I would expect after Batth being announced for there to be a lull in incomings for a while. My prediction is SS & SG will leave, we'll have an unconvincing start and scrape through a few desperate signings/loans towards the end of the window.

I keep thinking there's something there with Markanday, maybe I'm fooling myself but he does seem to have ability but maybe he'll be one of those that's just a good league 1 player... Never quite good enough at this level.

On me saying people are getting giddy... I'm mainly aiming that at the normies on twitter and such, not at anyone specifically here. The realism and pessimism is what keeps me coming back here to discuss Rovers. I don't have a presence on X or Facebook.

Pretty crazy how easily some fans are bought. A few exotic signings and people get giddy when the reality is... 2 of our current best academy products have walked out the door, as well as our main centre forward and our main goal scorer. Replaced with speculative players with unproven quality for pittance and players way past their prime. This is an absolute disaster no matter how much you want to dress it up in your mind and lie to yourself.

Really gutted about Gent. Would have liked to have seen another academy talent break through after a successful loan.

My guess is they're getting Mcfadzean and Batth for similar wages as Cooper. They've both held out for other higher offers and this best they can get. If O'Riordan isn't going to get a chance then I'd get him loaned out aswell. Can't see him starting ahead of Batth or Fadz

Give me the option to sign a 6.5 striker from Europe who's managed double digits in Belgium on 3 occasions for 1.5 million... Or Duncan McGuire who had one season in the MLS and was previously playing at college level for a significant amount more... No brainer for me.

Don't forget Berchet... The GOAT

If we could manage to get Hill on a permanent then I really feel that would be a big coup for us.

Mate spoke to him at the end of the season. Said he wanted to stay but not been offered a contract. So selling him this summer I'm guessing was always part of the plan. Might of changed since then and been offered one but not definitely won't be on the same wages as he's one of our highest earners.

Travis is one of those players that isn't good enough if you want to push for promotion but exactly the sort of player you need if you want to stay in the league. I personally wouldn't be letting him go unless it was a decent amount. I don't rate him but I feel he's a necessary type of player we need for the season ahead of us. Dominic Hyam I would piggy back wherever he wants to go, can't stand the sight of him. Spineless, weak, shit body language, over paid shithouse and one the reasons we were in a relegation battle. Not the type of character you want for this season. Could be easily replaced.

Chaddy, I've always remained pretty diplomatic with you as you get your fair share of stick on here but questioning why people feel this way really doesn't help you and reveals why you get so much flak coming your way. I'm not saying this to have a go, I'm trying to help as you seem like a decent chap but I think you need to just give it a bit more thought before you post sometimes and your life would be a lot easier. Perhaps you're on the wind up but sometimes it's better to say nothing. Feel free to tell me to f*ck off, I'll understand. 👍

The thing is Merce and perhaps it's the question we've really got to start asking ourselves... DOES IT REALLY MATTER? (Being relegated) People (including myself) throw around the word apathy pretty loosely but I really and truly feel it these days. The issues at the club now are so big and state of it is so bad that I really believe that things need to get so much worse before we can truly look to the future. We all want to bury our head in the sand and just focus on football but we've done that for over 10 years now. If relegation is what it takes to hit these people even harder (financially) to accelerate the process of getting them out... Then absolutely bring it on because treading water in the championship, kidding ourselves into thinking that we're a season away from being back in the prem and it being the answer to all of our problems is like a really long torturous bad dream. What the the club desperately needs is a fresh start, free from the shackles of these cretins and I can't go on kidding myself into believing the start of another season is a fresh start when it isn't, the real issues remain, they still remain. The club is fucking dying a slow death, being slowly strangled harder and harder each year by these absolute scum who deserve the absolute worst life has to offer.

Been told some info about Cooper... Apparently Waggot has completely fucked him around. Offered a baseline of about 12k initially with appearance bonus of an extra few thousand, was apparently agreed and then went back on his word saying that he's injury prone. To which his agent told him... Ok, give us a baseline 8k with 8k appearance bonus to call his bluff and then completely shit out of the deal saying it was too much. Which now has led to more budget options like Fadz and Batth. Cannot comprehend what an absolute fucking wanker this bloke is. One of the worst in football. Absolutely suited to our owners.

Fair play, looks more like an attacking midfielder... Surely given his pace would be able to play a variety of positions including higher up next to the big lad and out wide aswell as 10.

Priority has to be pace out wide now. Personally I'd be looking strongly Karamoko Dembele as he'd be perfect. Absolutely destroyed league 1 last season. Report here saying he's available. https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sport/football/blackpool-fc/ex-blackpool-loanee-pictured-in-pre-season-action-amid-transfer-battle-4713137

Out of interest... What type of protest would you take part in?

Rumour is Szmodics 8 million. Wouldn't matter if it was 1 or 15 million... We won't see a penny anyway.

Dykes is absolute clown shoes.

I wouldn't get stressed about Szmodics. He won't be here next season and we won't see any of the money either so it's a moot point.

Just used all the table salt and ruined my tea FFS... Cheers John.

I mean, regardless of where we're buying this lad from... To be signing someone who's scored the amount of goals he has in the last 18 months for 150k seems actually very shrewd business tbf. Time will tell of course.

Where has 150k come from? I thought it was 800k

O'Riordan? Coincidentally... Has anyone seen much of him in pre season? Does he look up to it? Surely need to be pushing on this season.

I feel your pain but believe me, as someone who's done countless physical protests against the F.A. and the owners... I've wasted a lot of time and energy for nothing over the last 10 years. I've done a lot of reflecting and the harsh reality is that those who walked away early doors were right and I was wrong. I let my love for Rovers get in the way thinking I could do something but it was pointless. If we had all stopped handing over our cash to these people a long time ago they might be a distant memory by now. A difficult thing to coordinate of course but no doubt would have been the most effective.