Personally, I don't see this as a normal season and therefore no way is this going to be a normal transfer window for the majority of clubs. With plans for an October return to grounds now abandoned by the Government, I fear it's likely to be next spring, at the earliest, before spectators are allowed back in grounds, although I suspect it will more likely be next season before we get large numbers back - if there is a vaccine. Under the circumstances, the majority of clubs, Rovers included, are going to have to watch every penny with income being drastically reduced. Whatever the manager might or might not have said in the past few weeks in now irrelevant. The reality is that the majority of clubs, including Rovers, are in a struggle for survival at the moment. Personally, I couldn't care less if we sign anyone or not over the next few weeks, as the bigger picture is the survival of football clubs during these bleak times.

All that tells us is that you own Finance for Dummies.

You say this every window about a "big" departure. What happened with that 10-20 million we desperately need to find by slashing the wage bill and selling players? You sold Rhodes more times than Nixon did

Do you communicate directly to the serfs or go through your receptionist?

Think those numbers are miles off personally. Raya saved you quite a few more points than he lost. And Walton definitely wasn't only 2 points worse.

So by a combination of not putting memberships on sale early enough and when they were finally put on sale raising prices by up to 25% at a point in time when it was obvious that it would not be possible to attend in person for large parts of the season, Waggott has single handedly managed to decimate the season ticket base from around 8'500 to c1200. Hats off to the bloke, genius, that takes some doing even in the current climate.

Just wish social media would reign it in a bit ..Tyrhys this that tother ...off Twitter .. Sky ..EFL Team Of The Week ...Rovers own media ...even Sky Super Six bigging him up ! Lad even replying too ..lets not spoil a decent young prospect by going overboard about him. Quietly does it!

I don't need to understand finance to know your full of rubbish. From the days of your bookie telling you we were selling one of our starlets(Raya before he became a regular)to West Ham for 4 million, to Your contacts hearing Venkys are selling up,you hearing that Rhodes very close to joining Bolton then Wigan,every window coming on here with your doom and financial expertise informing us all that a fire sale will happen only for it to never happen.I can go on or is that enough of me repeating your knowledge that never ever happens? We will not make a big sale this window and savings of 10-20 million won't be saved.How much you want to bet?

I think every Rovers fan wants the same, but you never seem to realise what an unusual season we are in. A major pandemic no one has seen before, looking like we were coming out of it and then, bang second wave, alert back to 4 and now no fans back in October. We have signed some decent players and fully expect to sign a L/B and back up goalie and if that’s it I’ll be satisfied. Its no good keep saying our owners are billionaires just get 5/6 in, we are in unprecedented times, and I’m still grateful we aren’t doing a Wigan, Bolton, Bury etc. Pretty certain there will be more clubs going to the wall this season. With a couple of additions we will have a decent squad, fully capable of competing with most of the clubs in this division.

Now this will be the last time I join in the Raya conversation as nobody will chance their stance - rightly, or wrongly (Wrongly - in the case of those who defend selling him for £3m) but... Raya wasn't perfect (for us and Brentford - see Playoff Final). But I guarantee you that if we would have played last season with Raya in net for 46 games - and not Walton - we would have had at least the 7 extra points needed for the playoffs... and then potentially a place in the Premier League. Heck, Walton probably cost us 7 points - on his own - after lockdown. I'm prepared for a ton of negativity to this statement but here goes "Selling Raya (to replace him with Walton) cost us a genuine chance at £200m." Fact. Not buying a LB and keeping Bell as a starter may do the same this year...

"I didn't get where I am today by imagining Mercer as CJ"

So come back and use your strawman argument in 8 months, if he leaves. Don’t pretend it's "likely" when you don't have the slightest idea what the player or the club intend to do regarding a new contract.

You don't see that. You're inferring that. The reports were clear that Brentford didn't want to sell at all, and other reports suggested they wanted 15 million AND for Raya to be loaned back to them for a year. Until Arsenal, Brentford or Raya comes out and say Arsenal didn't want to pay 10 million, your claim isn't proven. There is also still the possibility that Arsenal are still in for him with the notion of loaning him back and have signed this other, very cheap keeper, with the idea of him being the backup for a season so they can get their man longer term. That may not be the case of course, but even if it isn't, we have no idea what Arsenal were willing to pay and what Brentford were insisting on getting for him.

