2 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

To be fair, I had a bit of job uncertainty, so I thought it better value to do that if I’m just streaming anyway tbh.

Usually, I’d just have a season ticket and go to the odd away game....

Yeah exactly. I quite like the flexibility of being able to stream a game for £10. I know it's not great for getting bums on seats, but I hope they don't do away with it completely when we can get back to the games. 

Realistically, I don't think having it as an option would deter the hardcore from getting a season ticket or going to the games home and away regularly.

I don't drive and live in Liverpool now (lived a lot further away prior to that). Had a season ticket for 2 seasons but the trains were bloody awful & I'd have games I couldn't make due to other commitments. I'd still do my usual 8-10+ games a season (home & away) and stream most of the others. Feel spoiled this season in a way being able to watch all the games.

59 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

I’ve just paid £10 per game rather than the season ticket.....

Yeah that's the decision I took at the start of the season, knowing that it was unlikely we'd be able to freely go and watch the games live. 

Prior to this season I put away £60 a month into a Rovers account, to cover games/travel/game day expenses, etc. Carried that into this season and just pay for the passes when they aren't televised on Sky (or available midweek via the Sky app). 

1 minute ago, StevenSK said:

Only lad at 6.2 who became 5.8 when jumping for a header

Yeah, Scott Dann was terrible for Rovers. Which is a shame cause he looked like a good bit of business at the time. 

11 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Charlie Kirk from Crewe now doing the rounds.

Maybe the laziest link we've ever had. 

Some embarrassing comments on here tonight. Trying to compare defenders that were competent in the Premier League to defenders we have that are middling in the Championship is a non starter.

It's a real shame as when he has played, he's looked pretty good. 

They just need to get him in and not risk waiting until the summer when there may be more interest. If he does sign this month, I'm sure we could push out Bell on loan somewhere quickly and get some of his wages paid. That's if we're bothered about having 3 senior LBs on the books. 

Providing he's as good as he's suggested to be, it solves our long term LB issue and rather cheaply.

23 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Did you think that Douglas was awful? I dont think he is brilliant but I thought he was the better of our 2 full backs today, was far less exposed definitely compared to Nyambe and good on the ball. He has been poor overall although has put in a couple of half decent performances lately and is definitely better than Bell.

There has been a lot of mention for Pickering, Mowbray denied any knowledge of a bid although if it is true that we have turned our nose up at a couple of hundred thousand then it is really poor. But has anyone seen much of him play over the course of 90 minutes? I've seen a lot of analysis on miscellaneous stats, things like interceptions, crosses, runs all of which mean nothing in isolation, and little highlight videos, but has anyone seen much of him over the course of 90 minutes? Not that it would take much to improve us at left back and indeed a permanent, young and seemingly promising left back would be good longer term. 

I agree on Douglas. He was a lot better today.

2 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Lenihan looked very solid today. 

We defend as a team not just as back 4. 

I still watch the full match replay on Rovers player the day after the game so I seen the full games, 

Harry Pickering is someone I mention we should sign last summer before Douglas signed or another player I mention in Ryan Manning that we missed out on. Also Rovers chat Andy Watson did a detailed scouting on Pickering and other potential transfers targets. 

Lenihan was much better today, but he's been poor for a fair part of the season. 

I think Lucimo's point was that you can't know enough about a Crewe player - when you claim to only watch tv games and listen to games on the radio - to fully endorse a move for him as much as you have.

2 hours ago, rovers11 said:

Interesting to see so many players out of contract in the summer. I would personally offer the following new deals:

- Nyambe, Rothwell, Johnson, Holtby, Rankin-Costello. 

I would release:

- Bell, Williams, Evans, Downing, Mulgrew, Bennet

In terms of loan signings, Elliot is obviously incredible but no chance of him coming back for another year. Braithwaite is good too but he'll be in and around the Everton squad next year so that's unrealistic. Trybull is not good enough, Douglas has been poor but I'd be tempted to buy him on a cheap deal as back up. I think there's more to come from him. 

I think I largely agree with this. I don't mind Bell being kept as a back up as long as we go out and sign a genuine starting LB. I wouldn't be bothered about Douglas; probably on a decent wage, hasn't shown anything & he's getting on a bit for that position. 

I'd keep Williams as he's looked good at CB when he's been fit and I doubt he's on a lot. The others can go. 

I think most on here are resigned to the fact we need to move on from Mowbray to progress. Looking at our next 5 games, a team with aspirations would be looking to maximise points. It's a completely unrealistic target but if we don't take maximum points (or near enough) from those games, I'd have him out of the door. Teams that do well in the Championship go on a serious run at some point and these games give us the chance to do that.

Not saying that we've ever shown the ability to take maximum points from these games, but a middling to poor return from these games will all but end our shot at the playoffs. 

Boro (A), Luton (H), QPR (A), Preston (H), Barnsley (A)

Over to you Tony. I've got no time for the excuses anymore. For reference, my major red flags (or Mowbray out moments) were the conceding of the title in the L1 season (Charlton away) and the pre game interview & result against Preston last season (when we lost 3-2 after being 2 up).

44 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

He has a lot to offer though, in spite of his technical limitations. 

We just have too many injury prone defenders. How good they are is pretty irrelevant, because they never seem to get going. Williams and Ayala the worst. I would  imagine a lot of managers wouldn't bother with them because of that. Hopefully Wharton doesn't fall into that category. 

