West Bromwich Albion are Founder Members of the Football League, they’ve spent around 80 seasons as a top flight club (10 seasons more than us), they’ve also won numerous trophies. They are a historical football club of similar ilk to Blackburn Rovers... oh and they are in the Premier League. Some serious football illiteracy if you think West Brom are a ‘nothing club’.

I don't want to be known as ITK. However, my good friend who has strong links at Wigan believes the deal with Kipre is pretty much a done deal with us. I hope he's right.

Anyone remember these books as a kid?

Can I have 12 bottles of bleach please?

Pity the hoped Hummel deal isn't in effect this year... Coventry City away is a beaut....

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11706/12057091/eberechi-eze-crystal-palace-sign-forward-from-qpr Palace sign QPR forward for £20m. He scored 14 goals for QPR last year in 46 games. Not sure of his age or exact position but surely Armstrong would be worth more than the £10m that's been banded around going off that..

Not much to moan about, a prem side has come in and offered him double what we have, that combined with premier league football he’s not going to turn down. I’ve seen Rovers fans on Twitter questioning why he’d go there instead of here, like seriously it’s not even a debate, plus if I was Kipre I’d more than fancy my chances of taking Kyle bloody Bartley’s place in the side!

Everybody with parachute payments for a start.

Naby Sarr might be ok as the "second" option but I wouldnt want him as first choice. Certainly not the answer defensively for all of his composure on the ball. And seemingly looked at fondly at Charlton more from a cult hero perspective, not because of his defensive ability. He was often not selected when Charlton played a back 2 in favour of Pearce. Dont get all of the bitterness towards Kipre either, very much looking at the situation through blue and white tinted glasses. Firstly, he is not going "to sit on the bench" if he does join West Brom, he is certainly not noticeably inferior to any of the 3 CB's West Brom have and theres no reason at all to assume that he would be 4th choice behind Hegazi, Bartley and Ajayi. Also, Premier League football and twice the wage, 99% of us would take that option, no matter what we say. Wanting more money is for some reason seen in footballing terms as disgusting, which I dont get. Also, he may never get the chance to become a Premier League footballer again. I presume that whoever comes to be our second choice keeper will not be greeted with the same criticism!

That's a seriously prickish way to pose for your first club photo.

It sounds to me like Cedric's agent has done us like a Kipre. Time for Bennett to unfollow him on Instagram....

Makes me laugh how people seem to think these deals are easy, Say Kipre wants the same wage as the likes of Dack? Will put him above some of our better performers, Then comes the knock on effect, unhappy players wanting better terms, This eats away at our budget till we won't have one, Jobs harder than what people think

Not sure why people seem so convinced that Kipre will be stuck on the bench at WBA, although if he takes the attitude that his is going to be, then he will. But I suspect he will look at West Brom's centre back options and think that with his ability there is no reason why he can't dislodge them

I don't understand this argument. How is getting paid substantially more to do your job "all that's wrong with modern football"? People need to realise, it's a job. A job I might add with a very short shelf life. Earn what you can and get out. Why would anyone begrudge someone earning double possibly triple what we could pay them? Whether he plays much or not is totally irrelevant.

WBA essentially offering double the wages Rovers are able to offer so Kipré can sit on the bench calling himself a Premier League footballer and looks like the lad is going to to for it. Shows all that is wrong with a modern day footballer.

For less than a million if WBA really wanted him they could have signed him weeks ago.

Not in defence. Heard he's leaky at the back these days after all those years with Hayley.

Ever since we became a Championship side, it should never be a surprise that we lose out on signings to a Premier League team. If Solihull Motors were suddenly plonked into the Prem, they'd likely be able to beat us to Kipre too. It's got nothing to do with who is the more prestigious institution, and everything to do with who has more money and plays in the top flight right now.

Kipre was on the bench a lot earlier in the season when Mulgrew was on loan there and starting. He must be rubbish. That's what I'm telling myself now it looks like he's not coming anyway. Softens the blow somewhat.

Bit unfair to knock the lad for doubling his wages and playing in the Prem. I'd look at Ajayi and Bartley and think, I can take one of their spots....

That's probably a bit harsh on Rovers. They probably could afford his personal terms when he was just coming from Wigan. They probably can't afford his personal terms now a Premier League club is sniffing with money to burn.