I haven’t posted on here for a while but I feel quite strongly about what’s happened today. This seemed the best topic to post on. Clubs and venues in all sports have been royally screwed over by the govt today. They’ve worked with the govt thus far banking on things being relaxed after 1st October and now Boris has pretty much said no crowds for 6 months. Clubs and venues now need to get canny about this and utilise the restaurant loophole. I attended a greyhound racing meeting last Friday in hospitality and it was absolutely superb. They are opening it as a restaurant, it’s Covid compliant as per the standard restaurant guidelines and it just so happens there’s live sport outside the window! There isn’t a thing the govt can do about it as it’s a restaurant with waiter service. It also happened in Australia in Rugby League when general crowds were not permitted to attend a few months ago. The NRL teams opened up their hospitality and the Australian govt conceded it fell under the definition of restaurant. Ewood has more indoor window table seating than most grounds. There’s space to accommodate several hundred at window tables in a Covid secure environment. I think they would sell out every week. I couldn’t afford it every game but I’d do it several times. I suspect many season ticket holders would have the same attitude as a means to watching a live game. It would also bring in some much needed income. Hopefully it’s something Rovers and sport in general will consider after today’s bombshell.

You weren't watching that one very closely mate ?

This league is as open as it has been for years and looking at other squads I don't think ours is particularly weak in comparison. Kaminski is a bit of an unknown, but given his experience in quality games (European cups) I'd be safe to assume he is one of the most experienced keepers in this league at a high level. Out of our defence Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala and Williams are all seasoned Championship players now. Nyambe and Lenihan are on their 3rd season as full time regulars, with Lenihan having a go prior to Mowbray too. Our weak spot is left back but other than that we have a nice balanced defence, with Williams and Wharton back up centre halves. The ability to have a right foot, left foot centre half partnership shouldn't be underestimated either. Midfield we have to be up there now with the best in the league. Travis, Johnson, Dack, Dolan, Rothwell, Evans - all top half Championship players. The youth we can play there are rated highly and even the likes of Davenport are improvements on the youth of some teams in this division. Then up top we have what I suspect will be the top goal scorer this season in Armstrong. Our subs are a bit weaker - which is frustrating given they are our most expensive players - but even Brereton has shown improvement this year. Not in bad shape really, but just missing a top player to really push us into the bracket of being the best. I suspect the top 10 will consist of the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Swansea, Norwich, Brentford and potentially Milwall given their form at the back end of last season. I fancy my chances against all of them teams in honesty. I think this league is far weaker than last year, our squad is improved and had another season under their belts, and I wouldn't put it past us mounting a serious play off challenge this season providing we can stay injury free.

If the choice is finishing 7th with Mowbray playing the type of football we’ve seen so far this season, or 7th with Warnock, then of course, crack on Mogga. Or if we played in a closed off league with no promotion or relegation, again let’s see what you can do with these young players Tone. But Championship Chairmen appoint Warnock as he has a track record of finishing 1st to 6th, nothing more, nothing less. They trade away ‘nice football’ for a team of hardened pros playing a prosaic style that is more likely to see the club in the promised land than an expansive style from a young team (note I said more likely, not that it’s impossible) - indeed they will see that as their duty to the club and their shareholders to appoint such a person.

So he isn't out of contract in 8 months?

Best pass I ever saw at Ewood in recent times - From just outside the right hand corner of our penalty box a ball like an arrow right into MGP's stride out on the left wing almost on the edge of our opponents penalty box. The passer - step forward Aaron Mokoena. That cross from Kuqi out on the touchline right onto MGP's foot for that volleyed goal wasn't bad either. Regarding Buckley, good players can always turn away from trouble into space. Ordinary players turn into trouble lots of the time. Simon Barker wasn't the quickest but he was brilliant at turning away from trouble and into space.

raya is a good keeper,he got the blame for mulgrews and rodwells incompetent defending,neither of them could head a ball or clear their lines,things got slightly better when lenihan returned from injury but mowbray obviously blamed raya for all the soft goals we conceded,hence the transfer

What does Derby mean to me? Simon Garner going nap and that atmosphere at Ewood for the play off semi in 92. 2nd leg wasn’t bad either but too tense to enjoy.

Waggott will keep bumping it up every year to cover falling sales and diminishing revenues. Then he can send his spreadsheet off to India each summer to justify his job whilst he collects £300,000 a year. He's no interest in playing the long game or even the medium game. He's all about immediate cash flow. Then he can retire in a few years a millionaire whilst Rovers have 5000 season ticket holders rattling around in a half mothballed ground covered in grime. We will have to pick up the pieces. He can enjoy his retirement or next job with CEO of Blackburn Rovers on his CV. Revolting.

