glen9mullan

The conudrum with Rothwell, is he can sign a PCA with Bournemouth now, and then move for free im summer to them. If he did that, there is no way we can play him, as they are our direct rivals for Automatic promotion. So for me it comes down to if Rothwell wants to go Bournemouth? If he does then financially its a yes, purely on the basis of my first paragraph. If he dont want a transfer this window, its a flat no. If Bournemouth are cute, its the PCA they should be pushing, as that forces our hand really. Hopefully he signs new deal and thats put to bed

Really struggling to see a full squad tonight especially with under 23s playing too. Gallagher will probably start with Khadra although cant see gallagher getting though 90 mins, given his injuries already this season. It wouldnt surprise me if he brought Johnson in, and played Rothwell further forward, and surprised us all by putting Khadra on the bench, with the plan to swap him for Gallagher after 65 mins. Looking at the table, this is a must not lose game. Given the loss of Brereton and Dolan (can't really count Markanday not seen enough of him yet) then a point would be deemed a good result, and i suspect we will set up to get just that. Any more injuries and things could start to de-rail a little. Poveda already out, Clarkson gone back to Liverpool. Nyambe in and out of fitness, with Zeefuik and JRC way off match fitness. Pickering (been major miss) being covered by Edun, but no real cover there. What i'd like to see tonight, is an end to the numerous yellow cards we've picked up for time-wasting, back chat and silly pointless fouls. These will play a big part as the season progresses and we,'ve shown we struggle when we are without just 1 or 2 of our preferred 11. Looking at things, i really think rovers need to bring at least 3 first team ready players in over the next week, as its only when we are without one or two that the glaring gaps in our squad shines through.

He takes a valuable loan spot too, which is frustrating.

I'd like Rovers to cast net too, some good strikers out there. I like Adam Buksa, scoring regular now at club level and also broken into Polish first team and scoring, currently in America Artem Dovbyk, be sensible money and again an international player There are certainly top players outside of England who would fall in transfer and wage budget, and although can be seen more of a gamble, if it works out, then its very much in TMs words "what brentford do"

Brereton £28.5 mill??? This would need to be considered, especially if Venkys sanctioned just half of that this window to be spent. Brereton plays mainly on the left, and although this system has worked, we still dont have that out and out striker down the middle. The lad at Hull last night (Eaves) caused us so many issues with his pure presence and strength. When you look we had a Gallagher on the pitch, Eaves gave him a footballing lesson of how you play target man. Gallagher is purely not good enough, never has been, and never likely to be. Options.. Gayle from Newcastle, proven at this level and a loan to perm or even £3 or £4 million, gets you a central striker. Maja or Healey or both in addition to Gayle. Thats 3 strikers, all with goals in them with a combined cost of less than £10 million. With money on hip, im sure lots more options out there, and tapping them options up now, whilst we haven't sold Brereton, would be the wise move to ensure no inflated figure. We are reliant on Brereton right now, but now missing for two games. We needed a proven Striker in the summer, still need one now, and thats with Brereton. Teams know our threat, and if they nulify Breretons threat, we end up with performances like the last three matches. We are third in the table, with the £15 million from Armstrong miraculously disappeared. The scenario is, if we dont go up they will sell Brereton in the summer, and just like Armstrong the money will not be reinvested. I struggle to see if they sell in January how they can justify not reinvesting half of it. That being said, any deal would need doing within the next week, because if we go into transfer deadline day and he is still here, the club will have the ready made excuse it moved quickly and they couldnt get a replacement in. We are in a fantastic position in the table, but are thin on the ground with quality options. A promotion team needs 4 or 5 players scoring double figures. We are always one injury away from bust (Brereton gets injured). Players will genuinely want to join a promotion chasing team, we need to use our league position to our advantage, be that reinvest the Armstrong money, or sell a major asset to reinvest in quality proven players at this level, in this window. I don't think the numbers being quoted on Brereton are likely though, he's had in essense 4 stunning months in the championship, from the buying clubs perspective thats a tough business case to make to stump up £20 mill plus Clubs will be looking at Mitrovic too, an international player, scores for fun in the Championship, but struggles premier league. Genuinely how many have made the step up from championsip to premiership and continued to be 20 plus strikers? Also of them, how many were bought for big fees?