Beware Twitter accounts claiming to be in the know! ?

He blocked me years ago, suspect his block list is rather extensive. For an older chap he behaves like a petulant child and his followers must mainly be naive youngsters.

We get transfer pots of 7 then 5 million, we've been paying million pound loan fees. Signing short term older players on 20k pwk and have about a dozen on 10 to 15k pwk which is on or above the average champ wage if that graph is to be believed. Please don't tell me we can't compete with 2 thirds of this league on the park at least. We bloody well should be able to this seems to be replacing FFP as the go to excuse now. Yes we aren't going to outpay a Prem sde but not many are. Plenty other good players in the world.

Or Johnny Lenrose, as my dad was convinced he was called.

He may well be forthright in interviews and ‘one of the lads’ in the dressing room, unfortunately he’s been a ‘delicate little flower’ on the pitch thus far,

If he doesn't push a story, the LET get crucified for not reporting when is happening and get labelled as unknowledgeable or under the club's control. Publish and it's a case they're advertising so another club gets the player or its pushing a player out. They can't win. I'm sure Kipre's agent alerted other clubs before the LET put the article out.

I wouldn't pay any attention to the values on Transfermrkt. I'm sure they've got Lenihan as being worth 1.4m and Armstrong well under 4m.

Do you really believe an article in the Lancashire evening telegraph stating we were close to Kipre's signing pushed West Brom into a move? It's been no secret anyone at Wigan is available for bargain prices.

Other teams in the division sell their players. Mowbray hasn't had to sell. We operate a strict wages policy, so it's not that we can't compete, but that we won't. It would increase the losses.We could match West Brom's wage offer to Kipre. Some policies are meant to be broken for the right player. Of all Kipre's prospective centre back partners, who is the best? I'd go with Lenihan. Derby County are unique. They sell their ground for twice its book value.Then they sell it again, this time on a lease back. Their owner must have slipped the football team the ground back, whilst no one was looking. Brentford's money ball approach only works as long as suitable replacements for players that are to be sold can be sourced.That isn't the case this year. To add to @Ewood Ace's list: Bristol City, Reading, Middlesborough, Huddersfield, Cardiff, Swansea, Barnsley, Stoke, Brentford (I note Ewood Ace has already added to his list in other posts) Forest, Watford, Norwich, Bournemouth, Derby, Forest's owner has issues hanging over him from Greece. Watford probably need to sell before deciding whether to use transfer money on wages.Bournemouth have sold and could use that money to bring in players. Norwich looks to have brought in all the players they want and so are unlikely to be competing with us for players. There has to be a limit to the number of times Derby can sell its ground to cover wages.

Unfortunately in our position with finances, we are a move behind getting the likes of kipre. We should’ve been getting him from Motherwell, not 2 years later when he is an established good quality champ centre back with prospect of going higher. We can’t compete with the top half of the champ/bottom half of the prem so we need to box more clever. Our recruitment team is currently pretty poor imo as the goalkeeping saga shows

But you criticised Bauer for going to play where he was guaranteed to be a starter rather than fighting for a place at Rovers.

This lad isn't going to go to West Brom believing he is going to be on the bench all season, even if everyone else does. Its a chance, maybe the only chance he will have in his career to try and make it as a Premier league footballer. No one can sit here and expect him to pass this opportunity up.

Sponsor looks great on there in that style. It's a shame it won't look like that.

They look good. And i much prefer the sponsor image than Bet 10. 'R' for Rovers!

I’d prefer a defender to take the pressure off that huge gap next to Lenihan.

