Interesting to read in the LET that there might be swap deals.

Putting two and two together from players we've been linked with and likely departures, I'd guess that could be with Rotherham. Smallwood for Vaulks. Would be happy with that. 

22 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

No chance. Was not good enough at League 1 level, before a serious injury. 

I'm just playing devil's advocate. Although he was largely played out of position to be fair to him. 

In my head he isn't good enough for where we want to be though. 

3 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

I think his chance to show that he could step up was with the rest of the league one squad this year. Desperately unlucky that he picked up such a bad injury, and I wish him every success in future, but I don't think that he's shown enough to be a part of our plans going forward. 

I think you're probably right there. If Mowbray is really throwing sentiment to one side this summer, the likes of Smallwood and Samuel will be out of the door soon enough.

I don't know whether he's been out injured so long I've forgotten what he's like or whether this sun is getting to me, but couldn't a fit and firing Samuel come good for us next season..

When he first signed he looked quite clinical in front of goal and seemed to link up well with Dack. He seemed to play himself out of confidence after that, probably not helped by being shunted out wide. 

Don't know whether we're being a bit hasty writing him off already. As a side note, I've screamed from the terraces and at the tv at him more times than most I'm sure. 

Just now, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

This lad looks like a decent shout 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/brandley-kuwas/profil/spieler/232219

His stats read quite well, albeit in the Eredivisie. 

12 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

Jason Puncheon is another free this summer. He could be handy for a season or two.

33 in June, but he does have a lot of quality.

58 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I don't rate the SPL either, but it's not as bad as you suggest. Celtic are certainly better than you say. Remember when we were a good Prem club and we lost both legs in the UEFA Cup against them? 3-0 aggregate if I recall.

I doubt anybody in the SPL would get 'demolished' if they were in League One. My general impression is that the SPL ranges in standard from about lower Prem (just Celtic and sometimes Rangers) to about top half of League One.

Pukki struggled there by his own admission, but lit up the Championship.

You're talking about a game that happened in like 2003. The current Celtic team aren't anywhere near as strong as that team was.

Scott Hogan and Paul Coutts would both be worth a look. 

I really like Hanley and agree that he'd be a good signing for us. With regular game time I'm sure he'd be the right sort of quality for a promotion push. Can't believe he's still only 27.

2 hours ago, Swanson said:

Not too many players to recommend from the Norwegian Eliteserie, but these two might be worth a look:

André Hansen, 29 year old GK. Best goalkeeper for years, player of the year last season.

Chidera Ejuke, 21 year old Nigerian winger. Good dribbling skills and quick.

He scored this nice goal earlier in the season:

 

I like the goalkeeper shout. Europa League experience as well. 

4 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

Ben Whiteman at donny wins Donny player of season and fans player of season. Been in for talks with TM. Better than most of our midfield 

Sounds promising. Young and obviously quite highly rated. Where did you hear that from?

4 hours ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Young as in terms of first team experience.

I understand what you're trying to say but age and experience are two completely different things.

Nyambe is young, but he is also a relatively experienced RB. 

Just now, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Nyambe can't be classed as a young anymore he has been in and out of the first team for many a season.

Rothwell was a first teamer at another club so I wouldn't say he was one of the inexperienced players.

The others gave glimpses but only that. It does not prove anything. We've had many a young player do this but never mount to much. time will tell.

Can't be classed as young? The lad is 21.

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Doesnt make good reading. I'd probably give antonsson a green just because he scored some important goals and contributed enough to our promotion but I'm glad we never signed him if that makes sense. Possibly downing for the same reasons. Not the long term solutions we need but played important parts to get us where we are

I agree with that. But i'd also include Rothwell and Chapman on the green list.

Think we've all seen what Rothwell can do since he's been starting and Chapman earned us some good point last season from the bench and should be an important option for us going forward due to his pace and trickery. The only question mark hanging over him is his injury record, but as far as I can recall, he's stayed injury free since resigning, despite only getting game time with the u23's.

In regards to our season tickets, I don't think I'll be renewing for next season.