I think if Derby need to sell players the likes of Sibley, Bird, Knight and Buchanan we should be all over it, especially if we can get for significant low fees. Very talented footballers. That being said, I hope they get their house in order, historic club, and fans dont deserve whats happening there

I agree, so many kids at the schools are using vapes, promoting it, is not ideal

As someone who collects shirts, i will prob need to buy 3 new ones now, given it may be a historic shirt (promotion shirt). Not good, not ideal, but if recoverite have not paid up ( i can only assume) their removal from the front of the shirt would be a given. Replacing them maybe should of waited until summer ££££s over sentiment. Smoking/tobacco product on front of shirt, mmmm that's another interesting story

Heard Rovers shirt sponsor from Wednesday is Totally wicked, not sure what the crack is with recoverite?

Some memories off the top of my head 1. Him asking what country Huddersfield was in, when we suggested he sign Rhodes. 2. Him making a significant personal donation to Derian House, and the tears in.his eyes during the tour of the hospice. 3. Him asking how much a protest against Shagnew would cost 4. Jerome Anderson calling him during a meeting to get Miles a pay rise, and on loud speaker, shebby informing Anderson that the club will be terminating his contract with immediate affect. 5. Sinking in my chair at king georges with every remark during the imfamous supporter Q/A which i must of kicked him under the table 20 times, before losing my surroundings and kicking the mayor. 6. Him agreeing to loan the ground for the legends match, for the return of tugay. The first day I met him, he didnt half get some stick from me, fresh from our visit to the Parliament, especially with some of the signings we were making Murphy, Gomes who were older than me, i stated at the time. He genuinely became the supporters biggest supporter, but the media machine, club PR and his own inability to not say what he thought, turned him into a villain, which hand on heart I can say he was not. Daft as a brush yes, Outspoken yes, Played the party joker 100%. However under all that was a genuine concern/,regret what had become of our club. They say "good guys never win" In some respect this is not true with Shebby, he did more to rid the club of corruption than anyone, but in other respects its very true. So many see him as part of the problem, and another dark period for the club. As a passionate supporter, i'm lucky I saw with my own eyes the truth and although he didnt get everything right, he gave the magic word we needed at the time, which was "HOPE"

Like him or loathe him, Shebby had many faults, and should of been nowhere near running a football club, or charged with making football decisions. That being said, he was the advisor not the cheque writer. From a personal point of view, Shebby will be remembered by me for being instrumental in the demise of Anderson, Kean, Shaw and Agnew. Be under no illusions, without him this club would still be in the grips of those who caused it so much harm. There is many incidents of kindness I saw from Shebby non football related. He was a family man, quite religious and you certainly knew when he entered a room. My thoughts are with his family, R.i.p

Looking at TM video today, his body language is the best in 18 months. He is not coming across as a manager potless one expecting a poor window, Refreshing

Biggest longshot ever, but Following his collapse at Euros Eriksen no club, does not want to retire, a deal til the end of the season to prove his fitness to everyone, alas an archibald/ardilles stroke, be bums on seats and an incredible addition. Tin hat time

I'd offer the 3 out of contract one year extensions with 2 pledges. 1. If we go up, it automatically triggers a pay increase and further 3 years, 2. If we dont go up then they can leave in the summer for a fee. I'd agree their pay increase for that one year deal. This way everyone is a winner

I believe they have to lodge covid results with the EFL by 10a.m on the day of the game and present their case for a postponement. The EFl then meet at 12pm and go through each request case by case. Its stupid way of doing things given travelling supporters

Its just all clicking into a place, a team that to a man is playing with confidence and at the top of their game. Mowbray tried the three centre halves a few times previously and it didnt work, he's stuck with his beliefs and now not only is it working, but has totally transformed the team. Its beginning to feel a little bit special, with the postponed games today too, we've put some great daylight between us and 7th. The manager, coaching staff and players deserve so much credit, they are giving us a team to be proud of, and have got so many of us dreaming of what could be? What a great Xmas present 42 points, 3rd in the league, goal difference looking good and hopefully a few quid to spend in january given we didnt spend our budget in the summer.

