Anyone signed up to Nixon's Patreon? He appears to have posted a timeline of the O'Brien deal on that.

The silence is deafening and maybe the worst part of all of this. Not doing your jobs properly shouldn't be excused, but shying away from your mistakes and not keeping supporters informed (even if it's that we're waiting on approval or that the move is being challenged) is worse and can't be ignored.

A friend of mine was saying what a shambles we are for not getting any money for Brereton Diaz. I explained that this is common place for Venky's owned Rovers, but I think it's fair to say that supporters of other clubs genuinely don't know how badly our club is run. If we fail with these deals over late paperwork, it's going to highlight the problem even more.

I get your point of view but the deadline is there for a reason. Clubs must abide by it. If we've failed to get the deal done in time, there's only the club (or potentially Forest if it's due to something at their end) to blame.

That's probably where we are in all fairness. I just mentioned him as one of the better options that is available, which isn't saying much.

I think he's right to be fair. I checked one of those work permit calculators after I posted it and looks like he falls short. Just shows how strict the criteria is.

Yeah, I'm really intrigued by the three we were apparently looking at. Out of contract wise, I had a quick look last night and it seemed pretty desperate. I thought Niasse looked a decent option (from what was available) but I didn't realise he'd had a short spell in L1 most recently before being recently. An interesting option is Nicolai Jorgensen. I swear someone mentioned him on the thread a while ago. Decent pedigree & should be known to JDT. He was in and around the Danish national team when JDT was part of the set up. 32 now and recent scoring history doesn't look great. According to stuff online he was on around £10k p/wk at Copenhagen before being released, so would probably fit our budget. No idea if he's any good to be honest, as I don't recall having seen him play. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/nicolai-jorgensen/profil/spieler/100399

Latest from Rich Sharpe... Just for the avoidance of doubt: the deals are all agreed between both clubs and player, this is about the necessary paperwork being filed in time. Assuming he's referring to O'Brien for the first deal. But definitely states that the second deal is for Brierley. This effectively confirms that we haven't brought a striker in, which is absolutely ridiculous. The whole thing is a shambles.

Sorry mate, my phone doesn't seem to get on with the website at the moment. About 5 rows in front of me and my mate, 'a fan' was giving Etheridge a load of stick & giving him a few gestures. From where I was I couldn't hear what he was saying, but Etheridge seemed to take exception to it and ran up to the ref to let him know. Through gestures the ref seemed to suggest 'let me know who it is and I'll sort it out' and Etheridge refused to point the guy out. Before the end of the game, the stewards seemed to have worked out who the 'fan' was and questioned him after the game. Absolutely pathetic behaviour and just drags us down as a fanbase.

Is this from today? Because there was a bloke about 5 rows in front of me giving

Morton, Gallagher & Brereton were really poor today. Everyone else was probably decent enough. Purely based on that game, it's obvious that we need a centre midfielder and a striker. Would like to think that they are the positions we're targeting. Trying to be positive, I thought Dack, JRC & Dolan were really good.

That's the funniest post we've had on here for a while

Really like Sorba Thomas as a player. Him and Lewis O'Brien were the standout players for Huddersfield's playoff side last season. Can play on either wing and has been used a wing back as well. Plenty of pace and takes set pieces. Intrigued to know what's happened to see him out of favour at Huddersfield. And as people have already discussed, a straight loan move is quite bizarre. Doesn't do anything for us beyond the short term.

Undav is on the bench for Brighton

Not sure how you've gone from a Pears v Steele comparison to a GK needing to challenge for a starting spot at a Premier League side to be any good. On that same basis you presumably think Pears is or will be capable of that. If you're seriously telling me you rate him that highly after seeing him play for us, you've got goalkeeper issues!

They also weren't the immediate back up to the starter at those clubs. Completely understand the whole point around perceived sub par keepers getting contracts in the Prem due to the home grown quota. Merely pointing out that Steele is probably a bit better than he's made out to be on here, given that he's trusted to be the immediate back up at Brighton. I don't think Pears will ever find himself in that position.

Yet Steele is contracted as the back up GK at a Premier League side.

His pressing and movement off the ball is the best I've seen from him since he signed. You know what you're getting from him on the ball. Neat & tidy and creates chances, as well as being a goal threat.

Quite happy for the WC break now. After a really good run of form and a chance to be top by Christmas, that defeat has set us back months. I hope someone sits the manager down to explain why that isn't just another defeat and to highlight the issues that led to their win, are exactly why we've lost the other games we have this season. Something needs to change as we can't keep riding our luck. I've half supported him leaving Dack out of the side while we've been picking up wins, but when you have worse players (performing poorly as well) starting over him every week, it doesn't make any sense. He's a goal threat from midfield and we have to integrate him. Whenever we don't have Diaz or Gallagher on the pitch, we look abject. Another striker (that's actually good) is a must in January. JDT must be planning on bringing in a new LB/LWB, because there's no way Brittain should be playing there, with Hedges covering on the other side. We lose the threat of our best full/wing back and arguably our best midfielder.

He's the best keeper we've had since Friedel.

He was. You could see from the Riverside quite clearly that he picked up a knock when he was bundled over by a Birmingham player early in the first half. Could see him trying it out loads and he didn't look fully comfortable after that. Fair play to him for battling on.

Popping up on twitter that Leeds are making a LATE move for Brereton. I'd be really pissed off if we sold him now. No way we'd sort a replacement in time.

We've got a smooth operator in Gregg. Talks with such confidence and obviously has a clear vision for player recruitment.

Rovers’ Director of Football Gregg Broughton said: “We are very pleased to welcome Clinton to Blackburn Rovers. “A versatile defender, who can play centrally in a two or a three, on the left in a four or a five, and also in midfield, Clinton gives us great options to suit Jon’s desire for tactical flexibility. “He was brave enough to go abroad at a young age to play first team football and now comes to Rovers as a regular England international at Under-20 and Under-21 level, and with experience in the Bundesliga. “He brings pace, ability on the ball and, most importantly, a desire to improve and fulfil his potential with our football club. “I’d like to thank Sven Mislintat and his team at VfB Stuttgart for their cooperation, along with Emeka Obasi and Ed Bonsu who, as Clinton’s representatives, continue to prioritise playing opportunities for their young players ahead of short-term gain.”

Yeah agreed. I suppose it's just that extra bit of depth (as you say, probably as a 6th choice option).