We have been trying to compete tho. The manager bought badly but has certainly been backed, Brereton and Gallagher two expensive signings, Holtby, Johnson,and Downing would be on very good money and certainly in the case of Holtby would have took a nice signing on fee to get him here. The manager has been backed,we have tried to compete in terms of spending. Bauer didn't come here not because of money but he would not have been first choice.Mowbray said many times last year he was looking for a particular type of player to play alongside Lenihen and found that in Tosin a totally different type of player and who according to numerous reports didn't come cheap either. I'm not saying I agree with that but I'm not the manager and since he has walked through the door he has been backed. I agree with some of the things you say about the state the club finds itself in and the disregard shown by the owners but they are putting cash in,well have been since Mowbray came to the club. And imo you take it to another level with some of your criticism, like going on about the fact we didn't go on a pre season getaway and piss up, and how you seem to think we should be like Chelsea and Man city with 3 or 4 players of similar ability for each position, suggesting Smallwood ,Mulgrew and Samuel are losses to the squad and we should replace them with cash signings instead of looking to our youth . Money is obviously tight, most of our funds should be used on our first eleven

You keep saying that we cannot compete in the Championship. So I assumed you thought we would be be able to compete better in League 1. Please tell me as you don't think we can compete in the Championship, which division could we compete in? I've looked at the table and all I can say is that it is a good job that Sheffield United (with a lower average wage than us) and Brentford (with a smaller revenue that us) don't take your negative attitude about being unable to compete. Being rude and infantile. It's about your level.

Don’t get excited, that’s just Waggotts Asda bag for life.

Because we have been poorly managed for over a decade, including relegation into league one from an established premiership team. we are also an unfashionable team so we don’t have the pull of sponsorships/tv money/merchandise our fan base is relatively small and out attendances are poor yet we are still paying a fairly large squad decent championship wages - hence we don’t make what we put in. That’s why we lose money

Liking that shade of Blue!

Interesting interview with Brereton in the Telegraph today https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18682460.brereton-looks-back-forward-two-years-rovers/ Doesn’t really come across as the quiet, unassuming, delicate little flower a lot of people like to paint him as. He seems confident, enjoys being here, is mates with everyone, and slightly worryingly, thinks he is doing well. All this talk of him being a confidence player, I really don’t get. I think he needs telling that he’s approaching last chance saloon and we need infinitely more than we’ve seen from him thus far, and quickly.

Just over five weeks since our season ended at Luton and just two weeks until we start again! So far, we've just one signing to show for all our recruitment planning and a new Euro scouting set-up. It doesn't look good. On paper, new goalie sounds half decent although there do seem to be some questions about his ability on crosses and even his temperament. I'm happy to give the lad a chance and think he will be a big upgrade on Walton. As for Kipre, hope he still comes and I believe he would prove to be a very good signing. IMO, a far better defender than Lenihan. However, it does beg the question as to why we've taken so long to make our move for the lad and could it not have been done and dusted at least two weeks ago before any other clubs got alerted. See there's a bit more stuff on Twitter about the alleged Armstrong bid and it seems not from the 'phantom' journos! See Sharpe hasn't responded to the latest stuff (despite being asked) and you do therefore wonder if a bid is in and been accepted.

Nothing beats playing! Take it from someone who can’t anymore.

Let's not make up stuff about finances to soften the blow of missing out. Nobody knows what WBA are offering or how that compares to Rovers. Obviously they can and probably will be offering substantially more. We don't know if that is 'double' what Rovers are offering. West Brom are run by businessmen and I very much doubt will simply chuck double your money at a Championship player. Just like they could have gone in weeks ago with £2 million for Kipre and got the deal done early but have waited. We had similar stuff last year with Bauer and the frankly ludicrous suggestions that he was demanding £40k a week to move here. That was absolute drivel fed to try and make people feel better about a missed target and not getting a proper defender on a contract yet many accepted it as the truth. He later turned up at PNE. I just hope that the alternative isn't another last gasp loan deal. Season starts tomorrow and no defensive reinforcements yet.

I used to go out with one. No kink shaming please.

You may have missed the irony - I'm fairly sure that's what it was anyway.

He is more an attacking mid than striker. Think of Dack but with pace. Excellent player and knew it would not be long before he was in the PL. 16 mil up front, 4 mil in add-ons and a 20% sell on clause to boot - good deal for QPR.

Welcome back Glen! FWIW, I firmly believe that it's agent talk & the fat twohat is trying to stir up trouble & help them along. Let's be honest, he hates us now & would love for every transfer we try for to fail. Didn't see 'bit in paper' about Kaminski, or did I miss that? ?

I'd love WBA to spew their budget on Duffy and not just because that might land us Kipre. Lets see the twohats dream move to Celtic go tits up in favor of a relegation battle.