Heart of gold I would imagine he got a hefty signing on fee to go there and earned a fortune over his career. Playing for Real Madrid would do that. Rodwells situation was completely different. Still, a nice gesture. How long did he pay the wages for? A day, week or a year?

And?

The poster said nothing happened apart from signing Reed, that's not the case. Your last 2 posts are separate issues

I enjoy his videos on YouTube as I enjoy your podcast. A match made in rovers heaven!

No doubt we are competitive. It just feels like we show worse teams too much respect, then play some of the perceived better teams off the field only to, on a number of occasions, absolutey collapse under pressure at the back. We always look nervous at the back when ahead. If you put a Sol Bamba a centre half instead of Lenihan and a proper winger on the left, we would be in the play off places I have no doubt. Armstrong should be happy to be deputising for Graham. He shouldn't be our first choice winger. Anyway, I'm rambling. Just starting to get a niggling feeling this season might be as good a chance as we will get the way things have panned out.

If he was good enough, I think he would have been brought in. Reed is too good to leave out, granted he is shoehorning him in a bit

Something worries me a bit about the way Mowbray is saying this is a work in progress etc. Of course, this is true , but this season was/is one where we had momentum coming in from League 1, plus we have Dack. I think we had/have a really good chance to break into the top 6, if only we got a couple of bits of business right during the summer and were a bit braver in games. It's just I don't really see whats stopping us from plodding along in midtable next season as well , or worse if Dack leaves. It's not like we have youth players coming through who are going to revolutionize our first 11 in the next year or two. Then you have the likes of Rothwell who should be ready now, but isn't getting on. Reed is a loan, if we don't sign him, that's another area we will be weaker. I am just starting to get a feeling that this year might be one we look back on with a bit of regret if we don't start taking points that are on a plate.

I think Davenport was meant to be the upgrade in the middle. It is unfortunate that he has been injured

I wonder is it down to Mowbray rarely taking Smallwood ,Evans or either full back off? Many goals seem to come from mistakes in those areas. Fatigue? Sometimes I think Mowbray waits too long to makes subs. The annoying thing is, when he is proactive ,it usually works out well.

We signed many other players. How they are being used is a seperate issue.

I'm on episode 5,just after Coleman took over. What I found really interesting was Lewis Grabban basically escaping. When they interview him, in an airport it looks like, and he says that he doesnt like been taken off on 60 minutes every game by Coleman. Then he says something along the lines of "nah, not for me" and starts laughing. Coleman made a balls of that because Grabban had 11 goals. In context, McGeady was second top scorer with 4 goals, then you just had players who scored 1 goal each. Whatever chance they had were doomed when Grabban left without being replaced. Roll on episode 6

Ok, so Rodwell was featured a fair bit in last nights episode. It is covered "as is" but I think the implication is he is being greedy, which is unfair and I am not just saying that cos he is a Rovers player now. The chairman(who I think comes across as a bit of a cowboy) gets to have his say on the issue, whereas Rodwell doesn't speak(maybe he didn't want to). So on deadline day in January, the chairman is huffing and puffing around saying things along the lines of "we are giving Rodwell the opportunity to tear up his contract and find a new club" and "if he had passion and wanted to play , he would find a new club". He is trying to paint the picture that Rodwell should just tear up his £70,000 a week deal because Sunderland (for whatever reason, they haven't gone into it yet anyway) won't play him. The chairman also goes on about "doing it for the working class fans". It looked to me like Rodwell was made a scapegoat for the chairman being unable to get the players firstly for Grayson and then Coleman. To use a favourite phrase of some on here, a total straw man argument. Yes, it would have freed up £70, 000, but Rodwell would not find a club that will pay him the same or even a club in January as he just hasn't been able to play first team football. The line that is repeated again and again in the documentary is that Ellis Short, the chairman, no longer wants to put any money in , that is ultimately the real issue as to why they can't sign anyone, along with the fact that they are bottom of the Championship after being relegated from the Premier league the season before. They are hardly an attractive option for players. The fans definitely scapegoated him, when there were far bigger issues at the club than a guy who would not do what literally no player would do and tear up a £70,000 a week deal. From what I can gather from the show, they weren't even offering him a percentage of his contract to leave, they just wanted him to cancel his contract, crazy stuff.

Lads, what is the story with Davenport? The lad is having awful luck with injuries. Particularly as he had a decent run for Burton last season. By the sounds of what he does, he was signed as an upgrade on Smallwood

You said the same during the summer , alllll summer

Brum played 4-4-2 at the weekend and they looked appalling. It wouldn't suit us anyway, as we don't have fast enough wingers , or wingers with good enough deliveries, or just wingers full stop

Ya, I liked Braithwaite from what I have seen. He would have cost them pretty big money I think. Would be a great signing

Maybe the youth players aren't that good if they haven't played at the clubs they are loaned to. What other explanation is there? I like the look of Travis, he should probably get a few more opportunities. However saying he should come in and play instead of Smallwood is a bit much. I would prefer to see Reed there for a start. I wouldn't mind seeing Nuttall get brought on either. Not sure Mowbray is a huge fan

But Mowbray got out of this division before.

Does your last paragraph not show that Mowbray is doing a great job as we are over achieving? Look at the prediction thread. Avoiding relegation was most people's aim

I wouldn't say it is down to Graham going off. He's good, but we aren't bullet proof when he is on the field by any stretch of the imagination. Our issues are at the back. Not whether that is nerves or being instructed to sit back, it isn't working.

The argument that Mowbray should have spent the money elsewhere certainly has merit. At the same time, I think people are ridiculously critical of Brereton. I thought he looked OK yesterday. Made a few runs, didn't see him give the ball away, got in position for two efforts. Fans are dramatically making him out to be worse and play worse than he is. It must purely be based on the price tag, because Armstrong is far more frustrating to watch. As I said though, the price tag and how the money should have been spent is something to be critical of Mowbray about, not Brereton.

Wigan are after Madine on loan according to Nixon. We should do the same.

Lads, nothing changed when Graham went off. It's not like we were camped in their half when he was on second half. He looked wrecked. We weren't under the cosh because of Brereton not holding it up. We were comfortable, they were repeatedly kicking the ball out of play and astray. Rayas mistake changed the game, simple as that.

I watched the first two episodes last night. Really enjoying it. The club is coming accross as very amateur, from the chairman to Grayson to the players. No sign of Rodwell yet. It's much better than the city one, more scandal! They weren't scouting Bell, they were scouting the winger he was marking. It named the positions they were scouting, wing was one, full back wasn't. Fake news!

Obviously we have deficiencies elsewhere. I was responding to a poster who said Brereton has had plenty of time. So, you're just taking my comment out of context.