My points stands, and even more after reading your post. Your assumption my opinion is based on the past couldnt be any further from the mark. I remember very well the action group working with childrens services and funding 50% of bringing disadvantaged children to ewood when trying to get the club to part with 50 tickets for a game, children in the system who would not get a chance to go football. As my post states, its great the club has finally seen some sense, however to state its not been inclusive is clutching at straws. Finally as one of those paying supporters (season ticket holder) who watches his club through the thick and the thin, travels away, buys plenty through the club shop or through club initiatives, has paid for club sponsorship then I will have an opinion and not keep it in my head. If yours is different thats fine too,

Maybe a controversial post, but this has bugged me for weeks and In a world of free speech, I think I need to write what I think, rather than just think it Firstly its fantastic we are trying to get more and more kids to come to the game, putting the travel on too is fantastic and will be costing rovers to do this. My concern is, why is it 90% ethnic children? How many paying adult tickets to the asian community has this generated? We offer so much support/handouts to the non paying asian community, not just match tickets but significant sponsorship to events like Eid in the park etc. We live in a society where football is not affordable to many demographics, however we do appear to be particularly targeting the ethnic community which is great and needed, provided we start seeing their parents catch the bug, and start buying match tickets. Ultimately paying supporters aid the paying of the bills, perhaps offering child tickets to paying supporters is an easier route, or rolling this out to all children. Can't help but think the guy running this is loving the attention from the asian community and the other side of the population is clearly being ignored. Initiatives like this must be "inclusive" for all, or clearly miss the target and create divide. Ignoring/taking for granted the paying supporter is not sustainable. I've gone from 4 season tickets in my house (wife and Kids) to just my own. This will not change, until I see a different attitude towards the paying supporters. What are the club doing to get back the 75,% loss of attendees from my home and other homes like mine? Why have the club not considered things like? First adult season ticket full price, if the wife comes second season ticket 10% off. If you bring the kids too then there is a family ticket. Its not rocket science to put together family packages or pricing initiatives to entice you to buy more

Misread transfermkt end of season with us

Van Hecke and Khadra out of contract in the summer. Yes their fees would be tribunals, but given their little experience those fees may not be that great especially being non uk players. Ilike what I see of these two, and really hope Rovers are pushing to make Ewood a permanent home for the two

I'd take 15 plus Van hecke and Khadra, then give the rest to manager to spend in January. I'm sure with £15 million on the hip we could more than compensate for the loss of one player, whilst getting the other two on permanent deals would be a masterstroke in my opinion

Try the updated version....... not for the faint hearted http://roversrevisited2.blogspot.com/?m=1

