Do you feel he got the Whittingham deal right?

Reed looks like a bit of a midfield battler, a more mobile Smallwood - something we definitely need. He looks about 5ft. Rodwell is a strange on, he obviously had talent at some point but it seems a bit 'Whittingham'.

Yep, the difference in fight between the two sides was stark tonight. I very much doubt they would have come from 2 down even though they had some quite gifted players.

Indeed. Pretty much what he got when he took over the season we went down. He's a 1.5 ppg type of guy in the Championship which will do for us this season. He likes a draw does Mogga at this level!

Even from 2 down we should have won that, which shows not only the fighting spirit ingrained into that squad but also the lack of quality in the final third. We had so many opportunities to finish them off in the 2nd half it was unreal but our final ball let us down time and time again. A things that stood out:- Raya - summed up in two instances. Threw another in his goal for their first then pulled off an amazing save in the lead up to their 2nd. Had very little else to do, Nyambe - shaming the likes of Al and Jal who used to slag him off for sport. He made incredible improvements last season and has just carried that on. Brilliant performance tonight. The man is a tank. Nicky Reid crossed with Chris Price! Mulgrew - Convinced he'd miss one of them but he's learnt to vary his spot kicks. Balls of steel. Evans - ran the game at times. He's the player that first came to the club when he played so well under Bowyer until he got his first bad injury. He's a class above Smallwood. Smallwood - Felt genuinely sorry for him by the end of the first half. He looked a broken man after his final pass went astray. Looks to be lacking in confidence and I think the crowd turned on him a bit tonight for the first time. I think he's more cut out for away games where the onus is not on us to attack and he can just sit and put his foot in. I think Mowbray took him off a couple of times at home last season at half time. Something Mowbray needs to look at when we are at home against the less good sides. Rothwell - so unlucky with a couple of strikes. Ran himself into the ground. In the cold light of day though he didn't impose himself on the game like his technical ability suggested he should have. He was on the peripheries at times. Hopefully he'll become more consistent when he plays more because he's got all the attributes. Graham - I think he's finding it a bit more difficult to dominate defenders this season. I thought he was dreadful 1st half and improved a bit 2nd. Bennett - incredible 2nd half performance. Dragged us back into the game. He was everywhere. If he hadn't won that penalty we'd never have got a point. Conway - it was painful to watch. One of my favourite Rovers players of recent times but his legs have gone. He can't even turn back anymore to put a cross in. Granted he won't be match fit but he got the ball so many times 2nd half on the left corner of the box and each time he messed it up or chose the wrong ball. Decent cross for the Nuttall header from the right but it was the least expected. Nuttall - put himself about and did some great closing down but looks a bit slow to react to stuff. Lenny was telling him to get closer to Graham 2nd half because each time DG won a header Nuttall was a yard short of where he should have been to reach the ball. Maybe should have done better with that header. He needs a season on loan. Disappointed we didn't win in the end but pleased with the spirit we showed. We aren't a League 1 side, contrary to the @#/? I've read on here, because we've now outplayed 4 Championship sides. I think we may have played some of the worst teams in the league but still, we've still out classed them all in parts. It's just a shame we can't put teams to bed when we are on top and still concede silly goals. The home form could be a problem this season (like it was early last season) if Mowbray puts controlling the game before getting people in the box. We caused them problems 2nd half because we got the ball forward to 2 strikers, rather than the aimless punting to an isolated Graham 1st half. I know it's all in Tony We Trust these days but he must be able to come up with a better plan A at home than pass across the back for a few minutes then hoof it diagonally to Graham when they finally decide to close us down. I thought Reading had some skilful players but no heart. A few of their lads didn't want to know when Rothwell and Bennett started flying into them. The lad up front was good and caused us problems besides his goals. If Clement isn't sacked by December I'll be surprised. All in all a decent start to the season with a team that doesn't know when it's beaten. Unbeaten in four and the two homes games I've seen we've totally dominated for at least 45 minutes. The lack of a cutting edge is apparent though. We missed Dack 1st half but at least showed we can play at different way 2nd half and still cause problems. We desperately lack pace up front though. A Brereton, or whoever, would add a lot to our team.

Found this little gem on t'internet. And I don't mean Ronnie Hildersley. Haven't watched it all but there is a bit of Garner magic at about 55 minutes. Foot like a traction engine. 'Ave it son! £49.5m in todays transfer market...at least. We lost 2-1. Goal in the last few minutes from Luther Blissett. We were top at the time. Them were the days....

That's the spirit.

That goal was a highlight of last season. Replayed it many times myself.

If Tony says we are going to sign 4 players and we sign no-one do we still #trusttony? And if we do sign no-one does this render the phrase meaningless? This could well be a case study in Moral Philosophy in years to come.

You're right. He missed an absolute sitter from about 2 yards in one game I saw him last season. Only scored a few in the Championship.

Lot of love for Richie from the Mogster. I tried reading the thread but it was mainly Bigdogg picking fights. Quelle surprise.

It does seem a strange thing to say. If he wants any deal to be legally binding then they would just include a clause in the loan contract surely?

You might want to read the quote again. He specifically mentions the word 'binding' twice. What kind if 'binding' did you think he meant? Book binding? And if a club 'swoops' for Brereton in January after he's been on loan with us then a 'loan with a view to a permanent deal' isn't legally binding. So it isn't a permanent transfer in all but name if it isn't legally binding. You get that right? And I'm not sure who you have 'gone over this many times' with before my exasperated little friend but it certainly wasn't with me.

It's not an either/or. He is saying the contract is non-binding regardless of who is intending to buy or sell. That's the point.

He mentions four again to be fair in the LT article linked earlier from today. Mowbray thinks out loud so four is probably his intention. Problem with that is he sets himself up to fail.

Mogga from todays LT - “The clarification for some clubs I think has to be whether loans with a view to permanent are actually binding. So you can sign someone with the intention of buying them in January but how binding is that intention? That’s the decision someone needs to clear up I think. I think the EFL will look at it, the Premier League as well, to see what happens" So if Brereton or whoever comes on loan and smashes them in left right and centre there is no contractual obligation to sell (or buy) even if a price has been agreed? Not sure why the transfer is dragging on if true. It's can only ever be a loan.

Agreed, but I think Mowbray is trying to get across that the owners 'understand' that they need to follow the plan to the end.

Mowbray in today's LT. That's exactly what he's thinking of and he's right:- “More Bradley Dacks is what I’m trying to say. They become the currency of your football club and the owners understand that. You add players of the right quality and they only accrue value, and at the right age. You sign them for X and you sell them for X times 10 potentially somewhere down the line and then you invest that and get a few more. Before you know it you have a team full of good players and then the expectation is to get out of this division. At the moment we’re trying to build a club and compete in the league and every team we play against.” http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16585545.its-very-frustrating-but-rovers-creeping-closer-to-a-signing/?ref=mac

Norwich bought 19 year old James Maddison from Coventry in 2016 for less than we are bidding for Brereton. He went to Leicester this summer for £22m. He's only ever played for England U21's. If Brereton was a success here we would double our money easily if a Prem team came knocking. Dack must be worth £10m+ as it stands, a good season this year and he'd be close to the £22m mark by next summer.

Bees? Buzzin. It will be on your desk by close of play Thursday (ish)

That pedestal is getting full.

You played for an 'exhaustive' list of clubs before the age of 18? Did you only stay a week at each one?

He actually said 2.5

But, but, you never see Rovers play.

He's calling Mowbray a liar then.