I moved up to Liverpool around 2 years ago and have had a ticket for the last two seasons. As I don't drive I'm heavily reliant on the trains. The only way I can make midweek games is if I rope my partner into coming with me and driving, as the trains don't run late enough to get back. Seems I'll be able to watch these games anyway on the SkySports app.

On top of that there's the usual 4-6 home games a season I just can't make due to conflicting schedules. My average ticket cost this season has worked out more expensive than paying the day before the game with an 1875 membership. That's not been helped by the train strikes throughout the season. 

I'll be back to doing my pre season ticket ritual of studying the fixture list for available games and getting a few more away days in next season.

On 07/03/2019 at 16:25, JHRover said:

Norwich have already sold 21,500 season tickets for next season.

Meanwhile tumbleweed at Ewood as we await a decision/announcement on tickets.

 

That number is probably helped by the fact they've a foot in the Premier League already. 

Edit: Post was in March, so I take most of my comment back! Not sure where they were in the league then, but they were certainly in the middle of a hot streak.

On 14/04/2019 at 00:19, bluebruce said:

Good point. If you asked TM who our 5 most important players were, I reckon he would answer something like (in no order):

Bennett, Dack, Graham, Mulgrew, Evans.

The fans would agree on D&G but none of the rest.

If we pushed it to say, 8, he'd likely add Raya, Smallwood and Lenihan.

I think not having Lenihan available during our awful post January spell has highlighted to Mowbray how big a player he is for us. He'd definitely be on his top 5 players list. 

Completely agree with the sentiments about Lenihan being a future captain. He seems to be made of the right stuff. What really opened my eyes was his performance in the game against Wigan at home last season. Passion personified. 

Let's all be honest about the bollocking. I'm sure Lenihan knows Raya a lot better than all of us and will know what he can or can't take. Like someone said, if he doesn't get called up on things like that, he'll never cut out the mistakes. 

3 hours ago, tomphil said:

As for the Smallwood / Evans axis it has now become Willowe or Lowev far too much for my liking and with Travis emerging it would be a Trav-esty to waste his talent in favour of those two every week.  Only solution is remove the temptation and get shut of one of them so revert to type isn't an option anymore.

I think you're probably right with this. Even though he's likely to want a crack at the Prem, we should be doing all we can to get Reed on board permanently. Ideally to play alongside Travis. 

If availability and/or finance prohibits us, I'd like to see us go in for Will Vaulks. Looks a good player at this level and most likely an upgrade on Smallwood & Evans. Plus you'd imagine he'd be available for a reasonable fee, especially if Rotherham were to go down. 

Danny Graham. By an absolute mile.

20 minutes ago, robbojohnno said:

Adalberto Penaranda Maestre worth a late move on a loan deal from Watford. Can play up front or wide and doubt his wages are daft as he's only 21. 

That's a proper Football Manager shout. I love it.

It might not be the most accurate measure, but the latest Football Manager has Assombalonga down as earning £35k a week. Still a good £20k a week more than our highest earners are supposedly on.

4 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Didnt see this one coming.

Worried about his injury record but really hope he brings as much joy (and more) as he did in such a brief spell last time. Really gets people of their seats as you can see from the video on Twitter. Risky signing but low-risk in my opinion - bit like Rodwell.

Now we just have to get BA in if we can somehow club together enough to pay his 150k a week wages.

£150k a week would be a snip. I'd heard he was on £180k a week.

Nice to see they've been sensible with the contract length. You'd like to see longer, but given his injury record it's probably the best to see how he gets on, then extend him if he does well. Delighted with the signing. 

We're looking good for 150 pages before the Chapman signing!

Just now, Beanie01289 said:

At what point do we stop seeing a player as a midfielder Mulgrew has played the vast chunk  of his career as a center back and plays there at international level. Lenihan was a defencive midfielder coming through our youth team but since he broke into the team has been playing at cb I'd argue that's his position now if you don't agree the Rodwell was a cb coming through Evertons youth and moved into midfield in the first team so does that make him a cb? 

This argument kicked off a couple of months ago and was never fully resolved. Best just to leave it haha.