Problem here is, the clubs current league position is probably far more than I expected given the horrendous transfer window, and departure of decent loans and Armstrong from last season. You cannot polish a T###!!! Unexpected bonus's which without we'd probably be sat in the relegation zone. 1. Rejuvenation of Ayala, totally unexpected and gone from zero to first name needed on team sheet. 2. Brereton, his transformation into goalscoring threat has been major, its given the fans something to cling to, whilst masking the awful hash of the transfer window. When we look at what we have cut from the wage bill and what we've spent or more the case not spent, then there is the underlying problem. I dont believe any sort of credible transfer budget was there in the first place. This club and squad has been on a steep decline since we came out of the first lockdown, the need for major investment in the squad was very evident. Would any other manager have us any higher with no funds? I don't think so, but that just my opinion. Its about Managing expectations and after witnessing the poor summer, my expectations were we'd probably go down. Thats not because of the manager, but because of the lack of investment into the playing squad. TM is a symptom of the problem, which has and will always be the owners. They appointed people like Waggott, people like Suhail (come on whats his footballing background?). We have lowest ticket sales since before Jack Walker, and a shocking product. I believe we are currently getting more from our squad, than perhaps we should be. It frustrates the life out of me each game, I will be there again tomorrow probably saying "ffs". Its that frustration that will have me playing football manager stating "Why is such a body not playing" "Why is he playing him wide again" "6.4 and cant head a ball, get him off ffs" "I'd take such and such off and bring on" "More touches than anyone but no end product" "Had 80% of the game, then 1 shot 1 goal and we are chasing game again" "£7.20 For a brew and pie, foooooking scandalous" To put all the above in one sentence it would be: Venkys have and always will be the problem, Their money may aswell be universal credit, it buys food, but will never get you a decent standard of living.

Credit to Andy Bayes, he didnt hold back on the questions, and put across quite a bit of some supporter frustrations. Only at the end of the interview did we get around to the clubs decent start to the season, which meant it was not an Keanesque interview where the victory parade was being spouted. Clear points to me were, 1. Those out of contract are more likely to leave than stay as the club has cut its clough and it does not stretch further. With those players in question possibly being moved on as early as January, that will make the new year very challenging given January is historically one hardest periods to sign players. If lots of points are not on the board by then, losing 3 or 4 key players could be curtains. 2. Seems the many handouts by rovers to the council, have backfired as the council opposed the training ground restructure. Typical councillors, will back the horse that suits their agenda. Was interesting during the protest days how some councillors publically supported the supporters, but soon disappeared when being wined, dined and lavished with cash gifts from the clubs owners. 3. Its a good job the interview was done on a chair and not a bed, as he couldnt lie straight in it. He took zero responsibility for not getting a striker in, and used the medical cop out. We should not have left it until the final day of the window, we put all eggs in one basket and came up very short. 4. Not taking up the loan quota made sense, and probably one of the clubs wiser moves. If we stop our own players coming through, eventually we end up with no assets to sell, and embark on further financial restraints/decline. 5. Its clear they have been told to cut cost, and the lack of supporters is a massive worry. However this is 10 years in the making, not the last 12 months. We had a steep decline when Jack died, but a bigger one since the venkys came and tore the heart out of the club. 6. As a proud blackburner, i'd dearly love someone in that boardroom who is local, who can relate to the town and its heritage. Talking with a northern accent would help. To Waggott its a job, a well paid one at that, but he is so out of touch what a working class town football club is, its unreal. 7. It was interesting that Waggott's understanding of supporter concerns were more about buying a shirt and a pint, this needs to change. His other understanding was affordability. We did not lose circa 10000 supporters through affordability and the attendances have been on a steep decline since they appointed that idiot Kean, and dismantled the clubs infrastructure. Blaming covid, is just delusional and easy. Yes i'm sure a few people's circumstances have changed significantly due to the pandemic, but thats the same at every club and some clubs are getting more supporters on than before the pandemic.

Was out foxed, out passed and in general out played for an hour. Then the changes, 4-4-2 and boom we was a totally different team who could of got 3 or 4 goals. Credit to TM, he got a lot of stick saturday, and rightfully so after his tactical switches gifted Luton a point. This time his changes were the reason we got the points. We still lack any real game plan and its a lot of huff and puff at the moment with no real identity. That being said, its a results business, 3 wins, 3 draws, 1 defeat, and 7th in the table, is far more than most would of expected, given the outgoings and what looks on paper a disappointing transfer window in terms of incomings. It gives us a little hope and optimism in the first instance that there is 3 or 4 sides much worse off than us, who are far more relegation candidates than us. Its too early to suggest we can push for the play offs, given the sides we've beaten are all around the bottom, however its usually those sides we slip up against. Feeling rather optimistic about our season going forwards, given our start, without expecting too much in terms of a promotion push.