Reid insisted on running back to Ewood! He had tremendous stamina and was the box to box player we need.

People believe what they want to believe. That's what I believe anyway. And if you believe that...

We had some crackin' kits back in the day.

If it's on his head there will be a scratching sound if a winger actually does winger stuff

Ha yeah it's his opinion and to be honest it's completely his right to have it ( I'm not saying if I agree or disagree) but it seems to be a strange hill to die on. Hes made some brilliant comedy. The it crowd black books are all great.

"The one loan deal that Rovers could consider is a move for long-term target Liam Lindsay, who is out of favour at Stoke City and didn’t feature in their weekend friendly with Burton Albion. However, reports in the national press say Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday are interested in the 24-year-old Scot." This paragraph is a reason I love this board... Half will read that he is out of favour at Stoke and deem him "not good enough for us either". (Samba quote pending) The other half will see him linked to two rivals in Huddersfield and Sheff Wed and be "furious" if he went to them and we pissed around and didn't pull the trigger on him first. (McGinn quote pending) ?