Worryingly for Wharton, injuries around the ankle tend to lead to niggling injuries further down the line I.e. hamstrings, calves.

31 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Schindler and Sarr would arguably make our side with everybody fit. Although I do agree that Ayala is good, it's just there appears to be a major issue there with how many games he will play. 

I would actually say Keogh is a bit of a donkey on the ball alright, but he brings an awful lot to the table defensively and that's why he has had the career he has had. 

I suppose its hard to tell given how often our CBs are out injured. Williams has looked good at CB but gets injured as soon as he starts to look undroppable. Ayala is often out. Lenihan struggles without a consistent partner. Wharton was starting to look comfortable before his injury. In the summer Sarr wasn't the obvious upgrade he appears to be at the moment.

Yeah credit to him for having the career he's had. He's certainly made the most of what he has to offer.

38 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Well his strengths are definitely his leadership/organisational qualities. He's not Baresi when it comes to technical ability. What is it we need only exactly the qualities he has though?  Bit of strange snobbish attitude from some fans on this I think. 

Let's see how he goes at Huddersfield. Who as I mentioned, have better centre halves than us currently. He's certainly not going there to sit on the bench. He said he wants to get back in the Ireland squad and if he does, it will be one of Lenihan and Williams who drops out of the squad (if they are even worthy of getting in what is a very poor squad at the moment, I don't think they should be for the record) . He's better than both of them, even at 34. He will more than likely play more games than Ayala too. 

I can't get on board with Keogh as I've followed him for a long time and really don't rate the guy. His age now makes it a complete no go for me. I don't think my views on him are snobbish at all.

I don't disagree with your other points though. Schindler & Sarr would walk into our side given our current injuries, so it will be interesting to see if he gets game time there. Keogh is well established in that Irish set up, so you could see that happening. Lenihan & Williams are hardly pulling up any trees. Who starts for them at the moment; Duffy & Egan?

He'd probably play more games than Ayala granted, but I'd say Ayala is the better defender though. We've seen what Ayala can do, albeit across a handful of games. It's a shame he's so prone to injury.

56 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

While at Derby, he was named player of the year twice, fans player of the year once ,players player of the year 3 times and got in the championship team of the season once. Got into the play offs with them 3 times. The majority of which time he was captain. So therefore I find some of these comments odd and pretty ill informed. 

He also won the player of the year award at Carlisle, Bristol city and Coventry at least once while he played with them. 

Been following this conversation from afar and waiting for his time at Carlisle to be brought up. He basically won the POTY award there for entertainment value alone; he wasn't particularly good. He played primarily as full back there and would go on a crazy run down the wing once every four games and look like a world beater. He'd beat 3 or 4 men with no end product but the Carlisle fans loved him because he was one of a small minority of players who seemed to give a crap at the time.

Me and my mates from home always laugh at how he went from that to being a well established CB at a top Championship club. He's made a brilliant career for himself but I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole, especially at his age now. I've always felt his relative success has come from leadership/organisational qualities as opposed to any real footballing skill. Maybe that's what we need but he's not the player for us IMO.

Would love to see Hughes come back. He had a point to prove the first time he managed us and he would again this time. Worked well on a budget. Organised the team well. It's fantasy stuff really. 

Definitely take it with a pinch of salt, but we've been linked with Conor Hourihane on Twitter after Villa said they'd be open to loaning him out. Probably one from the Championship transfer gossip generator but he's a good player, albeit in a position we're quite well stocked in.

33 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

He doesn't look to be focusing on that though, does he? 

Not in the same way Brereton has, no.

56 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I agree JRC hasn't set the world alight, but he looks more like a man and isn't knocked off the ball like a feather 

True. You'd hope with time and a bit of effort, Buckley will bulk up a bit.

Interesting comments from Buckley. I don't doubt that we could do better if we dipped into the market, but I think he's shown enough to be a regular member of the squad. I know a lot on here don't rate him but I actually think he's done a decent job when he's filled in due to injuries. I certainly see no reason why he should be spoken about negatively compared to someone like JRC who gets rave reviews whilst doing nothing of note.

Some of my family have came down with covid quite bad recently, so this is the most real the pandemic has felt since March. With the number of players coming down with covid and game cancellations, it feels like we're a long way off being able to go back to Ewood freely. 

Happy that we're able to at least watch Rovers via streams, but what we're having to watch at the moment is so poor and frustrating, it barely feels worth it. Quite disillusioned with everything Rovers at the moment but am holding out a bit of hope that our fortunes turn once Travis & Dack improve their fitness with game time.

I swear Ben Whiteman is the new Marcus Maddison on here. Can we just move on from him. Blatantly obvious he isn't going to sign for us if we couldn't afford the deal in the summer and we're not even being linked with him now.

14 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Makes sense geographically too. Is it Carlisle he's from?

He was signed from Carlisle and I think he came through their youth set up, so I assume so. Most likely Cumbrian at least.

Really enjoyed the game tonight. Derby had a strong looking side out and we stood up to the challenge well. Davenport & Chapman grew into the game. Dolan a threat throughout. I was really impressed by Whitehall at RB before he went off with a knock. Dack got 45 minutes into his legs. Nothing of note from him; couple of nice passes and he was dropping deep a lot to get more of the ball. 

I'm more angry than elated after that. We were appalling and didn't deserve anything from the game. Fair play to the lads for getting the result though.

Priority position to sort out in Summer (if not January) is left back. Douglas looks awful, with Bell not much better.