Wouldn't drop Brereton for this. Has been very positive going forward. Would rather JRC at LB to bring Nyambe back in tbh.

Thing is, anyone can say they've heard something - you could be making it up? Most likely in the Telegraph because Sharpe has read it on here and hasn't been told anything from the club but needs to get a story out. This is how 'ITK Twitter' works too. So this 'big departure' should be taken with a pinch too. I'd imagine nobody has put a bit in for Armstrong who's the only player we have that could go this window based on Dack and Travis being injured. I'm inclined to think we won't lose either of those 3.

I disagree. Not to get too much into a covid debate as I am totally fed up with it but the deaths/hospitalisations are so low relative to what they were and the collateral damage ecnonomically, job loss, mental health etc is huge. And most importantly, the process would be gradual, and it would be based on strict procedures regarding limited capacities and social distancing to minimise the risk. Even if a vaccine came it will take a long while it wouldnt totally eridicate the virus as not every single person would have it. Totally fed up with it all.

Weirdly I feel quite a bit more optimistic about this one than the Wycombe game. Which means we are doomed.

Seen some bad ones, average ones and good ones in my time. Off the top of my head, the following gave me the shivers: Barton, Ramsbottom, Butcher, Brown, Dickins, Fettis, Enkelman, Kean, Steele, Leutwiler and Walton. Stand up for Sir Roger, Arnold, Gennoe, Flowers, Friedel and even Paul Robinson.

Stop clinging on to this take, you're just gonna become more and more wrong as the years go by.

Nope, only Raya deja vu

The more some rate Raya and the more they pay for him the better so it's not really a point scoring or laughing matter to be honest. 3 million sounds shite but add ons taking it to 4 or 5 sounds right. It seems like Brentford wanted more than 10 million and they rate him highly enough to play hard ball and risk losing the fee. They've been better at wheeling and dealing with big money than us recently so fair play to them. Maybe it's the add ons that caused the problem.

I respect that opinion but I don’t necessarily agree with it. I’ve been to Haydock races on a Saturday afternoon! I’ve been to a good few feisty friday night t20 Roses matches in the middle of summer! I follow Salford at rugby league and I’ve seen a couple of incidents! Plus German, Dutch, Italian etc football have their fair share of idiots but you can watch the game with a pint. I think the alcohol ban during matches at British football has created a culture of getting ‘tanked up’ pre match. When I go cricket, rugby league and horse racing I feel less inclined to drink before as I know it’s available during the event

But you did sign up to watch every game on tv. Just with the proviso that if fans were allowed back you would be one of them.

Blimey - he must be nearly 70 now, must have looked after himself .....

I didn't get where I am today without knowing a braggadocious dummy when I see one.

Anyone else imagine Merce as CJ from Reggie Perrin?

Agree it will be different for everyone at the end of the day. I think its a fair assumption that Waggott would do that, where has he shown any kind of business savvy here so far in regards to ticketing and increasing the fanbase? It's just rise after rise, with a stand shut here and there, with little emphasise on loyalty or getting more fans in, and more on what he can squeeze out the current hardcore. Do you think an £80 rise for a Riverside ST, in the middle of a pandemic, on the verge of the biggest recession in decades, in a town like Blackburn was particularly business savvy?

If it was Chris Sully, I would be interested.

If only people used common sense in this pandemic! The fukwits have spoiled it for everyone!

The more I look at the home kit, the more I like it. It helps once you get used to seeing the players in it but I would say it’s the best homer in years. Love the traditional Royal Blue, as well. ?

Of course, probably frustration talking, because there is no reason in my opinion to take such draconian measures, there should be compromise like with other industries who the government clearly recognise are also vulnerable financially such as pubs, restaurants etc and I just hope that there is a u-turn and a bit of common sense. That being said, if it had been confirmed before the season that there are no fans allowed all season but you can pay 400 quid anyway purely out of financial support, I and the very vast majority wouldnt donate money because, thats a luxury a working class man (or woman) couldnt afford or justify. Ultimately I have taken a slight risk which I was prepared to but it will be disappointing the longer that I cannot go and attend.

I agree that there tends to be a bounce at some point, and Rovers do have an unfortunate habit of being the fall guys in these kinds of games. However, if we continue to play to the strengths demonstrated in our opening games, I'm sure we can get something from this.

Club survival isn't going to hinge on spending £10-15k a week and a £500k+ transfer fee on a Championship standard LB. If anything it's the perfect time to push the boat out if everyone else is dallying. We could steal a march on them.

Don't think our business has been too bad so far with all things considered. Kaminski and Ayala are upgrades - less so in Ayala's case - but we own them, they are in peak years and both experienced. To get them for what I assume will be under 1 mil is exceptional business. If it comes down to a case of having to sign Nyambe on better terms or bringing in another player the choice is obvious - sign Nyambe up. However I still think there will be another player through the door. We've been linked with plenty of defenders and I don't think the left back link is over despite what he said about Bell. We can only wait and see but I'm not too disheartened at our squad at the moment. One or two injuries and that may change.

vs Southampton in April 2005, MGP Scored from it too.

Yeah, this is the balance we are close to having, the squad has been trimmed and there is a great opportunity now for the academy guys to make the break through. Vale, Butterworth, Carter, Magloire, Mols, Brennan, Thompson, Pike, the list goes on. All with a chance to get into the squad this year. The under 23s just beat the Man City equivalent, be great to see more coming through. Buckley was unreal on Saturday when he came on and looks the pick off the bunch. But.... We absolutely need a quality Left-Back, and Ryan Manning would be a terrific signing, at a great age, cracking left foot. A no brainer. Last year of deal, so you would think it wouldn't be that much. See he is Irish as well, nice with Lenihan and Williams back there. We need back up goalie. I am fine with no other business.

I wouldn't blame the club to much tbh because a lot of players and there clubs will be talking to a number of buyers and if we with our budget and the way its run put offer A on the table, the selling club and the player will wait for option B or C to arrive before making their decision. We cannot compete on money so we have to sell them the dream of being part of our club, in a way that a good thing because all though we will take longer and miss out on a lot of our targets who are persuaded by bags of money playing for another club, it means the ones we do end up getting are not here more for the money than their buy into what we are trying to achieve as a club and they have made the choice that they want to put in the work required to achieve that. If there's one thing we can all agree that since mowbray has taken over he has weeded out all the people who were at this club just for the money and we not willing to put the graft in to achieve and win. Wherever we have finished over the last 3 and a bit seasons it went for a lack of trying and that is the number one ingredient for a winning team. In my eyes he is doing the right thing and although frustrating the fruits will be worth it cuz if you have a team of people that work their balls off and don't give up you can scrape a draw and find a win in those games you should've lost. Over the course of a season added to the comfy wins like Saturday just gone you've got the makings of a title winning squad. One thing he will have now in the u23s and the fringe players is belief that I'd you perform you play. This dolan kid could actually be the catalyst to a lot of our young starlets turning it up a notch and forcing their way into the 1st team, you never know tomlinson may just be that guy, we have a class youth setup and if we should definitely be looking to a bring more people through. It's sustainable football and in the current climate the functioning of our club financially shouldn't be sacrificed for 1 or 2 players. At the end of the day we have to live by our means.

Our transfer activity screams uncertainty. It is like we identify a player (McGinn, Kipre, Garner, Reed) and make a "shallow/token" move... but then we delay and piss about pulling the trigger. It's not until another team comes in that we then suddenly decide we really want said player 100%, only for the player to (rightfully) take the "Fuck You" attitude to our recruitment team and move to the new (actually committed) bidding team. We didn't even get Holtby or Ayala in first time around when they had trained with us, only for them to go abroad after being teased, to eventually come back to us as their own Plan B. Last year Adarabioyo took about a month to complete as well for similar reasons. Seems very indecisive and, ultimately, detrimental, and is why we lack in some areas.

First choice left back needed, I repeat first choice left back needed. If he really wants to move us forwards it's a must. Loan or otherwise.

Size doesn't matter. Over time Buckley will learn that he hasn't got it in him to try and shoulder a player off the ball anymore. He might have got away with it at youth level but in the adult world you come up against people who are genetically bigger than you. No biggie. Buckley isn't a tall lad, so that low centre of gravity will benefit him, and over time you'll see how his game will evolve so that he doesn't get in situations where he needs to out strength an opponent. Some of the best players in the top divisions are small (Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Lionel Messi....) all known for their passing, technicality and not their pace or strength. That is what will define Buckley as a player. If he has the ability to counter his lack of physicality, and he definitely does, then he will be destined for a top league no doubt about it. He's quite simply one of the best footballers we have seen at Ewood in modern times. Core strength and a good football brain will see him through. I am excited to see him this season and think he'll play a much bigger part in the later stages of games.